March 5, 1998
Audition for Vito. Yes, Vito. It may have been the dark brown hair on the postcard that fooled Eileen Kennedy, Dawn's assistant, into thinking I might be able to play a young Italian man named Vito. And though we had met before, it was at least two years ago at a One-on-One workshop, so she shouldn't be held responsible for not filing away my distinct Aryan tendencies. But whatever the rationale leading up to it, I think we all knew that "John Ducey as Vito" would probably never appear in any credits, let alone this specific pilot's.
Still, I was a big hit with the random guy walking down the hall when he heard that I had been the room-service waiter on Frasier this week. He said that he loved the show and that his girlfriend said it was probably the best one ever. She was specifically raving about me. So that was fun to hear.
And I had never met Dawn Steinberg before so it was good to get a chance to read for her. She had seen the Frasier and was very complimentary. And after I had completed my reading she said it was good and that I was very funny. But that one little word kept creeping into her mind and there was nothing I could do to overcome it. Vito.