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Monday, April 18, 2005
Shoot and Same-Evening Airing
As my domicile is nearby and I had a twelve noon calltime, I arrived at 11:30am.
The security fellow called but
Norbert
wasn't answering, so I took a walk and returned at 11:50.
Based on the sign-in sheet, the other three actors had already arrived.
It didn't take long for us each to be taken up to wardrobe.
Stuart Smith
came down with a black suit and yellow tie; my suit could "be no more blue," as the wardrobe
woman said as I emerged from the changing area.
To my amazement, I did not get the names of the other two fellows.
One had been a semi-regular background on the series
Medium
(later that evening I even spotted him in that night's episode), the other Very New to the acting business, but had done stand-up.
Of the four of us, he had not yet done a
Jimmy Kimmel Live
(JKL) show yet.
This was my second time,
Stuart had clearly been there a few times, as the moustached guy I got the impression this
was his third or fourth time.
We were brought over to the main JKL offices where we met [segment?] producer
Jen Sharon.
Actor-friendly segment director
Wayne McClammy
(who had directed my previous time),
came out and met with us, indicating he remembered those of us from our respective previous
work.
As they had taken over the offices, there was a lot of preparation commotion going on, so we
were given a section of hallway just around the corner; as each of us was brought in, the
rest could relax and talk without being underfoot.
I went in first.
Wayne brought me into a small office where I was to fire two staples as though they were six-shooters, and verbally go bananas.
Apparently the exact concept and execution was still a matter of some discussion.
They weren't 100% sure to go over the top or very very dry.
They decided to go with over the top, which while very fun, was a lot of work.
He had me even do stuff Right To Camera, firing staples at the lens, as well as do a Gene Simmons's tongue routine, plus coyly firing staples at my nipples (!) even though thanfully my shirt was not removed.
The New Guy went in next and I forget what they had him do for that bit, but he came out red-faced from the exertion.
I think it may have been the photocopy gag.
While we were talking and Stuart had gone in, we could hear his screams quite well.
Eventually we all went in, and proceeded to completely trash their (main?) conference
room.
Between shots we were able to notice that it had show related information on the walls,
included but not limited to listing upcoming guests such as
Lauren Graham
on May 9th,
Michelle Trachtenberg
on the 11th and
Ashton Kutcher
on the 20th.
Only a few days earlier I'd missed
Meinhardt Raabe.
Jen seemed almost surprised I knew he was one of the last remaining surviving actors to have been a Munchkin in the 1939 classic
The Wizard of Oz.
While we lay waste to the writers room, I spun around on my chair.
I spun so much and so fast that thank gods I'd had no food, or quite literally, I'd have lost it.
Clearly I'm not as young as I used to be.
J
Going to a closer shot, Wayne had me indicate complete loss of equilibreum, and I collapsed (smacking my head on the corner of a box in the process), and the New Guy dumped files onto me as unsympathetically as though we were fellow frat boys (as Wayne described it).
Stuart and the moustached man did a
Girls Gone Wild
type kiss, but to eliminate the overtly homosexual aspect of it, the two men kissed with a
glass partition between them.
We moved to another office where Moustache Man spins a phone over his lead like a lasso whole
I chase Stuart from the smaller internal hallway.
Moving to the small kitchen, New Guy and Moustache cheer on Stuart ("Chug!
Chug!
Chug!
Chug!"),
while Stuart lays on the floor, guzzling from a water cooler.
The cameraman (who remarkably resembled a young Liam Neeson), whip panned over to me at the open 'fridge, guzzing ketchup from a bottle, poured into my mouth (and over much of my lips and nose) from several inches over my open mouth.
I was glad they switched to ketchup: the original idea would be mustard.
No
one was eager to take on that stunt.
But as Wayne is such a cool director, I certainly didn't want to let him down with a comedy bit, so I bravely volunteered to pour a massive amount of mustard into my mouth.
Bleech.
I
hate
mustard.
But, on his own, Wayne suddenly thought of switching condiments, asking me if ketchup might be better, to which I heartily concurred.
We quickly set up for our collective final bit: hallway jousting.
Stuart had earlier done a shirtless (or mostly shirtless) bit with water, and New Guy had taken his (prop) tie to a shredder machine.
Now we set up with Stuart (shirtless, in boxers, with a bicycle helmet and broom and New Guy pushing), in caster-wheel chairs, coming 'round the corner screaming; as the camera follows their pass, we see Moustache pushing my chair, my tie 'round my head like a bandana, and also using a broom as a lance.
This most likely would be the final shot for the sketch (as we don't see that we don't really collide, though in realty we came close to doing so in the narrow corridor).
Wrapped, all but Moustache went down to the main area back in the El Capitan building, while they shot one last bit with Moustache: a prank phone call.
Having arrived, we went up and changed, then headed down to wait to be Officially Wrapped.
It was about 4:45pm.
Jen came in and politely and gently chided us for going up to wardrobe on our own to change.
She understood there was really no harm no foul, but actually we're to have someone Bring Us Up There: oops (but she also did add this was For Future Reference, always a good thing to hear as I enjoy working with these fun people.)
Wayne came up and thanked us all, and at my inquiry, told me I could call Jen regarding obtaining a copy of the sketch.
When Jen returned I mentioned it to her, and she clarified I can contact her regarding a copy of this as well as the previous work I did for them back in February.
Previously, due to believing the show began at half past midnight (as opposed to only five minutes past midnight), the first time I worked JKL, I missed seeing that sketch air.
My roommate and I had tuned in to hear the last line of the sketch.
This time, I was ready for them.
I knew the time and station.
I had emailed as many friends and acquaintences as I could.
My friend Cindy back east (where it airs first), emailed to relate it was worth staying up late to view.
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