Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Bloggin' on Saget


I think it's funny to pop up on TV once every few years, so when my friends Cliff and Bobo told me they might take Bob Saget squatchin'........I yelled, "Get me in there!!!"

Me, Tom Yamarone, Bob Saget, and Bobo

I honestly just wanted to tag along and poke my head up in the background, but before I knew it I was sending in an audition tape to be in the show. Frantically, I went out and filmed two skits with Barney Rubbish, as well as a bunch of footage about how I geared up for bigfooting. It was ridiculous, but I knew if I was going to be on a Bob Saget show, I was going to have to bring the funny.

Lowlights of "the audition tape"

Some of the best field researchers in the country would be attending. There were my good friends Cliff Barackman, and Bobo. As well as Derek Randles, Dr. John Bindernagel, Matt Moneymaker, and many other people in the BFRO, (bigfoot field researcher organization). I figured my actual screen time would barely be anything because some of these guys have 20 plus years of experience out there. It was an exciting group to hang out with for bigfoot nerds. Even if you cut Bob Saget out of this weekend equation, I would have been delighted as a titmouse on a winter's day!

you don't expect me to list everybody here do you?!

Soon I was in touch with Renee, one of the producers. Renee and a camera bro showed up to interview me and get some "B roll". I was asked a lot of questions about my 3,000 mile moped trip looking for bigfoot back 2005. Being on the filming end of videocameras for most of my life, I wasn't as prepared as I thought. I could barely put a sentence together and was breathing heavily into the lapel mic!

"Crap," I thought to myself gently. I remember apologizing to editors and tape loggers. Figuring I would just make up for it in the B-roll, I ate some weeds, did some breathtaking martial arts action (ha!), and tried to have fun. When I attempted a roll with a sword in my belt, I got stuck upside down on my head. I knew my fate in this thing was sealed. After all, it was written in the release form that they had the right to make fun of us! I couldn't wait. I was about to witness the strength of Bob Saget.

Before


After

Me and Barney caught a ride with Cliff up to the Olympic Peninsula. Although Barney wasn't officially invited, I needed someone to carry my bag and bake me delicious dutch oven cornbread.

Barney has the stance of a real dickhead, huh?


By his stance, Cliff Barackman is obviously a gentleman and scholar!

We arrived at the main base camp at night and met up with Bobo and the rest of the crew. The surrounding mountains were dusted with fresh snow that was blown about by a cold winter-like wind! It was considerably exciting! Team Saget would arrive the next day.

Bobo preparing to "kill it," as they say in the comedy biz.

The next day we went to the official site of the expedition a few miles down the road. We set up camp and waited for the RV entourage to show up! The excitement was bearable! There were so many crew people I couldn't believe it.

There were way more people than this.

The first few moments of the shoot.

Soon we were surrounded by two sets of sound guys, three or more camera guys, a photographer, and a bunch of crew. It was on! I mostly dodged the cameras on the first round. Later in the day I suspect Bobo talked me up, because Bob said to me before taking a break, "You and me gotta talk!" That made me happier than a bushtit in a flock of forty. Saget asked me if I would do some ninja stuff, and I replied, "Nah, there are a bunch of misconceptions in that field as well."

I got to say I wasn't sure what to expect from Mr. Saget. I figured he would be fairly brutal on us and I was a great target! Either way, my role would be to take the bullet. When he arrived I was surprised to find he did some research beforehand and one of the first things they did was visit the Quinault Reservation. I wasn't there but I heard they got a few stories about bigfoot from the locals. Still, you never know what to expect from Mr. Saget.



The next couple of days we were split into groups for filming. In my down time I carved a bo staff and a sword. I also enjoyed watching the bad ass camera and sound crew work. They were of the agile persuasion. Running down steep trails backwards in the dark, I was more than impressed! The shoot was done in a documentary style with no staged sequences, and it was pretty apparent that the actual bigfooting would be limited. There was no way to film a huge TV show and silently squatch into the night. That was fine by me because I got to pick Saget's comedious brain!
On our night walk we had some long conversations while the cameras were rolling that obviously would not make the cut. He could easily of told us to shut up and talk squatch. Instead he told stories of the late Peter Graves from "in search of " being his neighbor, and sneaking on coded dirty jokes into "America's funniest home videos." I thought this was great, Bobo was less impressed.

I remember him telling Saget, who he now nicknamed Sagler, at least two or three times that he was a pretty funny dude in person but for years sucked on TV.

"I always said if I ever saw you in person I'd beat your ass"

"The only Bob Saget fan I know is Flippy"

It was true. I told Bob I thought his directorial debut film "dirty work" was a perfect comedy. I freaking love that movie. He said he really had to fight with the studio and go to bat to get some of his fellow comedians on that one. He told us about working with Norm Macdonald, Artie Lange and the great Don Rickles. It was also one of Chris Farleys last roles. For a second I forgot all about bigfoot.



He even sorta promised to not throw us bigfooters under the bus. Knowing what footage they had of some of us, I got to say, he pretty much stood by that one. I think the show made more fun of the guys that can take a joke. They didn't even use the dreaded footage of me riding on Bobo's back, simulating my "Live your dreams" graphic. Some of the bigfooters there were really concerned about that one! I love that obvious joking around was somehow more of a threat to our credibility than serious on camera meltdowns. No names mentioned, but the show almost went from "Strange days" to "Intervention" a couple times! But enough about that. Check out this sweet graphic!

For the haters!

I guess if there was one thing I got from that weekend it was some respect for Sagler. Ya, he would later be making fun of us on national TV but that's what comedians do. He was a hard worker, down to earth, and a good sport who would not break the comics code and make fun of Dane Cook no matter how much Bobo tried to get him to.

Saget couldn't believe how soft my underwear was.



Check it out for yourself! Complete episode with some commercials.

3 comments:

  1. That is so cool, I love Bob Saget! Also, your audition tape was hilarious.

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  2. WEED? I SUCKED DICK FOR COKE!! Dude, you really do have the best non-Asian ninja moves I have ever seen outside the realm of Steven Segal and Chris Tucker. The video part about the stepdad resonates with all of us who's mothers were tired of buying fancy walmart panties with no one to show them off too. Mine also took me to an abandoned field, but he wasn't going to teach me about bigfoot. Instead, he showed me that the game T-ball I had been participating in was nothing like his version, and that real "winners" always kept their mouths shut during our weekly "visits" from the CPA.
    I had been following your blog, and enjoyed seeing you and Bobo show Mr Saget that not all bigfoot people are ex-militia, old car salesmen with no funny bone, have a sweet tattoo of a dream catcher on the bicept they got in Sturgis, have a sweet mullet made sweeter by using their old ladies conditioner, retired law enforcement, or perpetual virgins. Well, at least the tattoo part. I knew bigfoot wouldn't show up because the scent from the Olsen Twins won't come off (not even with Lava soap) and it doesn't find short candid video clips with snappy commentary funny.
    Anyhow, keep up your blog.

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