January 19, 1999
OK, this was a goofy one and a dangerous one because I am generally not good at little improv situations and this required that the person be "good at talking with a variety of people." On the other hand, this was the very same casting office that called me in for the TVG "good at improv/comedy" audition and I went on to shape the future of the horse-racing industry. (Yes, that future appears to have turned out to be failure, but I did help shape it.) So there was hope.
I got lucky in two ways: One, there was plenty of prep time before my audition. I do feel that I can be funny in pseudo-improv situations, that is, let it seem like improv but in reality I've had time to prepare and think of a good joke or two. In the fifteen minutes before going in to audition, I put together what I thought was a very cute little interview. It was based on the copy they had given us, but as the casting director had instructed, the copy was just a loose guideline and I was trying to "make it my own."
The other blessing was that my partner was quite good. I have suffered my share of fools when partnered up at auditions, but today was nice. She was relaxed and funny and our two scenes went very well. My planned bits were well received and then I even provided an improved joke or two. It went very, very well. The casting director even suggested we have our own little half-hour sitcom, just the two of us. It must be the magic of Megan Foley's casting office.