11.12.09
ATTACK OF THE SHOW!
So they called up and asked me to co-host Attack of the Show on G4 a few weeks ago, and I said, “sure!” And then I started to think about what that entailed…and then I realized it was live….oh boy!
I say this a lot, but you never appreciate how hard something is until you try to do it yourself. Hosting, especially a live show, is officially in that bin for me now. I didn’t even realize all the moving parts that doing a show like this entails, or I might not have said I’d do it, haha! Not only are you reading from a teleprompter the whole time, but you have a thing in your ear for people to talk to you in, you have TONS of copy to try to deliver (hopefully believably), you have to stop talking when the video rolls, you have to adlib, but not TOO much to get off track in timing, AND you have to figure out what camera to look at when they change angles! WHILE YOU’RE TALKING! That was the part I was most nervous about, but a nice stage manager waves furiously at you to change your eyeline, so it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. But imagine changing eyeline WHILE you’re READING something, and picking up in the same sentence on a completely different reading surface. And making it seamless. ACK! New respect for all hosts out there!!!!
Thankfully my co-host Chris Hardwick (@nerdist on Twitter) was a gentle soul and VERY experienced and we genuinely had fun together. The producers and crew were totally cool, and the experience actually turned out to be fun. It was only the second time in my LIFE I’d read off a teleprompter (first time was E3 for the Xbox announcement), so I’m pretty happy with not having a HUGE freak-out moment. Dare I say I had a bit of fun? Ok, I will 
Here’s the embedded intro clip from the show, and you can watch a few of the other videos on their website (including the Looong clip I did on Gadgets where I got very nervous about talking a lot by myself, haha. I did it perfect in the readthrough too, GRR! Such is live TV).
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33 Comments »
I’m watching this on my DVR *RIGHT NOW*. Surreal that I saw this on my RSS reader while watching.
And, BTW, I *totally* thought Chris said Allison was “funky,” too, Felicia. Way to call him out on under-enunciation. He may be a pro, but come on!
Awesome good times!
I’m not a good enunciator myself, I really really need to work on it
I have a slight lisp because of my overbite and when I get nervous it flares up, so oh well, something to work on 
Thank you for watching though, it was a real learning experience that I actually would look forward to doing again!
I think one of the cutest voices I’ve heard recently, though I don’t know her name is the girl who does the Target ads that I’ve been watching on Hulu. She has a pretty pronounced lisp but for some reason it works. It’s cute and it works for her very well. I worked off teleprompters a long time ago when I was trying to work as an actor, commentator, etc… a lifetime ago. Anything live is a lot harder than film work there are so many variables that, to me, it becomes a race to see if I can get everything done before I screw up.
Chris is hilarious.
Nice hair, btw
I agree withj Simon. Your hair looks FABULOUS! I wish I could get my hair to do that.
Sorry, there’s an unnecessary “j” in there. That shouldn’t be there. Pretend it never happened.
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/gadgetpr0n/69051/Kodak-Zi8-Pocket-Camera-Review.html
Good work coping with the ‘Shrimp’ reference!
I only noticed your eyes flick between cameras twice, and that’s probably because they did such crazy switching between camera’s.
When they were showing the close up of someone using the pocket camera thing, was that you actually using it, or was that pre-recorded footage?
Cheers for the link Felicia. We get the Gadget Show over here which is equally fun and informative but they have the luxury of having it prerecorded. I was getting out of breath just reading what your presenting job entailed! Fair play.
Oh, and looking dead glam too!
Okay, I’m sorry, but I have to disagree on the bowling ball. I don’t bowl, but it would’ve been pretty cool to run one of those down the street, chasing kids on Halloween. Erm… forget I said that.
Great job. Hope they have you back again soon.
P.S. Can you please do something — guest, Guild ep, whatever — with more violin? We got that one bit in S2 and nothing that I can remember since. NOTHING! Aaaaaggggh !
Thanks.
Terrific job Felicia. Enjoyed watching you host AotS. Loved “The Guild”-style vlog opening and when you answered Blair H about Dr Horrible 2 [I want them to resurrect Penny or unveil Penny's evil-but-nevertheless-somehow-still-sweet twin in a way that will work for you]. And, for the record, it sounded like Chris said “funky” to me too.
I can only imagine how hard live guest hosting is, even harder than I imagined after reading this blog entry. I’m glad to read you had fun – it probably gets easier and more fun each time around.
I hope to see you there again soon – there, anywhere, and everywhere
[and that's "the nice impersonal colon" in that smiley.]
I missed that. What a terrible guitar player or maybe one of those Stephan Guitars they sell on the Home Shopping Network ($299, thickest plastic veneer possible; worst action ever).
At least I learned about the Mayan Calendar and that I can totally forget to buy gifts for Christmas 2012. What a relief.
Dear heart, you were adorable.
From the videos I watched, you did really well!
And as many said before: your hair looks great!
You are such a peach! Or if you don’t mind an appropriately stolen lyric, you’re “the sweetest cherry in an apple pie.” =)
Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you that my new favorite insult is telling people that they should go to Vorktanamo Bay. Much hilarity ensues in their confusion. Well, for me anyway!
You were more than fine…
…and I’d love to see more of you on AOTS.
First Attack of the Show, next the emmys. Watch out Neil Patrick Harris, she’s coming for you.
Hair like that only comes when you have a professional doing it, haha. Thx for the compliment, I shall attempt it on my own and it will go…not well.
I agree about the hair, looks stupendously fabulous.
I didn’t think I could love you any more, but after the Gadget Pr0n segment, I found it is possible. I hope to see you doing more hosting, you rock at it.
Your hosting AOTS was the first time I’ve seen you, and I sure hope you’re on a lot more in the future. Great job, and you looked jaw-droppingly fantastic! Hope to see you on AOTS a lot in any capacity they can place you.
I think you did a fantastic job on the show just thought I would drop by here and let you know I think you’re way too hard on yourself. I watch that show religiously and you do better than some of the people that I see host a lot so great job! Keep up everything you do because you do it so well!
There’s much inner critic noise as of late, Ms Day. I am thusly giving you a virtual invisible chocolate chip cookie to munch on, a glass of milk, and, oh, I’ve booked a gig for you to introduce the President of the United States. He’ll be asking the Senate to please approve his health care legislation. Oh, you’ll be using a teleprompter, since that’s his thing. No pressure.
Hiding now.
Chris F
I watch a lot of attack of the show and I’ve noticed that chris hardwick likes to make fun of the rookie guest hosts but I thought you did a great job, do you think you’ll ever host AOTS again?
The experience as you describe it sounds terrifying, kudos to you for pulling it off with such flair and charm! I await the start of your own primetime channel with barely contained impatience
DAYtime TV? Too cheesy?
p.s. having watched the clips your co-host really comes across as, what we in the UK like to call, a bit of a tit. You were, of course, super awesome.
Got to love the last few seconds from the Vlog with Chris, where at the end (00:45) Felicia makes a face, like “Make him go away”.
Priceless!
Just wanted to say that keep up your good job, you’re dooing good and looking good ^^
Hope ya keep on with the guild etc, gotta say I love it. You’re all doing great btw, from the guild. Ya all make the show perfect. Cya around
- Just another fan Boy
Well, you did a fine job there. Fun to watch, and HILARIOUS dr. Horrible tie in!!!
WELL…???
Very cool, Felicia! I pay for an extra cable tier every month just so I can have G4, but I never watch it. A lot of gamer enthusiasts like myself can’t stand what happened to what was once Tech TV. Tech TV had fun tech savvy hosts, talking about useful and interesting technological subjects. With the internet becoming ever increasingly more mainstream, it’s sad that G4 is little more than COPS COPS COPS CHEATERS X-PLAY AotS COPS COPS “Movies that Don’t Suck” COPS NINJA WARRIOR CHEATERS COPS. Who the heck is running that network? They are failing so bad in my opinion. I try to watch AotS but I can only endure so much Olivia Munn. I would watch X-Play more, but when I want game reviews I just go to message boards to talk with fellow gamers about them or sites like 1Up and GameTrailers.
After watching The Guild I thought to myself, this is a show that G4 could really use. Maybe you could talk with the network execs and get them to help putting together 20 minute The Guild episodes to fill half hour time slots or something. That’d be amazing if done right I think!
Now I need to go find this episode you were in. Anyone know what date it aired or where I could watch it on the internet?
Couldnt agree more
I can’t believe I missed that! I love G4! They need to put that show on AFN so I can watch it here in Kuwait. Also, keep at it with The Guild! I love that show! You’ve been doing a great job with it! And you are hilarious in The Legend of Neil! “The Things We Adore”… I can’t explain how that song is hilarious and wrong in so many ways, but I loved it!
thanks for the productivity-not-controlling-your-life-link. good find! i emailed it to a couple of people i know, including my husband…is that being too productive with the productivity article?
It was really entertaining to watch the clip! I hope that you will find live shows easier to do as the time goes, but in the clip you were just great.