50 Cent on Carson Daly - the Perfect Show

Carson Daly. What a character. I went to his show last night in Burbank. Oh don't worry. I got in for free. There are these ads on the internet about going to shows for free the day of the show which is absolutely fantastic. I sit in the car for two and a half hours on the 405 freeway to show up at NBC Studios in Burbank to sit through two and a half hours of Carson Daly making "jokes" as the audience manager like to call them, and looking awkward on stage . . .for free. But it was soooo worth it.

First up was Marlon Wayans. Now I think he is really funny in person even thoug some of the ideas for his recent films have been, well not up to par. But who's is? Either way he was a trip on the show. He talked about his new Christmas special airing on Nicktoons on December 16th, 2006 called "Thugaboo". What a surprise. A black Christmas cartoon special made by black people with "thug" in the title. Another way of making fun of the ghetto life style at black people's expense. At least only 400 of Marlon's brothers and sisters helped him come up with this idea. The other 300 were out buying Playstation 3's for Marlon's son. But to each his own. The Christmas Special looks pretty funny actually, at least from the clip, but that's what they said about "Saving Christmas".

Now this was for the 1st show airing on next Thursday, the 14th. They said some band called Firstleaf or something was going to play but they didn't! Though thoroughly disappointed that this band I'd never heard of was not playing, I enjoyed listento the house band which was amazing good. Way to go house band!

The 2nd show was coming up and we waited while the house band played a little rockin' music. Then it came, the person they told us was going to be there so that people would come in the first place . . . 50 Cent. He was promoting his new film "Home of the Brave" in which he plays a soldier coming home from the Iraq war with a lot of anger in him and he doesn't know why. It actually looked interesting as well but I'm not sure I want to see it. I see enough people being angry about the war when I look in the mirror every morning.

Crazy as it may sound, 50 Cent seemed like a very nice young man, a shy man who drags his consonants and doesn't speak very loudly. A tame person on stage while he was talking with Carson. I couldn't believe it. There was a weird silence from the audience the whole time he was up on stage talking. We were either waiting for something interesting to happen or waiting for him to pull out a gat or something. I don't know.

But then he started with more Oprah bashing and I found out why some people think he can be a jerk sometimes. He had recently, this year and in 2005 , talked about Oprah saying that she used to represent black women and now she represents white women. After Carson talked with 50 about possibly getting an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of this soldier Carson asked, "What happens when Oprah invites you on the show?" 50 replied again in his own words, "That won't happen. You cater to a certain group of people for so long, you become one of them." Then he continued, "She'll invite everyone else [in the film] but me."

Then 50 continued on to say that Eminem was his greatest influence in rap. Good thing he's not a hypocrite.

And too bad he didn't perform. I wanted to hear some 50 Cent women-demeaning, rapper-bashing, lude rap filled with the "N" word and profanity! With a beat that I could dance to. But 50 left the stage to my dismay.

But shortly after that the movie trailer voice guy came on! Don LaFontaine, what a treat. You know that you have a stellar Friday night show - when 50 Cent and Don LaFontaine can sit on the same stage. And he sounded just like . . . well . . . himself. What a voice. I mean, no filtered microphones, no saltwater or anything. And he's been so popular recently. I mean this guy's been everywhere. He was on the Today Show a couple weeks ago and now he's on Carson. I want to see him on a midday show like Oprah or Ellen. Then his status will be secured.

I love films and I probably love the trailers even more, with the state of moviemaking these days. The "voice of the movies" talked about having his own studio in his house that he records in and having voiced over 5000 films/trailers. Not to mention the commercial and radio spots. That's a lot of talent. When asked about what he does when he gets a crappy movie to do voice over for he replied in so many words "[It's not my place to judge. I just do my job.]"

But at the top of the night before all these stars came out, the audience manager told the audience that OK-Go would be playing! I was so excited I forgot who 50 Cent was, until I thought of guns again. OK-Go is the "it" group of 2006 as far as I and one of my best friends is concerned. They won the Grammy for "Best short form music video" for their internet video "Here It Goes Again" in which they ride treadmills in a choreographed dance to their song. They're the new kids in Indie Rock and they blasted the studio like no other. When I first saw their music video I fell in love with them and the rest is history.

So at the end of the night, we heard them play two songs and they were amazing. And I got to see it for free! Ah . . .I love Carson Daly. Well, I love his free shows in which I get to see OK-Go. I should check his show out sometime on television, maybe.

Well the shows I participated in will air next Thursday and Friday nights, December 14th and 15th at 1:30pm on NBC.