Back in 1992, Michael Jackson released the video for “Remember the Time.” It played out like a little movie, set in ancient Egypt, with a royal court and a crowded marketplace full of dancers. The director was John Singleton, the same young filmmaker who’d made “Boyz n the Hood.”
A set like that needs a lot of extras. One of them was a young man named Peter Sagal.
You probably wouldn’t have known his name back then. Today he’s one of the most familiar voices on public radio, the host of NPR’s weekly quiz show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” In 1992 he was just a guy with a friend in casting, and she got him a part in the crowd. They cast him as a snake charmer.
So he got into costume, took his spot, and became one more face in a crowd that might flash by for a second or two on screen. That’s the deal when you’re an extra. You give up a whole day and hope you end up somewhere in the frame.
It turned into a long day. There was blocking to work through, a lot of standing around, and a dancing double walking the steps so the crew could line up their shots. Michael didn’t arrive until late in the afternoon.
While everyone waited, a makeup artist told Sagal something strange. Everyone on the production had signed a contract, she said. And it asked for one odd thing. Nobody was allowed to stare at Michael.
That’s a secondhand story, mind you, passed from a makeup artist to an extra. Sagal never saw the paper himself. But it stuck with him for years after.
His scene never happened, though. The shoot ran long and the crew wrapped for the night before they got to it. So after all those hours, Sagal doesn’t appear in the video at all.
Michael still made a point of greeting the extras. He walked down the line and shook every single hand, and he said the same simple words to each person he met.
This is the video Sagal gave that whole long day to, Egyptian marketplace and all.
The “Remember the Time” short film Sagal worked on, with Michael dancing in the marketplace
So what did the biggest star in the world say to a room full of strangers? Just “Nice to meet you,” again and again, like anybody at a party.
And yes, Sagal bent the rule a little. He slipped to the edge of the set to watch Michael rehearse the dance, until an assistant director caught him and told him to clear off. By then he’d seen plenty. He called it an unearthly talent.
He’s told the story in his own words since, and it all comes down to one short line. For the dancing itself, the video up top is the real thing he stood and watched that day. The man could dance.