In October 2001 I was asked to appear on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link, entitled Scene Stealers. Now first of all I have issue with that phrase. I sort of think that if you are stealing the scene then in some way you are diverting attention from what the scene should be about, and I think it infers a level of showing off and pulling focus. However sometimes I think it can mean that the scene demands a sort of bravura performance, which the writer intended, and the actor is justified in his or her flourishes.
So I got over it. And it meant I would get ten thousand dollars for a charity of my choice (in this case Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS), and they'd fly me to LA and put me up at my favourite hotel, The Chateau Marmont, and I could have fun with my LA peeps. So I did it.
It was insane!! First of all it took about 9 hours from start to finish, and secondly Anne Robinson was scary! Well, not really. She is very nice when she is not being Anne, and I have seen her out of Anne drag with her daughter and she is a darling, but her whole scary head mistress persona is very formidable! The video here shows me very nervous but still fighting back!
The funniest thing was all the alliances that were being made in the make-up room, and how everyone got quite aggressive. Ice T was very scary. I was in an alliance with the lovely Kathy Najimy and Anthony Anderson amongst others, and I was feeling very good about myself having won several rounds but then it was down to just the three of us and as the man says 'statistically Alan was the strongest link' and so they bumped me! It was quite a life lesson i can tell you.
