Harry Connick Jr. on American Idol Season 13: "I Bound Out of Bed Every Time Idol Is on the Calendar"

On December 19, 2013, Harry Connick Jr. joined a press call ahead of the two-night premiere of American Idol Season 13, debuting Wednesday, January 15th and Thursday, January 16th on Fox. Connick joins Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban on the panel, replacing the original judging lineup. He spoke about the talent he'd already seen in Hollywood week, what he brings to the table, and why he considers himself the panel's biggest goofball.

From mentor to judge — a natural progression

Connick traced his path to the judges' table through years of mentorship: "My whole life has been a lot of interaction with people who are a lot better than I am — whether it's a one-on-one teaching situation or a clinic or master class. As I got older, I started to be on the giving end of those things." When American Idol first called him to mentor, "it felt like a very natural thing to do." After two mentoring seasons, the judge offer followed. "It's different than being a mentor because you don't really have the intensity of the interaction, but you get to share your views with a lot more people and try to help them develop their talent. It just felt like a natural thing to do."

"Crazy guy talent, for real"

Asked about the perennial concern that male talent lags behind female talent on Idol, Connick pushed back: "There's some crazy guy talent, for real, no joke. There are some guys that are really good, some great young women too. I guess the feeling is that it's about half and half; maybe two more girls than guys, but I think it's about even." He was equally enthusiastic about the decision to allow contestants to play guitar: "When people pick up the guitar and they're not good players, it shows immediately. If you're playing some chords that make no sense, that person can't hear — and when they sing, it's obvious why they're making the choices they're making." He also noted the audacity it takes to play guitar in front of Keith Urban: "That takes some guts. Maybe they don't realize what they're doing and maybe their family and friends have told them they're really good. But eventually they're going to have a realization: uh-oh, maybe I'm not quite as good as I thought."

What he brings that the others don't

On what distinguishes him from Lopez and Urban: "We're completely different. We're different brains, different personalities, different philosophies. I have a lot of experience as a player, as a singer, and as a kind of overall entertainer that's unique to my own life. The movies I've done are different than the ones Jennifer's done and the concerts I've played are different than Keith's. So just by virtue of our own experience, I think I can bring something a little bit different." He was equally clear about what the show is not looking for: "This show is about finding a pop superstar. It's not really about jazz and big band. Out of the 600 people we saw, none of them did that kind of music."

Lyrics, truth, and the class clown

Connick was emphatic about lyric connection — a theme from his mentoring days: "You need to know what you're singing about. That is not that important to a lot of singers; they just sing but they're not connected to the lyrics. That's profound to me." On delivering hard feedback: "Sometimes the performances are great, and sometimes the performances are terrible, and I would want to be told — or I would want my friends and children to be told — the absolute truth. You can be diplomatic about it, but you also have to be real." He described one group in Hollywood week as "horrible" and said so directly. On the panel's dynamic: "If you had to pick the person who's the goofiest, it would probably be me. I've been like that since I was a kid. I was kind of the class clown." American Idol Season 13 premieres Wednesday, January 15th on Fox.

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