Re: Bloopers

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

Forgive me the cross-posting. I posted this to a thread on the old NBC
Monitor at Airwaves a couple of days ago. I think it fits pretty well with
our bloopers thread.
>
>I remember one of Bob and Ray's funniest bits from Monitor. Apparently, 
>many of the celebrity interviews on Monitor were done in the same way 
>that such "interviews" were done on local stations. To give local DJs the 
>sound of interviewing big-name talent (say, Rosemary Clooney), Ms Clooney 
>would record her answers to a set of questions. The questions were 
>distributed to the stations on paper. The answers were usually on a 
>transcription disc with silent tracks between answers. The DJ would ask 
>the first question and slip-cue the disc, which would start playing the 
>first answer when the DJ stopped talking. Usually, the blank spots during 
>which the DJ would ask the subsequent questions, were about a second too 
>long, so that DJs who spoke slowly could get the questions out before the 
>answers began. The result was a very stilted sound that hardly anyone 
>could make sound live.
>
>The transcriptions usually also contained the same interview but with 
>some generic voice asking the questions, so DJs who couldn't or wouldn't 
>play the silly game didn't have to attempt it. This also made it possible 
>to run an interview if the script distributed with the trsnscription got 
>lost.
>
>Anyhow, you probably see where this is heading. Screwups were almost 
>inevitable. What if the answers got out of sync with the questions? The 
>celebrity could answer a question right before the interviewer posed it. 
>Perhaps what I heard was a setup for a Bob and Ray comedy bit that was 
>planned for the next hour, but it came across as spontaneous. The 
>interviewer was Frank Blair (I think). I don't recall who the celebrity 
>was. The recorded answers got one question ahead of Blair. Blair and the 
>engineer quickly fixed the problem by skipping one question to get 
>the questions and answers back in sync.
>
>After the top-of-the-hour news break, a Bob and Ray segment came on in 
>which Ray, the interviewer, never did catch on to the fact that his 
>questions were out of sync with the answers provided by Bob, the 
>interviewee. This went on for several minutes. Bob and Ray subsequently 
>resurrected this bit in a slightly different form in their Broadway show 
>"The Two and Only". In the show bit, which is available on the original 
>cast recording--if you can find it, the interviewer simply doesn't care 
>and doesn't listen to the interviewee's answers. The interviewer 
>repeatedly poses questions that the interviewee has already answered.
>
>Well, maybe it was funnier to listen to than it is to read about. But 
>it's still fun to remember. You're on the Monitor beacon... Take five.

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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