The Megan Show:
Backstage Buzz and Other Stuff
   
Our first Halloween show; how Spookalicious! Made-up words
aside, this was a highly anticipated show among the staff. Our
set went through a major overhaul at the hands of our art
department. Though many of us didn't set eyes on the new digs
till show-day , there was more than a few meetings about cobwebs
and celebrities rising out of coffins.
When you think Halloween, of course, you think costumes - and
today's show had its fair share. Our stellar hair, makeup and
wardrobe departments were working on upwards of four people at a
time in a room that typically accommodates two. They might have
done too good a job on our Hunchback, who sent several of our
'Kid Halloween' models fleeing into their parents' arms.
Unfazed, our hunchback set out to roam the set; ushering
audience members to their seats prior to showtime.
Near the dressing room area, several staffers toyed with Kevin
Federline's prop chainsaw, and drifted into a conversation about
all time best horror flicks.
Meanwhile, Neil Patrick Harris could be spotted backstage
meticulously applying faux blood stains to his matador costume.
Curious onlookers watched Neil perfect his entrance in front of
a mirror; carefully arching his back and unraveling the tattered
cape. The question was raised, just how does a matador wear his
hat? A staffer shrugged and admitted, it sort've looks silly
either way.
INSIDE INFO: It's safe to say that productivity comes to a
grinding halt when there are wild animals around. While
backstage is normally abuzz with producers and crew darting
about, no one can resist an adorable black panther...or a not so
adorable Tarantula.
Our audience certainly got their price of admission today. The
legendary Meat Loaf was here to do a couple of numbers. You'd be
hard pressed to find a musician as fun and playful as Meat.
During morning rehearsal, I caught him teaching some 'TV 101' to
a younger band member. Meat carefully explained why an 'X' is
taped down to the stage by his microphone; (if talent goes
outside the mark, the shot our director has painstakingly chosen
will lose focus).
Meat Loaf and Megan's rehearsal for 'Paradise by the Dashboard
Light' resulted in some improvised fun where Meat - in the
spirit of the song - grabs Megan by the hand and runs off stage.
It got such a good reception from the producers and crew, that
Meat ended up doing it live on the show, albeit with a little
more gusto.
You might have noticed Jamie Kennedy mentioning how close he and
Megan were sitting on the couch. For most of our guests, when
you watch them enter on the show, that's the first time they are
seeing our stage. However, there is a photo of the set situated
just off stage, intended to help guests expecting the familiar
desk and chair setup to navigate the floor.
Jeffrey Sebelia made his second trip our humble home today.
Jeffrey was here a couple of weeks ago to shoot a taped piece
with his 'Project Runway' cohorts. The night before, Jeffery was
declared the winner, but didn't tell a soul during the entire
day of shooting in our upstairs offices. Three meals went in and
out of our conference room that day, and I made a mental note to
get involved with more taped pieces; if only for the breakfast,
lunch and dinner.
INSIDE INFO: It was like a scene out of an Aaron Sorkin pilot.
Megan was rushed off in one direction to change into Sharon
Osbourne, while Jamie Kennedy was whisked away into another.
Minutes later, Jamie emerged from our greenroom dressed as Ozzy.
As the two frantically raced back to stage, they consulted with
their
respective producers for last minute changes and nearly collided
head on. It was the first time either had seen each other
dressed up, and good laughs were had by all.
The 'Claymates' were out in full force today. These enthusiastic
Clay Aiken supporters traveled from far and wide to see their
man. Hundreds of women lined up along Sunset Boulevard vying for
a chance to get one of the coveted tickets. One Claymate we met
chalked up over 3,000 miles while traveling to record signings,
talk show appearances and other Clay related happenings.
We also tried out something new today called 'Final Exam' where
a lucky audience member jotted down notes all show and was
subject to a pop quiz at the end. What you didn't see was our
writer/producer pair frantically taking their own notes in our
downstairs greenroom, (a room you may recognize from our Clay
Aiken cold open - it's multifunctional!).
You may have noticed Jesse Bradford asking Megan if he could "do
that entrance again", much to the audience's chagrin. This
little inside joke refers to a slight technical snafu Jesse had
upon his first try at the couch. His wireless microphone rubbed
up against the fabric of his sweater, creating a loud crackling
sound. After a minute or so of this, we decided to do it all
over again.
By the end of the show, our writer/producer team had come up
with literally dozens of trivia questions for our 'Final Exam'
contestant, which were widdled down to five, scribbled on blue
cards and handed to Megan during the commercial break.
INSIDE INFO: Audience games like 'Final Exam' are often
rehearsed on stage using actual staff members as stand in's for
the contestants. Since all our offices have TV's with a 'live
feed' that shows what's happening on-stage; you're sure to
receive ridicule from fellow staffers if you flub up a
rehearsal.
This is the show many fans have been anticipating since the
phrase 'Megan Mullally Show' was first uttered; the reunion of
Megan and her former 'Will & Grace' co-star Sean Hayes. Sean was
in great spirits when he arrived on the lot today. A greeter
from the talent department escorted Sean to his dressing room,
and he jokingly requested a dozen waters immediately. Not to be
outdone on the wisecracking, Megan feigned surprise when she
opened Sean's dressing room door - claiming she remembered
telling someone to cancel that booking.
From there, it was onto the greenroom for some good ol'
fashioned comedy. Much of the dialogue between Megan and Sean
was improvised on the spot during the taping of our cold open.
It was great fun to watch these two seasoned comedic actors
enjoying their craft. Each successive take was funnier and
funnier. If it were up to Megan, Sean and the dozen or so
onlookers, we would've done another five or six takes, (it
doesn't hurt that our cold opens always seem to happen by our
savory craft service spread). But alas, we had a show to do.
The upstairs dressing rooms felt like a kennel today, with
puppies wandering aimlessly down the hall. Some belonged to
Cesar Milan while the two poodles - Willa and Elmo - call our
host mommy. You won't find two dogs calmer than Megan's.
Backstage they sit nestled in her assistant's arms for minutes
at a time without so much as a sneeze. I was amazed that
backstage, amidst all the chaos and noise, they didn't even bark
once. After the segment, Cesar and Sean Hayes chatted for a bit
about 'Dog Whisperer' in the hair and make-up room. Meanwhile
Willa and Elmo were content to be out of the spotlight.
He writes the songs that make the whole world sing - or at least
the Megan Mullally Show audience. The incomparable Barry Manilow
made his show debut today; and if I may say so - that man is
tall. From the looks of it, our staff and crew have more than a
few closet Manilow fans; and maybe a few converts after today.
During afternoon soundcheck, our stage manager Jonathan grabbed
the hand-mic and in a fit of improptu Kareoke, serenaded the
crew with the first line of 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You'.
Then, Jonathan got more bashful and stepped out of the
spotlight. But our performance wasn't over! Our burly stagehand
Edwin seized the opportunity and belted out the remainder of the
song to raucous applause in studio. Edwin signed off by
encouraging viewers to join him at The Las Vegas Hilton, where
apparently he'll be all week. I can only hope someone in the
control booth had the foresight to save this video gem, to be
replayed on a giant plasma screen at the Christmas party.
Perhaps as an ode to Barry, we played Robert Palmer's perennial
hit 'Simply Irresistible' for the house audience during our
commercial break. To my knowledge, this was one of the few times
our audience remained standing throughout the entire break,
craning their necks forward to get a better glimpse of Manilow.
While Barry crooned and broke hearts downstairs, our eleven and
twelve year old ballroom dancers were upstairs enjoying much too
much complimentary soda. Maybe this was the boost that made
their segment so entertaining.
INSIDE INFO: Sequin shirts and Manilow buttons dotted most of
our audience today. My personal favorite piece of 'Fanilow'
memorabilia was a row long banner reading "We Can't Take Our
Eyes of Off You".
Turns out, Mark Harmon's a big fan of our 'West Elm' designed
dressing rooms. After stepping offstage, Mark kicked his feet up
and enjoyed some relaxing time in the dressing room talking to a
colleague. In the past, we've heard celebrities refer to them as
"Gorgeous", "Adorable" and "So much nicer than my living room".
Melora Hardin made a second appearance on the show today; she
was kind enough to come on one of our 'test shows' back in
August. Test shows are basically a dry run of the real thing. No
one ever sees it except for the hundred or so audience members
and a handful of NBC executives in neckties.
Some female staffers were backstage swooning at the site of
Melora's own suit by Diane Von Furstenberg.
Also on the show today, the impeccably talented 'Hop Star'. One
of our human interest PA's tells me one of their dancers got
pretty banged up last July and literally broke his back. Seems
to me that he made a full recovery; not one dancer missed a
beat!
Our talent greeter came out the big winner today. She extended
her hand to heartthrob Antonio Sabato Jr. for a traditional
hello, but he opted for a peck on the cheek instead. How do you
do!
Next up, was Woman's Day consumer editor Robyn Moreno who
displayed some innovative uses for common household items.
Brett, our resident music director was genuinely surprised when
Megan offered to shave his leg with olive oil. Though Megan was
intent on doing it before the segment, it was news to Brett.
Kevin Nealon, from Weeds stopped by today and joked about some
of the items he received in our gift bag, including a cape.
Though the gift bag has become synonymous with talk shows, it's
really just a nice thank you to guests who were kind enough to
take time out of their hectic schedule to come on the show.
Guests of the Megan Mullally Show actually receive one of
Megan's favorite items, Bedhead Pajamas!
This week kicked off with Megan's birthday and Megan celebrated
in high fashion. Everyone in the office had been prepping for
weeks. Cheryl Hines contributed a hilarious piece about taking
over the office that we managed to film the day before in secret
- completely under Megan's nose. We managed to sneak a camera
crew in while Megan was shooting a show. She didn't even know
Cheryl was on the lot.
After the taping, the staff all crowded onto the stage for a
real birthday party, complete with cake and champagne. Everyone
had a great time, trading stories and dirty jokes while Megan
spun donuts around the studio in the Segway Cheryl gave her --
nearly taking out the bandstand in the process! Soon after,
somebody turned on some music, and what was supposed to be a
quick celebration turned into a late-night affair.
Despite the late-night shenanigans, everyone managed to regroup
for the next day's show which featured one of Megan's favorite
guests - David Hyde Pierce. A lot of guests come on a talk show
ready to chat, but not all of them come ready to play. David
Hyde Pierce is definitely a guest who comes to play. With just a
few minutes to prep, David quickly came up with a hysterical bit
about how to choreograph a death scene onstage. Within seconds,
he had Megan rolling on the floor (literally) while everyone was
busting up with laughter.
Backstage, 11 year-old Taylor Ware showed off her yodeling
skills in the green room, and she passed on some yodeling tips
to E.R.'s Linda Cardellini.
INSIDE INFO: The green room is the room backstage where guests
can wait and relax together when they're not onstage. Although
there's a number of theories, no one seems to know the origin of
the term. Some speculate that the name refers to limelight
(greenish, early stage lighting). Others have said that it is a
corrupted nickname of the 'agreeing room' - as the room behind
the stage was previously used to cut deals. Regardless, everyone
now knows that it is the best place to hobnob with the talent
and score the best snacks.
Tom Arnold roared into the studio- a bundle of energy. He
confided that he wanted to use all of his energy for the day for
the show, and he wasn't kidding. He drank three Diet Cokes in
about twenty minutes before heading to the stage.
Coincidentally, we learned the night before we taped that Tom
and fellow guest Dax Shepard are actually close friends in real
life. We had no idea and neither realized that the other was
booked until the day before. We had to seize the opportunity, so
we quickly threw together the "Newlyfriend Game" so they could
show off their intimate knowledge of one another. As fun as it
was, you should have heard some of the stories they told about
each other once the cameras were off.
Later that week, Reba McIntire came on and she couldn't have
been nicer. A lot of our guests are down to earth, and
easygoing, but they're usually so rushed that you barely get a
chance to catch a glance of them. Reba made sure to walk around
the set and literally say ‘hi' to every staffer around.
Monday's reality show extravaganza was a ton of fun - Megan is a
reality show junkie and couldn't wait to get all her favorite
contestants together in one show. We actually had to tape that
day's show an hour earlier than normal because "So You Think You
Can Dance" champion Benji Schwimmer had a charity event that he
was hosting. Megan was so psyched to see Benji that she didn't
mind juggling the schedule.
Probably the highlight of the show was the obstacle course
competition at the end. Megan had actually hurt her ankle, so
she was supposed to just referee the event, but once she got out
there she couldn't resist taking part. She was sore afterward,
but it was worth it.
Megan paid a visit to the set of the hit show "Heroes" and had a
blast with all of the cast members. She had so much fun joking
around with Adrian Pasdar, in fact, that said he had to be here
when we aired the tape of the visit (we were, of course, happy
to comply). As entertaining as the piece turned out to be, there
were quite a few things we didn't get to show. For instance,
Megan secretly brought along an advance copy of the People
Magazine that named Masi Oka and Greg Grunberg as TV's Sexiest
Newcomers (naturally, she teased them mercilessly about it). We
also "accidentally" wandered into some Top Secret areas of their
sets, and "accidentally" found out a bunch of the secret
developments for the rest of their season. As you can imagine,
the "Heroes" producers swore us to secrecy, so we can't say a
word (drop us an e-mail and maybe we'll give you a hint).
Tom Green was also on, and he was as outrageous as ever. He was
actually walking for the first time since getting his cast off
after breaking his leg skateboarding, so he was having a little
trouble getting around. To make matters worse, the dressing
rooms for our guests are up a flight of stairs. He thought he
might have to get down on all fours just to make it down. One of
our producers jokingly offered to carry him on her back, and he
immediately accepted (she quickly rescinded the offer when she
saw that he was serious).
Our bass player Kevin helped us out with "Date My Band" where we
set him up with an audience member for a date during the show.
The joke was that the date was to take place entirely in the
studio during the taping of the show, and we filmed them having
a few romantic moments (having dinner together, etc.). However,
Kevin and Jessica hit it off so well and had such a good time
chatting, I wouldn't be surprised if he took her out on a real
date later. We'll have to check in with him later to see if
Megan made a real love connection.
As a funny aside - for one of the comic moments, we had Kevin
and Jessica ride a tandem bicycle together. We could only shoot
one take of it, and Jessica had never ridden a tandem bike
before. As it turns out, tandem bikes are harder than they look,
and Jessica was terrified.
John Stamos stopped by this week and all our female staffers'
hearts were aflutter. Suddenly, it seemed as if all the office
workers had an excuse to be down on set. John didn't disappoint
either, as he was, as one staffer said "an irrepressible flirt".
He was also, as another staffer called him, "smokin' smokin'
hot".
For those of us eager to take in the scenery, that show had even
more to offer because we also had
singer-rapper-actor-model-ulta-hottie Tyrese stop by. Tyrese was
great and very friendly, but probably our favorite
behind-the-scenes moment was when we found out that his drummer
Richard accidentally parked in our Executive Producer Corin's
parking spot. Corin thought it was hysterical, but Tyrese and
Richard were so embarrassed and we teased them mercilessly.
Nathan Burton also came by again this week and performed some
more amazing tricks. Whenever Nathan comes by, I always go down
and watch him rehearse, hoping that maybe I can figure out how
he creates his illusions (during the rehearsal, he's a little
more casual - plus I'm able to get as close as I want and watch
him from whatever angle I choose). Well, I'm sad to report, that
in the course of his two visits, I've watched Nathan practice
ten different tricks, and I still don't have any idea how he
does any of the things he does. Maybe he really is magic.
The hysterical Jeffrey Tambor stopped by, and he couldn't have
been nicer. I talked his ear off about his hilarious roles on
"The Larry Sanders Show" and "Arrested Development" (two of my
all-time favorite shows), and he was kind enough to patiently
answer all of my incessant questions. He was so sweet, in fact,
that when he asked our talent greeter if she could get him an
espresso (he would have gotten it himself, but I wouldn't stop
talking his ear off), he spent the next twenty minutes worrying
that she might be offended that he had asked her to do it for
him. Of course, Abigail has had to fulfill a lot more demanding
(and oddball) requests than this (remember - we've had Andy Dick
as a guest).
Meanwhile, poor Tisha Cambell Martin had laryngitis when she
came, so she could only communicate in pantomime backstage
because she was trying to save her voice. Luckily, she made a
game of it, so anytime she wanted to ask a question, it was like
playing Charades. "Okay, I think she wants a glass of water -
no, no, potato chips! Or some oysters!" She was a good sport.
Judy Reyes's character on "Scrubs" recently had a baby, and
while Judy hasn't had kids of her own yet, she sure looks like
she's had a good time researching her role. She spent all of her
time here playing of the floor of her dressing room with the
eight month old son of her publicist. They were rolling around
and laughing the entire time.
On Friday, Rhea Perlman was here and she really couldn't have
been sweeter. It was almost jarring because she's the total
opposite of the gruff character she made famous on "Cheers".
Rhea is totally aware that people always expect her to be quick
with the surly put-down, and she gets a kick out of the fact
that her public image is so different from what she's really
like. She also cackled as she dished about her husband Danny
Devito's infamous appearance on "The View". She thought it was
hilarious and she also shared a couple more tales of their stay
at the White House. Of course, these are tales too ticklish to
print here.
"Beverly Hills 90210" vixen Jennie Garth was here and she was
totally down to earth. A couple staffers were hardcore 90210
fanatics and she handled their giddy fannish fawning with grace
and, more importantly, extreme tolerance. She even graciously
signed a DVD set for an audience member, one of our writers,
which Wendy swears was "for a friend" (yeah, right). Jennie was
truly surprised by her old classmate Tori Spelling's video
appearance as Jennie had literally been at her house the day
before and Tori hadn't let on at all. After Jennie successfully
fended off all her admirers (seriously, Wendy, get a life), she
made a point to get a copy of fellow guest Ahmet Zappa's new
children's book for her daughter.
"Ghost Whisperer" heartthrob David Conrad was psyched to be on
the show with "Borat" star Ken Davitian. David had seen "Borat"
three times and was a huge fan - eager to hear behind-the-scenes
stories about how they managed to mount their outrageous stunts.
Coincidentally, David was also close friends with one of the
cameramen on "Borat", so Ken and David hung out quite a bit
(while walking by, I overheard Ken telling David that in the
movie, the producers just told him to make up whatever he wanted
when he wasn't speaking English, so he mostly spoke a mix of
Armenian, Hebrew, and utter gibberish).
Usually, one of our producers will call our guests and
brainstorm some ideas about things they might want to do with
Megan when they come on the show. When our producer Jen (do you
remember her singing on our segment of "My Staff's Got Talent"?)
called Alfre Woodard, Alfre was at the East L.A. Flower Mart
shopping for one of her flower arrangements that she has become
famous among her friends for creating. Alfre quickly suggested
that she could teach Megan to create one of these arrangements
on her own (I bet you I know what Megan's giving out this year
for Christmas).
Achy Breaky country star Billy Ray Cyrus had a unique way of
prepping for his appearance. Right before he stepped on stage,
he strapped on his guitar, tuned it up and went into the
bathroom to rehearse. I wasn't sure if it was for the acoustics
or for the atmosphere. Hopefully, the acoustics.
The only way to describe Richard Simmons in person is to imagine
what he's like on his talk show appearances, and then multiply
the energy level by eleven. Richard must have talked to every
single person in the building. I don't mean just the crew - I
mean every single person in the building - staffers, security,
secretaries, audience members, etc. He kissed the hand of every
female he met and spontaneously sang to any person who made eye
contact with him. He then stood by the craft service table and
teased the staff and crew mercilessly about unhealthy food
choices. Finally, when the show was finished, he mounted a grand
farewell, blowing kisses to everyone from the window of his car.
bet if we hooked wires up to Richard, we could end the energy
crisis.
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