If ever there were an entertainer with a robust resume, it would have to be John O’Hurley. From playing the iconic J. Peterman on Seinfeld to hosting The National Dog Show, O’Hurley has done it all. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. O’Hurley talks about his illustrious career, why traveling is good for the soul, and when it comes to the winner of The National Dog Show, why he always roots for the underdog — no pun intended.
It’s been over 2 decades that you’ve been hosting The National Dog Show. It’s a long gig.
If you had told me that I’d be here 22 years later, I’d have said you were crazy. The first year, we had no idea what we were doing. It was just Jon Miller, the president of programming for NBC Sports. He saw Best In Show and thought that it was a funny movie and that it would be a good idea to do a dog show in between the Thanksgiving Day Parade and football. They had had miserable luck with that time slot. They had just about laughed him out of the office at the Monday meeting, but by the end of the day, he had contacted Purina and had gotten everything set up with them. Tuesday morning, he called me — I said, “Hello?” and he said, “Woof woof.” And that was the start.
How would you explain the longevity of the show?
Thanksgiving is a peculiar day. More often than not, it’s a family day or a large group of friends together — it’s a gathering time. When you try to find a commonality in entertainment and something that everyone enjoys, no one doesn’t love a dog. I think when you put little puppy dog eyes up on television on a day like that, you just stop the remote at that point and you watch. And sure enough, we were right. The first year, we had an audience of 19 million people and it has swelled up at times to 30 million. It’s blessed with permanence and has become a family tradition now.
There’s something in it for everyone, whether you’re 4 or 94. And you can’t say that about football, because it tends to be more regional. It’s another form of entertainment, too. The Parade isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, although it is fun to watch.
Wouldn’t you say that Santa Claus who comes at the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade is the opening act for The National Dog Show?
We come in pretty quick on his heels, yes. Thank you very much, Santa.
Do you have a particular breed that you love?
For the show, I love the Irish Setter. I love that auburn hair, and the stateliness of the neck and they’re so athletic when they come in against the blue carpet. They’re like the redhead who just walked into the cocktail party.
Do you ever find yourself rooting for the underdog of the show, no pun intended?
David and I have this standing pitch for the Golden Retriever. It’s America’s dog, and for some reason, it’s never picked by the judges. It’s the Susan Lucci of the pet show world. I think Susan missed 18 times before she finally got her Emmy. I think because it’s such a popular and common breed that the judges tip in that favor because it doesn’t make them look good. I think they want to show off their dog show chops.
You’re a very busy man. What other projects do you have going on?
I try to be. I just finished a film called Seeking Sugar. They had an agreement with the Screen Actors Guild, so I was able to finish it. I’ve been touring my one-man show around the country — it’s called “A Man With Standards”, so named because I grew up around the music of the 50s and 60s, and the men who had standards. That’s been doing very well; it’s won some of the Broadway World awards. I have another movie I’ll be shooting in Greece and I have a series that I’ll be starting soon called “Through the Grapevine” which I’ll be hosting. It’s a show about food and wine and ambiance. I’ll be traveling the world doing all that awful stuff.
That’s a very nice mix of media genres.
Yes, I like having the diversity of opportunities. It’s fun to go from Broadway to a movie to a sitcom to hosting; I do a lot of that. I do motivational speaking; I write and I compose. I always follow my imagination; it always tells me what I should be doing next. It’s been pretty accurate to this point.
It’s nice to be open to possibilities and know that no one’s journey is one set path.
Yes, and I was blessed by God with a lot of different talents and I have to tweak them all. I go from one to the other, and I enjoy it. It’s a very fulfilling life that way.
I know that you enjoy traveling.
If anyone hasn’t had a chance to go to the Greek islands, they owe themselves the journey. The Aegean Sea has a color that I have not found anywhere else. It also has a salt content that allows anyone to float. And this will be my second movie that I’ve shot there. I do a lot of work with Regent cruise line; it’s the Rolls Royce of cruises. Three or four times a year, I’ll hop aboard Regent and I’ll do my show for a night and in return, they bless me with a very nice 14 day cruise. I just hate my life.
As you should! Now, obviously we’re a parenting magazine, so we need to talk about your son.
William will be 17 in a few weeks. It’s been a very interesting year or two for him. He’s thriving at his school and he’s discovered aviation. At the age of 15, he decided that he wanted to be a pilot. I bought him a flying lesson and it literally changed his life. He has grown up with a sense of self-discipline now that I’m amazed by. There’s a depth with which he guides his life now. He wakes up at 5:00 every morning and goes to the gym, which I don’t do, but he’ll drag my carcass there sometimes. He’s just shy of being able to get his pilot’s license. It’s changed his grades; he’s gone from a B- student to a 4.5 and it’s been a miracle to watch him grow.
I would imagine that his work ethic comes from seeing his parents. You’re being a good role model.
We try to be as good a role model as we can. I give him a long stretch of rope because I trust him. He hasn’t disappointed us very often at all. We did it right once so that’s all.
Wouldn’t you say that if your child shows an interest in something that it’s important to honor it and explore it with them?
Peter Schaffer once wrote in his play Equus: “Passion can be destroyed; it cannot be created.” Too often, parents kill passion in children because whatever the child is interested in, is not what you’d refer to as “approved flesh.” They discourage it and it’s too bad because with a lot of kids, if you kill the passion, they don’t get it back.
I would say that my parents were mildly supportive of my aspirations to be an actor. I will say that it was difficult at times to negotiate the journey that I wanted to be on, but I had to do it. It wasn’t always easy, though.
I think part of that is generational. Parents considered real jobs to be a doctor, a lawyer, something that you worked at for 35 years and when you retired, you got a plaque. They didn’t consider creatives, like you and I, to be able to gain long-term employment.
And theater is the kind of business that if you can talk yourself out of it, you really should because it’s subjective, and very difficult. People will have 4 or 5 jobs in their lifetime or business careers. I’ll have 1200 in a year, it seems. You’re hired to be fired all the time. It’s a difficult life from that perspective.
Somehow, though, I feel that life finds a way. If you’re meant to share something, you’ll be able to.
For me, I took a 5-year hiatus right out of college. I had my certificate in acting but I was scared to death of the business of acting. I didn’t know how I was going to make a living at it. I retreated and went into the next most theatrical thing I could think of which was advertising and public relations. I was moving up the corporate ladder very quickly in that area, and it was a good thing for me because it taught me many lessons about how to promote myself so when I finally did return to my area of focus which was entertainment, I went there to be a success, and there was no excuse for it. I was responsible for my own success.
There’s a level of acting in those positions as well, wouldn’t you say?
It’s a business show, not show business.
Don’t you feel that every job, every experience, takes you where you’re supposed to go?
I believe so. I take a half look over my shoulder and look at what I’ve done and think, “That’s my career.” It’s impossible to put those pieces together in front of you. You just have to respond to opportunity and accept that that’s where you’re supposed to be going. I really believe in following your imagination because that’s really the only way God can talk to you by giving you the pictures in your mind of who you are and what you’re supposed to be. I follow those- it got me into Dancing with the Stars, it got me into The National Dog Show. These are not normal decisions one makes. I’m going to do a show about dogs or I’m going to do a show about competitive ballroom dancing. But it’s your imagination that sees the picture of yourself succeeding in that venue. When you have something in your imagination, you are responsible for completing it.
It can be hard to tap into that when you’re doing the day to day as a parent. It’s hard to dream.
It absolutely is. There’s no question about it. Too often, our rational minds will take hold and are poor judges of who we are and where we’re supposed to be. They’re meant to keep us upright on this earth and to control our fight or flight syndrome. Your imagination doesn’t lie to you because it’s incapable of lying to you. It’s a constant 24/7 assessment of who you are and what you should be doing.
Of all the things you’ve done in your life, what’s the one thing you’ve yet to achieve?
The first thing that comes to mind is more travel. I really would like the opportunity to see more areas of the world. I’ve been blessed to go on a safari and see that part of the world but there are places I’d love to go to in the world and take my family. When I mentioned Regent Cruise lines, the beauty of that is that I can flip through their catalog and say, “Where do you want to go next?” All I have to do is sing for my supper.
While going to Kenya on a safari is great, wouldn’t you agree that you can explore closer to home, too?
I do agree 100%. There are so many local places to see that are still untouched. I love this country and it’s such a joy to explore it. As Peter Schaffer also said, “Worship a thousand gods and a 1000 more will appear.” The more you explore the more there is to explore.
I’ve been blessed to take my son to most places where I’ve entertained so he grew up backstage and had the most wonderful time. He was a dancer and a singer; he took drum lessons from the drummer in the orchestra. He had seen the world and to that, I would add that he went to a wonderful school. When he was in 6th grade there was a requirement for the students to learn every country in the world and their capitals. Not only does he know this, he’s taking it so far that he knows the silhouette of every country, too. So I think aviation for him was adding a third dimension to what is really an expertise in this crazy world of geography. He actually has a song where the lyrics are all 175 countries. He sings it and it’s amazing. So much of it is self taught; we’ve given him a great environment but he’s taken it and run with it.
Or flown with it. Have you flown with him?
I have not. He invited me once and I said, “This is your world. You go explore it.” There will be a time when we’ll both be sitting in the backseat. I do know that the day he goes for his pilot license will be the day when my wife will have to be put under general anesthesia.
It’s like when your child learns to drive.
Believe it or not, that just came last week. We had a very stunning moment in our lives that unveiled itself without expectation. Last Monday he got his driver’s license and his first car. It is a used car, 10 years old and it’s his. He loves it so much that he goes out sometimes in between classes and visits his car.
On Tuesday morning, my wife and I got up with him, and he drove himself to school. We stood there in the driveway, we waved goodbye to him, and that was the first time in 14 years that we had not driven him to school. My wife was the first one to notice it and it was a touching moment.
It’s cool that he doesn’t have a brand new car. You’re teaching him the value of work and money.
He’s responsible for putting the gas in the car, as expensive as it is. Where we live doesn’t require a great deal of driving so he’s not burning through a tank of gas. He works afterschool in my wife’s warehouse. She has a women’s golf clothing line and he wraps boxes. Teaching kids responsibility at an early age is important. It shapes them into who they’re meant to be and as such, they can live a rich and fulfilling life.