Behind the Scenes of The Daily Show

By now, you know that I am the creator of the world\’s most-talked about iPhone application, iFart Mobile. Although most people know me these days as the best selling author of \”Twitter Power – How To Dominate Your Market One Tweet At A Time\” and a successful internet entrepreneur, my staff and I eagerly jumped into iPhone development as soon as the app store launched.

If you have been following me on Twitter, you are also probably aware that I appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday, July 21st.

The focus of the story was a legal dispute between my company, which created the iFart Mobile application for iPhone and iPod Touch, and a competing firm who had created a fart app called Pull My Finger.

Following is the segment from The Daily Show. Watch it first and then I\’ll share some backstory with you.

Funny stuff, right? Now I\’ll pull back the curtain and share what you don\’t know.

I\’m going to save the entire story about the lawsuit for another day. Today I am just going to focus on The Daily Show aspect.

The first thing you have to understand is that this is television. If you believe that things happened exactly as you see them, you have bought into the illusion hook, line and sinker. Of course, that\’s what they want you to do.

In early April 2009, Sam Magdeilan from Air-o-Matic (Creator of the competing \”Pull My Finger\” application) contacted me to let me know he had received an inquiry from The Daily Show. They had apparently gotten wind (ha!) of our legal dispute and were interested in producing a piece for the program.

Both Sam and I were fully aware of The Daily Show and their modus operandi. Report the news in a way that entertains the audience by making at least one of the subjects look like complete morons. I get it. It\’s TV. It\’s entertainment.

I told Sam that it would be alright for the producer to contact me. After all, all press is good press. We may as well make lemonade out of the lemons the lawsuit had given us.

After speaking with Matt @ The Daily Show, it was decided that they would send a correspondent to our office HQ in Colorado to do an interview with me. They would also orchestrate an interview with someone from the opposing company to get both sides.

A couple weeks later, Wyatt Cenac showed up at my office along with Ted, the segment producer, and a local three-man film crew. They came armed with usual cameras, lights, monitors and other assorted equipment.

Our visitors were greeted by the huge inflatable monkey

Gear. My video producer was all aglow to see the goodies they brought

The team immediately went to work attempting to locate a good place to shoot. You would have thought they were furniture movers or interior decorators the way they set out shuffling things around to build a suitable set. Fortunately, they put it all back when they were done. :-)

Hey, I don\’t remember a TV being there…

We had a few ideas for the team. We brought in our iFart framed poster to put in the background. We also suggested they take a walk to our restroom where a sign was posted on the stall. It says \”InfoMedia, Inc. R & D department\”. We also put a microphone on a stand next to the toilet. They filmed it but didn\’t end up using it. (the microphone, they were here for four hours after all)

Shooting inside the men\’s room. Oh, that\’s just not right…

Wyatt is as deadpan as he appears on the show. The guy just doesn\’t smile a whole lot. I wasn\’t even sure if he was enjoying himself. I did manage to get him to pop a grin or two, but he was mostly about the business and took his comedy quite seriously.

Me and Wyatt Cenac. He\’s a funny guy.

Ted, the producer, was new to the show. This was only his second segment. He didn\’t show it, but he was probably a bit nervous and wanted to get it right. regardless, he was very professional… super nice guy. And he did a great job with the piece.

I wasn\’t sure what angle the producer was going to take with the piece. Let\’s face it. When you do The Daily Show, the odds are you are going to come off looking either stupid or like a jerk. I was alright with them making me look stupid. After all, it IS a fart app we\’re talking about. But I wasn\’t good with them making me look like a jerk, and I told them so. I was incredibly pleased to find out that I came out looking like a savvy entrepreneur (which my mother thinks I am!)

The Daily Show team was on location for FOUR HOURS! I know.. that\’s a lot for a five-minute segment of which I would only be in just a bit. But they came equipped with TONS of questions for me.

Again, realize that this is television. The facts of the story are real, but the way the story is told all comes down to the editing. What you see is created to entertain, not to tell the whole story.

I was positioned across from Wyatt and we each had a camera on us. Wyatt had several sheets of paper with what must have been fifty questions typed out. He would ask me a question and I would answer. Many times he would rephrase the question or I would rephrase the answer.

We went in depth about my background, the iPhone app store, iFart Mobile, our other applications and the lawsuit. Question after question came at me. There were many times Wyatt just made me crack up.

Here\’s an example of how what you saw was taken out of context.

When Wyatt says the line about the Hammertime app being an MC Hammer \”Suicide watch\”, I busted up laughing! What a great line! In fact, every time I watch it, I still laugh at it.

But the reaction you saw on the edit was of me being more thoughtful and serious. That was just an inserted shot to give another impression, and to let the audience have the laugh.

I wasn\’t there for the interview with Eric Stratton, but I GUARANTEE you this same technique was used. There were times where Eric looked clueless. I would bet that those shots had nothing to do with his response to the question being asked.

And as for the Jackie Robinson \”Civil Rights\” bit. I hate to burst anyone\’s bubble, but this was a setup.

I was interviewed several weeks before Eric Stratton of Pull My Finger fame. Wyatt\’s questions were leading, and one path had him asking if iFart or Pull My Finger were pioneers in the fart app. This was asked so he could ask the next question, which was \”So if Pull My Finger were the Jackie Robinson of fart apps, what is iFart?\”

My reply was \”Well, we would be Babe Ruth.\”

Wyatt\’s witty comeback was something to the effect of \”So iFart is the overweight, racist app?\”

Of course, I busted up laughing at that as well! Unfortunately, the line didn\’t make the cut.

But it\’s obvious that Eric did not offer up the Jackie Robinson analogy. Odds are Wyatt asked him if Pull My Finger was the Jackie Robinson of fart apps. Eric probably agreed taking the bait. And then they reshot it with Wyatt ASKING the question and having Eric restate it as though the analogy came from him.

I\’m glad to see that Eric and the Pull My Finger team took the whole thing with good humor. I mean, c\’mon… we\’re talking fart apps here, people!

As I mentioned earlier, the entire shoot was four hours. The lights were hot. I was hungry. The questions kept coming.

In one series of questions, Wyatt challenged me to a fart-off. He would play a fart from the Pull My Finger app and I would play one from iFart. I would demonstrate how our sounds were superior.

We drew our phones like it was an old-style western. I could see them editing this piece with a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western feel to it.

Wyatt played a sound and I played a sound. Then again, and again.

He then attempted to catch me off guard by saying, \”What if I told you the sounds I was playing were from YOUR app?!\” He turned the phone around and revealed iFart. Only it wasn\’t MY iFart! It was a copycat competing app!

I said, \”That\’s not my app\” (After all, I DO know the sounds in my app!)

The joke ended up backfiring, at which point Wyatt and Ted began whispering to each other and pointing at the questions, attempting to figure out what direction to take next.

They did this MANY times during the interview. Sometimes they would leave the room to discuss the next line of questioning. It was interesting to watch.

For almost twenty minutes, they had Wyatt repeat a series of connecting phrases again and again. I was just to sit there and look at him or nod my head while he did these lines.

Imagine listening to Wyatt say \”I see\” with a dozen different tones and inflections.

Other lines I had to listen to repeatedly were…

\”Yes\”

\”No\”

\”Hmmm\”

\”Why do you say that?\”

\”Is that right?\”

\”Really?\”

There were many others. I realized early on that they could edit this however they liked. But that\’s part of what made it so much fun!

Needless to say, the atmosphere at InfoMedia was all abuzz. My team was excited about the shoot and I had hoped that we\’d get a few of them on camera. I ordered pizza for the entire staff and Daily Show crew. After all, we\’ve got to eat.

Shooting in the conference room

The team is all abuzz!

Dan Nickerson, Joel Ownby and a couple other members of my team got their two seconds of fame. \”Hey look, that\’s me!\”

During the line of questioning, Wyatt asked me how much money I had made with iFart. I replied, \”about $300,000\”.

He yelled back, \”WHAT?!?!\” giving a look of incredulity.

Of course I cracked up again.

He continued, \”Three hundred THOUSAND dollars?!?! THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars?!?!?\”

It was great schtick. I wish they had left it in.

Anyhow, towards the end of the shoot the team decided to go outside to do two bits.

The first one was Wyatt and I looking out at the Rocky Mountains. Yes, that is the view from my office window. Sweet, eh?

From an unused scene

Essentially, we stood there talking about nothing, pointing at the mountains. It would all be B-Roll content… filler.

No Wyatt, I will NOT pull your finger!

My favorite bit that didn\’t make it showed Wyatt leaving the office building, throwing his hands in the air and yelling out \”Three Hundred Thousand Dollars!!!!\”

It was also a good bit and I\’m sorry it didn\’t make it.

One of the funniest bits that hit the cutting room floor

Now that the piece has run, it\’s clear that the focus was on Eric Stratton, the little David that got crushed by Joel, the Goliath of the industry. They didn\’t even focus on the particulars of the case, other than the accusation that we linked to our app using the \”pull my finger\” phrase.

Anyhow, I am very pleased with the outcome of the piece. I am even more pleased of the outcome of the lawsuit. I can\’t tell you details yet, but I\’ve spent a lot of time speaking with the Pull My Finger people and I believe we are going to be able to \”clear the air\” regarding this whole fart app debacle shortly.

In the meantime, I invite you to enjoy this iFart Mobile tribute to Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.