It’s 1 a.m. I just got back to my hotel room from shooting the first episode of my late-night talk show. After waiting 10 years to finally get it on air, I’m happy to say the first one is in the can. As that famous saying goes, “The show must go on.” I was tested tonight to see if that saying holds true. It does and the show had to go on despite some bumps in the road that took place.
The first one was waking up with my eye swollen shut from allergies, and an unexpected hangover that caused me to get sick until about 3 p.m. The night before I had been a guest on “Watch What Happens Live,” and they kept pouring martinis for me while filming — being Irish I was accepting them like I was 18 and had gotten into a club with a fake ID for the first time.
Once I got past my horrific hangover, I headed on over to my set hoping to get myself in the right state of mind to do what I have been waiting years to do: host my own talk show. About an hour before filming, I got dressed into the outfit that took me weeks to decide on. As I was pulling my pants over my bum, they split in half. I couldn’t believe it. I stood in shock staring at my now-crotchless pants not knowing what to do. I had no back-up outfits, and seeing that we were an hour away from filming I had to do what anyone would do, which was to roam the hallway looking for a girl who wore the same size as me and hoping she would sacrifice her pants for the sake of helping the show start on time. With thirty minutes left I found a girl wearing leather pants and offered her the Abercrombie sweats that I wore to the set that day. Thank God she gracefully accepted, and I carefully put her pants on and hoped that I was done being tested by the universe.
We were five minutes to taping when the executive producer walked into my dressing room and said, “Josh Groban left.” Josh was one of two celebrity guests that were booked to launch my talk show.
“What do you mean he left?” I said.
“He left. That’s all we know right now.”
“What are we gonna do? We start filming in five minutes.”
He replied in a very calm manner, “Everything always happens for the best reason possible, so why don’t we replace him with your sister Jojo?”
I started giggling because there really was no one in the world I would rather have than my sister at my side to help me launch my show. She has been my makeup artist for 15 years, and has always been forced to stand in my shadow — and now this was her chance to shine with me.
“Yes, lets use Jojo!”
I walked into the makeup room and said, “ Jojo, Josh is out and you are in and you have three minutes to get ready.”
She looked at me, smiled and said,” Lets do this sh*t.”
The theme music started and Jojo and I did what we did so well as little girls growing up the South Side of Chicago: We put on a show and a damn good one. Sorry, Josh Groban, but the show still went on and it strengthened my belief that everything does happen for the best reason possible.
Tune in tonight to “The Jenny McCarthy Show” on VH1 at 9:30 p.m. CST.
