A looong time ago, in high school I attended a raping for the Arsenio Hall show. He was just as un-funny in person as he was on the boob toob. Not much has changed-saw him on Jay Leno a week or so ago and it was like a train wreck-he was trying to do the Robin Williams thing where you bounce around from one topic to the next, and basically just came off like a coked-out hack.
It was a long time ago when AIDS was first being noticed, and we were just hearing how to avoid contracting it. I asked something along the lines of “It sounds like AIDS is pretty hard to get, so why is everyone so freaked out about it?”
SuperM: To which they replied by whacking you over the head with a chair? Just kidding…
But seriously…very level-headed question. They must have been bummed you were killing their ratings.
The guy on the panel who actually had AIDS (actor Stephen Stucker, who has since died of the disease), gave me an ovation. The doctor on the panel nodded his head and the starlet (someone from one of those 80’s nighttime soaps, I don’t remember who), looked positively horrified.
about 5 years ago i went to see conan o’brien. his guests were bon jovi and richie sambora – both talking, not singing. conan comes out before the show and warms up the audience. he wears a lot of makeup.