Before there was Joe Schmoe, a reality show in which all the contestants but one were actors, there was a group of guys in Hollywood—some would say sadists, others would say sadistic geniuses—constructing not just a TV show, not just a feature film, but an entire, decade-long feature film production experience around an unsuspecting wannabe actor.
Eleven years ago, Perry Caravello was a print-shop worker and regular at LA's Comedy Store. But more than wanting to be a struggling comic, Caravello wanted to be a successful movie star. The Comedy Store's host, Don Barris, encouraged the fantasy, eventually roping in funnymen Bobcat Goldwaith, Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and others, constructing an elaborate fantasy in which Caravello would be the star of an action movie, Windy City Heat, playing Stone Fury, sports detective.
And when we say elaborate, we mean just that. Caravello had to undergo auditions and screen tests, supposedly beating out Bruce Willis and Ray Liotta for the role. Goldwaith plays the director while actually directing the movie, dressed in a 1940s-style movie mogul outfit and only talking through his megaphone. After getting manure dumped on him, Caravello demands a stunt-double, only to watch his double get it on with the film's femme fatalle. Sixteen hours of footage later, Caravello still hadn't caught on.
We caught up with the film's producer and ex-Vegas boy, Jimmy Kimmel, by phone, somewhere in the vast maze that makes up ABC's headquarters, preparing for his late-night Jimmy Kimmel Live show. A recent overdose of Advil had caused Kimmel's head to swell, something seen by people watching his show as it happened May 12, as well as those tuning in May 13—thanks to Kimmel's cell-phone camera.
How's your head feeling?
It's good, thank you. It's gone back down to its normally gigantic size.
So no ill after-effects?
No, no. I'm all right. The only negative is that I can't take Advil anymore.
I read somewhere that you had David Letterman theme parties when you were a kid.
That is true.
What were those like?
It was basically a bunch of kids who didn't get dates watching television. Letterman only used to be on Monday through Thursday, so whenever he'd have a Friday show, I would try to have a—you know, I didn't have a VCR back then, so I'd try and have, like a party, and everybody would get together at my house and I remember making little badges with Dave's and Paul's faces on them. I made a Bermuda party once, because Paul used to sing this song, "Bermuda." It was nerds, basically, congregating.
How do you feel coming back to Vegas now, if not a big Hollywood star, at least a medium-sized one?
Well, first of all, I like to think of myself as a very big star on the level with Cook E. Jar and, I don't know if you remember Lovelace Watkins, as well. But I come back all the time so it feels like going to my hometown, basically.
You've been coming to the defense of Howard Stern and his fight with the FCC, and I know you've had your own run-ins with, if not censorship, at least authoritative types over stuff on your show.
Well, I was in radio for 12 years, so it's always a nuisance. It really is.
Do you think it's getting harder now?
Yeah, definitely. It's crazy now. It's like a witch hunt, it really is. I mean, people who aren't even affected by it are, just to be safe, being careful about things. There are things that are appropriate for television and there are things that aren't. I don't think it was appropriate for Janet Jackson to pull out her breast on a show that kids are watching, but I do a show that's on at midnight every night, and if people have their kids watching TV at that time, then hearing the occasional curse word is not the worst thing going on in their lives.
It's a matter of context, really.
Yeah, I just think that it's antiquated the way it's set up. The fact of the matter is, that if there's one time you can control what your kids listen to, it's in the morning. It's on their way to school. I don't know too many parents that don't have some contact with their children at that time. And if they're old enough to be driving themselves, they're probably old enough to be hearing just about anything, anyway. I'd love to see some proof that it's bad for people, I'd love to see the proof that all this hysteria is based on.
With Windy City, how is producing a feature film different than producing a TV show like Crank Yankers?
It's got a finality to it. It's not an ongoing process. And this movie, I think, is different than any movie that's ever been made, because the star was not really aware that he was the star of the movie. That posed some interesting challenges, but I really think that it came out as good as I possibly could have hoped it would. I mean, we had this thing in the works for years, and we wrote out this outline about three years ago, and (we) just kind of figured out all these scenarios and we put Perry in them and we tried to guess what he would do, and he did exactly what we guessed he would do 100 percent of the time.
Was that a case of just knowing the man so well?
Yes.
And this was in the works for 10, 11 years?
Well, I'd been involved in it for about seven, but these other guys, the guys that starred in the movie, 11 years.
And he never found out?
Well, he knows now, but he still doesn't comprehend it, you know what I'm saying? He understands that something happened, but he doesn't realize that he is the butt of the joke.
I think it's funny because the whole concept is him thinking that he's going to be the star of a feature film--
And the truth of the matter, he is. So it's like, on one hand it's a prank, on the other hand, it's just as much, if not more, the realization of his lifelong dream. And believe me, he's never been happier. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to him.
How was it working with Bobcat?
We'd worked together on The Man Show for a year beforehand, and he'd also directed Crank Yankers, some episodes, too.
Did he want to quit Windy City at any point?
Yes, yes, there were a couple times he did, but you have to understand, everybody on that project is crazy, not just Perry. And I include myself in that.
What made him want to quit?
Oh, I don't even remember. There's always something. I don't really remember. Almost everyone quit at some point. Don, Tony and Bobcat all, at one point or another, quit. It was my job to keep it going. Mainly I did it by going, "I got Comedy Central to spend a half-a-million dollars on this already! You can't quit!", and that was the end of it.