Had a great trip to LA from April 16th to 20th. My good friends the DVL (Desiree), Tim, and their daughter Little E (Elizabeth) hosted me again and I really do owe those guys so much – I can’t wait to have them come out to the Berkshires to stay with us for however long they want to: weeks, month, etc. and I’m serious about that.
They again let me use their home as a base as I ran all over Hollywood and Burbank like a madman for 4 days. It started out with going on the set of E!’s “The Soup” which is shot on the same set as all of E!’s programs – they have an amazingly compact soundstage with easily configurable sets. The actual set of “The Soup” is a green screen and a TV monitor in front of which host Joel McHale does his dynamic act. I put together a little video (below) of interviews with the producers, KP Anderson and Edward Boyd, and a snippet of Joel McHale. I loved their dynamic team of writers and staff who were in the wings during the entire taping – available for quick huddles of rewrites. Andrew Zimmern was the special guest and he performed admirably. Being at the taping was a privilege and I have huge respect for that crew. Go Soup!
The TV Junkie Goes to E!’s “The Soup” from Tom Lewis on Vimeo.
Friday the 17th was spent going to New Wave Entertainment to interview producers and comics involved with the creation of “NESN’s Comedy All Stars”. I interviewed comedy producer legend Barry Katz (creator of “Action”, “Last Comic Standing”, about a jillion HBO comedy specials, etc.) and comedians Jen Kober, Al Del Bene, and Freddy Lockhart. I’ll be editing those videos for the next few weeks (I’ve got hours of footage). It was a pleasure to talk to all of these people – total pros, very friendly, and very funny!
Saturday I took a bit of a break – got my equipment ready, ran up into the Hollywood Hills, went to Santa Monica with Desiree just to hang out and chill, and then went to dinner with AJ who was visiting LA from Brooklyn, and the infamous Tony Pierce, and the ever mysterious Jeanine Natale. Everyone was very kind to me, Tony bought my dinner as a payback from his visit back East (totally unnecessary!) and AJ bought us all drink. I’ve known these people for 20 years now and they are still so real and supportive, how fortunate can I be?
Sunday was pandemonium as I went to the TV Land Awards. It was easily 100F in the red carpet arrival area where I was stationed. They didn’t provide enough space for the journalists so we were standing all over each other. I was incredibly dehydrated after soaking all my clothes with sweat and was amazined that any of the actors would choose to walk that gauntlet to talk to such a bedraggled bunch as we were. I still count myself fortunate for the experience as I was able to talk to a pretty amazing set of people. Check out the video below, I still can’t believe it happened.
The TV Junkie at the 2009 TV Land Awards from Tom Lewis on Vimeo.
After TV Land I got out of my soaking clothes and popped another tape in the camera to go interview comedian Jon Lajoie who is an internet sensation. Jon creates these absolutely hilarious videos and is a real artist who does so very much with very few resources. He’s on tour and will be hitting Boston this week. Even though he was incredibly jet-lagged he conceded to do a walk-and-talk through Hollywood with me. Below is the result:
Comedian Jon Lajoie Walks & Talks in Hollywood from Tom Lewis on Vimeo.
More tomorrow!
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