5 Questions: Royal Wedding Planner Video

Five questions you haven’t asked yet about the royal wedding planner video because you are afraid to or possibly not interested:

Q1) Why did you do this?

A.  My boss asked me the same thing.  The Cisco router will connect the royal wedding (the real one for Prince William and Kate) video stream to the TV station for the broadcast, so this video is a fun way to celebrate.

Q2 ) Who is Ms. Fauntleroy?

A.  I’m not sure if you’re asking about the character or the actor.  The character was inspired by the middle name of the wife of one of my best friends from college, Robert Spencer. The actor is Jenn Schatz, who you may have seen recently on 30 Rock “Double-Edged Sword” in a scene with Tina Fey and Matt Damon — neither were in our video.

Q3) Was this filmed at your home?

A. No.  We needed a setting that was more cozy.  The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, with 62 rooms and 44,000 sq. ft. helped to create the intimate mood.  Special thanks to the mansion’s executive director Shelly Gerarden for his kindness and generosity, and to his staff, especially Brian, Jon and Susie.

Q4) Why didn’t you use a British accent?

A few folks have asked that before you did (Updated – thanks Elyse and David) .  We tried British accents for both Ms. Fauntleroy and the voice-over actor, but it didn’t seem to work as well.   Although I’m now filled with self-doubt.

Q5) The mansion looks familiar.

That’s a statement not a question.  But the mansion hosted scenes from House of Dark Shadows and The Stepford Wives –  both 1975 original film featuring Katharine Ross and the 2004 remake with Nicole Kidman — neither were in our video.

Comedy at SXSW

I presented at SXSW Interactive about the role of comedy in corporate social media, and was amazed at how productive the conference was.  I had the chance to meet with quite a few social media leaders — when possible, over BBQ — including Jeff Pulver, C.C. Chapman, Guy Kawasaki, Pam Slim, John Jantsch, Erik Qualman and David Meerman Scott. I managed to squeeze in some comedy, kicking things off with Conan O’Brien’s  documentary premier.

ConanChristopherOBrien.com

Rainn Wilson and director James Gunn dialed in the flight-delayed Ellen Page and put her on speaker to talk about their new dark comedy feature Super.

Director Todd Phillips shared the backstory of some of his comedies like Old School and talked a bit about The Hangover Part II.

Dined with Vince Thompson, comedian Matt Kirsch and the LA crew at the Salt Lick BBQ.

I wrapped up the visit with some classic Austin trailer food at Trey’s Cuisine for an amazing New York Strip burger stuffed with mac and cheeses served on a croquette.

Trey’s Cuisine chef Cowden Ward.

Finally, dessert at Amy’s Ice Cream with my favorite NEW YORKER cartoonist, Matt Diffee.

8 Seconds

I was cut short of my 15 minutes of fame. A few shots we filmed that didn’t make it into the final edit of this spot included my character yelling “HEY” then running along the printing press, and Matt’s character in safety glasses and ear muffs, speaking at the crawling dude-cadence.  The ad ran during the Super Bowl in the Boston market.

Click image to view the spot.

B2B Comedy Classics

The age of the curator seems like the perfect time to assemble a collection about something, so I put together a list of the Top 10 B2B Comedy Videos for a guest post for the Social Media B2B blog.  Above is a bonus video for Valentine’s Day.  Thanks to Jeff Cohen for the opportunity, and for his virtual tour of North Carolina wine.  His Biltmore photos compelled me to plan a return trip to my favorite vineyard in the Smokies.

Inc. Magazine: How to Use Humor in Advertising

Lou Dubois and I first crossed paths and the IMS10 and again at BrandsConf, and continued our discussion about corporate comedy in social media for his Inc. Magazine article.   Check it out.

Secret Santa – Jade Dragon

From the Late Night with Conan O’Brien archives.  You might recognize Michael Delaney from The Other Guys.

The Inklings

While sitting at this table 70 years ago at the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, England, C.S. Lewis encouraged a reluctant young writer to publish the work he shared with the small group of friends, The Inklings.  

That young writer was J.R.R. Tolkien and the unfinished story he shared was “Lord of the Rings.”   I’m guessing Lewis had no idea the film trilogy would go on to earn 30 Oscar nominations and $2.9 billion worldwide at the box office — he probably just thought it was a neat story.

We’re studying The Inklings at Wedgwood Circle,  a group committed advancing the good, true and beautiful in arts and entertainment.  I emceed our conference at Shutters in Santa Monica, where we got a peak into some behind-the-scenes stories:  Sean Astin on making Tolkien’s film (and The Goonies), Michael Flaherty of Walden Media on the Chronicles of Narnia, and Kiel Murray & Phil Lorin on Cars and their short film Kilo.

It inspired me to work harder to try to create more of the good, true, beautiful and ridiculous.

Backstage with the Rockettes

Saturday our family went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.   One of my friends from the improv community Stacey, is in the show.  We performed together in a troupe at Magnet Theater, and after our shows we’d grab a cheeseburger at the  Triple Crown Ale House, an improv hangout.   It was always a blast to be in a scene with Stacey — she’s a brilliant improviser, and if I remember correctly, she had the best high kicks in our troupe.

It’s hard to find the right adjective to describe the Christmas Spectacular.

photo: Bob Jagendorf

The “Missouri Rockets” were founded in St. Louis in 1925, long before the very first Christmas.    They opened at  Radio City Music Hall in 1932, followed a few years later by Conan O’Brien.

We had such a blast watching our kids light up.  Stacey took us backstage after the show to see all the props and costumes, and the camel’s dressing room, who is a bit of a diva and constantly demanding San Pellegrino.

Stacey couldn’t join us for lunch as she had to get ready for her second performance (on some days, she dances in four shows.)  We headed out to Petite Abeille to tackle the Banana Split Brussels Waffle, as seen on the Travel Channel’s “Breakfast Paradise.”   No celebrity sightings, but the last time my daughter and I dined there, we sat close enough to Aaron Eckhart to eavesdrop on his script writing session for his next feature.

Yelp gives Triple Crown 3 out of 5 stars.

About the Cheeseburger & Comedy series.

Haunted Cheeseburger @ The Stanley Hotel

There was a time when I didn’t believe in ghosts.

My tour of the Stanley Hotel’s room 217 provided more eerie confirmation in changing my opinion.  While I was filming a comedy documentary short about the inspiration behind Stephen King’s The Shining, we had a few paranormal encounters, yet I found the courage to stick around and have a cheeseburger at Cascades Restaurant.

King, seeking sanctuary from some friends’ harsh criticism of his first draft  — initially about an amusement park where rides came to life and devoured visitors — escaped with his wife toward Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountains National Park.  Snowfall had closed the road, and the Kings headed back down the mountain and spotted a dilapidated Stanley.  King was willing to check-in on the last night of operation for the season, even though the hotel looked pretty spooky.  As they were the only guests, they were given the Presidential Suite, room 217.  (Photo: Justin Balog)

Mrs. Wilson, one of the first chambermaids employed when the hotel was built by F.O. Stanley in 1909, is said to still clean and sometimes haunt guests in 217, particularly if they’re messy.  Mr. King had a frightening experience that night, awoke the next day and wrote a new outline for The Shining.

What I love about this story is that it was Mr. King’s failure that played the muse for his masterpiece.   A few days before my visit to room 217 in Estes Park, CO, I had received some harsh criticism on a comedy project.  That same week, I heard a story that gave me hope, just down the road from the Stanley at Hyde Chapel.

Rev. Dr. Stephen Wende shared a fascinating research study from the book Art & Fear.  In short, a class of art students was divided into two groups.  Group 1 was told they would be graded on making a perfect clay pot, while Group 2 was directed to make as many clay pots as possible, regardless of how they looked.

The researchers were stunned to discover that the  absolute best pot was produced by the “quantity” group, not the “quality” group.  In fact, the last two dozen clay posts produced by the quantity group were far better than the one pot produced by the “quality” group…. The researchers realized that all the time the quality group was sitting around thinking and theorizing about how to make the exact the perfect post, the other group was just churning them out.  And they were pretty bad at first, but they kept making them and making them and making them, and they got better as they went along, until by the time they finished, they were making wonderful, excellent pots.

Dr. Wende concludes, “Have you ever thought of the power of being willing to fail and learn and keep on failing until you begin to get it right?”  I guess to some, this seems obvious, but in that period for me, with a bruised ego and overwhelmed with doubt, it was an epiphany.

Like I imagine Stephen King might be, I am grateful for spirits unholy or otherwise, who guide us through the creative process, encouraging us to complete what we’ve been called to do.

Update:

Cascades at The Stanley Hotel: 3 out of 5 stars on Yelp

About the Cheeseburger & Comedy blog series.

WebProNews: Adding Humor to Social Media Marketing

Mike McDonald of WebProNews asked a few questions at the Inbound Marketing Summit about our approach of using humor in social media.  I also shared a few examples of a recent travel series we did.