nbc.com

just chillin'

What's up, everybody! Happy Friday and all that. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until Monday to check out the webvid I shot with McCann yesterday - but hopefully it's worth the wait! We had a great time, and now his office smells like stale beer. Intrigued? Oh, you should be. ;)

As you all know, this week has been a busy one for everyone here at the show, but no one more so than everyone's favorite Late Night Ninja, Jason Chillemi. He shot a couple really sweet remotes this week, and I thought you all would want to hear about them! So without further ado... Herrrrrre's Chillemi!! Have a great weekend everyone!!

- Aaron

***************************************************************************

Hey there Internet

Chill here. Thank you Bley for the sweet intro. I hope all is well with my faithful readers. I have missed writing for you guys and am excited to fill you in on what has been going on in my neck of the woods. These last couple of weeks have been nonstop!

Warm weather + May sweeps = Sweet location shoots.

You all know what our "Satellite TV" comedy piece is. Conan brings down the television and talks about all the crazy cool channels that only he gets here at the Rock. I am usually heavily involved in this bit and that was definitely the case this time. Some of these "Satellites" were actually shot way back in October before the strike went down. (I am still doing the research on it, but if these "channels" air it might be the longest period of time between the shoot date and the air date in our show's history. I will keep you posted.) This week, the "Satellites" had me running to batting cages, yoga studios, Central Park, subways, our fine city's streets, the "Scene Dock" (our 2nd studio where we put up a lot of sets) and elevators. Some of these channels were successful and some of them you get the feeling are not going to be as good as they might have sounded on paper. Some were done on the "up and up" where I set up locations via contract and had permission to shoot there such as the batting cage and yoga studio; and some were "done down and dirty" where I basically stole the shot and prayed we wouldn't get thrown out or arrested (remind me to tell you guys about all my near arrests over the years, but that is for another blog) such as the subway, elevator, and even the city streets( need permits for everything!!!).

The elevator was my favorite: It was for a channel that involved Brian Stack dressed like God. So I know our building is going to be very difficult in letting us get control over an elevator especially when we want to do it (12pm - LUNCH TIME) so i am forced to keep hitting buttons until we get an empty elevator, then I pile in with a 2 man camera crew, a writer, and God (long grey hair, a robe, sandals) and we just ride up and down until we get our shot. You would think that if an elevator that you were waiting for opened on your floor and their were 5 people in it clearly filming something that you would wait for the next one. Apparently, I was in the minority with that thought, because a shoot that should have taken 10 minutes tops, took almost an hour due to "other passengers" hopping on, not even doing a double take to God talking his head off to a camera. Sometimes a group of 5 would pile in. That is 10 people on a not huge, hot elevator, people!!! I can't imagine Stack in that heavy robe and crazy wig. He must have been dying. Even the most simplest of shots can be really hard to get done.

More... »

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Turdsday!

Hello you beautiful World Wide Web, you! What's up?!

Look, I may have oversold this whole "MYSTERY GUEST" thing. I tend to be a little excitable, and just the fact that it's a mystery made me all giddy... It's not anyone like Obama or anything (not that we wouldn't book Obama - he was on our show when we were in Chicago and was totally rad), but it's not anything like that. Maybe I'll just keep my stupid mouth shut and let you all find out when you find out!!! Oh snaps!

Busy busy busy. This week has been brutal, and I'm ready for it to be ovvvvver! I talked about this a little bit with LCW in the comments, but it really is like feast or famine around here - sometimes it's like Rockband all day for a week, and then there'll be a week where I haven't left the office before 12:30am (like this week, for example). But whatever, I'm not complaining; I mean, even the hard work is pretty fun!

For instance, today I got in super early so that I could lay down a bunch of videogame playing on the Wii - it's an extension of the GTA bit, but I think it's gonna get cut (I'm writing this before our taping today), so that was a wash. Then I rocked out Becki Newton (from ABC's Ugly Betty) who's on tomorrow, I'm knocking out this blog baby right now, and then I have to run upstairs and shoot that thing with McCann!! Something hilarious today was that I had to call Props for them to get two sixpacks of beer (you'll see), and it took me like 10 minutes to convince them that it was for THE SHOW, and not for me!!! Hahahaha. That doesn't mean I won't be drinking it... It just means that I'm drinking it for the show.

I'm not the only one who's having an insane week - Chill has been running around frantically shooting Satellite TV bits as well as a very... INTERESTING remote this week! He was out until 2am last night taping it!! It sounds totally crazy, and there's no point in ME explaining how it went, so I'll have Chill himself talk about it on tomorrow's blog!! End the week on a strong note, you know?! So look for that Manana!

Until then... See you on the flipside!

Pickup Sticks Times Six!

Today was a mad scramble, I tell you! A MAD SCRAMBLE!!

For those who aren't aware, I do like a hundred jobs here at the show... And today they all came together in THE PERFECT STORM...And if you remember the end of "The Perfect Storm", they all drowned to death.

Which is pretty much what happened today. Let's go!

First: A super secret mystery guest is booked for next week (who is it? IT'S A MYSTERY, DOOD), and since the producers are talking to them tomorrow for some reason, all that sweet research had to be done today! Ouch. Why ouch? Well because

Second: I had to spend a good large chunk of the day playing GTA IV and laying down mini scenes (I know, right?) for more of that comedy goodness that's happening on tomorrow's show! Of course, playing videogames for work would be totally fun, except for the fact that

Third: I was busy trying to put this OTHER comedy piece together on Obama to show to Conan and head writer Mike Sweeney by the time rehearsal ended - rehearsal usually starts at 2:15 and goes until 3:30 (depending on if there's a band, which today there was), and it can be kind of tricky to get things timed right so that you can actually get it in front of their eyes for them to see... But I managed to finish the piece in time, which was awesome!! Not awesome: They didn't dig it, so it got cut! It wasn't a big deal, except for the fact that working on the Obama thing meant that I had to take time away from

More... »

Jason Lee: The Bruce Lee of Breakdancing!

Howdy! There's a sweet new rehearsal vid up over at The Underground tonight - I was going to put it up last night, but as we all know, mayonnaise can make a man forgetful!

Wait, did I say mayonnaise? I meant whiskey.

Great show tonight, as we've got My Name is Earl's Jason Lee on the show showing COB some proper breakdancing moves!! Not only that, but there was a guy in the audience this evening who looks almost exactly like Conan, so COB brought him up to help out with the monologue (and then later brought him back for some sweet breakdancing!) It was crazy!! I had the pleasure to meet Jason Lee a few years back - right before he got the Earl gig - and he was nice enough to sign a wedding card for one of my friends! He signed it "Happy Wedding!". That dude is awesome.

Today I spent my morning playing some more GTA IV for tonight's show, and spent my afternoon coming up with some more ideas for Liam Neeson's segment... And I found a little thing online called Liam Neeson's Irish Stew! Ha ha. Watch tomorrow and see how it all plays out!!

Also, and this is big for Hardy & Parra, TODAY I PLAYED MY FIRST GAME OF SCRABULOUS. Yes, you read that right. Not only was it my very first game of Scrabulous, but it was also my very first game of Scrabble! I've never played!!! If you guys wanna beat up on a newbie, look me up on Facebook and throw down a challenge!!! You will probably beat me. I only know like 6 words, and four of them are swear words.

By the way, does Scrabulous recognize "Poopy"? I was just curious...

Cinco De Mayo... Or as I call it, "The Day Of Five Mayonnaises"

Happy Cinco De Mayo, everybody!!

Before we get down to silliness, let me be the first to welcome back Mr. Max Weinberg, who's back from touring today!!! Welcome back Max!!

Now, according to Wikipedia, Cinco De Mayo is a holiday that "...Commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride."

Cinco De Mayo, as I'm sure you all know, simply means "The Fifth of May" in Spanish. However, I don't speak Spanish very well, so when I hear the words "Cinco De Mayo", I don't think "the fifth of May", I think "The Five Of Mayonnaises". And damn it, that just sounds so much more fun to celebrate than just some vague sense of "Mexican Heritage". Sorry, Mexico. I don't mean to ditch you for a sandwich topping but... Well, that's actually exactly what I'm doing. Let it burn.

Anyway, enough talky! More pictures!!! LET THE DAY OF THE FIVE MAYONNAISES BEGIN!!!

More... »

Prank You Very Much

Even though I've been off the blog for a month, it doesn't mean I haven't been busy here at the office... I just haven't been busy doing work. Unless you call exacting revenge "working".

Let me explain.

See, this past Wednesday I was doing a little web video editing on my laptop (working on a sweet behind the scenes webvid that's hitting the Underground Monday, if you must know), and I guess I was pretty focused on what I was doing... Because when I rolled back to stand up, I bumped into a bunch of crap that had been piled up behind my chair!! Someone had piled up a couple of boxes and a metal shelf behind me as a joke. Ha ha ha ha - GOOD ONE, DUDERS. After raking my officemates over the coals (for 30 seconds - wimps), they 'fessed up that the culprit was none other than Stage Manager Steve Hollander!

Here's a tiny tip from moi to vous, kids: It's not a good idea to go around playing practical jokes on people if you're the kind of person who spends 90% of their day away from their desk. Oh yeah, baby. Big mistake. I had PLENTY of time to get even.... And get even I did! When Hollander came back up to his desk after the show, he came up to this:

More... »

BACK IN BLACK

Hey everybody! What's up?! MAN I missed you guys.

As you all certainly know by now, i did NOT leave the show - "Just Chillin" was a little month long April Fool's joke cooked up by me and my good buddy Jason Chillemi (who you all now know rather...intimately). We had a really fun time making all the "kidnapped" youtube videos and dropping obtuse hints about my abduction here and there (the video with my tied up legs was my favorite) - and we I hope you guys enjoyed taking it all in as much as we enjoyed pumping it all out! Not only was it a blast for me personally to switch things up a bit, but I actually even learned a couple things... Like, for instance, how sllllllllloooow a month can drag by! Holy CRAP April was a long month!!

Yeah man... It was brutal.

But all that's over, and I'm back like a thumbtack in a burlap sack! For those of you who fell in love with good ol' Chill over the past month - and how could you not, that guy has really pretty eyes - have no fear! Chillemi will definitely be popping in from time to time to write a blog or two about some sweet remotes he's working on... Or even just to update you all on what's shaking in the life of The Chillcat!! MEEEOW, SUCKA.

So what have I been doing this past month? Well, I've been doing a little of this and a little of that - for instance, on today's show I was responsible for Darrell Hammond's research, as well as the guy who played GTA IV for that whole joke that's on today's show (apparently I'm the show's resident 12 year old gamer. JEALOUS?).

FUN FACT OF THE DAY: I'm actually a voice in the new Grand Theft Auto game!! That's right, fool - I'm a jogger/Personal Trainer (which, if you've ever seen how out of shape I am in real life, is pretty hilarious). So yeah! I actually managed to track my jogger self down and punch myself in the brain a few times, which was pretty sweet... But then I ran away super fast and got away!! What gives?! It looks like Rockstar made me a huge wimp... JUST LIKE I AM IN REAL LIFE OH SNAPS. Music Coordinator Roey Hershkovitz (also the director of almost all our Underground videos) is also a voice in the game - he plays one of the Hasidic Jewish guys wandering around the city! I have yet to track him down and murder him, but I'm REALLY looking forward to it. MUA HA HA HA HA!!

Well, anyway, enough about me... WHAT'S UP WITH YOU GUYS?! Update me on your lives! How did the month of April treat you?! Good, I hope! It's good to be back. We've got a lot of great stuff in the blogpipe, and I think you'll all be pleased with the all the awecellence we've got planned!! Here's to a great summer!!

See you all tomorrow! ;)