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Today I had the pleasure of meeting Wayne Brady and talking to him a little bit at Azure Pool at the Palazzo. He was celebrating signing on with the Venetian through 2010, for his show, Making Shit Up. But, I guess it is known as Making It Up on the website. He sings, he dances, he does some improvisation. He is spectacular at it all and I want a ticket to the show. He was there today also talking about his new gig as a game show host on a new version of Let’s Make a Deal.

This interview was one of those things where the press gathers and waits for the star to arrive. He was supposed to arrive at 1:15pm. I was smart and sat in a small shaded spot by the pool for a while but as it got closer to 1:15pm, I moved into the photographer’s line. I was looking around at all those professional cameras and then looked down at my Coolpix P3. I hung my head in shame. I was experiencing camera envy. I’m surprised they allowed me to stand next to them with my ‘toy’ camera. Have I mentioned how I hate my camera?

I am a big fan of Wayne Brady and have been since he was on Drew Carey’s Whose Line Is It Anyway. He was so talented and really outshone everyone else on the show. They were really good; Brady was special. I didn’t think he’d last long on the show. I assumed he’d run off to do big and better things long before the show ended, but he stayed, much to my pleasure.

So now I’m going to meet him for the first time. I actually put make-up on for the big event. And there I was, standing in the hot Vegas sun…. melting. We were all melting. We were all complaining about having to stand there in the sun. Of course, Wayne Brady was late. Then some people stalled him and had their photos taken with him. We waited in the blazing sun, sweat pouring from every patch of skin. He was just a few feet away, but he wasn’t in the right spot for the photographers, so we waited. Eventually he got into position along with his fellow dancers from his show and everyone snapped away. I did too, with my shameful camera. I didn’t know just how shameful it was until I loaded the photos up on the computer. I think I probably should have used a flash. Oh well. That’ll teach me for trying to keep up with the big boys.

The public relations person told me where to go for my interview and that I was allowed three questions. Three? But I’m an inquisitive type! I grabbed my list and tried to pick the most important three while standing there next in line. It was my turn, I was introduced, but Mr. Brady wanted out of the sun. He said he’d save us. We were ushered back into another pool area and put in a cabana to talk. The party that was going on in there didn’t seem too pleased about it, but hey, “HE’S WAYNE BRADY, BITCHES.”

We were introduced once again and I was choking on having to make this quick. He is a very easy interview, so that eased my pain. I don’t think I even had to ask him a question, he could just do it all by himself. I noted the unnecessary-ness of my existence in this equation and asked him about the new show, Let’s Make a Deal, and how true it is going to be to Monty Hall’s version.

He explained that it is going to be true to the original because it is what it is. It is a host, announcer, model, and money. Unlike his other game show, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, this one is not scripted. There is no set thing that needs to be done, as in doing a particular song. With this show, it is we’ve got to give away this thing or that thing and he’s in the middle of the audience doing it. They wanted a guy who could do that.

Brady talked about why they selected him, “Maybe because that’s my specialty, and also being able to relate to an audience very well. The only difference between Mr. Hall and myself is that he’s more of a cut and dry game show host who did that job very, very well. I’ve got the addition of the human element of I like folks. And folks like me. I’m very comfortable around the audience and I can make the audience feel good and I can get a laugh. And I can hand out money just as well as anyone else!”

With such a talented performer, (man, can he dance! Just saying.), why be a game show host? He answered, “Why not?” I told him it seemed like he could be doing some sort of dramatic role….

He said, “I could have and I am! It isn’t like I’m going ‘I could be a game show host and this is my life.’” He explained that even when he was doing a talk show, he and Disney had a parting of the ways on how the talk show and his life should work. “I always thought I could do a talk show, but I could also do other things.”

He went on, “There are so many things I want to do. I want to win a Tony. I want to be a great dramatic lead. I want to be in a great comedy. I want a Grammy. I want all of these things that I’m still young enough to go after…. Doing the game show is a way for me to appeal to the people from when I was doing the talk show, that Midwest, daytime, all across the country fan base that I love. And they love me.”

“At the end of the day,” he says, “It is a great job! It is a fun gig! And it also gives me the chance to do anything else I want to.”

At this point, the lady was grabbing me and dragging me away. She didn’t understand that hey, I’m an inquisitive type! I got in one last question asking him if he was going to stay in Vegas. He said he just signed up to go through mid 2010 as a minimum and then maybe he’ll be doing more. “Vegas will be seeing me for a while,” he said and I let her drag me away without screaming.

I never got to ask him if he’d ever consider dating an old, fat, white woman….damn.

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