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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 04
Monday, February 4, 2008
Cameron gets to make mark ‘Uncensored’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: Ryan Cameron interviews Yung Joc during a taping last fall at Center Stage in Midtown.
Is Arsenio in the house? Nope, it’s V-103 afternoon host Ryan Cameron, who bounded onto the stage in a crisp tan suit, rust-colored shoes and a yellow tie.
“What you’ll see is anything and everything!” he told a studio audience at Center Stage in Midtown last fall. “Do you all curse? Let me hear your favorite curse word!”
We can’t print what was yelped but you may be able to hear it on Cameron’s new talk show on pay cable network Starz. “Ryan Cameron Uncensored” debuts Monday night at 11. He taped it a few months ago, but show producer Jodi Gomes wanted to hold off until February before launching the show.
At just five episodes, it’s a test run of sorts. But Cameron put his best foot forward, raiding his Rolodex for some big names, mostly buds in Atlanta such as Jermaine Dupri, Ne-Yo and Jagged Edge for interviews and performances. He also recruited a few comic buddies to do sketches and does some standup himself. “Until they let me host ‘Soul Train,’ this will be all right,” Cameron cracked during the portion of the taping Buzz caught.
He deliberately asked broad enough questions so that in case the show didn’t air immediately, it wouldn’t feel dated. “It wasn’t like I asked [Falcons running back] Warrick Dunn about Sunday’s game,” he told Buzz last week.
For two years, Cameron hosted an infomercial/entertainment show on WXIA, “Atlanta & Company,” which was good practice for “Uncensored,” but it was decidedly unhip, given its target audience of suburban housewives. The clothing sponsor was Goody’s Family Clothing. “It was hard to go out there and be GQ fashionable wearing Duck Head,” he said.
“Uncensored” will be Cameron’s first exposure to a national audience after years as Atlanta’s favorite hometown boy. “I just hope it goes well and makes Atlanta proud,” Cameron said. “I’ve always tried to represent the city to the best of my ability.”
Reality show updates
Odds are pretty high an Atlantan will be going home Thursday on Bravo’s “Make Me a Supermodel.”
Both Jay McGhee of Roswell and Casey Skinner of Dunwoody are up for elimination next week with one other contestant. While posing nude, Jay kept “sagging,” said Don Porcaro, fine arts chair at Parsons, the New School of Design. Casey “was shaking, vibrating” while trying to hold his pose. Then both were eliminated from a group portrait shot.
Judge Jennifer Starr said Jay is a good-looking guy but isn’t photographing well. Casey, who was strong the previous week, lost confidence after getting booted from the photo shoot.
Meanwhile, over at CMT’s “Gone Country,” former Atlantan Bobby Brown drank too much and slept in while the rest of the cast went to buy groceries to cook dinner for John Rich’s grandma. Snellville’s Diana DeGarmo was annoyed. Later, DeGarmo sang her song “Dreams” before a country audience while Brown brought down the house with “My Prerogative.” Promos for next week show Brown again drinking too much.
Comedian keeps her cool in town
Comedian and actress Caroline Rhea performed at the Punchline Comedy Club Feb. 2. CREDIT: Rodney Ho
The drunk dude kept interrupting Caroline Rhea. She wanted to rip him hard but held back. “Shush!” she said instead, multiple times. The actress, in town for a weekend of standup at the Punchline, told Buzz after the late show Saturday that she can’t be too mean given her image as Sabrina’s aunt on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and the empathetic host of “The Biggest Loser.”
In fact, she chose not to do another three seasons of “Loser” because she hated doing a show where people get eliminated.
Instead, she’s sticking with comedy, playing a mom in Disney Channel’s latest sitcom “Phineas and Ferb” and a trailer-park “desperate housewife” in a new Logo show, “Sordid Lives.” The upcoming series also features Buzz favorites Rue McClanahan (“She has impeccable comic timing”) and Leslie Jordan, who plays a drag queen (“Every scene he’s in, he’s brilliant”).
Rhea is fun to watch on stage and is comfortable working the audience. She managed to keep the crowd in stitches imitating the bizarre snoring habits of her boyfriend (and former Atlanta comic) Costaki Economopoulas.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
