(My bestie Kiki Crane just wrote her thesis paper about my unbridled creativity. I didn’t know I was, indeed, this wildly ingenious and innovative. Good thing Keek is an amazing writer and only managed to use the quotes where I sounded relatively sober. Enjoy, folks. And thanks to Keek for her bonne mots.)
“I love how you go by one name, like Cher or Madonna or Charo,” he tells guest artist, Majo.
“Do you have any tips for first time plungers?” he asked the cop who was sitting next to the woman dressed as a banana. The polar bear mascot, sitting next to the banana woman, nods his enormous, white head in encouragement.
“This isn’t your Grandma’s cupcake shop… unless Granny had a bit of a wild streak,” he quipped as video of the tempting treats named after the seven deadly sins teased its viewers. “This is one place bound to get everyone together … right before you enter cupcake rehab.”
These are just a few of the witticisms one can observe host Michael Mackie utter when tuning into “Kansas City Live,” a morning talk/lifestyle/entertainment show. Thanks to the marvel of the internet I was able to observe Michael maneuver his way through wildly different topics. At one moment he’s celebrating National Inane Answering Machine Day, the next he’s learning about the lesser known Super Bowl Battle: Washington Wine vs. Colorado Beer. He learns how to make cookies on a stick, then learns how to prevent head injuries when playing Lacrosse. Did you know Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas is the subject of a new movie on the Lifetime cable channel? You do now, thanks to Michael.
Some people might ask the question, “How is hosting a television show a mark of creativity? Doesn’t he just read the notes in front of him? Isn’t there a TelePrompTer?” It’s a fair question, I suppose. Until you realize how difficult it is to coax a watchable interview out of a nervous guest who is trying desperately to remember the talking points he or she practiced in front of the mirror in the green room. It also takes a creative mind to get through the interview with the hockey player from the Gold Medal winning 1980 U.S. Hockey team, when hockey isn’t exactly in the host’s wheelhouse.
Does Michael think he’s creative? A little. “Yes,” he says. “I’m a wildly creative person.” Of course I knew the answer to this question before I asked it. But why? What is it that allows him to say without any hesitation that he is creative? “My creativity has not been squelched at all. For the last decade or so I’ve worked for people who allowed me to be creative. I’ve been able to throw just about anything against the wall to see if it sticks. Sometimes they bombed, but most of them didn’t.”
All of these ideas, the ones that stick to the wall and those that don’t, where do they come from? For Michael the ideas flow when he’s writing. “I’m a freestyle writer. Whatever is in my head I write down. It’s my outlet. It’s very fluid.” It’s notable that speaking with Michael isn’t that different from reading his work. His voice, whether spoken or written, is clear and unapologetic. “I’m never hesitant about anything I write. Period. Exclamation point.”
His creativity hasn’t been squelched by anyone for more than a decade. Part of that, I know, is due to the freedom his employers from that decade have given him. His creativity has another outlet: his blog, www.michaelmackie.com. He realizes this. Blogging allows him to share his musings. “The blog is my voice, uncensored.” It is doubtful, to me at least, that anyone or anything could truly discourage Michael’s creativity.
(The fact that you’re reading about my blog ON my blog … is so meta.)
His creativity may not be discouraged, but it can be disrupted. “I have the attention span of a gnat, so if I want to do brilliant work I have to do it early. I do my best work, my most creative work, in the morning. Before the chickens crow.” Rooster? “I’m a useless writer at night. It’s a wonder I can even compose an email.” So I should have called you at five in the morning? “No. I don’t speak in the morning. I don’t speak then, but I write well. I write gooder in the morning. I write the mostest bestest at night.” Wordsmith, I say.
Is Michael surprised to learn I find him creative? I already know the answer to this question, but I can hardly wait for the answer. “No. Not at all. It’s why we’re friends.” This is true. “We feed off each other,” he adds. I whole-heartedly agree with his answer. I know I feel funnier, more interesting, and more creative when I’m with him. Creativity feeds on creativity. Michael reminds me that I need to get back to writing. “You have to keep writing,” he says. “You have to keep going so your writing gets better and better.” Creativity needs to be fed. It needs to be nurtured and exercised. I remember a conversation I had with Michael more than a year ago when I started writing again. I was rusty, but there was some muscle memory there. Creativity doesn’t go away, it just gets out of shape.
If creativity is innate, if as Guilford says it’s a factor of intelligence and not a byproduct of it, then we’re creative from an early age. Michael admits that he’s always felt creative. “I was always out there. Always the goofy, gregarious person who read more than anyone, wrote more than anyone, who was a wordsmith. From the time I was 5 years old my Dad gave me a word of the day. Every. Morning. At age 5,” Michael says with emphasis. “And I would have to use it, this long, obnoxious word sometime during the day. One day I remember the word of the day was loquacious. That day my teacher was just talking, talking, talking and I raised my hand and said, ‘Mrs. Behrens, you are loquacious.'” The new teacher in me finds this hilarious. “To this day,” he continues, “I remember a lot of those words. I love ‘smitten.’ In my head I’m always searching for the perfect word to use for whatever it is I’m writing.” I tell him that he needs to visit my classroom. Perhaps my students will listen to him.
What is it like to be, to use his words, wildly creative? “I use my creativity powers for good,” he quips. I chuckle at this statement, as it’s the phrase I use whenever I’m asked why I changed careers. “I have six Emmys. I’m blessed with people who think I’m the funniest person they’ve ever met.” He’s more humble than that sounds. What some people don’t know about Michael is that he’s a big believer in paying it forward. You can pay creativity forward, too. “I came up with the idea of ‘Art Attack’ which is the single most creative thing we do on the show. ‘Art Attack’ is where we give a local artist an hour to create and then we donate the piece to charity.” He mentions one other effect his creativity has had on his life. “I am perpetually happy; I’m almost always in a good mood.”
This is true. Michael is possibly the most positive person I know. As I looked over his responses to my questions one word kept sneaking into my head. Freedom. He mentioned how his ideas have never been squelched; how he has carte blanche on his show. He jokes that he’s “never been put down by the man.” I recall how he said he’s never hesitant about anything he writes. He’s never hesitant. His ideas are never squelched. Freedom. Can you be creative, truly creative, if you don’t have the freedom to do it? I’m not sure I’ve ever tried to define creativity, but I’m certain that part of the definition has to include the freedom to allow yourself to come up with ideas to “throw against the wall to see if they stick.” Creativity is the freedom to never be hesitant about putting your thoughts out there. Creativity is the freedom to allow your thoughts and ideas to be fluid so they can lead you to a place even you didn’t plan to be. I watched a video clip where my friend said to his co-host, “Behold! I brought you a gluttonous pig*!” Does Michael fit my definition of creativity? It’s possible Michael helped me form my definition of creativity.
*The Gluttonous Pig is a cupcake made from a brioche dough filled with butter and bacon, and topped with a maple glaze and more bacon. Gluttonous, indeed.