What "Queer Eye" Can Teach You about the Media

Mar 25
21:22

2005

Susan Harrow

Susan Harrow

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1. Show your passion. The Queer Eye Boys are into what they do. You can tell.Their show has such a different feeling than the spin-off*Queer Eye for the Straight Girl* which lacks chemistry andauthenticity. The synergy between the hosts and guests comesthrough when you connect to the host and audience throughyour passion. Things come alive. I hate that saying, *If youcan't be sincere, fake it until you can.* That's such a copout.

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It's like all this new veneered furniture with one thinlayer of real wood masking pressboard or plywood. Yuk. Areyou telling me you can't tell the difference between what issolid and what is fake? In *The Practician's Manual ofLegerdemain* Ottawa Keyes says,What *When it comes to therequirements for pleasing an audience, all the knowledge andinstruction and apparatus in the world is worth less thanone ounce of soul.* Ain't it so?

2. Be cheeky.

When Carson, the head Queer Eye guy says, *Is it hot in hereor is it just you?* and then almost licks some shirtlesshottie blond boy we're right there with him. Yup,temperatures are rising. He makes us laugh and sweat at thesame time. Loosen up a little and see what happens. Beplayful. Say something a bit dangerous. Or better yet, DOsomething dangerous.

3. Give good tips.

After each segment the boys give their take-home tips. Theseare little gems that help you remember to properly tame yourtangles, manage your manners, or bolt your belt at just theright angle. Provide your audience with saucy soundbitesthat linger so they can keep enjoying you. Give them solidideas that they can implement asap. I've come to think thatit's not the big idea but the minutiae that is mostimportant. Take your ideas down to the smallest level ofdetail so they are easy for people to implement.

4. Show tangible visible results.

Visible transformations make audiences swoon. Can you do abefore and after? In one show the *boys* helped a baldingman who was married to his toupee give it up. His wife andhis kids hadn't seen his head without the fake hair for manyyears. His willingness to finally be *seen* was dramatic.His transformation was both inner and outer. These kinds oftransformations keep audiences spellbound. Think about howyou can devise one for a show you want to be on.

5. Have fun.

What makes Queer Eye so great is that everyone has such agrand time. What good is all the publicity in the world ifyou dread it? M. Scott Peck says *The truth is that ourfinest moments are most likely to occur when we are feelingdeeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it isonly in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that weare likely to step out of our ruts and start searching fordifferent ways or truer answers.* If you can let go of theoutcome (no matter how important--because those are thehardest ones to let go of), you will free yourself to have agood time, anytime, anywhere, with anyone. What could bebetter?

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Copyright (c) 2002 - 2005 Susan Harrow, All Rights Reserved.

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