Creative Class

Here’s the back story of last night’s appearance on The Colbert Report. It’s funny because about two months ago I said to my wife, there’s one show I would be really, really nervous to be on, The Colbert Report. Not only is he quick and funny, he stays in character and really grills people – it can be embarrassing. So when the call came right before their 4th of July break, I was nervous. But Rana and our entire team prevailed on me, so I said, what the heck, give it a go.

Here’s a picture of me, Rana, and David behind Stephen’s desk.

I have done ton of public speaking and a ton of media interviews, so
I’m used to this sort of thing and it doesn’t get me nervous. Usually
that is. I was plenty nervous to be on Colbert.  I had virtually no
background on the show.  Rana talked very briefly to the segment
producer in early July, when she said that the subject matter would be
“Flight of the Creative Class.”  I talked briefly with her while
boarding the Acela in DC, where she basically said they were
overwhelmed by the first day back, and she’d tell me more when we got
to the studio.

David, Rana and I had a nice ride on the Acela.  That is until the
electrical connection between the train and the rail went out and they
had to switch to a new power source in another car.  We got to NY, I
changed and we went over to the studio around 5:45PM.

That’s when I learned we’d be the first segment, because Stephen is
trying to do more interactive stuff to liven the show straight-away
(replacing his usual first-up feature, “The Word.”)  I was in a second
tiny green room and we had about six people squeezed in.  Rana, David,
David’s wife Emily, our friend, Chris “Benny” Benfield, and various
people from the Report.  It got so boisterous when Bobby the intern
came to visit – as it turns out he grew up in the same Detroit area
suburb as Rana and Benny and goes to the University of Michigan where
David, Emily and Benny went to school – that they actually closed the
door on us.  The producer laughed and said I was lucky to have such a
hip and attractive, high-energy group of friends.

I was nervous, pacing the dressing room and the hall. They were running
late – it was their first day back after all. About 6:35, an assistant
producer came over to brief me a little on the segment.  She just
started going through Stephen’s questions, and I was literally and
figuratively clueless and speechless. They must have thought I was the
worst possible guest.  Stephen came in quickly to say hello and let me
know he would stay in character and I should just play it straight,
stay focussed and get my ideas across.

They brought my posse into the studio and Stephen went in, the music
cranked up and I could hear loud applause and laughing.  They wheeled
me into makeup and out into the studio. The energy was incredible. I
could see the end of Stephen’s question and answer session with the
audience. The whole place was electric. Then the music cranked up to
another level.  And as luck would have it, they played one of my all
time favorite songs, the Sex Pistol’s “God Save the Queen.”  I remember
the very day I heard that song as an undergraduate at Rutgers – and I
told the folks around me – it literally changed the way I heard music.

My energy level was high – really high. The only thing I could
compare it to was being on stage (a long time ago) with my band.  I
figured it’s now or never, I better get centered. I put my feet apart,
took several deep breaths, and with the music pumping found the zone. I
said to myself you have to do two things (in addition to getting my
ideas across), have fun and make sure I let Stephen and the audience
know I was in on the joke.  I was literally busting a gut during his
introduction to the segment. They pulled my chair up and I followed the
producer onto the set.  The audience applause was unbelievable – very
different than anything I was used to as a speaker.  I locked onto
Stephen and wooosh it was a great ride.  I knew it was OK when he broke
a smile and could see that our interaction was  cracking him up.

Stephen is an incredibly smart and kind person. His staff – his entire
staff – is phenomenal – the producers, assistants, technical people,
makeup artists – every single one of them  – conveys the most incredible
positive energy.

I may have been nervous to begin with, but now I am certain that
what Stephen is doing to disarm mindless punditry is not just smart and
edgy, but incredibly important.

Heck, it was fun. I’d recommend it. And hope I get a chance to do it again sometime.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.