Dr Cooper: Hi you guys. It's been a long time, more than a month since I made an audio diary. It's time for a new audio diary. Now when I first ... This audio diary is about my time at the last season world premiere, which was in New York City at Radio City Music Hall, and then at a party event hall afterwards.

And it was a very fancy night. I was going to tell you about how I'm involved with Game of Thrones, or I know Game of Thrones, but the story is too long. So I'll just tell you briefly that one of my best friends, my best American friend for sure, is the co- creator/executive producer/showrunner/writer of the show. So he's the chief, he's the head of the show, he and his friend, who's also a friend of mine, are the heads of the show. And he's a very close friend of mine, and when I went to New York two weeks ago I think, the first day I got to New York I was surprised by a ticket to the premiere of Game of Thrones that he had sent to me.

And I felt honored, and especially because when you have a friend who, before Game of Thrones he was a writer for movies, and he was kind of a big shot. But now he's extremely powerful, he's known as basically the most important person in television. He and his co-writer, who's also a good friend of mine, they're doing the Star Wars movies now. And so what a showrunner is, is the person who creates the television show, who pitches it, basically sells it, in this case to HBO, and then who is responsible for the whole show. Usually, in his case and his co-show runner's case, they're the head writers too. So what they do is they write most of the shows, and the shows that they don't write they direct the writers on what they should write, and then they edit and revise.

So, and besides that they have all of the responsibilities, basically they're the bosses, the CEOs of the show. And so he, it was an honor because he'd become, he has so many people he could send ... there were very limited tickets, so many people he could send the ticket to the world premiere, and he sent it to me.

And I think the thing I liked most about the whole world premiere is simply that my good friend, despite the fact that he's become so famous, still remembered me. Because I have a few other friends who have also become very, very rich, or very, very famous, and they don't always remember you, believe me, when they get to be powerful and rich a lot of times they forget you. But not him.

So on the day that I had to go to the show, I was very excited, and I wanted ... but I had no clothes in New York. I had gone to New York from Greece, and I had brought no clothes at all that I could wear to a world premiere, and a party with all these fancy people. So I had to go shopping.

But you know, I didn't do a very good job shopping at all. Or maybe I did do a good job, but I panicked. So I went to one store and I bought a lot of clothes, and I was worried that they weren't so good. And then I went to another store so that I could look for something, because I bought a shirt, I bought trousers, I bought shoes, but I wanted to wear something over the shirt, and I thought most people would be wearing a jacket, but I didn't want to spend that much money for a jacket. So I thought I would buy world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 1 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

something else like a [Portuguese 00:04:57], a jumper, or something cool but not a jacket.

And I went to this other store, and the saleswoman there, now this is the funny thing you guys. I thought the saleswoman there was very honest, but she convinced me to buy a whole new set of clothes. New pants, a new shirt, and I bought these, and a vest, which is a [Portuguese 00:05:25], a vest. And I bought these.

And I went, on the day of the premiere I went to Manhattan, and my brother lives in Manhattan. And my brother is very different than me, he's very cool, he's very hip, he knows how to dress with the fancy people. He is a fancy person himself. And I said, "Do you like my clothes?" And he was very honest, and he said, "they suck, it looks like you're going to church." And actually, the original shirt I was going to wear, I showed my wife, and she said it's not that nice of a shirt. The shirt was a bad idea. Anyway, so he gave me his own clothes, but like a jerk, like a capitalist, he sold me ... I can't believe this, he sold me his used jeans that he gave me to wear.

So I changed my clothes, and I have to admit, when I put the clothes on that he gave me to wear I looked much better. And I went to the premiere. Now this was very exciting. First of all, it was one of the only days in the last year that I didn't work, which is great. Second of all, the weather was very nice in Manhattan, and I felt excited. I got on the subway, probably I'm the only person who went to the party who got on the subway. And I took the subway to the premiere, and I had the ticket in my phone.

And on the subway I was so excited that there was this pretty, very old Spanish woman, and I asked her where the subway stops, because I needed to stop at a certain street. But she couldn't understand me because she spoke Spanish. But that was no problem for me, you guys, because I speak Spanish. So then I started speaking to her in Spanish, and she said, it was very nice, and it's the kind of excitement you have when you speak another language, especially when you don't know how good you are at it. And I don't usually speak Spanish, and to be able to talk and listen to her was great. And she told me where to get off, and I got off the subway, and I got to the premiere.

And at first I had told myself, "You know what Cooper? Don't go in to the premiere right away, don't be so ..., be cool, go last minute." But I didn't do that. Instead, I went to the premiere right away. So what's that mean, what did I do? Well, I had to stand on a line, and at first I thought, "Shit, this is just like going to a movie, I have to stand on a line." But then I realized that the line was very short, and unlike a movie there were probably thousands of people outside of the theater with their cameras, because they were so excited about Game of Thrones, they were such big fans of Game of Thrones.

And I was on the line, and I went in to get my ticket to get allowed into the theater. And it's a very old, famous, very big theater called Radio City Music Hall, it was very impressive. I had never been there, it's one of the most famous theaters in Manhattan. And when I was given my ticket I noticed, and this is not a nice thing necessarily, I noticed how well the person treated me. Because not only did I get a ticket but I got a wristband to put on my wrist, which said that afterwards I go to the exclusive party. world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 2 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

Because there were many more people watching the premiere of the first episode of the show than going to the party. And I got the band to go to the party afterwards.

And then, you know, I went to the bathroom, I checked out how I looked because I wanted to look cool, I was hoping people would think I was somebody famous. And I went to my seat. Now when I went to my seat there were many people very, very excited to be at the premiere. Probably, definitely I would say thousands of people, I would guess. My guess is several thousand people. And in a way I felt disappointed, because I said, "Ah, there's so many people here, I'm just one of thousands, I'm not special." But then I was told where my seat was, and it became clear that I was at the very front of the theater, with all of the very important people, the VIPs, the VIPs.

And there weren't very many of us, and we were the ones who had been invited for the party. And for the most part, everybody there was a powerful person in television, or was related to one of the stars, was invited by one of the stars of the show. So usually family members, in my case, and some other people, friends.

And as I sat there, there were some people who I noticed. I noticed my friend's mother and sister, and I went over to them and I said hello, and I was happy because they knew that I had just gotten married, and they said congratulations on your marriage, and they looked at my left hand for the ring. But the ring was on the right hand, because in Greece you put your ring on your right hand.

And then I decided, everybody who knew me, which wasn't many people, and asked about my wedding, I showed them pictures of the wedding, and the reason I showed them pictures of the wedding was one reason, to show them that I had a very young, beautiful wife so they could think I'm cool like them, ha ha ha ha. And then I went back to my seat, and I was sitting next to an old friend of Dave's, who when I was young I had known, actually I had known him from my, from my friend's wedding, okay? Which was 13 years, 12 years before.

And we were both padrinhos at the wedding. So I knew him and I had seen him maybe six or seven times in my life, and he didn't recognize me. He was the first person who didn't recognize me. And he said, "Who are you?" And I explained, and he didn't recognize me, and I thought, "Is it because I look so much better? Or is it because I look old?" And I have to admit, it probably was because I look old, and I don't like to feel that way. Really disappointed, but what can I do? We get old.

Now I will tell you this. So that was the most exciting part of the night, watching the first episode of Game of Thrones eleven days before anybody else in the world got to watch it. First of all the screen was very big. Second of all, the atmosphere watching a premiere is different, because you're in a theater with a lot of people who all know they're watching it for the first time, and they to clap every time a famous character comes on, because they haven't seen them for two years.

It was a different experience, and it was exciting. And also, at the beginning of the premiere my friends were congratulated, and then they made a speech, and then they world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 3 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

introduced the whole cast of the ..., not everybody, almost everybody was at the premiere who was in the cast, and they introduced everybody, and it was an exciting moment.

I'll say that when I saw the first episode, it wasn't my favorite episode. But it was exciting to be there, and to be in the important person place, because I have a lot of vanity. And then what happened was we were going to the party, and I was excited about the party because I thought I would get to talk to some of the actors I had met before, and some people, old friends, and I thought I could impress them. Because it was Dr. Cooper, and I was going to tell them about everything I did.

And we sat there waiting, and it was cool, because as we were ... we were the second most important group of important people. The most important people of course were the people who were, worked in Game of Thrones, especially the cast, and the producers. And they all walked out in front of us, so the police held the crowd back as they walked out in front of us, and got into limousines that took them to the party.

After they left then we were the next people who left, and I walked over there with the old friend of my friend who's the showrunner of Game of Thrones. And I really liked him, you know, because I felt he was a real innocent American. And even though I often get annoyed at innocent Americans, he was such a nice guy, you know, and it was nice to sort of walk over there with him and try to make him, you know, because he felt special that he was invited too.

And we walked to the party, and you got to the party, there were so many fans, and so many people taking pictures, and I actually said, "Should I walk in through the red carpet?" Because I felt like a lot of people looked at me and they didn't know who I was, and they thought I might be ... don't laugh, they thought I might be an actor or somebody important. Actually I think they looked at everybody who was well-dressed that way, "Who is that guy? Is he a famous person?" So it was exciting, and then we went into the party.

And the party was fancy, and at first it was exciting. And when you got to the party it was about 10:20, or 10:15, and I thought, "This is going to be really exciting, and I'm going to get to talk to a lot of people about myself, about English by Dr. Cooper". And I went in, and I was with my friend, and he got a drink, and I got a drink, it was my only drink because I don't drink, I don't like to drink anymore. I don't like the hangovers. But there was everything you could want to drink. And then we put our drinks and our food on a table. And this is when things changed.

Somebody told us, "You can't put that on a table." And I said, "Why not?" And they said, "It's assigned to one of the actors." And we basically saw that there were a bunch of little tables in the event hall, the party hall, and all of these little tables were reserved for the cast members. And as you're there, at first, people don't know who you are.

And you could see even the actors and actresses looking at you. And unfortunately, all of the actors I knew well I didn't see. I only saw actors I had never met before. But they world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 4 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

looked at me, at first, as if they should talk to me, because basically I think those actors were there to meet other important people in television, because the show is over and now they need new jobs.

And this is something that I realized when I was there, which is the party really wasn't a real party, it was a business party, it was a corporate party. And the people there, especially the actors, were trying to make connections, because you know, Game of Thrones is over, and I hate to tell you, but most of those people who are stars of Game of Thrones are going to be forgotten. And even though they'll be remembered and forgotten at the same time.

And when you think about past television shows, what happens is, you know, when actors stop being in television they're remembered, but you almost feel sorry for them, because their fame drops so much. And I think, for actors, for some actors, that's really sad, right? You were famous, everybody knew you, everybody was taking pictures of you, at the premiere, everybody wanted to talk to you, and then maybe in three or four years from now, people will start to forget you. And you don't feel so important anymore, and I think more than that, I think the actors want to get a new job.

So there were many, many television producers there, many, many important people in television there. I think, in fact, besides the relatives and friends everybody there was an important person in television. Either an actor or a producer, and I think that these tables, I think that a lot of the actors were there, some of them were there with their agents.

For example, the one actress I know on Game of Thrones who I saw and talked to at the party was there with her agent. And he was very polite to me by the way, but I think it's cause he didn't know who the hell I was. And that's what was funny, they were very, very polite at first, until they realized I was nobody important, or they thought I was nobody important. And so while I was there, from the initial excitement I started to feel bad, because I would go over to my friend and I would start talking, and I was excited, and I was being myself, and you could see that , and I've always said this, Americans think that my personality is weird. I'm too alive, I'm too emotional. I speak too loud.

And I remember I was speaking very loudly to somebody, probably about English by Dr. Cooper, and they looked at me like I was nuts. They looked at me like I was crazy. And I felt bad, because really nobody wanted to hear about what I did. And at first I felt bad, and then I realized, you know what? I know some other people who are a lot more successful than me, a lot more powerful than me, and they're used to getting their asses kissed, and if they were at this party they would be ignored too!

Basically, if you couldn't help ... most of these people, if you couldn't help them they didn't want to talk to you. They were very interested in you until they found out who you were. But they could see who you were, because after 10 or 15 minutes, if you weren't talking to somebody famous they could tell you weren't important. world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 5 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

And I talked to more people who didn't recognize me that were in my friend's family, and I felt bad about that. And the one that hurt me the most was his agent, because I had gone on two vacations with his agent, and yet his agent didn't recognize me at all. Or I think actually he did recognize me, but he didn't like me.

So, you know, every time I tried to talk about Dr. Cooper and what I'm doing I was given about 30 seconds, but it was clear they didn't give a shit. They didn't give a shit about what I was doing. And the worst thing was, when I was talking to my friend, and he was with some people who are probably, well to be fair, they probably thought, "Why aren't I asking them what they do?" They were probably very important people in Hollywood, and I didn't know, and I didn't care, and I didn't ask what they did or anything else. And I was just trying to tell them what I did.

And my friend happened to be talking to two people, I think one of them was an actress from the show who I didn't recognize, and some other guy. And he said, he said all of a sudden, "This is Cooper, he's an English teacher." And I got so mad, because I thought, English teacher? English teacher? That's all I am, an English teacher? I said, "I'm not an English teacher," I didn't say anything. I sort of just got pissed off, and I became quiet. But then I realized, I wish I had said, "I'm not an English teacher, I'm the English teacher. I'm the person who's revolutionizing English teaching." But those people still wouldn't have cared, they still wouldn't have cared.

But the look, the funny thing is as soon as he introduced me they walked away. Five seconds later they just walked away. "Oh, we're going to be leaving, we're going to leave the party now." And they walked away. And I felt humiliated a little, that nobody wanted to talk. But this is because of my vanity, and this is because of myself. I should have been different. But to be honest with you, it wasn't a real party, and it was a real disappointment.

Because what it was, was a chance for people in the show to meet important people to help their careers. And in the end, you know, I kind of felt a little bit, a little bit, a little bit sorry for them, because I could see that being famous is very important to them, and I thought to myself, you know, in three years some of these people will be completely forgotten. But I bet you English by Dr. Cooper won't be forgotten.

And maybe that's not a nice thing to feel, and to think, and I shouldn't be so competitive, and I shouldn't have such a big ego, but I have to admit, I do. I want people to respect me, and I think that's because for so long nobody respected me, and I always thought I deserved respect. And I think it's best not to care, I think it's best to be yourself, and not to care. When it comes down to it this party seemed very exciting, but in reality these are just people, and I've met them before, and I've seen they’re just people. And they have their own insecurities, and they're also worried, as we all are, about our future.

And they're not gods, and they're not better than us, and we don't have to prove anything to anybody but to ourselves. And I'm proving things to myself every day. And actually when I went back from the party I first went to my brother’s apartment. And I world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 6 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com

admire him in one way, because he doesn't really give a shit about them. He's in his own world, he's doing his own thing, and he's trying to be great at what he does. And we talked a little, and I'm trying to be great at what I do, and I'm sure you guys are trying to be great at what you do, and we just want to be happy, or we want sometimes maybe the best important thing is to be happy.

And as I talked to my brother I was glad, I hadn't seen him in almost a year, and it was good to talk to him even though he's kind of a pain in the ass, but it was good to talk to him. And then I took a limo myself, back to my house, my mother's house, which is close to Manhattan. And as I stayed in the limo I enjoyed the night, and I enjoyed being free, and I was glad that the party had ended so early, and I could get to sleep at about 1:00, 1:30 in the morning. And I think that was a very calm night for me. I had had the whole day off, and the best part of it actually was seeing my brother, and seeing the beginning of the premiere, seeing the premiere and being around normal people. So that's my audio diary, talk to you later.

world premiere -- Game of Thrones (Completed 04/13/19) Page 7 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com