This week I was on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld for the first time. It’s been a dream of mine ever since I watched it for the first time. Red Eye is the reason I got DVR. I have the Red Eye tribute to Andrew Breitbart that aired on March 2, 2013 in permanent DO NOT ERASE mode on my DVR. I wrote a book for the express purpose of getting me on the show (Ok, that last one might not be totally true).
Red Eye is the perfect show because it approaches pop culture, liberals, and politics in general as things that should be mocked. That’s probably why this 3 a.m. show beats mock-worthy shows on MSNBC.
I first met Andy Levy and Greg Gutfeld at an event with Ann Coulter back in 2010. They had heard through the grapevine (i.e. I told every friend who had been on the show) that I wanted to be on the show. To their credit, they didn’t laugh in my face.
After the Red Eye booker emailed me, I excitedly told friends that I couldn’t wait to find out who the two guests would be on my episode. The adorable Andrew WK? The dreamy Nick Gillespie? The witty Gavin McInnis? The quirky Jedediah Bila? Then I realized there would only be one other guest because I was a guest. Not my sharpest moment.
The best advice I got about being on the show came from Nick Gillespie. He told me not to try to be funny. It’s better to just play off the funny people on the show. When I found out that comedian Jim Norton would be the other guest, I knew Gillespie was right. Sure, I had a couple jokes in my head, but I tried to just listen to the other panelists and respond to them. The last thing I wanted to do was try to be funnier than Jim Norton. That’s setting myself up for failure.
It was also great to meet the newest Red Eye panelist, Joanne Nosuchinsky. She’s really funny and personable. Joanne is a great addition to the show.
Fingers crossed that I’ll be invited back again!