On the Geoffrey Owens thing: I remember in my mid-20s, not having much money, so I took a job at this place called Signature Rentals, which was a company that rented out stuff for events, like chairs, tables, bars, ornate things, and we had to set it up and take it down.
It was a job that a lot of my friends and fellow struggling comics took up because it was flexible and exercise and a way to joke around with bids while getting paid to do grunt work. The money was okay.
Then I was fortunate enough to land a small contributing writing gig on a sketch show. And even got to be an extra in some scenes. It paid okay but not enough, so I kept my Signature job.
But because I got this gig, I was invited to the CTV party where they announce the Fall line-up and bring cast members from these shows up to say hello. I think they’re called Upfronts? After that, it’s a swanky affair with free booze and sliders. Real swank.
And I’m hobnobbing with these celebs. I bummed a smoke off a guy from CSI: New York who wasn’t Gary Sinise. And it was the year that Degrassi came back, so, I might have partied with DRAKE, y’all. I felt like I was finally making some headway in the biz! It was a good feeling.
BUT I couldn’t stay, as much as I wanted to. I had to jet because I had a shift at my grunt job and I couldn’t drop it. So I left, went back home, changed and went to work. And surprise, surprise, I was assigned to take down the SWANKY PARTY I WAS JUST AT.
I was mortified. But I couldn’t just walk away. So I kept my head down and just dismantled stuff and carried it to the moving truck, hoping that no one would notice me. Unforch, the cast members of the sketch show I was contributing on, were hanging out on the patio...
...which I had to constantly pass. So I continued to keep my head down, praying they wouldn’t notice me. And then when I was in the back of the truck loading things, one of the PAs who was there with the cast, came up to the truck and started joking about how I placed something.
Like, not shame-joking, just friendly-joking. BUT I was so ashamed, that I sincerely thought she didn’t know who I was, so I stayed in the back of the truck because it was dark, hoping she was just talking to who she thought was just a random moving guy.
Then she said, “Bob, I know it’s you.” Duck. The jig is up. I felt deeply embarrassed. I felt like I couldn’t be working in the industry and ALSO doing this moving job. It was foolish pride. I trudge out, caught, and say hi to the other cast members, shamefaced.
The cast members, people I know and friends, were like, “We have all been here. You gotta do what you gotta do. This is, after all, the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” And man, that was all I needed to just chill the fuck out. Because yeah, I needed the money.
Ideally, I’d be just working in the biz, but it doesn’t go that way all the time. It dries up! You don’t get the gigs that you get. Shit happens and you gotta eat. I’m glad this Geoffrey Owens thing happened because people outside the business have to know:
Working in this industry isn’t a million dollar paycheck. You’re not set for life. It’s work and it helps but it doesn’t always pay the bills. Sometimes you gotta take work outside of that to live your dream.
So thanks @FoxNews for your garbage reporting and blatant attempt to shame a working actor who has to get another job to keep his dream and family alive. It’s because of people like you that keep the shame alive! Cheers.
PS That being said, I definitely have made jokes about celebrities working shit jobs because of life. So, Perspective. I won’t go there again. It’s such low-hanging fruit anyway.
