Corey Feldman Felt "Shell-Shocked" Performing on 'The Masked Singer'
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Corey Feldman is unmasked alongside 'The Masked Singer' host Nick Cannon
Corey Feldman is known for his roles in many iconic films, including Gremlins, The Goonies, and Stand By Me. But The Masked Singer gave him a unique opportunity, a way to obscure his face and reputation as a teen idol and just focus on the music. From there, Corey, who has been writing and performing music for years, heated up the stage as "Seal," even leading to some heated energy coming from judges Rita Ora and Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg.
The day after his reveal, Corey Feldman spoke to Parade.com about his time on The Masked Singer.
Related: Everything to Know About The Masked Singer Season 11
How did you get involved with The Masked Singer?
It might have had something to do with my picketing outside Fox Studios with the sign that said, "Will work for food." [Laughs.] No, I'm just joking. It had nothing to do with that. In fact, it was one of those things where, ever since the show started, I kept getting these nuances and things popping up in the media, or people calling me, texting me, "Hey, are you on The Masked Singer? Are you the Alien? Are you the Bulldog?" And every season, they kept guessing me. I was told that I'm on this show. And I'm like, "Guys, I have no idea what you're talking about." Because I don't watch television. And I really didn't even know what the show was or that it existed.
Until eventually, later down the road, I suddenly realized, "Oh, there is a show with these crazy costumes and masks." And then I would see little press things coming out saying they did in fact guess my name. So I started taking it as a giant compliment that they're thinking of me, and that they're thinking of me in association with my music and with singing, as opposed to just a guessing game. And then I think it got a little bit more real and a little bit more exciting when we finally got the call and they said, "Why don't you come and join the show?" And I was like, well, there's an interesting concept. I've been touring every year. So I haven't even had time to think about doing something like this. But this year, I had a nice little window. And I was like, "You know what? Before we tour this summer, this could be a lot of fun. It could be something different. Why not?" So we jumped in.
What was your reaction to then getting put into the Seal costume?
I mean, look, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world. I'm not gonna lie. But I had plenty of fun with it. It was actually fun for me as a character actor, as somebody who loves doing like prosthetic work and stuff like that. I love bringing a personality to makeup, to costume to all of that. So it was a challenge. And it was fun, just for that part of it alone, finding out how to maneuver my body in ways to make the costume work for me.
But that said, there was also the downside of it, which is that I'm very claustrophobic. And sweating around as you're trying to dance. I mean, if you see there's actually a point, if you watch in the show last night, where you'll actually see me kind of gasping for air. There's actually one moment you can back it up and you can hear it as I'm wrapping because I'm doing some like big jumping move. And then you can kind of hear me trying to get that next breath, which wasn't coming because I was doing too much at once. And you get very kind of shell-shocked with the idea.
You've got a stocking over your head. You know, you're you're actually singing into a little microphone that's right here on your face. I actually read a comment from a fan who said, "Oh, come on, you didn't even have the microphone anywhere near your face. It must have been a cheat." Come on. You guys don't you realize that's a prop? It's a prop. That thing is not on though. The real microphone is right here. [Points to face.] So yes, you are singing live, and it does take a lot to get your body to function in that way. So on top of that, you got sweat dripping down your forehead and into your mouth and into your eyes. And then you can't really scratch your face. So there's a lot going on.
What was your reaction to some of the incorrect guesses the judges were giving you, like Macaulay Culkin and Jerry O'Connell?
I am not Haley Joel Osment! [Laughs.] I'm just joking. No, it's cool. I mean, I think it's kind of fun. Now that I know how the process works, I kind of regret not watching the prior seasons because I want to see what kind of silly face card they gave me when they thought of my name and also what comments were made. I wonder what was said the other years. But it's all good. I'm not that self obsessed. I'll live.
Well you did get Jenny guessing correctly. Were you hopeful she would, especially given your interview and house party experiences?
I was like, "I mean, come on!" [Laughs.] But we meet people every day. There's every chance in the world that she wouldn't have even remembered coming to my house. But let's face it, she's amazingly hot. And I was blown away. And just the kind of "sensual" energy that was going on between Rita and Jenny, as they're describing me or talking about Seal.
Right, Rita thought initially that you might be her husband Taika Waititi!
She's like, "I'm getting kind of the hots for this Seal! I don't know what it is, but I feel an energy." I'm like, "Yeah, baby!" I mean, it was so much good humor. So there was a lot of fun with it.
So you mentioned before how you were actually touring before doing The Masked Singer. And you're about to go out on tour now with your band Loserville, right?
It's super exciting. We're doing my first arena tour this year. So we're actually expanding for the first time in a big way. We've done these little jumps from little bars to major clubs to small theaters to large theaters. And now, the arena tours. So I feel like we've been progressing along. We've been making our way through the music industry. We've paid our dues, certainly, after 30 years. And this is the first shot that I get to really bring it to the masses. So I'm really excited about this. It's quite an opportunity.
The name of our tour is Loserville. And it'll be out starting in July. We're going to be all over America. And if people want to come see me, you can even come and visit me after the show. We're selling VIP meet and greets at my website. So you can come on down and take a picture or sign autographs, all that good stuff, after the show. The good and the bad news is, because it's my first arena tour, we're not headlining. We're only opening for all these great artists. And then there's also the fact that that means I get off early.
So I'm used to touring where I'm there until two o'clock in the morning, and I've got to sign every t-shirt and wait until the last bartender goes home. That's just kind of like the way it goes, because you're involved with the house, the venue itself, and you've got to kind of finish all the business and wrap everything. And you're usually the last one to leave. And then you've got to be right back at the next venue the next morning. So the fun thing about this is we do our set, and then we go get to watch the show and enjoy the party. And we kind of just sit back. So we've got a lesser amount of work to accomplish while we're there. Of course, we'll still meet with the bands. But yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm excited about it.
Anything else you'd like to plug?
There's one more thing I wanted to mention. I have one more exciting reveal, which is that we announced yesterday that a film that I made 20 years ago is actually finally coming to theaters this fall. So as soon as the tour ends, I'm going to start promoting this film, which I'm really excited about. It's called The Birthday. You'll be hearing more about it. There'll be a trailer coming soon. But it's being released finally, after 20 years. It's a cult classic before it's even released, because it was released in two other countries, Spain and Germany. Never in the rest of Europe, never in America, and never anywhere else. But in the two countries, it was released. It won awards. So it's a coveted film. It's a cult classic already, and I'm really excited for the world to see it. It comes out in theaters in the Alamo Drafthouse this fall. Please look for it.
