There’s more to Overhaulin’ than the overhaulin’…

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This article was published 03/02/2006 (7198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S a full-time job being the prankster who gets to have all of the fun. He’s the class clown. The joker of the bunch.

And Chris Jacobs wouldn’t change roles with anyone for a minute.

As one of the co-hosts of The Learning Channel’s car makeover series Overhaulin’, Jacobs is the guy who has to play it straight when someone’s beat-up vehicle needs to be “overhauled.”

The premise of the show sounds simple enough. An unwitting “victim” is nominated, usually by a family member, to be “Overhauled.” His or hercar, usually a 1960s or ’70s domestic, is obtained through a ruse of some sort, which is where Jacobs — and a few unexpected wrinkles — usually come into the picture.

While he plays games with the unsuspecting owner to help keep him off the scent of what’s really happening, award-winning car designer and “A-Team” leader Chip Foose has one week to remake the car into a custom masterpiece. Each show ends with the emotional reunion of owner and the made-over vehicle.

Jacobs is the point man, the glue that keeps viewers wondering what will happen next.

“It’s my favourite part of the show,” Jacobs said in a recent interview with crutchfieldadvisor.com, an Internet audio-visual information website.

“(Show) producer Bud Brudsman and I brainstorm. We fish it around and throw is back and forth. We don’t think about it too much in advance because we don’t want it to get stale. But they’re a blast.”

As fun as it might sound, Jacobs’ job is far from easy or lacking in emotion. He has had to tell people their car has been stolen, impounded or taken by a loan shark. Usually, since the show is so popular now, he has to conceal his identity, which isn’t always easy.

“One time I had this bad Mafioso outfit on,” Jacobs remembered. “I don’t see how some of these people aren’t laughing and calling me out. In (one) episode I had a wig and mustache on and looked like a reject from the Village People.”

It has been a strange turn of events for a guy who was supposed to be appearing in courtrooms instead of other people’s garages.

Born in Chicago, Ill., Jacobs grew up in the city’s northern suburbs as one of six kids. By the time he graduated from high school, he decided to move to California in 1988 where he attended Whitter College. After earning a degree in English and graduating from Whitter’s law school, he was later admitted to the state bar of California in 1995.

But, when it came down to law or acting, Jacobs choice is now ancient history.

He appeared in numerous small screen films, including TV roles in the X-Files, CSI, Touched by an Angel and Two and a Half Men before finally stopping in for a role with Overhaulin’.

“I’m an actor and they were looking for someone to play the pranks on the show. It was an added bonus that I’m a big gearhead myself.”

He is indeed a gearhead who is obsessed by performance cars.

“I love Mopar (Chryslers),” seems to be his rallying cry.

Jacobs said he takes as much pride in the automotive side of the show as he does in the pranks, even though his involvement with that end of the show is somewhat limited.

And the show, now in its third season, has more than caught on. During a trip to the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show (SEMA) in Las Vegas, Nev., for a taping of the show in November of 2004, complete with a large studio audience, Jacobs was overwhelmed with the show’s popularity.

“You can read the numbers, but that doesn’t really give you a sense until you start meeting and talking to the people who actually watch the show,” he said.

They love the pranks, which are just as vital to the show’s dynamic as the overhaul itself, he said.

But there is a fine line for the pranks.

“I try to tip-toe up to that line and we maybe stick a pinkie toe across it, but you gotta have an element of messing with the person so it’s entertaining.”

“But at the same time, if I screw up, it’s all over and this whole thing is for naught.”

It’s a huge responsibility, but the pranks have worked so far.

Back at SEMA for 2005, not much has changed . . . it’s just bigger. Not surprisingly, he knows how to work a room, take after take, involving the audience members who yell out “Chris, we love you,” and “the Foose is loose,” just about every step of the way.

What now? Well, Jacobs is busy designing the next prank for the next unsuspecting subject out there who doesn’t realize his beater is about to be overhauled by the team Foose.

How long will this gig last?

“As long as they’ll have me.”

Jason Stein is a feature writer with Wheelbase Communications. He can be reached on the Web at: www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html. Wheelbase Communications supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America.