Meeting Regis

Yesterday, I had a pretty exciting encounter while at work. I was just sitting at my desk when I heard a familiar voice coming from the elevator. I knew I recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place it. Moments later, none other than Regis Philbin came walking around the corner by my desk. I instinctively said "Hey Regis" and he replied "Hello." He then went into the head writers' office to talk with them for awhile. I sat there somewhat stunned at what just happened. The first thing I had noticed was that he was pretty short and the second thing was how well dressed he was. He was wearing his typical suit and a shiny blue tie. His tie reminded me of his "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" days.

After several minutes he came out of their office and said to me, "So, what do you do?" I proceeded to tell him that I interned for the Stangel brothers and the writers. The head writers then introduced me saying, "This is Carson." Regis replied, "Carson eh? Like Johnny Carson?" I said "Yep." He then said, "You know you kind of look like Johnny Carson too." He then went on his way.

I know it was a brief convo, but it was still pretty exciting.

NewsNetNebraska Profile Story

A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I met up with a handful of UNL professors and students who were in New York for a journalism conference. While they were here, student Andrea Vasquez interviewed me for a profile story for the UNL student news website, NewsNetNebraska. The story was recently published online. In it, she does a very thorough job of describing how I got my internship here in New York and how I spend my time. However, she also definitely did her homework by compiling information about my life prior to landing this intern gig. If you'd like to read the story, click here.

Presidents Day Weekend

This past weekend turned out to be quite an eventful one. Some of my activities even seemed to reflect the holidays of the earlier part of this week.

After work on Friday, I met up with other UNL alumni, professors, and students at the Irish Rogue Pub. Apparently, that is the bar that many New Yorkers who are fans of the Huskers meet at to watch the football games every fall. The professors and students were in town for a few days last week to attend a journalism conference. It was nice seeing some familiar faces. It also proved to be an excellent opportunity for networking. I met several UNL alumni who are living in the city and we exchanged contact information. Some of them are very well connected and may prove to be valuable resources as I may turn to them for career advice. There are also some current UNL students working on internships in the city this semester like me, so we plan to meet up and hang out some time soon.

On Saturday, I had a history-filled afternoon. I have wanted to visit Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace on 20th street since I got here so I figured that Presidents Day weekend was as good of a time as any. What a great way of honoring our presidents: by learning about them. Let me tell you, the visit was worth the wait. I had a great time. First off, the house and tour were run by the National Park System and we all know how highly I think of them! One of the coolest parts of the tour was a “great hall” area with lots of memorabilia and artifacts. Probably some of my favorite things were the dead animals (sorry PETA members) he brought back from hunting trips. He actually went on a couple of African safaris in his lifetime. They had a dead lion, bear head, rams, elephant feet, heyena skins, and zebra skins displayed, among others. It was pretty cool to see the animals that he actually hunted. I also learned a pretty neat saying for remembering the significant years and events of the Civil War years. In ’61, war begun; in ’62, it’s halfway through; in ’63, slaves are free; in ’64, war no more; in ’65, Lincoln died. I was really excited to learn that! Anyways, Teddy's house was a hit. He just seems like such an interesting man. Afterwards, I walked down to Union Square, then past NYU, into SOHO, then over to Greenwich Village.

On Sunday, I found a new Lutheran church that I really liked. While there, I met a couple of ladies from Iowa and we talked about how awesome the Midwest is. We came to the consensus that on a scale from lame to awesome it ranks as "very awesome." So that's pretty good. I then celebrated Chinese New Year by enjoying a lunch of orange chicken, rice, and a Cherry Dr. Pepper prepared at the local Chinese Restaurant. I wanted to tell my cashier/cook "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" which means "Happy New Year!" but I was afraid I would say it wrong...and then he'd look at me thinking "Silly white boy." So, I refrained. I planned to visit Chinatown Sunday afternoon, but got far too busy relaxing. Oh well, I think it was a fair trade off. I guess I'll just save that for another time. Maybe I can even learn some more Chinese phrases by then.

It's a Small World

I apologize for the cliché title to this entry, but hey, it fits. I also apologize for those of you who now have that annoying Disney song stuck in your head.

In coming to New York, I pretty much expected to be a small fish in a very big pond (sorry for that second cliché too), which I am. I am just one person in a city of more than 8.3 million people. However, I’ve recently had some slightly surprising encounters that have left me thinking “It really is a small world.”

First, one of the employees here at the Late Show is actually from Lincoln, Nebraska. She attended UNL for one semester before coming out east to finish her college degree. She then landed an internship and eventually a job with the show. Her father works for Sandhills Publishing out of Lincoln and she even knows some of the people I interned for at Channel 8 KLKN-TV. It’s nice having a fellow Nebraskan on staff.

Second, one of the people I encounter on a daily basis is the same guy who filmed my “Stupid Human Tricks” audition last year over spring break. I was surprised when I came in for my initial interview for the internship and he remembered my first and last name. It’s just kind of weird to think that last spring he was some random guy who was taping an audition for me, now I work with him every day.

Next, last week I was returning from taking something backstage when I saw a man on the sidewalk in front of me wearing a jacket that said “Lincoln, NE Fire Department” on it. I told him I was a student at UNL and we then laughed about how unexpected our encounter was.

But probably the most unusual encounter took place last week when I was again, returning from the stage door heading towards the lobby door. There was a rather sizable crowd lined up behind the barricades waiting for Jamie Foxx to arrive. As I was walking past the crowd I heard someone say “Is that Carson Stokebrand?” I immediately thought, “What the heck? Who here knows my name?” I then heard them shout “Carson!” and looked over to see a girl that I had met only once before. She appeared on a segment of the Today Show with me last spring; we played a sumo-style ring toss game with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotbe on their morning program. And I feel bad for admitting this, but I can’t remember her name…oops. I tried to find it on Facebook, but had no luck. Nevertheless, I couldn’t believe our paths crossed again and that she even recognized me. I guess this city might not be quite as big as I thought.

Carson the Intern

In an earlier post I mentioned how I was interviewed for an episode of the web-series "The Tony Mendez Show." Well, they've finally posted the video on the Late Show's website. They even included my name in the episode's title!

Here's the link:
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/?vs=Tony%20Mendez%20Show

Roaming the Streets

Yesterday was a very special day. It marked the one month anniversary of my coming to New York City! And I've got to say, I'm thrilled that I survived the first month, having never lived in a place quite like this before. Like always, my time here seems to be flying by. Maybe that's because I'm working a full-time job that keeps me busy five days out of the week. On my days off, however, I'm managing to get out and enjoy the history and culture the city has to offer.

One of my favorite things to do on my days off is to just wander around without any specific agenda, just exploring on my own. Although I've also been spending quite a bit of time with the other interns, I have to admit, sometimes it's just nice to be on your own. Pretty much every Saturday I've just set out with one or two things I'd like to see and make a whole day out of it. For example, last weekend I wanted to see Grant's Tomb. I did see it, but also meandered around Columbia's campus and various other neighborhoods in the upper-west side. A couple weekends ago I set out for Greenwich Village and had a great time exploring the shops and eating food in this unique area of New York (I could have eaten about a dozen cannolis from Rocco's Pastry Shop). Yesterday, I started out by attending Trinity Wall Street Church. On my way back to the apartment I managed to visit: the World Trade Center site, Union Square, Macy's Department Store, the Empire State Building and the New York City Library. It was a pretty full day considering I planned on going to church and that's about it.

This type of unscheduled site-seeing is my favorite thing to do. Sure, when you are with a guided tour you gain random bits of information I otherwise might not pick up on, but I enjoy the independence of being able to go at my own pace. And I'm discovering there are so many interesting things found "off the beaten path" that aren't necessarily the normal tourist attractions. Each neighborhood has its own unique culture with various shops and historical attractions. Next weekend I plan to visit Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace and then hope to explore Little Italy the following weekend. However, there's no guessing what other points of interest I'll discover while in route.