#shannon devido

“Best Summer Ever”

I feel guilty when sharing my honest opinion about films like the musical “Best Summer Ever,” which simply isn’t a very good movie. It’s brimming with good intentions, and its positive representation of the differently-abled is to be commended, but that’s where the praise ultimately stops. This not-quite-unwatchable movie about true love doesn’t really have enough positives to recommend, but the…

Here is a Dear Julianna letter in video format from actor/comedian Shannon DeVido who has a YouTube series called Stare at Shannon and has appeared on TV shows including The Nightly Show and Difficult People.

Shannon provided closed captioning of her video and it's available when you click on the closed caption (CC) button on the Youtube video.

Comic Con Panelists Discuss Perceptions of Disability in Film & Television

I did, and this is the story of it. The security in question is none other than that of Philadelphia's own Liberty Bell. Now, some of you are probably asking "Why the hell would you need to take an office chair through security?!?!?"- watch this and it'll hopefully make a bit more sense.

This is the story of my very first Stare at Shannon episode. Shannon DeVido is one of my closest friends and favorite people in the world, and I'm not alone in that sentiment. We first bonded over playing victims on various shows (she was on Law & Order and I was on Forensic Files), and I knew this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. I remember Shannon asking me my thoughts on the idea of her web series, and I was instantly in love with it and anticipating the episodes. It wasn't too long after the series hit the Internet that Shan asked me if I would be a part of it, and I immediately said hell yes. I didn't even need to know what she wanted me to do, but when I found out, I was way too excited- so excited that I called my mom to immediately tell her how I would spend my Saturday. The conversation went like this: "MOM, GUESS WHAT I'M DOING WITH SHANNON SATURDAY? I'M TAPING AN EPISODE OF STARE AT SHANNON WHERE SHE'S GOING TO GIVE ME A TOUR OF THE CITY BY PULLING ME ON AN OFFICE WHEELIE CHAIR!" to which she replied laughing, "Aubrie." This about sums up my mom's reply to me most of the time- my parents are super supportive of what I do, but they probably don't expect their 30 year old daughter to say half of the stuff I say to them in regards of my daily plans.

On the day of the shoot, we drove into Old City with a camera, a tripod, an office chair and a bunch of rope in the trunk- typical Saturday. After realizing the rope may be dangerous and very unreliable, we gave that dream up and I simply held on to the chair. The first few shots were outdoors, meaning we did not have to ask anyone's permission. Even if we did, we probably wouldn't. After that, we decided to go big or go home and bring ourselves, our video equipment, and our office chair into the building that housed the Liberty Bell (where the only thing that was permitted in that list was ourselves). Still, we weren't going to let that stop us! Surely, we thought the guard would let that stop us. Everyone got through without so much as a question...until me. I was in fact pushing an office chair, which for all they knew could've been a weird bomb.

The security guard, upon noticing my chair, simply laughed and said "That's a new one!" and let me push it through the metal detector. Once it was clear that it wasn't a threat, he continued to laugh and said "You brought your own chair! That's a new one!" I thought I was safe at this point and that he would let me go through without questioning it further, but then he asked it- "Why do you need a chair to see the Liberty Bell?" This was a tough one to answer, and I figured vague would be best. "I'm on a tour." "With a chair? What're ya gonna do with it?" "Go on a tour." I didn't want to give away my hand just yet, because if I said we were taping a thing he would've surely kicked us out. I also didn't want to say, "See my friend over there? She's just going to pull me around in this chair!" There was no way I could've answered that question without having to answer a hundred more questions, and we were on a time crunch. Luckily, for about the 8th time, he let us slide. He kept his eye on us as I sat in said chair and had my friend whisk me away through a crowd of tourists, and probably just assumed a was a weirdo who did this all of the time. This was one of my favorite days ever, and I hope one day there is a sequel to this episode.

Comedian and Actor Shannon Devido (of Stare at Shannon, among other projects) joins me for a cookie-eating tour of Midtown New York City!

Shannon talks about her projects including stand-up comedy, her goal of becoming Senior Disabled Correspondant on The Daily Show, and her hit YouTube show STARE AT SHANNON.

LINKS:

Stare At Shannon on YouTube: http://bit.ly/1cQ8nXj Shannon's Web Site: http://bit.ly/1fyPau8 Coach Corky Runs: http://bit.ly/1en8t6y