J. Keith’s Demo Reel
Here’s a bunch of crap I’ve done over the years, edited down into 5-6 minutes. You’ll see clips of me making a few snarky comments on “Best Week Ever,” my even snarkier visits to various clip shows on E!, a sample of how I spent a summer on the streets on LA interviewing folks for “Yahoo! Answers on the Street!,” me hosting a pilot for A&E called “Balls of Steel,” a quick demo of the “What’s My Line? - Live On Stage” show, and an even quicker look back at good ol’ “Beat The Geeks.”
Ah, the memories of an alleged career!
“Yahoo! Answers On The Street” Demo
In the summer of 2007, I was hired by a little Internet company called Yahoo! to host a new web series based on their insanely popular Yahoo! Answers site. I didn’t know that there would be product integration involved, which as you will see, is not terribly subtle.
Anyhow, the project still ended up being lots of fun and we produced 28 “webisodes,” all of which are available for viewing at http://answersonthestreet.yahoo.com. I also wrote a little blog entry there for each one.
I met some great people, both regular folks on the street and some experts on each topic. Plus, I ran into a lot of my friends as we were out and about in Los Angeles.
This is a short demo compliation with some of my favorite moments.
“What’s My Line? - Live on Stage” Demo
Here’s a quick look at our “What’s My Line? - Live on Stage” production. It’s a bit outdated at the moment. It shows our old set in Los Angeles, and we’ve had many, many more Mystery Guests since then.
Still, I’m very proud of the job that Eliot Hochberg and Philip Galinsky did in putting this together, and every once in a while I look at the people who have joined me on stage and I can’t even believe it.
While this video emphasizes the celebrity aspect of the show, the real star is the game, and I’m hoping to add more videos that show some of my favorite times with the panel and the gloriously unexpected moments that make the show so darn fun.
For more on the show, keep checking the blog and also make sure to visit the show’s website at www.whatsmyline.org
J. Keith: Discount Fortune-Teller
Here’s a bit we did for the old “The J. Keith van Straaten Show” that we showed in the theatre. I’m guessing this is from 2002 or so. If you wanted, you could look it up, based on when Jeremy Giambi got traded.
Anyhow, the motivation for this was my interest in skepticism and my amusement and anger at how much credence was being given to phonies like John Edward and Sylvia Browne. Also, I thought the idea was kind of funny.
So we just set up a little table on Melrose and offered people free readings. We shot the whole thing in a couple hours one afternoon.
Produced and directed by Julia Coyote. Shot by Ben Goretsky on my old Sony Hi-8 camera.
“The J. Keith van Straaten Show”
From 1997 to 2004, I hosted a live-on-stage, only-in-a-theatre talk show called, you guessed it, The J. Keith van Straaten Show. Here’s the demo tape we put together. Yes, I really was on CNN.
