Always ready for my close-up.You're reading the blog of a TV star. That's right, a star of the foreign screen. Yesterday Chris and I were featured* on the CBC television show that's about half news, half some kind of celebrity interview. We were audience members, a prestigious job open only to the highest caliber of performer who can clap and cheer on command, turn off his or her cell phone, and who happens to be free from 3:30 to 5:00 on a weekday. Oh yeah. We're that good.
What happened is that one day I was searching for ideas of things to do in Toronto, and I saw someone suggest that you could attend a taping of a show at the CBC building in Toronto, which is only about a forty-five minute walk from our apartment. I poked around on the website and found that though the Rick Mercer Report didn't have any tickets available, George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight was wide open, and I'd, um, seen commercials for the show, so why not? I'll admit it, I didn't know too much about the Strombo show, but it was free, and we might see a famous person, so Chris and I signed up.
I met up with Chris at his work at 3:00. We walked to the CBC studios but were pretty early, so we stopped at Tim Horton's and split hot chocolate, a bagel, and some soup. Time passed and we headed back out to the CBC. After checking in at the ticket area to claim our seats, we rode an elevator to the fifth floor, hung up our coats, and filed into the studio, where no pictures were allowed. Good, rule-abiding people like Chris and I would never violate the sacred Strombo-audience honor code, but apparently someone did, so I have this picture to show you what it looked like to be in the audience:
Thanks for the photo, you terrible rule breaker.
Isn't that cool? Well, we got the rundown of when to clap and that we shouldn't touch George ("Unless he touches you first."), and then he came out. He told us what would be happening, that he'd do a current events rundown followed by an interview with Canadian Olympic gold and silver medalist for freestyle skiing for a future episode, since that day's episode's interview with civil rights activist Angela Davis had already been recorded for scheduling reasons.
Click here to watch the episode, and look for Chris and I in the lower left corner at the 12 second mark. That's his short hair! That's my headband! You can hear me laugh a bit earlier than most around the 5:20 mark at the Silvio Berlusconi joke, too. Apparently I was quicker at reaching the punchline of the dirty joke that was being made than most of the other audience members. I regret nothing. There's also, while we're in the gutter, a funny moment at 7:05 or so when George mentions a 10% cut to a budget that they had to redub later because he added an errant "n" to the word the first time he said it. If you listen, you can hear the edit.
Okay, coming into this I had very little idea who George Stroumboulopoulos was, besides a guy whose last name I never wanted to have to spell. Now I can tell you that he's a radio host, he's not this guy, he used to work for MuchMusic, and he's got great taste in audience members. Honestly, after watching him for about an hour, I did come to like the guy. He's great at engaging with his guest as well as his audience, he's funny, and while I don't share his love for heavy metal, I'd be interested in his other music suggestions. He's a cool guy, Chris and I had a fun time doing something neither of us had ever done before, and after that, we got to hang out with Catherine, since we were in her neighborhood.
We wandered around Queen St. and looked at all the fashionable places, ate at Quiznos, and poked around a three-story bookstore. After that, Chris and I headed home. My feet were killing me and I was so cold it took me about half an hour to warm up, and then I passed out. It was a great day, and one of those neat experiences you just can't have anywhere else.
*Featured meaning that we were on screen for at least one and a half seconds. Well, the backs of our heads.
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