H. Boedeker             So they haven’t practiced with this person, though.

S. Cowell                    A little bit.  Not a lot, a little bit.  They’ve spent more time practicing on their own.

Moderator               We now have Brian Camtor with Headline Planet.

B. Camtor                Okay.  Just to go back over what you addressed in terms of choosing celebrities for the show, how did you determine whether or not one had too much experience to be eligible?  Because I know actually Chris Jericho fronted a metal band called Fozzy and a few of the contestants have Broadway experience, so I’m curious where you drew the line, as to who was too much of a musician to appear.

S. Cowell                    Well, we didn’t want people who were know as much for their singing as they were for something else, so the fun of the show really for me was the surprise element.  To be honest with you, I think most people, 99% of the people will know Chris Jericho from something else other than singing.  So it helped in a way that they’ve had some experience because as I said, the most important reason for booking them was they had to be good.  But I wanted them to be known primarily for something else.

B. Camtor                Okay.  I’m also curious how song selection will work on the show.

S. Cowell                    Well, that’s really between the person they’re singing with and the person themselves.  They have to find a mutual comfort zone.

B. Camtor                Okay, but they’ll be allowed to choose the song then.

S. Cowell                    Yes, they will.  Yes.

Moderator               Next, we have Kelly Torrance with the Washington Times.

K. Torrance             My question was you said that celebrities were really anxious to be on this show.  I’m curious about how celebrity selection worked.  Did you put the word out and people came to you, or did you specifically go to people like Lea Thompson and say, “We heard you’re a great singer and want to be on the show.”?

S. Cowell                    Well, a bit of both really.  Once the show was announced, we had certain people coming to us, but we relied mainly on the producers of the show who knew a lot more people in this area than I did.  So we kind of muddled through it really.  I can’t say there was a scientific approach.  I don’t know exactly how many we saw, but the eight we ended up we thought was an interesting mix.  It wasn’t an obvious mix.  We wanted people from all different backgrounds from sports to acting and all sorts of things.  But like I said to the other people, being able to sing and being able to cope with the stress was our most important consideration.

Moderator               We will now go to Stacy Krause with IGN.

S. Krause                David Foster makes sense for a judge, but Little Richard?

S. Cowell                    Well, he’s an artist and he’s interesting.  He’s a personality and I think that I’ve seen so many of these shows where the panel is so dull, I wanted to put someone on the show who I’d be interested to watch.  Somebody said, “What about Little Richard?”  I went and booked him.  I’d watch him.  I mean I genuinely am interested in Little Richard for some reason and I think it’s going to be quite an interesting dynamic between him and David because David is very serious.  He’s that sort of person.  Little Richard is probably a bit more unpredictable, so who knows what could happen?  It wasn’t the obvious and that’s what I liked about it.

Moderator               Thank you.  Our next question is from Amy Amatangelo with the Boston Herald.

A. Amatangelo          Hello.  I was wondering how you think the judging might be different now that they’ll be judging celebrities.  Are you worried at all that they might hold back?

S. Cowell                    No.  I don’t actually, no.  They have to be honest.  It’s going to be quite awkward for David because I think he’s worked with a number of these artists before, the singers.  But for the non-singers, you have to treat them as you would on American Idol.  You know the rules.  You know you’re going to get praise or not.  Every one of them was prepared for that when they entered into the show.  Certainly with David, I mean they’ll get a very, very honest critique each time because David, probably more than anyone else other than me, knows what he’s talking about.

A. Amatangelo          So they’ll be judging both the celebrity and the celebrity non-singer.

S. Cowell                    Well, I think the emphasis has to be on the non-singer, yes.

A. Amatangelo          What were you looking for besides a singing ability in the non-singers?

S. Cowell                    I would like to think that at the end of this show, somebody is able to launch a successful recording career because no matter what they tell you, my hunch is that’s what they all believe could happen at the end of this.  I mean there is a purpose, I think.  I think they all believe that they could become a successful recording artist at the end.  I don’t think most of them will admit that, but that’s my hunch.

Moderator               Our next question is from Carol Litehauser with US Weekly. 

C. Litehauser           When you were booking the talent, were you trying to find maybe like a range from mediocre to good to make for good television, maybe someone was a little less talented than the others to throw a comical aspect into the show?

S. Cowell                    Well, it would have been very easy from what I heard to have found a ton of absolutely hopeless singers.  I think on a show like this, particularly bearing in mind the caliber of the proper singers we’ve booked, we have to achieve great performances in most cases.  I think some are going to find it tougher than the others.  But honestly, no one was booked for comedy value.  Now it could all go wrong, but the intention was is that any of them could win this competition.

Moderator               We will now go to Mekeish Madden Toby with the Detroit News.

M. Madden Toby       So you have to tell me.  Little Richard is sort of your Hasselhoff, right?  I mean he’s kind of out there and kind of like Pallo or Hasselhoff in the judging.

S. Cowell                    Well, I didn’t compare him to Pallo and David. 

M. Madden Toby       I mean in that you never know what you’re going to--

S. Cowell                    Well, yes.  I said to someone else, I love personalities.  I love unpredictability.  I didn’t want to make this panel too straight.  I think with Little Richard, you have that sense of unpredictability.  Most importantly, I based it on who would I like to watch on a show like this.  As soon as his name was mentioned, I mean there was absolutely no second thoughts.  It was 100%, you have to get Little Richard to judge this show and then I would tune in. 

M. Madden Toby       Was it the GEICO commercial or whatever that commercial is where he’s like reenacting the woman’s insurance claim?

S. Cowell                    I haven’t seen that one.  I’ll have to get a copy of that.  But every time I’ve seen the guy interviewed, I mean I am genuinely fascinated by him in the same way as David has always fascinated me.  I thought he was a great fit on Got Talent and I have a feeling Little Richard is going to do the same thing on this show.  I think he’s going to make it just a little bit more interesting as a whole.

M. Madden Toby       And Wayne Brady, is he going to sing at all?

S. Cowell                    Possibly.  Not within the actual competition itself, but we’re talking about the results show right now, as to what we can do.  Maybe that’s a possibility.  I think he’s quite keen to do it.

Moderator               Thank you.  Before we go to follow-ups, if you haven’t asked your initial question, please press star one now.  We have a question from Jessica Herndon with People Magazine.  Please go ahead.

J. Herndon               So do you think the expectation is greater or less on non-music celebs than the average Joe’s who try out for Idol?

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