WEBVTT - Danielle with…Tom Bergeron 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.439 It's been a minute, but welcome back to Danielle with 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.439 a podcast that at one time faithfully followed my journey 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:31.080 from normal, everyday plead to exceptional exceptional professional dancer, and now, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.680 with announcements and events popping up all over pop culture, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:40.080 the season has returned. It's officially time to talk Dancing 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.360 with the Stars. I'm excited to be diving back into 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:45.479 the universe at the end of July at Dancing with 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.880 the Stars Con twenty six in Palm Springs, California, where 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.720 I'll be partaking in the festivities and endlessly complaining about 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.280 the heat. Tickets available now, and they've already welcomed three 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.560 new cast members for season thirty five, reality TV stars 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.639 Mora Higgins and Sierra Miller and Savannah Bananas baseball player 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.520 Jackson Olsen. But none of this could be possible without 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:14.520 the contributions of this week's special guest. There's been a 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.400 lot of Mount Rushmore talk on social media this year, 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.720 and I think you'd be hard pressed to leave this 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.600 legend off when it comes to Dancing with the Stars. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.560 Variation Originally a radio DJ with stops in New Hampshire 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.360 and Boston, he did the unthinkable and did have a 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.840 face for TV, landing local hosting spots, including a teenage 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:40.160 discussion series called Wrap Around Spelled Rap I'm going to 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:45.000 need to know everything about that. And then the floodgates opened. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.360 Three years at FX and Fox, guest hosts on Good 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.280 Morning America and a gig that landed him the Daytime 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:56.560 Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host, Hollywood Squares. Then for 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.320 thirteen years he was the face of America's Funniest Home Videos, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.760 still the show's longest tenured host, introducing dudes getting hit 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.760 in the genitals, which led to another Emmy winning spot, 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.799 the Master of Ceremonies for Dancing with the Stars from 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.880 two thousand and five to twenty twenty. He co hosted 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.200 the Emmys in two thousand and eight, wrote a best 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.079 selling autobiography in two thousand and nine, and made his 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.840 triumphant return to the ballroom last year, a hopeful sign 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.080 that we will get to see him even more during 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:27.800 this new renaissance of the show. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.600 Also, we work out at the same gym this week. 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.760 I'm honored to welcome to Danielle with a pioneer of 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.240 reality and competition TV, Tom bergeron. 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.560 Well, I just have to tell you after hearing of 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.440 all my accomplishments, I'm exhausted. 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:45.880 Aren't you tired? 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.519 I've just I have to go lie down now. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.960 No wonder you just want to stay in your home 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:52.520 and have food delivered, you know? 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.240 Yeah, it's we were Danielle and I were talking just 0:02:56.320 --> 0:03:00.760 before we invited you in that I had become a 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.160 recluse very happily with streaming services and Instacart and door 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.160 Dash and Zoom. I mean, why leave? 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.600 Why leave your house? 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:11.160 You know? 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.799 My mom actually has been saying that for years, long 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:15.040 before the streaming services. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:15.560 In the Zoom. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.200 Whenever we would pitch the idea of going camping, my 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.720 mom would say, but I've worked very hard for this house. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.000 Why would I want to pretend I don't have one? 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.440 Yeah, exactly, Why go into a smaller version, you know, 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.320 where we're all bumping into each other? 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:32.360 Exactly. 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.040 Well, it's in my absolute pleasure to get to sit 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.600 here with you for the podcast. I did mention in 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.200 your intro that we go to the same gym, and 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.200 there is not a single person at our gym who 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.640 doesn't say, what an absolute lovely gem of a human 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:48.600 being you are. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:54.520 Oh stop, stop, I have to say at the outset. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.000 One thing I really missed when I went back to 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.600 be a guest judge for the twentieth you were voted 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.000 off like the week before. 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.720 Right, I know I missed you missed you by that much, 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:06.920 I know, I think so. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:08.600 Yeah, because what week were you there? 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.280 Was the I think it was week nine? 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.280 Yeah, I was voted off week eight, so yeah. 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.040 Yes, the twentieth celebration was week now. Yeah, sorry about that. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:19.159 Yeah, I was there. 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:24.279 I was just sitting in the audience now going hey everyone, Well, 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.799 first of all, I'm going to need to get wrap 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.520 around out of the way first. This was a weekend 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.480 TV show with troubled teens at WBZ in Boston. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.039 Right, Yeah, yeah, they weren't all troubled. They were probably 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.599 troubled about it on a par with me. Okay, but yeah, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:47.160 it was a really cool format. It was me with 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.400 a different high school or high schools every week talking 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.479 about issues a specific two teens, and some of them 0:04:55.480 --> 0:05:00.360 were you know, like peer pressure, gang influences in and 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.839 around the Boston area, et cetera. So I only had 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.440 one rule. I said, I'm I'm I'm not going to 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.920 be either your parent or your peer Okay, I just 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.120 want to listen, and I'm going to respond with my 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.800 natural curiosity based on what you're telling me. Once we 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.640 establish what the topic for any given show is. And 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.000 we sat around together on these cushioned It was a 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.760 really cool, like graffiti Layton set that they came up with, 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:30.760 and I did that for a couple of seasons on 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.240 the what was then the NBC affiliate in Boston. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.160 OW I mean, how did you get that job? 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.720 Because, with all due respect, when I think of gang 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:46.080 violence and hip hop music, my first thought is not, Yeah. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:50.159 The whitest man in America. When I would show up 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.200 what I would show up for Hollywood Squares because we'd 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.800 shoot during the summer, and I'd show up, you know, 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.640 a T shirt and shorts because the wardrobe people had 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.120 my c was hanging up and Whoopy would look at 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:07.520 me and go, those are the whitest legs in America. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.880 So I had been doing other stuff at that station 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:15.039 at BC, and I had done a magazine show for 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.240 younger kids called super Kids prior to wrap Around, and 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:23.120 then I started hosting the midday talk show called People 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:27.400 Were Talking, which was on the Westinghouse stations. Oprah did 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.680 the one in Baltimore as a matter of fact, at 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.160 one time, and as a result of that, they said, Hey, 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.240 would you like to do another show, just a weekend 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:41.160 show that we taped during the week just with kids. Yeah, 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.680 And I thought, well, that's you know, I think at 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.200 that point I was a new dad as well. Oh 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.080 so I wanted to see what I was in for exactly. Yeah. 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:51.599 Well, you had just started to make a name for 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.680 yourself as a host. Apparently you were so good that 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.000 people wanted you on other shows. You mentioned, people are talking, 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.479 and like you said, it was a big regional talk 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.360 show with guests like Spike Lee, New Kids on the Block, 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.880 Roseanne Barr and other very time relevant names. And then 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.040 this was in the Donna Hue or Oprah format of 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:11.480 the era. 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.160 Was this your style of talk show? 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.640 It's very host reliant, so you had to love it. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.480 It was What I loved about it was it was 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.640 like cramming for an exam every night, because five days 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:29.960 a week for one hour midday live, which I love. Wow, 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.800 it was a given topic or guest. One of my 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.320 favorite guests he was on twice with me, was President 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:44.280 Jimmy Carter, the late Jimmy Carter, wonderful guests, and we 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:49.920 ran the gamut from sublime to ridiculous on that format. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:55.160 But my favorite, my absolute favorite experience hosting on television. 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.120 And this might surprise people who think, well, it's got 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:02.800 to be America's funniest vidy as stars, it's not. It's 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:08.720 Breakfast Time on FX, which I co hosted from ninety 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.320 four to ninety six, and it was set in a 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.400 sixty five hundred square foot apartment in the Flatiron district 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.240 of New York, made for television, and it was just 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.840 and the cast was incredible, and I loved going to 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.280 work every day. I'd get up in Connecticut at three 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.360 point thirty in the morning and drive to Manhattan, so 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:34.640 I'd get there the office at about five, and you know, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.160 loved it, not that part of it, but I loved 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.319 the actual show. 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.240 What was Your bedtime? For a three thirty wake up? 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.120 It was early as a matter of and the girls 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:49.439 were see our daughters at that point were probably do 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:54.959 six and four. So Lois, my wife, actually got them 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.920 a board game called Don't Wake Daddy. And I was 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.960 basically on the same sleep schedule as my kids. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.959 Yeah, yeah, exactly. I actually know that schedule. Well, because 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.440 my husband did morning radio out in LA when we 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.520 first got married, and so he had a very similar 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:14.160 four am alarm clock. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.120 And I said, listen, I'm pregnant. Let's just start getting 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:19.880 on that baby schedule. 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.360 So we'd go to bed at eight thirty and then 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.360 get up at four. It's actually kind of glorious. So 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.880 what was Breakfast Time about. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.040 Well, it was about two hours. 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:35.120 And then it happened. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:40.680 Yeah. It was kind of a gonzo version of a 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.360 morning television show. We had news and weather and guests 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.480 and all that, but we did it in almost a 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.679 morning zoo kind of format. It was like a radio 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:56.559 show on television. Great, there are compilation videos on YouTube 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.000 and you can type in my name and Breakfast Time 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.079 and just I'm the guy with the brown hair in 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:09.120 those videos. But yeah, it was just wonderful. My co 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:15.480 host was Laurie Hibbert now Laurie Gelman, married to Michael Gelman. Yeah, 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.959 what is it, Kelly and somebody else? Now Mark or. 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.640 I think it's Mark, Yeah, Mark, thank you? 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.760 Well, anyway that Laurie's married to Gelman. Yeah, but we 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.679 we just hit it off. I've been very fortunate with 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.120 with co hosts. Over the years. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.959 Yeah, Well, as I mentioned my husband being a morning 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.680 radio DJ, and you said, like a morning zoo type thing. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.440 Do you love We love radio. We think radio is 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.319 just one of the greatest formats ever. Do you think 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.959 it is something there's something special about that skill set 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:52.640 that helps with the transition then to TV. 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.400 That's a really good question, and I think you're spot on. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:02.480 I think the thing that I always tell aspiring broadcasters, podcasters, whatever, 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.360 is that, however big an audience you're shooting for, just 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.760 remember you're only talking to one person, right, And you 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:13.880 know that was really as a matter of fact, when 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.200 I first started in radio, Danielle, I had in my 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:22.199 hometown in Massachusetts. So that I could focus on one person, 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.560 I had an album cover on the other side of 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.120 the microphone that had this really attractive woman's face on it. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.360 I couldn't tell you what band it was or but 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.760 I'm sure that for the first couple of years of 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.760 my career I just sounded horny. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:39.839 You're like, I'm gonna keep my eyes locked on. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.480 But I think that keeping that in mind, that you're 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:50.199 talking to one person, that was something easy to develop 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.880 in radio because you're kind of in a room by 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.760 yourself unless you have a morning team around you. And 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.720 then for television, it was funny. There was one one 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.559 time Fantastic with the Stars. Some friends from the East 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.079 Coast were in the audience visiting, and during a commercial break, 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.080 my buddy Greg called me over. He goes, Tom, you know, 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.120 there's so much noise here in the ballroom. I can't 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.559 hear you when you're talking. And I said, well, that's 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.960 all right, I'm not talking to you. Nothing I'm saying 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.080 is that person on the other side of the lens. 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.080 Yeah, exactly, I know. I have noticed. I've been toasting 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.960 the American Idol Official podcast in. Ryan Seacrest, of course, 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.600 is the host of that show, another legendary host, and 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.199 whenever he's talking, he's just it's. 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.360 His absolute same volume. Everyone in the audience is going crazy. 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.240 No one knows what he's saying or when he's even 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.360 done saying it, but he's not talking to us. 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:42.319 That's right. 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.800 You mentioned Dancing with the Stars, and I always imagine 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.480 the first time somebody hears the pitch for the show, 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:53.000 and I think this, it must have just sounded insane. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.440 It's not like ballroom dancing was having a moment or anything. 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.120 And then this concept of teaching celebrit parties how to 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:01.720 do it. 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:03.440 It kind of sounds like a car wreck. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.720 Well, you know, yes and no. I mean there was 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:11.040 a there was some momentum for ballroom okay time, there 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.280 was the movie Strictly Ballroom came out. I think Richard 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.360 Gear and j Low were in it. And as a 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.960 matter of fact, that's why the mothership, which had been 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:29.720 called Come Dancing for years, yeah, added illogically Strictly because 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.320 they were sort of, you know, in the slipstream of 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:37.600 the success of that movie, and Strictly Come Dancing shifted 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.960 from being I think originally it was like a weekend 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.800 legit ballroom professional show, and then they started adding the 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.000 celebrity element and moved it to prime time and it 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:52.360 blew up and it okay. So that's what prompted the 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:56.280 head of entertainment programming at the time, Andrew Along, to 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.280 pitch of an American version of that. And she told 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.560 me later, once we were established in a hit, she said, Tom, 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.280 when I was in that room pitching it, nobody would 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:07.600 make eye contact with me. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:09.120 Like this is on com. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.839 She's killing her career right now, we're watching it happen. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.000 Yeah, and turn away from the car wreck. 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.400 That's right. So she had a pretty big I told 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.960 you so in her back pocket for quite some time. 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:24.080 Boy, I love that. 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.320 Did you have any dance knowledge going into it? 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:27.920 No? 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:35.280 I barely have any now, Yeah, No, I didn't at all. All. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.240 The only knowledge I had was, you know, being comfortable 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.800 hosting live television. And in some ways that was an 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:47.400 advantage because I became your surrogate as the viewer. I 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.960 was learning while you were learning, you know, And I 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.440 mean I have some dance lingo. But I said to 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.840 everybody when I showed up to be a guest judge 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:02.920 in November, I said, I'm not gonna be critiquing technique. 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.920 I'm just going to tell you emotionally what I felt 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.920 watching the dance, because you know, Derek and Carrie Ann 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.160 and Bruno, they've got the technique stuff down. 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:13.960 Yeah, you're not going to compete with them? 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.480 No that No, I wouldn't even pretend to have any 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.520 of that knowledge. But I could. I could critique based 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.200 as a viewer, and my role, I think when I 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.880 hosted it over the years was to basically protect you guys, 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.760 you know, from the judges and then God bless him. 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:38.080 I did miss him. I wish he was still with us. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:39.000 Everybody misses. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:46.680 Everybody's such a wonderful, lovely man with just the right amount. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.000 Of snark yep, exactly, yes. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.320 And you know, sometimes the judges were a little harsh, 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.880 and I try to be like a comedic shield between 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.760 the couples and the judges and try to and just 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.400 keep the show move, just keep everything going, because as 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.760 you know, there are a lot of moving parts. 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:05.440 There sure are. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:07.840 Okay, what can you tell me about that first season, 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.120 because I have to imagine it was like the wild West. 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.440 Yeah, it was the summer of two thousand and five. 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.080 I was on hiatus from America's Funniest Videos. So when 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.840 ABC asked if I would host a summer show, I thought, well, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.240 you know, sure, Okay, six weeks live TV. Why not, 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.920 expecting nothing of it other than it might be it 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:32.840 might come back next summer if it's a hit this summer. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.880 But you know, it didn't know what we had. I mean, 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:43.280 I was really skeptical about a celebrity ballroom show. Yeah, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.320 but I'll give it a go. What the heck. The 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.280 one thing that I insisted on changing by the time 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.760 we got to season two. In season one, there were 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:57.360 a lot of scripted jokes. Okay, and the joke writer 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.520 is actually a friend of mine. He's award winning, great guy, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:05.879 but it always felt weird. I finally said to the producers, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.119 you know what, We're a live show. I should be 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:13.000 reacting in real time to what I'm seeing and feeling. 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.199 And sometimes that might be with a joke. Sometimes it 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.280 might be with a hug. You know. Sometimes it's just 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.000 but to have something scripted days earlier that has no 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.120 bearing on what we just saw, what's the point of that. 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.800 So I made the pitch. I said, just I'm asking 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.200 you to trust me, and and thankfully they did. And 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:39.639 from season two on, I pretty much abandoned having anything 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.480 prepared other than getting you to the commercial and bringing 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:44.240 you back. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.760 Yes, yes, that's so great, and in the script, just 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.320 Tom reacts. 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:55.760 Yeah. That was basically. We'd be in script meetings and 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.439 especially leading into season two, and I'd look at something 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.200 that you know, on its own was a good joke, 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.679 but not germane to anything, right, and I would go on, 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.080 I'm not doing that. As a matter of fact. On 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.160 America's Funniest Videos in the early years, before they kind 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.440 of got my rhythm and my voice. We would sit 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:18.000 in a room before the taping and the head writer 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.480 was Todd Thick, and he would turn to the other 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:25.199 writers and he said, Okay, guys, here's where Tom kills 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:25.920 your babies. 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.000 Don't be too attached to anything. 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:30.960 I'll busy at that. 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:35.199 Yeah. Now, a lot of fans talk about how the 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.640 focus of the show has moved away from the drama 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:43.280 packages of the early days, the arguments between partners, the bickering. 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.800 Do you miss that element at all? Is there room 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.000 for it? In twenty twenty six. 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:55.200 In all candor, I hadn't been watching. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.080 Oh yeah, so. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.760 You know I I had mixed feelings had yeah, exactly, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:08.359 So I wasn't really watching until the few weeks prior 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.159 to being the guest judge. I mean, I still I 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.440 think that was evident when I was back, have great 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:19.320 fondness everybody there, and the people that I didn't have 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.960 fondness for pretty much were all gone. Son made it 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.520 easy to come back. But so I can't speak to 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.320 how the packages have changed, but I will say since 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.480 Conrad Green came back as the showrunner, who was my 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.840 original showrunner, the ship has been righted. I know it 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.280 got a little rocky for a couple of seasons there 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:48.280 and seemed to spiral a bit, but I think Conrad 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.520 got you know, got back in there, and as I 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.920 said on the show last November, you know, it's it's 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:58.439 having a ratings resurgence. And so whatever they're doing, whatever 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:03.080 the in terms of cast or the packages or the focus, 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:08.240 they have adapted that show so brilliantly for now that 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.399 it's it's having a bit of a renaissance. And I 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:15.200 couldn't be happier. Somebody asked me on social media, Tom, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.160 you must have been aware that the ratings went down 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:20.920 after they fired you and Aaron. You must have been 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.639 really happy, And I said no. I said I was 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.120 aware of it, but you know, there are a lot 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.240 of friends of mine working on that show who I 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.879 wanted to still have jobs. So I took no you know, 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.600 I took no pleasure in that. Yeah, And I was 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:38.480 just what I did, take pleasure and was seeing it 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.800 catch itself, yeah, and build into what it is again, 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:44.280 especially in this environment. 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.760 There has been a lot of love in the in 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.119 the you know, mainstream media, certainly from the celebs and 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.040 stuff for Dina Cats Dina Cats. Her name comes up 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.040 all the time people talk about her. I would like 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.640 to have just a moment where we do talk about Conrad, 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.080 because Conrad's and doesn't necessarily get mentioned in the same 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.240 way Dina's name gets mentioned. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.639 But one of the things I so appreciated. 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.040 About my experience on that show where the amount of 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.600 times there were group meetings leading into the start of 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:17.800 the show and then during the season where they would 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:19.439 let us know about something that was going to be 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:25.000 going on. I don't think I've ever felt more genuinely 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:31.080 protected than I did from Conrad, who made it very 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:36.120 clear how much of an open door there was for 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.160 anything we wanted to talk about, and that if anything 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.240 was going on, we shouldn't stay quiet about it, We 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.480 shouldn't talk about it, you know, amongst ourselves, we could 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:51.800 go directly to him, and I just he truly was 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.080 the way he runs that show makes the people who 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.840 are a part of it know that you are a 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.080 family and you're working together, and he's there for you 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:01.919 if you need him. 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.200 And really well said and absolutely spot on. And again 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:11.199 he's the reason I went back. I would had he 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.480 not been at the Helm, I wouldn't have gone back 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:15.639 as much affection as I have for all the other people. 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.960 You know, I just had it been the regime I 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.639 locked horns with. I mean, you know, well, frankly, if 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:25.320 they were still running the show, it'd be off the 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:25.840 air by now. 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:27.800 But yeah, you're right, you're right. 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.560 Yeah, But yeah, Conrad being there made all the difference 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:31.800 for me. 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:47.479 So what do you think is the special sauce of 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.560 this show? Why do you think so many people who've 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:52.440 been a part of it, myself included, walk away from 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.440 it saying it's life changing. 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:58.119 Well, I think that I can only base it on 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.040 what I've seen in the years and what I've seen 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:06.160 now that he's back, and Alfonso and Julianne are there, 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.240 and Derek's in the center seat and all that, and 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:13.040 and I experienced it like a tsunami of affection when 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:16.320 I when I went back in November, and and that 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.840 to me is key that that what I would see 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:26.080 every season when I was host was the obvious competitiveness 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.160