Clay Shares Laughs, Spamalot Experience and OMWH with Today Show

Clay's marathon of TV appearances continued today with an interview on NBC's Today Show. Clay talked about why he no longer watches American Idol, and said that he enjoyed his Broadway experience more than he thought he would. He also discussed how the new album came to be, saying he and executive producer Kipper immediately bonded.

• Download a video cap of the appearance via ClackUnlimited
  
• Watch interview at MSN Video

Clay also dropped by MSNBC, as a UNICEF ambassador, to discuss the current situation in Myanmar, which was devastated with a cyclone that killed as many as 100,000 in the Asian country.

• Clay on MSNBC - ClackUnlimited

More Media Coverage of Spamalot!

AOL Music asks: "Are These Stars Better Off Blond?"

Spamalot is getting even more coverage around the media as a result of that new article and photos from the Associated Press. These Spamalot media coverage reports are off the various message boards:

• MSN TV - Clay's interview with AP was on MSN's homepage yesterday. Although it has been removed, the fantastic interview is still at MSN TV.
• Syracuse Post Standard ... via the CB's snarkystripes -

  On the front banner of the CNY (Lifestyle) section they put that most GORGEOUS new AP interview picture of Clay in the upper corner and it says:
  
  "CLAY AIKEN TAKES ON SPAMALOT"
  "American Idol" finalist Clay Aiken has enjoyed success from his CDs and tours since coming in second to Ruben Studdard. Now, he's making his debut on Broadway as Sir Robin in the Tony Award-winning musical "Monty Python's Spamalot." (Story D 4)
  
  Then I turn to page D -4 and OMG!!! They show that pic of him sitting with his hands clasped (3.5 x 4"). The headline reads "Clay Aiken takes a walk on odd side with 'Spamalot' " Subtitle: The former "American Idol " contestant has made his Broadway debut.
  

• Boston Globe ... via fancynails4:

  On Page B10- The 'NAMES' page (all things for celebrity news updates)- going across the very bottom is a large red arrow with the words (snarkily) "Quite an endorsement" - then this: 'It was, in my opinion, the stupidest thing ever produced. There's no plot.' Clay Aiken, who now stars in "Spamalot" on Broadway, describing his reaction the first time he saw the musical'. Then a small head shot of Clay from the AP interview.
  

• 24 Hours Toronto ... via Khrystah:

  It's the same AP article from yesterday, with a whole LOT snipped out. So that you can read EXACTLY what is in the article (and so that I don't have to squint to try to see and type up all that text...I'm partially blind so it's difficult for me to type up printed articles), I have copied the exact text that was taken from the article which was posted on Yahoo news yesterday and used to create this article. I've also added the headline that the 24 Hours paper used.
  

• Metro Toronto ... mention of the Newsweek interview via the CB's Khrystah -

  Hubby brings me the free 24 Hours and Metro papers everyday when he gets home from work. Well imagine my surprise when I got to page 24 of the Metro paper and saw Mr. Gorgeous looking hawt as heck and smiling right back at me. image
  
  It's a tiny article about the Newsweek interview complete with a BEAUTIFUL fairly recent headshot of him standing in front of the UNICEF backdrop wearing his dark blue suit and the sexiest smile ever while an errant lock of his gorgeous brown hair falls over his forehead.
  

• CTV Toronto News - via the CB's Khrystah -

  I usually watch the local 11:30pm news every night but since Clay debuted in Spamalot, I've been spending all my late nights here reading the fan recaps of he performance. Because of that, I missed the news last night. Fortunately, the same boradcast repeats at 6am the following morning.
  
  So I was up WAAAAY late, couldn't get to sleep this morning (lying on the couch) so I started surfing channels and landed on the local CTV channel here in Toronto. The broadcast had just returned from it's FINAL commercial break and was closing with it's usual "super short" story for the last 30-45 secs of the show. As soon as she said "Well he may have finished 2nd on American Idol" my head whipped up and my eyebrows shot to the top of my head! I KNEW before she said another word that she was about to talk about Clay and his Spamalot debut! image
  
  She then continued with (paraphrasing here) "but now Clay Aiken is aiming to be another kind of Idol". This is when I shot up and squeed so loudly I scared the living daylights out of my poor cat who was sleeping on top of me! image
  
  Basically she talked about how he has taken on the role of Sir Robin on Broadway...pretty much the same stuff that was mentioned in the AP article the other day. It was a super short mention as I said, but it was really nice. While she was talking about it, they showed the pic of him holding the rubber chicken, as well as a few other fairly current ones (sorry I can't remember which ones), one of him in a dark suit and one or two others. Looked like ones that had been taken in the last year or so. They also showed one pic of him from when he was on Idol really belting out a song. image
  

Tidbits 8/15

What a cute picture! - taken by the CB's bulldog at her meet and greet with Clay...

MSNBC - Clay is question #1 in this online quiz about the names of celebrities... cool & not a bad picture, either!

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 5:30 p.m. ET Aug 13, 2007

How well do you know the birth names of famous people? Take our quiz and find out.
1. What's 'American Idol' finalist Clay Aiken's birth name?
Clayton Aiken Holmes
Clayton Michael Aiken
Clayton Holmes Grissom

• YouTube - for all you fans of "House", here's a "House" themed montage to the tunes of Clay's "Broken Wings"
  
• StarPulse - Aiken to appear on FOX's 5th Grader -

  Clay Aiken will be testing his mental mettle against a group of brainy fifth graders. Aiken is slated to appear on the upcoming celebrity version of Fox's hit game show, "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?"
  

• USA Today Idol Chatter has a wrap up on how Idols have performermed on the radio. Unsurprisingly, Clay comes in dead last with Ruben and Kimberley Locke -

  25. Invisible, Clay Aiken (30.0 million, No. 41)
  
  (Clay's only full-fledged radio hit and songs by Josh, Kellie and Kim Locke join the crowd.)
  
  Finally, number of hits on the chart by artist:
  
  Kelly: 11
  
  Carrie & Fantasia: 5
  
  Josh: 4
  
  Daughtry, Kellie, Ruben: 2
  
  Bo, Bucky, Clay, Elliott, Kimberley: 1

• Tour mentions:
• Columbus Ledger Enquirer -

  Clay Aiken to perform with Atlanta Symphony
  
  "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken will perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Atlanta's Chastain Park Amphitheater, 4469 Stella Drive. Tickets are $21.36-$63.48.
  

• And we still have a whole whack of "Idol: The Musical" stories... 3 days after it closed:
• Charlotte Observer via the Raleigh News & Observer - "Clay Aiken-inspired musical closes"
• Columbus Dispatch -

  Idol: The Musical -- A Musical Based on the Worship of Clay Aiken closed after its Sunday premiere. The off-Broadway show shut its doors "due to a lack of advance ticket sales, a lack of positive feedback from audience members and critics, and a lack of sustainable financial resources," producer Todd Ellis said.

• New York Daily News -

  "Idol: The Musical," based on fans who worship "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken, has been canceled after just one day because of poor ticket sales.

• Globe and Mail (major Canadian paper)
• Anti Music
• Pegasus News - random mention ... "Is it OK to make fun of Clay Aiken?"

• Chexxy's Pearls - countdown to 5th Grader.