Jordan “Shorty” Johnson will co-host with Ryan Seacrest on FOX’s new show “Knock Knock Live“, described as “a next generation LIVE reality TV event” from Simon Fuller, creator of “American Idol.”
Shorty was a co-host on “106 and Park,” and he currently has the #1 radio shows on two Radio-One stations, 93.9 WKYS in Washington DC and HOT 104.1 in St. Louis. During our recent chat, Shorty told us that landing this co-hosting gig on FOX has been the most significant accomplishment in his career so far.
Each week, Seacrest presents the show from the “mission control” studio while he guides Shorty and his “Knock Knock Live” team of co-hosts who show up unannounced at various locations across the country to surprise people with a life-changing prize.
“You can’t really compare it to anything because it’s just as random as that,” Shorty told us. “Celebrities pop up, or we might have a celebrity chef come through and cook something in your kitchen or it might be a game where you have to battle you neighbor for a new set of car keys, or we might be dropping money from a helicopter in your backyard. This is as random as it is crazy.”
“Knock Knock Live” allows you to nominate a worthy friend or relative to be an unsuspecting contestant. Shorty explained that the process is all about “blessing people who really need it.”
“A lot of them are nominated by their neighbors and friends and family members because they do a lot for their community. We’re trying to make sure we’re blessing people who really need it,” he said.
According to the website, in every episode, several lucky viewers get the coveted door knock, and once the doors open…BAM…they’re on live television in front of millions of people! Shorty explained what he hopes viewers gain from this concept.
“I want people to look at the show and realize ‘That could be me, or my cousin or my grandma!’ That’s why we encourage people to nominate their friends using the hashtag #BeOnKnockKnock on Twitter and Instagram because it could just be you. We just want to reward everyday good people for doing good things, and it’s actually reality. There’s a lot of stuff on TV that they call reality that’s scripted and I think people are tired of that, so I want people to feel that it’s real and genuine because it is,” he said.
Shorty confessed that the best career advice he’s received, so far, came from radio host and comedian Rickey Smiley, who told him that, “It’s not exactly what you do on air, what’s important is what you do off air.”
“One thing Rickey Smiley told me was to ‘make sure you are involved with the community.’ That’s why I try to make sure I stay involved. I spend a lot of time at the schools in DC going to career days. Couple of days ago I was at an event with the DC Police Department called Beat The Streets. I try to stay involved and make the best of my time.”
When he’s not juggling his multiple career hats and giving back to his community, Shorty shared how he prefers to spend his downtime, “Chillin’. I might hop on 2K for a minute. I like watching Netflix. But I also spend a lot of time with my music. I record a lot of songs, and I recently just put a test song project on my website that was just something to give my fans to listen to.”
Shorty said the best song to describes his work ethic is, “My song, it’s called ‘Go Harder.’ The hook says ‘money got a little longer, circle got a little smaller, but we got a little smarter – now we gotta go harder.’ As I got older, certain people fell off the train but I did gain knowledge along the way, so now it’s time to take that and go harder with it.”
“Knock Know Live” airs on FOX July 21 at 9:00-10:00pm E/P live.
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