Since seeing the Tony Clifton show at the Comedy Store on the 20th, I’ve had Sinatra’s “Summer Wind” in my head. I’ve never been a Sinatra fan, and I feel Clifton’s version is far superior. But since I don’t have Tony’s version available…here’s the Chairman of the Board himself with “Summer Wind”…to get you into the summer mood!
Due to a family issue within our organization, Wally’s Week for 5/17-23 wasn’t able to be updated until now. So…here are two week’s worth of Wally’s Weeks (try saying THAT fast 5 times!)
Monday the 17th – MONDAY’S HERE! – I’m glad I rested all weekend, because I needed it! As expected, this week was an absolute whirlwind. I was up really early and headed to Buzzy’s in Hollywood for another Garfield session. It’s always great working with the legendary Laraine Newman! We all started talking about my collection in Planet Wallywood and Laraine asked what kind of stuff I had in my collection. Once I told her all the stuff I had acquired, she said, “You’re kind of like a metal Forry Ackerman.” We all laughed, and I asked her if I could use that quote on my website. So when we re-do the Planet Wallywood page I’m going to use her quote at the top of the page! In the meantime, my agent was busy trying to schedule me for a Baskin-Robbins commercial session for the next day, and since my Tuesday was even busier than my Monday, it was proving to be a daunting task. She arranged with Buzzy’s to use their studio just before the Garfield session so I could do both the B-R and Garfield sessions at the same place! Handy, eh? As I left one of the Buzzy’s employees, who had been in on all the negotiations said, “You sure have an interesting life.” I just laughed and nodded. It sure IS an interesting life! I was due at “The Tonight Show” early to record some voice tracks for a few comedy bits. So as soon as I was out of Garfield, I headed to NBC. Then I got home and walked Sassie, and got right back in my car and headed back to NBC for the taping of “TTS.” After we wrapped, I headed over to the Warner Brothers studios to see my friend James over there. He bought the “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” boxed set for me at his employee discount of $95, and I went to pick it up and pay him. As you know, I love watching one hour of old TV on DVD just before I go to sleep. I’ve just finished the entire “Get Smart” series, and before I launch into “Baretta” Season 3, and “Hawaii Five-O” Season 4, I wanted to watch something else. I was never a huge U.N.C.L.E. fan, so when the set first came out at the retail price of $250 I didn’t get it. I’m not a $250 U.N.C.L.E. fan, but I’m definitely a $95 U.N.C.L.E. fan! As we drove around the legendary Warner studios, it began to rain. I started humming “Rainy Monday” by Shiny Toy Guns, since it was rainy and a Monday. But since I already featured that on “What’s Wally Humming” in a previous week, I picked another tune. We had a lot of fun. I got my DVD set and headed home.
Tuesday the 18th – A THREE JOB DAY – PART 1! – I got to Buzzy’s extra early to do the Baskin-Robbins session for an upcoming TV commercial in Studio B. When I was finished I walked into Studio A and started the Garfield session. When we finished it I headed out the door and made my way home to walk Sassie I scarcely had enough time to grab a sandwich and head to NBC for “TTS.” That night I met my pal and contractor Terry at my house and he worked well into the night doing stuff around the house that needed to be done before he left for a 2 week vacation.
Wednesday the 19th – A THREE JOB DAY – PART 2! – I was up super early again and this time, headed to Voice Trax West to do a radio commercial for the HH Gregg electronics stores. Then I had to get to Hollywood and the studios of Outlaw Sound for the radio commercial session for Titan Insurance. Normally it takes 20 minutes to get from Studio City (where Voice Trax West is located) to Hollywood (where Outlaw Sound is located.) But today there was a big bus fire on the 101 freeway, which forced all of the traffic on to the side streets…right where I was! It took me three times as long to get into Hollywood as normal, and obviously I was late to my Titan session. It sucks, but it’s life in L.A. – and it happens. Everybody involved understood completely. We actually finished the session earlier than expected, which gave me the chance to get back home and relax a little before “TTS.” My friend Electric Bob came by to replace a light switch in my kitchen that was faulty. Then I headed to NBC. That night I took a nap and caught my breath. Since there were no early sessions on Thursday, I spent the night looking through my new “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” boxed set and watched an episode!
Thursday the 20th – CARBON, CAR WASH AND CLIFTON! – This was quite a day! I started off by doing a quick session for a short cartoon about carbon and pollution. I provided the voice for Make It Worse Man. The short is being produced by my pal Peter Byck, and is written by my old pal Matt Weinhold. This makes about the fifth or sixth project I’ve done with Matt. We did Super Adventure Team, Throut and Neck, and several other projects together. He’s a great guy and a funny writer. After the session I headed to NBC for “TTS,” then afterwards got my car washed. After the drizzle and rain on Monday, my car was looking filthy! And that night I had special plans! I picked up my pal Sara and we headed to the Comedy Store. The great Tony Clifton was doing a four-night engagement there, and I had VIP passes courtesy of Clifton’s assistant Jeremy. We met up with Georgette there and we had a great time! The show was about 3 hours, with a 15 minute intermission in the middle. Clifton started out as a character Andy Kaufman created, but when he got tired of it he passed Clifton off to his writing/producing partner Bob Zmuda. The new Tony Clifton show was bigger and better than ever! Amazing band, terrific burlesque dancers, funny (yet vile!) comedy and of course Clifton’s amazing charisma. After the show Jeremy took us backstage to see Tony, and he actually remembered me from our meeting back in 2004! He looked at me through his darker-than-dark shades and said, “Is that Wally?” He gave me a big hug and I introduced him to the dolllies…Sara and Georgette. I gave him an oil painting that I had in my care for about 10 years. My friend Holly did a Clifton portrait in “negative” format, and I promised her that if I ever ran into Clifton I would give it to him. Tony has a brand new house/studio just outside of Lake Tahoe called Cliftonmere, so I told Tony it was a housewarming gift. We posed for a picture and bid Tony farewell and congratulated him for a great show. As we were outside waiting for my car to be brought up by the valet, we saw Tony walk by and head to his hotel room next door. I yelled, “Clifton ROCKS!” He turned and saw that it was me and came up to me and whispered to me, “See, this is what I was talking about!” Back in 2004 Tony told me that he was working on a blockbuster new stage show that would be unlike anything else. I told him the show was amazing and it should definitely go to Vegas, or Broadway! Then he looked down at the tiki necklace I was wearing, tapped it and said, “I f***ing love that!” The tiki necklace is an inside Clifton joke that dates back to the appearance Tony did in 1979 when he opened for Andy Kaufman at Carnegie Hall. He wore one onstage and told the audience it was an official Tony Clifton medallion that could be purchased at the concession stand. There were probably only about 2 people in the whole Comedy Store audience that go the reference…me & Clifton. But I’m glad he got to see it. I made four or five of them out of Magic Sculpt back in 2001 based on photos and screenshots. I gave most of them away but kept two. I’m glad Tony enjoyed seeing it. When we got my car we went to Mel’s on Sunset for dinner. I was wearing my vintage blue Lord West tuxedo and frilly pink tuxedo shirt, so I obviously got a lot of stares. When we finished eating, about 6 Sheriff’s cars pulled up and blocked the driveways out of Mel’s. Apparently a burglar alarm nearby had gone off and the deputies came out of their cars with guns drawn. We waited around for about 20 minutes, then they realized it was a false alarm and they took off, clearing the way for us to leave. Strangely enough, there was a lot of street construction going on at the same time. So I told Sara that I thought somebody on the street crew may have hit a cable or something accidentally that set off the alarm. Not sure if that was the case or not. We were exhausted and we headed back home.
Tony spots me from across the room.
(Photos courtesy of Bjorn Kavanaugh)
Sharing a hug with the International Singing Sensation
Here we are presenting Tony with the “negative” painting by my friend Holly
Sara, Georgette and I backstage.
WSAT&G) After downloading this photo I noticed the “orb” hovering over Sara’s head. I got an idea. I e-mailed Clifton’s assistant Jeremy and had him ask Tony’s manager Bob Zmuda (Andy Kaufman’s writing/producing partner) if Andy was partial to brunettes. He confirmed that Andy was in fact a brunette fan! That sealed it! I was convinced that the “orb” hanging out with Sara is Andy himself! He was there hanging out with all of us!
Friday the 21st – STRANGE DAYS INDEED! – I’m not sure what was in the air, but the whole day went screwy. When I got up I got a message from my dog’s mobile groomer saying that they’d be late for my appointment that day because of trouble they were having with another dog. Odd thing is, I didn’t have an appointment that day. My appointment was for Sunday. So I called the groomer and said, “I don’t have an appointment for today.” She said, ‘Yes you do.” I explained to her that I had a conversation with the scheduler several days earlier and we definitely scheduled an appointment for Sunday. Well, not only did she have it wrong for Friday, but apparently I no longer had my Sunday appointment either due to a scheduling error. I asked her to have the groomer call me personally. When she did, she said she would be unable to make the Sunday appointment. Then I got a lot of excuses about how they had a groomer quit, and everything was chaotic at their company. Well, I refused to let their chaos become my chaos so I told them I would no longer require their services. Sad they had to lose a good customer because they can’t get their schedule together. So I called another groomer and scheduled an appointment to get Sassie groomed the very next day. But it got even weirder. I had a videogame session scheduled from 1:30 to 2:30. The voice director called me at 1:10 (while I was on my way to the session) to ask why I wasn’t there at 1:00. I told him I wasn’t scheduled for 1:00, but from 1:30 to 2:30. Then he said that the scheduling had been fairly screwy on their end, but I started to doubt my sanity. I’m positive that I wrote down the times correctly though, and just wrote it off to Mercury being in retrograde, or something. Anyway, we did the session in short order and everyone was happy. Then I went to Voicecasters to do an audition, and I headed to my chiropractor’s office. Everything was finally going smoothly. Then it was off to NBC. We did the taping of “TTS” and then I went promptly home to try and bring an early end to a very weird day.
Saturday the 22nd – GOOD SMELLIN’ DOG! – The new groomer came to my house and bathed Sassie, and she was very soft and smelled good. I think I was going to like this groomer better than the last one! Then I got busy and ran some errands. I went to the framer’s, Target, Wendy’s for lunch and the Verizon store. My phone battery isn’t holding a charge very long anymore, so I wanted to get a new battery. I got the battery and headed home. At Wendy’s they’re sell these karaoke CDs that you can use in the car. They have popular songs mixed in such a way where the instrumental is all on the left channel, and the vocal is on the right channel. That way you can turn it all left channel and sing along! It’s a genius idea! One of the songs on the CD was “I Will Survive,” made famous by Gloria Gaynor in the 70’s, but made famous again in the 80’s by Tony Clifton. So I had a lot of fun peeling down the road with my top down, bellowing “I Will Survive” in Tony’s voice. But when I got home and opened the phone battery, I realized they gave me the wrong one. There were three little notches in the bottom of the battery that were missing. And it wouldn’t fit into my phone without those notches. The model number on the box cover was correct, but the battery inside wasn’t. What’s going on?! Are the companies really getting this lazy that they don’t even care enough to package their products correctly? ARGH! That night we suspended the normal Star Trek viewing in favor of movies. We watched THREE that night! “An American Werewolf In London” on Blu Ray, “Carny” with Gary Busey and Jodie Foster, and “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” on Blu Ray. It was a long night, but well worth it. Later, after everyone left, I continued watching a ‘Man From U.N.C.L.E.” episode.
Sunday the 23rd – SUPER SUNDAY! – I slept really late in the day, but got up in time for evening church. Afterwards, I met up with my friend Patrice. My special effects guy Jim Ojala came over with my latest project (more details to follow!) and soon Sara popped over as well. Tony Clifton’s assistant Jeremy came over to join us for dinner and we all went to Jerry’s for a meal. We were joined there by Georgette and my friend Kristy. After a really fun meal, Patrice and I went to my house to record an audition in my home studio. After doing some more auditions and e-mailing them to my agent, I got ready for bed and watching another “U.N.C.L.E.” episode!
Monday the 24th – LAZY MONDAY! – I did the Tonight Show taping at 4, and then afterwards just made it to the post office in time to mail off some packages. Then I relaxed the rest of the night.
Tuesday the 25th – LAZY TUESDAY! – It was nice to be able to relax and do some stuff around the house. It was also great to be able to stay up late and watch more “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” episodes all night. I did the taping of The Tonight Show, but for the first time in 8 months of working on the show, I actually made a mistake in my opening read. It’s just one of those things. The intro said, “Tonight Jay welcomes the winner of Celebrity Apprentice, Bret Michaels. From 30 Rock Jane Krakowski.” Well, we do the intro live to tape. Which means it’s not pre-recorded in the sense that it’s done before the taping of the show and put in later. We start sharp at 4:00 every day. I get a countdown from the Assistant Director in my headphones, and when I hear 3-2-1…the band starts, I hear the director say, “Announce” as “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” comes up on the screen. Then I read my opening introduction simultaneously as the words and names pop up on the screen. It’s all basically a timing and rhythmic thing, and normally it goes well. (We do a rehearsal at 3:45 just so I can see the video and get the rhythm of the cut.) I tape my script page up to the side of the monitor I’m watching in my announce booth. My eyes are constantly darting back and forth from the script to the screen so I can make sure my words coincide with the on-screen graphics. I said, “It’s the Tonight Show with Jay Leno! Featuring Kevin Eubanks and the Tonight Show band! Tonight Jay welcomes…” Then my eyes darted back to the script, but unfortunately my eye went to the SECOND line in the script that said ‘From 30 Rock…”. As soon as I said “From…” I knew I had screwed up! I caught myself, but it was too late. So it came out, “From the winner of Celebrity Apprentice Bret Michaels!” I just kept going (as you’re supposed to do) and figured we’d be able to fix it after the show. Which we did, as Patrick the crack audio engineer was able to re-record just the offending line and slide it into the intro seamlessly! Well, it happens I guess. But it was definitely a first. That night my pal and special effects guy Jim Ojala came over so we could further discuss a new display that’s going up in Planet Wallywood.
Wednesday the 26th – WILD WEDNESDAY! – I was up early and headed to Voice Trax West to do another spot for HH Gregg. This actually involved my character HH, having to sing to a previously animated segment. So it was tricky, but we did it. It was fun! On the way home I hit the pharmacy to pick up some more allergy medicine, and then went to my mailbox to grab the mail. I then met up with Electric Bob, my electrician, who last week had replaced a faulty switch for my kitchen light. We discussed a friend of his who did air conditioning work. And since the flake I had an appointment with last week…well…flaked, I figured Bob was reliable, so his AC friend most likely was as well. They came by, went up on the roof and checked out my AC situation. He made some notes and said they’d have an estimate for me within a few days! Awesome! My AC has been giving me trouble fro the past four years and now I’m FINALLY going to replace it! After Bob and company finished I headed off to the Tonight Show, vowing not to make any mistakes today. It all ended up going very well. Right after the taping I sped off to Fast Frame to grab the cel I had purchased on eBay of Jay Leno on the “Dilbert” cartoon circa 1998. I bought one for myself, which I was having Jay sign, and I bought another one from the same sequence to frame up as a gift for him. It turned out really great!
Then I went over to the Verizon store to exchange a battery I had bought for my phone. I bought a replacement battery last Saturday, and got home to put it in my phone and charge it up. But the battery in the package, was not the same battery that was pictured ON the package. Something was amiss, so I took it back. Come to find out, the entire batch of batteries Verizon had for my model of phone was WRONG! There must’ve been some screw-up at the factory. So they promised they would send me a new battery via Fed Ex. So I had to put up with a few more additional days of having to charge my phone every 20 minutes. The old battery just wasn’t holding a charge anymore. Then I went to Panera in Studio City and had dinner with Sara, and Chuck and Betty McCann.
Thursday the 27th – TWO MORE DAYS! – I stopped by my mailbox and then headed to Voicecasters in Burbank to do an audition. Since I was close to NBC I headed over to work even though I was early. But I had the framed cel with me to give to Jay, so I thought I would just drop that off in the extra time I had. I went upstairs in the production office and found that Jay had already signed my cel, and it looked great. Then I took the framed cel to Jay’s assistant Helga. In the 8 months I had been working on the show I hadn’t met her, so we met and had a nice conversation. I hope he likes the cel. After the show I took my signed cel back to the framer’s and put it in to have it framed. That evening, relaxation!
Friday the 28th – KEVIN’S LAST DAY! – I was at Studiopolis shortly after noon to do some more voice sessions for Kekkeshi, a new anime cartoon that will be airing on Cartoon Network soon. I play a ghostly dog named Hakoubi (pronounced HUCK-uh-bee) that calls his female owner “honey.” When I finished there I got over to NBC for “TTS.” It was going to be Kevin Eubanks’ last day, so it was going to be bittersweet. Kev’s been a staple for about 18 years on the show, and his rapport with Jay was always terrific. But Kevin’s a musician and he has the itch to record albums, tour, and be more involved in his efforts that provides music instruction to kids. So it’s understandable, but still sad all the same. Even sadder is the fact that the entire band is going with him. Vickie the singer, Doc the bassist, Smitty the drummer, Ralph on sax and Jerry on keys are all some of the finest musicians I’ve ever seen. Starting Monday the 7th “American Idol’s” Ricky Minor will bring his band in and he’ll be the new bandleader. Should be interesting! The taping went well, and everyone was looking forward to a week off for hiatus. (It’ll be reruns the week of May 31-June 4). Normally I head right out after the taping is done at 5:00, but I spent some time talking to some of the crew in the parking lot to see what they would be doing over the break. So I didn’t get out until about 5:30. As I passed the main driveway to the NBC gate, I saw Jay’s car stopped with the driver’s door open, and about 20 people gathered around! He was signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans. That’s just TOO cool! He could have said, ‘I’m tired, it’s vacation time, it’s been a long week, and I want to go home!” But he actually took the time to spend a few moments with fans. Things like this make me realized that I’m definitely working for the right guy! How cool is that? That night I got a lot of stuff done around the house, and got prepared to go to a convention the next day to do a panel on voice-over.
Saturday the 29th – BUSY SATURDAY! – The maids came early so they could be done in time for me to go to the Rock ‘N’ Comic Con in Pasadena. I got showered and ready, Sara came by, and we split for Pasadena. I did a panel at 12:30 with my friends Bob Bergen and Debbie Derryberry, two stellar voice-over artists. And though there were only about 20 people at the panel, I felt it was a great one. We answered all their questions, and since the group was intimate, the interaction between the panelists and the audience was terrific! None of us were there to do schtick, but just offer straight answers that people may have about getting into this wonderful business. After that Sara and I walked the floor and saw a lot of friends…writer Pat Jankiewicz, Brittney Powell, artist Scott Zillner, artist Dah Veed, and Sara got to meet Angus Oblong and have him sign a book for her. It was a great time! I got home in time to grab a few hours of sleep, and then that night we had movie night at Planet Wallywood. We watched ‘Blue Velvet’ in honor of Dennis Hopper’s passing, and then ‘Black Dynamite.’ Fun night!
Sunday the 30th – SWELTERING SUNDAY! – I’ve had my AC on for days and it’s only blowing cool air, not cold. So I dug out my portable AC device I bought last summer and took it to the living room so it would be nice and cool for movie night. Since it was a Monday holiday, I decided to do another movie night. I slept really late, and when I got up I hooked up the portable AC and started it. That way the area would be nice and cool by the time I came back from evening church. I went to church and then got a few grocery items for movie night. We ended up watching the William Shatner Comedy Central Roast, then ‘Never Say Never Again” with Sean Connery, and we finished up the evening by watching “Alice in Wonderland” on Blu Ray. Yeah, I know it doesn’t officially come out until the following Tuesday, but one of the folks in our group is “connected.” We stayed up until 3am watching stuff, so it was a darn fun night!
And how was YOUR week??!!
