"Eric in the Elevator" Credits

Season 1 (BayCon 2001)
Eric (in the Elevator) Eric Zuckerman
Cue Card Chick Michelle Lepovic
Bob the Cameraman John Cooper
Guests The Fabulous People of BayCon 2001
Writer [none] ;-D
Videographer John Cooper
Directors John Cooper
Eric Zuckerman
Property Master John Cooper

Season 2 (BayCon 2002)
Eric (in the Elevator) Eric Zuckerman
Cue Card Chick Beth Zuckerman
Steve the Cameraman Elliott "Eeyore" Evans
Guests The Fabulous People of BayCon 2002
Flare Themselves
Writer Eric Zuckerman
Videographer Elliott "Eeyore" Evans
Director Eric Zuckerman
Property Master Elliott "Eeyore" Evans

The story of "Eric in the Elevator"

For BayCon 2001, we were lucky enough to have John Cooper visiting from Washington, DC. I was taping him goofing off, and he said, "Hey! You have a camcorder! Let's do an elevator talk show!" I was instantly transfixed by the possibilities inherent in the idea. I had heard, long ago, of elevator talk show(s?) at cons on the East Coast, but never actually seen one, or gotten a lot of details about one. The alliterative name came to me in a blinding flash of obviousness; John set us up with hastily-scrawled signs saying "APPLAUSE" and "LAUGHTER"; and we were off, in true improvisational style. We got off to a rough start (with a non-native English speaking, non-Con member as our first guest); my Talk Show Host Persona had not yet gelled (I needed a go-to strategy other than reflex applause.); John was an inexpert camcorder jockey (I frequently wonder what the show would have been like if we had put him in front of the camera, instead!) - but I like to think that together, the three of us produced an amusing, if unrefined, finished product.

The next year, "Season 2" had (it should be evident) had some more preparation behind it. I'd spent the entire year having little snippets just kind of occur to me, most of which persisted long enough for me to get out of the shower and to my PDA. ;-> With Eeyore visiting that year (from Pittsburgh, this time) we had some nicer production values, in the form of better-looking Applause/Laughter signs, and "dust jackets" for the book that we used for people who were on book tours. As an accomplished videographer, Eeyore also brought a masterful hand to his mostly-unsung role as Steve the Cameraman; maybe you'll agree that he did an impressive job using the mirrored elevator walls, a very challenging element to work with, to best advantage. We spent a longer time shooting (both semi-prepared material and some fully spontaneous "found art" sequences - including one extended piece that ranks very high among my favorite moments of the show to date), and by the time we were done, we'd filled up an entire Mini-DV tape with footage.

I hope (at the time of this writing, prior to BayCon 2003) that by the time you've read this, we've managed to arrange things with the Powers that Be to be able to have put "Season 3" onto tape, but that footage would not be ready to be shared yet. If you liked what you've seen here tonight, maybe a mention or two at the Hiss and Purr panel would help us to have a screening of Season 3 as part of the BayCon program, next year. ;->

I am also very interested in getting in touch with someone who can help me do a better edit of this and future tapes! I know it could use a lot of polishing, especially WRT the audio - please let me know if you or someone you know can help.

Thank you for watching the show! (If you've been a guest on the show, I hope you'll share your contact information with me. I'd like to be able to flesh out the credits somewhat...)

(/s)Eric "in the Elevator" Zuckerman

email: eric_in_the_elevator [at-sign] zuckershack [.] org
All original material ©2003 Kosher Ham Studios and/or Eric Zuckerman. All appropriated material used with permission.