In a night when there were so many moments that I won't ever forget, I figured I'd choose a few of them and talk about them.
First, I was honored by everyone that walked out on that stage, worked behind it, and sat in the audience. It was an awesome night for both my family and I - thank you all for that.
So here we go -
Is there anyone better than Tom Bergeron? I'd say "No. There isn't". The guy handled the chaos like the pro that he is, and is living proof that nice guys CAN finish first. He took some shots at me, and turned small moments into gold.
Chris "The Doctor of Rock" Garrett- one of my long time best friends, showed up, as did Governor Chris Sununu (who was HILARIOUS, btw), and my buddy Andy Herrick of the Casino Ballroom - who KILLED with an impression of me "in real life". It was spot on - and peppered with more F bombs than a Sopranos episode!
My friends Jimmy Dunn and Juston Mckinney tore the place down by coming after each one of us on the show - and more - and it was hilarious!!!!!!
I was also honored by the performers- all friends, and all amazing: Gary Hoey (who played The Godfather theme as I walked to the stage!), Alex Preston (who turned a ballad into a rocking "Who's the Douchebag?"), and of course- Adam Ezra (who sang "The Toast" in my honor, while the crowd sang along).
And a special thanks to the man that orchestrated the whole thing behind the scenes - Jim Roach of Jim Roach Productions. Jim is an amazing and talented man - who also produces The Buzz Ball, and he knocked this one out of the park! Thank you so much, Jim!
Kelly wrote some poems, Kayla and Laura took some jabs at me (and Laura also put together some clips from Andy Blacksmith to make him part of the night), and Roadkill crushed it - and totally faked me out, when he came out as Pennywise from "It".
Check out that make up job!
Did I mention Adam Ezra made a straight up move on my wife? And that she didn't seem to mind AT ALL!!! haha
And it was special for me to introduce and thank my parents from the stage. The crowd was really gracious and roared for them- which was really cool to see. - (Thanks for that)
And there were video messages from Shinedown, Larry the Cable Guy, Charlie Moore, Halestorm, Lenny Clark and Fritz Weatherbee.
When this event was being put together- I was left out of the planning on purpose. The goal was to surprise me - and trust me, they did. It was meant to be one of those "you had to be there" nights". It was never meant to be released to the public, just because roasts can get pretty edgy, and we wanted all the performers and folks on stage to not have to worry about what they were going to say or anything of that stuff. So - we'll have some clips that we will share with you coming soon, but as for the whole thing - well, as Jimmy Buffett would say - "You Had To Be There!"
And thought I enjoyed every person and every moment that night- clearly the thing that means most to me is my family. And my son Tyler couldn't make it to the roast because of commitments at grad school - which bummed me out - and when they introduced a video that he sent - this happened...
Yeah, I was toast. You can't top that.
So when I got up there to do a little roasting myself, and then thank everybody - I brought Valerie, Caitlin and Tyler up there with me -
And yeah- I got a little emotional near the end, while I was thanking my family -
And thats when my wife did THIS -
And busted my balls about it!!! It was perfect comic relief, and it was so perfectly Valerie -
And then Roadkill wanted in on the family pic -
And that might just be this year's Christmas card right there- ...haha
And here is probably my favorite image from the night - taken (as are most of these) by the awesome Mark Myers Photography. It's this one:
So from me - and my family - thank you all for a wonderful night that my family and I will never forget.
-G