Michael Cerveris talks about Ian's Girl - Trivia of the Week

 

Michael Cerveris talks about the Season 6 episode "Ian's Girl"

"the return of the eyeliner

most days on Fame, we were happily part of a big, multi-talented ensemble, with a few scenes or a B story that featured our character among many others. But every once in a while your character got to step into the spotlight as the A story, supported by everyone else. That episode for me was Ian's Girl, and it's unsurprisingly one of my favorites.

It started first scene up on the first day of shooting, being introduced to Ian's Girl herself, the lovely

Traci Lind

, before 7 am in the make up trailer. By 8:15am we were snogging repeatedly for the cameras. It was a strange way to meet someone, but since my characters usually end up killing the girl more often than getting (and losing) the girl, it was a nice change of pace.

I got to sing a very emo ballad to Traci while my bandmates slept (pretty soundly, all things considered), became the first person to wear Bauhaus and Sisters Of Mercy t shirts on national tv (I got to pick a lot of my on camera wardrobe) and became quite possibly the first person to sing a Sex Pistols song on American tv, other than, I'm guessing, the Sex Pistols. I also made a roommate for a while and a friend for life in the Leeds tub thumper who played the drummer in Ian's band,

Steve Cooper

(happy belated birthday, Steve!).

But my proudest achievement though, was convincing our open minded producers that, rather than calling Central Casting to fill the punk club scene with extras as usual, they should instead let me go to Scream, the downtown LA club I frequented on a regular basis and fill the scene with authentic 1980s LA punks and goth kids. And so I did. Lots of kids in that scene watched the show because, airing early Saturday evenings and rebroadcast late Sunday afternoons, it was the perfect background tv for getting ready to go out or slowly beginning to get up after a night out. So enough people either knew me as a fellow club regular or recognized me from the show to believe the invitation to be on the show was legit. A lot of them had no phone number for a contact (this was pre cell phones, kids), and the days started way too early for the average musician or club kid, so I wasn't entirely sure on the morning of the shoot that I was going to pull it off. But the promise of some money and a day full of craft services combined with a chance to play themselves on tv was enticing enough that we had an great crowd and an unusually authentic feeling scene, at only minimal risk to the camera equipment and crew, and one of the most fun days I can remember on set. My co-conspirator and best friend Carrie Hamilton was in heaven, too, and ended up meeting her boyfriend of the next long while in Steve. It was a good day all around. Knowledgeable watchers can spot members of The Zeroes, Kommunity FK, my friend Kaptain (who was one of Guns and Roses' early pre fame drummers and did costumes for Troma and porn films), among the glam and punk scenesters pogoing and slam dancing in the crowd. I mostly beamed with pride."