Holey Moley's Joe Tessitore: Most of our banter isn't scripted -- it's a result of filming in the middle of the night hopped up on caffeine and candy

Moon Crew

The ABC miniature golf reality show shoots at the Sable Ranch, 35 miles north of Los Angeles, with filming taking place overnight in damp and cold conditions. "The overwhelming majority of it is not scripted at all," says the former Monday Night Football announcer, in an interview with Moon Crew, of his banter with Rob Riggle. "From the moment we turn on our mics and walk onto the set, until we unclip and walk off, they roll on everything. Everything. What I’ve noticed is that the majority of what they use is when it’s somewhere around 2:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the morning, they’ve gotten us so sleep-deprived, and we’re just losing it. We’re out of our minds, we’re tired, we’re getting goofy, we’re loaded up on caffeine and Reese’s Pieces, and all that stuff that happens in between play-by-play is what makes air." How did Tessitore end up on Holey Moley? "A few years ago," he says, "the head of unscripted at ABC — Rob Mills, you should follow him on Twitter, he’s the producer behind The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, Jimmy Kimmel Live! — connected with me because he loves stuff that’s retro. So he loves ‘70s Cosell Wide World of Sports, Elvis Presley, early-’80s wrestling. We go out to dinner and cite Piper’s Pits segments to each other, or talk about the brilliance of Mean Gene Okerlund. All that kind of stuff. We were having drinks a few years ago and said, 'You know, I think there’s a place for getting back to the vintage gold blazers, the simpler, more light-hearted, cool, retro entertainment on ABC.' We were laughing about dusting those off." ALSO: In praise of the Rob Riggle-Joe Tessitore Holey Moley partnership: Copycat shows fail to capture their unique chemistry.