How to Get a Girl in 45 Days

For the last month and a half, there has been a competition to see who will join the great Lon Harris as the new co-host for Mahalo Daily.

And then there were two: Leah D'Emilio and Andrea Rene.

For those that don't know, Mahalo Daily is a daily podcast that began last fall. It was originally hosted by Veronica Belmont. It featured a lot of tech stuff, a lot of how-to episodes inspired by articles written by the Mahalo "How To" team, included a week-plus of episodes from the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, interviews with the likes of Crispin Glover, Stan Lee, Tay Zonday, and Barry Williams, and other subjects off the beaten path.

Still, and I say this with some partiality, the best of these episodes were ones that had the sketch-comedy angle to them. These would include, in no specific order of enjoyment, the I'm Gonna Git You Spamma by Lon Harris, the Speaking French episode written by Jonathan Harris, the Love Song/Flirting duo of episodes written by Evan Brown, the Proper Engagement Proposal episode written by Nicole Gustas, and of course, Watching Football as a Couple by yours truly.

Well, come Thursday, to quote Gerald Ford after he took over for Richard Nixon, "...our national nightmare is finally over." Mahalo Daily - Held Hostage: the siege is coming to an end. While it could be argued that some aspects of the 45 day 'ordeal' have been drawn out longer than needed, it has provided some entertaining moments. Anyone doubting Lon's ability to carry the water need only look at his body of work he has produced during this time to know that he can handle his business.

So, who's it gonna be? Well, to tell you before it becomes official on Thursday would be a violation of the 45-person pinky swearing ceremony we just took part in today. The MD crew was recently at the Spike TV Guy Awards, which meant a visit to the Playboy Mansion (no, I don't know if fellow Pascack Hills alum Bill Maher was there or not), and the crew got the opinion of several celebrities about the final two contestants for the co-hosting gig. Check out those comments here.

As for who I think should host, all I'll say is this: (A) They didn't ask me to make the selection, or I would have recruited my buddy Tina Cervasio to come out here; (B) of those who actually auditioned, from day one I thought it would be one of the two finalists, and from what I've seen of them to this point, either of them would be an excellent choice.

As for who it is, I know... but I'm not gonna tell...

***ADDED IN ON JUNE 5: BREAKING NEWS! Congratulations to Leah D'Emilio for winning the contest and becoming the new co-host on Mahalo Daily!***

BTW, I originally recruited Cervasio to be on North Jersey Sports Showcase in 2004, the weekly high school sports program I wrote and helped produce, but she got a full-time gig at CBS 2 in New York. So she became a special correspondent, and you can check out her appearance in our 'Friday Night Lights' episode by clicking here.