- This is the part where I.
- You, like start sweating when you're.
- This is the part where I get like hives
and I start with the anxiety, oh my gosh,
I cannot believe this happened.
(bright music)
Hey guys.
Have you ever had a job interview when you're like,
they really liked me.
- Like, those guys loved me.
- The interviewer's all like,
Oh my gosh, this is really working out,
I can see you working here.
This is going to be amazing, amazing.
And then, you never hear from them again?
- Well, here's a story about when I absolutely knew
that I was not going to get the job.
- Picture this.
This is before YouTube,
before Facebook,
before Christmas Jammies.
♪ Are those Christmas Jammies ♪
♪ They are Christmas Jammies ♪
- Penn was a big, fancy, news anchor.
- I was not fancy.
Everyone in local news wanted to be in network news.
There have been movies about this,
I'm going network, I'm going to go network.
- So, Penn gets a meeting with the network.
- Mmm hmm.
- ABC News.
- Very exciting.
- Our lives are going to change.
- We're going to move to New York.
- Have a giant penthouse. - Raise our kids there.
- How much did Matt Lauer make?
24 million a year?
Private office.
- Too soon.
- Okay.
So I go in with the guy, the guy who runs ABC News,
and this doesn't normally happen,
but we were getting along really well.
I'm telling you.
He was digging it.
- He was digging it.
- Yes, he was picking up what I was throwing down.
In fact, he liked me so much,
that in the middle of the interview
he was like, hey, Penn,
so Diane Sawyer is in the newsroom,
and if I can get her to meet with you
and she likes you, I'm pretty sure it's going to
be a sure thing, probably, maybe.
- And by the way,
Diane Sawyer has always been an idol of mine.
She was one of the first female corespondents on 60 Minutes.
- It's Diane Sawyer.
- And GMA, and Nightly News, I mean, Diane Sawyer.
- And she came into the office.
- Diane Sawyer.
- And she started by saying, hey,
I've only got a couple of minutes,
but who is this dude, whatever.
She comes in, and I have never been on like this
in my entire life.
I was telling jokes, I was witty, I was intelligent.
She was laughing, smiling.
She's like, I only have a few minutes
to stay in here and meet this guy, but whatever.
- That is not how Diane Sawyer talks.
- I'm talking like the roaring twenties.
But then she was walking by and she ended up sitting down,
on the couch, and we just shot the breeze for 15 minutes.
It could not have gone any better.
- Was it really going that well,
or did you think it was going that well?
- I don't know, all I know is I thought she was thinking,
if I could read her mind it was like,
Penn Holderness is amazing.
I'm writing his name down on my notepad,
'cause I'm a journalist.
Penn Holderness is amazing.
- This is the part where I. - You start sweating.
- This is the part where I get hives
and I start with the anxiety.
Oh my gosh, I cannot believe this happened.
- I really believed at 9:58 I had the job,
and then 9:59 came, when she had to say goodbye,
all I had to do was say goodbye.
And so Diane says, Penn, it was really nice to meet you,
I've gotta get to work, and I hope to see you soon.
- And then my husband says to her, says to Diane Sawyer.
- As she's walking out the door.
- Nice to meet you, Barbara.
As in Barbara Walters.
- And I didn't realize I had done it.
- As in not Diane Sawyer.
- Right so she stiffens up on her way out the door,
and then she walks out.
- So Penn turns to look at this news manager, and goes
hey, I thought that went pretty well.
- And the guy is just staring at me like,
are you aware of what you just did?
You just called her Barbara.
For a second, I was like, oh, that's her name, right?
Oh wait a second.
The guy goes, that is equivalent to you,
you just ran a 99 yard touchdown
and then on the one yard line,
put the football on the ground and pooped on it.
He actually said that.
And then it went from shock to the guy who was just like,
ha ha ha ha ha, you're never getting this job.
- I mean, to be Diane Sawyer and then to have this
guy from North Carolina and be like,
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Barbara.
And not know your name.
- I'm sure that's happened to her before.
Hasn't that at some point happened to her?
They're very similar, they came from a similar time,
they have the same number of syllables in their name,
they both work for ABC.
- No.
- I just figured it was an innocent mistake and I was like,
maybe they'll still call me.
- No, still waiting for the phone to ring.
Yes, you were correct.
- Can I say that she also, that Barbara.
- No.
- See, now it's in my head, that Diane was incredibly nice.
- Of course.
- And no one deserves what I did to them.
But also, I don't think I will ever mess up that badly
when the stakes are that high again in my life.
Or I hope I don't.
Well, that being said, everything happens for a reason.
Because if you had gotten that job,
we probably would have moved.
Then there wouldn't have been a Christmas Jammies,
and we wouldn't have built
whatever the heck we're doing now.
- Did I also mention, we went to a,
because I knew one of the girls at ABC,
and my friends and I went to a Christmas party,
because this was in December,
over at their house,
and this was like two days later,
and we walked into a party and this woman goes
are you the guy who called Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters?
It had circulated its way.
- He has become legend.
So, Diane, if you ever see this,
which I'm sure you won't, I'm sorry.
- She's got way more important things to do.
- Yes, she does.
- Why are you apologizing?
- Because, I just love her.
- I like her too, she was lovely.
I just called her the wrong name.
- Yeah. So.
- Now here we are.
- Making videos on the YouTube.
- That worked out for us.
Bye.