I believe people were surprised by the format that was offered last night presenting the new “Father Christmas” himself (or should I say Brother Christmas, because of his age?) Clay Aiken, on Leno's Tonight show. He was introduced second after Kevin Spacey, and began his spot with a song entitled Mary Did You Know?, from his holiday CD, before sitting down to interview with Jay. Was the audience pleasantly surprised? I don't know. I was there at the time, and I'm not sure I was.
My ambivalence about his time on the show has nothing to do with how he presented the song--you couldn't fault his delivery if you tried. Clay's voice displayed all the beauty and power one could possibly possess in that department, along with the observation that he had completely recovered from the illness he suffered recently which was feared to have produced some vocal chord damage in the process. No, Aiken's voice came across with true magnificence as always, and there's not a soul who would have denied it last night.
It also had nothing to do with how he interviewed. First, we still got a delightful mix of Clay’s audio/visual quirks we've come to look forward to--the seated leg-tuck, contagious laugh, mystery outfit and spikey head. What would an Aiken interview be without those? And yes, he was clever, well spoken, interesting and very funny at times, just as he's been in the past. So what was missing? Was there something wrong?
Bottom line is, it was too short--we were taken by surprise because the song was so stirring and intense, and then we were forced to come down from that high and become involved in a very quick, light burst of conversation between the two dynamic but very different personalties: Clay and Jay. Before we could completely transition from one mood to the other--BOOM--it was over!
All I can say is 'Thank God for TIVO', because I was able to do a recap by watching the taped version at home, and I could glean more from that then when I was sitting in the studio audience. Once again, way too fast-frame for me.
Yes, TIVO enabled me to really appreciate Clay's description of his quiet and cozy Thanksgiving this year at his new LA home with mom, brother, and just a few other guests--only thirty--to help make things festive.
It was amusing, but somehow not surprising to hear that he doesn't like the aftermath of the big holiday feast because of how it 'messes up' his refrigerator. That led to a discussion of how he arranges his bottles of milk on certain shelves, so watch out if you're staying at his house and happen to move them around just a little after enjoying a bowl of cereal one morning.
Glad to have TIVO’d that, but not so glad when we were made to stare at a video of Aiken vocal chords. Sorry Clay, we really didn’t think you were going to get that “organic” about the whole voice thing after coining your new phrase on Larry King.
Pretty intense, enlightening stuff, don’t you think; especially considering this young man just turned twenty six years old, and has four major career endeavors in place as we speak, with just a mention by the host about each (CD release, book release, Christmas Tour, Christmas TV Special). It hardly seemed these feats were acknowledged at all, let alone the fact that he is now the new ambassador for UNICEF.
Hence, I come to the ultimate point I started out with--Clay Aiken’s time on the show--here one moment gone the next, with the crescendo at the beginning and everything spilling out from there. Extremely anti-climactic!
And this is no reflection on Clay in the least. In fact, he shined in spite of it all. He seems to have a knack for that. His spot on the show just could have been so much more--and that was the fault of the producers and directors, don’t you think?
But no biggie; there will be many more late-night spots for Mr. Aiken in the ensuing days, months and most likely, years to come. I just hope the production people get it right in the future for him, because he has so much more to share with an audience than one song, some light banter and a set of slightly bruised, “organic” vocal chords up there on the screen for all to see.
He has a big heart, a good mind and a vision for what he’d like to do with this new life of his. Maybe next time he’ll have the opportunity to share some of that with his television audience.
