Hey everyone…this Thursday, December 6th ABC Family channel (channel 311 for Direct TV) is showing two Christmas movies in which I have a lead role.  ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS and its sequel TWICE UPON A CHRISTMAS.  They are fun family movies starring John Dye and Kathy Ireland.  I play John Dye’s very handsome brother-in-law – OK, I added the handsome part.  I had a great time filming these movies up in Vancouver, Canada.  John and Kathy couldn’t have been nicer to work with.  On my TIVO  it has the first one showing at 4 p.m., but on the ABC Family website, and my TV Guide, it says ONCE starts at 7 p.m. followed by TWICE at 9 p.m…..so check out your local listing or your TV guide and see what it says.  We had our first production meeting today for THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WALTER FLUNN.  It really is becoming a reality.  We’re teamed with a wonderful production company who is completely behind the show.  It’s a very exciting time.    Much more on later….. 

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy with auditions. But on a personal note, the best part about this week was that my birthday was on Tuesday, November 6th! I got fabulous cards, e-mails and phone calls throughout my big day. And hearing my 6 year old and my little 2 1/2 year old singing “Happy Birthday Papa!” warmed my heart to no end.
Besides some good commercial auditions recently, I had an audition for the wonderfully funny series UGLY BETTY. What a treat to be brought in for that show! The jury is still out on that one – and with the strike going on, who knows what is happening with all these shows. But I had a great time auditioning for it. Jeff Greenburg’s casting office could not have been friendlier and more helpful. It’s an office that really seem to like actors.
And here’s to the brave writers who are standing up for what they (and I) believe is fair and right. May the strike be successful and over sooner than later for everyone involved.
Michael Toole, a wonderful writer for Turner Classic Movies website, Las Vegas Weekly, along with some very successful short films, contacted me. He wants to write a piece about what it was like for me to play silent movie comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and half of the famous comedy team Laurel and Hardy – namely Oliver Hardy. We had our preliminary meeting today to discuss the piece and will follow it up with another meeting next week. Michael is a terrific guy who is truly a film lover with an encyclopedic knowledge of movies.
The article will appear on the TCM website in the next month or so, and might make its way into the NOW PLAYING monthly magazine from TCM. What an honor for me to be part of one of my favorite channels!! Thanks, Michael.
In preparing for the meeting today, I reviewed some material on Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. First of all, he was such a wonderfully talented comedian. Truly funny and amazingly agile on his feet. If you ever get a chance to watch any of his films on TCM or rent the DVDs, you won’t be disappointed. But his life took such a tragic turn in 1921 with the death of a young ’starlet’ at a party he was hosting. Many considered him guilty of her death (even though he was aquitted after a third trial) and false rumors still persist to this day. If you want to read more about Roscoe and his downfall, my favorite book on the subject is called “The Day The Laughter Stopped” by David Yallop.
More on this later…

I just found out today that the Orkin Pest Control Co. decided to not to bring me back as their spokesman for 2008. They changed advertising agencies a few months ago, so the news wasn’t completely a shock. Every new advertising agency likes to make their mark and throw out the old campaign and start fresh with their own.
I loved working for Orkin and being their spokesman – Ned, The Orkin Man. And it wasn’t just the money. They are a super group of people and Orkin is a great company. We parted on excellent terms and I wish them all the best with their future campaigns.

The folks at Orkin flew me up to Whistler, Canada to make some personal appearances as ‘Ned, The Orkin Man’. They were having their President’s Club celebration, honoring the top employees of Orkin. The Orkin people did a fabulous job organizing this enormous event. I think it’s safe to say all 620 attendees had an outstanding time and the response to me being there as their spokesman, Ned, The Orkin Man, was incredible. Here’s a picture, taken on the last night – on the top of Whistler Mountain, of the line of people waiting for a picture with Ned. The line up was non-stop for over 1 1/2 hours – and then at least another 1 1/2 hours signing pictures. What a thrill for me to be included in this terrific event!

When I wasn’t working, there were endless activities to enjoy. I tried a ‘zip line’ and, although my heart was pounding, loved it. So much so that when my wife joined me in Whistler a few days later, I took her ‘zip lining’. That time we ‘zipped’ on the longest zip line in Canada – 2200 feet! Amazing.

Wow! In the last couple of weeks things have been going better than ever. I shot a funny spot for Charter Communications with the inimitable Sean Sweeney. I’ve seen this guy at many auditions…and never had the opportunity to work with him. He is very funny and a real treat to work with. But this is truly one of the weirdest Polaroids I’ve seen in a while. It kinda looks like one of those postcards you used to get from those cheap, family run motels – you know “Stay here at Yorke’s Motel and Apartments. COLOR TV in almost every room. My brother and I will look after you real good”. Or maybe it’s just that Sean didn’t have as good a time working with me as I did with him. By looking at this photo, maybe he has just two words for me….’breath mint’.

Then I shot a fun bit on a new TV show called BIG SHOTS with Dylan McDermott and Christropher Titus. It is the first ‘official’ episode of the new series. The set had the feeling of newness about it. Everyone was really great to work with, but being so early in their first season, it hasn’t quite found its rhythm yet. I’m sure it will – and I hope it’s a big hit for them. Then maybe they could bring the doorman back!

Just last Friday I shot a new, updated informercial for SMC. I did the previous one with Tom Bosley about three or four years ago…and now I’m back doing a brand new one. We shot it in a lovely Arts and Crafts home in Long Beach. Even my wife and kids got in the act. We shot a few scenes of my girls and I on the front porch swing reading stories and then with my kids blowing bubbles and my wife and I looking on, laughing. Really sweet stuff.
Bob Caudhill was the director. He is a terrific guy who kept all of us laughing and ‘up’ throughout the entire day. A real pro – and a very sweet guy, too. My favorite sound guy, Steve Hawk, also was working on the shoot. His very dry sense of humor kept me laughing all day.
THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WALTER FLUNN has really started to take off. I can’t go into details for contractual reasons, but WOW! it’s really exciting. As soon as I get the green light to fill in the details…I will. Needless to say, my business partner and I are very excited.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print for now. Tune in later for more….

The Sons of the Desert is a world wide Laurel and Hardy fan club. This past weekend, the Way Out West tent (or chapter) of the fan club celebrated their 40th Anniversary and I was invited! The Grand Sheik of the Way Out West tent – Jimmy Wiley, Jr. – asked my friend Brian Mulligan and myself if we would appear as Laurel and Hardy on the two day ‘locations tour’. That is a tour of all the locations throughout Culver City and Los Angeles where Laurel and Hardy filmed their movies. A Laurel and Hardy lover’s dream! Over 120 people showed up for the event from as far away as Great Britain, Canada, Hawaii, and New York.

Brian and I had a great time performing as Laurel and Hardy and the people on the tour couldn’t have been nicer. We even got to spend some time in a fabulous Model A – loaned to us by Brian’s friend, Art Tostado.

Reacting to the Laurel and Hardy fans coming towards us – I think Brian’s coffee just kicked in!

Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into!

Congratulations to the Way Out West Tent in Los Angeles on their 40th Anniversary! It was a blast to be part of their fabulous weekend.

A big thanks to photographer Henry Han for covering the event. He is a top notch photographer and it’s no surprise that he took fabulous pictures, a few of which I’ve featured above.

In other news….The Verizon campaign is about to begin in mid-August – I don’t think you’ll be able to miss that. And the feature I worked on called “Change Your Life” is about to be released. So, I’ll keep you posted on that, too.

And being The Orkin Man continues to keep me busy! Remember – if you have bugs, bug them at www.Orkin.com

More later…

Well, thanks to Verizon, I’m now the Mayor of Brighton. Brighton is a fictional town that Verizon ‘created’ to let people know what fabulous things Verizon Fios Fiber Optics did for Brighton…and what it can do for you. Crystal clear HDTV, super-fast internet service, superior phone service….and more. Over a period of two weeks, we shot a series of six ‘mini-movies’ (four to six minutes each) which will be distributed on DVD to over 10 million Verizon customers. They will also appear on the internet.

I had a great time shooting these ‘mini-movies’. The Verizon gang was great as was the advertising agency R/GA. Neil Tardio, Jr., the director, gave all of the actors terrific freedom to have fun, create, and make it our own.

As Mayor of Brighton, I drove around in one of those new ‘Smart Cars’. It gets 70 miles to the gallon and can travel over 500 miles on one tank of gas. Holy Cow! I want one!!

My eldest daughter, Daisy, completed kindergarten yesterday. My how the year flew by! So now, summer vacation is officially on. I’m warming up the grill right now. More later…

Well, I’m in Atlanta shooting another spot for ORKIN. It’s hot here, but it’s such a beautiful city. When I was here less than a couple of weeks ago, I rented a car and drove to a small town called Harlem, Georgia – about two hours east of Atlanta. Harlem just happens to be the birthplace of Oliver Hardy – so I just had to go and check it out. There is a large water tower in the center of town on which is painted a very large picture of ‘Babe’. This town is ‘Ollie’ crazy. There is also a fun little museum in town called – you guessed it – The Laurel and Hardy Museum.

This trip will be strickly work and then home. Then it’s back to work on THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WALTER FLUNN. There is a lot happening with the pilot, but again, I’m just not at liberty to talk about it other than to say it’s all very exciting.

My episode of THE GAME was on the other night, too. Phew! Life is good.

Finally, after nearly seven weeks of recovering from foot surgery, I am back! It is fantastic to have that all behind me….or since it’s my foot, I guess I should say…’below’ me. And already today, I have an audition for a very funny pilot being cast by the wonderful Liz Marx.

The world of WALTER FLUNN is really heating up…….and it’s ready to blow! M-m-m-m somehow, that doesn’t sound right. Nonetheless, it’s going to be ‘flunn-tastic’!!

I mean have you ever seen a man more ready for action/adventure in your life? By the way, the above volcano shots are real (well, sort of). Seriously, this is a very exciting project to be part of. Stay tuned…

By the way, thanks to everyone for the wonderful well-wishes, calls, and visits during the time I was recuperating with my foot. They made that slow time go by so much faster. I really appreciate it.

Well, I should be off crutches in just over two and a half weeks. YAHOO! I can hardly wait. Even though I’ve been out a few times to the doctor and to the library…for the most part – I’ve been at home staying off my foot. No auditions. No work. Then again, on the positive side…no shaving either (and when did my beard turn grey, anyway??).

My episode of VERONICA MARS was on a couple of nights ago…and I’m off to do some radio work for ORKIN this morning…so, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

More later…