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Block UserThursday February 23rd
As we get closer to our 1,000th show, the staff of the Best Damn Sports Show Period continues to share their favorite memories from behind-the-scenes.
Check out highlights from our first 1,000 shows.
Today's stories include moments with Darryl Dawkins, Bo Jackson and Jalen Rose's "Posse Apprentice."
- Darryl Dawkins comes into the control room after taping a segment. He sees me and reaches out to shake my hand. It reminded me of the scene in "Animal House" where the big guy says, "Do you mind if we dance with your dates?", reaches for the girl's hand and her hand is about 1/3 the size of his. Before my hand can get all the way to the back of his, he squeezes. It's like my hand is in a vice grip. All I can muster is a painful smile and a faint whimper. It was almost the first time in history that anyone broke someone's hand by simply shaking it.
- We had four Heisman winners in our Avocado Room for a special show - Billy Sims, Herschel Walker, Desmond Howard and Bo Jackson. They had so much fun in the Avocado Room busting on each other and telling great stories. Bo was so soft-spoken and kind. He brought everyone on the show his company's sweet potato pies.
- We were in our daily talent meeting where our hosts get briefed on the guests for that day. As one of the segment producers was going over the Suzanne Somers segment (which in itself is somewhat comedic, considering the name of our show) he mentioned we would be talking about her new book, and more specifically, the chapter on "Male Menopause." Without missing a beat, one of our hosts says, "I had that once, when I was 27." The room stopped cold, everybody froze, afraid to ask the obvious... with nothing left to say, the meeting continued...
And finally....
- Comedy is always a fine line here at Best Damn. We try to deliver segments or skits that are clever but aren't over the top. There is always deep discussion and debate when it comes to our comedy. Rarely is there ever an agreement on a particular comedy element, but we thought we found common ground with Jalen Rose.
One week he was here with us in L.A. as a guest host, and we had him tape some comedy segments with us called "Posse Apprentice" - an off-shoot of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" show. Jalen would have to choose among three different contestants to be a member of his "Posse." They would have to do routine chores for millionaire athletes like Jalen... wash his car, interview women for prospective dates, etc. Everyone loved the concept and the skits were even better as everyone laughed their asses off. The first one we aired was when Jalen fired a member of his Posse for getting tickets to an Elton John concert instead of a Lil' Jon concert. I mean this stuff is gold.
Well, we aired the first installment of "The Posse Apprentice" and not only did our production staff enjoy it, but the technical crew, the talent and the audience all loved it. We thought this could turn into a regular show here on the network. Well, five minutes after the first airing, our Vice President of the show came into the control room said he hated "The Posse Apprentice," calling it too predictable and not funny. All of our jaws dropped. That's showbiz.
Thanks again to the staff for the great stories. Be sure to check out the countdown of the Top 100 moments in Best Damn history beginning with Monday's show and ending on Wednesday with our 1,000th show.