Kurt Decker: Reinvention, Creative Courage and Surprising Second Acts

For 25 years, Kurt Decker worked behind the camera at NBC, helping produce some of television’s most iconic late-night moments. In this episode of The Progress Report, Kurt joins Jessica Curtis and Rob Semerano to share how a lifetime around performers—and one unexpected opportunity—led him to the stage performing the timeless music of Frank Sinatra in New York City. It’s a conversation about reinvention, creative courage, and the surprising paths that can lead to a second act. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

I'm Jessica Curtis, and this is the Progress Report, a show about real people making real change across America.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Today's guest has lived two incredible creative lives, one behind the camera and one center stage. For 25 years, Kurt Decker was camera one at NBC, working on some of the most iconic late night shows in television. But his story doesn't stop there. These days, Kurt is bringing timeless music back to life in New York City with his songs of Sinatra performances, sharing the classics of Frank Sinatra and other legendary artists with packed rooms in Times Square and beyond.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Now WWE. And um he was asked about how his career got started, and he said he started off it with WWF as a referee. He said, as a lot of wrestlers did. He said, and the great thing about being a referee was he goes, it really gave you an opportunity to read the crowd. He said, because nobody's really watching you. He goes, so you could kind of see how people are responding to the different things that wrestlers are doing. And you saw what worked, you saw what you know really kind of lit people up and got emotion out of them and and what fell flat. And he says, it really helped me when I became a wrestler to know what I needed to do to captivate an audience. Do you think you had a similar type benefit from being behind the camera all those years and absolutely what worked?

SPEAKER_04 1:30

Absolutely, because what what a lot of people don't know is there's uh there's a lot of there's a lot of rehearsals that go into the day that produce a TV show, and there's a lot of material that gets left on the cutting room floor. I mean, Saturday Night Live produces they could produce over a two-hour show, and then they, you know, they cut a half an hour of it. That's that's a quarter of the show being being trimmed. Um there's a lot of times where we did, we would do rehearsals on something, and it just didn't and it was went almost all the way to the finish line, but it didn't feel like it was the right thing. And so whether it be a producer or or talent Conan for, for example, that would cut something, say it's not, nope, this isn't right, maybe it would go in for the next day, maybe it would get shelved for weeks, or maybe it would just never appear again. But to be able to to be able to sit and watch production on a on a level like that with so many people working uh at the the sort of the top level of your performance, it really uh it really it's like an it's apprentice, it's like being an apprentice on in any and on any show would would just if you can't take something from it, then you're not paying attention. And I feel like I feel like paying attention and being a fly on the wall. Um I did a little quick interview with Mike Merritt. Mike's the was the bass player for the Conan O'Brien band, and he and we were chatting, and after it was sort of funny because after we did this little video, him and I sat down and just talked for like 45 minutes, and there was a lot of a lot of good information that could have been, you know, I I try to do for short format things, but he was saying that the reason he got hired for the Conor O'Brien ban is because he was asked to show up, and back then you didn't have you didn't have cell phones and text messages. So he had left a message for Max Weinberg, but I guess Max didn't receive it, so Max thought that Mike wasn't interested. Well, Mike was interested, and he showed up, and they had to call this other guy, and this other guy showed up too, but the other guy showed up after Mike. He said, you know, the most important thing when you're doing any, when you're starting any new career, show up on time if not early. Yep. Yes, and be be there and just keep your mouth shut unless you're asked, you know, because there's especially in an environment like that where you've got producers and talent, like nobody wants this, isn't a free-for-all. Yeah, your job is to point the camera, your job is to turn the light, your job is to make sure my hair looks good, whatever it is. But your job is not to not to critique the the writing. There's writers for that. There's so it's you know, just knowing it's sort of like that old um Kenny Rogers song, you know, no one to hold them, no one to fold them, walk away, and when to run. No one to show up on time, which is always, and no one to shut up.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Yep, yep, absolutely. When I was with the A's, we had a sign in our uh our locker room that as soon as you came in, and it was of a quote from Vince Lombardi, and it said, if you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. And if you're late, don't even bother showing up. And you know, it was basically, you know, it was an it was exactly what you're saying right there. Don't don't just show up on time. If if we're starting at 10 a.m., that means that means we need to be ready to rock and roll at 10 a.m. You're not rolling in at 10 a.m. And sure, and that's that's a big thing because like you said, I I I I tell my players all the time, you know, there's talent stuff and there's no talent stuff. I said showing up on time, hustling, listening to your coaches, that takes no talent at all. I said, so you take care of the no talent stuff so that your talent can really shine through. Now um, you know, obviously going out there on stage, and this is something I'm interested in as a ball player, and and now owning a baseball academy and working with players, and you deal with the mental side of the game. There's a lot of people out there that have performance anxiety, you know, stage fright. And you hear it all the time that uh the the number one fear in people is public speaking, and numb and death is number two. So there's that that amount of fear of with going in front of people and performing. Um was there any routine or ritual that you do or have that gets you from that mode of okay, I'm just a civilian now, and now boom, seconds later, I'm a performer. And uh what gets you?

SPEAKER_04 6:04

No, I'm lucky. I guess I'm lucky that way. I don't have anxiety when it comes to performance. I don't, it's not like a swit switch that has to flip. Um I think I think my biggest uh my biggest concerns are things that are out of my control. Like if I'm driving to a gig and there's traffic or you know, there's an equipment, equipment failure, act of God kind of things. Like you nothing I can do about it. But I guess that that would be the you know, I would because I want everything to work out. I want everything to be smooth as possible. It's the seamless, but things do happen. I mean, you can't you can't avoid it. It's uh, you know, being a being a singer too, it's like I I had I had five gigs this past weekend, and I woke up uh Thursday morning not feeling great into a weekend, and I'm like, so I did everything I could to take care of myself and get through, and I got through it. It was luckily, but I had a I had a time last May where I got I I had like laryngitis for a couple of weeks and it and I pushed through a couple of shows, but it was really hard. And it's like there's only so much you can do. Right. Yeah, I mean that's why the that's why sports teams they have backup players. I mean, you know, your your quarterback goes down, you gotta have somebody who's gonna step in. But when you're a solo act, I mean I have some people I could, I guess I could call and say, hey, you know, I can't do this gig. Can you can you any chance and you know the maybe because I we actually there's like a little network of uh Sinatra guys as we like to call it. Um we get together, we get together once a year at at Patsy's, uh which was Frank Sinatra's favorite place in Midtown. And we go there and have dinner and uh have drinks and we just kind of talk about the biz because we're all in it together different ways. Uh so that it's nice to add that camaraderie, but I I trust me, I have thought about it. Okay, if if I if I go down this weekend, what am I gonna do? Because I don't want to leave somebody hanging, you know. Maybe they don't want somebody else other than me, but you know, when you've got a gig, like I got a wedding on Valentine's Day. If there's a problem that day, then you know, I I can try to cover myself or they get to, you know, whatever. But there's nothing you can do about it. You just try to take care of the best you can, hope for the best, and but you know, what are you gonna do? Things happen.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Show must go on, right? The one man band.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Hey, that's it. You gotta just keep just keep swimming. Kurt, what what advice would you give to someone who um feels stuck in their career and secretly dreams about chasing a creative passion? Because you, I mean you're you're you're a living example of that.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

I I uh I would say that try to find a path that you're interested in. And even if it's just donating some of your time um to help help out a band or help out a production or or whatever it is that you want to do, try to find a path that you like doing and then give as much as you can. And if you're if you work hard enough, I feel like the opportunities will open up. You might, you know, it takes a long time. It's not a it's not an overnight success. It's very rare for that to happen for anybody for any in any case, no matter what you're doing. But I would always tell the interns when I worked, because working uh at NBC for 25 years, we had a lot of interns. You think about that. I mean, there were 25 a semester and and then the summer, so you're talking 125 interns over 20 uh each year over 25 years. I would always tell them, listen, whatever you do, like like what you have to do, because you're gonna do it a long time. Yep. And we're in a we're in a very uh different place now than we were even 10 years ago with AI. I mean, graphics jobs and uh a lot of creative jobs that writing even, it's it's it's a very, I don't know, it's it's it's gonna be an interesting time to navigate. But when it comes to people standing on the stage, the the robots haven't taken us over yet, you know. Uh they're not they're not out there playing sports games, they're not out there uh dancing on stage. Uh but if you find something that you like doing and you and you put yourself into it and you give all and you don't and you don't compromise, I feel like there's opportunities out there for everybody that that wants it. And not everybody wants it. Some people want to some people want to live the nine to five and come home and watch, you know, three hours of TV and go to bed and do it all over again. And there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, everybody to each their own. Uh I I watch so little television. Uh I put I put a movie on and at the time I've seen it five times, so I fall asleep, and I don't feel like I missed anything.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

So but uh yeah. Well, when we're in the entertainment industry, I used to say it all the time to my teammates that you know we work when everyone else doesn't. Otherwise, we don't have jobs because we only have jobs because we got people showing up to the stadium watching us. And that's right. You know, it's the same thing, the same thing. You need you need somebody that's gonna become there, you know, coming there and uh being entertained by you.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

Yeah, a lot a lot of people. I I had a period of time when I was working on the show as a camera operator, and I was like, what am I doing with myself? I'm like, there's people out there really making a difference, uh, doctors and nurses and and firemen and whatever, you know, people that are really like saving lives and making a big difference in the world. And I was talking to a friend of mine who's a doctor, and she's like, Listen, I get home at the end of my day and I just want to turn the TV on and laugh. And what your show does provides that relief for me. And ever since she told me that, I I have a different perspective of how I look at things. I mean, this world is a big puzzle, and we are all a little tiny pieces of that puzzle. Somehow we all you fit in to make it a one big picture. Um, so yeah, having your player players, yeah, people need to go and be need to watch sports. They need to get everything that's on their mind off their mind for a few minutes, an hour, whatever it is, to watch the sports game. Uh, we've got a big sports weekend. Look at this. It's uh the Olympics are coming up on Friday. We've got uh the Super Bowl. Yeah, I'm I by the way, I'm gonna go for the Seahawks. I don't know where you're air in this thing, but I don't know. Oh man. I only say Seahawks because they only have Patriots fan, so oh they only have well, they only have one win, one Super Bowl win. So that's kind of and I'm being a Bills fan, uh, you know, I sort of always go for the underdog. Yep. Yeah, but you know, um but I I don't know, but listen, if if the Pats win, then they were meant to win, you know. I'm not gonna, you know, so well and it's either way, I'm gonna drink some beer and eat some wings.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

That's it. That's it. That's it. So uh Kurt, tell tell our listeners uh if they if they want to come see you at the playwright, find out more about you, book you for an event, how do they find you?

SPEAKER_04 13:35

Honestly, the best thing to do, Kurt Kurtdecker.com is my uh is my website. It has my schedule on there, so my schedule's updated all the time. Uh where I'm you know where I'm gonna be, where I'm playing. Uh also if you're if you're on social media, Kurt Decker's easy to find me on Instagram or Facebook or TikTok and all those places. But uh yeah, I I have my schedule on my website. It's every week's week's a little different. Usually my regular gigs, I I perform at a place called the Playwright Tavern, 49th Street, uh Broadway and 7th Avenue in Times Square. It's a great spot to come by. It's an Irish pub. I as I said I've been going there forever. The food's delicious. You get some real Irish uh Irish grub and uh have you have yourself a Guinness and listen to a little Frank Sinatra before you go see the Christmas tree or the Rockefeller Center or you go to a Broadway show, or if you're gonna go shopping or see the Macy's Day Parade, whatever it could be. Um nice to pop in. I'm usually there Friday and Saturday nights, 6 to 9, and Sundays for brunch, 12 to 3. But again, my schedule does change weekly, and I recommend if you're gonna come down and and say hello. Tell them tell them you saw me here on the uh on the podcast, and uh I'll be the guy with the fedora.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

And that's Kurt with a K, correct? Yeah, K-U-R-T-D-E-C-K-E-R. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Awesome. Well, Kurt, thank you so much for for uh dropping by and spending a little time with us. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

Thanks for having me. Uh yeah, thank you, Kurt.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, and uh this has been fantastic. So all the best as you uh continue to gig out to Sinatra.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Thank you. And uh don't forget, until uh until next time, keep it classy.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I love it. Every week we find the stories worth sharing and remind you that America is still moving forward. Thanks for listening to the Progress Report.