- Entry #90
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- 2:18 PM, Saturday, November 4th,
2000:
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- I can't even begin this
entry. The irony is so thick, and the news is so big,
I have been sitting at my keyboard for 15 minutes
trying to think of a freakin' way to start.
Uhm....
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- First of all, check out the last
entry. I started off by saying that usually big stuff
happens on the round numbers, and I was bummed because
it was happening on #89, and that #90 would be boring.
Yeah, well I was mistaken. I'll start from the
beginning...
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- So right after I finished the last
entry I got a call from Paddy a neighbor of mine.
The guy who got me into the magic castle. He asks if
I'd like to do some PA work on Thursday and
Friday for "The Tick". Seems they're making the
cartoon into a live action TV show for fox in
January 2001. Well as you all know, I haven't been
doing shit lately, and was more than happy to jump on
board. PA stands for Production Assistant, which
stands for helping the production staff with anything
you possibly can. The gopher job. Fine with me. I like
the role. I've always felt you need to see every
aspect of a project before you can truly be good at
the upper positions. Understanding the process makes
you a better actor/director/producer....and DUDE I'm
gonna be on a FOX television set. Are you
kidding?
-
- I jump online to read up on the
tick. Seems "Puddy" from Seinfeld (Elayne's boyfriend)
was in the lead role! Hell yes. I'm gonna meet a
character on Seinfeld. As most people in this country
were...I was a HUGE Seinfeld fan, and puddy
always made me laugh. The whole "going to hell" scene
is one of my favorites in TV history. Also part
of the cast is the hot latino guy from Suddenly Susan.
Now I may not be gay, but this guy is hot. No use
denying that. The kind of guy you watch around other
chicks and you just kind of shake your head as if to
say: "Asshole..." The final 2 main characters
have both been in movies and TV, but haven't broke out
in anything. You see their face and you're just
like....yeah....I know you. So I read as much as
I humanly could to prepare for the day, and got to
sleep...barely.
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- Paddy stops by the next morning to
talk about the day. Just filling me in on what I'm
gonna need to do. Basically said: "Work hard and be
nice." Well I'm good at both of those. He also
mentions that Dave Foley will be on set because he has
a guest role in this episode. That made me immediately
turn into a moron. I love Dave Foley. He's the "Kids
In The Hall" and "Newsradio" guy. The voice of "Flik"
in A Bug's Life...also in "From The Earth To The Moon"
on HBO and various other parts in both TV and
film. I say moron, because I just sat there with
my mouth open. I was ready to go.
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- Got to the set and soon Paddy and
I were split up and off doing whatever needed to be
done. The entire crew has walkie-talkies, and an
overwhleming amount of organization. The amount of
work it takes to pull off a show is insane. As well,
this was an on-location shoot with film. So it was
basically like a movie set. Not like a studio built
sitcom set. Now I was aware of the amount of people
you need to pull of a production, and I understand all
the roles to be played...what I did not even fathom
was how organized it had to be...and yet Friday was an
18 hour day. Go figure. 150 people on set, all with a
job, all filling an incredibly important role. Not one
role could be taken away, without a major setback on
set. Like the puppeteer was stuck in traffic and it
brought the entire shoot to a hault for a few minutes.
Every variable is so important, that it's AMAZING
there's ever ON-LOCATION shoots. I now completely
understand how millions of dollars go into these
productions. You look at the credits after a movie or
TV show and think: "How the HELL can it take
that many people for a half-hour show" - well it does.
And though I knew all of that ahead of time, nothing
prepares you for the true scope once you jump on
set.
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- First person I ran into was Liz
the Captain Liberty character. And good GOD was I not
ready for this outfit. She might as well have been
naked from the bottom down. Her fishnet hose leads up
to...and well just keeps going. You gotta do a double
take to realize that she actually has more on. On top
of that a big STAR on the front of her costume showing
her cleavage. Now, I cetainly don't remember THIS
character on the tick, but I'm all for her. She's
actually a morphed version of the chick on the tick.
Whew. Very nice though. Talked a bit with
her.
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- Running from one part of the set
to another - POW - Vera from "Alice" is standing
there. Beth Howland for those who actually remember
the waitress from Mel's Diner. I'm dumbfounded. Ya
see, you can throw the big stars in front of me...but
nothing comes close to seeing a childhood celebrity.
Anyone who was famous from 1978-1986 for me are still
on that pedastool. As you get older, you realize
they're just like you and me, and it loses it's
luster. Like if I met Carrie Fisher, Suzanne
Sommers and Joyce Dewitt (Chrissie and Janet), Marie
Osmond, Shirley from Laverne & Shirley, or Dana
Plato (that'd be a little difficult), I'd be all
tingly inside. Back then I really wanted them to be my
MOM. So seeing Vera (my favorite waitress on Alice)
was just too cool. And even stranger was talking to
her. Her voice registers as "Vera", but she's standing
right there. And she has such a memorable voice.
I wonder why she didn't get into doing
cartoons.
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- Then of course Patrick Warburton
(Puddy) jumped on set. The thrill of seeing him soon
gave way to utter empathy for what this guy has to
wear. I truly don't see how he'll continue the role
until they redesign his costume. They made his top
half ALL ONE PIECE. So his head, arms and
torsoe have to fit in this MORE than skin tight latex
body suit. It takes him 45 minutes to get in it. And
though it takes only a few minutes to get out of
it...the sight is just grimacing. They basically get
his fingers loosened a bit and pull his chin part over
his face. Then while he holds his breath 3-4 people
just pull up as fast as they can. Well, it inevitably
gets stuck on his mouth and he's in danger of passing
out. The site is just horrific. I told a few people
that they could easily make 2 tops, one with a zipper
in front, and a zipper in back and switch per angle.
You could easily edit around showing the zipper, and
it would probably keep Warburton from quiting. He
joked about it on the set a few times. He said there's
a runnin bet on how long he'll make it. Then during
the shoot, they have to put an air compressor under
the top half to cool him down, and hold a huge AC tube
on him. The entire time on set, I'm amazed he can even
allow people to talk to him. He's miserable. He sits
on this set-up that allows him to kind of sit/stand on
a board with a bicycle seat. Amazingly he was still
incredibly nice. I basically only talked to him about
what I could do to make him feel better. He was
talking about Seinfeld a few times, that was cool. He
sat next to me at lunch, and again...you just have to
feel sorry for him. Lunch is only 30 minutes, so of
course he has to eat in the suit, and you have to
stare. The suit kind of makes him hunched over too, so
he's just a wreck. If I was in his position, I'd be
ready to kill someone. He joked that if the show does
well... "Some things are gonna CHAAAANGE" - which was
quite funny. He's right...there is no way he can
handle that year after year if this takes off. That
has to be redesigned.
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- Then Foley arrived on the set the
first day around 9 PM. By the way, these are some nice
long hours. 14 hours on Thursday and 18 hours on
Friday. For a guy who's been sitting in front of his
computer for 3 months, I am befuddled at how
I made it. My feet hurt to the point of tears by
the time I got home. LOL. But I shant bitch as I
described in the paragraph above. Well, Foley broke
his arm a few weeks back and had was in a good deal of
pain. He had to keep his right arm held up while he
walked. On top of that, with the long hours, his pain
pills would start wearing off and you could just see
how much pain he was in. The first day I talked to him
a few times, got him coffee. Talked to him about Kids
In The Hall (forget about ever seeing THAT series come
back, though there will probably be another movie
and/or tour), it was just so cool to ask the questions
I had always wondered. And he too has such a unique
voice that you instantly recognize, but it's so hard
to believe he's in front of you. There wasn't a whole
lot of time to become annoying, and I was always aware
of where I was. I wanted to make an impression on
my bosses and show them how hard I was working.
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- After the first day, I was told to
be ready for a hellish one on Friday. After the first
night I was thinking...man I could do this for
awhile. I know its only 2 days now, but I'm all about
doing this again. Of course by the middle of day 2 -
I realized how you can burn out on it. I only
make $5.75 an hour.....I get overtime, but added
all up it's still not even close to what I make
video editing. So it would get extremely old after
awhile. Now once your pay rate goes up you can realize
that the long hours and great overtime (as well as
great food) makes it all worthwhile. What does get me
however, is how any of the actors can maintain
consistency throughout their performance. I think it's
why early episodes of a series are a little
unsure...and the timing's off a bit - you need a few
shows just to get a feel for your character. You
probably finish 30-45 seconds an hour. But that's a
location shoot too. On a normal set you can pull quite
a bit of it off like a play.
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- Now when Paddy first asked me
about doing this, my first instinct was to bring the
video camera to the set so I could show you guys!
But I wasn't about to risk losing my job. So
I checked everything out the first day, and then
since the episode was a wrap on Friday, i figured I'd
bring it just in case everyone was taking pictures or
something at the end. I mean how cool would it be to
get video of Dave Foley saying: "Hey, I'm Adam's
friend Dave..." Or something campy like that. It'd be
really funny. Well, the more we talked, the more
I thought he'd probably have fun doing it. So as
he was going back to his trailer during our second
meal break I asked if he could make a video for
my friends and family. He said "sure!" (seemed to even
get excited about it) - So I run in and get my
backpack and go into his trailer - he's all ready to
go. I told him I had just moved out here, and he
could assure my friends and family back home that I
was doing alright. He just ad-libbed the rest. It was
freakin' hilarious.
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- (UPDATE 3.13.01: When this
entry was first posted, I did not post the video.
I did not want to betray Dave by posting
something on the site that I said was just for
friends. The more I thought about it though, the
more I realized that this is my journal - it's
not an e-commerce site. I'm not selling anything, Dave
isn't endorsing anything, the video only shows that
Dave is an INCREDIBLY generous guy who has a
great sense of humor. I cannot imagine anyone
connected with him would find me posting this to be
inappropriate. So here is Dave
Foley's video for my
friends and family...)
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- At 4 AM, shooting finally wrapped
on the 18 hour day, and a crew member was cool enough
to snap this polaroid of "Me & Dave Foley". You
know, I'm gnna be that guy who wants to take my
handicam to the Oscars when I get famous aren't
I...
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