Raymond Perkins and Greig Dymond are the men behind the Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui interviews. They book, research and shape what we see and hear during Benmergui’s weekly chat. Neither takes his job lightly.

Perkins handles the celebrity/ interview bookings. The other two segment producers, Joel Axler and Gary Topp, are devoted to comedy and music. Perkins’ job might be the hardest of the three. We know Canadians are funny, just look at Mike Myers, Mike MacDonald, John Candy and Catherine O’Hara. And we know Canada is very rich musically.

But when it comes to celebrities, Perkins says the list gets shorter: ‘We’re not a country that takes care of our celebrities or likes to admit that there are celebrities. I’ve gone through a list trying to find out who we think celebrities are… it’s not a huge list.’ Perkins’ job gets tougher when potential bookings don’t fit into the ‘fix’ for the show. It’s ‘this guy might work. How does it work in the overall show? Who’s available?’

Once the talent is booked, Dymond takes over. He works with Benmergui on shaping the segment, researches the guest, holds a preinterview and gives notes to Benmergui. They then discuss what they want to talk about and sketch out possible questions.

Dymond is one of only a handful of staff back after the show’s premiere season: ‘This is essentially a new show. There are a few elements back from last year, including the host, but they’re certainly trying to do something different.’

It was this different vision that prompted Dymond to return: he was interested in new executive producer Mark Breslin’s approach.

‘This year is less of a celebration of Canadian talent than was last year,’ says Dymond. Although still committed to Cancon, the emphasis is on standing out, doing things differently, like taking the interiews away from the standard talk-pit.

‘With Paul Tracy (the racecar driver) we set up a toy car track. The interview was visually more stimulating and more relaxed. Ralph joins the band after they play instead of them joining him. And Doug Gilmour got involved in a comedy bit.’

Dymond says the ideal for the talk segment would be to have a mix of people you would want to talk to at a dinner party, adding that the huge names don’t necessarily make for interesting interviews.

Perkins, although professing strong nationalism, sees the Canadian content differently. It makes his job harder. He’s had to turn away the likes of Dennis Hopper because of the show’s mandate, and feels that the show should have on ‘interesting people, generally… not be so strident about it.’

An initiative of Breslin’s has eased Perkins’ burden. Breslin doesn’t want to look only for celebrities and do the talk-pit just for the sake of having it; they have to make sure it’s good television first. No Tonight Show endless parade of stars looking for ways to get their faces in the public’s living room, plugging their latest movie – there must be a reason for talking to someone.

The key to a Benmergui interview, according to Dymond, is trying to avoid asking the standard questions. This season’s first show featured an interview with director David Cronenberg. The first question out of Benmergui’s mouth was, ‘What type of films do you consider gross?’ After a moment, Cronenberg replied, ‘Terms of Endearment.’

Cronenberg, articulate, intelligent, laid-back and a bit twisted, is perhaps the ideal guest for a show striving to leave behind a Sunday evening kind of first season and deliver a sensibility more appropriate to its time-slot.

After my interview I was asked to fill an audience seat for a gag for the new Friday Night! Ralph gets shot. Definitely on-target (demographically correct content) for a show airing on the heels of Kids in the Hall.

jeff peeler is a second year media writing student in the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson Polytechnical University in Toronto.