Dan Gross: A slimmer Monty G on tap

Philly HIP-HOP FANS may remember

Monty G

as the hype man for

Tuff Crew

, and sports fans may know him for his rapping at Eagles and Phillies games, but America will see a different side of Monty, born

Lamont Anderson

, on Friday's "

Dr. Oz

Show." (4 p.m, Fox 29).

Monty responded to a casting call because he wanted help losing weight. Monty, who is 5'11," told me he was shocked to learn, after stepping on a scale on the show, that he weighs 456 pounds. Dr. Mehmet Oz is sending him to a training camp and asked him to try to lose 30 pounds by February. Monty says he hopes to lose more than that. He was also seen by a New York hospital because he's had a foot ulcer for about a year.

Monty lost his mother, Christina Jones, and father, Stanley Evans, this year. "My mother was my heart," he says, and he's been eating away his feelings.

"When I'm not entertaining nobody, I'm hurt. I'm lonely and really sad and hurt," Monty says, adding that he cried on the Dr. Oz show because the doc recognized that he's in pain and that he eats when feeling down.

"He told me he loved me and that he was gonna help me," says Monty, who feels inspired to get healthier for Dr. Oz and himself.

Jerry Blavat

is off to Beverly Hills tomorrow to meet up with

Frankie Valli

and

Don Rickles

to attend a UCLA Hospital Neurosurgery Department ceremony honoring West Philly native philanthropist

Sidney Kimmel

. The Geator's flying back Friday morning and working a private party that night at World Cafe Live.

"People tell me I sound shorter on the radio," joked 6'4"

Derrick Pitts

, chief astronomer and planetarium director for the Franklin Institute, before receiving an honorary degree from La Salle University on Sunday. Pitts co-hosts WHYY's "Skytalk," with

Dave Heller

Monday nights.

Director

John Guarnere, Jr.

's "Calendar Girl," which features

Corbin Bernsen

and

Gilbert Gottfried

; "You'll Know My Name," from director

Joe Raffa

; and

George Manney

's documentary about J.C. Dobbs, "Meet Me on South Street," are just a few of the selections for the FirstGlance Film Festival, which runs Oct. 13-16 at the Franklin Institute. All films are competing for $15,000 in prizes and the chance for a Las Vegas premiere.

Besides the list of official selections screening at the Franklin, FirstGlance has 40 short films competing online. For more info visit firstglancefilms.com.

* Congratulations to Daily News columnist Jenice Armstrong, who will be honored alongside Olympic champion and one-time New Jersey state Senate candidate Carl Lewis and "Hollywood Shuffle" director Robert Townsend at the ninth annual Pocono Mountains Film Festival Oct. 22 at East Stroudsburg University.

For info, visit poconomountains

filmfestival.com.

Food Network host

Anne Burrell

, who wrote "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" and "Worst Cooks in America," signs her new cookbook, "Cook Like A Rock Star," at noon tomorrow at Williams-Sonoma at King of Prussia Mall.