Wanna Know What’s Going On?

Hello Fator Tots!

It is I, your humble correspondent, keeping you informed of my latest goings on.

Firstly, I had a couple of days off last week, and Melinda and I went to a benefit dinner to raise money for Meals on Wheels.

As we sat and ate our salads, conversing with our friends across the table, the lights flickered and we heard an enormous BOOOOM! from outside. What was it, you ask? Oh, nothing too serious, just a thunderstorm brewing up, threatening to rain on our parade. (Of course, we weren't really having a parade so I suppose Mr. Thunderstorm didn't realize that he was causing difficulty. We were all safe inside and he couldn't see us dining so he just raced through the city joyously proclaiming his existence to the world, oblivious to the fact that he was interrupting anything. I can't really blame him, can you?)

Anyhow, we noticed, of course, the loud cracks emanating from the atmosphere, and the lights flickered a time or two, and then Mr. Thunderstorm must have thought of something terribly sad because he began to weep, pouring our sheets upon sheets of rain, drenching our little dinner party.

Now, of course, we were all safe inside talking politely amongst ourselves, but what we didn't realize was that our main course (we had just finished our delicious salads) was trapped on the other side of a patio and the chef couldn't get it to us until Mr. Thunderstorm realized that perhaps things weren't as bad as he had thought at the beginning and maybe after a good cry the sun might just come out again. I think we've all been there. We, of course, let him cry, unable to think of any logical alternative, but we did begin to notice the salad had been gone an awful long time and we still hadn't been served our entree.

Since we were all very genial and polite folks no one mentioned it, but we knew it all the same.

Our host finally made the bell-like tinkling sound on his wine glass, the universal code for "Shut up, everyone, I have something to say." We quickly wrapped up our important conversations, anxious to hear what he would tell us.

He explained the situation as I have just relayed, and then to my surprise, he mentioned that they had a celebrity in their midst.

At this point Melinda nudged me, realizing that many times I am oblivious to the fact that people actually know who I am, and made sure I was listening. I was.

Our host explained that the celebrity who had joined them this evening was none other than the winner of America's Got Talent, and since I saw neither Bianca (the first year's winner) or Neil (this year's winner) anywhere in the vicinity, and since there had only been three winners, he must have been talking about me. He was.

He explained, as I have (although with not nearly as much whimsy if I do say so myself), about the storm cutting us off from our food, and asked me if I would graciously entertain until storm had abated enough for the servers and our food to arrive dry.

I stood up, and in spite of the fact that I had no puppets, I entertained for twenty minutes. I told stories and did impressions and had a ball. I do so love what I do, had more fun than those laughing and cheering and asking for more. I think I even sold a few books since I (of course) mentioned my autobiography Who's the Dummy Now (available NOW at Amazon by clicking this link: Who's the Dummy Now)

I know you were all waiting with baited breath to see how I was able to sneak a plug in this time!

Anyway, I had a great time that night, and finally our food was served, and although many of the folks begged for more I had to eat, and I encouraged them to come see my full-length show at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth, TX on November 25. I think I sold a number of tickets to that performance as well, so everybody won that night, especially those precious folks who benefit from such a fantastic organization as Meals on Wheels.

The next day Melinda and I went to the State Fair of Texas and I got to blow my diet but good. I have been eating much healthier the last few months since I found out I would be taking pictures for the new Mirage billboards, and nothing motivates a guy to get serious about losing weight as finding out he would be on gigantic billboards all over a city!

I have lost twenty pounds, so when you see me in an airport or at one of my shows you don't have to ask, "Have you lost weight or did the cameras make it look like you were heavier?" Yeah, that's it. It was the cameras. It had nothing to do with the burgers and fries and milkshakes at three in the morning after a hard days travel and show and autograph signing. It was the cameras. Wow! It sure took a lot of will-power to get rid of those cameras! But all I had to do was think about those billboards, and when I would be in a restaurant eating my salad with a teaspoon of dressing and Foley (my road manager) was chowing down a giant burger and fries, I found that I had the fortitude to not give in, and stayed on my diet.

Anyhow, I did take the pictures and I looked slim, much to my delight, and I did lose twenty pounds of camera fat (hehehe) and I feel great so I have decided to turn a diet into a lifestyle. I don't want to go back.

But I was at the State Fair of Texas, and I wasn't going to diet today!

After two corny dogs (the best in the world, I might add), I wolfed down a Frito Chili Pie (mmmmmmmm) and some caramel corn. I washed it down with chicken fried bacon (yes it is as delicious and greasy as it sounds, although it goes better with an Alka Seltzer!) and I washed it all down with a couple of tamales, my favorite food.

I have, since, stayed almost faithful to my new eating lifestyle, and I hope I lost the thirty or so pounds I must have gained that day.

Melinda and I kissed at the top of the Texas Star, a gigantic Ferris wheel, a tradition we started many moons ago on one of our very first dates ever. We have tried to go to the Texas State Fair every year to repeat our tradition, and have as often as my schedule has allowed.

Good grief! I have I really written for this long? I gotta go! I have so much more to tell, but I think I'll save it for my next blog, or maybe my next book! By the way, thanks so much for your continued support of my book. It is the number two best seller in the Humor category on Amazon.com, and I know I have you all to thank for that.

Thanks also to all of you who have received the book and read it for the kind words and letting me know how much you enjoyed reading it!

Until next time, my Fator Tots, may life bless you richly and kiss your cheek as you sleep each night.

Terbear

A Quick Update and Rich Little at my show!

Well hello there!

I wanted to write a quick blog to let you know that I appreciate you all so very much!

Almost the entire front row of my show Tuesday night at the Las Vegas Hilton were wearing Fator Tot T-shirts that they had made themselves, and I saw them and thought, "Hey! Those are some of my MySpace fiends out there!" What a joy to see that!

I hope to see many more shirts like that in the future. In fact, we are getting ready to make T-shirts for my store at the Mirage (yes I get my own store!) and we will have Fator-Tot T-shirts available there. But in the meantime keep making them yourselves and wearing them to my shows. You have no idea how much it means to me to see them.

Hey, guess what? Wednesday night the great Rich Little was at my show! I was so excited to be able to entertain him. I have been a fan of his since I was a kid in the 70's! He really enjoyed himself and even called me a genius. How weird to have a legend like Rich Little call you a genius. But I have to admit, it did make me feel good to hear it, even though Melinda would probably argue that I'm no genius. She gets to see me act like a little kid at Christmas and wait in line to buy video games so I think I'll always just be a hyperactive nerdy kid to her!

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who are supporting my book "Who's the Dummy Now" (available at Amazon.com for pre-order Click link for details HERE

I may be a hyperactive nerdy genius but I'm still sneaky!)  My book is now at number three on the Amazon.com charts for humor and entertainment books, behind two books from the great Steve Martin. Believe me; I have no problem ever taking second place to Steve Martin. What an unbelievable talent that guy is! I do know, though, that the reason for my book's success is my MySpace friends, so again, thanks so much for all your support! You all are so wonderful, and days like today when I am stressed to the max, I relax by reading your comments and your emails so keep 'em coming!

Until later, Fator Tots, Terbear out!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Did You See Me On AGT? What Fun!

America's Got Talent 2008 Blog

Well hello there! Can you believe I'm blogging two times within a week? Wow! Luckily I'm on the flight back home from LA so I can take a few minutes to update all of my wonderful Fator Tots about my recent exploits on AGT (America's Got Talent) this week.

What a week! I have to admit; I was a little stressed and even depressed when I got the call from AGT about flying to LA this week. Check out my schedule at www.terryfator.com to see why. I thought I had four whole days off to relax before the crazy tour starts, but it was not to be. The producers called me on Saturday to see if I had Wednesday off. I did and, of course I couldn't say no to them. I knew that all of you out there would love to see me on TV again so I told them I would fly in to do the show.

So I flew in on Tuesday with only one suit since I really wanted the trip to be easy. I packed light to avoid any excess baggage.

I arrived in Burbank on Tuesday afternoon and had a voicemail from my assistant telling me that AGT wanted me to be on TV that night to announce that I would be performing Wednesday night.

I panicked since I had only brought the one suit and all of my other clothes were at the cleaners and not scheduled to be ready until Tuesday afternoon. I immediately called Michelle who runs my post office box (luckily only a few doors down from my cleaners) and asked her to pick up my dry-cleaning and overnight it to Burbank so I would have something to wear on Wednesday night. She told me she would (three cheers for Michelle!) and I was off to the hotel to iron my clothes (yes I still iron my own clothes when I have to!) and off to the studio to do the appearance Tuesday night.

I returned to the hotel after going out to eat with my manager and Melinda and was received by thunderous applause by this year's contestants and treated like a superstar!

I have to admit I had a great time being barraged by them all and being asked for pictures and autographs. Melinda said afterwards that it looked like a king holding court with his subjects, and I thought it was a funny analogy of the evening. I had a great time advising everyone how to do interviews and such, and on Wednesday I had a couple of producers tell me they noticed a marked improvement in attitudes and interviews from a few contestants and thanked me for advising them. Hehehe. It sure feels good to be in that position. At one point I was talking to one of the acts and I said "I'm no expert…No wait I guess I am!" Melinda thought that was funny. It is so weird to meet people who are star struck be me. I mean, I'm just Terry. I've always just been Terry. But I have to admit that it is fun. I got to meet most of this year's contestants, including the Zooperstars, The Tapping Dads, Neil, Queen Emily, Eli, Kaitlyn (She's even cuter in person than she is on the TV if that's even possible!), Donald, Paul, Joseph, the guys from Cadence, The James Gang and others. Jessica and Sarah are simply gorgeous as well as talented, and they made me feel like a star, just like all of the other acts did.

I had some great memories of the many weeks I spent at the show, most of which you can read about in my new book Who's the Dummy Now?, available for pre-order on Amazon.com (I'm so sneaky to make this blog into an advertisement, but give me a break, I really want this book to be a success. It's my first, after all!), but I have to admit it was nice to be able to experience it all without the butterflies in my stomach. What Maynard said Wednesday night was true, it feels really scary to be there waiting to find out how you did and wondering if you made it through to the next round.  It was great being there and not having all that pressure, just performing for the fun of it with nothing riding on how well I did.

It was also wonderful to see all the crew from the show, and it felt like a high-school reunion must feel. (I never got to have a high school reunion. You can find out why by reading my book…Hehehe, sneaky-sneaky!)

Anyway faithful Fator Tots, until next time I wish you all much happiness and I'll try to update you all on Fatorville more often.

Terbear