When Beetem was told he'd be spoofing the Top Gun himself, he admits to having some reservations. "I thought it was pretty hilarious when I first heard about it, but then when I realized that I was actually going to have to do it, I got a little nervous!" confesses the actor. "There's almost no rehearsal that goes into our work, so filming that was fairly complicated. I was working with [co-hosts] Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — they aren't actors — and I was in a completely alien atmosphere.... We basically got on the set and there were 300-400 people watching and no rehearsal."

Behar had a little trouble with the lines at first, calling Tate "Chris" during blocking, and when she saw the size of the script, she cried, "It's like War and Peace!" But she and Hasselbeck quickly became comfortable with the fake banter, even ad-libbing. Before the taping, the co-hosts joked around with the audience, asking where they were all from, and started with the first two rows of people, who happened to be paid extras! There were also students from NYU and plenty of enthusiastic fans.

Naturally, the spoof involves a little fist-pumping and couch-jumping, albeit using a sofa chair. "Our set photographer managed to capture me at the apex of a jump, and I literally look like I'm eight feet in the air!" laughs Beetem. "I play a lot of basketball, but I can't slam dunk. Maybe I'll start trying now."

So what would Beetem say to Tom Cruise if he were approached about his performance? "Well, 'I can jump higher than you,' first of all," he jokes. "No, I'd say, 'I hope you're not offended and I was just doing my job, dude!' And ... 'How'd you like it [laughs]?" There've been a few spoofs of it already, so I'm sure he's used to it."