Sometime last year I was invited to work on a television production. It wasn’t the first time I had been on TV but it was the first time I was required to do some actual hosting. Prior experiences were largely restricted to “social commentator” appearances where I and a couple of strangers just talked about whatever topic was chosen for us.

I spoke with a couple of friends who should know for pointers on how to behave and the general sum of the responses I got was a simple “just be yourself.”

As if there was any other way I could have been.

“Just be yourself” has become the choice new buzzword, the simple self-help answer to every personality problem. Just be yourself and the world settles around you. For you.

As if.

I was myself and it turns out that myself is not a very interesting place to be for television. Thinking myself self-sufficient with a decent script and a sharp train of thought, I went on air prepared to talk, but unprepared to host. Or engage.

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