Dan Nitro Clark

     Kicked it on the set of EXTRA with my long time bud Mario Lopez Friday.  We met at our first autograph session, a car show, in Ohio when he was 16 and I was uh… 17.  Well, I was just a little older than that.  But never in my wildest imagination did I think 19 years later he’d be hosting his own prime time show and I’d be on it because I’d just written:  GLADIATOR – A True Story of Roids, Rage, Redemption.  It’s amazing how life comes full circle.  I’m proud of Mario beyond belief – he’s doing a great job and still a great guy.   

Also, I did my first TV interview via satellite Thursday for a late night FOX show called "Red Eye" with Greg Gutfield. Satellite is a tricky thing.  I’m surprised most people, even those with a little media experience, just don’t incinerate right there on the sound stage.  Here’s how it’s set up.   I’m sitting on a stage at FOX in Los Angeles with an artillery of lights blasting my retinas — in the midst of them is one camera man.  That’s it.  Just him and I and — oh yeah — a really cute make up girl.   In my ear is a mic where I can hear the show live while it’s being filmed in NY.  It’s a round table comedy – news format, so there’s 4 people talking and jiving about the events of the day.  To me it sounds like I’m talking to a bud on the cell phone in the middle of a crowded airport.   In the face of the camera — the one that is point right at me –the one that I need to look into while doing the interview — is the live video feed of the show.  So basically you look into the camera and respond to the questions of the interviewer.  The only trick is there’s a THREE SECOND DELAY from what you’re hearing in your ear and seeing.  

Does that make sense?  

You are hearing the question 3 seconds before you see him actually ask you the question in the camera.   It’s freakin’ confusing.  Because you have to respond to the question in your ear when he asks it — not when you see him asking you it in the camera.  So, you’re actually answering the question in real time from what you’re hearing (and you can barely hear it because of all the static and poor feed)… while you’re watching him still ask you the question.   Finally , I had them turn the picture off in the camera, so essentially I was looking into a blank camera, pretending I was talking to someone, while answering the questions.   That being said, he was funny, and I think it went pretty damn good, even though all we talked about was steroids, and I didn’t get to go into depth on the book at all.  But I did work up a good sweat with nerves and adrenaline rushing full speed.   

Be Brilliant!

Dan Clark

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