Hubster karenatasha (with a little help from Caroline) have sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of their trip to the April 16th, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hello, Hubsters!
Of course, I must begin with apologies. This was an April 16 taping; we are now in August. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. My life has been crazy with my job, freelance writing, and of course, stalking David Hallberg. (Otherwise known as attending many performances. Yes, Mr. Arkadin — that’s for you!)
But here is my reporT, and I do hope that the backstage treats I provide make up just a little for the long delay.
On a perfectly lovely April day, fellow Hubster Caroline and I met near my office, enjoyed lunch, and walked up to the studio where we ended up being the first in line at around 3:05. (The other very nice couple there decided to return later.) There were a few things in the procedure that I hadn’t seen before: people were offered a chance to go in and use the bathrooms before the general entrance into the waiting room, and when we finally filed in, the waiting room had significantly more seating than it ever had. Both of changes these were, in my opinion, really good, adding to the comfort of the waiting crowd.
I know that, for this group, I don’t have to go into the usual rigmarole about what happens as we’re breathlessly waiting; you all know the basics! So I’m cutting right to the chase and the news you’re really eager to hear. Once inside, the big surprise for me was that there were Colbert pens with built-in flashlights on our seats as little gifts. I thought something might be done with them during the show, but they were simply small gifts, and one that I now treasure. (It nearly got me in trouble though, when the warm-up comic saw me holding it and demanded to know what was in my hand! I showed him and he told me to put it away. I was so embarrassed. Caroline later suggested that he may have thought I was holding some recording device. NEVER. I wouldn’t do anything that could get me kicked out of a taping . . . possibly for good.)
The Q&A began with a young man who said he was a theater major and asked Stephen whether he should go to New York or Chicago to begin his career. Stephen asked exactly what he hoped to do in theater, and when he responded, “improv,” Stephen instantly told him “Chicago.” “You’ll have more chances to go onstage,” Stephen said, and noted that there were many more theaters to work in. At that point, the young man told him that he had had a story—that he’d had a dream that he would get to talk to Stephen. He got the last ticket to the taping and came down from Boston. Stephen seemed totally stunned and started humming the “Twilight Zone” theme, and then reiterated his advice to try Chicago.
The rest of the questions that I can remember (at least before the taping began) were all about “Lord of the Rings”—all of them, save one that Caroline are a little confused about! (More on that later.) Unfortunately, I can’t give you the answer to the first one, because neither Caroline nor I could remember exactly what it was. That’s probably because we’re not crazed enough fans of LOTR. The person asked Stephen to name the character NOT in the films he’d most like to be or liked best. I think that Stephen might have said Aragon’s father or grandfather (who possibly is only in “The Silmarillion”). He did launch into an impressive long digression about Tolkien’s narrative, which earned him loud and appreciative applause. Very pleased, he responded, “Where WERE you when I was 16?” Oh, Stephen, I wish I had been there!
Another member of the audience queried him on how often he’d read the books—“more than once?” Of course, any true Colbertphile KNOWS that once is not enough for our hero! Stephen responded that he honestly did not know how many: he “lost count at 50 in high school.” Continuing with the “Lord of the Rings” quest-fest, a third lucky person asked who could beat Stephen in a Tolkien-off. Of course, Mr. Colbert mentioned that he had already defeated Peter Jackson’s expert on the films. So he couldn’t really give a name of someone even more Hobbit-knowledgeable.
And finally, someone asked who Stephen would choose as his nemesis: Darth Vader or Smaug? He mentioned Vader because he’d cut off his right hand, but Smaug because we’d know how to beat him thanks to the book. (Caroline reminds me that he was missing a scale in his underbelly, which allowed Bard the Bowman of Esgaroth to kill him.)
Now, there is one question that neither Caroline or I can remember, but she recalls the answer to. We think it might have been, “Which president – living or dead – would you like to have talked to?” His response was: “Warren Harding because he lost some of the White House China in a poker game . . . look it up.” But you can consider this a game of Colbert Jeopardy, if you like, and try to come up with a better question for this answer! I don’t think this is quite right.
After that, the taping finally began. And almost immediately, he blew something—“because our adulation had messed him up.” Everyone applauded at that, but it wasn’t the last error of the evening. If you can remember the sequence with the Rollie Eggmaster, the Rhode Island Red hen, and the extruded egg direct from the, uhh, colon—well, the extruder didn’t work the first time! So he redid it, but the hen got a little agitated, flapping its wings. Well, Stephen was so lovely to that animal, stroking it and trying to calm it. It was wonderful to see, and some of it was actually caught on tape and aired. (But we all know he can soothe the savage beast, right?) All the other sequences went perfectly smoothly—no mistakes.
The evening’s guest was Caroline Kennedy, discussing her new poetry collection, “Poems to Learn by Heart.” [It was absolutely delightful, as you may remember, and the chemistry between the two of them was fantastic as they alternated reciting poems from her book. (They were happily waving to each other with great warmth even before he came over for the interview.) Sadly, the sequence that aired was much shorter than what we saw, and I feel very privileged to have witnessed a lot more. Stephen actually recited the entirety of A. A. Milne’s poem/song “Disobedience”, which I’ve known and loved ever since I was a child. (I actually wish he’d sung it; I grew up with a version done by the Chad Mitchell Trio.) Caroline Kennedy just couldn’t believe it! I believe she was totally stunned. Caroline Hubster (as opposed to Kennedy) reminds me that Stephen did say something like: “We’re not going to show all that. I just wanted to impress her.” No, no, no. Please, Stephen, can we have some more? Some more outtakes, that is. Every time I’m there and see something like this, I believe the entire world should have the pleasure of watching it, too. Every drop of Stephen on tape should reach the masses, thirsty for additional footage. I can certainly attest to the fact that the live audience loved every second of it. The interview got a terrific reaction. As Kennedy said, “poetry is the language of the human heart,” and I really found their discussion touched mine.
Now, because of my own procrastination, and the many weeks between this show and the writing of this reporT, I have to remind you of the day this episode took place: it was the first TCR taped after the Boston Marathon bombing. So Kennedy, with her strong connection to Massachusetts, seemed like the perfect guest to me. And Stephen addressed the tragedy with the audience (he’d already spoken about it in his wonderful intro), saying that we might have noticed that they did some rather silly things tonight, and that he felt we really needed the laughter.
Then he took one more question—about his favorite interview (he said there were many, but ultimately chose the one with Andrew Young), and then he recited a goodbye poem/lullabye I didn’t know, clapping rhythmically to the words. Then he went off, leaving us all extremely happy.
April 16, 2013: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster karenatasha (with a little help from Caroline) have sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of their trip to the April 16th, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hello, Hubsters!
Of course, I must begin with apologies. This was an April 16 taping; we are now in August. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. My life has been crazy with my job, freelance writing, and of course, stalking David Hallberg. (Otherwise known as attending many performances. Yes, Mr. Arkadin — that’s for you!)
But here is my reporT, and I do hope that the backstage treats I provide make up just a little for the long delay.
On a perfectly lovely April day, fellow Hubster Caroline and I met near my office, enjoyed lunch, and walked up to the studio where we ended up being the first in line at around 3:05. (The other very nice couple there decided to return later.) There were a few things in the procedure that I hadn’t seen before: people were offered a chance to go in and use the bathrooms before the general entrance into the waiting room, and when we finally filed in, the waiting room had significantly more seating than it ever had. Both of changes these were, in my opinion, really good, adding to the comfort of the waiting crowd.
I know that, for this group, I don’t have to go into the usual rigmarole about what happens as we’re breathlessly waiting; you all know the basics! So I’m cutting right to the chase and the news you’re really eager to hear. Once inside, the big surprise for me was that there were Colbert pens with built-in flashlights on our seats as little gifts. I thought something might be done with them during the show, but they were simply small gifts, and one that I now treasure. (It nearly got me in trouble though, when the warm-up comic saw me holding it and demanded to know what was in my hand! I showed him and he told me to put it away. I was so embarrassed. Caroline later suggested that he may have thought I was holding some recording device. NEVER. I wouldn’t do anything that could get me kicked out of a taping . . . possibly for good.)
The Q&A began with a young man who said he was a theater major and asked Stephen whether he should go to New York or Chicago to begin his career. Stephen asked exactly what he hoped to do in theater, and when he responded, “improv,” Stephen instantly told him “Chicago.” “You’ll have more chances to go onstage,” Stephen said, and noted that there were many more theaters to work in. At that point, the young man told him that he had had a story—that he’d had a dream that he would get to talk to Stephen. He got the last ticket to the taping and came down from Boston. Stephen seemed totally stunned and started humming the “Twilight Zone” theme, and then reiterated his advice to try Chicago.
The rest of the questions that I can remember (at least before the taping began) were all about “Lord of the Rings”—all of them, save one that Caroline are a little confused about! (More on that later.) Unfortunately, I can’t give you the answer to the first one, because neither Caroline nor I could remember exactly what it was. That’s probably because we’re not crazed enough fans of LOTR. The person asked Stephen to name the character NOT in the films he’d most like to be or liked best. I think that Stephen might have said Aragon’s father or grandfather (who possibly is only in “The Silmarillion”). He did launch into an impressive long digression about Tolkien’s narrative, which earned him loud and appreciative applause. Very pleased, he responded, “Where WERE you when I was 16?” Oh, Stephen, I wish I had been there!
Another member of the audience queried him on how often he’d read the books—“more than once?” Of course, any true Colbertphile KNOWS that once is not enough for our hero! Stephen responded that he honestly did not know how many: he “lost count at 50 in high school.” Continuing with the “Lord of the Rings” quest-fest, a third lucky person asked who could beat Stephen in a Tolkien-off. Of course, Mr. Colbert mentioned that he had already defeated Peter Jackson’s expert on the films. So he couldn’t really give a name of someone even more Hobbit-knowledgeable.
And finally, someone asked who Stephen would choose as his nemesis: Darth Vader or Smaug? He mentioned Vader because he’d cut off his right hand, but Smaug because we’d know how to beat him thanks to the book. (Caroline reminds me that he was missing a scale in his underbelly, which allowed Bard the Bowman of Esgaroth to kill him.)
Now, there is one question that neither Caroline or I can remember, but she recalls the answer to. We think it might have been, “Which president – living or dead – would you like to have talked to?” His response was: “Warren Harding because he lost some of the White House China in a poker game . . . look it up.” But you can consider this a game of Colbert Jeopardy, if you like, and try to come up with a better question for this answer! I don’t think this is quite right.
After that, the taping finally began. And almost immediately, he blew something—“because our adulation had messed him up.” Everyone applauded at that, but it wasn’t the last error of the evening. If you can remember the sequence with the Rollie Eggmaster, the Rhode Island Red hen, and the extruded egg direct from the, uhh, colon—well, the extruder didn’t work the first time! So he redid it, but the hen got a little agitated, flapping its wings. Well, Stephen was so lovely to that animal, stroking it and trying to calm it. It was wonderful to see, and some of it was actually caught on tape and aired. (But we all know he can soothe the savage beast, right?) All the other sequences went perfectly smoothly—no mistakes.
The evening’s guest was Caroline Kennedy, discussing her new poetry collection, “Poems to Learn by Heart.” [It was absolutely delightful, as you may remember, and the chemistry between the two of them was fantastic as they alternated reciting poems from her book. (They were happily waving to each other with great warmth even before he came over for the interview.) Sadly, the sequence that aired was much shorter than what we saw, and I feel very privileged to have witnessed a lot more. Stephen actually recited the entirety of A. A. Milne’s poem/song “Disobedience”, which I’ve known and loved ever since I was a child. (I actually wish he’d sung it; I grew up with a version done by the Chad Mitchell Trio.) Caroline Kennedy just couldn’t believe it! I believe she was totally stunned. Caroline Hubster (as opposed to Kennedy) reminds me that Stephen did say something like: “We’re not going to show all that. I just wanted to impress her.” No, no, no. Please, Stephen, can we have some more? Some more outtakes, that is. Every time I’m there and see something like this, I believe the entire world should have the pleasure of watching it, too. Every drop of Stephen on tape should reach the masses, thirsty for additional footage. I can certainly attest to the fact that the live audience loved every second of it. The interview got a terrific reaction. As Kennedy said, “poetry is the language of the human heart,” and I really found their discussion touched mine.
Now, because of my own procrastination, and the many weeks between this show and the writing of this reporT, I have to remind you of the day this episode took place: it was the first TCR taped after the Boston Marathon bombing. So Kennedy, with her strong connection to Massachusetts, seemed like the perfect guest to me. And Stephen addressed the tragedy with the audience (he’d already spoken about it in his wonderful intro), saying that we might have noticed that they did some rather silly things tonight, and that he felt we really needed the laughter.
Then he took one more question—about his favorite interview (he said there were many, but ultimately chose the one with Andrew Young), and then he recited a goodbye poem/lullabye I didn’t know, clapping rhythmically to the words. Then he went off, leaving us all extremely happy.