There might be slightly less Fanatical Apathy in the coming weeks, dear hearts. Now, now, don’t weep - I’m not abandoning you. It’s just that today (Tuesday) I began shooting an independently-produced television pilot.
It’s not certain to ever reach your screens, of course. But the role was hard to turn down - it’s a mockumentary series not unlike BBC1’s “The Office.” And my role is… well, the starring one. It’s a show about my character.
I’ll keep you apprised of details as they develop, but for now all you need to know is that it’s a lot of fun, and it’s probably an outstandingly bad career move - I’m playing a character who is at least 10 years older than myself, created through hair, makeup, and (of course) Acting. But it’s been a lot of fun so far.
Meanwhile, the world turns. There may soon be a winner in our Defame Wesley Clark contest - now that he’s soaring in the polls, the tar-and-feathers brigade is out in full force. President Bush went to the UN and celebrated our Lost Weekend in Iraq while bizarrely choosing to take on the “international sex trade” in the same speech. And every day, in every way, Donald Rumsfeld gets a little bit creepier.
I won’t abandon those stories, I swear I won’t. But right now I’ve gotta get this makeup off. [Stay tuned for horrifying photos.]
Fanny Roborat
19 comments
Linkmeister
September 24, 2003 at 2:16 am
1Er, congrats! Does the makeup look like Planet of the Apes?
Linkmeister
September 24, 2003 at 2:16 am
2Er, congrats! Does the makeup look like Planet of the Apes?
Farberwear
September 24, 2003 at 5:33 am
3Um, er… what are they doing to your hair to make you look 10 years older? I mean– it’s just that– well, Adam, isn’t that like stuffing Charlie Pierce into a fat suit?
Steve G.
September 24, 2003 at 5:48 am
4Wow, I’ve heard a lot of buzz about this. I hear that Universal Television purchased the rights to it, that Greg Daniels is exec-producing it and writing the pilot, and that he’s behind Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill, and also that Ben Silverman/Reveille is developing it, and that Silverman’s behind The Restaurant, as well as imports of Millionaire, Weakest Link, Big Brother, Queer as Folk and Coupling. Congrats for starring in a show with such good company and buzz!
And I have to chuckle reading this quote from January from BBC America CEO Paul Lee knowing you’re now the subject of it: “It’ll be very interesting to see … whether they try to construct a character as fascinatingly, brutally bizarre as [boss David Brent] at the center of it.”
But you say that your character “is at least 10 years older than myself, created through hair, makeup, and (of course) Acting.” This is quite shocking considering recent photographic evidence that you may in fact only appear alive due to formaldehyde preservation.
Let us know which network picks it up!
Barney Gumble
September 24, 2003 at 10:44 am
5Hey, good luck!
adam
September 24, 2003 at 10:53 am
6Steve -
Universal DID purchase the rights to “The Office,” but this is a different project from a different production company. This one is a mockumentary about the life of a failed, formerly-slightly-successful actor.
As to whether Universal can (or even wants to) create the dark, uncomfortable tone of “The Office…” it’s hard to say. I hope so.
Murray
September 24, 2003 at 11:12 am
7And you’re running for president! Wow.
As long as you keep your priorities straight and keep this blog going strong, I guess it’s OK.
Steve G.
September 24, 2003 at 3:35 pm
8Ohh… I get it now. Now I feel silly.
davew
September 24, 2003 at 3:57 pm
9So is there any chance that the pilot will be avaible on VHS, VCD, DVD, or wax cylinders if it never makes it to the screen?
Anonymous
September 24, 2003 at 9:47 pm
10Congratulations on the new gig.
John Isbell
September 24, 2003 at 10:26 pm
11Good for you! Good luck with the pilot.
sly
September 24, 2003 at 11:00 pm
12So, being on a television pilot won’t ruin your chances for political office, will it? We’re pinning our hopes to you slightly-too-wide lapel.
Chicory
September 25, 2003 at 10:29 am
13SOunds like a great gig. Break a leg! (Hope that undoes the g.l. bad luck.)
craig
September 25, 2003 at 9:08 pm
14Are you going to update the subtitle of FA to include “radio and tv guy”?
velvetmagnetta
September 26, 2003 at 12:57 am
15I must say, I had an entirely different idea of what you look like…from your voice on npr and from your blog.
It was…different. A very good-looking fellow, you are.
Just a wonder:
Has anyone even READ or HEARD that speech you’ve linked to your blog?
Doesn’t anyone have anything to say about IT?
I’m worried. I cannot refute anything that is IN WRITING in that speech. Sure! I want to be rid of free-floating terrorists who blow up big buildings in my country. Sure! I want to be rid of Slavery in that same country. Um, Yeah! I want the rest of the entire world to at least BEGIN disarming (including, but not limited to the US of A).
I don’t know what to think of all this. Does he (Bush) mean all sexual trade should go down the drain? I know some neighborhood “strong-holds” would not be too happy about that (pimps, whores, etc that walk my street in Tallahassee, FL). What’s the limit?
Look, I see these women. And they’re not underage I tell you. In fact, they seem a bit overage, if you ask me. But what else do they have? The War On Terrorism?
No, I think they’re still fighting in the War On Drugs. Oh, that’s another story (closely linked with Al Que’da and the Happy Poppy Fields of Afghanistan) that we have all but forgotten about. But yet, that drives many an economy around the world. Which drugs do YOU prefer?
I’ll lilst mine:
Drugs of Choice —
- Marijuana
- psychadelic mushrooms
- LSD
- Heroin (NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone, anywhere EVER. I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. If anyone’s curious, just ask me. I’ll tell you what the War Zone’s like. I am gratefully not hooked for my life or anything on it any more. {I know the following rubs against the fur on this page but…it’s because of Jesus I’m not on the stuff anymore…Quite literally.))
- Caffein
- Nicotine
- Alcohol
Anyway, the war on Drugs I Love is still on. And now we have The War on Terrorism and The War on Slavery. My parents always told me to “choose your battles”. I don’t know which one to choose. Can you help me?
-K
Farberwear
September 26, 2003 at 1:58 pm
16Oh, also Adam, I beg you: Live Studio Audience. Just say no to laughtracks. Also, do you need a guy to play a Persian with an attitude problem? I could do that, or I could play a white woman who thinks she’s black, or I could play her black boyfriend who talks like he’s white. I could even play an ex blues singer who runs a hotel if I had a few hours of voice training and a rack of keys behind me.
MRJEFF
September 26, 2003 at 4:25 pm
17Just make sure to get a smart-mouthed kid to deliver sassy catchphrases.
Or a monkey. People love monkeys.
Farberwear
September 28, 2003 at 5:14 am
18I could play a smart mouthed kid, or a monkey… or both. Just use that forced perspective trick, or explain my size away as some sort of genetic abnormality. If you want a day off, I could also play your role. Or I could be your body double. My nipples happen to be fan-tas-tic.
Turnkey Websites
January 8, 2006 at 1:54 pm
19Universal DID purchase the rights to “The Office,” but this is a different project from a different production company. This one is a mockumentary about the life of a failed, formerly-slightly-successful actor.
As to whether Universal can (or even wants to) create the dark, uncomfortable tone of “The Office…” it’s hard to say. I hope so.