Hubster Nadine has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the April 7th, 2014 taping of “The Colbert Report”, and the April 8th taping of “The Daily Show”.
When I was in NY the first time (in 2012) I had never heard of Stephen or Jon before. But my friend and I decided that of course we have to come back to experience this great city some more. So we booked another trip for April 2014. In between I discovered the joy that is Stephen and Jon and mostly Stephen and Jon together. So of course I had to try and get tickets to both shows during my trip. I managed to get TCR tickets for April, 07 and for TDS on April, 08. I won’t write two separate reports but will splatter TDS bit throughout this one, mostly when comparing the two shows.
Of course I’ve read numerous taping reports to prepare myself regarding the time to get there etc. So we arrived shortly after 4 pm for the TCR taping and managed to get tickets 43 and 44 – not so bad. I ended up with a seat that was much better than the tickets might have implied: second row, right in front of Stephen’s desk. I won’t go into detailing the check in process itself because it has already been written down many times by people far more eloquently than I. I’m really not sure which check in process I liked better. I was also surprised that they were so different. The check in at TCR was really straightforward. You arrived, you waited and got your number. At TDS you arrived, waited, got your number and then had to go kill two hours (I arrived at 1pm and got No. 61). Since I was alone I really didn’t want to sit in a bar or Subway. At first I thought okay, I’ll walk around a little bit but there wasn’t that much to see in the neighborhood (or maybe I didn’t walk far enough). So I thought I just go back and wait at the studio. But they told me there’s really no use and it’s better if I leave. At the end I went to a nearby park and waited there. Not sure why, but I think I preferred TCR check in (though at both shows everything went pretty smoothly). Another thing I noticed at TDS was, that while standing in line you could hear people mentioning Stephen all the time.
Anyway, back to TCR. I was seated next to a lovely young lady who seemed to be a huge fan as well (my friend never heard of Jon and Stephen and only came with me to do me a favor). We struck up a conversation right away so the time passed quickly. The thing that surprised me most in the beginning was how small the studio seemed in comparison to when you see it on TV. Jon’s studio was much bigger. I really liked the TCR studio better, mostly because of the atmosphere. Because it was smaller you were closer and it felt much more personal. Though they let you take photos in TDS studio until shortly before the taping begins. I thought that was pretty cool and I really don’t know why it’s not allowed over at the Report. Oh, and one last thing I noticed about the studio: the outline where Stephen fell and broke his wrist was missing. At least I couldn’t find it.
I’ve read many good things about Paul Mercurio but when he came out I took an instant dislike to him. I didn’t find him funny at all. To me it seemed he was only being funny by making fun of other people and not in a nice way. Of course my impressions might be tainted because I was a “victim” of his jokes. Which would make me look bad and humorless but I can assure you that I can certainly take a joke and I have no problem being made fun of. But being called a dick in front of 150 people is definitely not my idea of fun. I knew that they sometimes ask the audience if there’s anybody from abroad and I told my friend not to say anything because I hate being the center of attention. But my new friend was so excited and Mercurio noticed her right away. Then he asked if we were her friends and she said yes and told him we’re from Germany. So he asked us our names (Nadine and Julia). He made fun of my name (okay, no big deal) and said he liked my friend’s name. But then he asked me if I liked the USA. I mean, what kind of question is that. Would I be there if I didn’t like it? Would I fly thousands of miles, pay thousands of dollars to be here? I must have looked quite shocked and I told him, in a rather ironic way, that no, I didn’t like it. His reply was to say “Well, that proves that Germany can still be dicks.” Stereotypes, gotta love them
You can imagine my shock when I was sitting in the Daily Show studios and the same guy came out to warm up the audience. I didn’t know where to look and was fervently hoping he wouldn’t spot me. I couldn’t look at the floor all the time since that would surely make me look suspicious so I tried to act as nonchalant as I could and I got lucky. He didn’t see me or at the very least didn’t seem to be interested in me … phew
I read a Tumblr post of a woman that attended a TDS taping and was shocked by the ethnic jokes Paul Mercurio was pulling. It angered her so much that she asked Jon about it in the q and a. She said, that he got angry and just told her “Because they are funny”.
Now maybe I was over sensitive and the guy had a bad day or whatever because I really can’t see Jon and Stephen associating with an honestly bad guy. And if they think he’s funny he probably is. Maybe it’s just not my kind of humor. One last thing and then I’m going to stop I think self- promotion is okay but not if you’re doing it for half of the warm up.
But I guess he did his job because when Stephen finally came out everybody was pretty pumped up and excite and chanting “Stephen, Stephen”.
I was mostly looking forward to the q and a because everybody always said (even the guy that talked to us right before the show) that Stephen does them totally out of character. And that is when I love him most. Now I may not be the biggest fan nor have I been a fan for a very long time. And of course I’ve never met him. But I think I’ve seen enough out-of-character interviews to know when Stephen is himself (which he totally was when we “talked” to him when he was leaving after the taping). So when he started talking I felt that even though he talked about his character he was still using the character’s humor, way of speaking etc. So to me he was definitely not out-of-character – at least not totally. It might have been some mix but I still was a little disappointed. Maybe he didn’t like the questions or he was stressed. I also noticed a difference between the q and a and the in between bits, when Stephen was talking to Barry Julien, Mark the stage manager and another writer.
The very first question was about the rumors of him replacing Letterman. All Stephen said was, that it takes a huge amount of hours to work on the Late Show and that he’s very busy already. He then said: “You know who should replace Letterman? Letterman. I’m going to miss him.”
Before coming to NY I’ve heard about the rumors but never really thought that Stephen would be interested in hosting a talk show. So when I heard his answer I was reassured that he’ll stay with CC and the Report. Imagine my shock when I heard the big announcement a couple of days later.
The second question was from my new friend. I told her that I had lots of questions but that I am much too shy to ever ask them. She also had many things she wanted to know and picked “Your character doesn’t like soccer. Do you like soccer?” Stephen answered “My character doesn’t like soccer …. And I don’t like soccer. Why are asking? Do you play soccer? Do you love soccer?” “I love you!”
“I love me too. So why bring soccer into this? It makes me feel like the other woman. Keep on loving me. I’m the Northern star.”
April 7th, 2014: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster Nadine has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the April 7th, 2014 taping of “The Colbert Report”, and the April 8th taping of “The Daily Show”.
When I was in NY the first time (in 2012) I had never heard of Stephen or Jon before. But my friend and I decided that of course we have to come back to experience this great city some more. So we booked another trip for April 2014. In between I discovered the joy that is Stephen and Jon and mostly Stephen and Jon together. So of course I had to try and get tickets to both shows during my trip. I managed to get TCR tickets for April, 07 and for TDS on April, 08. I won’t write two separate reports but will splatter TDS bit throughout this one, mostly when comparing the two shows.
Of course I’ve read numerous taping reports to prepare myself regarding the time to get there etc. So we arrived shortly after 4 pm for the TCR taping and managed to get tickets 43 and 44 – not so bad. I ended up with a seat that was much better than the tickets might have implied: second row, right in front of Stephen’s desk. I won’t go into detailing the check in process itself because it has already been written down many times by people far more eloquently than I. I’m really not sure which check in process I liked better. I was also surprised that they were so different. The check in at TCR was really straightforward. You arrived, you waited and got your number. At TDS you arrived, waited, got your number and then had to go kill two hours (I arrived at 1pm and got No. 61). Since I was alone I really didn’t want to sit in a bar or Subway. At first I thought okay, I’ll walk around a little bit but there wasn’t that much to see in the neighborhood (or maybe I didn’t walk far enough). So I thought I just go back and wait at the studio. But they told me there’s really no use and it’s better if I leave. At the end I went to a nearby park and waited there. Not sure why, but I think I preferred TCR check in (though at both shows everything went pretty smoothly). Another thing I noticed at TDS was, that while standing in line you could hear people mentioning Stephen all the time.
Anyway, back to TCR. I was seated next to a lovely young lady who seemed to be a huge fan as well (my friend never heard of Jon and Stephen and only came with me to do me a favor). We struck up a conversation right away so the time passed quickly. The thing that surprised me most in the beginning was how small the studio seemed in comparison to when you see it on TV. Jon’s studio was much bigger. I really liked the TCR studio better, mostly because of the atmosphere. Because it was smaller you were closer and it felt much more personal. Though they let you take photos in TDS studio until shortly before the taping begins. I thought that was pretty cool and I really don’t know why it’s not allowed over at the Report. Oh, and one last thing I noticed about the studio: the outline where Stephen fell and broke his wrist was missing. At least I couldn’t find it.
I’ve read many good things about Paul Mercurio but when he came out I took an instant dislike to him. I didn’t find him funny at all. To me it seemed he was only being funny by making fun of other people and not in a nice way. Of course my impressions might be tainted because I was a “victim” of his jokes. Which would make me look bad and humorless but I can assure you that I can certainly take a joke and I have no problem being made fun of. But being called a dick in front of 150 people is definitely not my idea of fun. I knew that they sometimes ask the audience if there’s anybody from abroad and I told my friend not to say anything because I hate being the center of attention. But my new friend was so excited and Mercurio noticed her right away. Then he asked if we were her friends and she said yes and told him we’re from Germany. So he asked us our names (Nadine and Julia). He made fun of my name (okay, no big deal) and said he liked my friend’s name. But then he asked me if I liked the USA. I mean, what kind of question is that. Would I be there if I didn’t like it? Would I fly thousands of miles, pay thousands of dollars to be here? I must have looked quite shocked and I told him, in a rather ironic way, that no, I didn’t like it. His reply was to say “Well, that proves that Germany can still be dicks.” Stereotypes, gotta love them
You can imagine my shock when I was sitting in the Daily Show studios and the same guy came out to warm up the audience. I didn’t know where to look and was fervently hoping he wouldn’t spot me. I couldn’t look at the floor all the time since that would surely make me look suspicious so I tried to act as nonchalant as I could and I got lucky. He didn’t see me or at the very least didn’t seem to be interested in me … phew
I read a Tumblr post of a woman that attended a TDS taping and was shocked by the ethnic jokes Paul Mercurio was pulling. It angered her so much that she asked Jon about it in the q and a. She said, that he got angry and just told her “Because they are funny”.
Now maybe I was over sensitive and the guy had a bad day or whatever because I really can’t see Jon and Stephen associating with an honestly bad guy. And if they think he’s funny he probably is. Maybe it’s just not my kind of humor. One last thing and then I’m going to stop I think self- promotion is okay but not if you’re doing it for half of the warm up.
But I guess he did his job because when Stephen finally came out everybody was pretty pumped up and excite and chanting “Stephen, Stephen”.
I was mostly looking forward to the q and a because everybody always said (even the guy that talked to us right before the show) that Stephen does them totally out of character. And that is when I love him most. Now I may not be the biggest fan nor have I been a fan for a very long time. And of course I’ve never met him. But I think I’ve seen enough out-of-character interviews to know when Stephen is himself (which he totally was when we “talked” to him when he was leaving after the taping). So when he started talking I felt that even though he talked about his character he was still using the character’s humor, way of speaking etc. So to me he was definitely not out-of-character – at least not totally. It might have been some mix but I still was a little disappointed. Maybe he didn’t like the questions or he was stressed. I also noticed a difference between the q and a and the in between bits, when Stephen was talking to Barry Julien, Mark the stage manager and another writer.
The very first question was about the rumors of him replacing Letterman. All Stephen said was, that it takes a huge amount of hours to work on the Late Show and that he’s very busy already. He then said: “You know who should replace Letterman? Letterman. I’m going to miss him.”
Before coming to NY I’ve heard about the rumors but never really thought that Stephen would be interested in hosting a talk show. So when I heard his answer I was reassured that he’ll stay with CC and the Report. Imagine my shock when I heard the big announcement a couple of days later.
The second question was from my new friend. I told her that I had lots of questions but that I am much too shy to ever ask them. She also had many things she wanted to know and picked “Your character doesn’t like soccer. Do you like soccer?” Stephen answered “My character doesn’t like soccer …. And I don’t like soccer. Why are asking? Do you play soccer? Do you love soccer?” “I love you!”
“I love me too. So why bring soccer into this? It makes me feel like the other woman. Keep on loving me. I’m the Northern star.”