The Joy Fit Club

What a DAY! I had such a blast, I cannot even begin to describe how much fun the whole experience was!! But let me try anyway, by telling you the events of the day:

We woke up around 530am, and the Escalade was already outside waiting. I didn't allow that to hasten my preparation, however, because Dad and Lenny still weren't here, and wouldn't be til 630am. So, I hung with Angela and Ella for a bit, ate my bowl of cereal and got dressed. Dad and Len got here, and off we went. Sat in a bit of traffic, but were settled in the green room at NBC by 8am. We hung out in there for a while - saw all of the on-air guests come and go (except the more famous ones) and saw them make their TV appearances and come back into the room to grab their stuff and head home. Joey, my contact from Runner's World Magazine (she is the one who actually set this whole thing up!!) came to watch too, and was with us the whole time. They had a nice spread of food there, complete with breakfast wraps, bagels, cookies, cheese and crackers, etc. Not too shabby.

So, we are sitting there, and WHAMMO, in walks Al Roker. I was like, "Hi Al! I'm Brian!" He said hi back, shook my hand, grabbed some cheese, and headed back to TV land. That was pretty sweet.

Then, Kristen Chenowith (not sure if I spelled that right) popped into the green room dressed like an elf or something before she went out to sing a Christmas tune. She didn't mingle with any of us mortals though, she just let her stylist do her hair by the door and bounced. Whatever, I don't know who she is anyway.

Eventually, around 9:30 or 10ish, they came and took me downstairs to meet Joy Bauer, who lived up to her name - what a lovely LOVELY woman! She started chatting to me as if she knew me, told me what a good writer I am (I had to answer like 8 million questions for her website, and it took me HOURS to do it!), and that I looked fantastic - she actually said I look "genetically lean" or something like that, which, coming from a nutritionist, meant a WHOLE lot. She started going over questions I might be asked during my segment, seeing how I was going to answer, and then helping me re-phrase some things to make it sound clearer and less scattered. Of course all of this guidance went RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW once I got on air, but whatever. They then sat me down in a chair for "hair and makeup" - I found this amusing. Basically, they put some stuff under my eyes (which made me start tearing up as if I was crying) and powdered my head. As I was sat there, Joy was continuing to chat to me, and Tony Danza was standing behind me, looking at me. I was like, "Holy shit, that's Tony Micelli from Who's the Boss!" Except I didn't actually say that, it was just the voice inside my head. He was waiting for my seat for his hair and makeup. So I got up, and introduced myself: "Hi there Tony. My name is Brian. Nice to meet you!" He shook my hand, and off I went. As I was standing there being de-linted and de-crinkled (yes, they actually have people for that), John Legend walked past. I didn't get to say hi, but it was still cool.

Then Joy took me back to the green room to get Dad and Len and Joey, so they could come up and watch me being filmed from behind the cameras...and who was in the green room? A hugely tall Australian Chef named Curtis Stone from a tv show called "Take Home Chef!" Angela and I LOVE that show, so I was WELL pumped to meet him! I chatted for a sec, and got a pic with him, then off we went up to the studio.

We hung out in a hallway waiting for my segment to start. They showed me the set, with all of the pringles and my infamous "fat suit" dangling from a string above me, and where I should stand, etc. Then back in the hallway to wait to be called in. They took Dad and Len and Joey into the studio, to get them situated behind the cameras. I was chillin in the hallway with a couple of guys (can't remember their names) who were going to cue me when to go in to the studio. I could hear my segment starting, and started to get a bit fluttery, but it quickly became genuine excitement - this was gonna be AWESOME!!!

Next thing I know, they open the door, and I jump in - and you can see the resulting 6ish minutes below. Afterwards, Kathy-Lee and Hoda both gave me a big hug and were SO nice. Then we headed back down to the green room - Joy and I took a few photos, and we said our goodbyes, I then thanked Joey for EVERYTHING, because without her it would not have happened....and then our car took us home, back to reality!

So, there you have it - my whirlwind Today Show appearance, and what an amazing one it was. Joy wanted the pics we took, so I emailed them to her, and she emailed me back with this lovely note:

"You should know that EVERYONE at the show (and outside the show)
completely LOVED you. They thought you were terrific!

Brian, you inspired millions of people today. Thanks for that. My best to
Angela and Ella.

Your new pal and fan,
Joy"

Isn't she awesome?? Isn't this whole thing insanely cool? Maybe there is something to this, what everyone tells me - that I have done something special, something that can help change other people's lives, if only I can make my story known - speeches, writing, something. Maybe I should persue this, see if any of my new contacts can put me on the road to helping people live healthier lives? Maybe I'll look into it. But for now..... here's some pics and video!

Some stills from the segment:

Joy and I post-segment - my new bud!

Me and Curtis!! LOVE IT!

Me on the Today Show website: HERE
And...the video!!