The YouTube Joss interview - by the dork that actually did it by FlatlineJack

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The YouTube Joss interview - by the dork that actually did it

POSTED BY: FLATLINEJACK
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 15:20
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VIEWED: 39108
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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 10:59 AM

Haven't been to this board in a while, but when I saw that our interview with Joss from Wizard World was a topic of discussion, I wanted to pop in and say thanks to everyone that enjoyed it!

Also, this is the only place where I can finally speak candidly about the crazy circumstances that made that short but hilarious interview with Joss happen. Admittedly, the "joke" makes more sense if you see it in the context of the whole episode:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1164195980357405980&pl=true
Anyway, our Podcast show is about all things Geeky, and when were deciding what to do for the Wizard World episode, we came up with the joke that I'd be interviewing Joss Whdeon, all of us knowing full well that Joss wouldn't be there. So myself and our director Sean wrote a bunch of Joss specific questions (he wrote the "Etruscan text" one, I can't take credit for that) and we basically ambushed poor unsuspecting Con people with said Joss questions, hoping their answers would be funny enough to make the gag work. After about an hour of filming different interviews (and sort of ticking off some people that thought they would be plugging their comic books on an internet show, only to be asked how their writing was going on the Wonder Woman script) we were wrapping up with our last fake interview, and I'm just about to ask the poor unsuspecting guy that writes "Dracula vs. King Arthur" a Joss question, when our Producer Bill runs over and tells us we have to stop the interview because we're out of battery on the camera. The camera guy looks at the camera, fully charged, then back to Bill like he's crazy and I try to keep going with the interview. Bill steps in again and says "We have to go NOW!" I apologize to the guy I was interviewing and we all go to ask Bill what the hell he thinks he's doing. He just points ahead of us and there he is, at the ass-end of Artist's Alley, Joss Whedon himself. Turns out about a minute earlier my co-host Sarah had spotted him, freaked out, ran over and literally jumped on Producer Bill's back yelling "He's here! He's actually here!!" So there's Joss, we have a camera, I have a microphone, what do we do?
I say "Start filming, I'll think of something, just start filming" (the beginning of the clip that we trimmed from the interview sort of looks like a scene from "The Blair Witch Project" as we were tripping over ourselves to get to him and couldn't believe he was just right there, and alone) So, as I got close I just decided to say he was dressed as Joss Whedon, it sort of went along with the joke we had set up, and I knew if I tried to corner him with typical nerd questions he'd probably bolt. Joss was.. Joss. He was hilarious and brilliant and the whole time I'm playing the sarcastic jerk guy and inside my head is screaming "THAT IS JOSS FREAKING WHEDON! KISS HIS SHOES, WORM!! KISS THEM!!!"
Anyway, Joss does his thing, I try to act cool(and fail) I ask the super-nerdy question, he bails out, then when a fan finally catches him (yes, that was really a fan. I know, it all fell together so perfectly even I thought it was staged, and I was there!) Joss grabs US and and pulls us over to film him again! The final part you don't see in the interview, which they keep threatening to put up on our website just to blackmail me, is the 4 seconds after Joss walks away, I say "Nice one, dude" to him, and then turn back to the camera.. and completely freak out. I sort of have this little whimpery voice and I say something like "That....was....so...amazing". To add lame to lameness, once we called "cut" the producer, director, and myself all hugged each other. Three goofy nerd guys all holding one another at the Wizard World convention. Sarah rolled her eyes and said something like "I hope Joss didn't see that."
The final punchline is that actually filming Joss Whedon kind of killed our original joke, so we had to change it up a little (adding the bit where I supposedly don't know what Joss actually looks like) and then had to shoot for another hour and a half to fix the gag. And Joss wasn't even supposed to be at that Con, he evidently was there regarding the charity comic book project he's doing for DC, but was not a featured guest. We never spotted him again after our interview.

So that's it, sorry that was so long, I assume no one read this far. I just knew this was pretty much the only place I could tell that rambling tale. So thanks again for watching it, now I have to get back to work on our next episode and figure out how in the hell we could ever top that.

-Jack
http://www.geek-week.net

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:06 AM

PENGUIN

I really loved the video and it shows what a great guy Joss is for going along!

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:22 AM

MORWEN112

That's a cool story FlatLineJack! I was wondering about it the first time I saw the interview...I couldn't quite convince myself that it wasn't staged...

You should have kissed his shoes though...

Mine is an evil sugar high laugh! Bwahahahaha!

Morwen

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:34 AM

SIMONWHO

First up, congratulations on the interview, it's brilliant.

Second, did you see you were top video on the You Tube front page yesterday? Should get a few random people interested!

And I also turned into a burbling idiot when confronted with his Jossness. Perhaps we should all write a communal note explaining that we are intelligent, witty, sophisticated people but there's something about his eyes that makes us into fools.

Maybe.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:35 AM

CHINDI

LOL That was SO COOL!!!

you gotta love a guy (Joss) who is soooo accesible, and I gotta say that you did a great job standing up in a surprising and probably humbling moment!! WAY TO GO!!!

thanks so much for sharing the interview with
"Joss Whedon"....

and thanks for coming here and sharing the experience and back story.. that was just very shiny!!!

Chindi

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 12:59 PM

BREXAN

Hahaha nice story!

Damn, that was some great luck!

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 1:30 PM

TWACORBIES

You are awesome, I am so jealous I am filled with dark envy. How totally amazing for something like that to actually happen. Plus, you have it on film forever. *hugs you for your awesome craziness*

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 1:39 PM

EMBERS

thank you for the rambling tale!
and you did seem very cool in the video that had been previously posted...now I have to see if I can see the whole thing (when you fall into fandom over-whelm after he leaves).

thanks again!

**********************************************
watch the R. Tam Session vids: http://www.hittarivertam.nu/
and buy the 'Serenity' comics published by Dark Horse
have you checked out this thread?:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15816

and listen to 'I'm Going To See Serenity':
http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=a0
c814e1229742ce77ed4497cbf4631c

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 3:27 PM

CAB1729

Thanks, Jack, for the story behind that great video. It just amps up the hilariousness knowing what you guys had already planned and then Joss and then what you were thinking and ... well, you did waaay better than I'd have done!

___________________________________________
Hobbes: How come we play war and not peace?
Calvin: Too few role models.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:09 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

This is one of the funniest stories I have ever read! That's great!

*************************************************
One summer.
One mission.
One legion of Browncoats.

Starting June 23rd, we aim to misbehave.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:21 PM

EIRE

That was....well, granted, it was certainly of the lame persuasion.....but it was still cool!!! (In the realm where cool meets lame and they go out for coffee and somewhere along the way they run into Joss....I wonder if that's a common problem for him....)

One day I will be like River...one day far, far, far from now...and maybe in a different dimension...with shrimp....

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:37 PM

BABYLONIAN

I loved this video and showed it off to many of my friends as a great example of how amazing Joss is at ad-libbing. You did a great job with this interview and made me laugh, at least.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:44 PM

JUTIN

yeah, I thought it was gonna be another "How's Wonder Woman coming along?" video, of which there seem to be many, of Joss saying I don't know...

The VS in the title made me actually stop to watch it, and it was possibly the funniest Joss video I have ever seen...

"Is there an "h"... oh who cares?"

"He literally just wrote 'john'"

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:51 PM

JRC

Jack, it's like filming one of those UFO sightings, only this time, the alien leader really shows up. Congratulations!!!

Everyone dies alone.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 5:00 PM

BABYLONIAN

Quote:
Originally posted by JuTin:
yeah, I thought it was gonna be another "How's Wonder Woman coming along?" video, of which there seem to be many, of Joss saying I don't know...

The VS in the title made me actually stop to watch it, and it was possibly the funniest Joss video I have ever seen...

"Is there an "h"... oh who cares?"

"He literally just wrote 'john'"

That part actually bothered me. It seemed more likely that he was making a joke about how his name is often misspelled "Josh", but the interviewer said John, so I was kindqa confused.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006 5:24 PM

VOLK564

That was an AWSOME interview!! I saw it posted on myspace by the serenity fan page ("Can't Stop the Signal") and nearly died laughing. The "figurehead" and the "I, who am Joss Whedon" parts especially cracked me up. Now that I've seen the whole epsiode though, it's a lot funnier...I'll have to start checking your site more frequently. Keep it up

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Wednesday, May 17, 2006 3:45 AM