“You don’t want none,” said Sam Ledford, a 19-year-old business major who shooed away passers-by as they curiously approached the auditioning table for an upcoming MTV show, “Yo Momma.”
“I really don’t think anybody can beat me in trash-talking,” said Ledford. “I’m a showman. I think I got what it takes to be on the show.”
Auditions for this new TV show, which is being produced by Wilmer Valderrama of “That ’70s Show,” were held Oct. 26 at Plaza Vaquero.
“It was a success, a huge success,” said casting associate Rachel Stevens. “I enjoyed meeting all the students. I think we had some great interviews of people with great personalities.”
One of the first students to participate in the casting was Edwin Alvarado,who did not think twice about jumping on the opportunity to be on MTV.
Alvarado demonstrated his trash-talking skills by challenging casting associate John Unger to a battle of words, a task that did not come as easy as he thought it would.
“I am pretty good at bagging on people, but right here, I was coming into this relaxed,” said Alvarado. “I have to be in a state of mind. I can’t be relaxing and just be like ‘your momma’s so fat.'”
The casting producer for the show, Katie McIntosh, said that the concept of the show spawned from the mind of Valderrama, who believes that a show like this could be the next big thing and even went as far as comparing it to a sport, but in the area of trash-talking.
The auditioning process included several forms, a Polaroid snapshot, a quick interview and an impromptu showcase of the hopeful’s best jokes.
Among those who were auditioning for the show was Amanda Ainsworth, who was initially hesitant to audition, but in the end was persuaded to fillout the proper paperwork and participate in the casting.
“I felt bad about just putting someone down that I didn’t know,” said Ainsworth. “But they [casting associates] explained that it was a controlled environment and it was just out of fun.”
The show will be based in Los Angeles and is scheduled to air in February, Monday through Friday. The winners that emerge throughout the week will have a final showdown on Friday to crown the ultimate champion of trash-talking.
Each day’s winner gets $1,000 and if this victor takes home the crown at the end of the week, they walk away with another $1,000.
“It’s a really cool thing to be able to go on MTV, be funny and get paid,” said McIntosh. “There’s nothing to lose.”
The casting was held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and even after the casting crew was set to call it a day, students continued to approach the table, drawn by the iconic MTV logo.
“I definitely think we’ve gotten a lot of quality people from GCC and probably everybody that we’ve met here has potential for being on the show,” said Stevens.
Casting for “Yo Momma” will continue all throughout the greater L.A. area and Unger does not rule out another visit to the campus.
“I would say Glendale ranks in the top for how receptive they were,” said Unger. “Hopefully we’ll come back.”