The oddest feeling in the world – watching yourself on TV.

In case you missed it, FOX REALITY CHANNEL is re-airing Average Joe Hawaii. We filmed it over 4 years ago and it felt SO WEIRD to see myself on TV! Thankfully, I don’t get the Fox Reality Channel.

Remember when you were a kid and your recorded your voice on a tape and listened back? It’s that kinda weirdness – wondering do I really sound like that? I have a full master copy on DVD and I haven’t watched AJ since it first aired.

Interestingly the stuff that happened behind the scenes was even more exciting. Early in filming, the Hawaii Film Union went on strike which was a mess. The production company decided to keep filming despite the strike. We had to rig lighting and didn’t have enough production crew for the quality of filming that was expected. At one location some people from the union were yelling angry comments directed at me. I felt completely helpless because I wasn’t being paid and I had nothing to do with the dispute. I wanted to cry. It was resolved after just a few days and everything went back to normal. But it felt weird to work with the same people who were screaming at me just a few days earlier.

I knew about the “mother hoax” early on because I had to get set for the trick before I left for Hawaii. Thus, I originally imagined the show was going to be about me playing tricks on a group of unsuspecting guys to reveal their true colors. Here’s some details on becoming my mother part one and part two.

There was also an episode when a small boat exploded because a bunch of the guys at the house pushed the lever on a “Wile E. Coyote” style TNT box. Well, that was a bust. A producer reached into our boat and opened a hatch which let the water in after the stunt failed due to safety precautions. Tony and I were portrayed with having anger for the boat exploding but the truth was, we were upset that the production crew decided to sink our boat for no apparent reason.

There was some pretty creative editing including voice-overs and mixing and matching footage. It was the best and strangest time of my life.