Supernova8610's Journal

My TDS Taping Report

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:19:20 GMT

2/12/08

To begin, it was freezing cold outside; rather, the air was made of an icy chill that seeped its way deep into my bone marrow. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit; still, though, it was pretty darn cold. Nicole, my aunt, and I arrived at The Daily Show studio at about 3pm or so, but it was way too cold to wait in line (and it was snowing). So, the three of us walked to a little Italian restaurant about two or so blocks away, where we had a late lunch and allowed ourselves thaw. Around 3:45pm, we paid for our food and went back out into the snowy cold air. Nicole had to catch her bus, so after bidding her farewell and seeing that she got into a taxi, my aunt and I headed back to the TDS studio.

When we arrived, we found that the line had grown substantially in the time that we had been eating. My aunt and I joined the line (the one right near the double doors) and it wasn’t long after that when Shirley joined us. We waited there for what seemed like ages and my poor feet, more specifically my toes, became so cold (I was wearing three pairs of thick, warm socks, too) that I was reduced to hopping up and down like a complete idiot to keep them warm.

Eventually, though, the TDS people came out and began giving out tickets; I tried joking around with them, but received no response other than a “yeah” and a smile. After they were done giving out the tickets, the line slowly began to move forward as people one by one had their bags searched and went through security. It seemed to take forever for my turn to walk inside, through the double doors, under the sign that says “Abandon News, All Ye Who Enter Here.” Finally, though, our turn arrived and we walked inside the much warmer building.

Once Shirley, my aunt, and I were inside the building, waiting to go through the metal detector, I saw a sign to my right; it read “restrooms”, and there was an arrow pointing downstairs. I pointed this out to my aunt, and she and I raced down the stairs to use them; we didn’t want to have to suffer during the taping of that night’s show. We rejoined the line a few minutes later and I was surprised to see that the line had only moved a few inches forward.

After going through the metal detector and gathering up my things, I went over to another set of double doors; through these, I could see into the TDS studio. I knew it was about twice the size of the TCR studio, so I wasn’t as surprised as I normally would have been had I not known the size of TDS. So, I waited by the double doors for my aunt and Shirley to get through security. Once they had, the three of us were ushered into the studio.

We ended up being seated in the last row of the second section, on the side of the studio closest to the door. I remember looking behind my, down below into the backstage area. I was able to see a couple people or so working down there; during the commercial breaks, even I looked down there once or twice, and saw this one guy walk by.

At one point, before the warm-up guy came out, while I was still letting my eyes wander around the studio, Shirley got out her cell phone and began texting someone. I didn’t realize that she was doing this, though, until after a moment or two. When I did, I realized that my aunt was helping to hide Shirley’s activity, which I thought was really funny. The fact that she didn’t get caught is what made it seem even funnier to me.

Anyway, the warm-up comedian came out to get the audience pumped up for the show. While he did make me laugh, I also thought he was a bit of an ass; but that’s my personal opinion. I don’t remember much of what he said, but he corrected this one guy on the uses of the words “who” and “whom” which I thought was pretty funny. After the warm-up guy was done, he said something like “good-bye” to us, and left the set. Then, after only a couple or so minutes, to much clapping and cheering, Jon Stewart himself came out to greet the audience.

Like Stephen, Jon is better looking when you see him in person. He’s also much more adorable in person; I don’t quite know why, but he just is. He took a few questions from the audience; before going into the studio, I thought about offering up my wristSTRONG bracelet to him, but when the q&a started, I had completely forgot about it. I don’t remember anything that was asked, but after one question, Jon seemed to get into his stand-up comedy mode, which I thought was really cool.

After the q&a, Jon went over to his desk and sat down; the show began moments later. Those who saw the 2/12 episode of TDS know that, during the first act, Jon played a clip from the brawl; it was the clip of when he, Stephen, and Conan were dancing around like the awesome comedians they are. When the video clip ended, the audience was cheering and clapping so much that Jon said something like, “Oh, you want to see it again?”, and had the tech guys replay the clip for us. Yep. Jon is awesome.

You know how, after Jon’s mention of MTV during the first act, he started dancing while still sitting in his chair? Unfortunately, most of the dancing he did was cut out of the episode that aired on TV later that night. I was disappointed, I must say, because I LOVED it when Jon started dancing like that; it was really awesome. The particular dancing I’m talking about was during the time when he said, “I’m doing the safety dance!” And the stuff that got cut out was some of the best stuff, too; it was much more energetic and, shall we say, elaborate as well. After he was done, the audience started cheering for him to do it again and he told us, laughing, “No! It’s embarrassing!” I almost let out an “ow ow!!” at this point, but I didn’t; I almost wish I had though, just to see Jon’s reaction.

A couple of times during the taping, when the audience was just clapping, laughing, and otherwise being silent, I, just for fun, decided to let out a cheer. After I did so, everyone else started cheering as well, which made me laugh. One of these two times happened during the correspondent segment with Rob Riggle. So, you might say that I’m a bit of a trendsetter (haha… not).

I remember that Jon messed up once and had to start over, and I thought that was really adorable. I think it was either during one of the commercial breaks or when Jon messed up, but at one point Jon turned to the audience and said with a sort of grin and laugh that it was a little uncomfortable to have everyone staring at him like we were. Our response? Laughter.

Not much else happened except for the interview with Bill Kristol; it was during one part of the interview and the audience started booing him. When the interview was over and Bill Kristol had left, Jon got up from his desk, came around front, and said something to the audience. At first, I thought he was berating everyone for booing at the guest; later one, however, I found out that Jon had instead said something like, “it’s not often that the audience gets to “boo” a guest.”

Soon after Jon sat back down at his desk, the taping came to an end, and we all began filing out of the studio and into the cold and snowy weather. Shirley, my aunt, and I stopped for one last look at the studio while I took a picture. As it was dark, I didn’t get that good of a picture, unfortunately, but that doesn’t really matter. After the picture, the three of us parted ways: Shirley to her hotel, and my aunt and I to our hotel.

~*~*~*~

My Fantabulous TCR Taping Report (2/11/08)

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:10:38 GMT

TCR 2/11/08

~*~*~*~

The fantabulous journey begins when my friend Nicole called me at 6:50am on the morning of 2/11. I had been asleep in the top bunk in my room at The Pod, but that didn’t matter. I said a few words to her, about how I would be down in a few minutes. After I hung up, I laid in bed for a couple more minutes, then hurriedly got dressed and did my hair, put on a little make up, and dashed out the door (laptop computer in hand), telling my aunt where I’d be as I did so. I called Nicole as soon as I was in the elevator and said that I was on my way down, and that I had my laptop with me so that she could check her e-mail.

I reached the lobby and as soon as the elevator doors opened, I looked around. When I saw her, I waved, went over to her, and gave her a hug. Then we went over to one of the couches in the lobby and Nicole checked her e-mail while we talked about random stuff, including that I was finally going to be able to see the beloved Colbert Report studio after having watched TCR for 1 1/2 years. After she was done with the computer, I took it back up to my room. My aunt was almost done getting ready, so I told her I’d be in the lobby, hanging out with my friend. I grabbed a few more things to help keep me warm and dashed back to the lobby, where Nicole and I waited.

As soon as my aunt reached the lobby, it was decided that the three of us would go to Rockefeller center. We took a cab and as soon as we got there, we went to Starbucks (hey, I was hungry). I got a Chai Tea Latte and a couple oh-so-healthy pastries. Nicole got a Pumpkin Spice Latte (I thought about sneaking sips of it, but she never took her eyes from it), and I can’t remember what my aunt got; but that doesn’t matter.

After we were done eating and drinking our Starbucks treats, and after we got a pic with a picture of Steve Carell that was on one of the walls, we randomly decided to take a tour of the NBC studios. When we were about to enter Conan O’Brien’s studio, the tour guide noticed Nicole’s Colbert-themed shoes, and told her, “Don’t let Conan see those.” I thought that was pretty funny. When the tour was over Nicole, my aunt, and I looked around the NBC gift shop a bit, but didn’t buy anything (we decided to wait until the next day to do so), and then decided to head over to the Hard Rock Café for lunch where we met up with my friend Shirley and her friend, Greselda.

Lunch was delicious, but I couldn’t eat very much because I was so excited about finally being able to see TCR. After we were done eating, the two groups parted ways for the time being. Shirley and Greselda went to go somewhere (don’t remember where), and Nicole, my aunt, and I decided to head over to the TCR studio. It was only a few blocks away, so we walked (it was icy-cold and windy, but worth it).

When we were only a block away from the studio, my heart started racing. At long last, after months and months, here I was, about to catch my first glimpse of the famed studio. I was happy. I was excited. I breathed deeply to calm myself down. As we reached the point where we were about 5 or so feet from the corner of West 54th street, I raced ahead and could barely contain a squeal of glee. There it was! The Colbert Report studio!! The blue awning, with the words “The Colbert Report” written on it! I nearly started jumping up and down with delight.

As we arrived at that beautiful blue awning, we met a couple people already in line, but we didn’t really say much to them. Nicole and I took each other’s pictures under the blue awning, then decided, because of the cold, that we would go and wait in a nearby bookstore for Shirley and Greselda. As we were leaving the studio, Nicole pointed out the window of Stephen’s office to me. So, being the energetic and somewhat crazy person I am, I waved at it. I was hoping someone would respond from one of the windows, but no one did.

As soon as we got in the bookstore and found someplace to sit down, I took out my camera and began gazing at the picture of me, of all people, in front of the studio. My aunt ended up finding a couple books to read while Nicole and I texted people. I also found that my cell phone was almost out of battery power, and I was mad that I hadn’t charged it as much as I originally thought I did. Oh well. I ended up falling asleep for a couple minutes as the three of us waited in the bookstore. When Shirley and Greselda showed up, we waited around for a few more minutes while a couple members of the now five person group used the restroom (myself included). Then we all (with the exception of my aunt) headed over to the studio (my aunt had decided that, since she wasn’t VIP, that she would arrive at 4:20).

Now would be a good time to mention that my friend Shirley had VIP tickets that included backstage passes, and she was kind enough to let me use one.

We waited with the non-VIP people in the little alley-way because it was less windy and cold. Another one of my friends, Allison, showed up and began chatting with us, but then, as she had decided to try to get in on standby, had to go put her name on the stanby list. It was about this point that I called my aunt and told her she should come over to the studio to wait in line. She showed up a few minutes later, and Allison reappeared and was once again being her spunky self. So, we waited in the freezing cold a bit longer, shooing people on past who thought we were at the end of the line; after a little while longer, my aunt went off to join the regular line herself.

More waiting. More chatting. Finally, those who had VIP tickets were called forward, and Shirley, Greselda, and Nicole and I were at last able to go into the waiting room. First, though, we had to get our stuff checked by the security guys, who actually seemed quite nice. I had to take all my electronics out of my purse, so into a couple small plastic bins went my video iPod, cell phone, and portable iPod speakers. I went through the metal detector while the security guy went through my purse, but he was soon finished, and I gathered up my things and went over to sit with Shirley and Nicole almost right under the TV by the double doors leading into the studio while Greselda went through the detector.

There were some VIP people who had gone in ahead of us, and one of them looked suspiciously like this one guy who had made an appearance on TCR a few weeks previously. It was the segment where Stephen showed a clip from Late Night with Conan O’Brien that depicted Conan saying how TCR was only waiting for another Colbert to fill Stephen’s position. Stephen then said how this was ridiculous, and the camera cut to two females who were putting the finishing touches on a guy wearing a suit. The camera cut back to Stephen, who was shooing the three away. But anyway…

Shirley’s friend joined us and we whittled away the time by chatting and taking pictures of each with and without our pretty red VIP tickets. At one point I heard voices coming from the studio and realized that they were doing the rehearsal. I even heard Stephen’s voice a couple times! I pointed this out to Nicole, and she became excited; we heard people laughing from inside, then Stephen’s voice once more. I then went up to the double doors and pressed my ear against them to see if I could hear anything from inside. No luck. I went back to my seat, and after a few moments, someone from TCR put on The Best of The Colbert Report for us all to watch; it was quite entertaining and gave us something to do other than complain about not getting into the studio soon enough.

While this was going on, the regular ticket holders began trickling in; it took a while and I felt really sorry for my aunt, who was having to wait outside in the cold for so long. My feet started to get cold, so I took of my shoes and the lovely smell of sweaty feet reached my nostrils. So I hurriedly warmed up my toes and placed them back inside my shoes.

After the regular ticket holders were done being let in, the standby people were finally allowed in. Allison made her way over to us; rather, she waded through the crowd to us and we all began chatting about various topics. I didn’t really say a whole lot; it was mostly just her, Nicole, and Shirley talking. After a short while, everyone in the waiting room quieted down as we all watched The Best of TCR. Nicole, Allison, and I began quoting the lines Stephen was saying right along with him, which I think might have slightly disturbed some of the people who were closest to us. But I didn’t care; I was having fun.

As time drew on, the crowd of people grew completely silent, with the silence being punctuated by laughter as we all watched The Best of TCR together. I don’t know why, but I just loved how everyone was watching the DVD in silence, and laughing at all the right parts together; it made me so happy, to see TCR fans united like that. But, near the end of the Guitarmageddon episode, Mark, the audience coordinator, came out and gave out free t-shirts (both Nicole and Allison got one), and we were finally allowed into the studio. VIP’s were called up front first, so Shirley, Griselda, Nicole, and I arrived at the double doors and were ushered in.

My first glimpse of the studio live and in person was, to say the least, one of the most awesome things ever. It’s smaller than it appears to be when you see it on TV, but not by much. The four of us ended up sitting in the second row directly to the right of the passage that Stephen comes running out of before each show. As soon as we were all seated and the regular ticket holders began filing in, I turned to Nicole and squealed, “I can’t believe I’m actually here!! This is so amazing!!!” She grinned at me in reply, probably in amusement at my excitement.

When all the studio seats were almost full, I began looking around for my aunt. I was jealous to see that she got seated in the front row; but then I reminded myself that, to heck with it, I would be going backstage afterwards, so who cares what row I was seated in?

As the last of the seats were filled, the stage manager talked to us about how we should be loud, and cheer as much as possible. He also mentioned how Stephen likes it when we show lots of enthusiasm, because as everyone knows, he feeds off of the energy like leeches feed from people’s blood. After he was done talking to us, Pete finally took over and did the warm up. By this time, I was getting really excited, for I knew it was only just a matter of minutes before Stephen would be dashing out to greet us.

I thought Pete was very funny. He picked on this one guy in the front row for looking like he did marijuana; while it was funny, I also felt kinda sorry for him. He mentioned wristSTRONG bracelets, too, and he asked if anyone was wearing two wristSTRONG bracelets. No one. So then he said that that was too bad, because whoever had two wristSTRONG bracelets would get to go home with Stephen. Immediately, I made a grab for Shirley’s wristSTRONG bracelet, trying to steal it from her, and she did the same to me; Greselda was sitting between us and so got caught in the middle, trying to separate us. This wristSTRONG-stealing action caught Pete’s attention and he came over to us and said a few words about it. He called Greselda “Barack Obama” and then said a few words about the presidential candidates.

During this time, while Pete was mentioning the candidates, Shirley got out a picture she had done a nice job of photoshopping together: it was a merger of Obama and Stephen, and it looked like something a professional could have done. What’s more, it was really funny because it was so good. She showed it to me, Nicole, and Greselda, as if to ask if she should show it to Pete. We all motioned that she should. So, Shirley held it out to Pete and it took a couple seconds for him to notice it. But when he did, he took it from her, took a good look at it for a moment, and then started laughing; he showed it to everyone in the audience, and as the picture passed the view of everyone, they began laughing as well.

Pete jumped up and down a few times in glee because he was so pleased about the picture, and he had the widest grin on his face. He said it was really good; good enough to possibly make it on the show, even. So he took it backstage and when he came back out, he said that everyone there LOVED it. Later, someone, I think it was Allison who said this, mentioned that they could hear the crew laughing about the Colbama picture backstage.

The warm-up lasted a bit longer, and then the real stage manager came out once more and told us all to start cheering as much as and as loud as we could. “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick began playing; I could barely hear it, though, over the noise the audience was making. And then, it happened, the moment I had been looking forward to all day: Stephen! In the flesh! He came running out from the middle section of the stands and in that moment, I caught my first ever glimpse of The Man live and in person; I began cheering even louder than I had been (and so did everyone else). Here I was, actually looking at the one and only Stephen Colbert! There are no words to describe the elation I felt at this point.

Those who have been to TCR tapings in the past know this, but Stephen is much better looking in person than he is on TV; it’s hard to describe why, but he just is. It’s like laying eyes on a loved one who you’ve only corresponded to via e-mail and phone, and who you haven’t laid eyes on in ages. You get a certain rush, lasting only a second, when you see him live for the first time; you’re looking at him, but it’s hard to believe you are actually looking at him. Like I said, though, it’s hard to describe.

As Stephen came around and high-fived everyone in the front row, I was only slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to high-five him as well. So, when he came around the second time, I, being in the second row, decided to lean forward a little and hold out my hands to try and catch some of the action. Not a good idea. I didn’t end up getting the high-five, and after Stephen had come by us for the second time, I felt myself falling forward. With horror, I immediately attempted to regain my balance. Luckily I succeeded with only a scare and the seat in front of me pushed forward about an inch. Luckily, also, the only person who appeared to notice this near-disaster was Nicole. So I survived with no physical injuries and my dignity fully intact.

Stephen ran around his desk, did a weird little thing with the microphone, and asked the audience if they had any questions for him before he “transforms and says all these horrible things”. I can’t remember everything that was asked, but there was a girl in front of me who asked Stephen to do a Strangers With Candy dance with her. Being the awesome guy he is, Stephen said that he would. So the lucky, lucky girl stood up. There was a moment or two of silence while someone in the control booth tried to find the appropriate music for the dance. While this was going on, Stephen said something like, “I don’t usually do this.” Once the proper music had been found, the girl danced with Stephen. After they were done, the girl thanked him, and he replied, “No, don’t thank me; I should be thanking you!” After the question and answer session ended, Stephen went over to his desk, sat down, and after flinging a few wristSTRONG bracelets into the audience, the show began.

There’s nothing quite like seeing one of your all-time favorite television shows live, that’s for sure. There’s so much energy and adrenaline in the air, and it gets you pumped up and excited for the show, which is pretty much how I was during the 2/11 taping of TCR. During the commercials I was too busy looking around the studio and rocking out to the music with Nicole, so I’m not really sure what Stephen was doing during that time. A couple times I looked at him and saw a couple people at his desk (I don’t remember who they were), and he was laughing and talking with them.

The show went pretty much how it was seen on TV, with a few exceptions. During the first act, Stephen and the guest said “f&#k” back and forth to each other a couple of times (which was cut out of the show when it aired). Oh, and Stephen did mess up at one point and had to start over, which was as adorable as any character break. He said something to the audience at this point, but I don’t remember what it was. The interview was really good, too; Stephen was interviewing Dr. Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, and they were talking about Zimbardo's book, The Lucifer Effect. Eventually, the two got into a discussion about why God made Hell.

I won't quote their whole conversation, but near the end, Zimbardo said, "If God was into reconciliation, He would say, 'I made a mistake', okay? God created Hell. Paradoxically, it was God who created Hell as a place to put Lucifer and the fallen angels; and had He not created Hell, then evil would not exist, so you would not-." Stephen (being the awesome Catholic he is) replied, "No, evil exists because of the disobedience of Satan. God gave Satan, the angels, and man, free will. Satan used his free will, and abused it by not obeying authority. Hell was created by Satan’s disobedience to God and his purposeful removal from God’s love. Which is what Hell is: removing yourself from God’s love. You send yourself to Hell, God does not send you there."
Also, you know how, at the end of the episode, Stephen is shown spreading mustard on the sandwich with a sword? Even though the episode ended at this point, the sandwich making went on for a quite a while longer (not to mention we were all screaming and cheering throughout the whole process, and by the end my throat was hurting from cheering so much and so loudly).

My favorite part of the sandwich-making that unfortunately got cut was when Stephen started chopping up the head of lettuce with the sword; that was funny. The sequence ended when Stephen took a bite of the sandwich and wished us all good night. The actual taping ended when Stephen thanked us all for being there; then, he walked off the set and disappeared backstage.

After Stephen left, all the lights in the studio were turned back on and people began gathering up their things and leaving. Not me, though, or Nicole, Shirley, and Greselda. We stayed seated, relaxing after a hard night of cheering and yelling. I waved at my aunt as she passed by us (don’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this, but my aunt had her own separate set of tickets). When the rest of the audience had left the studio, it was only the four of us, still sitting in our seats. Mark came up to us and said that we could go and look around for a little bit before going backstage; the only condition was that we not touch anything. So, that’s exactly what we did (yes, that’s right: I got to wander around the set of TCR).

Walking around the set and getting to see it up close was, I must say, was freakin’ awesome. The sword hanging on the wall behind Stephen’s desk looked as though it was made of plastic, but it could’ve been the lighting that made it look that way; oh well. I got a quick close-up glimpse of the books on the bookshelves, and the Captain America shield. I remember telling Nicole at one point that I felt like a little kid at Christmas.

After a couple minutes of walking around the set, I heard Mark tell us, “You guys can sit at the desk, if you want.” Now this was certainly a pleasant surprise; I didn’t think I’d be able to sit at The Desk. It was as if I had received an unexpected, yet thoughtful and heartwarming, gift from a friend. Naturally, Nicole, Shirely, Greselda, and I gravitated toward The Desk. I think it was Nicole who got to sit at The Desk first, and she had her picture taken by Shirley. Then it was my turn.

I stepped up onto the platform and approached The Desk just as Nicole was leaving and I walked around behind it, so that I was looking toward where the audience always sits for tapings. I then looked at the backside of The Desk itself, and was surprised to see that there wasn’t much there. I always thought there was more storage space, but there’s actually very little (I wish I’d gotten a picture of it, but it didn’t cross my mind to do so. Ah well.).

After I was finished with my gaze at the underside of The Desk, I examined The Chair. It actually isn’t as spiffy looking as it appears when you see it on TV; I noticed what appeared to be a couple spots or stains on the grey fabric, and also noted that The Chair was slightly worn-looking (thought only slightly). And then, I sat down. In. The. Chair. Yes, that’s right. I sat in the same chair that Stephen himself sits in for every single show. It was actually quite cushy and comfortable, and it had a little bit of a spring to it. I can see why Stephen does most of the show while sitting down in that chair.

I gave my camera to Shirley, and she snapped my picture; but, I thought she was standing a little too close. I wanted the entire desk to be seen. So, she backed up a few paces and snapped another picture of me (it’s a good thing, too, because when I was looking at the pictures later that night in my hotel room, the first one of me at The Desk was sort of blurry). Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to post the picture online due to copyright issues, but anyway. As I was getting up, Mark said that we should get backstage soon, before they turned off the lights. I was going to mention that I had a flashlight on my keychain, but then remembered that it was in my hotel room; so, I kept my mouth shut. I retrieved my camera from Shirley, and she and Greselda took each other’s pictures at The Desk. After they were done, Mark led the four of us backstage.

We entered backstage, and I took a look around. I saw the Colbama picture taped to a combination bulletin/dry-erase board hanging from a horizontal metal pole (which was part of the structure for the audience seating). On the bulletin side of the board, there were a few items that were hanging; I saw a couple schedules, one was a general schedule of what might/might not happen during the show that week (guest names included) and I’m pretty sure that the other schedule was of what was supposed to happen on that day’s show. To the left of the bulletin/dry-erase board was an article about Stephen entitled “Colbert reports on why he is a great American”; this, too, was taped to the pole, and next to that an umbrella was hanging. Beneath this all was what looked like a very comfortable black couch. I stepped back a couple paces and took a picture (which I’m not allowed to post online) of it all.

After I took the picture (Shirley took one too), the group of us waited around for a moment or two. This particular place was, I knew, the area where Stephen waits before bouncing into the studio to rousing cheers from the audience and to the song, “I Want You to Want Me.” I thought that was pretty cool. After a couple moments I felt tempted to sit on the couch, but I didn’t know if I should. But right when I got this temptation, a woman who works for TCR, Tanya, came out to greet us. I liked Tanya; she seemed really cool and a genuinely nice person. She told us that she was the Line Producer at TCR, and then asked us where we were from. I don’t remember the specifics of what I said, but I told her that I was from Napa, California, and she went, “Wow! You really flew all that way to go to a taping?” I replied with a shrug and said, “It was worth it.” Which made her smile.

After this friendly exchange, Mark led the group to the green room (which was actually painted blue), where all the guests wait before making their appearances on the show. The room was rather small, I thought; Mark told the four of us that Conan and Jon didn’t like having to share that room on the night of the brawl, which I thought was pretty funny. He also asked the four of us to keep our voices down, because there was a meeting across the hall taking place.

On the back wall of the room, opposite the door, was a rather pretty wall decoration that I really liked. There was a couch up against the back wall which I put my stuff down on, and adjacent to that, a comfy looking chair. There were also a couple of shallow wicker baskets hanging above the vanity area, where I think the guest gets make-up put on, or whatever.

In front of the vanity area was a rather comfortable looking chair. I took a seat, and while Shirley was fiddling with my camera, I glanced back, and on the counter I saw a few snacks laid out for the show’s guests. There was a can of Diet Dr. Pepper, a few napkins, and a little tray of sorts with snack foods on it. The snacks included a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos (I smiled when I saw those), an apple, and a few other items that, again, I can’t remember. But I do know I saw a few crumbs by the napkins. I wanted to take one of the food items and begin eating it, but I knew that if I did, I’d most likely get in trouble; in my defense, though, I was hungry (and too shy to ask if I could have something).

So there we all were, whispering to each other, having a pretty good time, and waiting patiently for the meeting to end. The subject of Mark’s videos came up. I considered going on a rant about how much I loved Starbucks, just to mess with Mark, but I decided not to. The prom video came up into the conversation, and I told Mark that it was my favorite one and that I found it hilarious, to which he replied with a “thank you.”

During the whole time we were waiting in the green room, Mark stood by the door to make sure that none of us went wandering into the bowels of the studio. After a few minutes, I asked the time, and was surprised to learn we’d been in the room for as long as we had been (honestly, the time did seem to go by quickly). At one point, I forgot why we were whispering, so I asked the oh-so-brilliant-and-intelligent-question of “Why are we whispering?” to the room at large. Mark replied by saying something like, “I asked you to keep your voices down because of the meeting.” Needless to say, I felt like a complete idiot after this; but, I recovered quickly, and joined in the still whispered conversations as the minutes passed by.

After a little while, Tanya came into the room; she had four hats with her, and she passed one to each of the four of us. The hats were blue and had a big red “C” on the front. On the back, it said, “The Colbert Report.” There were many “thank you’s” all around. Tanya said that the hats weren’t available online, but after she left, Shirley mentioned something about seeing the hats in question online. I’m guessing Tanya probably didn’t realize that the hats were available online already (neither did I), but that doesn’t matter. I really like my Colbert hat; I examined it, thought it was totally awesome, and put it in my purse for safe-keeping.

There was a few moments of still whispered conversation and otherwise silence after Tanya left. Nicole, at one point, asked Mark if he wouldn’t mind getting a picture taken, and he was all, “yeah, sure!” So she went over to stand next to him, and I stood next to her. While the two of us got into position, Shirley took out her camera; she then took a picture of me, Mark, and Nicole, all standing side by side, looking positively adorable. We thanked Mark and meandered back to our original positions, where we’d been standing before the picture.

When I had returned to my place by the vanity area, I decided to look in the mirror and try to spiff myself up; I fiddled a bit with my hair, but then noticed a delightful little zit, right smack in the middle of my forehead. Oh, the horror! [insert dramatic pose here] I immediately regretted not bringing my cover-up with me; I had thought of bringing it, but then decided I wouldn’t need it at all. Stupid move on my part, but I decided I could just photoshop the zit out of pictures later, if I had to.

Not long after my little internal zit-horror experience, Mark spoke up and apologized for how long the meeting was lasting. He told us that Stephen would probably only have enough time to greet us and shake our hands, and that he might not have enough time to get a picture taken with us because the meeting was running late. I admit, my heart did take a bit of a dive after hearing this information.

A few more minutes passed. The meeting, Mark said, was over. By this time, I figured that, heck, I was fortunate enough to even be able to wander around the TCR set and sit at Stephen’s desk, both totally awesome; not to mention going backstage, which was also really cool. Mark spotted someone and left the room. I decided that, in the end, I wouldn’t mind not getting a picture with Stephen; I’d just be happy enough if I at least got to speak to him and shake his hand.

I heard Mark speaking to someone in the hall, but it didn’t quite register with me who that someone was. I looked down at my fingernails and started picking at one of them. My heart began pounding and my breathing, careful yet quick. I heard movement from the doorway. I looked up. Mark re-entered the room; then, not one second later…ZOMGSTEPHEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephen entered the room. There he was. Stephen. Colbert. Standing less than six feet away from me. I couldn’t believe it; here I was, actually meeting him. I seriously could not believe it; I broke out into the widest grin. I was so, so happy. Stephen exchanged hello’s with Nicole, myself, and Shirley and Greselda, and shook each of our hands. My first thought? “Wow, his hands are soft!” I mean, I knew from past taping reports that his hands were soft, but I didn’t expect them to be that soft. Not that I’m complaining, of course. Now that I was looking at Stephen up close, I could see his hair graying a little on the sides, above his ears. Other than that, though, I thought he looked very good for his age. And the wonky ear is even more adorable up close.

Stephen asked us if we wanted a picture. There was some discussion about how the picture would be done. Before the taping even started, it had been planned that Nicole and I would get a picture with Stephen, and then Shirley and Greselda; that way, we decided, it would be easier to photoshop the other person out. Since it seemed, however, that we wouldn’t get much time for the picture, Shirley suggested a group photo; but Stephen had other ideas (now would be a good time to mention that, during this whole time, Stephen was standing right next to me). He suggested individual photos. Since I was standing closest to him, I went first, and handed my camera over to Shirley.

Stephen placed his arm around my shoulders, his hand lightly gripping my left one. I thought, “He has his arm around my shoulders. Breathe, Natalie, just breathe.” I stepped a little bit closer to him and placed my around his shoulders. He asked us where we were all from, and I heard Nicole, Shirley, and Greselda mention their places of residence. I looked at him and told him that I was from “California. Well, Napa, actually.” Stephen turned slightly and looked at me, directly into my eyes and replied with a sincere, “Oh, really? Wow!”

(Side note: When I looked into Stephen’s eyes, I can honestly say that the one thing I saw was kindness; I know it’s been mentioned in past reports, but Stephen really does have very kind eyes. He’s also very sincere and one of the nicest, sweetest people ever.)

Stephen looked back at the camera and I, in the direction of the camera (but not at it; probably because I still couldn’t believe I was actually meeting him). Shirley snapped the picture and gave my camera back to me, then moved on to take the picture of Nicole and Stephen. After the picture taking was over, Stephen thanked us, and there were yet more “thank you’s” and “thank you so much’s” on our part. He seemed genuinely pleased and happy that he had such enthusiastic fans; but, as all good things must come to an end, so did the Stephen-meeting come to an end. After the “thank you’s”, Stephen bade us good-bye, and left the room.

Mark led us out of the room and through the hall. There were pictures of Stephen hanging up on the walls, and I saw that one of them was from the Guitarmageddon episode. I also noticed, as we were walking up a short flight of stairs, a bulletin board, with nothing tacked on but stuff that was sent by the fans. I even thought, for a moment, that I recognized my own handwriting, and I dawdled for a couple seconds at the top of the stairs, trying to see; but, by this time I was too far away to tell. Mark led us through a door and then into an entryway, where I was surprised to see my aunt sitting. She told me that the TCR people had let her wait inside because of the cold; I also believe they let her wait inside for other reason, but I’m not discussing them here.

We all exited the building. You know those stairs you see at the front of the TCR studio, with the metal gate at the end of them? Those are the ones the five of us walked down. The first person I saw as I walked down the stairs was Allison. The first thing that came out of my mouth was “WE MET STEPHEN!!!” Which, naturally, she thought was super cool; and then I showed her the picture of me and Stephen, which I think might have made her a teensy bit jealous.

All in all, I must say that I had the GREATEST time at TCR; everything was the absolute best and, if I may say so, I think I did pretty darn good for a first taping. I know if I ever go to another TCR taping (and I certainly do plan on it), they won’t quite measure up, but it won’t matter. All I’ll say is, “To heck with that! I got to meet Stephen!” And that’ll make everything better.

~*~*~*~

Me & "Steve Carell"

Standing under the awning

My pretty red VIP ticket

Me, Nicole, & Mark Malkoff

Me & the one and ONLY Stephen Colbert

My Conan O'Brien Taping Adventure (5/4/07)

Fri, 18 May 2007 17:40:52 GMT

I went to see Late Night with Conan O'Brien in San Francisco on Friday, May 4, 2007.

*ahem*

The adventure begins on the official Late Night with Conan O'Brien message boards on NBC.com. I did not get my ticket confirmation to see the show and I badly wanted to go see it. I was just about ready to sulk around the house after the disappointment of not getting my confirmation; I was even planning on getting to San Francisco at sunrise to wait in the standby line. I did not really want to do that, though, because I did not know if I would get in or not, and I did not want to risk it. Plus, I had classes and I didn't want to chance missing those for something I might not get into. So, on a whim, and because I wanted a sure chance to see Late Night with Conan O'Brien live and in person, I decided to post a message on the official Late Night message boards asking if anyone had an extra ticket for the show. If they did, I asked if anyone would be willing to give it to me out of the graciousness of their hearts. The day that this occurred was on Tuesday, April 24. To be honest, I did not have very high hopes of someone responding. The next day, on April 25, I got my answer.

It turns out that someone had opened up multiple e-mail accounts and sent out multiple ticket requests to see Late Night in San Francisco. They got a confirmation for both Wednesday, May 2 and Friday, May 4. When they saw the message I had posted, asking about tickets, they asked me if I wanted one of their ticket confirmations. I sent the person a private message saying that yes, I did. I gave the person my e-mail address as well, for good measure.

The person sent me an e-mail, asking me if I wanted the ticket confirmation for Friday, May 4. They said that they wanted to take a tour of Alcatraz and would only be able to do so on Friday, and not Wednesday because that was when they were seeing the show. I sent the person an e-mail in reply saying that I did want the May 4 tickets. The two of us had already discussed the matter of checking in at the Orpheum theater to get the tickets themselves, and it was discovered that ID's were not going to be checked. So, with many "thank you's" and "I will love you forever's" on my part, the person forwarded the Friday confirmation tickets to me.

The day of the taping, Friday, May 4, finally arrived, and I picked up my friend at her house at about 8AM. We went to the store first so we could get stuff to eat while in line (hey, we didn't want to have to leave the line for any reason, except to use the restroom if we needed to). We finally left for San Francisco at 8:45AM (after filling up the car with gas), and we arrived there at 9:30AM. It took us a few minutes to find a place to park. After parking the car at last, we walked to the Orpheum theater. We got there a little after 10AM and got in line. On the way to actually get in line, I noticed one of the show's writers, Brian Stack, standing outside talking with some people. I recognized him from a few of Late Night's sketches. When my friend and I got into the line at last, I was pleased to see that we were fairly close to the front.

At around 11:30 they started handing out tickets for some of us, so, because I wasn't a guy and needed a guy to check me in, I sent a text message to the guy who had given me his Friday confirmation. He came to the rescue and check my friend and I in and afterwards, he hung out with us for a little while and we chatted about various stuff.

Not a lot happened in line. My friend and I got to know a few of the other people who were in line with us, and we had a good time talking with them. A couple of the guys my friend and I were chatting with got a little vulgar, in my opinion, about 2 or so hours before we were to be let into the theater. Although, they had been drinking some, so maybe that was why. I told them to tone it down a little and they did. Other than that, they were pretty nice. I talked with a few other people about past episodes of Late Night, and we had a good time laughing together.

At one point some of the band members of Late Night: Max Weinberg , LaBamba, Pender, and Mike Merrit came out of the theater near where we were all waiting, and everyone cheered. Max is a little shorter than I thought he would be; he looked to be about the same height as me, and I'm 5'8". Then they climbed into a van and drove away. I think they might've been getting something to eat, but I'm not sure. A little while later, Tom Waits came out, and people started cheering again. He looks rather short in person; at least, he looked shorter than me. He went back into the theater again a little bit after that.

Finally Max, LaBamba, Pender, and Mike arrived back. People were cheering (myself included) as they walked back into the theater. After that, since I had an hour and a half until they started letting us in, I decided to take a quick trip to the restroom. The restroom was actually in the form of roughly a dozen outhouses. As I walked from near the front of the line from where I had been waiting to the outhouses which were a ways down from me, I had the chance to see how long the line had become. Let me tell you that it was LONG; I knew there was almost no chance the people in standby across the street would get in. So, after finishing with the outhouses, I got back to my place in line; from then, the time before we were let into the theater passed by VERY slowly.

When at last we were allowed inside, at 3:15, we were told to form two separate lines: those with bags had to move to the right and those without bags moved to the left. As I walked inside, I held open my purse so the security guard could "search" it. Then I, with my friend right behind me, moved into a shorter line where a security guard passed a metal detection wand up and down my front and back; it made a short beeping noise to show that I had nothing dangerous or whatever with me. They're basically the same as the metal detection rods you see in airports. After that, my friend and I joined the crowd waiting outside the doors of the theater itself.

There was a small sort of balcony where I could see some guys sitting around. I guess they worked all the technical stuff for the show, I'm not too sure. A couple times one of the guys came out and looked at all of us, standing there beneath him, and we started cheering for no reason. One of them also came out with a camera, and we started cheering yet again; the guy took a picture of us and then disappeared. I noticed some of the other guys that I could see glancing down at us and smiling; probably at the fact that we were cheering them. I thought it was pretty funny.

Anyhow, we were waiting there, crowded together, for a few minutes, and at last the doors to the theater itself opened. There was a mad rush, what with everyone running in to get the best seats possible. I grabbed onto my friend's arm, plunged into the mass of people and made my own dash to get the best seats possible. My friend and I ended up in the middle section near the right side of the theater, and we were in the seventh row from the front of the stage. I was sitting one seat away from the aisle. We had pretty darn good seats, and I counted myself lucky to be as close as I was to stage, and as close as I was to Conan.

I looked around as everyone was filing in, at the stage, and around the whole theater in general; I smiled at the thought that I was at long last attending a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I have been watching Late Night since August 2003, back when I was sixteen years old (I am now twenty). Ironically enough, the first episode I ever saw was when I was on the airplane on my way to New York City (I flew JetBlue). Yes, I did set foot in the studio where Late Night is filmed, but it was completely empty at the time. After I got back home to California and started watching Late Night regularly, I remember thinking it was a shame that I did not get to attend a taping of Late Night (and that I did not take a picture of the empty studio, for which I am still kicking myself over). Because I live in the Bay Area, I knew that I would have to fly all the way to New York City to do so, and I knew that it would be expensive. So, imagine how happy I was to finally be able to attend a taping of one of my all-time favorite television shows on my home turf.

After everyone had filed in and sat down, the doors were closed and no one was allowed to enter or exit. The time was about 3:45. One of the writers, Brian McCann, came out from behind the curtains and gave us a talk about how we shouldn't take pictures of Conan because he was albino, and any flash photography would result in his getting sunburned, or something like that. We all laughed, and Brian McCann mentioned some other things about the show, but I can't remember what it was now. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter.

After he was done talking with us, the curtains were raised and the band members of the Max Weinberg 7 could seen be sitting down, ready to play their instruments. Everyone got up and started cheering. After Max himself had sat down the bad started playing some music; it was really loud, but that didn't matter. I was having a great time, clapping along with the beat of the music. At one point, Pender got out from behind the Late Night podium emblazoned with the Late Night logo and started walking across the stage, playing his trumpet all the while. He walked down the stairs and began making his way up the aisle. He stopped on his way up the aisle, still playing the trumpet with the other band music in the back ground. He had to have been at least five or so feet away from me at that point; it was awesome! Pender's head is shiny. After that, he continued cruising up the aisle, and then made his way down the other aisle on the other side of the theater. After he got back up on the stage, he held a note on his trumpet for a long while; it was pretty impressive, and everyone started cheering and clapping.

So after Pender had finished and got back to where the other band members were, they started playing another song which everyone once again clapped along to. But at 4:00, the Late Night announcer, Joel Goddard, appeared on the stage. This time, the entire theater erupted in cheers; we all knew what was coming next.

Well, let me say that the show itself was AWESOME!!! I could go on an on about how cool it was, seeing Late Night live. Right as it started, I came to the immediate conclusion that seeing Late Night with Conan O'Brien live is seriously 100 times better than seeing it on television; there's so much energy and adrenaline in the air. I won't go into detail about the show itself, but during the commercials, I payed attention to what was going on up on the stage. At some points, I could see Conan standing around talking with Jeff Ross (I think that's his name) and some of the other Late Night people. A couple times, when Conan was sitting at his desk, a make-up lady dabbed some make-up onto Conan's forehead; probably so that it wouldn't be shiny when seen on camera. There were some occasions when Conan would stand near the edge of the stage, pointing at random audience members and waving. I was slightly disappointed that he didn't point and wave at me, but oh well. I also remember seeing Conan hop up and down a few times (his hair is nice and floppy; it made me smile), as well as dancing around on the stage; at one point, he even did the twist! But, I didn't get a good look at it because two girls sitting in front of me always had a sign up during the commercials that blocked my view of Conan. They also held it up during the show, so I actually didn't get a very good look at him throughout the thing, but I'm getting off track.

After the show was over, my friend and I exited the Orpheum theater and waited outside the staff exit, where I knew Conan would be coming out of sooner or later. While we were waiting behind a barrier (there were two, on either side of the staff exit), I showed one of the security guards a dollar bill that had Conan's face on it (I was hoping to have Conan sign it); he thought it was pretty funny. I also had the pleasure of seeing a few of the Late Night people exit out of the theater; I saw Joel (who I wish I had gotten a picture with, since other people were doing so; from what I saw, he seems like a nice guy), Max, Jordan Schlansky, Aaron Bleyaert (best last name ever), and Scott Healy, who plays the keyboard for the Max Weinberg 7. He stayed around for a little while, signed some autographs and chatted with some of us. My friend asked him: "Do you like signing autographs?" To which he replied: "Yeah, I do." That made me laugh. :-) As he was about to leave, I asked Scott Healy if I could get a picture taken with him, but unfortunately he didn't hear me. As he walked away, I could see a little bald spot on the back of his head. Why I thought that was adorable, I have no idea. But, I did. I'm weird.

At around 6:30pm it was getting pretty cold and windy, and I was shivering. I remember, at that time, seeing the the staff exit door open again; I leaned forward to see if I could see anything in the building, and guess who I saw, standing just inside the door? Conan! I gasped, and told the people around me that I had seen him, standing right inside; they thought I was joking at first, but I told them: "Seriously! He's right inside there!" They thought it was really cool. :-) Then, a few seconds later, Conan stepped outside; everyone suddenly started cheering and calling out to him.

There were pops of light as camera flashes went off; I myself took a picture of him, as he was going down each side of the barrier, signing autographs. When he came close to me, I held out my Conan dollar, and Conan took it from me; I don't know if it was just me, but I swear I saw his eyes widen for a fraction of a second when he saw my Conan dollar. As he was signing it, I asked if I could get a picture taken with him. He told me to "make it quick." I admit, my spirits did sink a little when Conan said this to me, but since I could tell he was in kind of a hurry, I brushed it off. He gave my Conan dollar back to me, signed a few more autographs, and then went to get into a car that was waiting for him. Before Conan got into it, though, he stopped and thanked everyone for coming. Then, he got into the car and shut the door.

The crowd dispersed, and everyone went home, or to wherever it was they were staying. My friend and I walked the few blocks back to her car, and drove back to her house. I got into my car, and on the way home, I was left to my musings of the wonderful, wonderful day that I had just experienced. Yes, I was (and still am) a little disappointed that I didn't get a picture taken with Conan, but at least I got his autograph, and I think getting an autograph is just as good. Overall, though, I had the best time EVER seeing one of my all-time favorite shows live, and I count myself incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do so.

~*~

Here are the pictures I took of the event:

Waiting in line outside the Orpheum theater

My ticket

The line behind me

I took this inside the theater with my cell phone

The Late Night announcer, Joel

Two guys who work for the show (Jordan Schlansky and Aaron Bleyaert)

The man himself, Conan O'Brien

I got Conan's autograph!!! :-D :-D :-D