Have You Been an Extra on a TV Show? Here's My Experience as Part of a Comedy Sketch

In the latter part of October in 1984 I went to visit a high school friend of mine who worked for "Entertainment Tonight" on the Paramount Studio lot in Los Angeles. This was my first time visiting LA. It was a stroke of luck I found out about my friend from a local news article on him in The Tampa Tribune. I sent my friend Mark a letter in care of the weekly entertainment news show. He responded quickly and invited me for a visit.

When I went to work with him at ET (Entertainment Tonight) we had lunch at Paramount commissary, or lunchroom style restaurant. I'll never forget Patrick Duffy, one of the stars of "Dallas", was sitting at a table next to us. Later that night we were going to a taping of the hit music variety show "Solid Gold." This was like a weekly MTV show for us that didn't have cable back then. I was really excited to see my first "live" taping. It wasn't what I thought it would be.

Solid Gold: 1980 - 1988

At a time when the 1950s - 1970s music variety shows were becoming a thing of the past "Solid Gold" offered recording artists throughout the 1980s with a Top 10 song on the Billboard charts a chance to to perform their hit. This program was very similar to today's results shows on "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars, except there wasn't anyone going home. One of the constant features of "Solid Gold" was its dancers. They usually accompanied the musical guests with dance performances.

Virtually all of the musical guests lip-synched their song, because that was standard practice at the time. It was too costly to pay live musicians in a band. However, there were some exceptions, but those were either a male or female solo vocalists who wanted to perform unplugged. Even though this was a popular music show for eight seasons from 1980 until 1988 it went through a series of hosts. It wasn't even on a primetime network. Usually it aired on syndication, which was a local channel for selected areas and cities. Thankfully in Tampa, Florida it showed "Solid Gold" on Saturday nights at 7 p.m.

Being Part of the Crowd Literally at the Taping

My friend Mark and I showed up at the studio where they taped this music program. I was truly looking forward to sitting down watching the whole show being taped and seeing so many musical acts. That's not how these live tapings went. Apparently all the other music guests slated for this show had been taped earlier. We were the crowd for the last act. After standing around wondering what was going on the host, Rick Dees, showed up. He's an absolute cutey who stood up to my navel. I was surprised how short he is.

The director of the show informed us we, the studio audience, were going to be part of a comedy sketch for the entire taping. All of the audience members were lined up against this curtain in a long snake line. Rick Dees was actually dressed up as Elvis in a jumpsuit from his Vegas days. Dees would make his entrance and go onstage to sing his one hit wonder "Disco Duck" a la Elvis style. It was all done tongue and cheek. When it came time to film Dees' entrance they had the climatic music Elvis uses when he comes onstage. The camera panned each of the audience when Dees went by. We were to act as excited as if it was Elvis himself. All I could think of was "I'm actually going to be on Solid Gold. How crazy is that?"

Rick Dees and his "Disco Duck" Parody

After the intro taping was finished with the studio audience, including Mark and I, were all brought to the stage area where Rick Dees would lip-synch his 1976 #1 hit song "Disco Duck" while the Solid Gold Dancers performed in the background. He does not finish the song, because the crowd reacts with lots of boos, then we start walking away while the Solid Gold Dancers do the same. It's ironic I loathed this song when it came out after I graduated from high school, now I was involved in a comedy sketch about it from the actual artist. That was all there was to it. We simply were atmosphere for this parody by the host of "Solid Gold" and the musical guest. It took a few hours, but it went by fast. This was certainly a different experience for me.

The Final Result

Thanks to TV Guide I was able to look each week at the guest stars listed on "Solid Gold" to find out the episode taping I went to. On December 1, 1984 it finally aired. The Rick Dees segment came out nicely. I remembered I could see myself faintly in the intro scene as Dees walks by us. Mark was visibly noticeable while I was in the background. When Dees performs the song onstage I could not find myself in the crowd, though I know Mark is shown, because he is so tall. There is a YouTube video of this performance by Rick Dees on "Solid Gold."

Unfortunately the part when he comes out to make his entrance is not shown. That was actually the best part of all. However, the studio performances with Dees and the dancers were taped when I was there. In the middle of the song there is a video segment of a dorky guy dressed in a really bad duck costume going into some disco to pick up ladies. That was not part of our taping at all. After this experience as an extra on a TV show, which was so unexpected, it got me more motivated then ever to pursue acting locally and then move out to LA, which I did. If the chance arises again I will be glad to be an extra on a TV show.

SOURCES:

Solid Gold Season 1-8 Episode Guide, TV.com

Solid Gold - Rick Dees & Lisa Hartman Season 5, Episode 13, TV.com

"Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots", Songfacts.com

Maxine Nelson, "The 10 Worst Rock and Pop Songs Ever", Associated Content from Yahoo!

solidgolddancers, "Disco Duck - Rick Dees on Solid Gold" YouTube