The first thing you need to know about Tyra is that she works her tail off and has a great, hard working staff. It's her vision, but they make it happen. A special shout-out to exec producer John Redmann. The next thing you need to do is be ready and bring your "A" game 'cause it all happens fast.
I got the call from Tyra's staff asking me if I would be interested in coming on the show on a Friday to talk about my memoir "Gladiator – A True Story of 'Roids, Rage and Redemption." Then Saturday I did the pre-interview.
Monday I'm on a plane from Los Angeles to New York. Tuesday I'm on the Tyra Banks show. The reason the pre-interview you is because the want to make sure you're lively and great on the phone — meaning you will make a great guest.
The pre-interview was a new experience for me. Most of the talk shows I've done were for the American Gladiators. There have been numerous — from Good Morning American to the Tonight Show — and I simply showed up on set and talked about Gladiators — talked about being Nitro.
Being on as an author was definitely new territory. I knew I couldn't go on and be that cocky-guy who lead with his fist — but I also wanted to be exciting, interesting with a touch of salaciousness. The pre-interview went on for nearly 90 minutes. Even though I knew I was going to be on the show, I was nervous, thinking I was going to screw it up somehow.
I think the most important thing is being true to yourself and your message and not pushing or forcing to try and be something you're not, so they'll think you're great.
I arrived in New York late Monday night for my appearance the next day. I won't bore you with my nightly rituals, except to say — I called my girlfriend, told her I missed her, then drifted off to sleep.
My publicists and I arrived at the studio in the early afternoon and were immediately buffeted into a dressing room. No sooner had I put my bag down, when a bouncy producer walked in and handed me my script and asked me if I wanted to run through it once. Huh?
Remember that pre-interview?
Well, they take all of the good stuff, put it into a question answer format, and basically hand you an outline of the show. This is what Tyra is going to ask you. This is how you're going to respond, or at least did in the pre-interview. Hint- hint. Wink-wink.
Bouncy, cute producer tells me she's going to be Tyra and I'm going to be me, and wants to run through it once to see how it plays. Alrighty, then. We go through it once and I'm disappointed because all the questions are geared around sensationalizing the side-effects of steroids.
I'm more then disappointed, I'm disheartened.
Because I know my book goes miles deeper and at the heart of it, it's about: identity, love, family, addiction and survivorship told through the prism of celebrity. I also know that to connect and really resonate with Tyra's female audience I had to find a way to work in the "human" side of the story into my segments.
I had to let her audience know this book was an emotional journey — about a little boy whose parents we're divorced when he was 5 years old and who cried inconsolably until a man told him "big boys don't cry."
That boy took those words to heart and didn't cry when he was ten years old — and his older brother died in his arms — then spent the rest of the life trying to become whole again, trying be human, trying to feel.
Yes, this journey involved drugs,women, celebrity — but I also knew even at the darkest points my humanity shined through in my life and on the page.
Suddenly a producer popped in — whisked me down the hallway to the stage area — all I can think about is how to get the story I want tell across while still satisfying the producer's needs. Now, I'm standing behind a curtain at the back of the stage while they are doing my introduction and it's really something.
"Most famous Gladiator, huge hunk, every women's fantasy." I feel myself swell up with pride until — the announcers says — "Who grew breast from steroids. Welcome Dan Nitro Clark!"
The stage manager pulled back the curtain and tells me to "Go, Go!" I stumbled on stage feeling awkward as hell, not sure whether to smile and wave, or hang my head down in shame and embarrassment. I kinda did both. I think. You'll have to watch my entrance and let me know.
So, I'm sitting next to Tyra, still a little thrown by the introduction — being in front a live audience staring, by having three cameras targeted toward at me like canons. But now, I'm more determined then ever to tell the story I want to tell and not get caught up in this whirlwind of sensationalism about steroids.
I make up my mind right then and there that no matter what she asks me — I'm going to answer her question then start talking about "human" aspect of the journey. Tyra asks me the first question, "When did you start taking steroids?" I give her the one sentence answer and dive into, "But what I really want to talk about is how we stereotype boys and girls at a young age."
I could see Tyra look at me a like, "Ahh, what??".
I keep going and tell the story about my parents being divorced, being inconsolable, the words big boys don't cry, and how it affected me. I tell her about my brother dying in my arms, and how I didn't cry.
I tell her about how I spent the rest of my life building this huge body, all to protect that kid inside.
And I'm talking FAST. Real fast, just trying to get the story out. And I'm aware that I'm talking hyper-fast which makes me even talk faster. I keep thinking at any moment they are going to "Gong me" and stop shooting and tell me to get the hell back to the script.
As the words keep spilling out of my mouth, I see Tyra keep eyes shoot down to her script then back at me with a glare that says, "What the hell are you talking about?" I now realize I've been talking non-stop for close to a few minutes when Tyra suddenly looks at me and says: "Oh my God, how did your brother die?"
Her question is sincere and her eyes are full of compassion. I take a deep breath in and tell her the story. Then we took the interview from there moment by moment.
Kudos to Tyra for letting me have that moment and being such a pro that she knew a better story when she heard it, and for trusting herself and me to go with it.
Be brilliant and please check out my book "Gladiator." I think you'll be stunned and shocked. It's actually good.
Dan "Nitro" Clark
On the Beach. Smiling. Walking toward a place I want to go in my life.
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