Rachael Ray Gives a Great Interview To Clay Today on Her Show

As an interviewer, Rachael Ray gave Clay one of the best interviews he's had in a while. There was no cooking of macaroni and cheese or pineapple salad...there was no singing from the new CD, however, Rachel was able to squeeze in lots of questions in the 10 minutes or so that she talked with Clay.

The audience was fairly quiet, which means there weren't very many Clay fans there. However, when the audience was on camera, they really seemed to be enjoying Clay. Rachel covered all the best of topics...AI2, Spamalot,Clay's fans, Clay's new CD, and UNICEF. It was a fun lighthearted interview.

At Rachael Ray's online site, you can watch a portion of the show as well as see Clay answer questions from the fans. You can also download the entire show at Clack Unlimited.

In addition, SmittenwithClay from The Clayboard has taken on the tedious and much appreciated task of transcribing the entire show for us. Wow, what an awesome thing to do!! Here is the transcript of the show:

Rachel Ray Transcript:

Rachel: ya gotta calm it down, your gonna wanna keep on cheering for our first guest. American idol is probably the most watched show on the planet, and definitely one of the most talked about contestants is this guy.
voice over: From teacher to double platinum selling singer in less than a year we all know him from American Idol, of course Im talking about Clay Aiken. Clays got an army of dedicated fans that follow his every move. Theyre known of course as the claymates. With a stint on broadway in the show spamalot, a best selling book and his work with unicef and other charities, Clay has been very busy, but not to busy to debut a brand new album On My Way Here.
Rachel: please welcome Clay Aiken. I told you you were going to want to save some of your hooting and your hollering for him, and I mean, isnt it amazing, has it really been 5 years.
Clay: Oh yes
Rachel: 5 years since the American Idol.
Clay: and I feel so old.
Rachel: You? Im like, it feels like wasnt that last Thursday?
Clay: Ill be in like a grocery store, something like that, or on a plane and a parent will come up to me with there with their 7 year old, and the mother will go "oh my goodness do you know who that is?" to the kid and Ill be like "yeah..no, they dont, they were 2 when I was on idol". They have no clue, I feel like a grandpa now to these little kids.
When I was there we were still singing to tracks ya know, singing to tapes and we had like three cameras and a set about the size of this little area right here and now its like this huge production. Its really gotten so big now.
Rachel: yeah its a whole different world now, you forget how the look of the show has changed.
Clay: yeah, kelly clarkson and I used to joke with newer contestants about how they have a band, and we had a tape we had to sing to. We were such the guinea pigs, and we had nothing, we had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow ya know, and they get all these perks.
Rachel: it is, its a tough...but you dont realize that as a viewer, cause its such an intimate experience, and you get so involved with the people, and certainly for you, that must have been life changing when you saw how the fans, your fans especially..they are..theyre literally

Clay: they must be confused! I mean really though
Rachel: Its fabulous though, the devotion and the loyalty
Clay: yeah they are, absolutely wonderful. And obviously we wouldnt be here without that, but I never quite understand exactly why theyre interested ya know.
Rachel: its overwhelming still
Clay: it is, I mean..I grew up in, you didnt show pictures of me as a kid thank you jesus, but I used to be, I know its hard to believe now the stunning specimen that I am now, but I used to be this really geeky kid...wait a second, I think I still am. I mean, nobody even knew my name at that point, and now people are screaming it, its really odd.
Rachel: so you were just wrapping up in spamalot. You just finished your run, a hugely successful, very well loved by the audience and the critics alike, which doesnt happen a lot. I love that show, how much fun did you have?

Clay: ya know, I didnt expect that I would, not that I didnt expect I would have fun, I figured it would be fun, but I didnt expect it to be as amazing as it was. And its one of those shows thats different every night. Theres a scene where I fall dead on the floor and i get to watch this one scene, and I would still laugh every single night at how funny it is cause the actors and everyone on the show is so great, that they change things up, they changed things up on me, and I just got to the point, I finished two weeks ago, and I just got to the point that I was finally getting used to it, finally comfortable, and then they told me to leave. So I was just finally figuring out my part.
Rachel: so, how was New York City for you though? I mean you seem like such a lovely, kind of small town person at heart, how was working and living in New York City
Clay: very different. Very Very different. I thought that it would scare me to death, and it did scare me, but not to death, but the nice thing is that things are open. like, thats crazy. And back home in North Carolina.
Rachel: and they deliver anything
Clay: everything! food, its great since I cant cook, ya know, some of us cant even pour cereal, I was able to actually have food brought to me at any hour of the day, and if I couldnt I could walk down the street. Im not running away from New York City when I leave it now, Im just running to North Carolina, cause I actually enjoyed myself.
Rachel: You know what, I wanted to ask you, New Yorkers, they can be really warm people to right?
Clay: yeah, they can, ya know what thats another thing that scared me, I was afraid that people were going to be...but honestly some of the nicest people Ive ever met, I mean I really..I really was mostly in contact with the people I work with, but many of them have been in New York for years and years, and everyone I came in contact with, its really been a great experience.
Rachel: see, New Yorkers can be sweethearts to
Clay: ya talk kind of funny
Rachel: Oh WE talk funny? You dont have no accent at all.
Clay: I dont have an accent are you kidding me? I had some cousins who came up to visit and (rich NC accent) they talk just like this, and all the people who came and met them thought they were joking when they talked, cause they just really talked country. So I dont have an accent compared to them. Now people over here are laughing 'you think I have an accent'? She's like 'yes!'
Rachel: well, it may be news to you, but just a little, just a smidge, just a smattering of an accent.
Clay: ok
Rachel: but its lovely! So I want you to tell everybody a little bit about the new album, this is the new album, first of all great shot on the cover.
Clay: oh lots of airbrushing
Rachel: Its not that much! im looking at you, it looks just like you.
Clay: who knows! my hair color changes every third day, theres no way to tell..I think its all grey at this point
Rachel: me to, I havent looked in awhile but Im guessing.
Clay: its the first time weve been able to do new stuff in 5 years now, we did an album of new stuff right after idol, and then we did a christmas album and something else, so we did our best to try to find songs that said something, and over 5 years of getting older, and hopefully wiser and more mature, ya know I think you learn more about yourself through experiencing things then you do with being told something, ya know my mom used to tell me a whole bunch of stuff when I was a kid and I never listened to her and now ive learned through experiences what she says is kinda true. And this kinda talks about that, the title song On My Way Here talks about experiences make you who you are.
Rachel: so, its not so much a coming of age thing but, aging well.
Clay: Aging well, oh my god I never thought Id be saying I was aging, but I am.
Rachel: we all have to, but your doing it very well, and very successful. Its all going really well now. Before I let Clay go though, I dont know if you guys know how much he does with unicef and charities, can you talk a little bit about that.
Clay: yeah, I got hooked up with unicef right after idol actually I was a teacher before idol and they have ambassadors that work in different areas, and they needed someone to talk about education around the countries, so they sent me a number of places and this picture is actually in uganda, where I witnessed children in situations of a 20 year war, and I went to afghanistan last year and watched unicef programs in afghanistan and saw the things they are doing in schools there to kind of help rebuild that country, so its been an amazing opportunity. and the organization, I think a lot of people realize that, i mean they know the name, but I dont think you know exactly what it does, I mean it works in 156 countries all around the world, I mean they save more childrens lives in the world then any other organization, and its true because its the most successful.
Rachel: now we'll make sure we have a link up on our site to unicef cause it is an organization we should all be involved in I think. So I commend you on your great work and your success. Ya know Clay isnt just a nice guy and he came by to say hello but he is a very generous sort, he brought cd's for everybody. We'll see if he can let a few more fall off the truck, we'll give a few away online.