Unusually Thicke with the Common People

“Unusually Thicke”

Last week, Alan Thicke and his wife, Tanya, visited our ET Canada studio to not only promote their new reality comedy show, “Unusually Thicke,” but to allegedly co-host our show.

Now I say allegedly because our best-laid plans with celebrities (from A-list down to the D-list) usually go awry. Unlike Ellen DeGeneres, we can’t make our stars dance on cue or play guessing games with the studio audience.

Our studio guests are always a gamble. We often have TV couples (both on-screen or off-screen) who agree to play some form of The Newlywed Game  only to back down once they see our questions – because they’re often too personal. We even recently had an ’80s star who didn’t want to talk about the ’80s that made her famous.

Now sometimes… our guests are pleasant surprises. TV legend, Ted Danson, was particularly excellent. Perhaps because I kept referring to him as “Mister Danson” whenever I spoke to him over the loudspeaker. “Excuse me, Mister Danson? Do you mind…”

He even jumped out of his seat with a laugh and shook Rick Campanelli’s hand when I wrote the following intro to his studio interview:

TED DANSON IS TV’S MOST LOVABLE SUPERSTAR – EVEN WHEN HE’S PLAYING A VICIOUS BILLIONAIRE ON DAMAGES.  BUT TODAY – HE’S HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE DAMAGES WE’VE BEEN DOING TO THE WORLD’S OCEANS…

Of course, we had a technical issue during that first take – so when Rick repeated that intro moments later Mister Danson calmly remained in his chair and only smiled. Sigh.

A certain Glee star was also a pleasant surprise. At some point, he responded to one of my loudspeaker comments by raising his middle finger. When I then joked that maybe he could repeat that gesture with a verbal explanation so that the seeing-impaired could enjoy it too, he laughed and remained a pleasure to be around for the rest of the afternoon.

So Alan Thicke and his wife were a gamble. The trick is to write studio intros that set up the actual story but leave room for commentary or quick Hollywood anecdotes.

Like this:

(ROZ)
SO TONIGHT WE’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT BIG COMEDY STARS WORKING TOGETHER IN “WORKING THE ENGELS” – BUT NOW LET’S GO BACK TO 1982 – THE LAST TIME ROBIN WILLIAMS AND PAM DAWBER WORKED TOGETHER ON “MORK AND MINDY.” SO ALAN, WHERE WERE YOU IN ’82?

(ALAN)
1982? I WAS HOSTING “THE ALAN THICKE SHOW” IN VANCOUVER….

(TANYA)
(joking)
I WAS PLAYING WITH MY BARBIES IN THE NURSERY…

(ROZ)
WELL, LET’S TAKE YOU BACK TO THOSE MAGICAL TIMES FOR BOTH OF YOU – WHEN “MORK AND MINDY” REUNITE ON ROBIN’S CURRENT SITCOM, “THE CRAZY ONES.”

Then Mister Thicke launched into an anecdote about trying to hire Robin Williams on his TV comedy, Fernwood 2 Night, back in the ’70s! (Bottom line: Robin Williams was too “wild” for the show and they didn’t know what to do with him.)

Awesome.

Then later Alan and Tanya Thicke were asked to read a couple of headlines (which I don’t write).

Their lines were:

(ALAN LINER:) FIND OUT WHY I’M “UNUSUALLY THICKE!”

(TANYA LINER:) THAT’S WHY I MARRIED YOU HONEY….

But Mister Thicke didn’t want to say that line. “Hey, I love the line; it’s a very funny line…but I’m a little uncomfortable with that line in this context.”

Of course, he’s right. But he was also such an old pro about it. He didn’t shit on it. He even complimented it… with a caveat.

So I changed it to:

(ALAN LINER:) FIND OUT WHATS SO “UNUSUAL” ABOUT US..

(TANYA LINER:) HE’S UNUSUAL, I’M FUN AND SEXY!

And they both were happy. And so were we. The Thickes were worth the gamble!
 
For more adventures at ET Canada, check out:

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/grammys-2013-part-1/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/grammys-2013-part-2/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/grammys-2013-part-3/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/the-view-from-my-desk/
 

“This Week in Britpop History”

(As you know, Bulls, Bands, and London features lots of Britpop goodness…)

It’s a big week for Britpop favourites, Pulp. First of all, twenty years ago this week, the Sheffield band released its 1994 album, His ‘n Hers, which contained the aforementioned (in other posts) “Do You Remember the First Time?” and “Lipgloss,” among other tuneful tales of angst and isolation.

The album reached #9 on the British charts and missed out on winning the Mercury Prize by reportedly one measly vote. More importantly, Pulp was linked with other British bands like Blur, Suede, and newcomers, Oasis, as the guiding lights of the burgeoning Britpop moment.

Then this week Pulp’s “Common People” (from their 1995 album, Different Class) was named the #1 Britpop anthem by BBC Radio 6 listeners!

Here are the top 10 Britpop anthems (chosen by 30,000 UK voters):

1. Pulp – Common People
2. The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
3. Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger
4. Oasis – Wonderwall
5. Blur – Parklife
6. Suede – Animal Nitrate
7. Blur – Girls & Boys
8. The Bluetones – Slight Return
9. Pulp – Disco 2000
10. Ash – Girl From Mars

Can’t really argue with this list… after all, they were there!