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Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a fan of "Weird Al" Yankovic?Only for the last 20 years! He's the king. Why is your backup band called the Happy Chinchillas? What the heck IS a chinchilla? A chinchilla is a small, South American rodent with a soft, fine fur. A friend once told me about this episode of "The Jeffersons" where George gets involved with some lodge brothers called the Chinchillas, and they had this "happy chinchilla" greeting for each other. Sorry, the whole story is kind of fuzzy. Ha! Fuzzy! Chinchilla? Get it? I kill me! Has anyone from "Survivor" heard "Tribal Council"? Ryan's friend John, who works on "Survivor," played the song for producer Mark Burnett and host Jeff Probst. They liked it! Why does Timothy Mank sing lead on "Tribal Council" and not you? Tim is an acquaintance of mine who can sing. Likewise, I'm an acquaintance of his who can't. I write and produce the songs and get different lead vocalists to sing them, much like Santana does. Plus, it sounds better having a woman profess her love in "I Like Ebert" instead of me, right? Has Roger Ebert heard the song "I Like Ebert"? Our first two copies went to him and Dr. Demento (who discovered Weird Al). Roger sent us a copy of his latest book. On the inside cover he wrote, "For Ryan and Janna" and drew a picture of a thumbs-up! That girl lying down on the "Ebert" CD cover...Is that Janna? Yes. And if you look closely, she's lying on a bed of popcorn and roses! What's your relationship to Janna? Any hanky-panky going on? She's my wife. So, no. Is it true you were nominated for an Emmy? Yes. I've spent several years writing questions and comedy for game shows, including "Hollywood Squares," "Street Smarts" and even "Survivor"! In 2002, my writing team was nominated for "Win Ben Stein's Money." Did you win? It's fitting. Weird Al had a song called "I Lost on Jeopardy." Well, I lost TO "Jeopardy!" How did you start writing for game shows? I started out as a contestant. In 1996, I went on the game show "Debt." Months before you go on the show, you tell them any topic in the world you're an expert on. This will be the subject of your final "big money" question. I told them "Weird Al" Yankovic. I made it to the final round, and my question asked for the title of Weird Al's song that contains the lyrics, "I couldn't feel any worse if you dropped a two-ton bowling ball on my toes. It couldn't hurt any more if you shoved a red-hot cactus up my nose." I answered "Since You've Been Gone" and won $17,394! Thanks, Al! After that, I submitted some sample questions to the producers. They hired me as a writer, and a new career was born. I've heard you referred to on the radio as the Pak-man. What's up with that? Well, kids, back in the '80s, there was this popular video game called Pac-man. My last name ends in Pak, so now I have this clever little nickname. (Hey, it worked for J-Lo!) So now, when I finish my goal of sweeping the nation as an actor, writer, comedian and musician, the cover of Entertainment Weekly will read, "Pak-man Fever!" Thanks for the questions! CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A QUESTION OR COMMENT |
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