01-13-10

In case you missed it....

• Rosie opened the show singing old TV jingles from cereal commercials. The woman has an amazing memory with commercial jingles! Deirdre let Rosie know that on February 10th Rachel Maddow will be calling in to the show to talk to Rosie! Rosie wants her to come IN to the studio rather than call and Deirdre explained how it would be a while until she can appear in the studio. So, Rosie offered to go to Rachel's studio where her TV program is taped in order to interview her face-to-face. The studio then talked some about Deirdre's need to be perfect and how she organized Rosie's desk for her.

• Rosie announced how Oprah's "people" will be in the studio on Monday to tape the "B-roll" (the supplemental or alternate footage used in an interview or documentary) in preparation for Rosie's interview with Oprah next Thursday. (the show will be taped on Jan. 21st and will be aired on Jan. 25th.) She reminded all of the studio members to be sure and "shower before work on Monday."  Good tip.  Rosie is excited because her kids will be off on Monday because of Martin Luther King Day. Parker mentioned to Rosie that he wants to start his own blog and link it to hers. He said he could write about Warhammer, politics and various books he reads. She told him he could write it but she wants to read it first. I know I would love to read it!  Deirdre also reminded Rosie that Parker's favorite comedian Gabriel Iglesias will be coming to the studio in March.  Parker LOVES Gabriel Iglesias and has his entire act memorized.

• Rosie and Parker are leaving for LA today to go to the Television Critics Association Convention where Rosie is promoting her new documentary A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration.

Click HERE for more information.

Check out the new links on HBO! And read the synopsis and see the schedule here! Don't miss it!

• The Oprah countdown clock says 8 days until Oprah!  They were watching Rachael Ray on mute (again) and the whole studio agreed how cute Rachael Ray is but Bobby, Janette and Rosie thought she perhaps wears too much makeup. Rosie talked about how, after she left The Rosie O'Donnell Show, she would often take pictures of herself without makeup on "just to see what she really looked like."  Rosie prefers not to wear any makeup.

• Rosie then spoke about the latest letter that Conan released to the "people of Earth" announcing his decision to not follow Jay Leno's proposed half-hour television program at 12:05 that NBC suggested.  You can read the details of that story here.  Rosie read the letter that Conan wrote and released as a statement to the media.  Rosie also wrote a blog about the topic yesterday entitled "letting go."  This topic is close to Rosie's heart because Branden Tartikoff once came with Risa Shapiro (her agent at the time) to see Rosie perform in the 1990s and offered her the chance to host the Tonight Show on Fridays for Jay Leno (as Joan Rivers had once done for Johnny Carson). It was Brandon who, 10 years earlier, saw Rosie perform in a club in the '80s and cast her on Gimmie a Break. Leno's ratings at the time were not good. Rosie was thrilled because it was her dream to host the Tonight Show. However, Jay Leno refused to agree to the deal. He told Brandon he didn't want to take any days off and NBC couldn't force him to (and he wouldn't even let her host once a month). Janette, who met Rosie in their stand up days and was a stand up comic herself said "comics typically support each other on the whole and that's why it was so disappointing and surprising." Rosie refused to do Jay's show for many, many years because of this. Rosie thinks the show is his entire life and maybe it's scary for him to let go. However, she feels he has balls "to think he has the right to do that to a franchise that has been on the air for 60 years" and "not in a good way." She followed up with how Conan didn't have a chance in the ratings hosting The Tonight Show for the seven months that he did because he had a horrible lead in (Jay's unsuccessful prime-time show). Rosie said it was "unbelievably shitty of him." Conan and Rosie now have the same agent, Ari Emanuel. Rosie quoted the beautiful and profound lyrics of the Joni Mitchell song The Sire of Sorrow. She said to Conan that if he gets the 60 million dollar payout that NBC owes him for breaching their contract that they could do "The Obrien-O'Donnell Show" together if he wanted to.  She followed that up with a "Leno, you suck." lol

• They talked about how last night Rosie started looking at the images that are surfacing of the 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday. Janette immediately called The Bridge Foundation last night when she heard the news. She and her boyfriend Barry are on the Board of Directors of the international disaster relief organization. The Bridge Foundation volunteers are packing right now and, if there's room, Barry and Janette will be going to Haiti to assist. Janette said they're a great organization because almost all the money goes to help the people. Janette said that "these 3 million people in Haiti need immediate help or people will die and that's what groups like the Bridge Foundation do." Rosie wept from the images and said that world catastrophes "put her under." Janette said "In the midst of tragedy she's seen the most beautiful humanity." They talked to a caller whose 24 year old son has just been deployed to Haiti to help the people.

• Rosie and the studio members also talked about how after 9/11 there were so many funerals and how Rosie's son Parker, who was 8 at the time, wanted to go to firehouse near their home. One day, Rosie and Parker went into a firehouse and Parker walked over to a fireman and pulled on his jacket and said "I'm sorry all your friends died trying to save everybody" and the man picked Parker up and started to sob. It was a very touching story and many of the studio members sounded if they were crying. Today's show was a very emotional one all around.

• Rosie then interviewed author Kate Braestrup who wrote Here If You Need Me a story about how after her husband (who was a state trooper studying to be a Unitarian Universalist minister) was killed trying to save someone. Kate decided to follow in his footsteps and become a minister herself. She now counsels people in crisis who have lost someone. Kate said her job really is to love people, one-on-one. She has a brand new book out called Marriage and Other Acts of Charity. Kate told the story about dealing with her husband's death and the intense grief you go through after losing someone. Rosie shared her own story of losing Pat Maravel (who she calls her second mother) to cancer and the helpfulness of the Unitarian Church. Pat Maravel was also a Unitarian Universalist which resonates most with Rosie as far as religions go. Read a blog post that Rosie wrote about Pat Maravel in 2005 HERE. Kate and Rosie talked about Kate's new marriage and her new book. Rosie ended the interview by inviting Kate and her family to Nyack for a visit. She also talked to Kate about the situation in Haiti and how she handles it. Rosie even asked her if she performs weddings and she does. ;)

• Janette talked about how she once tried antidepressants and how they made her feel awful. There was a news report that there are traces of antidepressants and birth control pills in the water.

• Janette talked about her love of Joan Rivers and how she once worked for Joan on a show called Can We Shop in the 90's. Janette said Joan "was lovely" and I think Joan is doing Rosie Radio next Wednesday! (I think, I may have heard that wrong).

• Then it was time for Part II of Up Close and Personal with Google Pete! Pete grew up with his mom, dad and his brother Nicco who is 3 years older than him. Nicco was actually born in Africa. Pete once told his mom that "when he grows up he wants to marry his brother" because he enjoyed being with him so much. Pete and his mom used to perform as clowns at hospitals and kids' birthday parties. He went to Fordham University in New York and loved it because it was the only theater school that had students working on all aspects of the theater. He knew his wife in college but it wasn't until after they both graduated that they started dating. Pete's wife called Pete and asked him to help her move and it turned out that she was moving into the exact same building that Pete lived in in Harlem! They started dating shortly after and they have now been married for 4 years and have 2 kids together. He was a cabinet maker, then worked for an architect and then his brother Nicco who had been doing Rosie's website design told Pete about a job with Rosie. He started as a receptionist and then he became the "IT guy." Rosie said she needed someone to help with the blog so he did that for a while and then she needed someone to help out on the radio and now he does!
And the rest is history.

• Rosie said how he met his wife sounds just like Liza Minnelli's song: Ring Them Bells.

• She then sang the entire song by memory. It was very cute.

• Rosie talked about the need for more nuts for Shady the squirrel and the need for a squirrel cam. She also talked about the thing on her eye and the various guesses that bloggers have been suggesting was the cause. Bloggers guesses have been the hantavirus, a fatty deposit, eye cancer, etc. Rosie took a picture of the weird eye lump and people were very sure its her left eye and yet she KNOWS its her right eye. She said HUNDREDS of people wrote in to tell her she was talking about the wrong eye and she ended the show clarifying that the lump was in her right eye and is not cancerous. Rosie closed the show.

Don't forget to tune in to hear Rosie's interview with the iconic Liza Minnelli tomorrow!! And Friday's show will be "the best of Rosie Radio" moments! I can't wait to hear that!