Bill's Interview with
"Fergie" (Dutchess of York)
"Sarah Ferguson, Duchness of York..aka "Fergie"--everyone was very nervous at the network when Fergie was coming..'how to treat royalty anxiety' was sweeping through offices and cubicles. I played it like it was a date, that she and I were going out to lunch to charm each other and have some fun...and it comes across like that. Fergie enjoyed it so much that she came back and did another show the next year. What to look for here is the 'twinkie incident.' Interviewing people while eating on camera is a concept I invented (yes in the pantheon of the TV pioneers like Sarnoff, Murrow, Carson, Ted Turner—I get credit for eating on TV which is pretty low on the list, and always worth a laugh when I explain it in my play TALK SHOW CONFIDENTIAL). Anyway, you have to be deft with the timing of your questions, or the guest has to answer, or not answer, while chewing food...watch what happens when I make a timing mistake with Fergie—a classic moment evolves." —Bill Boggs