Carey Means is known for voicing the character Frylock  in “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, renamed this season to “Aqua Something You Know Whatever”.  With the show going on 12 years and over 100 episodes, Media Mikes took out some time to chat with Carey about voicing Frylock and what he enjoys most.

Mike Gencarelli: Over 100 episodes, what do you to keep voicing Frylock fresh?
Carey Means: They usually call me the day of and say can you be at the studio at 2pm and it’s 1pm. I think on my feet! I improv. This show is actually 60% improvised. I just keep coming to work until they fire me and they did once [laughs].

MG: You ever get recognized for voicing the character?
CM: When I was homeless between 2008-2009 for seven months, stuff happens, I was on the train, and I don’t wear a sign saying that I am Frylock. Though today I am wearing a Mooninites shirt, but that is a different story. So I am on this train car and it is filled with Stromtroopers from a parade and all of the sudden, I hear “Frylock” called out and it was the Emperor. I gave him a fist-pound and I nealed before him and he told me to “Rise! Darth Means”. True story. I play a lot of video games online under the name “Darth Means”.

MG: Besides Frylock, you ever voice any other characters throughout the seasons?
CM: I am just Frylock, dude! Actually I also voiced a tree also when Carl was getting his back skin ripped off. Besides “Aqua Teen”, I got asked to try out for a few characters on “Squidbillies” but they used someone else of course.

MG: How long does it take you to record one entire season?
CM: It depends. They might call me for one show and it might take only 20 minutes and I might only have one line. They will also call me something for four shows and I like those since that means more money.

MG: When you record are you with anyone else?
CM: Usually I am with Dave Willis. Matt is on the phone. Dana does his stuff seperately.

MG: What can we expect from the show going forward?
CM: I hope this show lasts longer than “The Simpsons”. They need to do another movie. I hope Frylock isn’t abroad again, since I wasn’t a fan of that. We need to start a viral bug to get that made.

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Matt Maiellaro is the co-creator of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, titled “Aqua Something You Know Whatever” this season.  Matt was also the producer/writer on such Adult Swim shows as “Space Ghost Coast to Ghost”, Sealab 2021 and “12 Oz. Mouse”.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Matt about the new season and what we can expect.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about the title change for this season to “Aqua Something You Know Whatever”?
Matt Maiellaro: We had four baskets filled with pieces of paper with one word on them. We just reached into each basket and whatever we picked was going to be the title [laughs]. Our ratings have been so incredibly high that we’ve been embarassing the other shows. So we decided to change the title of the show and no one will be able to find it, which would cause our ratings to drop. It didn’t work though, we are still doing good. People are seeking us out despite the title change [laughs].

MG: What we can expect from this season of show?
MM: Just making fun of everybody’s stuff [laughs]. Seth MacFarlane was going to re-imagine “The Flintstones” and we did a whole parody on that. We did a parody of “Titus Maxium”, because we love the show. We are spoofing “The Human Centipede”. We are kind of all over the map but we they are really good this year. It is the first time we reached out and messed with other peoples material but we are having fun with it.

MG: After 100 episodes, what did you find was your biggest challenge to overcome this season?
MM: There is no challenge. This show is so easy to make. Well, the biggest challenge is actually what hotel I am going to stay at when I fly into Atlanta to meet with Dave (Willis) [laughs]. That is pretty much it.

MG: What is your favorite episode this season?
MM: Shoot man, everyone is so good. We got to work with Queensryche and Mastadon, so that was pretty cool. That is a hard call though honestly.

MG: What has been your favorite voice to do for the show to date?
MM: Well, doing Err is pretty fun because he is just drunk and yells stuff. He has really bad ideas. In fact when we write a show we don’t even write Err in the script. I just go in and hell stuff out. I haven’t done the Cybernetic Ghost in a while. My fee has gone up enormously for that character, since it really hurts my throat [laughs].

MG: What can we expect from the future of the series?
MM: We are just going to continue making the thing till America realizes that they don’t want to watch it anymore. We are digging it.

MG: Are you shocked that it has been on for so long?
MM: I do, when I tell someone about it and they go “Shit, 12 years?!” I am just glad we are still at it. It is fun to do. Whatever makes Dave and I laugh we just do it and it’s been successful. It is one of the longest running shows…I mean we beat “M.A.S.H” [laughs].

MG: Any update on the second “Aqua” movie “Death Fighter”?
MM: It is all written and great. We are just trying to convince the network do it again. The first one was such a cash cow for them, not just box office but also ad sales in the movie. So it is kind of a no-brainer. So hopefully one day.

MG: What else do you have planned upcoming?
MM: I have a pilot with Disney XD that is real kid friendly. My show is broke the mold with pilots, it is went really well. So right now it is testing and it is called “Shred Force”. So keep an eye out hopefully.

AMC’S “THE WALKING DEAD” BECOMES FIRST TELEVISION SERIES FEATURED AT BOTH UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT AND UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD’S

HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS EXPERIENCES 

Guests Experience The Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Horror

of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” At Nation’s Best Halloween Events

ORLANDO, Fla., UNIVERSAL CITY, Ca. (July 18, 2012) — Caught in the middle of a high-intensity struggle for survival, you fight off hordes of flesh-hungry, growling “walkers,” or zombies. No place is safe as you make your way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland with horror at every turn. Will you survive?

This fall, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood are joining forces with AMC’s “The Walking Dead” for their Halloween Horror Nights events. Visitors to both theme parks will be able to experience the horror of AMC’s blockbuster original series, “The Walking Dead,” in elaborately themed, haunted mazes. It marks the first-time Universal Studios has featured a television series at Halloween Horror Nights on both coasts.

The Golden Globe-nominated, Emmy Award-winning, series “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. The series tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home. “The Walking Dead” is the number-one drama series in basic cable history for adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

Universal Studios’ Halloween creative teams are working with AMC and “The Walking Dead,” to create an authentic experience that is true to the Emmy Award-winning hit series. The haunted mazes on both coasts feature eerily authentic, elaborately designed, movie-quality sets that include some of the most iconic locations and scenes from the show. Mobs of undead walkers bring to “life” the vicious, hungry, zombies from the show.

“We want people to experience the same terror of the walker-filled reality our characters faced in seasons one and two – and will continue to face in our third season,” said Greg Nicotero, Co-Executive Producer and Special Effects Make-up Artist for the series. “Our collaboration with Universal Studios’ creative teams is exciting as we work to truly capture the essence of the show.”

“The collaboration with Universal Studios’ creative teams is a fantastic cross-promotional opportunity and a great way to capture the spirit of the series, which makes its season three debut on AMC this October,” said Linda Schupack, AMC’s Executive Vice President of Marketing.

“‘The Walking Dead’ puts real people in incredibly horrific situations where they experience true, raw fear, and guests at Halloween Horror Nights experience the same thing,” said Jim Timon, Senior Vice President of Entertainment at Universal Orlando Resort. “We can’t wait to merge the two powerful concepts together.”

“With ‘The Walking Dead,’ we want to make fans of the series feel like they are literally walking in the footsteps of the show’s characters, experiencing all of the horrific events from the series just as they experienced them,” said John Murdy, Creative Director at Universal Studios Hollywood. “The goal is to make guests of Halloween Horror Nights feel like they are trapped in the world of ‘The Walking Dead,’ using all of the attention to detail and movie-quality production values that Halloween Horror Nights has become famous for. You’re no longer sitting on a couch, watching a show…you’re living it!”

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights® events have a more than 20-year history of creating incredibly entertaining, horrifying Halloween experiences that are consistently rated the nation’s best.  The events on each coast feature highly-themed, disturbingly real, haunted mazes based on everything from film to nightmares — and streets filled with hundreds of specially trained “scareactors.”

For more information about Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, visit www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com. Watch The Walking Dead announcement video on both Universal Orlando Resort’s YouTube Channel and on Universal Studios Hollywood’s YouTube Channel.

Universal Orlando Resort: There are many ways to enjoy your Orlando vacation, but there is only one place where vacation becomes adventure:  Universal Orlando Resort. It is a unique destination featuring two theme parks, three magnificently themed on-site hotels and a nighttime entertainment complex. It’s the only Orlando destination where you are not just entertained – you become part of the most exhilarating entertainment ever created. You can soar above Hogwarts with Harry Potter, swing above the streets with Spider-Man, be transformed into a banana-loving minion in the hilarious and heartwarming Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride and help Shrek save Princess Fiona in Shrek 4-D.

Universal Orlando Resort is an NBCUniversal company.

Universal Studios Hollywood ^SM, The Entertainment Capital of L.A.^SM, includes a full-day, movie-based theme park and Studio Tour; the CityWalk entertainment, shopping and dining complex, the Universal CityWalk Cinemas, the “5 Towers” state-of-the-art outdoor concert venue, and the Gibson Amphitheatre concert and special event arena.  World-class rides and attractions include the intense, award-winning ride, “King Kong 360 3-D” on the famed behind-the-scenes Studio Tour, “The Simpsons Ride^TM,” “Revenge of the Mummy^SM —The Ride” indoor roller coaster and “Jurassic Park® —The Ride,” as well as the critically acclaimed mega-attraction, “Transformers™:  The Ride—3D.”

About AMC

AMC reigns as the only cable network in history to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row, as well as the Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Series – Drama for three consecutive years.  Whether commemorating favorite films from every genre and decade or creating acclaimed original programming, the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories.  AMC’s original stories include “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “The Killing” and “Hell on Wheels.”  AMC further demonstrates its commitment to the art of storytelling with its slate of unscripted original series, as well as curated movie franchises like AMC’s Can’t Get Enough and AMC’s Crazy About. AMC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc. and its sister networks include IFC, Sundance Channel and WE tv.  AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile.  AMC: Story Matters Here^SM.

Miss Hannah Minx is an American vlogger known for her Kawaii anime look.  She is well-known on YouTube for her extensive cosplay in Japan, her informational videos about Japanese culture, and her JWOW (teaching a Japanese Word of the Week)/JPOW (Japanese Phrase of the Week). You can check out her YouTube page here.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with “Miss Hannah Jinx,” who is Miss Hannah Minx’s evil twin, who starred in The Devil’s Carnival to discuss her role in the film and her twin’s YouTube popularity.

MG: How did you get involved with the film “The Devil’s Carnival”?
HJ: It was a match made in HELL! \m/

MG: Tell us about your role and your work on the film?
HJ: I played a “Woe Maiden.” There are three, including me, in total. The other two WoeMaiden’s, Captain Maggots and Contessa Create, are the Bloody Crumpets in Emilie Autumn’s band. Emilie Autumn is the “Painted Doll.” Together, we torment others in hell. I am psyched to work with them again in another upcoming installation of The Devil’sCarnival.

MG: What do you enjoy most about being considered a YouTube sensation?
HJ: Ooooouuuhhh, a sensation…that word says it all.

MG: What do you enjoy most about teaching Japanese through Jinxy JWOW (teaching a Japanese Word of the Week) & Jinxy JPOW (Japanese Phrase of the Week)?
HJ: They’re a lot of fun because I always teach BRUTAL words like the word for “Devil!” \m/

MG: Your nice twin sister was featured in an iPhone app, “Dress Minxy”, can you tell us what you think of that?
HJ: Gota love your twin–I’m so proud of her—it’s super Minxy. It’s an app where you get to dress up Miss Hannah Minx in all of her outfits! Check it out in the app store!

MG: How does it feel to have a manga based on your nice twin sister Miss Hannah Minx, being released at Comic-Con this Summer?
HJ: It’s gonna be awesome!! I can’t wait to go to Comic-Con this year!

MG: Miss Hannah Minx recently did cosplay with Elvira, please tell us what you think of Elvira’s response.
HJ: I LOVE Elvira!! Elvira’s video was totally hilarious! Check it out:

MG: Do you have any plans to cosplay any celebrities?
HJ: Miss Hannah Minx did a cosplay of SNL’s Gilly. Check it out:

MG: Do you have any plans for more film work?
HJ: Yes, there are several more movies in the works, but you’ll have to keep checking back on the youtube channels or on my website (www.misshannahminx.com) for updates on roles.

MG: What is your all-time favorite anime character?
HJ: Gaara!! \m/>_<\m/

Timothy Hutton plays Nate Ford on TNT’s hit show “Leverage”.  The new season returns Sunday, July 15th, at 8 PM, Eastern Time on TNT.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Timothy about the new season and what we can expect.

Mike Smith: What to expect this season? What’s different?
Timothy Hutton: Well, first of all, what we can expect from this new season is one of the biggest things is that the Leverage team has officially moved to Portland where we film the show. So they’ve left Boston, and what it’s allowed the writers to do is use all these amazing locations around Portland and just outside the city for storylines. There are some amazing vineyards. And we’re doing a show right now having to do with a winery and some bad things that are going on there, and the Leverage team infiltrating kind of the local wine industry and trying to correct that. So that’s one big thing about season five. And another thing is I think that the team have really come a lot closer together. And for Nate, with the way that his father died in the finale last year, I think it’s kind of made him someone who isn’t connected to his past and, instead, more interested in his future and his present way of going about life. And it’s changed him I think quite a bit.

MS: What you love about playing Nate?
TH: That’s something. I think that he is a guy with a lot of burden by events that happened in his past which anyone would be burned by and troubled by. But the way the writers have gone about the character, the fact that he spent almost all his time helping other people I think, and trying to correct situations that people have been ripped off or wronged in some way, I think that he’s a pretty good person. And then now going into this fifth year, you’ll see a lot more of Nate figuring out what can happen to him in the future versus what has happened to him in the past.

MS: Are you surprised by the success of this show now going five seasons strong?
TH: Well, I have to say, once I started seeing the shows put together and reading the scripts and everything and then we did the first year and saw that the ratings were strong and all that, that people were watching it, it just started to feel good and started to kind of make sense because we all were, we were having a great time making the shows and having the people who are having – you know, that translated to people having a great time watching them. The writers kept coming up with and still do these really intricate plots and cons and character storylines. So as time has gone on, on the one hand, I think, wow, it’s been five years, and when we’re done with this season, it will have been 77 1-hour episodes – 77 different 1-hour episodes of Leverage. It’s pretty hard to believe, but here we are and we’re still having a great time making them and I hope to do many more seasons.

MS: Can you talk at all about any of the great guest stars you’re going to have this season?
TH: Yes. This season, we have some really terrific guest stars. In the premier, we have Cary Elwes and then, right after that, in the next show, we have Treat Williams. We’ve got Neil Hopkins, Steve Valentine, Marshall Teague, Danielle Turchini. We’ve got Ronny Cox and Fred Ward in one of my favorite episodes we’ve ever done, which is called the “D.B. Cooper Job”. And that’s where the team goes back in time to try to solve the disappearance of the hijacker D.B. Cooper. And that one is a terrific show. We have Matthew Lillard. And we have Mark Sheppard coming back. And then we’ve got Adam Baldwin, Monty Markham and Willa Ford. So, yes, we’ve got some really good guest stars and some more surprises that I’m not allowed to mention.

MS: What do we expect to see from Nate and Sophie this season?
TH: Well, with Nate and Sophie, I think what you’ll see this season is, instead of there being as it was in the past, a conflict between the two of them whether or not they’re going to work it out as a couple, I think that what you’ll see from the beginning is that they really are, they really have come together as a couple, as working partners. And they’re comfortable with one another and their trust of one another, most importantly has come to a point where they’re able to have, finally, a much healthier relationship. Now, having said, it is Nate and Sophie, so I don’t know how. They’re both very dysfunctional kind of complicated people, so, we will see that things can’t ever get too comfortable with them because of the nature of who they re.

MS: You’ve directed television episodes in the past. Is there any desire or any plans for you to do – go behind the camera on Levarage this season?
TH: Well, I don’t think that’s something that I would do. First of all, we’ve got a group of really terrific directors, I mean, starting with Dean Devlin and then Jonathan Frakes and John Rogers and Marc Roskin and a group of others. It’s a very well-organized show. I enjoy working with all of the directors. We have some new ones this year. And playing the role of Nate can be pretty time consuming and a lot of dialogue and whatnot. And I think it really isn’t anything that I thought that I want to do. I mean, if they came to me and asked me to do one, if we ended up doing another season and there was a show where it made sense, I think it would be fun to direct one of the Leverage episodes. But, right now, it hasn’t been anything that I really wanted to do. I have quite a full plate to play Nate.

Michael Jai White is known for playing roles in films like “Spawn” and “Black Dynamite”.  His live-action film  “Black Dynamite” is coming to Adult Swim and becoming an animated series thanks to Titmouse, Inc.  Also currently Michael is reprising his role of Marcus in “Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse” on TBS.  Michael Jai White took out some time to chat with Media Mikes about  “Black Dynamite”, Tyler Perry and “Mortal Kombat”.

Mike Gencarelli: Can you reflect on the cult following that “Black Dynamite” has developed over the years?
Michael Jai White: My intentions were originally to open it larger. It eventually got the attention it deserved. The audience started to find it and their worth of mouth has been very valuable. It is tweeted about every few minutes since 2009. It has been a miraculous type of thing. We even won a bunch of film festivals in other countries, which has proven it is universal. I am very happy about its success and what what we are going to do to follow it up.

MG: What made you take the animation route for “Black Dynamite”?
MJW: It was an opportunity that presented itself. I was a fan of “The Boondocks” and friend of Carl Jones. He thought it will make a great animated show and I agreed. We are still open to do another live action version of the film as well. The original plan was to do three films in that blaxploitation genre, the first being “Black Dynamite”. With our second film, must like Monty Python you can use the same cast in different movies. We are planning that right now.

MG: How was it reunited with original cast like Tommy Davidson, Byron Minns, and Kym Whitley?
MJW: Most of the time we would come in separately. Whenever we come together, we have too much fun [laughs]. It was a purposeful idea that we do it separately so everyone can concentrate.

MG: Do you feel that you are able to expand the show more since it is animated?
MJW: Oh yeah absolutely! Cause you can do things like Black Dynamite goes to the moon. That would be very difficult if you were shooting in live-action. Your imagination can run wild on an animated show and that is exactly what we did.

MG: Did you get to work closely with Titmouse, Inc on the show’s style?
MJW: The animation style was in the hands of Carl Jones. He is the master and knows what he is doing. I had to humble myself to be able to understand and learn a whole new genre. Carl has worked tirelessly in order to make this show unique and he has done that.

MG: Continuing with your TV work, what do you enjoy most about reprising your role of Marcus Williams in “Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse”?
MJW: Yeah, it just started its second season on Thursday July 12th. It is a more family wholesome show and then on July 15th we have “Black Dynamite”, which is definitely not [laughs]. What I enjoy most is I get to play a real human being. I enjoy my other work as well, like “Spawn” but they are bigger than life. This one is right on life. Being a husband and father, I get to play a lot of other nuances I wouldn’t ever get to play in these fantastic movies. We are dealing with actually issues, family issues. Things that are really funny and can hopefully connect with the audience.

MG: Any update on Kevin Tancharoen’s feature version of the web series “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”?
MJW: Absolutely, that is currently in the works. It is going to be with Warner Brothers. If you have seen any of Kevin’s work, this guy is just super amazing. He is is tirelesly working on that script, nipping and tucking to make sure it is perfect. I have all my faith in Kevin. He is going to be one of the best directors ever. Be sure to watch for him. Once that script is done, we are planning to go into production.

MG: After “Never Back Down 2” last year, any plans to direct more for you?
MJW: Yes I do. I plan on directing a romantic comedy, one that I have had the rights to for a while. I would also like to direct more action movies down the line as well, it depends on what speaks to me and where I might have a unique voice in directing.

Ben Gleib is a comedian who can be seen recently voicing Marshall in “Ice Age: Continental Drift”. He also has his own podcast called “Last Week on Earth” on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Network. Ben took out some time with Media Mikes to chat about appearing on “Chelsea Lately”, hanging with Jaleel White and time traveling with Syfy while working the show “Insane or Inspired?”

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your role of Marshall in “Ice Age: Continental Drift”?
Ben Gleib: Well I had had an obsession with sloths since early in my life. So I have had to shape my career so that one way or another, I would portray a sloth on the silver screen. Actually that answer is bullshit. I just auditioned and got cast. It was very exciting though. Every kid grows up watching cartoons and you would never imagine that you would become a cartoon yourself. It has certainly ruined my ability to watch cartoons again though since now I know the process that goes into it…but it is worth it to entertain America’s children [pauses]…I only say I want to entertain America’s children so that women will read this and want to have sex with me.

MG: Tell us about your podcast “Last Week on Earth” on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Network?
BG: I did a TV pilot with Kevin originally. He then asked me to co-host a podcast with him and shortly after he offered me my own show on his network. The idea behind it was that I try and cover every single event that happens the week before on Earth. News, politics, pop culture, science, social trends, technology and just weird shit. Every other week a celebrity guest joins me for it. I am having the time of my life doing it. It is a shit ton of work trying to learn the details of all of theevents on planet Earth each week. But I feel like it is worth it as a gift to all of my listeners. And by gift I mean a gift that no one asked for, and will probably get returned to the store.

MG: What is the prepare time for each episode?
BG: It is a lot of time. I am following the news all week. I’m also pre-writing a lot of concepts for the podcast. Each episode probably takes me between 20-30 hours to prepare. If I don’t end up on “Jeopardy” or at least the dumb version of it “Celebrity Jeopardy” one of these days, my life will be a failure.

MG: Tell us how you ended up appearing as a frequent guest on “Chelsea Lately”?
BG: I knew Chelsea a bit before she had her show just from doing stand-up together. So one day she told me they wanted me on the show and I have been asked back ever since. I have been very fortunate because I really enjoy being on television. Chelsea’s show is best place for comedians to be these days. You go on her show and just riff about everything going on with pop culture that week and it is a lot of fun. Plus it is even easier for me, since if I tell jokes that don’t go over so well, Chelsea just makes fun of me and it gets laughs anyway. So it is a win-win situation and a fail safe.

MG: How did you get involved with Syfy’s “Insane or Inspired?”?
BG: The casting director of that show, Phyllis Coblentz, called me up one day and asked me to be on the show. I agreed to do it and thought it sounded like a fun show to do. We actually just got picked up for another twelve episodes as well. It has been awesome with Syfy because besides being paid to be on their show, they also conduct experiments on you. I can’t say too much more, but my end of this phone call is happening in the 1800’s. I might have already said too much, so let me cover it up and say that my end of the conversation is actually place in the 23rd century. That way it will keep you guessing.

MG: I noticed you wear the same clothes in every episode, do you ever consider personal hygiene?
BG: When you work with Syfy and are a time traveler, you don’t really have time to pack a heavy bag. You just keep the same clothes. Syfy didn’t really know which clips would be in each episode, so they asked us to wear the same clothes each taping. It was a little silly because in the same episode you can see me with long hair and a beard and short hair and clean shaven, all while being in the same clothes. That or it could have been just the longest taping in history or I just have bionic fast growing hair.

MG: Speaking of the SyFy family, you worked with Jaleel White, host of “Total Blackout” in the film “Dumbbells”, tell us about that?
BG: We already shot “Dumbbells” and I didn’t even know that Jaleel White was in the movie until you told me right now. I am very excited to know that now and more excited about my film career since he is in it. I did actually meet Jaleel White once in the past. I was at a bar in Hollywood last year and there was a very attractive girl I was trying to impress and while she went to the bathroom, I felt like my breath could use a little freshening. And like a knight in shining armor, like everyone knows he is, Jaleel White walks into the bar. So I asked him if he could spare a piece, since I saw him chewing and I felt nervous asking Steve Urkel for gum. He put a piece of gum in my hand and closed my fingers around it and said to me “Never forget me man, I hooked you up”. Things did not work out with that girl. But if they did work out, could you have guessed who the best man at the wedding would have been?

MG: Let me guess…Jaleel White?
BG: No, it would have been my best friend Scott. I just got a piece of gum from Jaleel White, that’s really not a big deal.

MG: Being a comedian, who are your all-time favorites comedians?
BG: My favorite comedians of all-time would have to be George Carlin, Chris Rock and George W. Bush. They are definitely three of the funniest people in history.

MG: What do you enjoy most about doing stand-up comedy?
BG: It is the most free medium for a comedian. It is really a privilege to bring comedy to people on any form, whether it be TV or movies. But when it is stand-up, there is literally nobody else that gets to have a say in it. I get to say or do anything I want. It is completely just my unfettered creative output that gets directly to the audience and you get immediate feedback. It is also exhilarating, in the moment, with every second to second and joke to joke you don’t know how it is going to go. So it keeps you on your toes. Also when you are on your toes it is good because you seem taller. Girls enjoy tall guys, and you just hope that they do not look down because girls do not like guys who stand on their tippy toes. They do not find it very manly.

MG: What do I need to do to get you down to the Improv clubs here in Orlando, FL?
BG: All you need to do is find very attractive women who are into somewhat tall comedians who make themselves look like taller ballet dancers, and then I will be there. Because that is the girl I like. The kind of girl I like, and you can quote me on this, is the kind of girl that likes me. But do me a favor though, do not quote me on anything else I said so far.

MG: Well that is going to make this a very short interview then.
BG: Perfect.

Adam Busch is currently co-star on TBS’ hit show “Men at Work”.  He co-stars along side Danny Masterson (“That ’70s Show”), James Lesure (“Las Vegas”) and Michael Cassidy (“The O.C.”).  “Men at Work” is one the best new shows on television right now and was already renewed for a second season next summer. Like myself Adam is also a Long Island, NY native who then moved to Orlando FL (also like myself) to pursue acting.  Media Mikes had a blast chatting with him about “Men at Work” and if you haven’t seen this show be sure to check it out on TBS.

Mike Gencarelli: What drew you to “Men at Work”?
Adam Busch: I have always wanted to do a sitcom. I started working for Nickelodeon on the show “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” and across the hall they were recording the sketch comedy “All That”. Our show was serious and we would hear this laughing and screaming next door whenever the stage door was opened. They were always having such fun and improving on the fly. I said myself that I wanted to do that.  Well, it took about 15 years later but I am finally making it happen. It was definitely as fun as I thought it would be.

MG: How do you prepare for the role of Neal?
AB: I like that it’s a place for Breckin (Meyer) and the writers to really explore relationship problems. You get heartache, you get serial monogamy and the pressure of a new dating system. Neal is the only chance to get the positives and negatives of being in a long-term relationships and the things that come up. I think it is a constant reminder to the other guys that things can be much better or much worse depending on the situation.

MG: The show is filmed in from of a live audience, does make it more difficult to shoot?
AB: That is the best part! If at all everything else is a challenge and that is where I feel the most comfortable and have the most fun. When you have been rehearsing a line all week long and right before you say it one of the writers or Breckin comes over and hand you a brand new fresh line that you haven’t had time to think about, you have no choice but just to commit to it. To hear the reactions from the crowd, that is so much fun. I love the studio audience. There is also a rhythm you can into like if the audience is laughing or Oooing and Ahhhing, you can tap into that and just go with it and make the audience happy.

MG: You find that their is a lot of room for improv?
AB: Well, yeah there is room for it and it certainly does happy sometimes. The really exciting thing is that it gives room for Breckin and the writers to come up with lines on the fly.

MG: Breckin Meyer seems like he is always there on set, huh?
AB: He is always there. Every day, after we rehearse with the director, we do a run through for him to hear it and see it. He is the one giving notes on our performance or walking around making sure everyone is cool or has questions before the shoot. It is a really lucky situation having a young actor as your boss. Also everything is ripped right from his life, so he has all the answers.

MG: The chemistry between you and the guys are great, you find it hard to stay serious while shooting?
AB: Yeah, I do…I do. But that is what is great about doing a show about four friends. Very often if I am laughing at something James (Lesure) is saying during the shooting, there it is right in the show. We are friends and he makes me laugh and that is it. I don’t have to remain serious. We enjoy the way we all interact. Our dynamic of us hanging out is actually a lot different than our dynamic on the show. In the show everyone makes fun of Neal but outside we all make fun of (Michael) Cassidy. He is so freaking pretty and you can’t resist [laughs].

MG: What has been your favorite episode so far this season?
AB: I don’t know if I have a favorite episode. But I certainly have a favorite scene, like when I smack Cassidy back into reality. That was really fun and it changed so much throughout the week. First it was him smacking me, then it was me smacking him and it ended with us both smacking each other. We decided we were just gonna do it, no blocking with camera to fake it. I said I gonna smack you and your gonna smack me and that’s it. I also loved meeting J.K. Simmons and working with him. It was really wonderful.

Jessica Lowndes is known for her role of Adriana on The WB’s “90210”. She also appear in Darren Lynn Bousman’s “The Devil’s Carnival”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jessica and talk about working on “90210” and also her role in the film “The Devil’s Carnival”.

Mike Gencarelli: Can you give us some background on how you got involved with working on “The Devil’s Carnival”
Jessica Lowndes: Darren is a friend of my manager. I actually met him the day I chopped off all of my hair for “90210”. I was obviously a huge fan of his other work already. When I got the script I connected with it right away. I play Tamara who is a girl that wakes up in hell. Everyone there is doomed to relive their faults. I put faith in people too easily and that’s what I have to relive.

MG: Can you tell us about the song you perform in the film?
JL: That song is sort of a sailor song. It kind of reminds me of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. There is something very eerie about it and it gets stuck in your head. Basically my character becomes hypnotized and I start falling for the devil. It’s pretty intense.

MG: What was experience of shooting on such a tight schedule?
JL: It was definitely a lot. I was still shooting season 4 of “90210”. I was doing 12/14 hr. days on “90210” andthen driving to Riverside for night shoots on “Devil’s Carnival”. It was a lot. I did 3 nights and everything was crammedinto those nights. It was freezing cold but everyone there had such a passion for the project. The energy was contagious. We shot at the coolest carnival ever. It was just unreal. Some of the pieces there were so awesome that I wanted them in my home. Everything from the costumes to the prosthetics were great. There was an “Alice in Wonderland” type vibe.

MG: What do you enjoy most about changing into the horror genre?
JL: I like switching it up. “90210” takes up 9 months of my year. This film was something that worked with my schedule. I got to sing and be in front of a whole different demographic. Darren’s fan base is completely different from the people who watch “90210”. I really connected with the role. I think the finished project came out awesome.

MG: Can you reflect on the closing episodes of “90210” this season?
JL: It’s been great! I just finished shooting about two months ago. Adrianna is trying to pursue her music career while trying to keep her relationship with Dixon alive. This gets hard because they are doing music together and Dixon has started going behind her back and doing music without her. She is going to find out about that and its going to be kind of dramatic.

MG: What did you enjoy most about recording your EP and do you have a full length album in the works?
JL: I definitely have a full length album in the works. I have written tons of music. In the past year or two I have worked with a bunch of different producers. I haven’t signed a deal yet so I have been funding everything independently. It’s been great as I wanted to get a good sense of my sound. I can’t wait to show people more. Also I had a new song called “The Other Girl” released timed with the finale of “90210″.

Kyra Sedgwick is known best for her role of Brenda Johnson on TNT’s “The Closer”. The show returns for its final season on Monday, July 9 at 9:00pm on TNT. Kyra took out sometime to chat about the show and reflect on her role and the end of the show.

Mike Gencarelli: Why did you decide it was time put a close to “The Closer” (excuse the pun), Was there an epiphany made you have the decision?
Kyra Sedgwick: No, there really wasn’t an epiphany. I think we were in the middle of shooting, gosh it must have been Season 6 actually, when I started to contemplate the idea of what a Season 8 would look like. It was something that I struggled with for many, many months; almost a year really to make the decision. It felt like time, mostly for me as an artist, time for me to do something else. The idea of doing a Season 8, I think felt daunting to me and overwhelming, and sort of just didn’t feel right. I think as an actor you really kind of just have to follow your instincts. It was a hard decision because you’re putting so many other people out of work and there was just a lot of factors that go into making that kind of decision. But, I feel like it’s wonderful that we get to go out on top, we had enough time to close this out in the right way.

MG: When The Closer was first on six years ago it was paled as sort of a groundbreaking show and Brenda was really kind of a revolutionary female character. What do you guys think will be the legacy of this show after it’s over? How will people remember it?
KS: I mean I see her as a significant and sentinel character in the lexicon of female characters ever played for a long period of time, whether it’s a movie series or a television series. I think we broke a lot of ground and I think that we were able to consistently weave exciting story lines with deep and resonating character arcs. I think that that’s something that’s very hard to do, especially in a procedural. And I think that we accomplished that.

MG: What can we expect from the final six episodes? Will there be humor interlaced? Or a pretty dramatic ending?
KS: I would say it’s a dramatic ending. There’s also really fun romp in the second episode of the final six. And yes, there’s always an element of humor. I don’t think we could do our job as well as we do if we didn’t have an element of humor. There’s always humor within, with any kind of law cops always have humor, but there’s also just the interpersonal, recognizable things about each other that when you’re with a family or a cast a long time. There’s a lot of interpersonal winks and people are still who they are, even in the midst of the most dramatic circumstances. So, there are still a lot of laughs and a lot of good character fun stuff.

MG: As you look back on the series, do you have a favorite episode or a favorite story arc that will stand out in your memory?
KS: That’s always so tough for me. I feel like we have so many years to choose from it’s hard to pull out some favorites. I’m always most intrigued and feel most satisfied by the character arcs. And by those I mean some of the character arcs with Fritz and Brenda. I loved the whole – their courtship, and then when he finally asks her to marry him in that doctor’s office, you know in between tears of realizing that’s she’s suffering from perimenopausal symptoms that have to be operated on. He asked her to marry her in the most inopportune moment, but it’s beautiful and funny and wonderful. I loved the whole cat arc, the getting the cat and her not wanting the cat, and then the cat becoming, you know an intrinsic part of her life, and then the eventual demise of the cat. I loved the parents. I loved the fact that, no matter what age you are when your parents come to visit you’re suddenly that 12-year old kid again who hasn’t learned anything; hasn’t changed at all. And I so appreciated being able to see that side of Brenda. I loved the personal moments with some of her squad when Detective Sanchez’s brother died and she had to be there for him in a very special and different way. Moments when she had to have Gabriel turn in his badge and his gun and – after he beats up the pedophile. I thought that was, you know very difficult for her and he is her favorite. And I loved that personal moment, so those were among my favorites.

Eric McCormack is known best for his role on “Will & Grace”. He is starring a new show on TNT called “Perception”, which premiers Monday, July 9 at 10 o’clock pm Eastern on TNT. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Eric on his new show and what we can expect.

Mike Gencarelli: What drew you to the part? Was it immediately you read the script and went I got to do it or how did it all happen for you?
Eric McCormack: Yes, I was a bit of that on first page where I’m lecturing was a big one for me because I was a big Paper Chase fan from the 70s with John Housman. And the idea of playing not just a neuroscientist not just somebody brilliant, but the fact that he is a teacher, that he has that thing that audience in the palm of his hand and that he’s funny and passionate and finds an interesting way to approach what could be a very dry topic. He finds a very humorous approach and I just love this guy. Then to find out outside of the classroom he is often crippled by symptoms of schizophrenia, I thought that’s a wild combination of the arrogant what becomes with an intellectual and the absolutely let us say crippling conditions that the disease contributes.

MG: What kind of research did you do?
EMC: I did as much as I could. I think it’s crucial that we represent all aspects of this, the neuroscience and also the academia but most importantly the schizophrenia, not to mention the FBI reality which is somebody else job, but with incredible accuracy. We started with Dr. Michael Green at UCLA who is a neuroscience professor with schizophrenia as his expertise. And then I sat down with Elyn Saks, a fascinating woman who wrote a book called The Center Cannot Hold. She is a law professor at USC but she wrote a book about her own schizophrenia, which she completely blew her mind out in the 70s. She was like writing brilliant papers one day and in the hospital strapped down to a bed the next and has such tremendous memory of it that she was able to describe it and some of the passages in her book about what it feels like to break psychotically were absolutely crucial to what I do in the show.

What aspects of your personality or idiosyncrasies did you bring to the role of Daniel?
EMC: What I love about him like I say is that combination of so much confidence and so much crippling fear. And I think if there is anything that I can understand as an actor is, I think it’s that. It’s that idea that sometimes the only way we see is by walking into a room and believing that no one can do that better than us. And yet it’s really just a mask we put on disguising the fact that we’re terrified that we suck and we’reterrified that we’ll never work again. I think understanding that dichotomy is understanding what it must be like to have the drive that says I need to be in front of a classroom or I need to solve this puzzle even though I’m on a crime scene that is absolutely shutting me down. And to have that disguising someone that ultimately would rather be in a laboratory then out to dinner with people is to understand the world that he lives in mixed emotional.

MG: What challenges have you found on taking on the hat of producer as well on this series?
EMC: I am a producer on the show I’m certainly not the producer. I couldn’t produce the whole thing and be in every scene. The guys that created the show Ken Biller and Mike Sussman do a fine job at producing it creatively and there are some great guys producing it physically. My contribution as a producer mainly I wanted to make sure that we all conceived the look and feel of the character and we’re on the same page. I wanted to have a say in the casting and I was certainly in the room for the casting of Rachael, Kelly, and Arjay and I’m really excited how that worked out. Then to say hey, it’s important the tone of the show, whether it be dealing with how do we shoot a hallucination and accurately reflect what schizophrenia can look like or feel like. How do we have a scene where he’s angry but there’s also a comic element? How do we do that and accurately represent how a professional behaves? How would a schizophrenic behave? It’s important that I always have the ability to speak up and to take ownership of that. That’s the main way I produce.

MG: So you’ve work for a while in comedy with “Will & Grace”; what do you enjoy more, the drama or the comedy?
EMC: I love doing both. When I was on “Will & Grace” nothing made me happier than having a big dramatic scene with Debra in the mists of the crazy comedy. Nothing gives me a bigger better thrill than dramatic crime scene in this show where he gets to suddenly say something inappropriate that clearly is going to be funny. I love the mix. I think the magic is in the combination and I’m never happy with just one.

MG: What do find challenging from playing Pierce in this from an acting aspect?
EMC: Like I say it’s a combination of being accurate enough to plot out. Okay in the course of an episode – and we were often shooting two episodes at the same time just for cost reasons, so it was really a lot of work on my part to go, I have to make sure that there is accuracy here in how he behaves situation to situation. But you also want unpredictability, that the fun of the character is that he surprises the people around him and he surprises himself sometimes. And I like sometimes to discover he surprises me. That somehow my reactions might be something I hadn’t thought of. And yet still remain within the realm of being accurate and being sympathetic and being responsible to the mental illness community.

MG: What do you think it is about “Perception” that’s really going to connect with theviewers? And now that you’re on Twitter how is that going to help with the promotion of the show?
EMC: Well, I’m not a natural tweeter. It’s work to make myself tweet everyday. But having work that I’m excited about like the play that last few months when we first got started it was fun to tweet about that. As we’re getting closer now in the next few weeks I’m going to start tweeting a lot about it because I want people to see the show. I’m excited to share that. I never do work just for the sake of doing it. I do it because I want as many people as possible to enjoy it. I think this will be – this is particularly for summer, I think this will be a breath of fresh air. So much of summer programming is sort of fun and silly and reality shows and competition shows. I think this is people love a good mystery solving show, but I love the point of view of this. I think we’ve gotten to the point now where we can’t just see regular cops following regular things because a lot of those shows we now – it’s nice to see coming from the angle of someone with a very extreme point of view on life. And a guy that is a neuroscience professor with schizophrenia is coming at a crime scene from a very, very different perspective, sometimes humorous, sometimes extremely intellectual. Some of the cases that we’re going to tackle are things that wouldn’t necessarily come up on a lot of other shows because there wouldn’t be anybody. They’d have to go to an expert, someone like a Daniel Pierce, to solve it. So, our guy David Eagleman who wrote a book Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, to have him as our resident expert allowed us to come up with some plot lines that are really fun, and for anyone that likes the twists and turns in an hour long mystery there’s going to be some really surprising episodes.

LeVar Burton is a well-known actor who has appeared in shows like “Reading Rainbow”, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the mini-series “Roots”. LeVar is currently guest starring in TNT’s new show “Perception”, which premiers Monday July 9th at 10:00 PM Eastern. LeVar took out some time to chat with Media Mikes about TNT’s “Perception”, his new “Reading Rainbow” iPad app and also the 25th Anniversary of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

Mike Gencarelli: How did you get attached to TNT’s “Perception”?
LeVar Burton: Ken Biller and Mike Sussman are Star Trek alums and I read the pilot and forced my way in. I love Ken’s writing and I loved his pilot and I called Ken and said, “Is there any way I can be in this?” And he said, “Well, the one character that you’re right for it’s like in a scene in this pilot.” And I said, “Yes, but, you know, I see room there for this guy to grow.” And Ken worked it out. You know, he was thrilled at the prospects. We had a great relationship on Star Trek and I directed a lot of episodes that he wrote and as a fan I just wanted to be in this.

MG: This show is a crime procedural but it also has additional elements to it as well. Can you reflect?
LB: Well, I would say it has a real psychological element to it. I think that Ken’s point of view on the treatment — and I’m going to put this in quotes, “mental illness,” and brain chemistry and how our perceptions literally determine our reality. I think this is a fascinating conversation to have especially in the popular culture medium like television.

MG: How was it been working with Eric McCormack on the show?
LB: I’m a huge Eric McCormack fan, was before meeting him and working with him and even more so now. He totally kills this role, definitely, and I really appreciate the difficulty of what he is so deftly doing in every episode. And he’s just a joy to watch and a marvel to behold. I’m so happy to be working with Eric McCormack. And then on top of being as good as he is, he’s also a real professional. There are a lot of kids who want to be famous these days who come to Los Angeles and say that, you know, they want to be an actor or an actress but really what they want is to be famous. Eric is a real pro, right. He takes what he does seriously, yet he doesn’t take himself as a celebrity seriously, so he’s one of those people who knows, understands what it means to be the number one on the call-sheet. You know what I mean when I say that? Number one on the call-sheet. Eric knows, he knows what it represents. He knows how to do that. People like Scott Bakula, Mark Harmon, they’re guys who know how to be number one on the call-sheet, right. They care about the work and saying good night to everybody when they leave just that their humanity is a part of how they move in the world and it shows up in their inter-personal relationships with cast and crew and it just wonderful when you see that in action.

MG: Your career has been marked by such really important and really iconic roles and a whole slew of awards for “Reading Rainbow”. What do you still want to accomplish at this point in your career as an actor and director? What still keeps you working on every day?
LB: Aside from “Perception”, I’ve really taken a bit of a side-step and as much as the last two years of my life have dedicated and wholly devoted to the “Reading Rainbow” app. We launched it just last week and in 36 hours shot to number one in education. It’s still the number one grossing education app. This really feeds my passion. My mother was an English teacher. My older sister is a teacher. My son is in education. I have cousins, nieces, this is the family business, you know what I’m saying? I did “Reading Rainbow” the television show for 25 years and Rick Berman, the executive producer of “Star Trek”, having produced a children’s television series “The Big Blue Marble”, knew how important the show was to me and knew how important the show was to television. And so, he made it possible for me to do both “Trek” and ‘Reading Rainbow” at the same time. Ken knows it fully well how important “Reading Rainbow” is to me and this is what I feel like I’m really, really supposed to be doing. And the reason why we brought Reading Rainbow back is there is such a need right now. We have fallen so far behind our own expectations as a nation in terms of how we educate our kids and what the outcome of a public school education is these days. And we can’t rely on government to get it done anymore. It has to be a public-private partnership. Our government is brokaye, right? We’ve spent the last decade plus engaged in funding the machineries of war and our kids have been left behind. And, you know, from my point of view that’s just not OKAY.

MG: So with the app out, this is maybe a nice break for you being in a recurring role on television?
LB: It brings a balance to my life because I stepped away from acting after Next Generation and became a full-time director. And then my business partner, (Mark Wolfe) and I decided to re-launch the Reading Rainbow brand. And so that’s been a two-year journey. And now through Perception, I haven’t been on television in, I don’t know what, 10 or 12 years in a series. So I get to return to my first love here. And Ken, as the writer-producer, is committed to giving me notes to play that he knows the public hasn’t seen from me before. So I get to go to work and act and love every minute of that and love the people that I’m working with, Eric and Rachel and just really tremendously talented, quality human beings. My day job right now is continuing that mission of inspiring children who are making decisions as to whether they’re going to be readers or not, to choose the light.

MG: Do you think there’ll be any controversy when a show airs considering it’s like a fully-functioning schizophrenic with a job but doesn’t take any medication?
LB: Well, it’ll be interesting to see if there is, isn’t there? I think the whole idea of mental illness and the stigma that we have associated with it in this country is up for discussion. We are ripe to reevaluate that stigma. And to be able to, as I say, have that conversation begin with a television show, I know the value of that. I watched this nation become transformed in eight nights of television around an issue that goes to the heart of almost everything that happens in this country, in this culture. And that’s the subject of slavery and its legacy on subsequent generations. So I know and appreciate fully what the value of the medium to be an alive part of the evolution of culture. And I just think that we really need to have this conversation in America about how we feel about out-of-balance brain chemistry, just like we needed to have the conversation about racism in America, its roots and its legacy.

MG: You always seem to star in series that thrive on intelligence. How important is intellect and programming to you as an actor?
LB: Oh, my gosh. It’s everything. Unless the story-telling is smart, it’s hard to have impact. I’m really drawn to intelligence and to intelligent story telling. And, you know it when you see it. Even if you can’t define it, you know it when it smacks you in the face, right? And I’ve been really lucky. I’ve been very, very blessed throughout the course of my career. I just am grateful. I’m enormously grateful.

MG: You’ve been on a lot of shows with a lot of big fan bases like “TNG” and Reading Rainbow, obviously. You’re quite interactive with your fans via Twitter, so what are you enjoying most about interacting with them?
LB: Twitter I love because it’s an opportunity for me to have a conversation with people who are from different parts of my life and my career, “Roots” fans and “Star Trek” fans and “Reading Rainbow” fans. I can converse with them absent gatekeepers. I get to say what I want, when I want in a manner that I want 140 characters at a time. And there’s no studio or network or publicist between me and my voice. That’s what I love about it.

MG: Are you going to be going to San Diego Comic-Con and also sort of what’s your take like the fan experience at a Comic-Con versus sort of the insider experience at the Comic-Con?
LB: Definitely, I mean, I will at Comic-Con this year. This is the 25th anniversary of “Star Trek: Next Generation” coming on here, so we are actually doing, not in San Diego but we are doing a sort of a reunion tour where all of the cast is getting back together. We did the first one in Calgary back in April. We have dates coming up in Orlando and Austin and Toronto, I think. So from the inside when two or three and in these cases all of us are together, it’s just a glorious experience because we all remain incredibly close even though we don’t see each other every day like we used to when we were shooting the show. Patrick lives in England, Jonathan is always off working, we’re all doing other stuff with our lives. However, when we’re together there’s just nothing better.

Josh Gates is the host of SyFy’s hit show “Destination Truth”. The show is set to premiere Tuesday, July 10, at 8:00 pm with two back-to-back episodes to commence its fifth season. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Josh about “Destination Truth” and what we can expect from season 5.

Mike Gencarelli: Can you tell, for those of us who don’t know, how you first got involved in the show?
Josh Gates: Sure. I’m like a travel adventure guy I think by birth. I just always loved the idea of travel. I think there’s something in my blood that I’m not a real sit still kind of guy. My mom is from England, my father spent a lot of his career working overseas. And so from a young age I was kind of exposed to travel. And it took me, after college, a little while to figure out how to do that professionally. I was living in Los Angeles, and I would save some money up and I would take a trip, and I would save some money up and I would take a trip. And very coincidentally, as you know, a lot of these things are when it comes to the television world, I knew this producer who was pitching the show to Syfy about a kind of exploration into the unknown kind of format, this Destination Truth show, and they needed a host. I was just returning from Africa and I had just climbed Kilimanjaro. And they met a bunch of people and I walked in and looked really terrible and scruffy and dirty from this trip. And I think that there was this kind of authenticity where they say, “Hey, this is a guy who really loves to travel.” And beyond that, I think they really wanted someone who wasn’t going to just rubber stamp these stories, someone who wasn’t just going to say, “Ghosts are real, Bigfoot’s real.” And so I think the other thing that was a nice marriage between Syfy and I is that I could kind of be a proxy for the viewer and kind of act as a skeptic and approach these stories, you know, with a degree of skepticism. So it was just a good fit. And the rest has been history. And it’s been four or five years of doing a lot of travel and looking into a lot of these really, really amazing stories.

MG: Can you talk about your favorite place you’ve been this season?
JG: This season is great. We went to a bunch of locations we haven’t been to before. So it’s our very first time touching down in places like Sweden, our very first time going tothe Islands of Fiji. So a lot of new locations for me. And I always like that, I’m kind of a shameless competitor, so I always want to go to a new place and check off a new box for a place I’ve never been to before. But for me I think in terms of real highlight locations for me, we went to Guatemala for the first time this year, and one of the things that we try to do on the show is we always want to push ourselves to continue to explore these really iconic historic sites. We’ve been to King Tut’s tomb, we’ve been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and we had the opportunity to investigate the Mayan ruins of Tikal. It’s the year of the Maya, it’s a big story this year with the Mayan calendar turning over. And so to be able to go down, deep into the jungles of Guatemala and kind of have free run of the ruins of Tikal, this is one of the biggest most significant Mayan cities. It’s one of the largest ruins in the Americas. It’s – you know, there are thousands and thousands of structures there, and these soaring pyramids that, you know, come up through the jungle canopy. It’s just this incredible place. It was a sort of terrifying location and also just this breathtaking beautiful place. And so I’m really excited to showcase our trip to the ruins of Tikal for our viewers. I think it’s really one of our highlight destinations. I also loved our trip to Vietnam. I’m a huge fan of Southeast Asia. I just love that part of the world. And one of the things I really love is when we’re able to spend a whole hour in one place on the show. So for our season premiere, we spend the whole hour doing this really, you know, back country trek into Vietnam. And it’s a great way to showcase a little bit of the cities of Vietnam, and a lot of the places in country that you don’t see, this really deep wilderness. And so I’m really excited about that as well.

MG: This season tell us about your first follow-up investigation and how you got cameraman Evan to return?
JG: Yes, so this season we’re doing our first ever follow-up investigation. We get all sorts of emails and letters and requests from fans to return to a few different locations that we’ve visited on the show before.
People always want us to go back to the Island of the Dolls in Mexico or to Chernobyl — which I’m not going to go back to — or to this haunted forest in Romania. I think the reason that people really were so interested in that story the first time is that my cameraman Evan had this really terrifying experience there. This is a guy who, he’s a real road warrior. He’s worked on all sorts of different types of shows, he’s not a paranormal guy, he doesn’t believe in ghosts, he’s a skeptic. And we went into this forest that’sreputed to be home to this, you know, dark, paranormal energy. And he was basically blown off his feet by something a couple of years ago on the show. And so we got all these requests to go back and to revisit this location. So we wanted to go back but we knew that we really couldn’t go back if we didn’t have Evan with us. And you know, the thing about Evan is he’s kind of a glutton for punishment. And you know, working on Destination Truth it’s like a hard tour of duty, but all of everyone who works on the show wants to come back and do it again. Evan has a family and he has other projects he’s been working on. And so for the past couple of years he hasn’t been on the show. And he always is like, “Man I’ve got to get back out there, I want to come back out and work with you guys again.” And so I called him and I said, “Evan, I have this great opportunity, we’ll fly you out to do one episode of the show. We miss you, we want to see you.” And he’s like, “Oh great, that sounds terrific.” And then I told him where it was and he wasn’t quite as excited. But he agreed to do it, he came back. He was a great sport. And I of course made him go back to the very same place that he was the last time. And you know, you saw the episode, it’s a pretty thrilling night. Another set of really mysterious things happened to him.

MG: Are five seasons, are you still surprised by the different things you find out?
JG: I am. I’m constantly surprised on the show, you know? I’m surprised by a lot of different things. I think that’s really one of the things that makes the show work. I think if the show were only about, “Are you going to catch a monster at the end of the hour,” it wouldn’t work. I think that there are so many surprises that we have every time we go out there. I’m surprised by the people that we meet, I’m surprised that we’ve met so many reasonable, intelligent people who really have been shaken up by experiences and encounters with the unknown. Whether you’re a skeptic or not you meet these people who really have had some sort of legitimate experience. So I’m always amazed by that. And then my curiosity is always peaked because I want to understand what it is that they have experienced. Beyond that, I’m just also continuously amazed by just the sort of general hospitality of people and by the really interesting different cultures that we get to embed ourselves into. So I think that one of the great things about the show is it’s always full of surprises, you know? And sometimes it’s scary, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s a real adventure and you never quite know where it’s going to take you. And that’swhat keeps it interesting.

MG: Can you walk us through the process of how you decide on the stories? Like who pitches it, and do you have a bunch of people doing research, that type of thing?
JG: We take a map of the world and we get a bucket of darts and then we throw – no that’s not how we do it. We, first and foremost we want to go to places that people are experiencing something, currently experiencing something, that they can’t explain. So we don’t want to go somewhere where there’s a legend of a creature that nobody’s seen for 300 years. So we start by looking through newspapers, looking on the Internet, and working with our contacts that we’ve built up around the world to identify stories in the news that are appropriate for the show. So that’s really the first step. And that yields us a lot of our material. It’s just finding places where these stories are reported. The cool thing about these kind of stories is even if they’re really out there, they always get reported. I mean you even open up like your local newspaper here, and you may see on the bottom of page, you know, D7 or whatever that a lake monster was seen by a group of people. These are the stories that always catch our attention. And we always sort of wonder, “Wow, I wonder what’s really going on there?” So those are the stories that around the world. We also I think keep a mind to, as I was talking about earlier, trying to find some locations that are really going to challenge us and push us. So we want to go to ruins and historic sites and heritage sites, places where we want to take the viewer with us. I feel like part of the show is about investigating the unknown for me, and part of the show is about being a virtual travel agency. And I really want to take our viewers to places that are going to really blow their minds. And so bringing them to places like Tikal and bring them to these heritage sites is a really important thing to us. So this season we’re going to be traveling to, “Kazakhstan and Fiji, and Romania, Belize, the Philippines, really different types of destinations.” And that’s the other thing we try to do is put a good collection of places together that gives the viewers different types of experiences. So one week we might be high up in the Himalayas, the next week we might be on a tropical island somewhere. So we kind of jam all that into the hopper and see if we can make sense of it and create a route for ourselves that makes sense, and to find a group of stories that are different and interesting and adventurous.

MG: There’s quite a lot of reality series, probably a lot more now than when Destination Truth first launched, and a lot of competition out there. How do you distinguish yourself from the others out there?
JG: Well look you’re right, there are a lot of different reality shows out there about some of the things that we do, but also there’s just a lot of programming out there in general about everything. So I think you can’t get too caught up in trying to think your way through differentiating yourself from everybody because everybody is naturally different. There’s just so much programming out there that I think you’d drive yourself crazy. One of the things I likeabout Destination Truth a whole lot, is that I don’t see that exact format anywhere else. And it’s a format that has to do with having fun, there’s a lot of comedy in Destination Truth, there’s a lot of hijinks and misadventure. And it’s, as I said earlier, “It’s a very inviting series. We really want the viewer to feel like they’re out there with us.” There’s a lot of paranormal and now this more sort of crypto programming out there that is very earnest and very serious and very kind of moody. I think what we do is find this great combination on Destination Truth of doing a real serious investigation, but showing all the fun that we have getting to these destinations and getting ourselves in these really out of the way places. And I don’t see that anywhere else. And I think that that’s what makes the show unique. I think that it’s the fact that our crew is really front and center, they’re part of the team. My camera operators, audio technicians, medic; they’re part of the crew. And what you’re seeing is a show where we flip that camera around every minute and show you, not just what’s in front of the camera, not just a host driven vehicle, but a team of people who are out there having a real roughshod adventure. And that’s unique. So for my money, that’s what makes Destination Truth stand on its own.

MG: What would you say if someone has never watched the show, what would they need to know in order to pick up and start watching this season?
JG: I think the great thing about “Destination Truth” is that you can kind of turn it on and you’re at the start of a new adventure every week, You don’t need to have been a fan of the show for years to understand it. Every week we are going to pick up on the trail of some mystery around the world and we’re going to invite the viewer to come with us to get on a plane, to fly around the world and to investigate that mystery. The great thing about the show is that we make that a real open invitation. We want the viewer to feel like they’re right there with us. So the way that we film Destination Truth is we just kind of include it all. If there’s flat tires or bad food or rough lodging or kind of zany people that we meet, we throw them up all on screen so that the viewer doesn’t feel like they’re watching a kind of sanitized, produced effort. We want them to feel like they’re out there with us and show them what it’s really like to have this adventure. So it’s a really inclusive show that way and it’s a lot of fun. I think that’s the other thing about the show that’s unique is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The adventure that we go on is often peppered with these really kind of funny experiences and misadventures along the way. And so we always think it’s just a great ride.

If you are a fan of SyFy, they you must be a fan of their original movies. This summer, the month of June is packed with new great films. “Bigfoot”, Syfy’s Saturday original movie, premieres on Saturday, June 30 and easily is the best of the month. It stars two 70’s TV legends Barry Williams (“The Brady Bunch”) and Danny Bonaduce (“The Partridge Family”). Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Barry Williams and Danny Bonaduce about working together on the film and what we could expect with this fun film.

Mike Gencarelli: So can you guys talk about how you became involved with this show and what made you want to do it?
Barry Williams: It was really easy for me. They said that they were talking to Danny Bonaduce and they wanted me in the movie. And I said as long as I can beat him up I’ll do the movie.
Danny Bonaduce: Fair enough. I, interestingly enough and I hope this doesn’t make anybody look ill prepared because the movie went off like a hitch. It was perfect. Everybody worked really fast. But I was doing my radio show two years ago and heard that I was doing a movie about Bigfoot with Barry Williams. I called my agent who also has my name on Google Search and he said I just read that too. I said is there any truth to it? And he said I haven’t heard a word about it. And two years later we started production. It was really bizarre but it’s neat.
BW: I have to tell you too, I love doing a monster movie. It’s great fun to do because it’s only scary when you watch it and not so much when you do it. I’m always interested in something where I have a chance to save the world.
DB: God I’ve got to disagree with Barry vehemently. This is going to be a long phone call. Scary movies are not that scary when you watch them but it was terrifying to make. I even asked Barry, I said hey man, when that guy says look up here and scream because Bigfoot’s going to eat you and there’s no Bigfoot. You’re just staring off at a big stick with a piece of tape on it because we’re going to put in by magic – I’m sure there are some initials, that Bigfoot will be there later. Everybody screams. I said Barry, do you like feel really stupid when we do that? And Barry said no, I’m an actor. When he says Bigfoot’s right there I assume Bigfoot’s right there. And I went wow, I’m bad at acting because I feel really stupid.
BW: Well see, I paid a lot of money for acting lessons so I’ve spent my whole life trying to justify them.
DB: Hey don’t – I swear, I said – I was talking to a reporter. I said Barry Williams, I don’t know if you know this or not, but is a real live actor. To be honest with you and not just flattering to Barry. Honest to goodness, I have another occupation and this came along as a gift.
I didn’t have to audition, I didn’t have to jump through hoops and that’s what a lot of actors have to do and one of the reasons I don’t really do it anymore. So I was more than pleased to do it. But Barry, God bless him, not only takes it very seriously but made it kind of easier on me to do because he’s really, really good at it.
BW: Well Danny’s being very modest about his talents and what he brings to the table. But we did work together well. I’d do it again for sure.
DB: Yeah. Me too. I don’t know what happens to Bigfoot at the end of this but if he dies bring him back. If he has a cousin yeah, it was fun.
BW: We brought in the Air Force with like nuclear missiles. I think Bigfoot is going to bite the dust in this. DB: Well don’t give away the end man.
BW: Okay. Forget I said that.

MG: So Barry, you had done “Mega Piranha” a few years ago. Talk about how this was different, working on this creature feature than the other one. And did you kind of give Danny some tips on how to go about working on one of these?
BW: You know, the format for working on a movie is working on a movie. Danny has plenty of experience working on television and movies. So no on that. The difference with this and “Mega Piranha” was I was much more involved in the process. My role in Mega Piranha largely took place in offices and in cars. So I was kind of away from the cast through most of it. In this we were out working on location, we’re working with a green screen, we’re working in some pretty challenging circumstances because Seattle enjoyed the worst storm in 100 years through the time we were filming. And so it was very hands on and I had a lot more to do in it. So overall I it was a more satisfying experience if you could say.

MG: What’s your take on the legends of Bigfoot in general? Do you actually have any kind of belief in the Missing Link?
DB: I just moved about eight months ago and I do my new radio show – I guess I should publicize this as long as I have a chance on KZOK 102.5 in Seattle. Seattle, which I didn’t know because it was weird doing a Bigfoot movie that wasn’t about Seattle. I didn’t know this about Seattle either. Bigfoot is one of the main things about Seattle along with the rain and gray skies. In the airport is the Sasquatch Café. You can get your Bigfoot burgers and Bigfoot’s a thing up here that people talk about all the time. Now our Bigfoot in our movie is enormous. If there was something hiding that big I believe – and when I say this immediately all of the techno nerds are going to go hey, he’s one of us. It wouldgive up a heat signature and we would find it. Do I believe that there is something – I don’t know if it’s necessarily out in the woods or under the sea or in the sky but I believe for sure that there is something unlike us that has equal or superior intelligence. So whether it’s a Bigfoot or you’re using Bigfoot as an umbrella for aliens or not the Loch Ness Monster because that’s really an inlet and the Loch Ness Monster would starve. But do I believe in stuff like that? Yeah. Absolutely.
BW: Well I certainly believe the Bigfoot in this movie. If there is a real Bigfoot just whatever his size, I hope he’s not as angry as our guy because our guy is not having it. He pretty much is cutting a swath, right…
DB: And he’s really scary.
BW: …down the town. Yeah. He is scary. And I’m not sure – he’s as big as King Kong. I mean this thing is fast too. But I’m fascinated with theories and concepts. And like Danny was just saying, in Seattle it’s quite a big deal. The sitings, the trackings I enjoy kind of observing it. And you have to know that somewhere in there there’s got to be some type of missing link or something that’s bridging the gap through our own evolution. But it’s hard to imagine with GPS taking it down to inches of where you are that if we really wanted to find it, it would be pretty hard to hide.

MG: You are two of our pop culture icons and there is yet another pop culture icon of ours in this film, Alice Cooper. Can you tell us about working with him?
DB: I’ll start with this one. I know Alice a little bit. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Alice a few times in the past but never working with him. And he really intimidated me. Not the crazy makeup and I’m so envious of that leather jacket. That leather jacket rules. But the director, Bruce at one point we had a real problem with continuity because as Barry said in the opening, we had a snowstorm that Seattle has not seen in at least 50 years if not 100. I mean everybody wasflipped out. Snow doesn’t stick to the ground here. That doesn’t happen. We are essentially snowed in and then it melted really fast. So we had to shoot things in a very – not quick as in haphazard but quick in as people had to think very quickly. And I’m sorry, what was your basic question again? I started to answer questions about the weather.
BW: Working with Alice.
DB: Oh, thank you. So we had to change things to match that the snow had melted and we had just shot the original master shot with no snow. So at this point he just looks at me and he says why don’t you and Alice just riff for a minute which means improv which on the radio is one thing. With people filming you and Alice Cooper standing there and Alice is really clever. I said to him – my line was – my one written line and then that’s where we were supposed to riff for almost two full minutes, I had said come on, you have to help me out Alice. We go way back. And he goes go way back? I’ve known you for two hours and I already hate you. And he hit me with a riding crop. And I thought this is a really – this is an interesting way to delve into the world of improvisation with Alice Cooper who insists on hitting me. But I mean it’s super neat.
BW: Absolutely. I was – I knew we needed a pop icon in the role and Alice was not yet cast when we started the movie. And when I found out he was coming out and going to join us I was absolutely beside myself. I’m a big fan both of him, Kiss and he came in full regalia with all the leathers, the riding crop and a very cool guy. And I was also, you know, hoping because I sing a song in this movie and I was kind of hoping maybe I get some props from the Man and that didn’t happen. I think he referred to it as – was he – he was asking Danny about whether…
DB: I just saw the clip.
BW: …this thing was a hootenanny.
DB: He looks at you. He looks at you singing and he says, what is this a hootenanny?
BW: Yeah, a hootenanny. Right. I didn’t quite get that little wish fulfilled. But he’s a very cool guy. He’s nice to have in the movie and a lot of people don’t know this about Alice but he is a scratch golfer. He’s a really good golfer. So there you go.

MG: So was this movie fun, grueling or both to shoot?
BW: I go crazy when I watch actors and actresses get on television and they go oh, it was so much fun to make. Making a movie is not what you’d call fun. You get good things that come out of it but it’s work. We had some extra challenges on this one because most of it was filmed outdoors and the weather was not cooperating. So we had that element to deal with – wind, snow, matching. We worked at night. We didn’t have heaters in a lot of places. So you just do what you need to do and keep your eye on the ball which is how it’s going to turn out. I wouldn’t say fun but I’m glad that I did it and I’m pleased with what I’ve seen that’s come out. But grueling, you know, it was a tough shoot. It was a tough shoot.
DB: I don’t mean to just say ditto because that would make me a poor interview. Barry has been overly kind but also rather insistent. And I thought that was nice too. On the set of the movie I would ask Barry’s advice a lot. I’m not shy. I have other talents. Barry’s really good at this so I would ask Barry how should I play this, how should I do that? But I got very nervous because I gave an interview about this movie and the first thing they said was so, how was it making this movie and I didn’t think about the all encompassing question. All I thought was knee deep in snow for four days straight and the outfit I had already worn so it was established which was not warm, when you go on the scale of hard I mean we weren’t, you know, soldiers in the deserts carrying an 80 pound rucksack. I’m a talk show host. I stand in front of a microphone and try to be amusing. That’s my real job. Out there acting beside a skilled actor like Barry Williams in the snow – it really did have its more difficult moments. But like I said, this was a big deal in my life. I don’t do this kind of stuff anymore. This was just handed to me. Do you want to be in a monster movie. Do you want to be in a monster movie with Barry Williams? And I thought who says no to such things? I was going to ask the same question about our celebrity boxing match. Somebody asked me why would you do that? And because I like to box I said somebody asked me if Iwanted to box Barry Williams. Who says no to things like – these opportunities do not come along every day. But hey, it was an arduous shoot at the very least.
BW: Yeah. And in addition to which Danny – we were actually filming around Danny’s radio schedule so he’s getting up at 4:00 in the morning, on the air at 6:00 all the way until 10:00 and then driving up an hour away to the film location and working into the night. So it was challenging as we say. And regarding the boxing thing I’m glad that I did it but save the tape because that is the last time you will see Barry Williams in a boxing ring.
DB: Smart call Mr. Williams. I’ve done it about 12 other times and every time you think it’s a good idea that I thought it was a good idea and then eight weeks out I start getting scared and is this going to hurt and by the way, it always does. So you’ve seen the last of me doing the same thing. I’m with you.
BW: Stuff happens in the boxing ring.
DB: Yes it does.

MG: Bruce Davison is the director and your characters kind of have an adversarial thing
going. Did he give you room to kind of play off each other and kind of come up with your own thing?
BW: Yes.
DB: Well he did, I believe, it will depend on the movie which I have not seen yet. I’ve seen some of the trailers. But Bruce said – he kept looking at me with this really intense face and I think not mocking in a bad sense or maybe I mean parroting, the expression that I had. And yes Barry Williams and I do have an adversarial relationship but we’re mad at each other. And like I said, Barry’s the trained actor between the two of us. The script says I think – Harley Henderson is my name. Harley’s really made and to the point of violence. Well all I can do is replicate what I’ve seen in my real life whether it was the way I was raised or whether it was the way I really used to get really angry and fight. But I’d grit my teeth and get ready to do my line and Bruce would say just bring it down Danny. Just bring it down. He said there is so much more power when you do – and it really – I must tell you I felt like he was mistaken. But he’s the boss. You do what the director says. I remember that much from the Partridge Family and the few shows I’ve done after. And on the good side see I remember doing the rage thing and then the clip that made it where it’s just – where I just throw it off cuff – I’m going to kill Bigfoot. His take on it was much smarter and he’s absolutely right. Sometimes replicating real life just the way it actually happens, at least in my head, is not as good as a delivery. And Bruce Davison gave me a lot of direction that was very helpful.
BW: I want to say and I think everyone at Syfy should know, that the hero of this movie is Bruce Davison.
DB: For sure. Good call.
BW: He had to change gears in the middle of the race. We had to edit and cut. We had to make things work because certain locations were not available. There were time constraints. There were all kinds of things that a less flexible director never would have been able to overcome. And so yes, he was leaning heavily on the actors and – both in being prepared and also making some of the carving out some of the characterizations as adjustments had to be made throughthe movie. And he never wavered. He was always organized. He always had good ideas and he would come to us when he wasn’t clear about those ideas. But by the time we got to the set we were ready to go. And he finished that film I think a week early. I don’t know another director that could have done it. And he’s an actor. So for Danny and for me, you know, the kinds of things that Danny was just talking about in terms of how to produce something to the greatest effect, he knows how to relate that to us and it made it a lot easier for us.

MG: So you guys battle it out, quite a bit on the film as we’ve discussed before. I’ve got to ask, the chemistry between you two was just great. Did you guys have any good outtakes during shooting and/or have a hard time keeping it serious?
DB: I had a hard time because I’m really out of my element, I had a hard time with some things. But you know what? Barry and I – see each other off and on maybe ten times, 15 times throughout the years. I’m realizing I’m throwing around these accolades and I don’t want you to think we’re best friends. It’s just that I had no problem keeping it serious because Mr. Williams, I just want to – I’m really prefacing this to make sure everybody knows, really keeps it serious. It’s off – when they say cut then he says Barry Williams, the guy that got there in the morning and the guy that’s going home in the van with me at night, so to speak, or back to the city anyway. But I mean Barry Williams is the consummate actor. I interview people that are like Barry Williams and like me in the sense that they got really famous for something and not that I’m not super grateful for Danny Partridge, I wouldn’t have half the stuff I have had I never been Danny Partridge. But you’re kind of stuck with it. And Barry’s done a more successful job than most at being able to branch out from that. And I think the reason that is, is because he takes his craft so seriously that when we’re shooting it’s work. And I remember distinctly he would take a pencil and paper along with the director – he wasn’t impolite or anything. But he would say things like this doesn’t make sense. I’d agree but I’ve got to tell you if we would take an extra five minutes I wouldn’t have mentioned it. Barry was looking out for the quality of this movie all the time.
BW: What I did want to say about what was cool was, you know, Danny does – four hours of talking every day. And it’s basically him and he’s really entertaining. The amazing thing is that doesn’t stop. He shows up on the set and he takes right off again. And it’s just as funny. It’s like being entertained between all the takes and the drives and the rides back and forth. So it was really fun because he’s funny. So there we go.
DB: Well thank you. To some people that sounds funny. Others, that’s my wife, would just say please stop. There are no microphones in our house. To which I just want to get microphones in my house.

MG: The creature features can range anywhere from really serious to really campy. How did you determine the right tone to play your characters?
BW: Good question.
DB: I do comedy if you will. There are no jokes. I’ve never written a joke in my entire life. But the flavor of my morning show which has been on the air for 25 years and done pretty well by the way.
BW: Yes.
DB: Most of the feeling for comedy is where to put your emphasis. And if the movie itself is supposed to be like tongue in cheek then the only way to make it more funny would be to play it as straight as possible. I know for myself and I think I can answer for Barry but since he’s right here I won’t. For me my answer was to play it as straight as possible. And I played mine like I wanted those trees out of there. Barry and I were at each other’s throats. I played my character like I wanted him dead. I played it as straight as I could play it. If it’s campy, that will add to the campiness. Plus like I saidBarry does much more of this than I do. But the fact of the matter is it’s written. The dialog is pretty serious at some point. So I thought – I think the premise probably puts the tongue in cheek. But at least on my place I play it as seriously as I can. Barry Williams: Yeah. That’s – and you’re exactly right. When you cast Danny Bonaduce and Barry Williams in the same movie – in a monster movie you know it’s going to have some degree of camp to it. That’s why we’re picked. And so it’s going to have that certain tone. But the only way to play the movie is to play it for real, for keeps and let the situations and the appearances – of Bigfoot and the circumstances, let them kind of play out. It’s all a little bit larger than life in that sense. I think this movie will be best enjoyed with a box of popcorn in your lap.

MG: What was your favorite monster movie growing up, both of you?
DB: I don’t know if you want to consider it a monster movie but this is with your, you know, as a disc jockey or a talk show host I’ve moved into half a dozen cities or more and there are some things that you can just count on. And one of them is so what’s the scariest movie that’s ever been made and your phone lines light up. Now I usually have a fight between the Exorcist and Jaws. And in my world Jaws wins out because it’s now been 35 years, something like that but I dive.And I will tell you there is not a time that I dive that at some point I don’t hear that (da da, da da) from Jaws. Jaws continues to scare me especially on night dives. So if you consider – and I don’t think there’s ever been a Great White shark that big ever caught so I’ll still make it a monster. My favorite monster movie therefore is Jaws.
BW: Growing up Frankenstein – the green one with the things coming out of his neck.
DB: The bolts. Yeah.
BW: That was the one it would just stay with me after the movie was over and I’d be looking under the bed kind of thing.

MG: After Debbie Gibson and Tiffany did “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid”, they went on tour together. Any chance you guys might do something?
DB: Wow. It’s a great question and probably a wonderful tour. It’s very funny. I know both of those young ladies rather well. The year I got into radio was the years they were the hottest. Now Deborah as she prefers to be called now, did you know she’s in the Guinness Book of World Records?
BW: For what?
DB: For the youngest person to ever write, produce and perform a million selling album. She wrote all the words, wrote all the music. Yeah, she’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. I saw her on Broadway. She’s just a really, really talented girl. Tiffany is a wonderful girl too. I’m not sure what I would do on a tour with Barry Williams because I’ve done stand up comedy for David Cassidy a couple of times when he’s been in the towns where I’m working. And Barry is a consummate performer. He’s got a song and dance show that he takes on the road. But comedy is so frightening. It’s hundreds of people daring you to laugh plus if Barry and I were to go and do something together they would want funny reflections from the Partridge Family. Well, it was a very long day and I was ten years old. I have a couple of funny stories but I don’t have a half an hour’s worth so I don’t know what I would do. But Barry’s got a show he takes on the road.
BW: Well I will travel but I’m stationed and living in Branson, Missouri where I’m doing – it’s called Lunch with the Brady Bunch. And so it’s a standing show here. I do it four days a week and it opened this year. And it will be here for the foreseeable future. And it’s a nostalgic ride in a very kind of on the nose way for people that watch – I watch 50 year old women become teenagers in the show because they’re back to 12, 11 years old when they were watching the Brady Bunch and it’s a lot of fun. So I do take that out as well. We don’t have plans to go out on the road everybody’s got a busy schedule. I’m in Branson. He’s in Seattle. He’s doing a radio show. I’m performing a show here. And you never know. The right thing could come along. We’ll get to spend some time together with all of you and maybe someone will come up with something that makes sense for us and we’ll show up and do it.

DB: Can I ask a question, what is – because I’ve seen your stage act. What is Lunch with the Brady Bunch?
BW: That’s the show that I’m doing.
DB: Are there other Bradys there?
BW: I have the new Brady Bunch kids with me. So they are all…
DB: Oh, very smart. BW: So I’ve got them in costume, original choreography. We’re doing all the music. It’s multimedia. It’s, you know, I’m using support clips and graphics and photos and stories.
DB: Oh, that sounds fun. I would totally come see that.
BW: It’s the whole ride. In fact at one point, there are a couple of things but one of the songs, I talk about how the Bradys became a concert – or recording act because I had gone to the producer and I said look, there are all of these families that are making records. And some of them are selling millions of records, why not the Brady Bunch kids? I mean look at the Jackson 5, look at the Osmond Brothers, the Archies and of course the Partridge Family. And then the Greg character that I – is in my show he comes out and sings with everybody, I Think I Love You.
DB: Oh, that’s hysterical.
BW: And a little bit of One Bad Apple and ABC and Sugar Sugar and like that.
Danny Bonaduce: Oh, that sounds like a great show.
BW: It’s a fun show. It is a fun show.

Jason Gann is the co-creator and star of FX’s hit comedy series “Wilfred”. The show begins its second season on Thursday June 28th, 2012. “Wilfred” was adapted from an Australian series, also created by Gann. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jason about his role in the show, how he feels this differs from the Australian series and also what we can expect this season.

Mike Gencarelli: If you had to explain “Wilfred” to a person that hasn’t watched season one, what would you say?
Jason Gann: I would say it is like Mr. Ed on crack-cocaine. It is a messed up story about a suicidal dude that sees his next door neighbor’s dog, as a talking man in a dog suit who smokes bong and terrorizes him, though at the same time aims to save his life.

MG: Do you need to see the first season in order to enjoy the second?
JG: No, I don’t think so. That is why we did the special preview episode with Robin Williams prior to our season two opener. We needed to tie up the loose ends from the season one finale. We also wanted to reintroduce the show to a new audience. With the season two premiere episode, it is a nice introduction to the show. It is always a challenge to match each episode for people to be able to join on mid-way through. I am very aware of that though while working in the writers room.  If I feel that something going to alienate our new audience then I will try and steer it back. It is challenging as well because there is an arc that is happening with Ryan and Wilfred’s journey. So hopefully it is funny enough and then people will go back and watch the first season and catch up. It’s almost like every episode needs to be self-contained in its own right yet.  Though we still wanted to entertain and give a little more to the fans of the show. We tried to always leave little Easter eggs throughout the episodes for big fans of the show.

MG: Creatively for you, what is your process with developing season two? Are you looking to recreate from the original Australian series or start fresh?
JG: I didn’t want to do the same show again with American accents. I was very trepidatious about even playing Wilfred. Originally, I wanted someone else to play him. It is really the brain child of my manager Jeff Kwatinetz, who solved the dilemma. I play the role again but it be a different type of show. We met with show-runners and David Zuckerman came back with this fresh take which focused on Ryan’s psychiatric issues. That is something that we never really addressed, mentioning it maybe only one of twice in the Australian version. In the American series, it is really more about Ryan but the stories are still driven by Wilfred. Now that the show is in its second season, the Australian series seems like a high school version of the show to me. David told me, when he pitched us, that he was a big fan of the original and didn’t want to remake it. He wanted to make a different gig with the characters he loved and so that they can stand each side-by-side proudly. I think we used like 4 or 5 jokes in the pilot that came from the Australian series to help us set it up. We also only did 16 episodes of the Australian show and already we have done 26 of the American show. So I am really proud of this series.

MG: How has it been working with Elijah Wood this season?
JG: Elijah and I have always had this great chemistry from the beginning. It is funny because we are very different individuals and do not have a lot in common as men. But when we come together and work with these characters something really special happens. It is a bond that feels like family, really. In season one, I was a lot more polite. In season two, [laughs] well we all have a lot more fun. I don’t know if its because we can relax since we have an audience that loves our show already but we have purpose now and this great confidence. Originally, we really didn’t know who the character of Ryan was. But Elijah brought some much depth to his role. During our final screen tests with Elijah, I got into costume as Wilfred to give him an idea of what it would be like. While I was standing behind him, due to our stature, David said to me that it looks like Wilfred was his bodyguard. That really inspired me to bring out more of this protector in Wilfred that didn’t exist in the Australian version. Where as now Wilfred is trying to help Ryan become a man and survive in the world and it gives it more purpose. We just have fun and I hope it shows.

MG: Tell us about wearing your dog suit? Any behind-the-scene stories?
JG: People ask me if it is hard. I always say that it is as hard as it looks. Sometimes when I realize it is hard, I go through this euphoria…like this crazy state. People are telling me to take the suit off that I must be hot and I am just like “No, let’s do another! Let’s do another!”. Probably some semi-masochistic part of me, as I am losing my mind. It is like the pain when you are at the gym, it hurts but feels good.

MG: You guys must have massive amounts of outtakes, you ever find it hard to keep it as serious as you do?
JG: Actually last year Elijah only broke once and I think it was on the last day of shooting.  This year on season two, I think he broke on like day two and a couple of dozen times after, as did I though [laughs]. There is one thing in particular that happens between Wilfred and Ryan in episode seven, which I can’t say unfortunately. I couldn’t do a take without laughing. I had to shoot it separately without him. I told them we could do that scene 100 times and I will laugh 100 times. That was pretty funny!

MG: What do you enjoy most about working on this show?
JG: When Wilfred was with Raffi (the toy Giraffe) in season one, he was massaging her neck, then bending the neck backwards in order to give a blow job [laughs]. When we came up with that in the writers room, I said “I think we can safely say that nothing like this has ever been on TV before.” When we have moments like that I get really excited…and luckily we have several this year.

MG: Robin Williams, Rob Riggle, Steven Weber and Allison Mack all guest starred in season two’s preview episode, who else can we expect from season two?
JG: Unlike last year, when we just had one guest star per episode, Robin Williams and Allison Mack will also come back for a few episodes. We also go into Ryan’s work environment for a while, so that is different. We also have returning guests from season one like Chris Klein and Mary Steenburgen back. It is really humbling to get people that one our show. Also it wasn’t our intention to make this season more dark, even though I think it is funnier.  But it does get a little dark and I look forward to seeing that as well. I hope everyone enjoys it.

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