Neptune’s Derek DeAngelis braves the ups and downs of entertainment industry success

By: Ray Schweibert | December 27, 2024 |  |  Monmouth County

By Ray Schweibert

In the sports world, it is not uncommon to see athletes brush off personal milestones as insignificant during interviews, asserting that the focus instead always remains on the future and the bigger picture, such as bringing home a championship ring, a title trophy or coveted cup.

The Neptune-born Derek DeAngelis puts things into that sort of perspective in the world of entertainment, where he is best known as Derek D, has landed gigs that have literally taken him to the far corners of the globe, and has had a significant impact on many levels of the industry for about the past 20 years.

His is a career that started on a sort of whim while a college student at William Paterson University. It has since led to many opportunities and awards in multiple entertainment facets, due largely to a high degree of confidence, an outgoing nature, a keen sense of humor and – probably more than anything else – a fierce determination to succeed.

Perusing his resumé (on his website at DerekD.com) might make one wonder how it was possible to fit all this activity into a career, even one spanning nearly two decades thus far. He has hosted scores of live events and TV shows, acted in and did voiceovers for many TV commercials, performed stand-up comedy and acted in films and live theater in both comedic and dramatic roles.

He is perhaps best known for hosting a daily automotive-industry newscast with a comical spin called “Fast Lane Daily” that ran from 2007 to 2016 on multiple Internet platforms, setting records for longevity and Internet-episode counts along the way, and garnering two Webby Awards for Internet excellence.

“I always say I’m kind of a Swiss Army knife – what do you need, I’ve got you,” he says. “I’m a song-and-dance man and I love doing that kind of stuff, but I don’t label myself a singer but as an actor who can sing. I don’t say I’m a dancer but I’m an actor who can dance. I’m aware of the work that strictly dancers and strictly singers put in, so I never say that I’m specifically one or the other, but they’re in my wheelhouse.”

Among DeAngelis’ more recent projects was creating and producing all facets of a live talent competition called “Asbury Park Monologues,” which he emceed for the third time in five years at Asbury Park’s House of Independents in November. The shows are structured similarly to “American Idol,” and divided into comedic, dramatic and musical theater categories that are judged by a panel of industry professionals. DeAngelis banters with the audience between acts, and local sponsors donate prizes, tickets and gift cards that get raffled off to show-goers between performances.

“I always wanted to do a show like the ‘Monologues’ at the House of Independents because the venue is perfect for it,” he says. “It can be a delicate dance getting it all together and making it work, but it’s an interesting, fun and different kind of show that a lot of people really enjoy.”

A career unfolds unconventionally

Derek DeAngelis, morphed into Derek D the entertainer after seeing an MTV spoof while still a college student.

“I was always outgoing, but I caught the acting bug late, as a sophomore in college,” says the lifelong Monmouth County resident. “I saw this stupid made-for-TV movie called ‘2gether’ about a fake boy band (an MTV parody of such ’90s groups as NSYNC and New Kids on the Block). I thought ‘what the hell, I can do that,’ and it literally ended up being my dumb aha moment.

“I’d find out where auditions were happening, and I would go to the auditions. At first I was not getting anything – nothing – but I kept at it. I told my parents ‘I think I want to be an actor’ and just kept plugging away. I kept my major because I knew it could help me in other facets of the industry (he designed the logo, posters and website for ‘Asbury Park Monologues’ using his graphic-arts skills), then started taking acting classes and comedy classes. I would book stuff that didn’t pay just so that I could build up my resumé, and just kept doing that.

“You’re going to get discouraged, you’re going to be broke, you’re going to have many rejections,” he adds. “People have that happen a couple of times and say ‘I’m out of here,’ and if so, it’s not meant for you. You have to have the mental fortitude and the gumption to do it. For me, there was no Plan B. I’m never going to be a graphic designer. I never will and never was. But I use the skill set to help me in other ways.”

Talent agencies help DeAngelis and other actors locate potential work. Today actors can create video clips of themselves at home to be distributed for possible auditions – a byproduct at least in part prompted by the pandemic. If casting directors like what they see on the videos, actors are then summoned to audition in person for various roles.

“I used to be in New York City for anywhere from three to five days a week auditioning,” he says. “Now I don’t have to spend the money on the train or any of that stuff, which is great. I can make video clips at home, my agents distribute the clips for potential auditions, and we go from there.”

As a seasoned professional, some of the opportunities that went his way over the years included shooting two Heineken beer commercials in Taiwan, four commercials in Spain for a Volkswagen model only marketed in Europe, and a three-part series for Formula E Racing in Monaco sponsored by Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer.

The Tag Heuer series won DeAngelis a Telly Award (honoring creativity across all TV mediums), and he received another Telly Award for a motorsports-related series called “Sidetracked with Derek D.” Both of those latter opportunities, he surmises, were likely related to the popularity he gained in the auto industry from his nearly 10 years as host of “Fast Lane Daily,” which included more than 2,300 episodes.

“(‘Fast Lane Daily’) was a daily show about car news, but funny,” he says. “In the beginning I was just the host, mainly just a talking head, but as time went on, I became one of the producers and one of the main comedy writers.  

“I love cars too, but one of the great things we were able to do with that show was to draw people together through a common thread. We’d get emails from wives and girlfriends who would say ‘I’m not really into cars, but my husband loves cars, so I watch the show with him since Derek is funny and makes me laugh. But I also learn some cool stuff along the way that I can later talk with my husband and other people about.’ That was the gist of it. You could watch, learn something cool, and laugh along the way.

“That show was such a great experience,” he adds. “Alan Kaufman is my writing partner and also one of my best friends. He and I wrote a sitcom together that’s based on ‘Fast Lane Daily’ that we’re currently pitching.”

Speaking from the heart

The rocky road that the entertainment industry can be prompted DeAngelis to put together an unvarnished video clip of the potential pitfalls of trying to navigate it. The industry is certainly not for the faint of heart, and in the video he essentially states – in a passionate way – that for every part of the iceberg seen above the surface representing success, there is much more unseen below the surface that represents rejection, hardships and failure.

Entitled “Dear Entertainment Industry,” the clip is just over 10 minutes long and can be seen in the New Videos link at DerekD.com. It is slated to be shown in March at the 23^rd annual Garden State Film Festival (see GSFF.org). DeAngelis wrote the content and Kaufman was the script supervisor.

“I’m talking to the main camera (three cameras were used at different angles) as if that camera is the Entertainment Industry personified,” he says. “It’s what I would say to you after working for you for 20 years. We released it in August and I’m super proud of it.

“It’s gotten some great feedback. I have friends who are musicians, singers or dancers who are like ‘I’m watching it, and you’re saying what I’m thinking.’ You know you’re hitting the right strings when people say that. It felt good.”

The video is a kind of passionate summary pointing out that for every yes to an audition, there are usually several noes to others.

“I didn’t want to come across like I’m complaining, or like I’m angry, but I wanted to get the message across that there are frustrations, and that, Entertainment Industry, you need to do better. You’re very hypocritical about a lot of things, and while you claim to be the most inclusive, it’s wrought with the opposite.

“I mention in there that people often tell me, ‘Hey, you made it. You’re doing what you love and you do it for a living,’ which is true. But I don’t feel that way yet. I feel like I constantly have to try to move forward, and every time I fail, I’ve fail forward.”