It`s not what Carson Daly does but how the MTV icon does it

Nothing distracts him. Not the girls gyrating in their thong bikinis. Not the sweaty guys with studs in their ears and "Whassup?" on their lips. Neither the scent of coconut oil nor the looming presence of the Pacific Ocean will divert him from his appointed duties. He is Carson Daly, and he will make being a pop-culture icon look like a day at the beach.

"It`s all a magic trick, and focus is a big part of it," says the MTV star, who is spending part of his summer on San Diego`s Mission Beach boardwalk, home of MTV`s "SoCal Summer" broadcasts. "You want the kids to feel like you`re a regular person, even when all this stuff is going on around you. If I stay focused on what I`m doing, I can just dance my way through the crowd, and no one even notices me."

Bobbing across the beach-house studio deck, head bouncing in time to Limp Bizkit`s "Break Stuff," the 27-year-old Daly blends in with the audience easily enough. But when it comes to his place on the entertainment map, the guy with the dorm-buddy wardrobe and the no-sweat vibe is about as invisible as the Matterhorn.

As the host of MTV`s hugely popular "Total Request Live" video-countdown show, the native Southern Californian is watched by more than a million viewers a day. But the numbers are only part of the story. With its after-school time slot (the show airs weekdays at 3 p.m.) and a heavily interactive format that allows viewers to vote on their favorite videos and make on-screen requests and dedications, "TRL" is the biggest, hottest club on Planet Teen.

Broadcasting from MTV`s New York studios in Times Square, where the fanatical masses gather outside to scream and wave "Backstreet Boys 4-Ever" signs, "TRL" is the place where Britney Spears and NSYNC blossomed, and where blink-182 and Korn graduated from the mosh pit. It is also where a former Los Angeles disc jockey became friend to the stars, fodder for the gossip columns and confidant to confused young people everywhere. But whatever else it is, "TRL" will never be the place where Carson Daly gets too full of himself.

"I don`t really have a shtick. What you see is pretty much what you get," says Daly, relaxing in the faux Tiki Hut splendor of the backstage area. "I think what people like to see is someone who seems normal. We`re in this age where anyone who is on camera looks at it as an opportunity to be the biggest person in the room or the coolest person in the room, and then egos start to flare. When you`re honest with an audience, they feel like they know you. And they know I`m not faking any of this."

For the casual viewer, Daly`s "TRL" duties may not seem particularly taxing. He introduces the videos, schmoozes with the celebrity guests and fields phone calls from hyperventilating viewers. But like most successful people, it`s not what he does that makes him special. It`s how he does it.

"I would say 95 percent of the world is afraid of public speaking," says Bob Kusbit, senior vice president of MTV Production. "And here`s a guy who`s got crowds watching him in the studio, millions of people on the other side of the camera, thousands of people out in Times Square waving giant signs and screaming. Meanwhile, he`s got Madonna standing right next to him, and he looks as if he`s hanging out at a backyard party."

Friendly but never fawning, bemused by the hubbub but not too far above it, the dark-haired, blue-eyed Daly makes celebrities and fans feel equally at home in MTV`s teen kingdom. Exceptionally comfortable on camera, Daly is the calm eye in the multimedia storm of "TRL," the regular guy who brings the whole pop-star circus down to earth.

"Carson is pretty cool," says 15-year-old Ashley Hubbard, as the high-school student waited outside the beach-house security fence for a glimpse of special "TRL" guests blink-182. "He talks about how the guys in blink are good guys, and he doesn`t judge them."

Denise Hubbard often joins her daughter for her daily "TRL" fix, and while she doesn`t always love the videos, the Santee, Calif., mother has a soft spot for Daly.

"Carson always makes sure Travis (blink-182 drummer Travis Barker) is acknowledged, which I think is very nice, since Travis is pretty quiet.

"Plus," she adds, "Carson is pretty cute for a young guy."NO DELUXE MODEL

He was never the coolest guy in the room, and that used to tick him off. The son of a former dancer-actress mother and an entrepreneur stepfather, Daly - along with older sister Quinn - was raised in Santa Monica. He attended Santa Monica High School, where an ambitious kid from a nice middle-class home could feel like a dusty Geo Metro in a sea of Land-Rovers. In that ritzy parking lot of life, Daly felt overlooked and out of place.

"I went to a highbrow high school where all these kids of famous people went, and there was enormous pressure to be famous. I sort of resented that," Daly says with his usual directness. "I had friends who were on the highway to success just because of their last names, and they could do whatever they wanted to do without ever having to learn a craft."

Fortunately, Daly had outlets. A devout Catholic, Daly attended Mass regularly while in high school, and when he graduated, he spent a semester studying theology at Loyola Marymount University. Daly also played golf on his high-school golf team, and when he transferred from Loyola to the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, he took a job as a golf pro.

Religion gave him support and a sense of structure. Golf helped him clear his head and focus his energy. And then there was music, which helped this dutiful, patient suburban kid escape from his dutiful, patient suburban life.

"When I heard rap, it was the first time I really moved from being a passive listener to being an active listener," Daly says. "It was the first time I really paid a lot of attention to what musicians were trying to say. Eazy-E, N.W.A., `Straight Outta Compton,` when I was in high school that`s what I really got into. It was basically a big `screw you` kind of thing.

"It was also a matter of pride. Punk rock bands like NOFX and Bad Religion had that kind of effect, too. Listening to that music gave me a lot of courage and self-esteem."

It also gave him direction. Daly`s love of music led him to radio, and an internship at KCMJ in Palm Springs led to disc-jockey gigs at Live 105-FM in San Francisco and KOME-FM in San Jose. In just a few short years, Daly had landed a coveted job at KROQ-FM, Los Angeles` flagship alternative rock station. But before San Francisco and L.A., Daly stopped in San Diego, where a short stint as an overnight DJ at the now-defunct 92.5 "The Flash" in the mid-`90s did not put him on San Diego`s radio map.

"It was the worst," he says with a good-natured groan. "I lived in the Motel 6 off Hotel Circle Drive and at Denny`s, and when midnight would roll around, I`d go to work. Sometimes I would go to a Padres game by myself. It was very lonely. At the time, I wanted to work at 91X more than anything. That was my dream."

The 91X job never materialized, but San Diego`s loss turned out to be Daly`s windfall. While working at KROQ in 1997, Daly was tapped to host MTV`s Los Angeles-based "Motel California" summer broadcast. Shortly thereafter, Daly left KROQ and moved to New York to host "MTV Live," the short-lived talk show that was the precursor to "Total Request Live."

Then came "TRL" itself. Since its 1998 debut, the show has become the leading basic-cable show in its time period for viewers 12 to 34 years old, as well as a must-watch for anyone interested in capturing the hearts, minds and wallets of that desirable demographic.

Everyone from NSYNC to Madonna and Smashing Pumpkins has appeared on "TRL" to talk up new albums. Mike Myers and Jim Carrey dropped in to promote their latest movies. And as the show`s clout increased, so did Daly`s celebrity status. The teen magazines pant over him, Christina Aguilera has admitted to pining for him, and Eminem hated him enough to slag him in "The Real Slim Shady." The gossip columns clucked over last year`s breakup with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, and when he takes a breather on the beach-house deck, even the bewildered tourists look up from their guidebooks to call his name.

"There were a lot of distractions at first," Daly admits. "All of the sudden, you`re a VIP, and you`re being invited to movie premieres and parties. I used to be the kind of guy who wanted to throw rocks at limos, and now I was riding in them. Suddenly this kid who used to listen to punk rock and drink beer was going to free buffets where they served steak.

"I spent the first year indulging a bit, but now I find the annoyance factor can be higher than the enjoyment factor. You come across every kind of fake in this business, and it does get to the point where everyone seems to want something from you."DALY DEVOTION

The most demanding bunch of all are the members of Daly`s young audience, whose trust and unwavering devotion have turned him into the patron saint of teen angst, to the tune of 400 letters a day and more phone calls than he could return in several lifetimes. Adults watch the show and see a personable young man whose black nail polish needs a touch-up. Teens see a friend they can count on and a fixture they desperately need.

"For some of these kids, I`m the only consistent thing in their lives. Their parents get divorced, their friends are doing things they don`t want to be doing, and it`s hard for them. But at 3:30 every day, there`s my mug on TV. When they see me, they can sit back and think, `Cool, there`s Carson.` It`s kind of a sad commentary on the social activities of young people, but I think that`s why the response to `TRL` has been so positive. They can come home and watch it and escape."

When Daly was a confused teen himself, one of his favorite songs was "Perfect People," by Orange County punksters Pennywise. In it, our disgruntled anti-hero tries to infiltrate the in crowd, to discouraging results: So I took a drive to a rich and wealthy country / Saw everything I wanted and everything I need / Went right up and tried to join their party / You oughta see the look when they saw me.

When Daly looks in the mirror now, one of the perfect people looks back. But he isn`t fooled. His new deal with MTV won`t have him leaving the fold anytime soon, but when his whirlwind party is over, you won`t need a bouncer to escort Carson Daly off the premises. He can find the door all by himself.

"This whole thing is such a crapshoot, and I expect to be humbled very soon. This is not reality, and if it all ended tomorrow, I`d get a job being a bartender or go back to playing golf," says Daly. "What I do now is cool, and I hope people realize that I really appreciate where I`m at. But it`s not the be all and end all, you know? Going to the MTV Video Music Awards is not the biggest night of your life."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Karla Petersonm