Everytime there are a lot of suicides in the news, or when I hear of a suicide occurring in my personal life, I always shake my head and try to understand what drove those individuals to something so drastic. This song always comes to mind. It’s “Never Surrender” by Corey Hart. It’s a great song from 1985 which has a much deeper meaning than your average 80’s tune. Listen to the lyrics carefully, or Google them. And if you know of someone who may be in danger of suicidal thoughts, go to i-Tunes and buy it for them. And remember…NEVER SURRENDER!
Monday the 1st – AN HISTORIC DAY! – Though I had been keeping it quiet until it actually happened, I have been asked to be the announcer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” To say this is a thrill of a lifetime would be understating it. It’s the thrill of a lifetime, a thrill of a career, a thrill to beat all thrills. I’m elated beyond elation, and I’m very thankful and blessed to be involved in this terrific show and with these wonderful people. In retrospect, the time I spent announcing “The Jay Leno Show” from September to February served as a five month audition. I slept until mid afternoon, since I had been up late the night before rehearsing my lines, and got ready to go back to NBC. I did a few test shows the previous week but this was the real thing. Many people were anticipating Jay’s return to “The Tonight Show” and chances were good that viewership was going to be VERY high. So I wanted to make sure I held up my end of the bargain. I got to NBC Stage 11 a little early, just to make sure I had all my ducks in a row. The taping of the show went off without a hitch, and it was good to see the planets aligning again. All was as it should be. When I got home I got some bank statements together to take to my tax guy the next day. Yessss, it’s that time of year again.
I shot this walking from the NBC parking lot to Stage 11, where the new “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” is filmed. It’s the first day!
Minutes before the taping starts, I rehearse the opening intro in my voice booth. The monitor will play the video intro so I can time the reading of the names with their appearance in the video. My script is taped to the right side of the monitor so my eyes can dart back and forth between the script and the video, and the little device in my hand is the microphone button. I push it and hold it while I’m talking. Though you can’t see it here, I’m wearing my “Tonight Show” t-shirt!
Tuesday the 2nd – A WHIRLWIND TUESDAY! – On my way to Elaine Craig Casting in Hollywood, I was listening to KFI-AM, a talk station here in Los Angeles. During the news report they did a story on the return of Jay Leno to “The Tonight Show.” They used a soundbite from the show of me announcing the opening! It’s weird to hear yourself on the radio like that when it’s a surprise. Of course, I just happened to be driving under an overpass at the time so I missed about 3 seconds of it. DRAT! But it sure was a thrill to hear it. I got to Elaine Craig Casting and also saw my pals Rob Paulsen and Daran Norris there. But seeing the legendary Mark Elliott was a real treat. He’s been the voice of Disney for years and years. One of the earliest jobs I had was to voicematch him for test promos for Disney videos. Since he is pretty expensive, the writers wanted to make sure they had final approval on their commercials before the called in the “big gun.” So they would hire me at scale to come in and do the promo….sometimes several times until they got it right. Had they hired him to come in repeatedly and do the spot, it would have cost them a fortune. I’ve always loved Mark Elliot’s work and his unique sound. I got home to check e-mail and do a few things, when my agent called. “Tonight” wanted me to come in early and record some comedy bits. So I headed in early and saw all sorts of black SUVs. I had forgotten that Sarah Palin was on the show, so that would explain all the extra security. It was cool watching the run-through of Jay and Sarah’s bit they were planning. For the first time, she did a monologue. Even if you didn’t see the actual show, I’m sure you saw clips from that on all the news channels. It was picked up by everyone from CNN to Fox! Those “Tonight” producers sure know how to keep it historic and groundbreaking! The taping went off without a hitch, and then I was on my way to the bank to deposit some checks. Then I went to my accountant’s office to meet about my taxes. I gave him the remainder of my materials, and now I just have to wait for him to crunch the numbers. But I was beat, so I went home to grab a nap. I’m trying to store up my sleep as much as possible this week, because I was starting to see my schedule for the following week stack up pretty high!
Wednesday the 3rd – “TONIGHT” DAY 3! – Again, I got called into NBC early to do some more voicers for comedy bits. It’s one of the aspects of this job I really enjoy. In addition to getting to announce the show open each night, I also get to participate in comedy bits doing a variety of voices…a fake promo announcer, a sports announcer, etc. When I finished the session, I had time to go get lunch with my friend Gil Christner. I hadn’t seen Gil in awhile, and he’s one of the funniest guys I know. We used to work together all the time at the Cutler Comedy Network and Premiere Comedy Network. Gil booked a huge campaign with IBM awhile back doing their TV commercials and print ads. He’s got one of those faces that you instantly recognize. When we finished I headed back to NBC to do the show. That evening I decided to stay in and rest, instead of go to the Meditational Service at church.
Thursday the 4th – ROAD TRIP! – I had an audition at a studio down in Redondo Beach, which is quite a ways away from where I live. So my friends Scott Sebring and Georgette came with me. It allowed us to take the carpool lane and make the drive quicker, plus when the audition was over we stopped at Robinson Beautilities in Mar Vista to see what other costumes we might be able to buy. But on the way there, my agent called and said that “Tonight” wanted me in around 1:00 to record more comedy bits. So it was going to be a small visit to Robinson’s. If you remember from previous Wally’s Week entries, I had purchased several original costumes owned by the Osmond brothers. In fact the only one I was missing was one of Alan Osmond’s. And I was aware that they had two really nice Alan jumpsuits. I ended up buying the nicer of the two, as well as a jumpsuit that Scott found belonging to Merrill.
My latest acquisitions. The brown jumpsuit belonged to Merrill Osmond, and the white jumpsuit was Alan’s. Now I have at least one outfit from each of the original Osmonds
I also bought a couple of Captain’s hats, a well as a few vintage tuxedo jackets. While I was shopping around, my agent called again and said they DIDN’T need me in early. This would allow me to shop a little more and even grab lunch with Scott and Georgette at my favorite Mexican restaurant in West LA called Campo’s. But just as I was paying for my items, my agent called a third time and said they DID need me in early. So we gathered our purchases and headed down the road. Luckily the traffic to NBC was pretty good and I actually got there a little early. I had my agent phone in passes for Scott and Georgette so when I was finished with the session, we could all grab lunch at the NBC commissary. I walked in and the group Lifehouse was doing their soundcheck. They did it twice and sounded terrific each time! I congratulated the guys in the band on a terrific run-through and a really catchy tune. They seem like really nice guys! I was looking forward to their performance on the show later that night. When lunch was over I took Scott and Georgette back to my house, had a second to walk Sassie and then went right back to NBC for the taping of the show. WHEW!
Friday the 5th – FRIDAY FINALLY! – My pal Sara stopped over in the afternoon for a bit so we could discuss what we would be wearing to a wedding on Saturday. Then I went to NBC for the “Tonight” taping. When I got done I went back home, grabbed a nap, and got up around 9:30. I picked Sara up and we went to eat at The Counter, a really cool hamburger place in Studio City. Afterwards we walked over to the pharmacy across the street so I could pick up a prescription. “Ike” the pharmacist was telling me about a cold remedy he was working on that included a lot of herbs…his own recipe. I told him I was VERY interested in his progress on this, as a bad cold can sideline me detrimentally. That evening I sorted through my costume collection to find an appropriate outfit for the wedding. I dug through several things before finally deciding on my ensemble.
My ducks are back at my pool! Periodically a gang of ducks come swim in our pool and hang out. They seem to come more frequently when it’s rainy. The most recent group has been three males and one female. This is one of the males chilling by the water on a gloomy day.
Here is Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley (Drake and Betty). Not sure why I named them that, but these are the two that seem to keep returning. They seem very tame and it’s fun to feed them bread.
Saturday the 6th – WEDDING BELLS! – My old pal Matt Weinhold and his fiancée Carrie Sororkin were tying the knot. They had an “old Hollywood” theme, so most everybody was dolled up in vintage suits, tuxedos and gowns. It was great! The locale was the Silent Movie Theatre, a venue I used to rent all the time for my movie parties. In fact, I think part of the reason they rented that for the wedding was that Matt came to many of my parties and knew the layout fairly well. Their wedding was everything I had hoped my wedding would be back in 1983, but wasn’t. It was fun, festive, wacky, and unique. Everyone was having a great time! Stand-up comic Dana Gould (a guy for whom both Matt and I had worked on the old MTV show “Super Adventure Team!”) was the presiding minister, having gotten his accreditation on-line from the Church of Universal Life. They opened with a movie clip from the old Vincent Price movie “The Tingler.” The vows were funny, but meaningful. Carrie looked stunning, and the wedding party were adorned in everything from vintage tuxedos to smoking jackets. I had considered wearing one of my vintage 70’s tuxedos, but decided instead on an inverness cloak, a black double breasted suit, a 1920’s looking white shirt and bowtie, and a black fedora. People were calling me Dracula. I probably should have worn one of the old ’70’s tuxes, but it was fine.
Comic Dana Gould gets ready to officiate over Matt and Carrie’s wedding.
The best man delivers the rings, and Matt and Carrie exchange vows.
Sara and I looking dapper in our vintage duds.
After the wedding I went home, grabbed a nap and got up in time for Blu Ray Trek with my pals later that night. When it was over I stayed up all night doing stuff around the house, and then retiring by watching a couple episodes of “Get Smart” from the Season 4 DVD set. What a fun day!
Sunday the 7th – PREP SLEEP! – In preparation for a VERY busy week to come, I slept late, got up to walk Sassie, then went back to bed. I was storing my rest since I knew it would be minimal in the coming week. I got up in time for evening church. Since it was Oscar night I knew that many of my friends would be staying in and watching the telecast, so I just grabbed some Taco Bell and headed home. I had no interest in the Oscars, so I just listened to the radio for awhile and then grabbed a nap. I knew I would be up all night paying bills, doing auditions and taking care of things around the house.
And how was YOUR week??!!
