By Kenn Gold

Theo Von was a reality series contestant on season nine of MTV’s Road Rules as well as season 4 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing.  He’s also appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.  In his latest gig, Theo goes to the other side of the reality show equation, and serves as a judge on ABC Family’s America’s Prom Queen. The competitive reality series, premiers tonight (March 17^th) at 8/7c. and  will follow 10 girls as they compete for the opportunity to be crowned “ America’s Prom Queen”.

In addition to Theo, the series will include host Susie Castillo (Miss America 2003), as well as a prom committee composed of Susan Schulz (CosmoGIRL’s editor in chief); style and cultural expert Jai Rodriquez (Ultimate Style, Queer Eye For the Straight Guy); pop star Brooke Hogan (Hogan Knows Best). 

Theo recently took time out from his busy schedule as a bee keeper, comedian, and reality show superstar to speak with MediaBlvd Magazine about the new show.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How are you today?

Theo Von>      I’m doing okay.  I just ate a hotdog from a gas station actually and I got chased by a bee earlier and in the end I got stung. Yes, so other than that, man, everything’s going great.

MediaBlvd>   I was wondering if you could just tell us how the show is going to work.  I’m a little confused from reading the press releases, but I know there’s like five episodes that the judges’ judge and then it goes to America or to the audience.  But has everything already been filmed already or is there another session that is going to be filmed when it’s turned over to the public, or how does that work?

Theo> Well, first we’ve had five episodes that have been filmed, that were filmed on location with the girls, and then we’ll have one final episode that will be more of a live episode where America will have their chance to vote on who we’ve chosen as the finalists.  I’m kind of worried about America voting, though.

MediaBlvd>   You and me both.

Theo> Yes, I just don’t really trust America.  I mean, I’ve been in America for 27 years and it is shaky.

MediaBlvd>   Do you get a chance to inject some of your comedy into the show while you’re being a judge or is it pretty much scripted?

 Theo> Yes, I tried my best.  I mean, right off the bat I kind of messed up.  I offered to start a family with one of the girls and nobody thought that was really funny, I don’t think.  So after that I had to mind my P’s and Q’s a little bit but I still threw in the rest of the alphabet.

MediaBlvd>   You’re actually one of our favorite people over at MediaBlvd because of the Donate Life stuff, it’s one of the charities that we’ve been supporting really heavily for the last two and a half years or so and we’ve covered Donate Life Rocks and some of that stuff.   So I would be kind of remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to see if I could get you to talk a little bit about the charity and organ donation and just maybe why you are a supporter.  And maybe if you don’t mind if you could just talk a little bit about your sister and how you got involved in it so we can get that into the feature.

Theo> Yes,  well, I think any time I get to do any sort of television or live performance or anything like that I think it’s a great opportunity because it kind of brings people from the outside into my world, and part of my world is speaking on organ donation.  I’ve been a big proponent for a long time.   My sister had a liver transplant in 1997 and she actually just had a baby about a month ago, which is pretty rare along the transplant line. 

And so I’ve had opportunities to work with Donate Life.  I worked with them actually through my buddy, Josh Kelley who is a musician.  He was doing some music for them and I met that group.  And then I’ve done some speeches for them in Florida, in Austin, in different places.  Obviously organ donation is just really cool and we have anywhere between 15 and 20 people who die every day because they’re not getting organs and they’re not getting help and it was a big part of my childhood just having a sister who constantly was in need of something.  So, I just recognize it really as just a big need that is out there and it’s just kind of a need that we can all fill pretty easily.

MediaBlvd>   Could you talk a little bit about the filming of the show?.  I mean how long did it take to film an episode and were you constantly filming for a period of time?

Theo> I would say it took about three days to film each episode and a lot of the episodes are really unique.  I can’t divulge each one but I would say that each episode the production and the girls and everyone there really did a good job of trying to make it as unique and different from the previous one as possible.  And I thought that was really, really cool.  I think they went out of the way a lot of times to kind of bring the show to other people and bring joy that they were having in their lives of being contestants on the show by bringing the community in or bringing it out into the community.  And I thought that was really exceptional.  It was nice because then it kind of makes a lot of people a part of the experience, not just the contestants.

MediaBlvd>   What do you think about the trends towards reality TV in general?  It seems like every network, obviously with the writer’s strike, premiered three or four game shows or reality TV shows, but what do you think about that trend in general?

Theo> Well, it’s obviously getting pretty popular.  I don’t really see a problem with it, I guess.   I mean everything kind of changes, there’s always cycles they say in every sort of medium.  I guess that is kind of vague, but what I mean is that you know it probably is time for a little bit of change and reality TV kind of was that.  And I think it will probably be here for a little while in some facet for sure, whether it gets bigger and then gets smaller or how it goes.  But people are pretty interesting.  Art imitates life they say and if you can just go straight to life then why mess around with art?.

MediaBlvd>   That’s one of the best answers I think I’ve heard about the whole phenomenon.

Theo> Maybe, I mean it’s pretty crazy though.  I don’t remember who it was that said, “Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame.”  But somebody said that and they were kind of right on.

MediaBlvd>   I thought I read, I don’t know if it was on your MySpace or your Webpage that you are a beekeeper.  And so, how did you get bit by a bee?

Theo> I got into bees about two and a half years ago actually.  I had a friend who was a keeper and I used to go and work with him sometimes and he ended up actually gifting me a hive, and the first year things didn’t go so well.  We got an infection in the hive, which is pretty common actually especially nowadays; there’s a lot of problems with keeping bees for some reason.  But this second year I’ve been working on it with a family member and it’s been going a lot better.  So, we’re actually kind of getting into full blown bee season.

MediaBlvd>   You got bit by a bee today, you said?

Theo> As we speak, ironically.  I mean in my line of work, is it that surprising?

MediaBlvd>   No, no, not at all. 

Theo> Yes, that’s why I almost didn’t bring it up.

MediaBlvd>   How did you get along with the other judges?

Theo> That’s a good question.  I think we all got along well, I would say.  I don’t think there was too much strife between the judges.  I mean both of the girls that were there, Susan and Brooke were really, really nice and real sweethearts.  And then Jai Rodriguez was a real sweetheart too, so it was just a super group.

MediaBlvd>   Great and so what do you personally have coming up?  Are you performing anywhere regularly right now?  Or do you have anything coming up?

Theo> I just taped for Live at Gotham at Comedy Central this past weekend so that will be coming up, I think in May it airs sometime.  And then other than that I’ll just be on the road some.  I’ll be out in L.A. next week and then I’ll be in Atlanta and other various places in the United States.

MediaBlvd>   Do you have any closing comments that you’d like to add?

Theo> I think it’s going to be a really interesting show.  People will be pretty surprised to see the caliber of good young girls that are actually out there. I think you see a lot of bad girls and uneducated girls and like skeezes in the media. On this program you’ll see a lot of girls who are just decent, good, caring young ladies. So, I think a little dose of that is good for America.