And there go my five minutes of fame...

Drum roll please. Lay out the red carpet. Start the overture. I just made my big debut on the small screen….as an audience member.

Though I had to be my own stylist, I, KP, got to be front row, center at a live taping of TRL (that’s Total Request Live, for those of you totally out of the MTV loop).

Let me give you the cue-to-cue.

Guest host of the show (literally): Taylor Swift. Stage Right: Mike Myers. Stage Left: Megan Good. Followed-by: Mini Me. Upstage: Perez Hilton. Downstage: Sway. Center-center: Rihanna. And, oh yeah, get Anne Hathaway into makeup (also literally).

Wham bam thank you ma’am. Whew. I could barely come up for air with all the celebrities surrounding me, each one better or more famous than the next. Talk about a paparazzo’s dream. But I was not complaining. No sir. Not even a little. It was sheer bliss. And I soaked it all in because I hit the jackpot, compliments of my boss - the Senior Vice President of Promotions for Universal Republic – who sent me and Jess to the MTV Studios as VIPs (apparently, our hard work as interns paid off).

Before hosting the show, Taylor Swift came into our office (she’s on our label) and, of course, I had to meet her and take a picture. I am relieved to report that she was genuine, modest, and above all, sweet. The 18-year-old country-esque singer seemed to not even realize that she is a star, so it was amazing to be able to follow her to the MTV building for the climax of my day. Let’s see – Mike Myers proved to be way shorter than expected; so did Mini Me (but that was expected); Megan Good was prettier in person than she is in her films; Rihanna has insanely fabulous style (or just a great stylist); Perez Hilton seems to have lost a lot of weight; and Anne Hathaway is really pale without makeup (it made me feel a little better about my ghostly hue).

Not only did we get to see all the celebs at MTV, but I got to be one too…as an audience member at the live taping of TRL. Unreal anyway, right?

Sitting in the audience, though, Jess and I felt totally out of the loop. I never realized that somewhere between sorority life and classes, I escaped MTV’s target demographic. But despite the fact that I was surrounded by 15- and 16-year-olds, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I revisited my teeny-bopper roots and screeched like a mad-woman with Jess every time a new guest star made an appearance (list above).

I would say I probably got a good hot minute of air time on TV – sometimes clapping, sometimes smiling, sometimes cheering. Yep, just as I suspected….there go my five minutes of fame. But if that was the highlight of my summer, I would say those were the most satisfying five minutes of my life.


(Jess and I backstage at MTV carrying a Taylor guitar, which she signed for our boss...then the production staff made us lock up our camera until we left because apparently you can't take pictures of the studio...lame!)