By Lynn Tackitt

In the world of "reality" television, ABC Family is bringing fun television for the family back to mainstream television. In a recent interview, Guy Torry discusses the new show and the fun they have while filming, which makes long days just breeze by.

Mr. Torry tells of his moving out to Los Angeles, his stand-up comedy history, and some of his charities and what he feels is his duty to do. Some of his future plans are with a documentary in the works and a comedy tour.

Dancing Fools is not only an entertaining, family show, it has a charming, down-to-earth co-host in Guy Torry.

ABC Family Conference Call
Dancing Fools
Guy Torry

June 19, 2013
2:00 p.m.

QUESTION: What made you decide to be a part of this show?

GUY TORRY: Well, it was a different type of a show for me. I'm a standup comic who is usually late-night, after dark comedy, but I love dancing and I love watching dance clips on the internet all day so this was a perfect marriage between me and the show. It opened me up to a whole new audience actually.

QUESTION: How close do you get with the contestants; do you get pretty familiar with them?

GUY TORRY: I try to. I usually see them during the show, and then after the show just to get a little bit more about them, but before the show I really don't interact with them at all. I don't think it's fair to actually because we do have the studio audience who votes. It's a real vote and I know people out in the world or Viewerland, they always think that shows are rigged or things like that, but no we actually have a live studio audience and their decision determines who wins the show. Just to put the dancers at ease I just don't interact with them before the show because I don't want them to think that there's any bias.

QUESTION: How would you describe Dancing Fools as different from other dance competition shows?

GUY TORRY: It's fun. It's more interactive. Even on Dancing with the Stars they're professional dancers mixed with celebrities. These are people like everyday people, real people out in the world who just do it for fun. They don't really put their videos on the internet to win money. They just do it because it's fun, and we select them, and I think that's what makes it different. But it makes people who are not in the entertainment industry and out there in the real world just say, "Hey, you know what? I have a chance to be on that show," and they have their 5-minutes of fame or 15-minutes of fame or turn it in to a career. I think it makes it different that way because it relates to everybody. Everybody loves to dance, and most of us are fools.

QUESTION: What's your favorite part of working on the show?

GUY TORRY: Working with [host] Melissa [Peterman]. I mean she is really talented. I had no idea how talented she was, how funny she is, how quick-witted she is, and how generous she is. You know we have the four really good dancers on the show and their job really was just to dance us in and out of break. It was Melissa's idea to really include them in to the show so America could know who they are. They have names and they're professionals and the skits that they do were really all Melissa's idea. She's a very generous and gracious host, and you don't find that a lot in Hollywood. It's all about me, me, me, me and nobody wanting to share the spotlight, but she was really generous and to see that was just great. Working with her was really a treat.

QUESTION: Is there anything special that you do to prepare yourself before an episode of Dancing Fools?

GUY TORRY: I dance myself, man, in my dressing room. I listen to my playlist and I just kind of get in to the groove. I have these videos of some DJs of mine out of St. Louis. They're VJs actually, and I kind of put those on and kind of get revved up and kind of get in to it in my dressing room before we go out and tape. Just to get my energy up and so I can be festive when I hit the stage.

QUESTION: Do you find that you still get nervous in front of a live audience?

GUY TORRY: Always; even in my standup. I've been doing standup for 20 years, going on 21 years this September, but I'm always nervous because I believe in this. I've turned negatives in to positives but nervous energy is as good if you use it the right way. I feel like this: if you stop getting nervous then you don't care anymore. When you're nervous then you care about the small details. You care about what you're doing, and you love what you're doing. When you're not nervous then I think you just meld in. You're dialed in and you don't really care. Nervous energy for me is great energy.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little bit about the content and who it is for? Is it more for adults or children or is it all-around family friendly?

GUY TORRY: It's on ABC Family and that's who it's for to me; it's for everyone, but I think the audience of ABC Family is good [all] around family. I think adults can watch it with their kids, and they don't have to worry about any content that they don't want them to see. It's a fun viral video show that puts the everyday American or someone abroad in to your living room and just acting a fool. I'm so glad that people love to dance, people love to act a fool, and we have technology to share with the world. We put it all in one cute show, and we have a beautiful tall blonde to introduce the clips and a crazy VJ who plays the videos, and it's just fun. It's a party. It's a family party.

QUESTION: How did a guy like you get to the bright lights and big city of L.A.?

GUY TORRY: It started out with standup. I actually moved out to L.A. not to even get in to the entertainment industry. I was going to finish my school and get a marketing degree, but I always loved attention. I always loved the class clown, the campus clown, and because of Def Comedy Jam, and my brother was in the business a few years prior to me, so I tried my hand at standup and that was the hub. Everything else kind of sprouted from there.

QUESTION: And you've got your own place now right?

GUY TORRY: My own comedy club yeah. I'm co-owner now with Kim Coles, a talented comedian/actress. The club was going to close and I didn't want to see it close because a lot of black comedians need a spot in L.A. A lot of them are not known enough or good enough to go to the Hollywood clubs yet so for this club to close would have been a travesty to young black comedians that are coming up. I didn't come up through this club, but I came up through clubs like this club. I know how important it was to my career so it's kind of my way of trying to give back to the future of comedy, period. Even though we're a black owned club we have really a diverse audience and a diverse line-up.

QUESTION: On your show is it a long filming day or do you guys have a lot of like blooper-type things to hold it up or is it pretty much since it's a lot of video pretty cut and flow?

GUY TORRY: It's funny because it could be a long day if I wasn't having fun and if Melissa wasn't as good as she is it would be a long day, but it's not really a long day. It goes by actually pretty quick and it's really an easy day. It's not taxing at all. I remember one day we shot kind of all day and I had Rolling Stones tickets, and I was like, "Man I hope I get out in time to go see the Stones." I'd never seen them live but I was able to shoot a couple of shows, and then go to the concert and still had energy. Actually I think doing Dancing Fools helped me get my energy up for the Rolling Stones concert. Watching Mick and those guys was a treat. It's not a long day at all not for me.

QUESTION: What kind of music do you like to dance to?

GUY TORRY: If you look at my iPod I have everything honestly from Andrea Bocelli to Snoop to Two Chainz and anybody in between. From ja to a little bit of country, a little bit of rock, old R&B, new R&B. I like mashups because like I said, that I am friends with these VJs out in St. Louis called Screen Works, and they do these mashup videos with some of everything, every genre of music. I just love watching those but they kind of put it in the club beat mode. I don't want to say techno but the club beat so everything from Sting to Nelly to Snoop to you name it, Creed and anybody else, so it's a lot of fun.

QUESTION: Who are some of your favorite standup comedians?

GUY TORRY: I will say Def Comedy Jam really inspired me to do standup but definitely Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Lenny Bruce is one of my favorites. I think he was before his time. Chris Rock, my brother Joe, Martin Lawrence, Moms Mabley, Red Fox from my home town, Dick Gregory. The list goes on and on. Steven Wright. Chappelle. My comedy is like a pot of gumbo; it's kind of a mixture. George Carlin too is another one. Bernie Mac, I study all of them. I have at least about 150 vinyl albums of comics that I just listen to and study.

QUESTION: Do you have any plans to work on another comedy tour or another standup special?

GUY TORRY: I'm working on a special right now. I'm touring the Improv and Funnybone around the country and along with other comedy chains, and I'm looking to put together my special but do so myself so I can own it and shop it to whatever network I'd like to, whoever gives me the best deal and I see that can put me in the best light. Yeah I haven't done a cable special yet.

I've done a couple of DVDs earlier in my career, but I think now I'm ready—I'm very picky. I just don't want to be on TV just to be on TV, and if I'm going to put some product on TV, it's got to be worth it. I look at a lot of specials these days and some of them, they just don't look well-written or well-put together. I may be shooting myself in my own foot or standing in my own way, but I'd rather put out a quality product rather than to just be on TV to be on TV. But definitely look for a special in the near future and also a documentary I'm actually shooting on standup comedy.

QUESTION: How does your age affect your career or is that not even a factor?

GUY TORRY: Not a factor. Not a factor at all. I still, thank God, look relatively young, which is a blessing from my parents, but it doesn't affect me at all. I believe your career is your career; it doesn't matter what age you are, you can do anything. This is America and I don't believe in excuses. I don't believe in systems and all that other stuff people want to say to hold them back. I think you create your own destiny and you mind your lane.

You find your audience who digs you and you worry about the audience. Don't worry about those that don't like you. Focus on ones that do like you because what can happen is if you focus on those that don't like you, you might lose the fan base you already have and now you're out there without a fan base at all. Being 44, I love it. To live and to just be alive every morning is great to me so I don't let anything determine where I'm going in this business.

QUESTION: Dealing with a live audience do you have a lot of bloopers and how do you handle them?

GUY TORRY: The funny thing about it is because it's such a tight ship, and I know I keep talking about Melissa and how good she is - she's really good and we don't have a lot of bloopers. If we do, I may have one or two, but you have bloopers, that's what happens, but there are very little bloopers unfortunately, and it's just a well-produced show. The dancers are great. Melissa is great. I have fun and the audiences are great, and I'm the guy who keeps the audience informed and their energy up. It's really very little bloopers unfortunately for viewers.

QUESTION: Who is the biggest prankster on the set?

GUY TORRY: We haven't done that yet. We're still growing as a family to get that comfortable with each other, but I think Melissa will probably be. I'm not that much of a prankster, but as we grow and get to know each other and become more and more friends and more of a family, I think some pranks will happen for sure.

QUESTION: Can you discuss your charity work a little bit?

GUY TORRY: It's funny you say that because just yesterday I think I said to myself "I want to do even more." My brother has a foundation in St. Louis, Giving Back the Love Foundation is my brother's charity, but I help out when I can help him get celebrities or donate money or things like that.

Every Wednesday a group of actors and dancers and comedians and professional athletes, we go down to skid row in L.A., in downtown L.A., and we feed the homeless. We go to different restaurants like Panera Bread and Trader Joes and places like that the night before and they donate food for us, and sometimes we just purchase food out of our pocket. We do that basically every Wednesday downtown L.A.

I just had two meetings with a charity that wants to do a comedy show for charity for kids with AIDs and bring awareness to that. I just had another meeting yesterday about bone marrow awareness, and donating marrow, and I'm putting together a blood drive at my comedy club for donors because a lot of Latino children and black children are dying of sickle cell because there's not enough black donors or Latino donors. I'm putting together a blood drive and get my celebrity friends out there to come out and either donate blood or help us assist people who want to donate blood to the community.

Charity is something that I think it's not anything to be turning cartwheels over and be happy about, because I think it's something that we should be doing. I think it's par for the course. As we're put on this earth to serve. It's not something I want to toot my horn about or anybody should for that matter; it's just helping your fellow human beings out no matter what their ethnicity or gender.

QUESTION: What does it mean personally to you to be able to give back like that?

GUY TORRY: It's a blessing. I think it's my duty whether I was in Hollywood or in the entertainment industry or not. I just think as a human it's what we're supposed to do, and I'm blessed enough to be able to have whatever celebrity I have to lend to whatever cause that can bring awareness or people may pay attention to. I may get a little bit more attention than someone who is not in the business and if that little bit of attention helps bring awareness to a worthy cause, then I think it's my duty to use it for that.