 Cast
member Brodie Osome (1981-1983) had plenty to say about his experience
on YCDTOTV.
How
did you get the job on You Can't Do That On Television?
I
became involved with YCDTOTV in grade seven at D. Aubrey Moodie
Intermediate School, where my homeroom teacher, as well as drama
teacher was a lady by the name of Carole Hay. I am sure you all
know by now that Carole was EXTREMELY instrumental in developing
talent for YCDTOTV with many of us spotted by her and ALL of us
trained by her. She invited me to a group audition for the show
after watching my antics in class - it was good enough for Roger
Price and Geoffrey Darby - and of course the green slime didn't
mind either.
What
is your first memory of YCDTOTV? Your best? Your worst? Your funniest?
First memory would have to be my watching it on TV before I even
got involved and thinking just what a CRAZY bunch of kooked-up kids
those guys were. My best memory was becoming one of the crazy, kooked-up
kids. My worst memory was the time my father made me quit the show,
only to be reconvinced and rescued by Roger Price. My funniest memory
had to ANY live show we did in the early days.
Let's
try some name association. What comes to mind when I mention: Les
Lye? Alasdair Gillis? Doug Ptolemy? Vanessa Lindores? Lisa Ruddy?
Abby Hagyard? Kevin Kubusheskie?
Christine McGlade - The glue that kept the whole thing together.
Les Lye -
Incredible! - Multi-talented - one of the funniest men you'll never
meet...My adopted father for about five years...
Alasdair Gillis
- My adopted bro for about five years... Great guy to be with whenever
there's a party...
Doug Ptolemy
- The Kid... Ask him about a certain Canada Day celebration he spent
with Kevin Kubusheskie and myself... Definitely a Gold Card Member
of the people to be with wherever there's a party...
Vanessa Lindores
- The reason why they invented the name "Sweetheart".
Lisa Ruddy
- I would REALLY love to see her get mad... Even when she is - she
is all full of her million dollar $mile we grew to love so much.
Abby Hagyard
- My adopted Mom for about three years - and a very special lady.
Please
describe the process for taping a show. How many days? How long
were the shoots, etc?
In
the beginning, shows were done live. There were some segments that
were pre-recorded the preceding week - and we would have to do this
mainly after school or on the weekends. After, we started hitting
the big time and pre-recording shows as we were now an internationally
syndicated program. This meant we would now shoot a number of shows
at a time - however we would do it scene by scene. Thus, we could
shoot all living room scenes for the next thirteen shows in one
day - all Barf scenes in one day, etc. Although we made fun of cue
cards, all lines on the program were memorized, so plenty of time
together at the studio and our own personal time was devoted to
committing your lines to memory. Oh yeah, by the way, we also had
to juggle going to school somewhere in there. Guess we all managed
- all of us are employed.
What
were your favorite sketches to do?
I
really did not have a favorite per se. Some were a little bit harder
to do, such as Blip's or Barth scenes because Les can really get
into those characters and instead of doing the shoot, we used to
spend a lot of time cracking up at his antics. I DEFINITELY can
say that the slime scenes were the worst strictly because EVERYTHING
had to be perfect. If the slime went down well, but there was a
microphone shadow in the shot... RETAKE, slime 'n all!!!
Was
this true about your relationship with Roger Price? How about Geoffrey
Darby?
Roger
Price was a creative genius. He was the father to everyone on the
show, including Les and Abby. Geoffrey Darby brought the necessary
technical flavor in productions and certainly was a super after-hours
entertainment coordinator. YCDTOTV had a superb team directed by
the Darby/Price duo - wonderful teachers - and CERTAINLY was living
proof that TV Producers are a dream to work around.
What
is your opinion about the general direction of the show after you
left?
Unfortunately,
my voice deepened, my basketball height started and I was no longer
able to fit in the lockers when I left. I left at a time when the
show was riding high and it CERTAINLY is one of the best feelings
anyone can have to be the catalysts of something that becomes a
resounding success!
When
you look at the entire cast of the show's run, what era of the show
do you feel was the best in terms of creativity and acting?
As
I got the opportunity to work with all the original cast members
as well as some of the latter members, I CERTAINLY can say the initial
group I worked with was a memory made for heaven. They were the
originals - the ones who all others would follow suit from. To sum
it up - it was a BLAST - and if I could do it all over again, I
would in a Hollywood minute with the group I worked together with!
Who
was your favorite cast member (acting-wise and to work with)?
Without
a doubt, there had to be something about Kevin. It started off with
Kevin Somers, then Kevin Schenk, then Kevin Kubusheskie. All of
them were the craziest K's I ever met starting with Somers - he
was crazy. Schenk was even more crazy and Kubush was the craziest
of all. I LOVED IT! Kubusheskie and I also interacted quite a lot
out of YCDTOTV time as we both loved and played basketball and both
developed our own crazy kind of humor that no one really seemed
to be able to decide which funny farm to commit us to.
What
did you think about the slime and water scenes?
I
actually LOVED the slime scenes until they started putting soap
inside the slime so that it washes off easier. It use to be a VERY
tasty concoction of jello, flour and water... Free lunch.
What did become
a hassle was when slime scenes had to be redone because of a technical
error.
Why
do you suppose the show had such a small Canadian following seeing
that it was produced in Canada?
Canada
is still a very conservative country if you compare it with the
USA. I believe at the time, YCDTOTV was exactly that - You Can't
Do That on Television -and yet we did - and we got away with it
to. Additionally, in all fairness, I also believe there needed to
be more support from the governmental level (read CRTC) for what
Roger Price and Geoffrey Darby had achieved and were still striving
for. There were some of those hiccups that inevitably opened up
other markets internationally that turned the show into the masterpiece
we remember today.
What
have you been doing since your time with YCDTOTV?
I
have done so much since leaving the show. I completed high school
at Bell High (Schenk, Lisa and Kubusheskie also served time there).
I studied Aviation and Flight Technology at Seneca College in Toronto,
then Math and Physics at University of Toronto. I took a three-week
vacation in Dec. '94 to meet up with the Kenya National Team in
Nairobi, Kenya of which I am a member as we were about to compete
in Cairo. That three week vacation turned into five years. I have
worked in a number of areas in Kenya and now Tanzania in Senior
Executive P.R. and Marketing Management roles in the ISP, Shipping
and OF COURSE - the media sector. I currently host and produce the
first locally produced English Talk Show in Tanzania called Talk
of the Town as well as the first English morning radio show in Tanzania,
The Breakfast Show on 101.4 FM -BBC World Service.
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