3 posts tagged “audition”
This turned out to be, despite my earliest instincts, not a hoax.
Which was a good thing. I've long wanted to be on Jeopardy! and I was happy upon arriving at the Sheraton hotel in New York City that there actually was an audition there and that my name was on the list.
Upon arrival, I found the registration table and picked up my application. It asked for all the typical biographical information plus stuff like times I wouldn't be able to tape the show (I am always available to Jeopardy!, so I listed no dates of unavailability) and people I knew who were on the show. I only know of one or two and our contacts were incidental and fleeting, but I listed it. It also asked if I had any Quiz Bowl experience. I have none, though I am intrigued by the pop culture based quiz TRASH....wanna look into that for the future.
Then came the whirlwind. Her name was Maggie. Quickly, she swept us in the conference room after we had our Polaroids taken. (And given how Polaroid no longer makes the film for those cameras anymore, that may be the last Polaroid ever taken of me) I gave a huge smile and the picture wasn't half bad.
So much happened over the next 2 hours, it's really all a blur. In a nutshell, Maggie, the contestant coordinator in charge of everything gave us a really great stand-up routine. She was funny, she was self-deprecating, she was silly,she was flirty, she was glib and she was loud. She was great, always complimenting us when we did something well or when she needed more, she'd ask nicely, but directly
Our first task after our instructions was a 50 question in-person test. All of us in the room had already taken the online test and had passed. So we were all expected to do well. I don't remember most of the test, but I think I did at least okay. Unfortunately, we never will find out just how well we did as they keep them secret, along with the importance of one test compared to the other..
Regardless, once the tests were scored, we all went up in threes to play Jeopardy!. We used the same kind of "signaling devices" they use on the show and we were instructed how and when to ring in. I did okay, I suppose, the first clue I got wrong and I think I got two or three others right. After a brief time playing, we all got a brief interview. Mine focused on working for what I described as a large Philadelphia-based cable company. I made them laugh a few times and I got an unsolicited compliment from Maggie about my "beautiful smile". That made me feel good.
I was the last person of the entire session to be interviewed. After that, we were dismissed with the knowledge that were were now in the contestant pool for the next 18 months and may be called on at any time with just a few weeks notice. So hopefully, that wasn't the end of my Jeopardy! story.
Thanks to everyone for the great supportive emails and comments. It really meant a lot and helped me through my initial nervousness.
I recieved the following email today:
Congratulations! You
have been selected for a follow-up appointment at an upcoming Jeopardy!
contestant search for the New York City area, exclusively for those who
successfully passed the online test. This is the next step in becoming
a Jeopardy! contestant. We have reserved the following appointment
for you:
When: Sunday, May 25th Time: 3:00pm
Where: New York City, NY
Hooray! I had no idea I did so well on the online test a few months ago. I have no idea if I'll do well at the audition, but it's been a dream for me since I was a kid to be on Jeopardy!...it just feels good to be invited to try to reach it.
But now I'm incredibly nervous. I mean, how do you prepare for Jeopardy!? Excuse me while I freak the hell out for the next month...
I had a job interview yesterday. Actually, they called it an audition, but I'm not an actor or a show person. I was auditioning for a position in the customer service department of the new Philadelphia Park Casino.
I had advance warning from both my brother, who works at the horse racing portion of the Park, and the media, who had made a fairly big deal out of the unusual process.
When I arrived, the woman at the front door of the Bucks County Visitors Center handed me a piece of copy paper with my name printed on it. "Joseph C." would be the first thing that anyone would see when they looked at me. I made sure I centered the paper on my chest to increase the effect.
I sat down on one of the white folding chairs. They were arranged in three rows behind a partition in the lobby of the Visitors Center. Over the next half-hour more and more people trickled in. I took the opportunity to warn my fellow applicants of the process as I understood it.
Basically, they were going to give us the option of two things. One was to dance to the "YMCA", the "classic" disco song from the Village People. The other was to play air guitar to Bon Jovi's 80s megahit "Livin on a Prayer". The idea, I was told, was that they wanted outgoing, personable people who had a smile on their face so that the customers they dealt with would be happy and gamble more.
At 11, a man in a Philly Park Casino polo shirt appeared and pretty much repeated what I said, but with more excitement. It probably was the millionth time he's given this speech, so I'm sure he's bored by it, but his outward excitement buried whatever potential boredom he had inside himself. We then practiced the two songs.
Both were brief, but at the end, I knew I really couldn't do justice to the "YMCA". I was a Bon Jovi dude. "What can I say? I was born to rock!" I said to the rocker group as I chose a side.
We were encouraged to come up with a plan in the 5 minutes we had before we were "on stage"...which wasn't on stage, but was remarkably like the "American Idol" tryouts. I told my group that I hoped the entire panel was made of Paulas.
Since no one else stepped up with much of an idea, I told everyone to just go out there and try to make someone else look good. They'd try to make you look good, you'd both look good and look like you're part of a team. Then someone said that we needed a lead singer, so they volunteered me. I suggested that we could use more than one lead singer, but no one else wanted to do it. I guess they were all born to be Richie Sambora.
The other team, the disco group, came back from their shot and said it was fun and it was short. Well, that was good, right? So when we were called, I wished everyone luck and we filed into this wee auditorium.
In the fifth row were two women dressed in the same casino polo shirts as the other guy. They had clip boards and asked everyone to state their name, their hometown and what position they were applying for. When it came to me, I said, "My name is Joe Coughlin. I was born and raised in Croydon, Bucks County and I'm applying for whatever customer service position you'd be kind enough to grant me." They went down the line asking the same of everyone else and then it was time to rock.
I picked up an inflatable guitar (an air guitar...get it?) and used the neck of it like a microphone. When the music started, it was the chorus of the song and I got the mike and raised it up to the mouths of me and a fellow applicant. Then we went back to back and then back to the mic for the rest of the chorus while I banged my head and made it look like I was having a good time.
And I was. Unfortunately, a minute later, they cut the music and that was it. We high-fived each other, filed out and were told we'd hear by email if we'll get called back for an actual interview and were dismissed. I wished everyone good luck and we all left.
All in all, it was a fun experience that I got a whole long post about. I doubt it'll be something I'll forget and it's something i can be happy about when I'm old and gray. For one small, shining moment in the Visitors Center off the highway, I was a rock star.
