I met Cory Cavin at a dinner party earlier this year, and thought he was funny and creative enough to follow on the internet. I learned of his latest project, an interactive backstage tour of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (LNJF), and was hooked. Naturally, I wanted to know more, so here’s what Cory had to say about it.
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Jen Bokoff: How did the team come up with the idea for a backstage tour via interactive youtube videos?
Cory Cavin: We had wanted to do some sort of tour to show the backstage of the show and introduce a lot of the staff all at once for a while. We started thinking a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style tour would be the most fun and interactive, and saw you could do that on YouTube. After a little research, it all happened pretty quickly.
JB: What was your favorite bit to shoot?
CC: Definitely the last video of Jimmy walking from backstage into the crowd. We talked to Jimmy backstage and we could hear the crowd going crazy right before he went out. Afterward we all (me, the LNJF bloggers Josh Lay and Emmy Blotnick, and LNJF writer and director Dan Opsall, who shot the tour) watched the shot and were freaking out about how good it turned out. That shot happened ‘live’ in front of a crowd, so it was the most high pressure and was definitely the most fun.
JB: Did any staff have a weird reaction to being on camera, or was everyone in?
CC: One thing that’s great about Late Night is that everyone is pretty game for anything and very supportive. So, all of the staff were amazing with their time and with being on camera. Even the ones who seemed a little shy about it just jumped in and totally nailed it.
JB: What did we still not see on the tour that you can tell me?
CC: It’s a pretty comprehensive tour. There are the other 2 guest dressing rooms, which are similar to the Lion Room on the tour, but decorated differently. There are some other offices on the 7th floor that aren’t featured that for the most part look like offices, except for probably cool stuff hanging on the walls. We didn’t add in our editing suite or our graphics room because of time. They are cool rooms that are big parts of the show, but the editing and graphics departments helped with the post production of the tour, so at least they are represented that way.
JB: Do you think you’ll be taking over Jimmy’s job in a year? You’re a natural.
CC: Well thanks, but we all know there’s only one Jimmy Fallon who is gonna be a permanent fixture on all our TV sets in Late Night. Plus I’d need to nail down all of Jimmy’s impressions (Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, etc) and that would take a while. I do have this one impression of a trumpet I can do. For now, I will happily keep working on cool stuff with the staff and the bloggers and figure whatever our next big project will be.
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Intrigued? Check out the beginning of the adventure below, and learn more about Cory’s awards since 8th grade on his website. Cory is a comedian, actor, and writer living in New York.
Jen Bokoff 