How I Got Here/V. 2 (Wiscon GOH 2002 Speech)‪.‬

* Hi there. This is the first speech I've given since the eighth grade. Back then, every kid in my little prep school had to speak at an all-school assembly sometime during the year. What I did was stand in the middle of the stage and say, "Here's something I prepared. I call it 'Fun with a Tape Recorder."' I then snuck offstage and turned on the reel-to-reel tape recorder my dad had helped me bring to school and hook up to the P.A. I filled my whole time slot with a tape of me and my siblings being funny. We played a lot with tape recorders at home, since our dad was a sound engineer, and I had material from a plethora of ad-lib sessions where we played Reporter interviewing God, Reporter interviewing Elvis Presley, Reporter interviewing Toad-suckers, parodies of TV ads--"Jet Action Wax! With my active family, it's the only wax!"--and many short bits where we used the tape speed control to make our voices sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. I hid behind a curtain while the tape played to an auditorium full of kids. Even though I was hiding, I almost wet my pants.