Memories of TCA Press Tours Past (Pt. 1 of Several)
Do you recognize this man?
In case the face doesn’t ring a bell, or perhaps he looks familiar but you can’t come up with his name, allow me to assist: his name is Anthony Stewart Head, and while he’s arguably best known for playing Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he’ll forever hold a special place in my heart as the first celebrity I met at the Television Critics Association press tour.
It was the summer of 2007, I’d just arrived at the Beverly Hilton, and he was literally sitting right by the door when I stepped into the lobby. If I’d bothered to think back to when I’d read the schedule of panelists for that day, I would’ve remembered that he was there as part of BBC America’s presentation, but I’ll be honest: my thought process got no farther than “holy shit, it’s Giles!” Having never attended a TCA press tour, I was too caught up in a fanboy moment to do anything other than ask him if I could take his picture, and being British, he was polite enough to agree to my request. I thanked him, and then I promptly dialed my wife’s cell phone in order to tell her who I’d just met.
Here’s the thing, though: while I was in the process of telling her about this close encounter, I suddenly became aware that I recognized the voice of the man walking in front of me, which abruptly led me to realize that I was walking directly behind Dick Van Dyke.
It was in that moment that I had an epiphany: I was going to have to seriously step up my game in regards to talking to celebrities.
I know I’ve told this story a number of times in various comments sections, interviews, and maybe even on here somewhere, but we’re in the middle of the virtual version of the winter 2022 TCA tour right now, so you’ll forgive me, I hope, for getting sentimental about some of the past tours where I was actually attending these panels and events — and, more importantly, doing interviews — in person.
As such, I thought I’d share some memories from past tours…and believe me when I tell you that I have way more than will fit in one piece, so count on a sequel or two over the coming days.
First, though, since I dug up the piece that I actually wrote about the 2007 summer tour after I got home, I’ll list some of the moments that I cited as highlights:
Attended a table read for the 100th episode of Family Guy. (I’m pretty sure still have the script around here somewhere.)
Had a brief conversation with Lorne Michaels, who — in a truly surreal moment for an SNL geek like me — stopped chatting with Dick Ebersol to talk to me.
Ate Chicago-style pizza that Craig Ferguson ordered for the TCA because he felt bad that he was on the east coast and wasn’t able to attend the tour.
Did a shot with Judd Hirsch at the CBS party, an event where I also had the chance to thank Rita Moreno in person for her work on The Electric Company and was able to discuss the merits of bad movies with Drew Carey. (I literally bought a copy of The Apple as a result of that conversation.)
Met Luke Perry and the guys from Flight of the Conchords at the HBO party, an event which offered up champagne and filet mignon.
Went to a party at the Santa Monica Pier, which Fox had rented out for a night.
Went to the Friar’s Club and mingled with the cast of Mad Men while Jeff Goldblum and his jazz trio favored us with a few tunes.
Attended a party at the house of Garth Ancier, then head of BBC America, where James Nesbitt performed a few numbers, everyone in attendance got a BBC America bathrobe, and I met John Barrowman and realized why both women and men have crushes on him. My God, he’s a handsome bastard…
Anyway, you get the idea: the TCA press tour is insane. Is it any wonder that I had to step up my game immediately?
That said, I did still get this photo:
2008: Meeting Tony Curtis
You can tell from the picture that this TCM event wasn't all that long before he passed away, but his voice was still strong, and although we only had a brief conversation, it nonetheless contained a moment for the ages. At one point he was listing his favorite leading ladies, and when he paused momentarily, I casually added a name to his list: "Wilma Flintstone." His eyes lit up and he grinned and said, "Wasn't that wonderful? 'Stoney Curtis!'" Given how often celebrities are immortalized in animation nowadays, it's easy to forget that it was a rarity in the '60s, and Curtis was clearly still amused and entertained by the memory of having been honored in in such a fashion.
2009: Interviewing Joan Rivers
I sat down w/ Joan Rivers for a chat after her TCA panel, and we had a nice — if all too short — conversation, but it resulted it an all-time favorite moment: just as I was about to leave, I told her my wife had just arrived from Virginia, and she took a rose off a nearby table and said, "Here, give this to her. You'll get lucky tonight."
She was not wrong.
2011: Visited the Playboy Mansion
Here’s what I wrote of the experience at the time:
I spent the majority of the evening with a couple of the regulars from my past tales from the TCA tour: Bill Harris of the Toronto Sun and Amber Dowling of TV Guide Canada. After Amber and I hit the bar to grab a couple of the strongest bourbon and gingers you've ever had in your life - they were something like 90% bourbon and 10% ginger, leading Amber to observe, "This is why so many people end up having sex at the Playboy Mansion" - the three of us ventured into Hef's infamous grotto, which was as cool as you'd expect it to be. Yes, there were the inevitable jokes about how we were setting ourselves up to contract Legionnaire's Disease, but I'm here to tell you that the smell of chlorine was so strong that it's hard to imagine that any disease could survive in that water.
From there, we started our stroll around the grounds. I had no idea that Hef had so many animals on the property, but there were parrots, cockatoos, toucans, peacocks, various reptiles, and many, many monkeys. Alas, we were unable to enter the mansion itself, nor were we ever favored with an appearance from Mr. Hefner itself. Rumors abounded as to why he wasn't coming out (supposedly, it wasn't his party, so he didn't feel obliged to appear), and since we never saw him, there's really no definitive proof that he was even inside, although I did hear repeated comments about how he was in the midst of a heated game of Gin Rummy.
If you're wondering, there were indeed some Playmates onsite, giving tours of the grounds. Alas, I didn't end up taking a formal tour, and I really regret it now, as I've heard from others who did take tours that their guides offered no end of stories about various goings-on, including topless shenanigans on the tennis courts and, of course, the occasional orgies. But I still managed to see the Van Room - there's some preposterous story that Hef designed the room to look like the inside of a van because that's where he lost his virginity, but even if it's true, I doubt if that van looked quite as '70s-inspired as this room did - as well as the Red and Blue bedrooms. It was more than a little disconcerting to see stacks of towels beside the beds, but I guess it makes sense that there were copies of Playboy in the drawers of the headboards.
Given that I'm happily married and was therefore in no position to make a fool of myself by hitting on any of the hot women in attendance, the highlight of my visit to the Mansion was, oddly enough, playing "Donkey Kong." If it sounds crazy, you have to remember that I was channeling my inner 13-year-old throughout the evening. As I stood there, surrounded by Playboy memorabilia, sipping bourbon, and helping Mario save the princess, it was one of the strangest, most surreal experiences of my life. And one of the most awesome.
2013: Meeting Cookie Monster
Actually, I’d met him a few years earlier, at which point I even got him to do a video for Ally, who was only four at the time and was still very much in regular Sesame Street viewing mode. But that video just can’t compete with this photo, which features the perfect combination of expressions and prop, and when I originally posted it on Facebook, I gave it what I still feel is the perfect caption:
“Did you want this?”
2015: Co-presenting the TCA Career Achievement Award to James L. Brooks.
My Canadian counterpart Bill Harris and I shared the honor of introducing James L. Brooks, but in a moment that I still can’t believe I had a hand in instigating, we had additional help from one Homer J. Simpson. Thanks to my buddy Michael Price getting the ball rolling and the invaluable assistance of Al Jean, Dan Castellaneta, and others over at The Simpsons, we got an exclusive clip that can still be seen on YouTube to this day.
2016: Meeting Linda Perry
If my interview with Peter Asher had started on time, I wouldn’t have this story.
I walked down to the appointed place at the appointed time, only to be told apologetically that Peter was running a bit behind. The publicist asked if I’d mind taking a seat for just a short while, assuring me that he’d come over to me as soon as he was finished with his interview, so I sat down…directly across from Linda Perry.
She was sitting directly opposite me, with her publicist sitting to her right, and a few moments after I sat down, her publicist suddenly says to Linda, “Listen to this: ‘Don Was, Hank Shocklee, Linda Perry & Peter Asher are all onstage for PBS's Soundbreaking panel. You may now genuflect.’ Then it says, ‘I will.’”
At this point, I have to admit that I was actually the author of that tweet. And since this is a relatively ridiculous coincidence even after factoring in the fact that we’re obviously all sitting in the building from whence the tweet had originated, I also felt obliged to hold up my TCA badge – which displays my name and Twitter handle – just to confirm that I’m not kidding.
Linda’s publicist says, “I just got chills.”
I said, “I have to admit, I don’t really hear my work read out loud very often, so that was actually kind of awesome.”
In response, one of them – I can’t recall which – said, “It must be kind of like hearing your song on the radio for the first time.” But it was definitely Linda who said, “Except you don’t make as much money,” to which I replied, “Yeah, but I’m in journalism, so I was already resigned to that.”
A few minutes later, Linda’s publicist stands up, and a few moments after that, Linda says, “I’m Linda, by the way.”
I smiled and said, “I know.”
It was at this moment that I found myself wondering, “Is there some way that I can get away with acknowledging that I really, really don’t like 4 Non Blondes’ ‘What’s Up’?” I don’t know why I wondered this, except that I thought maybe it would somehow absolve me of not liking it, as if my feelings one way or the other about her song is something that’s keeping Linda Perry up at night.
So I didn’t say it.
I did, however, suddenly find myself saying, “I inherited 4 Non Blondes’ first album when I got married.”
She looks at me curiously. “What, did you have to take her CDs when you took her?”
“More or less: she had it in her collection, and when we got married, there was an…integration,” I explained.
This clearly amused her, but a moment later, her publicist came over and said, “Your break’s over: you’ve got an interview.”
She stood up, and as I was saying, “It was a pleasure to meet you,” because it absolutely had been, she was saying, “Well, we have to take a selfie.”
I said, “What?”
She said, “Hey, you can’t drop a bomb like telling me that your wife’s got a 4 Non Blondes CD in her collection and not do a selfie for her.”
So we did.
And while I still really, really don’t like “What’s Up,” I sure do really, really like Linda Perry now.