Steve & Vikki Morning Show Profile
Friday, June 6th
Mention the name Dustin Diamond and virtually no one knows who you're talking about. If you say "Screech," an immediate picture comes to mind of a geeky nerd always getting into trouble. Well, Screech is Dustin Diamond. He's on the comedy circuit these days, and he dropped by the Morning Show to talk about his Atlanta appearance.
Over the course of 11 years, four television series, and a pair of TV movies, Dustin Diamond played just one character: Samuel "Screech" Powers, the comic relief on Saved By The Bell, as well as its precursor Good Morning, Miss Bliss and its two spin-off series, Saved By The Bell: The College Years and Saved By The Bell: The New Class. Surrounded by sexy troublemaker Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), sexy cheerleader Kelly (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), sexy brain Jesse (Elizabeth Berkley), sexy jock Slater (Mario López), and sexy princess Lisa (Lark Voorhies), Diamond displayed an awkwardness that provided a welcome counterpoint. At 25, Diamond seems to be the exception to the child-star rule. Instead of experiencing a nightmarish descent into drugs, crime, and denial, he's embraced his place in the universe, happy to talk about the old days while looking forward to other things. Diamond's resistance to the usual trappings of early fame might have to do with his real-life similarities to that lovable dork on TV: He plays chess (the subject of his video Dustin Diamond Teaches Chess) and the electric bass. Most tellingly, once in a while, he inadvertently slips a bit of the Screech voice into everyday conversation. |
