Banff TV Festival: Tales from the Red Carpet!

Speaking of the awards, the big ceremony was on Tuesday night and it was a star-studded affair. I got the chance to talk to Ricky Gervais, William Shatner, Eric McCormack and Jason Priestly. The former 90210-er was the night’s gracious and funny host, while the others all picked up special awards.

Being on the red carpet was tough, mostly because journalists and photographers are usually giant assholes who try to bully you out of your place.  But if I’ve learned one thing, it is stand your ground and be nice to publicists.  While everyone is yelling at them to get interviews, there I sit, broadening my shoulders, flashing my baby blue eyes and just like, I get to talk to the people I want to.  All without being a douchebag.  And they bloggers aren’t journalists.   (Speaking of that:  The Globe and Mail got first question with William Shatner and what did the esteemed paper ask?  “What shit did your dad say?”  Thanks Globe and Mail, riveting stuff.)

Since he was winning a comedy award, I asked Gervais if he felt pressure to always be funny.  He quickly responded with “No”, and then we had a stare-off, trying to get each other to crack. He broke first and said that his partner doesn’t think he is very funny, but he does try to make himself laugh all the time.

When I asked Shatner what has surprised him most over the past five years during his fascinating career, he replied: “I’m surprised I’m still alive.  I’m very lucky.”  His fiancee agreed, saying that she was lucky too.  She also had lipstick on here teeth, but didn’t know if I was within my rights to tell her.

Eric McCormick brought his wife of 16 years and there son Finngan to celebrate the Will and Grace actor picking up the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction.  (Fun fact: His son is named after the Mr. Dress Up character.) You can feel free to have a discussion about how fashionable the little kid is too!  Eric told me that he loves having a career where he is lucky enough to have projects in the States and in Canada.  You can catch him this summer on stage in Vancouver in Glengarry Glen Ross.

It was definitely one of the craziest and fastest red carpets I had ever worked.  But it was also one of the most successful, I felt privileged to talk to such amazing talent!