Student bursts into stardom
Staring blankly ahead, erratically moving his jaw and occasionally exposing the Starburst wrapper in his mouth, Utah State University student Nick Creamer pulled a fully intact paper airplane from his mouth.
After watching a videotape of Creamer, 19, performing this talent, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” booked him on the April 7 show for a segment called “Teenage Wasteland,” which featured youth from across America with unique skills.
Creamer, an aviation technology major, discovered he had this talent when he was a senior in high school.
Working at Nordic Valley, a local ski resort, and heli-skiing for Diamond Peaks Heli-Skiing Adventures, Creamer had to come up with an alternative way to get into his favorite candy, as ski gloves make it difficult. Taking off the wrapper with his tongue made it easier. He soon became skilled at removing the wrapper.
One day, he saw a commercial on TV with a man and woman at a party.
The man took a Starburst and unwrapped it with his mouth, hoping to impress the woman. She took one and did the same thing, only when she pulled it out, it was folded into a swan.
Inspired by the concept, Creamer went to the store, purchased two bags of Starbursts and spent the rest of the night discovering what he could come up with.
“I first tried the swan – yeah, that’s impossible,” Creamer said. “There’s no way.”
He successfully folded an airplane, which took him roughly five minutes, he said. It came out too soggy and fell apart, so he practiced continually to shave seconds off his time. After a while, he was able to complete a relatively dry airplane.
Viewing “The Tonight Show” one evening, Creamer’s mother was unimpressed with the talents during the “Teenage Wasteland” segment. She concluded Creamer could be on the show and e-mailed the producer.
One month later, she received a reply e-mail stating they were interested in having him on the show. They wanted him to send a tape of folding the airplane in his mouth in less than one minute.
At that time, Creamer’s completion speed was around 45 seconds, so he said he wasn’t worried.
A week or two after Creamer sent in the tape, he received a call from “The Tonight Show.”
“I about died,” Creamer said. “I freaked out and said, ‘Hold on!’ – I don’t know why I said hold on, but ran into the kitchen and then talked with him for about a half hour about how I came up with it.”
The final date, after a few scheduling difficulties, was set for April 7. Creamer had to get work and school off, a difficult feat near the end of the semester.
“He just asked to be excused to be on ‘The Tonight Show,'”said assistant professor of aviation technology, Kevin Garrity.
Creamer demonstrated for the class what he could do and was excused.
NBC flew Creamer and his wife to California and a man holding a sign with their name on it was waiting for them at the airport.
They were taken to their hotel and able to do some sightseeing the day before filming, Creamer said.
The following day, a limo took them to the studio to shoot the segment. Creamer was briefed on what would happen and they ran through some practice questions Leno would most likely ask.
Right before the filming began, Creamer was welcomed to the show by Leno and talked with him for a while.
Then the show began.
When it was time for his part of the segment, Creamer was given some last-minute tips from the producers and went on stage.
“I just went out there and had a conversation with Jay. That’s what they told us to do.”
After being asked only one of the questions he had practiced and the rest impromptu, it was time for him to perform.
“The funny thing is, I really wasn’t that nervous, which was kind of a shocker,” he said. “I thought I’d be scared to death.”
As he began the process, Creamer felt as though it had not folded correctly.
“When I pulled it out, it looked great,” he said, “but there was a white spot on the wing where it had folded under itself. It was still in the shape of a wing, but it had a white tip. Other than that, it looked like a perfect airplane.”
From beginning to end, Creamer folded that airplane in 24 seconds.
Creamer was told by personnel at “The Tonight Show” that there are possibilities for Starburst commercials if the company chooses to use him, so Creamer is sending a DVD of the show to Starburst headquarters.
“If nothing happens, I really don’t care,” Creamer said. “I’ve had my 30 seconds of fame and that was good enough. It was a blast to do it. To meet the people I met was priceless. It’s something that [I’ll] never be able to do again in [my] life.”
-briannamo@cc.usu.edu
Nick Creamer displays a paper airplane he folded out of a Starburst wrapper with his tongue. Creamer is a student at USU majoring in aviation technology and was on Jay Leno´s late night show earlier this month. (Photo by John Zsiray)