The last time I was on TV was at the Skydome in Toronto (now obnoxiously called the "Rogers Center") during Frosh week while a Don (RA for Americans) while at college. 

 

Anyway... being the college students we were, we were jumping up and down in the top rows of the bleachers trying to get on TV.  That is, we were doing all sorts of stupid stuff.

 

All of a sudden, TADA!, there I was, zoomed in, on the Jumbotron, the largest display board in the world...   leaping and dancing about... 108 feet wide...  HALF AN ACRE in size... for a good 5 or 10 seconds.   Never again will I take up half an acre and stand 33 feet tall. 

 

That single moment was the crowning achievement of my life.  After that I could die a happy man.

 

---

 

So when Dave called me up and asked whether I wanted to be on TV, the answer was automatic.  Of course.  Another opportunity to look silly in front of lots of people.

 

We arrived at PBS and got a quick tour of the backstage facilities...  it was very cool seeing how they had arranged all the parts of the show and how the sets were sorted out.

 

It would be cool to be able to say that we were there for a primetime TV show, but we were actually there as Telethon Background Phone People.  It was the weekend of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon, and we got to answer the phones.   They gave us a whole heap of instructions about what to do, and then we took our seats.

Pretty much, we were there to add to the atmosphere, and we had to cheer and clap at certain points, and you could see yourself on the live TV feed as the production went.

 

The telethon began, and some of the phones started ringing quickly.  Mine only rang once the entire hour, so I spent most of my time just grinning and clapping and generally looking goofy.  Dave's phone rang a lot, and Karen got a few calls. 

 

We tivoed the whole thing and watched ourselves later.  It was all quite funny, especially some zoom shots of Dave's head. 

 

It all went smoothly until I realized that I had to both finish the call I was on and get off the call fast.  See, there was a segment during a commercial when we were supposed to leave the set to hand off to new people, but I was still on the phone with some poor lady from Encinitas who was taking forever to give me her information.

 

So I'm in the middle of a phone call when suddenly the lights go on and producers start running around crazily, trying to get me off the phone.   The San Diego Charger cheerleaders were coming to take over (Im not kidding), and I was sitting in their seat. 

 

Chargers people were running around, Outback Steakhouse people were coming onto the set, and some guests with MD were wheeling around in their wheelchairs.  It was quite chaotic.

 

Fortunately I managed to finish the call just in time, as people were starting to freak out and were getting awfully close to snatching the phone away from me and pushing me off the stage, and I really didn't want to get in a fight with the San Diego Chargers nor their cheerleaders.

 

All in all, it was an entertaining afternoon.

 

And of course, some photos of the event!

 

http://www.funtrivia.com/terry/img/IMG_2620.JPG

There we are.  Aren't we pretty.

 

http://www.funtrivia.com/terry/img/IMG_2629.JPG

Me answering a phone before the cheerleaders came onto the set