Hubster Victoria has sent us this wonderful “Event ReporT” of ‘An Evening with Stephen Colbert’ at 92Y, New York.
I was fortunate enough to attend “An Evening with Stephen Colbert,” the other night, October 19th. It was everything I expected it to be and more. I was going to be meeting up with someone at 7:00pm in front of the 92Y, but she ended up getting out of school earlier than expected. She text me and I told her to meet me at the 84th street Starbucks, where we ended up spending an hour, chatting about many subjects, including Stephen! Wow! Bet you never saw that one coming?! My friend, Jen, mentioned she was hoping to get a ticket to ‘Indecision Night’ on ‘The Colbert Report’, but knew it was going to be tough. We started to reminisce about 2008 and how Stephen was crying when Obama was declared the victor. We both agreed was a dissonance that must have been for him that night.
Flash forward to 7:30pm and it’s time to meet up with a few of her friends, including her sister. That night, I was introduced to four great people, including someone I’ve been chatting with for some time now on Twitter. So I finally got to meet her! We were all sitting in different areas, but agreed to meet each other outside when it was all over. I found my seat inside, Row L, center! Perfect! On my phone, I saw a tweet from our very own Karentasha stating, “Hope to meet you soon.” I turned around and like some lucky pixie dust was sprinkled on me, there she was sitting in her seat! We had never met but recognized her from her picture! I went over to speak to her and she introduced me to two of her friends. It was a pleasure meeting everyone that night!
I have to say, I was pretty impressed! These events never start on time, but this one pretty much did. When I saw the house lights beginning to dim, I knew it was time! They started out with a great introduction for Stephen, speaking highly of him and his accomplishments, followed by Ken Burns, pretty much following suit. Then, it was time for the man of the evening…Stephen! The stage was set up in a simple form: two chairs and a small table in between. Stephen sat on the chair that was stage left, while Ken sat on the chair that was, yes, you guessed it, stage right! Many of the questions Ken asked where on topics that any diehard fan would know the answers to. However, Stephen always finds a way to add more information to each answer and make it sound like it is the first time he’s ever told that particular story. I also liked the way Stephen and Ken interacted and you can tell there was mutual respect present. I will go through some of the topics that were discussed and point out some of what I thought were the highlights. There was also a Q&A session afterwards, which was also entertaining. Bear with me because this is all from memory!
In no particular order:
Ken said that when he was on his show many years ago, he got to see him tape a “Formidable Opponent” segment. He said he was so impressed with how they did it and was in awe watching Stephen switch from one personality to the other, so quickly and with such ease. Stephen went on to speak about when Ken was a guest and they wanted to make the interview into a documentary. As it was happening, they were taking screen grabs and trying to make it into a Ken Burn’s style documentary, putting some things into slow motion and formatting it into sepia film. After it was done, they had a documentary about the interview they had just completed. However, after it was done, they realized, “We could have just pre-taped it!” Stephen, laughing, said, “We had just started doing the show so we were still getting used to it.”
They spoke about SuperPacs. A lot of the typical commentary, but Stephen did mention that he had spoken with Trevor Potter earlier and they have some “fun coming up!” This should be great!
Ken asked about Stephen being a Catholic and was curious to his views on the evolution of the church: from being a more progressive denomination to a more conservative one. Stephen started out by saying that some in the Catholic church still identify as progressive and continue to do that work. (At this time, Ken did nod and agree to this). But you can tell that Stephen totally understood his question. Stephen went on to say that he does not consider himself to be particularly religious. He said he tries to go to church more Sundays than he doesn’t, but admits to not going because sometimes he’s just too tired…especially during election time. He mentioned about teaching Sunday school for three years to 7-year-old children. He proclaimed that it’s a pleasure to be able to explain your faith in a simple way. He also stated, “ I think the use of religion for something other than your own spiritual delivery is mockable.” This statement led to a thunderous applause!
Ken did ask about ‘The Colbert Report’ audience. Who are they? Stephen said that he gets 14-year-old boys coming up to him to 85-year-old men wanting to shake his hand and declare themselves to be a fan. He said he doesn’t like to look at demographics and information pertaining to that. He just wants to put on a great show. He did mention that he knows his audience definitely skews younger, stating that Conan has the youngest audience in late night and he had the second youngest.
Ken also mentioned how Stephen’s audience seems “to get it.” Stephen agreed and mentioned how he will say things in character that he knows the audience does not agree with, but they will laugh and cheer him on anyway because they understand what the joke is about. At one point, Stephen stood up from his chair and mentioned how a few years ago “Steve Martin was here and people walked out on him! I think that it terrible!” He went on to say how he had him on the show and they spent the entire time talking about art. At the end of the show, Steve said to him, “I can’t believe it. Your audience was great! They had a good time and understood everything.” The main point was, the audience gets it!
I don’t remember what they were talking about but Stephen did mention that he finds many Republicans to be not trustworthy. He realizes that the Democrats can’t always be trusted all the time, as well. However, he trusts them more because he can tell right away when they are lying. “Their face turns red.”
At one point, he mentioned the word “zeitgeist.” He then said, “I’m using this word because we are on the Upper East Side. This neighborhood have their own thesaurus.” Very funny!
Ken asked Stephen why he thinks so many Americans have become so anti-government. Stephen attributes much of this to the Ronald Reagan years. (He does a great Reagan impression, btw). Even though Reagan’s policies are actually quite different from today’s Republican’s and many of the things he did back then didn’t work, people still followed him because he was charismatic. But since Reagan was a champion of the idea of limited government, this mindset has continued.
Ken did ask Stephen to describe a day in the life of ‘The Colbert Report’, going through the entire day, hour by hour. He says they try to stay on this schedule, but it does’t always work out. He started to laugh and said, “We do our best!” Listening to that schedule, you can tell it’s very intense and demanding! And to do this day in and day out and still put on a top-notch show! Very admirable! He also did mention that when they are rehearsing the show and the interns laugh, then it’s a great measure that something is funny because they are hearing and seeing the joke for the first time.
Stephen was asked about his family and naturally, his father’s and brother’s deaths were mentioned. He spoke about the situation as he usually does but did mention how things did change dramatically because he went from living in a household full of people, to just he and his mother (they were all either married with their own families or off at school). He said his house became very quiet, shades pulled down, his mother wearing black and with no laughter. And he knew he had to fix that! With this, everyone in the audience began to cheer!
Stephen told the story about when he was on ‘The Daily Show’ and the Christian Coalition of Alabama leader John Giles was only able to name three of the 10 Commandments. Stephen could tell that he was embarrassed and figured he was going to try to get him not to air the interview. When it was over, as expected, John showed Stephen a biblical quote carved into a rock in their yard. It was dedicated to their son, who had died in a car accident. With this, John pleaded for Stephen not to air that part of the interview. He obliged. However, Stephen thought, “How am I going to tell them that we have to leave this piece out?” Well apparently, when Stephen was in the bathroom, John also pleaded with the producer, not to air that part. The producer also agreed to this, but thought the same thing, “How am I going to tell Stephen we can’t air this?” Very funny! But, years later on ‘The Colbert Report’, Representative Lynn Westmoreland was also unable to name the 10 Commandments in full…but that they DID air!
Of course, they discussed the book and Stephen read a few parts out of it. He discussed what the inspiration was, etc. Mostly information we have heard already.
Some of the Q&A included:
Since you are a resident of NJ, what do you think of Chris Christie as a governor? Basically, with Christie you can “flip a coin.” He is not sure what to think of him, other than he says things “very loud” all of the time. He asked the audience, “Anyone else live in NJ?” There were some applause. So Stephen continued, “Do you like him?” The audience yells, “NO!” So Stephen says, “Ok, I don’t like him either!” Everyone started to laugh and clap.
A woman mentioned how much he loved him at the White House Correspondence Dinner and told Stephen he had a lot of “balls” to do what he did. Stephen went on to say he was nervous going on, but he’s always nervous when he goes before an audience. He told some of the story about being in the large room and lots of people were laughing, except the people on the dais, including President Bush. He said when he went back to his table, Bush said to him (mimicking him in deep, serious voice), “Nice job.” Then he mentioned that Justice Scallia enjoyed the performance. Stephen then stated, “When I heard he liked it, I thought, “Oh no! Don’t give me a reason to have to like you!” He was cracking up, as was the whole audience! It was so funny! He went on to tell another story about after the dinner. He had went to get his coffee at one of the local places he frequents and the woman who always serves him (I don’t remember her name or which country she was from, sorry) said, “Why do you look so tired?” He went on to tell her that he was at the dinner. She could not believe that he was the one that everyone was talking about!! She then put his face in her hands and said something about blessing this country and its civil liberties. It was a very nice story.
Another question came from a man who wanted to know who he liked “to get” the most during the interview portion. Stephen said he doesn’t want to attack anyone because they are a guest on his show. However, there have been some occasions when this did change. The one example he gave was when Dinesh D’Souza came on the show to promote his book about how Liberals caused 9-11. Stephen basically said that definitely was an occasion he “let him have it and did not hold back at all!” This obviously brought a huge amount of applause from the audience.
A woman in the audience stated that she loved when Stephen did the all-Latin Papal campaign segment. Stephen said he remembered this and they spoke for a while about it. He also stated that the joke revolved around there being no “Pope at the moment. And if there is no Pope, then that means there is no infallible person alive right now!”
When the event began, Ken made a joke that he was going to ask Stephen what his favorite color was, what was his astrological sign and if he ever bought his children a pony? Obviously, this was not asked by Ken, but a man in the balcony needed to know the answer! Stephen’s response was: Cobalt blue and Taurus. He continued to say, “And the fact that I am a Taurus should make lots of sense why cobalt blue is my favorite color.” Ken then asked, “How about the pony?” Stephen said, “No. I never bought them a pony. I’m a terrible father!” Lots of laughter!
A lady said she works with young people who are trying to get into acting and wanted to know if he had any advice to give her. Basically, he spoke of his time at Northwestern and after he graduated, did the “actor thing by waiting tables.” He also said he did a little community theater and when he was a teenager. I THINK it was “Annie Get Your Gun.” I think! It was a well-known show, but I can’t remember positively. He also told the story how he was the “4th Wise Man” in the Christmas pageant. I think everyone on here knows this story. If you don’t, let me know and I will gladly explain. He said when he got to Second City and started to take classes there (he was able to do this for free since he worked there), that was a very helpful time for him. He did say something I was not aware of. He said that many in improv look down at Second City because it’s “not pure.” In other words, since they make money from it. Interesting.
Then the question came that made me go, “WOAH!” Someone asked, “Were you crying the night Obama won because it looked like you were!” What? Jen and I were JUST talking about that earlier that evening! How funny is that? Stephen answered, “I was moved….” Everyone began to laugh and applaud. He went on to say that he and his character’s viewpoints are so completely different. He also mentioned that for the last seven minutes of the show, he did a bit which required him to wear headphones and goggles to block out from him having to see the news. He said during that time, he could not see at all. Very funny!
Evie was also there that night. Earlier in the evening, Stephen quickly said, “My wife is here tonight.” Now, I had no idea where she was sitting. And ironically, neither did Stephen. Because right before the Q&A session started and they were getting the microphones ready, you can see Stephen mouth to someone in the audience, “Where’s Evie.” Next thing you see, Stephen looks up, straight into the audience and you can tell he spots her. It was very cute! What was even funnier was that the area he found her sitting in was right by where I was sitting. The Q&aA began and right after the first questioned was answered, my eyes happened to connect with a back of a woman’s head sitting a couple of rows in front of me. I thought right away, “that HAS to be Evie! It looks just like her.” Not that I’m an expert of the back of her head, but it just looked like her hairstyle. And yes…I was correct! Because at one point, she turned to the side to talk to someone and I was able to see her profile! So, she was sitting a couple of rows in front of me all night and I had no idea. Well, it was dark in there and they didn’t turn on the lights until the Q&A. Stephen’s direct glance right into the audience definitely helped too! HA! At the end of Q&A, Ken made a comment about how great of an audience this was and how much laughter was present. He then commented on the person who seemed to have laughed the hardest….Stephen’s wife, Evie. Everyone began to clap and Stephen gave her a huge smile. Stephen started to say, “My wife and I both grew up in Charleston, SC…” And he stopped the story and began to laugh. He continued, “She’s telling me, ‘Stop talking! Stop talking.’” It was so funny and everyone started to laugh and applaud. I could only see the back of her head, but you could tell she was just radiating with joy…as was Stephen. They really are a lovely, lovely couple!
Well, that was pretty much it for the interview/Q&A session. The book signing! Wow! WHAT A LINE!!! Huge is not the word to describe it. Hundreds and hundreds of people were on that line. It literally went from room to room, wrapping around barricades. I hope Stephen was able to move his hand afterwards! HA! But even though it was VERY large, it moved quite quickly and before we knew it, we were in the room with Stephen. I had attended the Barnes and Nobles book signing (see my recap if you missed it), so I just saw him. But it doesn’t matter how much you see him, it’s always just as exciting. I had me up with my group and they were on line right ahead of me. They each went first and then it was my turn. I got up to the desk and the security took my book…and told me to wait right here. Then the next security told me, “Ok. You can stand right here now.” Then there was the security guard directly next to Stephen. Suffice to say, Stephen was very protected! When it was my turn to approach the table, he was already signing my book. Once again, I was wearing my trademark large, Chechire-cat grin! He looks up and once again, my clever words of wisdom come flying out of my mouth, “Hi, Stephen!!” Yep! I said it! He says, “Hi!,” and HE is wearing that trademark smile that I absolutely love! Once again, I need to emphasize how fast moving this was since he had about a million books to sign, so I couldn’t even think of anything else to say to him. He handed me my book and I told him, “thank you very much!” He said, “you are welcome.” And as I took my book and began to walk off, I remained focused on him and I just kept smiling…and smiling….and smiling….and, you guessed it….smiling! And you know what, his eye contact with me remained constant as well. And he was just as cheerful! When it’s your time with him, he really does give you his 110% attention. He is so gracious!
And that was it! It was around 10:30pm and the group of us decided to go out for some food. We had a wonderful time, talking about the evening and how awesome Stephen is! It was another great night and once again, I need to thank Stephen for making it so special!
Ok, this was VERY long…as usual. I hope I was able to give everyone a good idea of what the evening was like. As I mentioned earlier, this was all from memory, but I think I remembered most of the highlights. If I do think of some other things, I will let you know.
Event ReporT: 'An Evening with Stephen Colbert' at 92Y.
Hubster Victoria has sent us this wonderful “Event ReporT” of ‘An Evening with Stephen Colbert’ at 92Y, New York.
I was fortunate enough to attend “An Evening with Stephen Colbert,” the other night, October 19th. It was everything I expected it to be and more. I was going to be meeting up with someone at 7:00pm in front of the 92Y, but she ended up getting out of school earlier than expected. She text me and I told her to meet me at the 84th street Starbucks, where we ended up spending an hour, chatting about many subjects, including Stephen! Wow! Bet you never saw that one coming?! My friend, Jen, mentioned she was hoping to get a ticket to ‘Indecision Night’ on ‘The Colbert Report’, but knew it was going to be tough. We started to reminisce about 2008 and how Stephen was crying when Obama was declared the victor. We both agreed was a dissonance that must have been for him that night.
Flash forward to 7:30pm and it’s time to meet up with a few of her friends, including her sister. That night, I was introduced to four great people, including someone I’ve been chatting with for some time now on Twitter. So I finally got to meet her! We were all sitting in different areas, but agreed to meet each other outside when it was all over. I found my seat inside, Row L, center! Perfect! On my phone, I saw a tweet from our very own Karentasha stating, “Hope to meet you soon.” I turned around and like some lucky pixie dust was sprinkled on me, there she was sitting in her seat! We had never met but recognized her from her picture! I went over to speak to her and she introduced me to two of her friends. It was a pleasure meeting everyone that night!
I have to say, I was pretty impressed! These events never start on time, but this one pretty much did. When I saw the house lights beginning to dim, I knew it was time! They started out with a great introduction for Stephen, speaking highly of him and his accomplishments, followed by Ken Burns, pretty much following suit. Then, it was time for the man of the evening…Stephen! The stage was set up in a simple form: two chairs and a small table in between. Stephen sat on the chair that was stage left, while Ken sat on the chair that was, yes, you guessed it, stage right! Many of the questions Ken asked where on topics that any diehard fan would know the answers to. However, Stephen always finds a way to add more information to each answer and make it sound like it is the first time he’s ever told that particular story. I also liked the way Stephen and Ken interacted and you can tell there was mutual respect present. I will go through some of the topics that were discussed and point out some of what I thought were the highlights. There was also a Q&A session afterwards, which was also entertaining. Bear with me because this is all from memory!
In no particular order:
Ken said that when he was on his show many years ago, he got to see him tape a “Formidable Opponent” segment. He said he was so impressed with how they did it and was in awe watching Stephen switch from one personality to the other, so quickly and with such ease. Stephen went on to speak about when Ken was a guest and they wanted to make the interview into a documentary. As it was happening, they were taking screen grabs and trying to make it into a Ken Burn’s style documentary, putting some things into slow motion and formatting it into sepia film. After it was done, they had a documentary about the interview they had just completed. However, after it was done, they realized, “We could have just pre-taped it!” Stephen, laughing, said, “We had just started doing the show so we were still getting used to it.”
They spoke about SuperPacs. A lot of the typical commentary, but Stephen did mention that he had spoken with Trevor Potter earlier and they have some “fun coming up!” This should be great!
Ken asked about Stephen being a Catholic and was curious to his views on the evolution of the church: from being a more progressive denomination to a more conservative one. Stephen started out by saying that some in the Catholic church still identify as progressive and continue to do that work. (At this time, Ken did nod and agree to this). But you can tell that Stephen totally understood his question. Stephen went on to say that he does not consider himself to be particularly religious. He said he tries to go to church more Sundays than he doesn’t, but admits to not going because sometimes he’s just too tired…especially during election time. He mentioned about teaching Sunday school for three years to 7-year-old children. He proclaimed that it’s a pleasure to be able to explain your faith in a simple way. He also stated, “ I think the use of religion for something other than your own spiritual delivery is mockable.” This statement led to a thunderous applause!
Ken did ask about ‘The Colbert Report’ audience. Who are they? Stephen said that he gets 14-year-old boys coming up to him to 85-year-old men wanting to shake his hand and declare themselves to be a fan. He said he doesn’t like to look at demographics and information pertaining to that. He just wants to put on a great show. He did mention that he knows his audience definitely skews younger, stating that Conan has the youngest audience in late night and he had the second youngest.
Ken also mentioned how Stephen’s audience seems “to get it.” Stephen agreed and mentioned how he will say things in character that he knows the audience does not agree with, but they will laugh and cheer him on anyway because they understand what the joke is about. At one point, Stephen stood up from his chair and mentioned how a few years ago “Steve Martin was here and people walked out on him! I think that it terrible!” He went on to say how he had him on the show and they spent the entire time talking about art. At the end of the show, Steve said to him, “I can’t believe it. Your audience was great! They had a good time and understood everything.” The main point was, the audience gets it!
I don’t remember what they were talking about but Stephen did mention that he finds many Republicans to be not trustworthy. He realizes that the Democrats can’t always be trusted all the time, as well. However, he trusts them more because he can tell right away when they are lying. “Their face turns red.”
At one point, he mentioned the word “zeitgeist.” He then said, “I’m using this word because we are on the Upper East Side. This neighborhood have their own thesaurus.” Very funny!
Ken asked Stephen why he thinks so many Americans have become so anti-government. Stephen attributes much of this to the Ronald Reagan years. (He does a great Reagan impression, btw). Even though Reagan’s policies are actually quite different from today’s Republican’s and many of the things he did back then didn’t work, people still followed him because he was charismatic. But since Reagan was a champion of the idea of limited government, this mindset has continued.
Ken did ask Stephen to describe a day in the life of ‘The Colbert Report’, going through the entire day, hour by hour. He says they try to stay on this schedule, but it does’t always work out. He started to laugh and said, “We do our best!” Listening to that schedule, you can tell it’s very intense and demanding! And to do this day in and day out and still put on a top-notch show! Very admirable! He also did mention that when they are rehearsing the show and the interns laugh, then it’s a great measure that something is funny because they are hearing and seeing the joke for the first time.
Stephen was asked about his family and naturally, his father’s and brother’s deaths were mentioned. He spoke about the situation as he usually does but did mention how things did change dramatically because he went from living in a household full of people, to just he and his mother (they were all either married with their own families or off at school). He said his house became very quiet, shades pulled down, his mother wearing black and with no laughter. And he knew he had to fix that! With this, everyone in the audience began to cheer!
Stephen told the story about when he was on ‘The Daily Show’ and the Christian Coalition of Alabama leader John Giles was only able to name three of the 10 Commandments. Stephen could tell that he was embarrassed and figured he was going to try to get him not to air the interview. When it was over, as expected, John showed Stephen a biblical quote carved into a rock in their yard. It was dedicated to their son, who had died in a car accident. With this, John pleaded for Stephen not to air that part of the interview. He obliged. However, Stephen thought, “How am I going to tell them that we have to leave this piece out?” Well apparently, when Stephen was in the bathroom, John also pleaded with the producer, not to air that part. The producer also agreed to this, but thought the same thing, “How am I going to tell Stephen we can’t air this?” Very funny! But, years later on ‘The Colbert Report’, Representative Lynn Westmoreland was also unable to name the 10 Commandments in full…but that they DID air!
Of course, they discussed the book and Stephen read a few parts out of it. He discussed what the inspiration was, etc. Mostly information we have heard already.
Some of the Q&A included:
Since you are a resident of NJ, what do you think of Chris Christie as a governor? Basically, with Christie you can “flip a coin.” He is not sure what to think of him, other than he says things “very loud” all of the time. He asked the audience, “Anyone else live in NJ?” There were some applause. So Stephen continued, “Do you like him?” The audience yells, “NO!” So Stephen says, “Ok, I don’t like him either!” Everyone started to laugh and clap.
A woman mentioned how much he loved him at the White House Correspondence Dinner and told Stephen he had a lot of “balls” to do what he did. Stephen went on to say he was nervous going on, but he’s always nervous when he goes before an audience. He told some of the story about being in the large room and lots of people were laughing, except the people on the dais, including President Bush. He said when he went back to his table, Bush said to him (mimicking him in deep, serious voice), “Nice job.” Then he mentioned that Justice Scallia enjoyed the performance. Stephen then stated, “When I heard he liked it, I thought, “Oh no! Don’t give me a reason to have to like you!” He was cracking up, as was the whole audience! It was so funny! He went on to tell another story about after the dinner. He had went to get his coffee at one of the local places he frequents and the woman who always serves him (I don’t remember her name or which country she was from, sorry) said, “Why do you look so tired?” He went on to tell her that he was at the dinner. She could not believe that he was the one that everyone was talking about!! She then put his face in her hands and said something about blessing this country and its civil liberties. It was a very nice story.
Another question came from a man who wanted to know who he liked “to get” the most during the interview portion. Stephen said he doesn’t want to attack anyone because they are a guest on his show. However, there have been some occasions when this did change. The one example he gave was when Dinesh D’Souza came on the show to promote his book about how Liberals caused 9-11. Stephen basically said that definitely was an occasion he “let him have it and did not hold back at all!” This obviously brought a huge amount of applause from the audience.
A woman in the audience stated that she loved when Stephen did the all-Latin Papal campaign segment. Stephen said he remembered this and they spoke for a while about it. He also stated that the joke revolved around there being no “Pope at the moment. And if there is no Pope, then that means there is no infallible person alive right now!”
When the event began, Ken made a joke that he was going to ask Stephen what his favorite color was, what was his astrological sign and if he ever bought his children a pony? Obviously, this was not asked by Ken, but a man in the balcony needed to know the answer! Stephen’s response was: Cobalt blue and Taurus. He continued to say, “And the fact that I am a Taurus should make lots of sense why cobalt blue is my favorite color.” Ken then asked, “How about the pony?” Stephen said, “No. I never bought them a pony. I’m a terrible father!” Lots of laughter!
A lady said she works with young people who are trying to get into acting and wanted to know if he had any advice to give her. Basically, he spoke of his time at Northwestern and after he graduated, did the “actor thing by waiting tables.” He also said he did a little community theater and when he was a teenager. I THINK it was “Annie Get Your Gun.” I think! It was a well-known show, but I can’t remember positively. He also told the story how he was the “4th Wise Man” in the Christmas pageant. I think everyone on here knows this story. If you don’t, let me know and I will gladly explain. He said when he got to Second City and started to take classes there (he was able to do this for free since he worked there), that was a very helpful time for him. He did say something I was not aware of. He said that many in improv look down at Second City because it’s “not pure.” In other words, since they make money from it. Interesting.
Then the question came that made me go, “WOAH!” Someone asked, “Were you crying the night Obama won because it looked like you were!” What? Jen and I were JUST talking about that earlier that evening! How funny is that? Stephen answered, “I was moved….” Everyone began to laugh and applaud. He went on to say that he and his character’s viewpoints are so completely different. He also mentioned that for the last seven minutes of the show, he did a bit which required him to wear headphones and goggles to block out from him having to see the news. He said during that time, he could not see at all. Very funny!
Evie was also there that night. Earlier in the evening, Stephen quickly said, “My wife is here tonight.” Now, I had no idea where she was sitting. And ironically, neither did Stephen. Because right before the Q&A session started and they were getting the microphones ready, you can see Stephen mouth to someone in the audience, “Where’s Evie.” Next thing you see, Stephen looks up, straight into the audience and you can tell he spots her. It was very cute! What was even funnier was that the area he found her sitting in was right by where I was sitting. The Q&aA began and right after the first questioned was answered, my eyes happened to connect with a back of a woman’s head sitting a couple of rows in front of me. I thought right away, “that HAS to be Evie! It looks just like her.” Not that I’m an expert of the back of her head, but it just looked like her hairstyle. And yes…I was correct! Because at one point, she turned to the side to talk to someone and I was able to see her profile! So, she was sitting a couple of rows in front of me all night and I had no idea. Well, it was dark in there and they didn’t turn on the lights until the Q&A. Stephen’s direct glance right into the audience definitely helped too! HA! At the end of Q&A, Ken made a comment about how great of an audience this was and how much laughter was present. He then commented on the person who seemed to have laughed the hardest….Stephen’s wife, Evie. Everyone began to clap and Stephen gave her a huge smile. Stephen started to say, “My wife and I both grew up in Charleston, SC…” And he stopped the story and began to laugh. He continued, “She’s telling me, ‘Stop talking! Stop talking.’” It was so funny and everyone started to laugh and applaud. I could only see the back of her head, but you could tell she was just radiating with joy…as was Stephen. They really are a lovely, lovely couple!
Well, that was pretty much it for the interview/Q&A session. The book signing! Wow! WHAT A LINE!!! Huge is not the word to describe it. Hundreds and hundreds of people were on that line. It literally went from room to room, wrapping around barricades. I hope Stephen was able to move his hand afterwards! HA! But even though it was VERY large, it moved quite quickly and before we knew it, we were in the room with Stephen. I had attended the Barnes and Nobles book signing (see my recap if you missed it), so I just saw him. But it doesn’t matter how much you see him, it’s always just as exciting. I had me up with my group and they were on line right ahead of me. They each went first and then it was my turn. I got up to the desk and the security took my book…and told me to wait right here. Then the next security told me, “Ok. You can stand right here now.” Then there was the security guard directly next to Stephen. Suffice to say, Stephen was very protected! When it was my turn to approach the table, he was already signing my book. Once again, I was wearing my trademark large, Chechire-cat grin! He looks up and once again, my clever words of wisdom come flying out of my mouth, “Hi, Stephen!!” Yep! I said it! He says, “Hi!,” and HE is wearing that trademark smile that I absolutely love! Once again, I need to emphasize how fast moving this was since he had about a million books to sign, so I couldn’t even think of anything else to say to him. He handed me my book and I told him, “thank you very much!” He said, “you are welcome.” And as I took my book and began to walk off, I remained focused on him and I just kept smiling…and smiling….and smiling….and, you guessed it….smiling! And you know what, his eye contact with me remained constant as well. And he was just as cheerful! When it’s your time with him, he really does give you his 110% attention. He is so gracious!
And that was it! It was around 10:30pm and the group of us decided to go out for some food. We had a wonderful time, talking about the evening and how awesome Stephen is! It was another great night and once again, I need to thank Stephen for making it so special!
Ok, this was VERY long…as usual. I hope I was able to give everyone a good idea of what the evening was like. As I mentioned earlier, this was all from memory, but I think I remembered most of the highlights. If I do think of some other things, I will let you know.