Do I really need much of an intro for Mo Rocca? I think you could turn on your TV, flip to any cable channel, and see the man in the bow tie at any moment. 24-7 dudes!
This guy is all over the place, and he owes it all to Jon Stewart, who made him famous by allowing Mo to do all the fake journalism he could dream of.
Tabloid journalism rocks, let me tell you. It all makes sense why Mo loved the idea behind my column. Real, hardcore journalism.
Anyway, Mo isn’t in town, but you can see him on TV. Or, if you are feeling up to it, go check out his buddy, Jon Stewart, tonight at the Rosemont Theatre. I am sure there will be some mention of Mo.
Word to your mother!
Dude, let me just start off by saying, you (bleepin’) rock!
Thanks man. That means a lot.
Good. So, what have you been up to?
Shooting a bunch of stuff for Animal Planet today and trying to get to L.A. to do a promo.
Life is pretty busy for ya.
Totally. I’m doing stuff for the "Today Show" in the morning and "The Tonight Show" at night, so I’m kind of NBC’s (bleep) (laughs).
How do you handle all of this?
I thought I would have a phase where I would throw it all against the wall and get sick of it, but I love it. Just throwing lots of stuff is good. I don’t really subscribe to scream therapy.
(Laughs) You got it man.
Everything I am doing is sort of my tour of cable TV.
You are hitting every channel. I don’t think that has ever been done.
Exactly. I want to create the first distinctive map of the cable landscape (laughs).
(Laughs too) Hey, I heard you weren’t feeling well, are you doing OK? Are you feeling well?
Oh yeah, yeah. I am beyond back. I need to stay at 100 percent. My battery was out, I just needed to recharge it. It was some gig that I had for Telemundo that wore me out (laughs). That just tapped me out.
You were listed in Guinness.
That’s great. I hope so. If I can just get onto BET then I will have hit everything. I have been checking my family tree to see if I have any true justification to get on there (laughs).
I could have sworn that I saw you at "The Source Awards."
(Laughs) Exactly.
Dude, did you really produce "Wishbone?"
I wrote a bunch of episodes, I was on the staff for the show, and I produced it too. I loved it. It was one of the best experiences of my career. It’s amazing how exciting people get when I mention that I worked on "Wishbone."
Well, I love that show. And a minute ago I didn’t think you were that cool, but now that this "Wishbone" stuff is settled, you are my hero.
That’s great. Believe me it was even cooler for me to get paid to read all the books I was supposed to read in college and didn’t.
Well, you did it the right way then. I paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for my education, and here you are getting paid for it.
Where did you go to school?
I went to Drake.
I was just talking about Drake today, that’s hilarious. I was talking with someone from Random House and they asked me if when I do my shows do I have towns people show up. And I said because I do NPR, "Today Show," and go on "Larry King" I find more and more that non-students show up. Especially if I am at an NPR sort of town, like Des Moines. When I go to Drake University, I was surprised when a bunch of people in the crowd were older people. It was kind of cool.
That’s awesome man. Small world. And, it just shows the wide range of ages in your fan base.
Exactly. At the end of the day, though, I think the core group of my constituents are soccer moms.
(Laughs) Trust me man, that’s not a bad thing. Soccer moms are hot!
They are. And some of them are still having babies, so they can help increase my fan base.
Do you consider yourself a "real" journalist?
The standard for who is a journalist has been lowered so far, so far, like lower than sea level, to some layer below the earth’s crust. The bar has been lowered pretty much into the core of the planet earth.
On what a journalist is.
Yeah, journalistic standards man. There are still journalists who check their facts.
You’re not one of them. Are you?
Nerds. All nerds. No, I’m not bound by those messy things called facts.
I’m totally with you on that one.
Since journalism is just speculating for the most part, I am just as good at that than anyone else.
I heard you hooked up with Paris Hilton. Is that true?
Yeah. Why not? You’re a journalist so you can say that (laughs). You are right on track.
What are your feelings on, I don’t know, MTV’s Gideon Yago?
He’s a nice guy. Yeah.
I think you guys look alike. Do you ever get that?
I have heard that and since my life is so busy, when I have a date, I usually pass it on to him. I guess we sort of do.
Did video kill the radio star?
Video killed the radio star until XM came around.
Good answer man.
Because of FCC guidelines, satellite radio will kill the video star (laughs).
That’s sad.
I am the first person to say that.
And for that, Guinness Book of World Records can add you as the top creator of catch phrases.
Do they really emphasize the first as much as they do the most.
No. But I was trying to be funny and obviously I failed.
That’s fine, I am in favor of bringing the interview full-circle as many times as possible.
It keeps it loose and makes things fun.
Exactly (laughs).
Did you know?
Rocca wrote and produced PBS’s "Wishbone" series
He was editor of Perfect 10, an adult magazine that doesn’t photograph women with implants
He loves bow ties
He was a correspondent on "The Daily Show" from 1998-2003
• Nick Powills can be reached at SayWhatPOWILLS@aol.com.
Powered by AkoComment 2.0!
