At play with Mr. Hefner...

'Yours Truly' prepping an interview.

Looks like I could be outside Hart House at U of T right?

Nope.

The door you see behind me is actually the side entrance to Hugh Hefner's private study at the Playboy Mansion.

That's right.

Don't believe me?

There we are (my biz partner and I with Hef) after finishing the interview in the infamous 'Library/Movie Theater' which is just outside the office I was talking about.

What an experience.

Thursday of last week.  The last day of three days shooting in H'wood that saw me do 33 interviews with some really interesting folk ranging from Wayne Brady to 'MACHETE!' to America's 6th richest man.

Oh, and Hugh Hefner.

I was pretty nervous going into it.  See, Mr. Hefner is 85 and a little hard of hearing. He's also HUGH HEFNER which means he's, understandably, a little tired of doing stupid interviews. His handlers sat me down (on the above bench) before the interview, gave me some specific instructions and wished me the best.

I braced myself for one of 'those' interviews.

You know, the ones that suck?

See, the more famous and powerful the person the less inclined they typically are to really 'give' of themselves in an interview.  I mean, on the one hand, why should they?  Why should they allow me, and by extension you, the viewer, to trespass on their life?  They didn't sign up to become a cultural icon or hero, they didn't ask to be an example.

Yet here we are, wanting to 'learn' from their story.

We had been given just an hour to get completely set up.  You should've seen my DP sweating. There were eight of us there plus the Playboy archivists (yes, it's true, they record EVERYTHING...) plus a couple of Hugh's girlfriends circulating in the house and then there he was, the man himself.

He walked in, real quiet.  Stood for his photos, real quiet.

I'm watching, going, 'Man, he's real quiet. Oh no...'

Then we sit down, start rolling, and me and Hef start talking.

And he was brilliant.

Totally present, totally open, smart as a whip, totally engaged, transparent and willing to 'go there' with me wherever I went.

My wife (who was in L.A with me for the first time) told me afterward that she had to remember to keep breathing, she was so engrossed in what was going on.

After we wrapped, Hef's crew told us that was the best interview they'd ever seen him give. "Man, you got stuff out of him I've NEVER heard him talk about, and we've heard him talk about everything..."

We exited the house, stood outside in the sun, soaking in the beautiful grounds and the fact that, unless there's a party going on, this house is just a house, when Hef appears on the grass walking towards us.

"Hey, you know, I was just thinking..." he says, then goes on to explain one of the key points he was making with an added historical nuance that he wants to make sure we don't miss.  I tell him we'll be sure to explore that and mention that if we could have access to his archives for supporting material that'd be most helpful.  He smiles, winks, then nods to his VP of PR. 

We shake hands. Three Bunny's come out of the house, pile into a limo, and off they go--to a theater opening or something.

Hef.

85, very smart, very open and (according to the interview) possessed of a life history with just as much pain and suffering as you.

Maybe more.

Eye opening stuff.

T