Harry
09-07-2009, 08:44 AM
The day before yesterday, my boss asked me what I was doing today and I reminded her that I was due in to work at 10am. Good, she says, and hands me a letter. So, long story short, I got roped into presenting a check to Jerry's Kids on live TV this morning. Got up at 5am, drove down to the river and sat in a temporary green room [actually a tent out on a porch] for an hour and went on at 7:40.
The letter had informed me that I would only be on for 15 seconds, long enough to state the amount of the check and hand it over, but when I got there I was asked if there was anything I wanted to talk about. My answer was, "urrhh, whut?" But I didn't sweat it. Figured I'd roll with whatever. I was taken in to the studio at about 7:35, and the Channel 3 weatherman Todd Demur told me he'd ask me a few questions, but if I didn't know what to say we'd "wing it". When the camera started rolling I didn't have any real trouble. We chatted until the camera turned away, maybe half a minute or minute. First time I've been on TV since I was a kid, when my sister and I were in the audience for Romper Room. Mark Davis had volunteered to come up with something snappy for me to say on camera, but I didn't think I'd be on long enough. I sure was, though.
The folks at the studio said I didn't seem nervous at all, and I affirmed that yep, I wasn't. Wham-bam-thank ya and I was out the door.
The real fun thing about this all was that early this morning, as I checked my email and ate a snack before cleaning up to go downtown, I cracked a tooth. I cracked a mother-effing tooth. I wasn't absolutely convinced it was cracked until I tried to have a cup of coffee and a doughnut in the "green room". Bit into the doughnut and yeppers, you betcha, that tooth is definitely cracked. I spent my thirty minutes before going on air testing and trying to make sure I'd be able to talk without sounding pained or weird. My dad, who watched it from home, said he couldn't tell anything was off. Oh, he taped it so if I deem it creditable I might upload it somewhere. Might not. We'll see.
Off to Walgreens for some Oral-Gel...
The letter had informed me that I would only be on for 15 seconds, long enough to state the amount of the check and hand it over, but when I got there I was asked if there was anything I wanted to talk about. My answer was, "urrhh, whut?" But I didn't sweat it. Figured I'd roll with whatever. I was taken in to the studio at about 7:35, and the Channel 3 weatherman Todd Demur told me he'd ask me a few questions, but if I didn't know what to say we'd "wing it". When the camera started rolling I didn't have any real trouble. We chatted until the camera turned away, maybe half a minute or minute. First time I've been on TV since I was a kid, when my sister and I were in the audience for Romper Room. Mark Davis had volunteered to come up with something snappy for me to say on camera, but I didn't think I'd be on long enough. I sure was, though.
The folks at the studio said I didn't seem nervous at all, and I affirmed that yep, I wasn't. Wham-bam-thank ya and I was out the door.
The real fun thing about this all was that early this morning, as I checked my email and ate a snack before cleaning up to go downtown, I cracked a tooth. I cracked a mother-effing tooth. I wasn't absolutely convinced it was cracked until I tried to have a cup of coffee and a doughnut in the "green room". Bit into the doughnut and yeppers, you betcha, that tooth is definitely cracked. I spent my thirty minutes before going on air testing and trying to make sure I'd be able to talk without sounding pained or weird. My dad, who watched it from home, said he couldn't tell anything was off. Oh, he taped it so if I deem it creditable I might upload it somewhere. Might not. We'll see.
Off to Walgreens for some Oral-Gel...