Many of you may not have been old enough to watch MTV back in the day (uh hem, in the early 90s), but “The Real World” was a ground-breaking sensation and grandfather to all of the reality shows we have on the airwaves today. Moving right along with our “Debonair Decades, The 90s,” Debonair Magazine had a once in a lifetime chance to catch-up with none other than Norm Korpi. You remember him! He was the smooth-talking, funky clothes-wearing cat from the very first season of “The Real World” in 1992. At the very least, you must remember his contagious laugh. By the way, we’re still really upset that when the DVDs of his season were released, CeCe Peniston’s hit “Finally” didn’t make the cut. On that note, here’s what “The Norm” said to DM…

-Please tell our readers how you got involved in “The Real World: New York” on MTV in 1992.

At the time, I was living in an artist loft, and the production company was looking for a loft to film “the experiment” in; MTV’s production company was also looking for a visual artist to fit the cast. Unbeknownst to me, the cast was only going to be made up of “non-actors.” They give me a formal application which I then sent in, and got rejected; I didn’t think much of it. In those days, Brooklyn didn’t even have cable – sounds like the stone age – but yeah, 1991 and no cable or MTV in Brooklyn. The whole concept sounded crazy and I was in the middle of a break up with my boyfriend; I knew that was never going to fly on television … there were no gays on television (I think it was outlawed back then, too). A month had passed, and I got a call from the team that came to rent my loft. They urged me to come up Broadway to the MTV headquarters for a chat, and they handed me this contract; I was very surprised to even get called back! I giggled in my usual way and said “I was rejected a month ago … seems like you wasted your stamp.” The rest is history, as they say. [Read more...]