Tuesday
August 19 -- Day 2
Tuesday
August 19 -- Day 2
Today the audience would arrive and pass judgement over us all. Would the laughs come? Would they enjoy the show? Would they be able to stay awake for the over three hours of taping?
The bulk of the day was spent doing two run-throughs of the show. From noon until three was a camera rehearsal. Lots of starts and stops to make sure everything was being shot correctly and thoroughly by our four cameras. Then we ran through the whole thing again, start to finish for everybody to get their final touches put on their work. Then an hour or so for dinner and the crowd started to roll in.
How did my rehearsals go, you might wonder? Well, let's just say that EVERY time we ran through my scene, the director, Jeff Melman, gave me some sort of note to try to change my reading. At first it was that I was trying to make it funny, then that it should be more real, then that I shouldn't get what's going on so early, then that I should look up later, then to end it all, he basically said the last line for me the way he wanted to see it. Enough trying to coax it out of me. I just wasn't getting it I guess.
The audience was then shown the pilot to get them familiar with the show and we launched into our episode, Episode 4, "Gale Gets a Life." My scene was up about an hour later. We suited up, slapped on our paramedic props and ran through the scene for the audience. I got a nice little laugh right where I was supposed to. That felt good. We ran it again and the audience was less humored by the whole thing. But thanks to modern technology, I'm sure you'll think they LOVED it. So it wasn't fantabulous or anything, and it still left me feeling a little bit like I was the guy that made them wonder how I slipped through the casting process.
But the scene we had taped yesterday, Scene K, where we have to
answer to the actual doctor, was then played on the monitors for the
audience. And when I said we needed more training, they gave up a
very nice, appreciative, enjoyment-laden laugh. And that felt
very good. I felt like I had contributed something of worth and
something somewhat unique to the show. I had made it work. Yay for me.