American Idol 6: Sanjaya’s Makes His First Post-Idol Appearance, on ‘The Tonight Show’

In his first post-Idol appearance, Sanjaya Malakar was a guest on NBC’s The Tonight Show Thursday. Jay Leno introduces him by calling him “one of the most talked-about contestants in the history of American Idol.” Yup, I suppose that’s true.

Leno asks him how he’s doing, and Sanjaya says he’s doing a lot better than he thought he’d be. Well, Lord knows he’s had weeks and weeks to prepare himself for this! Was he surprised? He says when he saw the show on Tuesday, he kind of thought he was going home because he’s not a country singer and never has been. Newsflash: You’re not really much of a singer, period. But he says he had fun and that’s what really matters.

Leno asks if he’s hard on himself. Ooooh, can I answer? Sure, ‘cus I’m writing this article! He’s obviously not hard enough on himself! But Sanjaya says he just has a good time and tries to learn from every experience.

Jack Black, who was the guest prior to Sanjaya and is still sitting on the couch, tells Sanjaya he had a great ride and says he was rooting for him. He admits he didn’t vote, but if he had, he would have voted for Sanjaya. He would have voted for “the chubby dude” (Chris Sligh) and then him, and then a couple others he’s not going to say.

Why the chubby dude, Leno wants to know. Black says he felt a kinship and Chris gave him a shout-out, saying he was a combination of him and Jack Osbourne.

Getting back to Sanjaya, Leno notes that he went from nobody knowing who he was to a whole nation talking about him. Leno thought he handled it quite well because sometimes people’s heads get big. Um, Jay, were you watching the show? Sanjaya definitely started believing his own press.

What’s it like to turn on the TV and see people doing jokes about him? Sanjaya says it’s crazy – he watched it and it was weird. He’s just a kid from Seattle, not a celebrity. But people know him. Jack Black jumps back in saying he’s a celebrity now. Two months ago, not at all. Now, about as famous as you can be.

Leno says he has “Fanjayas.” Ugh, you’re kidding me. Sanjaya laughs and nods, saying they are “Fanjayas who have been Sanjayaed.” Leno wants to know what that means and Sanjaya says he guesses it’s a verb. Thank you, Mr. Grammar. He continues that he didn’t know nouns could become verbs. Oy. But he knows you can go on eBay and buy a Sanjanary – a dictionary of Sanjaya terms. OK, some people have way too much time on their hands and need to find a better hobby.

Leno seems to agree, as he says, “That’s called obsessive.” Even Sanjaya says, “Yeah,” to that!

How did Sanjaya take Simon, who can be a little hard? Did it ever sting a little? Sanjaya says no, he thinks Simon saw potential in him and he didn’t necessarily live up to that potential he saw. Sanjaya says Simon taught him a lot.

Black says it seemed like Simon was mad at him and going after him extra. Well, I think it was more that Simon was mad as Fanjayas, but Sanjaya’s attitude towards the judges didn’t help either, I’m sure.

Leno points out that Simon said he would quit if Sanjaya won – did he believe that? Sanjaya says no. Doesn’t matter, since we knew there was no way Sanjaya would win! Are there any hard feelings for Simon? None at all.

What is Sanjaya’s background, other than being from Seattle? He says his dad was born in India and his mom is Italian. Leno says that’s why he loves Sanjaya and where the talent comes from. Er, Jay, I wouldn’t brag about that “talent” level.

Does he have combinations of Italian and Indian food? Sanjaya says yeah, he loves it. He cooks both.

What was he doing six months ago? Studying for his GED. And he passed with flying colors. OK, but why was he doing his GED instead of finishing high school? Leno doesn’t ask that question. However, Sanjaya says he wants to go to college but he came into Idol to be “in the business,” so he definitely wants to continue.

Time for the obligatory hairstyle discussion. Leno holds up a photo of the Sanjayahawk and asks if he came up with it or a stylist did. Sanjaya says he wanted to do a Mohawk but he can’t pull of a real one, because it’s not him, so Dean the hair guy came up with the idea of putting seven ponytails in his hair to make it look like a Mohawk.

Then there is a photo of him on his final performance night, with the big honking bandana. Sanjaya says that’s his version of country, which earns a lot of audience laughter. Leno says he thinks the country in question in Hungary!

What does his family think of all this? They’re really supportive and it’s a huge change in their lives.

Leno wants to know about the crying girl – she was crying on the show over him and the next day she’s on The Today Show, which cracks them up. Sanjaya says he just did his thing and she was there, crying, for the whole rehearsal and show – like five hours straight. Man, I hope they rehydrated her! Indeed, Sanjaya says he didn’t know people had enough water in them to cry that much.

Who does Sanjaya think will win? He says he doesn’t know, it’s totally unpredictable, because it’s based on each week’s performance. No, it’s not – at least not completely. Does he vote? He will now. He didn’t vote for himself before because he figured if he had to vote for himself to stay in, he didn’t deserve to be there. Leno says Sanjaya is an honorable person, and if he wants to be in show business, those two don’t mix.

Sanjaya talks about how he’s going to be on the tour and the finale. Unfortunately he won’t be on “Idol Gives Back” next week, but he assures us he will be awesome.

Leno says Sanjaya is doing well for somebody who was just booted off the show and has taken all the jokes well. He calls Sanjaya “a real class act” and wishes him luck before going to commercial.

So what did we learn from this interview? Not a whole heck of a lot. But at least Sanjaya lost some of the cockiness that we had seen in response to the judges, which is good.

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David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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