"A lot of people think that nice attractive sexy women can't be funny,"
said Howard from Los Angeles. "One of the reasons a show like this is
more fun is because we can be." And those who question the kind of
humor on the show are "living in the dark ages," she added.
Howard, who got her big national TV break when she was part of the New
Orleans "Real World" cast on MTV, is now one of five people who does
unusual things to people on camera. Great work if you can get it, she
said.
"A lot of hard work goes into it, but it's very fun," Howard said about
her appearance on the program which is cablecast on Oxygen on Friday
nights. "It seems to be going very well, and I think it's the best job
in the business. I get paid to have fun."
The idea of playing televised pranks on unsuspecting victims is nearly
as old as broadcast TV, going back to "Candid Camera" and the original
"Steve Allen Show" from the 1950's. But "Girls Behaving Badly" puts a
female slant on the idea with an all-female cast. And because it's on
cable, things can get a little wilder than on old-time TV. "We're
pretty risky, we're pretty edgy, I'd say...stuff happens. Anytime you
have a guy with a strap-on taped to his leg for an entire day, the
outtakes are going to be definitely funny."
The concept connects with Oxygen viewers, since it's the cable channel's highest-rated program.
"That, I think, hasn't been done very much," Howard said about the idea
of women's comedy. "Now that we've done that, I think it's really cool.
I don't think there are any other girl-with-a-camera shows out there."
And the fun included the infamous box stunt, where Howard popped out of
a box to surprise a delivery guy. That came about, Howard recalled,
when the "Girls Behaving Badly" staff sat around brainstorming one day,
and figured that Howard would fit in a delivery box for a 32-inch
television set. "I had some cues from the outside world on when to pop
out," she recalled. "You can't aniticpate what people are going to do,
but the guy nearly broke the ramp and jumped out of the room. You
couldn't imagine a better reaction than that."
Then there was the time that Howard wore a convincing stomach appliance
that made her look very pregnant. She went up to disbelieving people
and asked them if they would buy her a pregnancy test.
Howard's performances are a big part of the show, but the heart of the
program is to see how "real people" will react to the pranks tossed at
them. "The key to a prank show is that you can't predict what people
are going to do. We try to figure out every possible scenario, but you
can never know."
The show's paid performers have to stay in character and not laugh
before the prank is completely set up. If you watch the show closely,
look to see when it seems someone is coughing; Howard said that's the
sign that someone is about to lose it and break out in laughter.
"The stuff that we have on the show is funny in the sense that
everybody's in on it except this one person," Howard said. The girls
that I work with are very talented."
It's fun to watch the reactions, but so far, no one's gone really crazy
when "Girls Behaving Badly" comes calling. "Those situations are just
so out there that you couldn't be any other way," she said.
The show's biggest competition is the insanity of real life, which
challenges the show's writers and performers to come up with new
pranks. "There have been times when we've tried to come up with a prank
and gone, `That's happened,' "she said.
Still, the video editors get "more than enough" raw tape from each
prank to be able to to fill an episode of "Girls Behaving Badly." Part
of the fun of performing on the show is watching what the editors
produce to turn each prank into a story, Howard said.
Howard's life - as an actor, a blogger and an artist - seems to
represent a generation which isn't content to sit quietly and watch the
world go by. Check Howard's web site
and you'll learn a little more about this performer, from her art to
her thoughts about a life that she says isn't particularly exciting.
But why expose yourself everyday to the public view? "Why wouldn't I do
that?" she replied. "It's really just fun for me - I'm exposing the
secrets of my life...it's the mundane things that happen in my every
day life. I'm happy with the life that I have, but there are all kinds
of emotions."
Melissa Howard picture courtesy mPRm Public Relations
