Interviews – Tom Bergeron – Hosting As Fast As He Can!

Hi, this is Tom Bergeron. You know what you're

doing. You're listening to the Geekcast Radio

Network. I know, I like fun. I'm having lunch

tomorrow with a friend who has just received

his own Funko Pop, so I'll find out what I gotta

do. You probably just have to read him your resume.

Yeah, that's probably it. I'm doing my Funko

Pop. There we go, there we go. All right. So

we'll do the little promo things at the end.

Sure. And we'll get this going. And like I said,

we've got a few things we're going to obviously.

So just to preface, I even though I don't sound

like it, I used to be able to pack the car. I

was born in Stoughton. So kidding. Yeah. You

know, it's interesting. I I've heard some recordings

that my dad, my late dad did. of me and my sister

when we were kids, and I had a Boston accent.

And I don't know where it went. Same as you,

Mike, I guess. Yeah, well, by 93, when I was

13, I ended up in Kentucky for almost 25 years.

Oh, that'll do it. Yeah. They beat the you guys

out of me and put the y 'all in me. Hi, this

is Tom Bergeron. You are listening to Altered

Geek. You didn't think I knew that. We are filled

with personality around here. I'm filled with

something, I've been told, but we won't bring

that up right now. Welcome to an Altered Geek

and GeekCast Radio crossover interview. I am

one of your hosts, not the normal host on Altered

Geek. That's my buddy, Steve Megatron, joining

me as always. Hello, sir. Hello. I'm, of course,

TF2 and Mike, and ladies and gentlemen, it's

been a while since we've had... We've gotten

a lot of interviews over the last 13 years, and

it's been a while since we've had somebody with

this person's career, longevity, and amazement.

So we here at the Geekcast Radio Network are

very excited to talk with Emmy Award winning

comedian and host. He's been in front of nine

squares, dressed up as a taco and danced all

the way through the stars. He even had a role

in Star Trek Enterprise. Even if you were just

a regular TV fan and you're not a geek like us.

You've known Tom Bergeron your entire life. He's

the man who is hosting as fast as he can. Hi,

Tom. How are you? I can't wait to meet him. Oh,

me? Oh. Gosh, you sounded great. Who are that

guy? Yeah. He's amazing. Yeah. Pleasure to be

with you both. Now, this is a crossover episode.

You don't usually co -host these together? We

do, but we... don't usually when we do interviews

like specifically we would do voice actor interviews

and it would be on our cartoon show specifically

because yeah yeah animation or video games or

whatever but since geek cast radio the overall

network show and steve show altered geek it's

all geeked them all together it's like why not

just have it on both feeds and just rake in the

numbers even though we don't pay attention to

the numbers Well, I think it's great. You know,

numbers can I used to be a Nielsen junkie. You

know, I'd look for the overnights and the demo

breakdown and how we held versus last season

or last week and all that. And that's how you

get migraines. It just just, you know, do the

best you can. And if it works, it works. And

if it doesn't, you move on to something else.

Yep. absolutely so mr bergeron sir what have

you got going on currently are there any upcoming

projects or projects you may have done recently

in the last couple of strange years that you

can talk about or that you're allowed to talk

about because i know sometimes people aren't

allowed to talk about things and then an interview

might go viral because they talked about something

yeah like if i was in a marvel movie and just

you know got verbal diarrhea and they took me

out with the kevin feige sniper that kind of

thing right yeah it's not that bad i've got actually

i'm going off to the new hampshire film festival

Next week, we're going to be screening a web

series that I co -produced and did some acting

in that we recorded just before the pandemic

started. So it's been sort of on the shelf for

a couple of years. So do that. And I'm also working

on a film project with the world's oldest astronaut,

William Shatner. Oh, that's cool. Yes. The series

he's talking about, folks, is Down the Middle?

Homework, that's right. Yep. Hey, I don't know

if you noticed in that long diatribe under the

orange juice picture in the Skype chat, I said,

by now, as of this recording, I've listened to

the book at least eight times in the past two

weeks. I know. I did read that, and I considered

an intervention. Don't worry. We joke about that

with Mike all the time. I'm one of those anal

retentive people that because my brain works

the way it does or doesn't, I have to have the

information like immediately available. If I

don't, I won't remember a damn thing. No, I get

it. Years ago, I did a daily talk show in Boston

on television on the NBC affiliate at the time.

And it was like cramming for an exam every night

because we ran the gamut of topics, everything

from the sublime to the serious to the ridiculous.

And so every every night I'd be getting ready

for a one hour live show where, you know, I didn't

want to look like I was caught with my notes

down, if you will. Yes. And it is so surreal.

talk to you after all this time because I've

grown up with you. I'm 42 at this point. Steve's

just a few years younger than I am. Hollywood

Squares and all of that. I'm pretty sure I heard

you on Morning Magic back when you were doing

that. That would have been 93 into early 94.

Maybe I didn't hear you on it then because I

was in Kentucky by Oh, well, I don't know how

strong the signal was. No, it wasn't. Sadly,

we didn't have internet radio back then. No,

not then. Not then. All right. So we've kind

of gotten into the radio thing. And you say in

the book, and obviously it's true because you

said it. Why would you say it unless it was true?

Radio has always been your first love. Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, it's it's you know, I never really

thought of a television career. I was interested

in doing stuff on stage and I was interested

in radio and lucked into a job while I was still

in high school because I had a public speaking

teacher who was a part time newsman at the local

radio station. And I did well enough in his class

and well enough with my Machiavellian designs

to brown nose my way into his class. that he

introduced me to the station manager. So I was

actually working in radio when I was a senior

in high school. So besides your which you say

you have no memory of the first broadcast, but

what were the overall memories? Well, it's interesting.

I have a sense memory. It's it's I don't remember.

I know it was a rock show, like a rock music

show on Saturday night, a Saturday night. And

I do have a sense memory of turning. Of flicking

the mic switch and turning the pot. If you know

those old boards that had like a round pot for

volume, you'd turn that up. And I just remember

how hard my heart was beating. I was so nervous.

And I made some inane joke or something like

that. But I managed to get through it. And I

was feeling pretty good about myself. And on

Monday when I was back in school. I was walking

walking in the corridor and some guys were hanging

out and one of them yelled, hey, Bergeron, we

heard your show Saturday. I went, oh, really?

He goes, yeah, you sucked. Well, OK, welcome

to a preview of what social media might be like.

Yeah. Yeah, it's it was so different back then.

It just really was. And it's just crazy compared

to compared to what social media is now. Yeah.

Yeah. Now you don't have to wait till the next

day to hear it. No, no. You can feel yourself

being canceled imminently. Yeah. Yes. Let's hope

not. Oh, yeah. So following that up and again,

focusing on radio, did you always want to be

in radio? Most of all, like, what was your favorite

part of being in radio? I love the intimacy of

it. One of the radio hosts that I listened to

growing up was Gene Shepard. I don't know if

that name rings a bell with either of you, but

he was out of New York. And he also, if you've

seen the movie A Christmas Story, you know, go

shoot your eye out. You know, that's Gene Shepard

narrates that he plays Santa in it. And it's

based on his stories. And the thing about Gene

Shepard as a kid, he had this kind of a grainy

quality to his voice. And it made everything

sound potentially interesting. Not necessarily

interesting, but potentially interesting. You

know, so I was just absolutely captivated by

what you could do one on one with a microphone.

to a listener. And interestingly, in television,

whenever I've talked to people coming up in the

business or students who want to be on TV and

host, I tell them, much as I felt in radio, don't

think about an audience. You're really talking

to one person. So whether you're on radio or

a podcast or looking into the glass eye of a

camera lens, it's really one person on the other

side. And and I think that approach helps. For

example, when I started in radio, I actually

had an album cover on the other side of the microphone.

And it had a very I don't know who the band was

or anything, but it was a very attractive woman

on the cover. And I talked to her. So for the

first few years of my career, I probably just

sounded horny. OK, now here's the real question.

Was she a redhead? No, she was not. But I certainly

have made up for that. Yes. I am married to a

redhead, too, so I can relate. How many years

have you been married? Is it months or years

at this point? Years. 13 years, but I've been

with her for 18. Okay. We just celebrated our

40th in May. Awesome. Congratulations. Yeah.

Now, in Hollywood, it's not uncommon for people

to be married. For 40 years. But it's a cumulative

thing. You know, it's multiple partners. But

yeah, for Lois and I, it was just the two of

us. Yeah. Yeah. Hollywood. It's like, oh, we're

going to be married for five minutes. Why? It's

a lot of showmances out here. You know, it's

like swipe next. You're right. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. I'm still waiting for somebody to beat

72 days, but whatever. All right. So your first

love is radio. You transition to TV hosting.

And you said in the book, which we will talk

more about the book in a bit, but you and I just

realized now that book is almost a decade. It's

just over a decade old. 2009. I was like, wait

a minute. Didn't this just come out like last

week? I don't know. It sounds like it, but yeah.

I mean, I was listening and I saw the data and

I'm like, oh, it's a little dated, but it's not

much. And, you know, I mean, it's still all very

relevant. It was interesting, too, because I

don't want to jump the gun on you, but the wonderful

thing, the serendipity of that, of writing that

book, I was writing it in 2008 and I was looking

for an ending. You know, because it was really

it's really a book about meditation, really.

And I use career anecdotes to kind of string

you along and talk about the values of meditation.

And I was saying, well, I need it. I need to

kind of find a way to wrap it up. And I found

it by, you know, co -hosting one of the worst

Emmy broadcasts in history. So it gave me a wonderful,

wonderful way to wrap the book up. Yes. Our regularly

scheduled lives. Yes. Yeah. There is no regularly

scheduled life anymore. There never has been.

It's always those ebbs and flows of things and

all that. Very true. Yeah. So which are you most

comfortable in? Like, which one is, like, radio's

first love, but you got into television broadcasting.

Like, if you had to pick, which one are you the

most at home? Well, it's interesting. And I think

that answer is going to be colored by what we've

just been through the past few years. I've now

even the idea of going to a radio studio seems

less interesting than just staying in my house

and doing exactly what I'm doing right now. Yeah.

You know what I mean? It's just television. There's

more artifice with television. You have to dress

up. You got someone slapping makeup on you. You've

got, you know, a whole bunch of. Dealing with

that in most radio formats, you don't have to

deal with. And, you know, you can show up unshaven

in jeans or whatever. And and now being able

to do things out of my house like this and other

things I've done over the past couple of years,

I've gotten spoiled. I love it. I love, you know,

walking into my home office and firing up the

computer and on we go. That's the best way to

have it done. We've been doing this for 13 years

now on the network. He's been doing it for 16

years. I've been doing it for 14 years. There

was only one time he and I got together in person

to do a recording. He was coming up for my then

wedding at the time. That's a whole other story

that doesn't need to be retold now. I'm intrigued.

So we met in person and we recorded actually

one episode live together, which was hilarious

because we were incoherent the entire time. Because

we had never done live in person together before.

And it's like, oh, do we look at the audacity?

Because we were using audacity to record on my

computer. And because it wasn't Skype and it

wasn't like it was borderline awkward just because

we're like, OK, we've never done this in person.

How does this work? Yeah. And I didn't have it.

I didn't have a desk set up like a radio board

or anything like that where he could sit on one

side and I could sit on the other. So it's like

the microphone is over this way and I have my

head turned halfway back this way to look at

him to make sure we're actually, you know. conversing

with each other and it's like, no, let's just

go back to Skype and whatever else, Zencast or

whatever, because it's much easier to just sit

here in our own environments and just talk. Absolutely.

In December for the third year, I'll be hosting

a benefit for the Ed Asner Family Center, which

helps families with family members who have autism.

And we've done a reading of the screenplay of

It's a Wonderful Life. Oh, that's cool. And last

year, Jason Sudeikis from Ted Lasso and SNL played

George Bailey the year before. Pete Davidson

played George Bailey. We've had Mark Hamill was

with us last time, too. And, you know, I'm sitting

here at my house. Looking at the screen, there

are about 14 Zoom boxes from all over the country.

A star studded. I mean, more stars than even

I'd seen on Hollywood Squares years ago. And

it's just a wonderful thing. I just, you know,

I get a little IPA. I sit down, you know, introduce

everybody. They read screenplay. I do a couple

interviews. We do some Q &A with the viewers

and call it a night. It's a wonderful way to,

quote, work. Who did Mark play? I forget. I forget

who he played. I would think he played Potter.

No, he didn't play Potter. Oh, OK. He didn't

play. I don't know. I don't think he did. Of

course, he's such a wonderful voice actor, too.

Yeah, absolutely. I would love to have. I didn't

think of it at the time, but to have him. use

his joker voice in it's a wonderful life as otter

would be would be inspired if he's if he's back

this year i might suggest that that would be

awesome very cool no it was just getting me thinking

because you're like oh i have him do his joker

voice i'm like oh i can do a joker voice uh he

can he does let's hear it well howdy there batman

Today is the day the clown cried, and he cried

not for the passing of one man, but for the death

of a dream. Yeah, so I did that for my monologue.

Institutionalized, yeah. Yeah, I did that as

my monologue in my acting class. Doing that because

like I'm an introvert by by nature, but I can

put on the extrovert in public. And I was sitting

there staring at the classmates and they're all

giving me this like jaw dropping look. I'm pulling

on Mark Hamill and my teacher is like, OK, that

was good. Let's let's keep going. That's funny.

Well, you know, it's not uncommon for performers

to be introverts. You know, I'm much more comfortable

on. Like I've often said, I'm more comfortable

on a live show in front of 20 million people

than at a neighborhood party. You know, it's

just my wirings cross, I guess. But it's you

know, it's it's worked so far. So I'm not going

to complain. Makes sense. One of the other parts

I loved about the book was you discussing your

your meeting the three stooges. Oh, yeah. How

how cool was that for you to get to meet them

in person? Well, I met them over the phone. I

never I never met them in person, but I called

information in California. I was in Massachusetts

in my childhood home and my folks were out. My

sister was at a sleepover and and I had no life.

So I thought, I'll see if I can track down Moe

and Larry. And by the way, I was stone cold sober

when I decided to do this at 16 and called information.

Got the number for a Larry Fine that turned out

not to be the Larry Fine of the Three Stooges.

But because they received calls like this occasionally,

the woman who answered the phone knew where the

Larry Fine was at the motion picture television

home, which is not too far from where I live

now in California. And I do work for them now.

I do fundraising and such for them. But Larry

came to the phone and we talked for a bit and

I had my little cassette tape recorder going.

And about 10 minutes into the conversation, he

said, you want Mo's number? And he gave me Mo's

home phone number. So I ended up talking to Mo

that night, too. And it was just and then subsequent

to that night, over the next 18 months, I probably

talked to each of them about a half a dozen times,

just sometimes to just call and say hi and check

in. Yeah. And it was pretty cool. That's very

cool. Yeah, that is very. We turned, as a matter

of fact, we turned the tapes that I could find

into a 90 minute special with Howard Stern on

Sirius XM. It's called The Lost Stooges. I think

you can still find it on the Sirius XM app. And

I'll have to check that out because I am a huge.

My mom was a huge Stooge fan. I'm a huge Stooge

fan. And you're right. The Curly Years. No disrespect

to Shemp, but The Curly Years. Now, you know

the chronology that Shemp was the original Third

Stooge, right? Yeah, yeah. And dropped out to

do the Joe Palooka series, and then Jerry Howard,

the younger brother, came in. Curly, and he's

the definitive Third Stooge, really. That was

them at their best. Yeah, it really, really was.

It really was. So you've done and you do, certain

times, a lot of acting over the years, but mainly

you're a television host. However, from voiceover

to doing the plays that you've done and all that,

when you're acting, what is your favorite form

of acting? One of the things, I just like...

against type that's that's what intrigues me

because i think there's a perception both on

the on the video show and dancing and hollywood

squares and things like that that uh you know

one aspect of my personality is is fairly dominant

there pretty much who i am in life really acting

gives me the chance to the degree that i do it

which is not that often but To play to play like

I did a short film called The Messenger a couple

of years ago where I played a character who was

the messenger of death. I got you mentioned Star

Trek. I got to play an alien trader of exotic

goods on an episode of Enterprise. I was a talk

show host, which wasn't much of a stretch on

an episode of Castle before. I was murdered.

You know, so if I can do something, I was talking

to a buddy of mine who's an actor just recently,

and he was asking a similar question. I said,

I'd really I would like to sink my teeth into

a real bad guy role that really just sort of

surprised people. That would be cool. Yeah. Well,

you kind of came close, sort of. You hosted the

Love Muffin. Evil thing in Phineas and Ferb.

That's right. You're that close. Yeah, Phineas

and Ferb, I did a voice role with them, but I

also appeared on their talk show as me. Yep.

Which was such fun. That was such fun, too. I

did that in New York against a green screen,

and I just... And I would throw ideas out, and

the whole idea of meditating and levitating into

the clouds and things like that was pretty much

based on ad libs that they then went and brilliantly

illustrated. With such a busy lifestyle, how

do you keep grounded? I meditate. Ferb loves

meditating. Really? I do it every day. Well,

you know, I don't want to brag, Ferb, but when

I get in the zone... I can levitate. Will you

teach us? I'm happy to do it. Let's go to the

meditation room. You have a meditation room?

That's so cool. Yeah, that was awesome. So following

that up and kind of focusing on the voice acting,

what is your favorite type of... voice acting

work to do, whether it be some kind of narration

or animation, as there's so many different types

that you can do? Yeah, well, it's interesting.

The best answer, I think, goes back to the first

couple episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos

that I did back in 2001. Bob, God bless him,

the late Bob Saget, who became a good buddy.

I had done the first eight years, you know, had

really sort of planted the flag for that that

show. But when he did it and he would do character

voices for the videos. And so when I first started,

I, you know, I can do voices, too. But the moment

I start the moment I started doing voices, I

felt like it was really Bob's thing. You know,

I was kind of it felt very derivative. So I pretty

quickly came to what ultimately I did for the

pretty much the whole 15 years I hosted the show,

which was really just me. It's just me talking,

you know, and spewing dad jokes. And it's always

the best. Well, it worked for me. And Alfonso

and I had lunch the other day and he was saying,

you know, he he had to make that same decision

and he thought he'd feel more comfortable sort

of doing it. closer to the way I did it as well.

And Bob and I, we would talk about it. And I

did get him to come back for the 25th anniversary

show. And he started doing the character voices.

And just, if you see that show, and I think it's

on Hulu or Disney Plus or something, The Summit

with Saget, it's called. And you just watch me

basically break up for the hour. I mean, I told

him, before we started taping, I said, I'll get

us to the clips. I'll get us to the commercials.

You just do whatever you want to do. And he was

hilarious. He just was. It was such fun. But

character voices like he did quickly felt like

they were the wrong direction for me to go in.

Yeah. And then obviously they did the little

gag with you with putting your head. Oh, yes.

Yes, Tom's Home Movies, which they did that for

a number of seasons until I begged them to stop.

It was like, I think this horse is dead. We should

stop beating it. But it worked for a long time.

It was pretty funny, but I think it may have

overstayed its welcome a little bit. So let's

dive into the zen of... You surviving Hollywood.

See, I changed it just a little bit there for

you. What was your process other than, you know,

but that threatening you to do the book or, you

know, beat you to death? Well, you know, when

my agent at the time had taken a meeting with

Harper Collins without telling me and and they

expressed interest in in me doing a book and

I was. uh not convinced myself so i said look

let me let me write maybe 30 pages or something

and uh i just want to see if it you know if it

sounds like me it reads like i talk or it seems

self -conscious and like i'm trying to write

you know so i did 30 pages and i sent them to

uh, a dear friend and the best judge of, uh,

writing. I could think of Carl Reiner who created

the Dick Van Dyke show and who directed Steve

Martin in his first, uh, three movies, I think.

And, uh, and I, I said to my agent, I said, if

Carl doesn't like it, there's no book not gonna,

you know, I trust his, his instinct and his response.

Well, and then he, he, he, gave the pages to

his late wife, Estelle, too, and they wrote me

back and said, all we want to say is, more. I

went, oh, okay. If Carl says go, I'll go. That's

how that happened. That's awesome. I was live

messaging Mike earlier while I was re -listening

to it, and I was like, one of my favorite parts

was the portion of the Tropicana juice jump.

Oh, yeah. Where you're just like, I'm listening

to this guy talk and I'm just like, nobody cares,

blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, sometimes there's

like instances in life where I'm like, oh, come

on this, you know, a meeting can be over this,

you know, this could be over. And for you to

just, you know, just dive in there. When I saw

you jump into that orange juice, I knew the show

was okay. That misdiagnosis of Fox After Breakfast

fortunes came from Jim Cocott, one of Breakfast

Time's true treasures and one of the first casualties

of the move to the network. He was referring

to my decision on that morning's live broadcast

to jump into a few hundred gallons of vitamin

C encased in a six -foot -tall Tropicana glass

on Fifth Avenue. My co -host for the week, Robin

Givens, and I were talking with a pediatrician

about the importance of a healthy diet for children.

The segment was a typical morning television

journey into the obvious, and it was making my

head hurt. I looked at the pediatrician. His

lips seemed to be flapping in slow motion. Blah,

blah, immune system, blah. I looked at the enormous

glass of orange juice. What would you have done

on breakfast time, I thought. I turned to our

other guest, actor Gregory Harrison, who had

joined us on the sidewalk. He could give me a

ten -finger boost. I looked back at the pediatrician.

Blah, blah, antioxidants, blah. Excuse me, I

said, cutting him off. I have to be honest with

you. I haven't heard a word you've been saying.

I keep looking at that glass of orange juice,

and I keep thinking, when am I ever going to

get a chance like this again? As I turned to

Gregory Harrison to ask for help, I began to

unclip my microphone from my shirt. In my IFB,

the molded plastic earpiece that enables me to

hear cues from the control room, Kim Swan, the

show's new executive producer, Peter Feynman

having been fired by this point, began to yell,

Don't you dare! I yanked the IFB out of my ear.

Placing my heel into Gregory's interlaced hands,

I was lifted to the top of the glass and climbed

in. Then, Holding myself up for dramatic effect,

I gave a three -two -one countdown and vanished

into the juice. Displaced Tropicana gushed out

of the glass and onto Fifth Avenue. I stayed

under for a second, savoring the sting of the

juice against my closed eyes, and then sprang

back up from the bottom of the glass. I surfaced

to the sounds of gasps, laughter, and applause

from the guests and crew. I felt wonderful. Until

after the show, that is. Well, there was a lot

of subtext to that, too. If you recall in the

book, that was a version of what is still my

favorite experience in television, which was

a cable show on FX called Breakfast Time. And

the network wanted to take a version of that

show to the network. And it turned out to be

one of those be careful what you wish for scenarios,

because the executive who greenlit us to come

to the network in the interim between us wrapping

up the cable show and getting ready to launch

the network version, he went off to Paramount.

So we were left in somebody else's care and they

didn't particularly care for the project. So

it turned into a pretty tense. And I had had

it by the point that I was talking to this pediatrician

on Fifth Avenue standing next to a six or seven

foot tall Tropicana orange juice glass. And I

just thought, you know, if this was the breakfast

time show on FX, I I wouldn't just I wouldn't

just. Stand here talking about the importance

of vitamin C for kids. I would jump in that orange

juice. So that's exactly what I did. And and

we had a guest who was there gave me 10 fingers

up. I took off my microphone and everything.

And in the book, you can actually see pictures

of of of what happened. But, yeah, I just I dove

in and it was great. I was just laughing as I

was listening to that portion of it, imagining

you doing that. But it was really me flipping

off the network. I grabbed that aspect too, but

it was still hilarious to listen to. Well, I

mean, you're going to pull one of those earwigs

out of your ear that's basically super glued

in your ear with somebody screaming. Now, Tom,

don't you dare. Don't you dare do it. Right.

What are you going to do? You're going to do

it. Right. That's always been a bad thing. If

somebody says you can't do it, then I'm going

to find a way. For example, this came to mind.

This is not quite on that level, but on the dancing

show, for some reason, One of my last seasons,

they thought it would be a good idea to put pretend

martini glasses around the tables that were right

along the ballroom floor. And they were real

and they had, you know, like plastic colored

juice in it or, you know, liquor in it. It was

just it was all nonsense. So I just, you know,

we came back from a commercial and I'm holding

the glass and I'm just tipping it upside down

and going. I'll fake. I'll fake. And I just put,

just because it pissed me off. Well, there are

better things to do on television. Like, you

know, not telling you the air date of a certain

show that, you know, you had two, you know, you

had an X and an O that were really eccentric.

Oh, man, that April Fool's show. Oh, the April

Fool's show. That was brilliant that they really

they completely smoked me on that. None of the

stars in this. And by the way, this if you go

to my website, the cleverly titled Tom Bergeron

dot com, that episode is there. The the April

Fool's episode is there. And I also think the

you fool episode with Gilbert was the last one.

uh to be called on but the april fool they they

came up with this cockamamie reason why we had

to do teacher tuesdays for the month uh like

of july of april and uh because it was april

fools which i didn't realize at the time and

the two contestants who were supposedly teachers

were really actors and very good actors and none

of the stars knew uh including uh a pen and teller

who made it make a career out of fooling people.

And they were just brilliant. They just they

completely fooled me to the point. And my wife

was we were primarily living on the East Coast

at that point. And I would fly out to shoot Hollywood

Square. So my wife and daughters were visiting

that weekend. And Henry Winkler, who was one

of the two executive producers, said to Lois,

I want you to come in the booth because he needed

to tell her that it was all a put on. And at

one point, because I was having fun, I thought,

oh, my God, this is crazy. These people are belligerent.

They're, you know, the guy's making the woman

cry. But if I can get 22 and a half minutes of

this, we can air it. You know, I don't want to

bag it because it's great TV. So, you know, I

was just making up, you know, ad libs like, you

know, for this, I gave up the audition to Card

Sharks or whatever. And at one point, Henry turned

to Lois and said. He's not going to stop. And

Lois, who was a producer when we met, she went,

no, he knows it's good television. So finally,

Henry had to come over the intercom and go, Tom,

April fools. And my my immediate reaction was

complete admiration for the two actors who had

completely fooled all of us. Yeah, that that

that was just. Just amazing. And you had mentioned

in the book that Penn and Teller came up to you

and said that we've been fooling people for years

and even we didn't figure it out. Like, if you

can fool Penn and Teller, then... But then again,

it is the Fonz. I mean, come on. The ultimate

trickster in television. I'll tell you, the two

years, I had a great run of six years on that

show. The first four were with Whoopi and Moffat

Lee producing. And then the last two were Henry

and Michael Levitt. And they had a very really

lovely sort of embrace of not only the genre

of game shows, but the history of game shows.

So on one week, which was really just a day of

taping, we would do all five in a day. Peter

Marshall, who was the original host of Hollywood

Squares, was our center square. And I asked him

if he would be willing to swap, if he'd be willing

to take the podium again. And hold on just a

second. Hey, guys, I'm working here. And he did.

He we swapped and he took he hosted and I went

to the center square. And it was just such a

treat for me, having grown up watching him host

Hollywood Squares. in person hosting it well

that and plus you've got to be the center square

like yeah that wasn't yeah that was okay yeah

no i mean i i agree with what you're saying like

yes obviously you grew like you said you grew

up with him watching him do it but like also

you're now a part of the show seeing the guy

that you grew up watching the show like that's

the You could have been in the upper left or

the lower right. It didn't matter. It really

didn't. It really didn't. It was just to watch

him host, and he didn't miss a trick. I would

imagine he might have been a little concerned

that he would forget how to do it, but he didn't.

It was like he had been doing it yesterday. Yeah,

so before we switch gears, I am on your lovely

website here, and I'm all the way down to the

bottom. One more thing before you go. You wrote

Superman into a dance show. Tim and Sam Daley.

Tim Daley. Oh, yes. Oh, Tim Daley was the voice

of Superman in 1996. Yeah. Well, that was that

was a little web series that they were doing

called The Daily Show. Yeah, I remember that.

And and I was invited to be to be part of one

episode. Whoopi had done one, too. And so the

premise was I was trying to get him to be on

Dancing with the Stars. But I was like I played

it like I was some sort of strange dance mystic.

You know, it was fun. That's awesome. So before

everything that's happened over the last couple

of years, had you attended any of the fan conventions

or conventions in general as a fan or as a guest

kind of thing? No, I hadn't. And, you know, I

had lunch with. It's really nice to have become

friends with people I grew up watching or just

admired, whether I grew up watching them or came

to know and appreciate them in adulthood. But

Jonathan Frakes and I were having lunch and who

was Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation. And

he was saying, you know, hey, you did a couple

episodes. You could go to conventions. I thought,

well, I don't know. You know, I don't know. I

think you've got to be a regular. Right. No,

you could do it. So I might you never know, I

might pop up with some two by four by sixes of

me with my alien makeup on. I'm sure the fans

would be ecstatic. Well, it would be fun. It'd

just be fun to do it as as sort of, you know,

a lark, I think. Absolutely. Bill, Bill is Shatner's

always jetting off to do another one. And he

just did the Masked Singer, by the way. Did he

really? He did. And I was just at his house last

week for Monday Night Football. He never mentioned

a word about it. And a few nights later, I see

online that he had been unmasked. He was dressed

in a night costume. And I texted him. I said,

you son of a gun. I didn't know you. I said,

my my taco outfit was pretty claustrophobic.

How was yours? He texted back. The worst experience

I've ever had. And did he mean just the costume

itself? Yeah, just the costume. Just how claustrophobic

it was. No, the people. But he also was surprised,

as I was. I thought, if I'm in this costume,

I can prerecord my singing. And, you know, who's

going to be? And they said, oh, no, no, you're

going to sing live. Oh, OK. So that was an added,

you know, you have no peripheral vision. I mean,

certainly. And I did a Sinatra tune, which went

well. An Elvis tune, which went less well. Try

to shake your hips in a taco shell. Nobody can

see it. It's impossible. And I think Bill did.

Well, Bill, he doesn't sing in the he sort of

sings like Rex Harrison. You know what I mean?

He talks. Yeah. Like my fair lady, the rain in

Spain, you know, all that stuff. But, yeah, he

had the same experience as I did with the claustrophobia

of it and the lack. But, you know, by the way,

the guy is amazing. He's 91 years old. Oh, yeah.

You know, this is the year after he was shot

up in a rocket. So I never I should never be

surprised with what he's willing to do. Yeah.

Steve is a huge Trekkie. Yep. Oh, is that right?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm casual, but he's all in.

I've watched all of it. Yeah, yeah. What do you

think of – Discovery I kind of was hot and cold

on, but Strange New Worlds I like a lot. I love

Strange New Worlds. It's by far probably my favorite

of everything that's new that's come out. Yeah,

and it was interesting, too, to talk to Jonathan

about because he's directed a number of the different

series. And will be featured prominently in season

three of Picard. Yep. And Picard ran. You know,

I kind of I liked it. And then I thought the,

you know, spoiler alert, folks, if you haven't

watched it. But the end of the first season was

weird. Yep. And then they never really address

it in the second season at all. Yep. And and

so I thought I thought it was an interesting

experiment. I hope that they. they nail the landing

with the season three reunion, you know, all

the next generation cast coming back. I'm, I'm

optimistic because season two, episode one, uh,

I believe was written and directed by the guy

that's doing season three. Oh, good. And that

was my favorite episode of season two. Yeah.

You know, it's interesting. Enterprise, um, was

a show that it, it really, I don't think found

itself until season four by, by which point it

was too late, but, You had a real old, the original

series fan come in and kind of link the two better

than they had in the first three seasons. I think

the writing was on the wall at that point for

that show. Yeah, well, there was a lot of changing

hands as far as I heard at CBS and Paramount,

so I think it was done. But I'm glad Trek's back

now. various flavors for animated and, and, uh,

you know, into the future, into the past. I mean,

it's, it's, it's a good time. Definitely. And

one last note on the mass signal. I had never

seen it before. Like I seen bits and pieces of

it, but I've never actually watched it, watched

it. As soon as you opened your mouth, I was like,

that's Tom Bergeron. How does nobody know? Like

I didn't need any of the clues. I didn't need

the review. I'm like, that's Tom Bergeron. Like,

That's funny. A buddy of mine in radio in New

Hampshire nailed it right out of the gate too.

I think it has to do with if you're used to hearing

someone's voice and you can just pick it out.

I can watch pretty much any animated series that

has somebody tied to it from my childhood. Even

if it's a newer show. I think my kids were watching

at one point VeggieTales or something and I was

like, Rob Paulson. I was like, I was able to

pick it out. Like, and you played four different

characters. And I was like, I, you know, I'm

like, I, I gotta go look this up on IMDB and,

you know, and sure enough, I was right. There

you go. Got a good ear, Steve. Yeah, I try. I'll

try. So what was it like working on Star Trek

Enterprise? It was, it was such fun. It really

was. It all happened quite, quite. By accident,

Whoopi was doing a wedding scene in Nemesis,

which was their last movie, the next generation

cast. And we were shooting Hollywood Squared.

And so I was going to be in town because I was

also doing videos. So I wasn't going to fly back

to the East Coast. And she mentioned she was

going to be at Paramount shooting the wedding

scene for Nemesis. And I said, oh, yeah, I'd

love to come by and and and watch. Oh, absolutely.

So she got me a drive on. I hung out with the

cast. It was wonderful. And it was clear they

weren't crazy about that director. You know,

Baird, was it Stuart Baird? Yep. Yeah. Who had

sort of a haughty attitude towards the whole

thing, which I don't think went down well. But

in any case, Rick Berman came by and Buffy had

asked to see the sets of Enterprise. So he came

by in his golf cart during the meal break, and

his kids had watched me on AFV, and he'd watched

Hollywood Squares. So I decided to hop in the

golf cart with Whoopi and Rick, and we went over

to the Enterprise sets. Now, I had been watching

Enterprise. Whoopi hadn't seen the series yet.

So we were going through engineering, and I'm

going, oh, yeah, this is where the Sulaban come

back from the 24th century, and they screw with

the warp coil. I'm fully geeking out. And Rick

said, Rick said, so you watch the show? I said,

yeah, no, I like it. It's interesting. It's a

prequel. It's a sequel. It's it's like the Reese's

Peanut Butter Cup of Star Trek. And he said,

you want to be on it? So he turns to Whoopi.

Can he act? And she had only seen me at Lib on

Hollywood Squares, but God bless her. She said,

oh, he's good. I know. I love that part. And

so he said, all right, you know, we'll be in

touch in a few weeks. We'd love to have you be

part of an episode. So I thought I'd be like

a Klingon waving in the background or something

like that. But I went for a wardrobe test and

I was told that I was my character was in the

entire opening scene, which was a lot more than

I expected, to be honest. And and it turned out

to be just a great time. Scott Bakula could not

have been more welcoming. Everybody was great.

I got there. I think my call was something like

five in the morning or something. And it was

four hours of makeup. And Rick said, let's let's

keep his, you know, the center of his face recognizable,

but go crazy elsewhere. So I had looked I looked

like a sort of a turtle head version of me. Yep.

If my mother made it a turtle, that's what I

would have looked like. Yeah, that's definitely

one of those dream goals, and it's awesome you

were able to do it. But to have Michael Westmore

fussing over it, I mean, good God. I knew Mackenzie,

his daughter, but I knew of the Westmore history

in Hollywood. I mean, this is the first family

of makeup in this town. And to have him applying

pieces to me and talk at that hour of the morning,

it was just such a treat. Absolutely. So switching

gears just a little bit, what was your favorite

show that you've hosted over all the years that

you've done? It was The Breakfast Time on FX.

About two years we did that. at the corner of

26th and 5th in the Flatiron District of New

York. And it was, you can find on YouTube compilation

videos that give you a sense of how much freedom

we had and how much mayhem we caused in the morning

on that show. It was just wonderful. It really

was. Well, it's like, as you said in the book,

most morning programs, anywhere from 5 to 9 a

.m. that aren't radio programs, but on television,

It's news. It's giving you the headlines. It's

catching you up on what may have happened on

the night before or whatever kind of thing. And

with breakfast time was a whole other animal.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody said it was like a

televised morning zoo radio show. So that there

were elements of that, I think. Yeah, absolutely.

So what's what's next for you? And, you know,

what's what's a show that you'd love to host

or be part of? There to be completely honest,

there is no show that I have any burning desire

to host. I, you know, I hosted things. This is

my 50th year as a broadcaster. I started when

I was 17. So and now I'm not 17. So there's the

honest to gosh, there's no show. I mean. He's

open to being surprised, you know, because Dancing

with the Stars came out of left field and that

was a wonderful gift for many years. So, you

know, I would never say never, but there's no

burning desire to host another show. And nor

am I in any hurry to at all. Quiet, guys, please.

I think my favorite. Because my buddy Josh and

his wife Anissa, they are huge dancing fans.

And I had said to him before we were going to

do this, I said, if you have any specific dancing

questions, let me know beforehand. And everything

he was asking is everything that you were talking

about in the book. And yeah, for me, it's not

that I didn't want to watch the show. It's just

I was moving out of like for me now. I don't

do appointment television. I want it when I want

to watch it, and I want it without ads. I understand

why there are ads, but I don't mind paying for

an ad -free service. And I think the only two

times I caught it were Bindi's final performance

when she was on. Oh, yeah. And then the Super

Mario Brothers video. I loved that. That was

awesome. Yeah. Bindi Bindi Irwin, you're talking

about who won her season with. Yes, she did.

And she just lovely. The whole family is just

a girl. I think I think her brother was. I don't

think he's on this season, which they're doing

on Disney Plus now, but he was rumored to be

doing. Yeah, she was great. So whenever she and

her mom and brother would visit in subsequent

seasons, I would. pull her out of the audience

to, like, toss to a commercial or welcome us

back. And, you know, I would keep saying, you

know, you're going to be my hosting Padawan.

Nice. You could have almost done that with the

person in the audience at Hollywood, too, because

in that April Fool's show, I was trying to get

a picture of your face with your finger up, because

when you walk off stage and you address the audience.

As you're about to walk away, you hear somebody

say something to you about it being your fault

or something, and you just turn. You have this

really stern look. You put your – I didn't do

it. It wasn't my fault. Yeah, yeah. I remember

that, yeah. All said and good fun, but yeah.

Well, yes. No, obviously, yeah. But like – I

was just like, oh, my God, his face. It was great

because I felt like the audience and I and the

celebrities and the stars, we had all bonded

in this sort of bubble of confusion. Like, what

the hell is going on here? But again, the part

of me that is the producer part of my head thought,

we got to just keep going because this is great.

This is good TV. At that point, I thought they

were legitimate assholes. Wall -to -wall proctologists.

Yeah, but what they really were were really wonderful

actors completely snowing all of us. Absolutely.

So when's the second book coming? Is there a

second coming of Tom Bergeron? You know, it's

interesting. I during the early months of the

pandemic, I started to write a comic novel called

Drive Time about which was inspired by my my

teenage years in radio. And I got I think I got

about 70 pages into it. And to be completely

honest, I just lost I lost interest. Honestly,

if you give that a second look. Yeah. That could

be most usually 24. That could be something like

five or six or seven issues, what you already

have. That's 70 pages. Collected editions are

usually six issues. It's usually like 100 and

something pages. So you probably have enough

material where you could essentially release

four individual comic issues. Oh, so I just need

to get a good illustrator. Mike knows people.

Oh, Mike, we should talk. Hey, you give me Shatner's

number, I'll give you in touch with Mike. And

now, welcome to Bartering for a Career. Oh, I

don't want a career. I just want to have Steve

talk to him. I got to tell you, he is an absolute

hoot and just amazing and just a genetic anomaly.

I mean, seriously. Every interview I have ever

seen him do, he is so animated and up. He does

not look his age. He does not act his age. No,

not at all. He's Captain Kirk, man. Well, I know.

I understand that. And he told me when he went

up in the – well, I called it the – a Bezos penis

rocket, but technically something else, but it

does look like a circumcised dick. I mean, come

on. But anyway, when they, they delayed the launch,

uh, for some, you know, I think weather reasons.

And then, uh, so I was, I was on the blue origin

website, uh, at our house back East. And my wife

was watching as well. And, and, uh, uh, Liz Shatner

was watching in studio. So, So we're watching

our friend or husband, you know, get into this

capsule at 90 years old. And they stopped the

countdown with about, like, I don't know, five

minutes left or less. And Bill told me later

that they came over the capsule intercom and

said, we don't think this is anything to worry

about. But if anybody would like to get out now,

I thought, oh, my God. And, of course, he's got

to be thinking, I'm Captain Kirk. Do I want to

skulk out of a capsule just before it shoots

into space? That won't look good. So, yeah, of

course, everything went fine. The whole flight

is like 17 minutes. Yeah. And you're weightless

for about four. And then, you know, it went off

without a hitch. And it was a great relief to

see him come out of the capsule. Yeah, absolutely.

All right, before we let you go, remind everyone

what you have coming up. You know, the projects

I'm working on, well, the New Hampshire Film

Festival, for those in the East Coast, I would

recommend any year, whether I'm there or not,

because you're in coastal New Hampshire. It's

the beginning of... Fall foliage season. The

film festival itself has grown by leaps and bounds.

It took a bit of a hiccup during pandemic like

everything did. But we'll be screening that web

series down the middle. And then we have the

project that Bill and I are working on a film

idea with Village Roadshow, which is moving far

slower than we would have liked. But it is moving.

So no definite date on that. But we are people

writing a screenplay right now. Very cool, very

cool. Would you do us the honor of tossing to

our commercial break, please, sir? Absolutely.

How would you like me to do that? Any way you

want. What's the name of the podcast? No, just

do the traditional, we'll be back after. Just

make it Tom style. Okay, all right. We'll be

right back. After that, well, you'll be right

back, presumably. I've got places to be. Because

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yeah on the simplistic reviews podcast we talk

movies we talk tv we talk oh julie what the heck

are you doing trying to make our spot sound more

exciting by adding explosions yeah i'm pretty

sure you could have got the point across with

sound effects not the real thing call. Download

the show on iTunes or at simplisticreviews .blogspot

.com. I'm sure your insurance company will cover

that. No, they won't. No, they probably won't.

Alright, we are back and... Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm back, too. Wait a minute. I thought everybody

left. You're not supposed to be here. Where's

my Uber? This podcast is not sponsored by Uber.

That was great. We would like to thank Mr. Bergeron

for taking the time to chat with us. Oh, Tom,

not Mr. Bergeron, just Tom. Mr. Bergeron was

your father, I assume? Yes, that's right. Well,

that's usually how I end it all. But anyway,

we would like to thank the man who is hosting

as fast as he can, or who he used to be hosting

as fast as he can, Tom Bergeron. This has been...

An amazing, amazing, amazing time, because like

I said at the beginning of this, I grew up watching

you and never really had any inspiration to be

a podcast or anything like I mean, I had inspiration,

but I never like figured 13 years later we would

be here. Like people asked me when I told a select

few friends that we were going to be interviewing

you. And I'm just like. As I told him, I'm like,

oh, yeah, and by the way, Monday, this is all

in lower caps. On Monday, I'm going to be interviewing,

all caps, Tom Bergeron. And like I said, my buddy

Josh and his lovely wife, Vanessa, have watched

you throughout the entirety of Dancing with the

Stars when you were on it. And he was like, oh,

my God. He was like, can I listen in? Can I be?

I'm like, if it was just me, Josh, if I didn't

already have Steve here, because the technology

we're using with this, it's worse than two cans

and a wire. Sometimes. It can be. Yes, it can

be. Well, it was a pleasure. I mean, it was a

very fast hour, and I enjoyed myself. I'm glad

we did this. Yes, me too. I'm glad you were able

to be a part of this with us. Yes, absolutely.

So we will catch you next time here on Altered

Geek and Geekcast Radio. I have no idea what's

going on, what's coming up next for Altered Geek.

That's Steve's thing, Geekcast Radio. The next

episode, I hope, will be my buddy Terry Smith

from Music Talks Podcast and I talking about

a live concert experience that we had over...

The Internet, because that's how things are.

That's how I watch things now. I don't do anything.

I don't leave my house. I don't have to leave

my apartment. I don't. I have everything delivered

and everything else like that. Yeah, it just

is what it is. So unleash the geek in you and

we will catch you next time. All right, Steve,

Mike, a pleasure.