A Marvelous Intrusion In To The Life Of One Of Americas Most Endearing Performers

On Your Marc

Its odd how you can know someone almost two decades and yet be so surprised by their life; particularly when the story is being told 80 feet across in front of a packed house. But learn I did, like audiences and fans will everywhere, about my friend Marc Summers. While millions grew up with him as he helped establish not one, but two, networks: Nickelodeon with the first game show for kids, Double Dare; to The Food Network and the behemoth Unwrapped.

I first met Marc Summers one week after my on-and-off-air partner Andrew Howard died. May 28th, 2001 I was called to Valencia to meet with Marc Summers and Woody Fraiser, two names unfamiliar at the time to me. As I sat in the lobby, I opened the Hollywood Reporter, and there was the obituary for my husband, Half of Openly Gay Duo Karel And Andrew from KFI Dies Suddenly In Long Beach, CA. I was called in, and there was Summers and Fraiser, with Marc opening his arms to give me a hug and saying, Dont worry, this isnt an audition, you dont need to perform. Summers knew me (and Andrew) from afternoon drive on KFI AM 640, because he is a rabid fan of talk radio (to this day).

We would go on to film 17 episodes of The Ultimate Revenge together and form a friendship that has lasted since then. But Summers forms friendships, thats what he does. And that is a rarity in this business; a genuinely honest, caring man.

Now fans will get to see what Summers life was like behind the scenes as he was slinging slime and dissecting the ingredients of peppermint patties, and its an emotional roller coaster that paints a picture of a man that has overcome overwhelming adversity with grace and charm; who has conquered his own fears and demons to enter phase 1,234 of a career spanning five decades (six if you count his Romper Room appearances at age five and six).

On Your Marc is a compelling documentary by the brilliant writer, producer, director, playwright, author and all around dynamo (and huge Double Dare fan) Mathew Klickstein that shows what most of us would want to hide; fears, anguish, illnessall wrapped in the guise of documenting Summers debut in his one man show based on his book Everything In Its Place: My Trials and Tribulations With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; a show, that if there is a wise Broadway producer out there, will find its way to the Great White Way.

How is it possible that a man that made a name for himself making such a mess could go home and straighten the fringe on carpet or butcher paper the walls so his sons birthday guests didnt make a mess?

People think I hated the Double Dare days, and that is so far from the truth, Summers began as we sat outside the Regent Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles for a sneak peak of the film. The fans were already lining up around the theatre to get in, industry and audience alike, hugging him as they pass, shaking his hand, showing their love for this television icon (although the word makes him feel a little old). I loved every minute of the show, its when the cameras were turned off that I wanted out of the mess.

But its the camera being on that actually led to his diagnosis.

I was doing a talk show on Lifetime and we had a guest that was going to talk about the disorder, he stated. And during that interview, I said out loud, this is me, I have this. It was the late 90s and up until that point I had no name for what I had. I thought I was crazy. Suddenly, I wasnt. It had a name. It had a treatment. There were others that were compelled to read labels six times in the store, to go around after everyone in the house and straighten up, it wasnt just me. That was liberating, healing, in and of itself, he elaborated.

But the movie is more than a look at OCD. It shows a man that so many would deem a success, a legend, a beloved part of their childhood and adult lives, who doesnt believe hes made it yet. A man still striving, still dreaming, still hoping.

Its a movie I needed to see. I often complain, at 54, I havent made it yet. And my friends will yell at meyouve made history at the #1 talk station in the country, changed laws when your partner died for all gays, went on to the other #1 station in the state, KGO, youve been on TV, written for Billboard, HuffingtonPostwhat part of that isnt a success? And yet, inside, I keep thinking but I havent made my lifelong dream come true of making a film, doing scripted TV, more

And like Summers hearing from a psychiatrist on TV that he wasnt alone, suddenly, in that theatre, I saw my friend in a different light: I wasnt alone. This man that I admire, that I consider to be the pinnacle of TV success with hits on two networks, many shows he produces, a bestselling book, he does the same thing as I do !

So many times I get so close, this close to what I want, and then I sabotage it, I dont follow through, he told me, and shares in the film. Ive always wanted to be on Broadway, and they asked me to audition for Big but I didnt go. Mel Brooks asked me to audition for The Producers after I told him Id be perfect in a part, and I didnt show up. Fear kept me from going, fear I wouldnt be good enough; that same fear almost stopped me from doing my one man show that would become this movie, I came so close to not doing it.

OCD certainly wasnt the only obstacle to Summers continued success. The film explores the personal cost of a cancer diagnosis (Leukemia) AND a taxi accident in New York that smashed every bone in his face and left him with 80% memory loss for months and months. So many performers at his level would have quit after each. Why didnt he?

Alice, plain and simple, he said, glowing with love as he talked about his wife Alice Berkowitz. She sat with me through every single chemo treatment, as I poisoned myself back to life. She has been the foundation, she and my daughter, my son, my grandson, they are the rock that Im built upon. For so many years I was away, filming, shooting, and they let me, they allowed me the space to be me, but when I needed them more than ever, they were there.

As I sat having Vegan Pizza (OK, I had it, as Marc looked at me and said, Vegan Cheese on Pizza, really?) at the lovely shop Prufrock next to the Regent with Alice, I asked if she wanted to chat on camera with me.

Im the private one of the family, she said. I have always valued my privacy, the privacy of my kids, the proud mother and wife stated. As she watched herself up on screen (I sat behind her) I could see the pride, the joy, and yes, the winces here and there. Which of us would want our lives dissected in documentary format?

Klickstein does a brilliant job of balancing all of the events in Summers life, each of which could be the focus of a documentary itself. He weaves stories of OCD, of car crashes, of slime throwing and the thousands and thousands of stories Summers has from a life well lived in the business in to a dynamic portrait of a man not finished yet; still striving to make it in his own mind and never content to rest on his laurels. In fact, in his mind, he has few laurels on which to rest.

Summers and Klickstein are bringing this film directly to the fans through marcsummersmovie.com and a partnership with Alamo around the country. There will be live streamed events, showings in Philadelphia, New York and other cities across the country. Why Nick at Nite hasnt already signed a deal with him is a wonder. Or the Food Network. Or both.

It is not easy to age in Hollywood. Its even harder to stay working. Summers has done so, reinventing himself both in front and behind the camera. Now, hes going to take on what hes always wanted, live theatre. He started as a warm-up man for shows, in comedy clubs, at the Magic Castle (hes a magician!). He was always headed for Broadway, but has almost been in golden handcuffs as writer/producer Tena Clarke once told me. Like me, his career went in great other directions, too good to pass up. After he and I did Ultimate Revenge with Ryan Seacrest (who is in the film, who professes his respect for Summers), after that show I should have gotten an agent, a manager, and left radio for TV. My partner was gone, I was alone, and I was in my second season on a major network (SpikeTV/TNN). But I went back to the comfort zone of #1 Radio and wouldnt return to TV until Life In Segments now entering its fourth season on Free Speech TV some 15 years later.

Summers always went back to TV, and to live game show performances on stage. Now, hes doing a one man, scripted show, out of his comfort zone, and captured it in a film Hes laid his life bare, his biggest fears, and now its a new course.

Karel, weve both been in this business long enough to know you keep doing what you do, you throw things out there, you love what you do, you create and you hope. What sticks? Who knows? What succeeds and why? Who knows? But you cant judge your life by that. Are you happy? Are you working at what you love? Are you being creative? If so, then you just keep going.

Perhaps thats what On Your Marc shows the most: that, as Dory says in Finding Nemo, you just keep swimming. Summers has swum both with, and against the current. He has helped networks become name brands, all the while fighting personal demons of enormous magnitude, like each of us. He is, indeed, like each of us. Flawed, afraid, grateful, vibrant, caring, confused at times, using those he loves as a compass. He is the same as every kid that watched him that is now an adult; the same as every adult that watched him now entering their 50s and 60s. He faces the same challenges and crossroads as we all do, all while maintaining a public face beloved by millions.

Im so glad I saw On Your Marc whether knowing him or not. But Im even happier that I do. He is a rare find in entertainment: a genuine friend; to me, and to millions that will never meet him. He inspires hugs and laughter wherever he is, always listening to those around him, interested in THEIR story more than his own.

But On Your Marc, thanks to Mathew Klickstein, and his one man show, is now bringing HIS story to light and its one that everyone in todays world can learn from and grow.

Look for the Marc Summers interview in Season Four of Karels Life In Segments on Free Speech TV starting October 26, 2017, Revry and PlutoTV as well as online at LifeInSegments.com