 He served as the "Hootmaster" for the Monday night hootenanny at The Troubadour, a West Hollywood nightclub that featured new artists.Randy Sparks from the New Christy Minstrels offered Nesmith a publishing deal for his songs, and Barry Freedman told him about upcoming auditions for a new TV series called "The Monkees".In October 1965, Nesmith landed the role as the wool hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" in the show, which required real-life musical talent for writing, instrument playing, singing, and performing in live concerts as part of The Monkees band.