Ask A Genius 946: I could have been a contender
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/06/16
[Recording Start]
Rick Rosner: My wife just turned on a documentary about the Brat Pack. It was filmed 35 years after the Brat Pack era by one of the actors characterized as being in the Brat Pack, Andrew McCarthy.
Whenever I watch anything like this, or like tonight, when Jimmy Kimmel is hosting a fundraiser for Biden—he’s actually moderating a conversation between Obama and Biden—I see the connections show business has had for me, and it reminds me of my wasted opportunities. For example, the movie that made Matt Damon, an actor who’s Brat Pack adjacent, famous was filmed in Colorado. My junior high drama teacher, I believe, tried to get me a tryout or at least talked about getting me a tryout for that movie.
I was a decent actor, certainly not as good-looking as Matt Damon, but I never pursued it. Now, I’m 64 and I’ve been in only one movie, and that was just because they needed a lunatic to be naked for half a minute. After I got fired from Kimmel, it’s been 10 years, and I never tried very hard to get rehired. I took a couple of meetings, but I didn’t want to write a spec script. I didn’t want to be hired for some mediocre show writing mediocre content. I’ve been working on various books for ages, but I’ve never taken control or willed myself to get anything published.
I’ve had good luck in the past. I have willed myself to get work previously, but it’s been 10 years. I never put myself through what I would have had to go through to get regular work as an actor or to become really good at stand-up, where you probably have to get on stage a thousand times. I’ve been on stage as a stand-up fewer than 20 times, and I get frustrated with my own lack of motivation. Carole, to some extent, is a motivation killer because she always plays devil’s advocate and will tell you why something isn’t good. I’ve told her for decades now that I don’t need that because it works against my desire to do things. So, it’s my fault, but Carole doesn’t cheerlead for me much, which could be helpful.
I feel frustrated with myself because I know all these people, these comedians; I’ve worked with many of them and written for many of them, but for the past 10 years, I’ve failed to make anything happen for myself. I still believe it will, but time is running out. I’ve got this Kevin Kretschmer project, which looked like it was going to happen. I’ve done four other pilots for shows where I was pivotal or the center of the show. None of them went forward, which is the way it goes with pilots. Of the probably 20-some pilots I wrote on, about half of them were successful, which is an amazing batting average. But with projects about me, with things that would give me some recognition, none of them have succeeded.
With you and me, we’ve done more to get my thoughts out there than with anybody else, but our viewership is not significant, and it hasn’t led to anything else. So, to repeat, I just get frustrated with my lack of motivation. In the words of the character played by Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront,” I could have been a contender. The end.
[Recording End]
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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