Poppin' For America...
"Try it again... and do it even BIGGER, brighter this time. Don't be afraid."
Amid the stench of fish and the noisy bustle of a downtown waterfront area of Manhattan, I tried to summon the maximum amount of energy I had inside myself without sounding like a dope. It was my first time in front of the camera as the host of "American POP!," a new show that I'm hosting for MTV-Japan, and I was tense. Despite my jokes about being a goofy and queeny VJ, I found myself doing the job and wanting to be a tiny bit more cool than my director was asking me to be.
I tried my openning line again. Still too reserved. I felt my make-up run as I sweat like a pig... despite this afternoon's chilly fall breeze. I felt like I was blowing it. As Julie, my make-up girl, touched me up, the director put his arm around my shoulder and told me something that changed everything.
"Do you know how you got this job? It wasn't your line-reading. It was the enormous laugh you let out between takes during the audition. It was huge... and childlike... and totally engaging. We stood around the monitor and agreed that if we could bring out that guy who wasn't afraid to laugh so fully on camera, we had a hit. So, stop being afraid... be fearless."
And I got it. I smiled, then I snickered to myself, and then I scrunched my nose and stuck my tongue out at Julie as she tried to line my lips. "I think I'm ready now," I said. The camera started to roll and I did the intro so big, so completely over-the-top, I cracked myself up. I could hear and feel my laugh bounce back into my face as it echoed around us. People started to stand around and watch us tape. I could see smiles on all of their faces as they tried to figure out what we were doing.
"There ya go!" the director said with a chuckle. "That's exactly what we need."
From there, two hours of taping flew by like a flash. I read and paraphrased the cheesiest video intros as if they were the funniest and most outrageous things you've ever heard. With each minute, I realized that by TRYING to be so uber-cool, I was a stiff flop. By pulling out my inner goofball and having fun with the material at hand, I was, indeed, totally cool. It was a great, enlightening experience.
I have nine more episodes to tape within the next couple of weeks. Now that I have it down, I can't wait to do it again.
Amid the stench of fish and the noisy bustle of a downtown waterfront area of Manhattan, I tried to summon the maximum amount of energy I had inside myself without sounding like a dope. It was my first time in front of the camera as the host of "American POP!," a new show that I'm hosting for MTV-Japan, and I was tense. Despite my jokes about being a goofy and queeny VJ, I found myself doing the job and wanting to be a tiny bit more cool than my director was asking me to be.
I tried my openning line again. Still too reserved. I felt my make-up run as I sweat like a pig... despite this afternoon's chilly fall breeze. I felt like I was blowing it. As Julie, my make-up girl, touched me up, the director put his arm around my shoulder and told me something that changed everything.
"Do you know how you got this job? It wasn't your line-reading. It was the enormous laugh you let out between takes during the audition. It was huge... and childlike... and totally engaging. We stood around the monitor and agreed that if we could bring out that guy who wasn't afraid to laugh so fully on camera, we had a hit. So, stop being afraid... be fearless."
And I got it. I smiled, then I snickered to myself, and then I scrunched my nose and stuck my tongue out at Julie as she tried to line my lips. "I think I'm ready now," I said. The camera started to roll and I did the intro so big, so completely over-the-top, I cracked myself up. I could hear and feel my laugh bounce back into my face as it echoed around us. People started to stand around and watch us tape. I could see smiles on all of their faces as they tried to figure out what we were doing.
"There ya go!" the director said with a chuckle. "That's exactly what we need."
From there, two hours of taping flew by like a flash. I read and paraphrased the cheesiest video intros as if they were the funniest and most outrageous things you've ever heard. With each minute, I realized that by TRYING to be so uber-cool, I was a stiff flop. By pulling out my inner goofball and having fun with the material at hand, I was, indeed, totally cool. It was a great, enlightening experience.
I have nine more episodes to tape within the next couple of weeks. Now that I have it down, I can't wait to do it again.