Modified On August 16, 2007
SHECKYmagazine columnist Adam Gropman, writing for the cultural commentary website The Simon, files a detailed and entertaining report on his experience with the television show, Next Best Thing:
It was at this point that my audition got really interactive and riffy, with me responding in character to random questions of theirs and Jeffrey Ross coaxing me to do a Sarah Silverman impression. Although the judges had liked my Sandler impression, I suddenly realized that all of this unscripted improvising risked diluting my prepared performance and chances of moving on in the show.
The judges had given me a few obligatory quips and digs — like when Elon Gold said I sounded like Carol Channing — but they also gave me positive feedback and an overall thumbs up, saying I passed on to the next level. I jumped off the stage — probably not a second too soon — and gave a brief, triumphant post-audition interview to the awaiting Ms. Merkin.
After filling out over a solid half hours’ worth of legal documents, I drove off into the night with the mildly intoxicating feeling that I’d sort of, kind of just done something perhaps tenuously related to huge TV stardom.
Read the whole thing. And, while you’re there, check out his dissection of radio talk show hosts and the importance of humor in broadcasting.