February 22 – February 28 (2016)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

My folks sent me this cartoon and I laughed out loud! Of course he would be upset!

During the shoot for the Dell commercial I used the song “Still of the Night” by Whitesnake as a warm-up song. Long after we wrapped the shoot, I’m still singing it. The quintessential 80’s rocker!

Monday the 22nd – CALL BACK! – My hotline rang just after noon, and I noticed on the caller ID that the origin of the call was my agent’s office. But it wasn’t my Voice-Over agent, it was the On-Camera department of my agency. They said I have a call-back for the “aging 80’s rocker” guy I did last week. Since I had a lot of prep to do for the character, and very little time to do it, I sprang out of bed and started the day. I checked e-mail and found out that I had a few last-minute auditions to record. I got those finished and hit the bathroom to dye my beard. I wanted it to be nice and black for the audition so it matched my jet black hair. Then I dug out some awesome deep purple fingernail polish and did my nails so I looked very 80’s glam. Then I hit the shower to wash my hair. Then the real work began. I moussed my hair, blew it dry (while hanging my head upside down…just like I did in the 80’s) and then molded it, and sprayed it into place. I dug out my 80’s clothes, threw them in the car and headed to the audition. During an initial audition they look at a ton of guys. Then they narrow it down to 10 or so, and have them come back in a “call back” audition for more specific direction. While the casting people do the initial auditions, the director and producers are there for the “call backs.” Luckily traffic was really good, so I made it there early. I parked, put on my boots and jacket, and did a last-minute check in the mirror to fluff my hair and put on some “guyliner.” The audition went very well and was a lot of fun. The script had changed just a bit from the last time I did it. I ran into an old pal named Ron who was one of the Beetlejuices from back in the old Universal Studios days. He said he just went back to work there and is doing Beetlejuice again. After the audition, I changed back into my street clothes and drove back toward home. As I was driving home, my agency called and said I had been put on “avail” for the audition I just did. An “avail” is basically when the producers want you to keep the days open to do the job, without them actually having to book you for certain. At this point, they normally narrow it down to two or three guys, and will make their final decision a day or so before the shoot. They said the fitting would be on Wednesday afternoon, and the shoot would be on Thursday. Wow! They don’t waste any time in “on-camera!” In Voice-Over you do the audition and weeks may pass before they get around to doing the session. Quite a different world. I stopped at the drugstore to pick up a prescription for Shirley. When I dropped it off with her, she brought my out a bag with some spaghetti she made for me. Isn’t that sweet? I had just eaten Taco Bell, so I told her I’d heat it up for lunch tomorrow. I got inside and talked to an old friend on the phone for a long time. Then I grabbed a nap for a few hours. I did my auditions, and then wrote Wally’s Week. I made a pizza and watched “Lost In Space.”

Tuesday the 23rd – BOOKED! – When I got up at 1:30 in the afternoon I got a call from my agency saying that I had BOOKED the Dell TV commercial as the aging, 80’s rocker. TOO COOL! Their costumer called me to reconfirm my sizes so they could go pull appropriate costumes. My fitting time would be Wednesday at 1:45 in Culver City at the production office. Hard to believe that a few weeks ago everything was so drearily slow, and now it’s slam, bam, wham! That’s the way this industry goes. So immediately after my cartoon session on Wednesday morning I need to head over to Culver City for the fitting. Knowing that the commercial will shoot on Friday, and given the fact that my Wednesday would be extremely busy, I headed back to bed to rest up until the evening. I wanted to make sure to hit these next few days with as much stored energy as possible. It was a nice warm day, so it was very pleasant napping weather. Later in the evening my pal Brittney Powell came over and we headed to Jerry’s Famous Deli for dinner. My assistant Sara came over to meet us. I headed back home to spend the rest of the evening doing my Voice-Over auditions, and pulling all my 80’s clothes out of my collection to see if they wanted to use any of them for the commercial. The costumer told me to bring whatever I had. I hit the hay early to be up for a cartoon session first thing in the morning.

Wednesday the 24th – BUTCH MAGUIRE LIVES! – The cartoon session began at Studiopolis at 9am, so I got up around 8 and headed over. We worked the full four hour session until 1. I screamed out of the session and headed home to change clothes and head to my fitting in Culver City. Luckily I had pre-loaded all of my 80’s clothes in my car the night before. I hit the freeway and made it in pretty good time! They tried all sorts of costumes on me, and putting on all those 80’s threads was making it all come back to me. When I did my short film “Livin’ On a Prayer” several years ago, I created an “aging 80’s rocker” character named Butch Maguire. The character in this Dell commercial is basically Butch, and putting on all those great clothes again was very familiar. I had fun changing from costume to costume to costume, and mugging for the costumer’s camera in total character. Of all the 80’s clothes I brought, they decided only to keep a pair of fingerless gloves, a belt with chains on it, and a pair of boots. An actor/comedian named Nick Thune walked into the office and he said, “Hey, I know you!” I said, “Yes! I was the announcer on “The Tonight Show” for four years!” Nick had performed on “The Tonight Show” many times and I had seen him there often. What a small world! We chatted for a while and got caught up. He’s the spokesman for this campaign, so I’ll be working with him on Friday. He’s a great guy! I loaded everything back up in my car and headed to Campo’s for lunch. From the moment I found out I got the gig, I decided to only eat salads until the shoot. But since I was on the west side of L.A., I just had to have lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant. Ok…so I cheated. Since I wanted to get right home I decided to eat in my car on the way home. The traffic wouldn’t be moving very quickly anyway, so I’d have plenty of time to eat it. I got home and walked Roxy, did a few auditions, and then headed right back out the door for a meeting at Jerry’s Famous Deli. My friend Harlan was in town from North Dakota and had a great idea for a reality show. I put him in touch with my pal Kevin Castro, the producer of my webseries “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys.” I wanted Kevin to hear Harlan’s idea. But at the meeting I got super tired, almost like somebody put something in my food! But it was like I hit a wall. So while they talked amongst themselves I pulled my cap over my eyes and “meditated” for a bit in the booth. It had been quite a whirlwind the past few days. I got home and napped for a few hours, and then got up to record more auditions. I decided against putting my 80’s clothes away quite yet, just in case they call last-minute and want me to bring something. I worked around the house and then made a huge salad. I hit the hay to eat dinner and watch another episode of “Lost In Space.”

Thursday the 25th – “KNIFE SEEN IT ALL!” – I decided to enjoy a leisurely day for what was assuredly going to be a very busy Friday. I walked Roxy down to the Studio Café to meet with my friend Trent from Chicago. He’s one of my agents, and was in town for a friend’s wedding. It was fun sitting around and chatting. I ran into fellow Dadkotan and VO artist Shadoe Stevens. What a nice guy! Back in the late 80’s, when he was on “Hollywood Squares,” my mom was a huge fan of his. So when my folks came out to visit I took her to his office for a surprise meeting. He was so nice to her and they took a great picture together. I reminded him of that meeting and thanked him again for being so nice. Swell guy! He’s originally from North Dakota, but his family had a hardware store in South Dakota for a period of time. And his family was big in the South Dakota/North Dakota broadcasting industry back in the 70’s. It was a gorgeous day; nice and warm. It almost makes up for all those super cold days we suffered through in December and January. I drove to my box to pick up some mail, and then headed over to the hardware store to get some supplies. As I was sitting in my car about ready to take off, I saw a woman park her car on the street, get out of her car to let her daughter out, and then pick something up from the base of a tree on the sidewalk and throw it in the trash. It looked just like a knife! I asked her, “What was that you just threw away?” She said, “A knife. I didn’t want my daughter to touch it.” I replied, “You touched it and put your prints on it?” She said, “I guess so.” I jumped out of the car and looked in the trash can. Sure enough, it was a big, long knife. I told her we’d better call the cops just to be sure. This could be innocent enough, but it could also have been used in some sort of crime. I talked to an officer and he said he would send someone over right away. But I couldn’t wait to meet them. I headed to Big 5 to buy a 20 pound hand weight for the shoot on Friday. Since they would have me in a sleeveless leather vest, I wanted to make sure to pump up the biceps as best as possible so they didn’t look so “lazy” on camera. I got a call from the production company with my call time. 6AM!?? Wow! I can’t believe people actually get up that early! But I’ll be there. She said it most likely wouldn’t be an all-day shoot, so in a lot of ways I’m glad I’m at the first part of the day so I can have the afternoon to myself. I got home and watched the debate, and got some stuff packed for the next day to take to the studio. I fed Roxy early, walked her, and then hit the hay around 11. But I didn’t sleep very well. I literally woke up every hour and looked at the clock.

Friday the 26th – YEAH!!! – After a night of tossing and turning, I finally woke up around 4:30 am and started my day. I threw a few last-minute things in my bag and hit the road to Hollywood for the Dell shoot. I got there at 6, lugged my stuff inside and loaded it into my dressing room. I had a piece of coffee cake and a banana for breakfast, and then I headed right into hair and make-up. The make-up/hair gal was Roz Music, daughter of Voice-Over legend Lorenzo Music (the original voice of Garfield the Cat!). We had fun chatting about her father as we worked. The casting person on this commercial was Leilani Music, who is also Lorenzo’s daughter. It indeed is a VERY small world! I got into make-up and hair, and got my costume on. They wanted to start with me on set at 7am, and by 7:06 I was there and ready to go (they had to do a last-minute hair adjustment on me which took an extra 6 minutes). But all was going according to schedule! NICE! Jared the director set up my close-up shots to start the day, and we starting shooting takes. The crew was really amazing and top notch. Everybody was so nice. I don’t often do on-camera stuff, but when I do I usually have a pretty good time. We worked on my solo shots for about an hour and a half, and Nick Thune came on to the set so we could do our scenes together. Between takes we had tons to talk about, particularly our “Tonight Show” connection. Like me, he hasn’t seen or talked to Jay Leno since we ended the show nearly two years ago. One of my scenes required me to sing “Yeaaah” into the camera, and then dip below the frame. After about 20 takes of that, my thighs were starting to revolt. I figured it was going to be a tough weekend, as the muscles would probably be pretty sore for the next 48 hours, but I didn’t care. I was having too much fun. My character sings the word “Yeah” in a variety of different ways. There was a keyboard player on the set giving me the right notes to sing. It was a total blast! Right around noon we finished up with my scenes and I was wrapped. I recorded a few voice-mail messages for the 4 year old son of one of the ad execs; one as Jon Arbuckle, and the other as Cubot from “Sonic Boom.” It was a really great group of people to work with. They said that lunch was going to be served at 12:30 and even though I was wrapped, I was welcome to stay for lunch. It was going to be nice to eat something other than salads! I sat at a table with two of the make-up gals, and they said, “You know who Jared (the director) is, right?” I didn’t know. She said he wrote and directed “Napoleon Dynamite,” among other big films. “NAPOLEON DYNAMITE?” I said. “I LOVE that movie!” I’m almost kind of glad I didn’t know that BEFORE we worked together. I may have been a little nervous. He’s definitely a KING of comedy! That would explain the quirky, funny tone of these commercials. Lisa the producer is going to save me the storyboards from the commercial. Apparently their artist had drawn me into the storyboards based on my audition tapes. They have the boards posted on the set so everyone can see which shots they need to get, and which ones they have in the can. Every time a shot is finished, they draw a red X through the frame of the storyboard. Lisa said she would get me a clean copy, but I told her the board with the red X on them adds authenticity and collectability to the piece. She said they would even have Jared and Nick sign it for me. Too cool! The make-up gals said they noticed that Jared and I had a great working relationship, and that we were of a similar mind on the scenes we shot. They said it all went so well that the shoot was actually AHEAD of schedule, and the crew was very happy about that. I loaded my stuff into my car and headed home. I was excited, but exhausted. I got home and took a short nap, then got up to feed the pets and then laid around and relaxed. My legs were definitely starting to rebel, and I was feeling it. Walking was OK, but going up and especially DOWN stairs was particularly painful. My friends Jasmine and Mykaelle came over for a visit, but only had a few minutes to say hi as they were heading out for the night. I napped some more until about 1:30am. I got up and hobbled around the house to get Roxy her dinner. To treat myself, I got some food from Denny’s to go, and I headed back home to slather up my legs with Ben Gay, take an anti-inflammatory and settle into bed with heating pads on my legs. What a fun day!! But it felt like somebody put my legs in a lawn mower!

Saturday the 27th – OUTPACED BY AN 89 YEAR OLD! – Since my friend Shirley would be out of town for the next few days, celebrating her 89th birthday with her family, I wanted to take her out to a small birthday lunch. We got lunch at Panera and then got some groceries. But because my legs weren’t working so well, I had to tell her to slow down and wait for me! An 89 year old lady was outpacing me! We ate at Panera, but I honestly think I’m done with them. They stopped offering the Smokehouse Turkey on Three Cheese Break Panini a while back. So I tried their turkey bacon bonanza sandwich on tomato basil bread. Not quite the same, but I figured I’d give it a shot. When the sandwich arrived I opened it up to put mustard on it. Apparently the person who made the sandwich didn’t realize that it was a turkey BACON sandwich. The amount of bacon on the sandwich equaled the size of two quarters. How chincy! But having to get back up out of the booth to show the manager and complain was going to be more painful than just eating it and shutting up. We got groceries and then I took Shirley home. When I got back home I grabbed a short nap on the couch before my guests arrived for movie night. We watched the late 80’s classic “The Legacy” with Sam Elliot and Katharine Ross. I hadn’t seen it in about 20 years, and it was great seeing it in Blu Ray! After movie night I rested some more, and then got up to feed Roxy and take her for a long walk around the neighborhood. It felt good to get out and stretch my legs. Just going down stairs was hurting now, but walking felt OK. I went back inside to work around the house for a bit. I got ready to watch an episode of the old BBC show “The Avengers,” as is my usual Saturday night routine. But since I had been eating so many salads the past three days, I opted out of my normal giant Saturday night salad in favor of some lasagna. I’ll put away all my 80’s clothes when my legs feel better.

Sunday the 28th – SUNDAY SEDATION! – Around 2 I got up and did a bunch of work on the computer. Later I got ready for evening church and walked Roxy over for the service. The band sounded amazing and the music was spectacular! My legs were still a bit sore but not too bad. By Monday they should be back to normal. I grabbed a short nap on the couch when I got home, and then got up and did a bunch of auditions in my home studio. I did some more work around the house, and then made some food and watched a 2 part “Lost In Space” episode. What a great week!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK