If you live long enough, you start to see patterns.
From as far back as I can remember, I’ve been enchanted with the idea of “The Common Man” (person) being worthy of celebrating. As opposed to the Famous Person. The Celebrity. Early on, I was drawn to TV programs, mostly talk shows, that highlighted “everyday” people. Like David Susskind’s shows. Later I discovered Dave Garroway. Even some of you will remember “Kup,” Irv Kupcinet. Yes, he interviewed celebs, sure. But his angle was different. He wanted to hear from big-time showbiz types on what they thought about, what their opinions were, in areas having nothing to do with the biz, or whatever milieu they were known to inhabit. You know, as if they were just regular people sitting around the kitchen table.
Little surprise that my first big splash in TV turned out to be a show that celebrated “the unusual, the offbeat,” the people, places and things you wouldn’t find in the guidebooks.
But even before that was my non-broadcast talk show, “Not Late Night with Ben Hollis: The Talk Show That’s Not on TV.” I loved interviewing non-famous folk. Yeah, I sprinkled in a few local celebs to try to get butts in the seats, but my heart was in finding out what made “ordinary” people tick. Mike Adamle, Jonathan Brandmeier and William Peterson were great guests, but what got me most excited was talking with the “no-names,” the folks who just wanted to come on and talk about themselves. The folks who had no new show to promote, no press release.
Also before Wild Chicago (and Ben Loves Chicago, both multiple Emmy-Award winning programs) was my introduction to Spalding Gray and his Interviewing the Audience live performance he did at The Goodman Theatre in the early 80s. Wow! This guy invites people up from the audience and interviews them about their lives — totally unscripted!
And the crowd loved it. So did I. I felt I’d found my calling. With Gray’s blessing, I eventually presented What’s Your Story? and then What’s It Like to be You? And in 1986, I came out with Rent-a-Friend, the video. All pursuits built on celebrating, paying attention to, the regular guy, the non-famous person of every stripe.
Naturally, my interest in these kinds of productions trickled over to TV, with a heavy dose of improvisation. Hence, my Instant Talk Show!
Writing this intro for the video has been challenging. Every new chapter in my road to today triggers memories and things I want to write about. Some day. All I would say now is, please, enjoy this joyous bit of Ben-ness. I just adore the aliveness of it, the spirit. And to shoot on the ol’ Grid Iron before the Big Game (homecoming!) — fantastic! School Spirit! Friends and Family Spirit! And a dog! (Dogs always up the value of anything on TV. Everybody loves dogs.)
There’s so much to say about this one, but I’m rushing to get it out. Ha! Aint’ that America. Home of the … well, we’ll keep our eye out on that one.
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