Entertainment Tonight 12/23

Don't forget Clay will be appearing on Entertainment Tonight tonight. The show is syndicated, so the station varies by region. Check local listings. ETonline.com posted this, with a video. ET announced yesterday that they had a suprise from Clay on tonight's show.

Tonight on ET (includes video preview)
December 23, 2005

Clay Aiken gets in the holiday spirit!
Pop star CLAY AIKEN is getting into the holiday spirit as he wows New York with his "Joyful Noise 2005 Tour." We go backstage for his big holiday concert!

Christmas With Clay!
December 23, 2005

CLAY AIKEN is caroling for Christmas and wowing his fans on his second consecutive holiday tour, "Joyful Noise 2005." And with just two days left until the big day, the pop star gets into the holiday spirit as he dazzles New York City!

"This is a lot more difficult, a lot more complex than anything we've done before," he says of the tour. "We try to get each tour to be bigger and better than the last one and we have outdone ourselves this time."

The former "American Idol" contestant headed to the Big Apple for a three day stop on his megapopular show, which began in Vancouver on November 2. He is criss-crossing the country, hitting a total of 36 cities for 40 concerts.

For the first time this year, the show features a series of vignettes with a running storyline that Clay wrote himself. "It's not something that I had ever tried to do before," he says. "But I sat down and wanted to make sure the show flowed together, the songs in the first half had some type of meaning and purpose."

The supporting roles are cast by locals from each city and one of the two main characters is actually one of Clay's former high school teachers! "It is risky," he says of hiring actors from community theaters. "We've been extremely lucky. We thought that this year if we tried to do something and involve the community and allow each show to have a local flavor, it makes it new for us every day, it makes it fresh."

The show features songs from his platinum-selling album Merry Christmas with Love CD as well as songs that don't appear on the CD and new arrangements for some of the singer's list of favorite songs.

So what does Clay have planned for the holiday? "As a family we all get together on Christmas day and our immediate household family gets together on Christmas Eve," he says. "And we go to my grandparents on Christmas day and that's our tradition. It's nothing out of the ordinary but it's a special time of the year because it's often times the only time of the year where the entire family gets together."

For more Christmas with Clay, watch tonight's ET!