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CNN Live Today

New Kid on Cable

Aired February 28, 2003 - 11:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Michael comes to cable Sunday night. The question you may be asking yourself, as we did, is who the Michael Essany? Michael's been hosting his own talk show from his parents' living room since puberty, we hear. And now he's a college freshman and between class and homework, he's working to be the next Johnny Carson. His new show on E! is not a talk show, it's a reality show about his talk show. How's that?
Michael Essany joins us now from Valparaiso, Indiana, where he says some pretty big names join him right there on his mom's sofa.

Now, you are actually on the set now, is that it, Michael?

MICHAEL ESSANY, HOST OF "MICHAEL ESSANY SHOW": I am on the set now, Leon. Welcome to the living room of late night.

HARRIS: I got to tell you, you know, the first thing that popped in my head was that episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer reconstructed the Mike Douglas set in his apartment. Where did you get the idea to do this?

ESSANY: Sure. That's a classic episode. You know, when you start at the bottom in local cable, you've got to do something clever to attract attention. For me, that was creating a home-grown "Tonight" show. And for the first couple of years on air I never mentioned that the show was done in the house for fear of people not taking it seriously. If you heard of a 14-year-old in his mom's living room doing a TV show, trying to book stars, you'd probably want to laugh.

HARRIS: Well, Mike, though, I haven't heard of a parent who would let a 14-year-old get away with something like that.

ESSANY: You know, my mom and dad have always been supportive of me. And we're a very close family. We're all Italians over here, so we have a great time doing the show. I told my mom and dad when I was 14 what I wanted to do specifically and said, if you give me the living room, I'll do great things with it. They trusted me. And I haven't veered off course. And I have tried to build it up to a national level.

HARRIS: Now, your mom and your dad are actually like, they're on the crew here, right? We're watching some video of them right now. Do your mom and dad actually run the cameras and lights and all that for you?

ESSANY: Dad is the stage manager. He keeps everyone quiet in the other room. Makes sure there's no toilets flushing or people talking when I'm trying to tape a TV show. Mom serves as my director for celebrity interviews.

And then the biggest part is they feed all of the celebrity guests. So after the show, guests are treated to a phenomenal meal. You want to know what our secret weapon is, Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, what is your secret weapon?

ESSANY: Grandma. Grandma is the secret weapon. We have a huge star like Jewel come out, grandma prepares a phenomenal feast. And stars are -- so if you don't see grandma on the show and dad's just like burning toast or something, that means we don't have a really good guest.

HARRIS: Is that how you got Kevin Bacon to come on board? You got to tell us how you get these guys to show up for you.

ESSANY: It's a matter of perseverance. I mean, if you look at my story, it's one more of failure than success. I have been rejected 900 times. Most guys my age have that trouble getting a prom date. I have it trying to put on a TV show. You know, I have only had 10% of my requests acknowledged. So --

HARRIS: Give us some names of those who have -- for the audience who is watching now and may want to check you out, give us some names of the folks who have shown up on your show -- on your mom's couch there.

ESSANY: We've had stars either in person or by telephone, quasi- satellite hookup from Ray Romano, Katy Couric, former President Gerald Ford, Dennis Franz, Edie Falco, you mentioned Kevin Bacon. Jewel's done my show three times now. She'll resurface again on the new E! series. It's been phenomenal. Ninety-one stars have been on the show so far.

HARRIS: That's incredible. Jewel, three times and we didn't read about this in the "Enquirer"? Man, you are something else.

ESSANY: Well, thank you for saying -- and we kick off the big show at 10:30 eastern on Sunday on E! which I'm really excited about. I'm following Anna Nicole. Anna is all returning, which means the terror alert level will probably go back to orange at some point this weekend. My show starts 10:33 eastern, because Anna's, you know, she's a big start. She's spilling over into my half an hour.

HARRIS: You may not be thanking the folks at E! for followign the Anna Nicole show. But that's a different story. We'll talk about that some other time. Michael Essany, well, good luck to you man.

ESSANY: Thank you so much.

HARRIS: Well, hopefully we'll talk to you after the show comes out and we'll see how it does, OK?

ESSANY: Please come out and do the show. I'd love to have you. HARRIS: We'll talk about that, all right? OK. We'll see you later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 28, 2003 - 11:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Michael comes to cable Sunday night. The question you may be asking yourself, as we did, is who the Michael Essany? Michael's been hosting his own talk show from his parents' living room since puberty, we hear. And now he's a college freshman and between class and homework, he's working to be the next Johnny Carson. His new show on E! is not a talk show, it's a reality show about his talk show. How's that?
Michael Essany joins us now from Valparaiso, Indiana, where he says some pretty big names join him right there on his mom's sofa.

Now, you are actually on the set now, is that it, Michael?

MICHAEL ESSANY, HOST OF "MICHAEL ESSANY SHOW": I am on the set now, Leon. Welcome to the living room of late night.

HARRIS: I got to tell you, you know, the first thing that popped in my head was that episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer reconstructed the Mike Douglas set in his apartment. Where did you get the idea to do this?

ESSANY: Sure. That's a classic episode. You know, when you start at the bottom in local cable, you've got to do something clever to attract attention. For me, that was creating a home-grown "Tonight" show. And for the first couple of years on air I never mentioned that the show was done in the house for fear of people not taking it seriously. If you heard of a 14-year-old in his mom's living room doing a TV show, trying to book stars, you'd probably want to laugh.

HARRIS: Well, Mike, though, I haven't heard of a parent who would let a 14-year-old get away with something like that.

ESSANY: You know, my mom and dad have always been supportive of me. And we're a very close family. We're all Italians over here, so we have a great time doing the show. I told my mom and dad when I was 14 what I wanted to do specifically and said, if you give me the living room, I'll do great things with it. They trusted me. And I haven't veered off course. And I have tried to build it up to a national level.

HARRIS: Now, your mom and your dad are actually like, they're on the crew here, right? We're watching some video of them right now. Do your mom and dad actually run the cameras and lights and all that for you?

ESSANY: Dad is the stage manager. He keeps everyone quiet in the other room. Makes sure there's no toilets flushing or people talking when I'm trying to tape a TV show. Mom serves as my director for celebrity interviews.

And then the biggest part is they feed all of the celebrity guests. So after the show, guests are treated to a phenomenal meal. You want to know what our secret weapon is, Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, what is your secret weapon?

ESSANY: Grandma. Grandma is the secret weapon. We have a huge star like Jewel come out, grandma prepares a phenomenal feast. And stars are -- so if you don't see grandma on the show and dad's just like burning toast or something, that means we don't have a really good guest.

HARRIS: Is that how you got Kevin Bacon to come on board? You got to tell us how you get these guys to show up for you.

ESSANY: It's a matter of perseverance. I mean, if you look at my story, it's one more of failure than success. I have been rejected 900 times. Most guys my age have that trouble getting a prom date. I have it trying to put on a TV show. You know, I have only had 10% of my requests acknowledged. So --

HARRIS: Give us some names of those who have -- for the audience who is watching now and may want to check you out, give us some names of the folks who have shown up on your show -- on your mom's couch there.

ESSANY: We've had stars either in person or by telephone, quasi- satellite hookup from Ray Romano, Katy Couric, former President Gerald Ford, Dennis Franz, Edie Falco, you mentioned Kevin Bacon. Jewel's done my show three times now. She'll resurface again on the new E! series. It's been phenomenal. Ninety-one stars have been on the show so far.

HARRIS: That's incredible. Jewel, three times and we didn't read about this in the "Enquirer"? Man, you are something else.

ESSANY: Well, thank you for saying -- and we kick off the big show at 10:30 eastern on Sunday on E! which I'm really excited about. I'm following Anna Nicole. Anna is all returning, which means the terror alert level will probably go back to orange at some point this weekend. My show starts 10:33 eastern, because Anna's, you know, she's a big start. She's spilling over into my half an hour.

HARRIS: You may not be thanking the folks at E! for followign the Anna Nicole show. But that's a different story. We'll talk about that some other time. Michael Essany, well, good luck to you man.

ESSANY: Thank you so much.

HARRIS: Well, hopefully we'll talk to you after the show comes out and we'll see how it does, OK?

ESSANY: Please come out and do the show. I'd love to have you. HARRIS: We'll talk about that, all right? OK. We'll see you later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com