Ten years ago, I was a lowly intern on Strangers with Candy, the cult-comedy series on Comedy Central that aired for three seasons. It was a pretty thankless job, but there were occasional perks. One day, in fact, the powers that be had me serve as a classroom extra for a few scenes, which meant that I got to spend a day sitting behind Amy Sedaris in a room with Stephen Colbert and guest star David Cross (and Heather Matarazzo, if we want to get specific). It was kind of amazing. To this day I will always remember a bored Amy Sedaris sitting there in between takes and naming as many sausages as she could in her Jerri Blank voice. The bit was so bizarre yet so utterly hilarious that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, which was strange because not only was I the only one laughing, but apparently the only one listening to her as well. How could people be ignoring her? I swear to God, when she ultimately said “Blood sausage,” I nearly lost it.
Nevertheless, I was watching the episode the other night, and I decided to take a screen grab of my impressive acting debut. The pic hardly does justice to my stellar performance, but it does show off my shapely college-age body.
Aw, memories.
Debut… And farewell?
Great story. That show still holds up incredibly well. Just note not only Jerri’s giant drawn-on pot leaf, but the random two pills on her notebook as well. Love it.
Amy Sedaris was brilliant in that. And, you obviously have mad skillz as well.
Most definitely should have had an Emmy nomination. But maybe they don’t have the Guy In Background award any more.
Wow! That’s a really neat aneswr!
I love your stories! You’ve had so many cool life experiences, at some point there will have to be a book.
Well done. When I was in college and law school in Atlanta I tried to do extra work whenever the opportunity arose. My screen credits include “Fast Food”, a glorious B-movie starring the late Jim “Hey Vern” Varney and Traci Lords, where in a morning after a party scene I stagger out of bushes and throw up. In a more dignified vein, I was a National Guard Lietenant escorting black students during a school integration in the final scene of the final episode of “I’ll Fly Away”. Good times currently degrading on some very old VHS tapes.
Gah! Good lord, Strangers With Candy is one of my all-time favorite shows. I’d talk my friends into watching it and they’d be all, WTF is this?! No way am I watching it again! And yet I’d sit there and laugh my ass off. Who knew the greatness going on in the background.
Favorite show ever! Amazing stuff. So cool that you worked on it.
“I’m as damp as a cellar down there… allllllll mildewy.”
OMgosh what an honor!!! I loved that show so much and bought the dvds- now I totally have to rewatch them!