Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Unusual sports bar to be sold at auction
Motorcyclist killed, wife injured in Stark County crash
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man says he was punched, robbed by 3 people in parking lot
Circle K on Brown Street robbed
Bank helps more save their homes
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Woman says clinic refused to help her get pregnant because she's not married
Blogs:
Pets:
Officials: NYer Had 20 Dead Dogs Buried in Yard
The Heldenfiles:
Monday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Time for Kokinis, Browns to agree and part ways
Akron Zips:
Zips tip off tomorrow
Tribe Matters:
Indians announce spring dates
Cleveland Browns:
Mangini doesn't name a quarterback
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – November 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Shaq: It’s All About Winning Championships
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Louisville’s Bobby Swigert headed to Boston College
All Da King's Men:
If It Looks Like Islamic Terrorism…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex
Akron Law Café:
Abortion Analogies
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Clock Tender- Extending the Life of Collector Car Clocks
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Rumors: Akron Starbucks Closing
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
TV appearances are part of autobiography
By Doug Whiteman
Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Oct 05, 2008
David Letterman's producers like it when Jack Hanna's zoo animals run amok on the show because it's good for laughs.
What viewers don't see is the behind-the-scenes preparation that has gone into 25 years of television appearances, recounted in Hanna's new autobiography, Jungle Jack: My Wild Life.
There was the time Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, took two camels on Letterman's old NBC show. The dromedaries' humps destroyed lights and ceiling tiles in a corridor leading to the Rockefeller Center studio because Hanna neglected to measure how high the animals stood.
''Are you kidding me? I never would have thought of that in a million years. Measure a camel?'' Hanna asked during a recent interview at the Columbus Zoo. Then, he added: ''I guess I should have thought of it, though.''
The building manager threatened to bill Hanna $5,000 for the damage, but the show's head producer said not to worry about it.
Hanna, 61, said his appearances with TV hosts, from Larry King to Ellen DeGeneres, have allowed him to spread a message of conservation to a huge audience.
Animal rights activists have accused Hanna of exploiting animals and subjecting them to unnecessary stress by taking them on television. On its Web site, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals describes what he does as ''pimping'' wild animals.
''If you're calling educating people over the last 30 years, hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, then I'll be a wildlife pimp every day,'' Hanna said.
The animals' health and safety always comes first, and if an animal resists going out before the audience and under the studio lights, it's not used, Hanna said.
Since his first shot on network TV — a 1983 appearance on ABC's Good Morning America that showed off a pair of twin baby gorillas born at the zoo — Hanna has grown accustomed to causing a stir with his four-legged fellow guests, both on and off camera.
Former Good Morning America co-host Joan Lunden remembers being captivated the first time he was on the show, which would go on to make the zookeeper a monthly regular. Lunden said she isn't surprised that other programs decided they wanted him, too.
''Whenever he was on, you just knew that as people were walking across their bedrooms in the morning, they were stopping in front of the TV and calling their other family members, 'Look, look, look!' '' she said. ''He has this sense of wonderment about creatures on this earth that's infectious.''
In his book, Hanna writes that not everything goes as planned.
A beaver once bit Hanna on his left hand during a Letterman taping in New York. He got through the segment with the hand wrapped in paper towels and stuffed into a flesh-colored glove. He then walked several blocks to a hospital.
''Once there, people thought I was a shooting victim with blood spattered all over my clothes,'' Hanna recounts in the book.
He and Letterman didn't talk about the incident — the two have only known each other onstage.
''I've never talked to him before or after the show in 23 years,'' Hanna said.
David Letterman's producers like it when Jack Hanna's zoo animals run amok on the show because it's good for laughs.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
