On November 24, 2013, I had the pleasure to attend yet another Stephen-related event. This time, it was to benefit the Montclair Film Festival. The event, “Jimmy Fallon, in Conversation with Stephen Colbert,” was an absolute delight! Earlier in the month, I attended the event at the Town Hall (see my reporT), so this was turning into “the month of Stephen.” Works for me!
Let me start out by saying that it was quite exciting to see Karenatasha sitting in front of me with her lovely friend. I was attending this event solo, so it was great to be able to see them! But really, what are the chances that our seats would be right in front of each other. I call it Colbert News Hub kismet!
Before the show started, we were entertained with some music from both Stephen and Jimmy’s shows. For The Colbert Report, we were treated to Stephen singing “Carolina in my Mind” with James Taylor (I could almost see Stephen’s slow smile happening before me)!! Also, we heard Alicia Keys, “New York State of Mind,” accompanied by a rapping Stephen!!
The show started just after 8:00pm and Steve Higgins, announcer of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, was doing the introductions. After, they played a montage of Stephen/Jimmy clips they put together (ice cream wars, BBF for six months, Friday, Get Lucky video, etc). Then, it was time for the two men to make their grand entrance. As you can see from the pictures, it was the typical setup – two chairs, two end tables and one larger table. We also got a big screen, which was great, considering the place has four tiers!! Before I go through what was discussed, I must say that the two of them are hilarious! I laughed non-stop for two hours and they managed to turn EVERYTHING into a laugh, one way or the other. First, I will list what was discussed between the two of them.
- Stephen mentioned that his wife, Evie, put the event together and contacted Jimmy, asking if he could do this.
- Stephen said that at the Emmy’s, after he kissed his wife, Jimmy jumped up and and hugged him in congratulations. Of course, Stephen complained, the poor direction at the Emmy’s didn’t capture this moment! But he really appreciated it!
- They started to discuss their back-and-forth donation challenges and Jimmy mentioned that he had no idea about a $26,000 donation and at the moment Stephen mentioned it was the first time he had heard about it. But he went along with it anyway.
- Stephen reminded Jimmy that the first time they met was at the Museum of Natural History and Stephen gave him the advice, “You will use everything you know.”
- Stephen tried to learn tap and he said it was very difficult and proclaimed himself to be not good at it. (I would like to be the judge of that. Let’s set up a showcase)!!
- When Stephen asked what Jimmy’s least favorite job was, for which he said working in a grocery store where he had to scrape gum from the black mat in front of the market’s automatic doors. He said his mother and grandmother walked in as he was doing it and he was told by his mother to quit. “You are better than that,” she stated. Stephen asked him if he was 34 years old when he worked this position? HA!! Stephen went on to say that his least favorite job was removing blown in insulation from a very hot attic during the summer at the age of 19. He knew then that he was not cut out for manual labor!
- Jimmy spoke about his daughter, Winnie, who was named after Lake Winnipesaukee, Jimmy and his wife’s favorite vacation plus. Also, the fact that they had waited so long to conceive her, when it finally happened, they thought of Winnie, as in “Win,” because now, they were finally winners. Stephen reflected on his first child’s birth, his daughter, Madeleine. He stated that he immediately realized that he was not as good as he should have been to his own parents. Now that she was born, he felt so much immediate love for her, that if they had loved him half as much as he loved his daughter, then he did not behave very well to them in return.
- Jimmy said that he talks to his mother everyday and told a story that when he went to visit them in Saugerties, NY, they went out to dinner and he specifically stated not to cause a big scene (with him being there). His mother ended up choking on a piece of lamb chop. She ended up getting the piece out, however a very large scene had been caused and Jimmy said, “Didn’t I tell you not to cause a scene tonight!”
- They both love Toronto Mayor Rob Ford because he is great comedy fodder and it gives them a chance to not talk about the complaints directed towards Obamacare.
- Stephen stated that Mandy Patinkin was looking to get in contact with Jimmy and wanted his email address and asked if he could write it down on a piece of paper. Jimmy went on to tell a story that he had met Mandy on an airplane ride and, due to him being, well, tipsy, he ended up conversing with him the entire flight and not taking the cues that Mandy was done talking for the time being (i.e. putting on his earphones, etc). He even tried to get him to play a game involving naming songs. With this, Stephen and Jimmy broke out into singing Nilsson’s “Think About Your Troubles.” It was awesome!!
- Stephen asked Jimmy who his comedic inspirations were? He stated that he likes Rodney Dangerfield and The Smothers Brothers. Stephen went on to say that he too loves The Smothers Brothers and during his first Emmys, he was sitting in the audience and someone hits him really hard over the head. He turns around and sees it’s Tommy Smothers. He says to Stephen, “I liked your speech in front of the president!” HA!!
- When asked who Jimmy’s favorite guest was, he stated -”Stephen!” Then he said, “Whomever is game to have fun!”
- Jimmy remembered that Stephen referred to his show as “something to do with joy.” Stephen kindly reminded him that it was “the joy machine.” Jimmy went on to say that the hardest part of the day is when there are no good jokes.
- With regards to The Tonight Show, Jay told him to increase his monologue time because this is the way many people get their news. When discussing the changes, Stephen reminded Jimmy that he, too, is on at 11:30pm. However, since The Tonight Show starts five minutes later, Stephen has an edge! HA!!
- They both took out their iPhones (both 5S) and started to look at Twitter. Jimmy calls out a girl’s name and she yells out, “That’s me!” Her tweet apparently said that she was attending the event tonight but her seats were awful. Both Stephen and Jimmy invited the girl down to come on stage. To kill time, Stephen and Jimmy sang the National Anthem. They both stood up and when Stephen saw that nobody else was standing he said, “I don’t know what country you are from, but I’m from the US and we stand up during the anthem.” HA!! So, everyone stood up! Stephen and Jimmy gave a fantastic rendition of the song, Stephen doing his base-line harmony. They sounded great together and Stephen’s base had everyone laughing at all of the extra embellishments he was giving. After they finished, he explained that he sang base in the Glee Club and that they always sang the National Anthem. Due to this, he always likes to sing the Anthem this way because that’s how he’s now used to it. The girl finally made it on stage, where she met the both of them and got her picture taken with them (the picture of this is available online, publicly-it is really cute)!! Jimmy went back to the original tweet and continued to read the rest, “At least Jimmy won’t get to see the huge pimple on my chin!” Woops!! Well, of course, now both Stephen and Jimmy had to stare down her pimple, up close and personal! It was so funny!
- Jimmy brought out his guitar and played a few songs including, the Jim Morrison version of the theme from “Reading Rainbow!” It really did sound like it could be from The Doors! At one point, Stephen sat on the ground to lovingly listen to Jimmy serenade him!
- When asked whether they were pressured to act a certain way in public (like his character), Stephen answered, “Nobody has ever said to me, ‘be a jerk!’” Stephen continued to tell story how fans will follow him around sometimes and on one occasion, a man said “Hi!” to him, continued to follow him down a hallway, into the bathroom … and almost into the stall! That’s where Stephen stopped him! HA!
- Someone asked Stephen how he determines which guest he will be “mean to.” Stephen says he doesn’t want to be mean to anyone since that is his guest. This was followed by Stephen and Jimmy throwing random objects at each other. The guy brought up Rick Santorum. Stephen said that he started out a bit nicer to him because he forgot to give Santorum his typical spiel of “I’m in character …” Plus, when Santorum walked out, much of the audience booed and he felt a little sorry for him. However, he then said, “but then we got into it about gays getting married and that changed everything!” HA!
- When they were trying to figure out where the next question was coming from, a female yelled out, “I don’t need a microphone!” Stephen then said, “What you need are lessons in manners!” HA!
- PS4 or Xbox? – Stephen turned the question over to Jimmy, who answered, “Both,” but then changed to “probably X-Box.”
- What was their most embarrassing moments? Stephen said it was when Jane Fonda put her tongue in his ear. Jimmy said when Emma Watson was on, she stated that his comedy always makes her laugh, even when she’s having a bad day. She went on to speak of a particular skit she liked, when Jimmy stated, “That was Jimmy Kimmel!” Woops! Stephen then went on to tell a story when he was filming “Strangers with Candy,” Paul wanted to wear a big butt enhancement on the show. He quickly decided not to when he saw how uncomfortable it was. However, during filming, Stephen was standing next to the script supervisor when she said to him, “I love your big butt!” Stephen told her, “This is MINE!” Again … woops! He said she quit right after that! HA! With this, both Stephen and Jimmy stood up and kindly showed us their butts!
- Some man sitting quite close to me asked this question regarding their ice creams and if they were to fight … actually, I don’t remember the question but it was … interesting. It was so interesting, Stephen and Jimmy pretended to be smoking pot during and after the question!
- Another question – what does Jimmy love about Stephen? Answer – How brilliant he is!
- Where should one go to become a comedian and any other advice? Stephen said to go to Chicago – great comedy and improv there! He also advised the person to “get in trouble,” for that’s how you will learn things. Jimmy agreed with Chicago and added going to L.A., as well.
- When asked what Stephen wanted to be other than a comedian, he said a marine biologist … and a stripper!
One thing, as an aside, I noticed quite a bit was that Stephen kept taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, especially as the evening went on. I don’t think it was anything serious at all, it was just an observation … especially since I kept looking at those beautiful new glasses of his!
- This was interesting! Someone asked, “Have you ever been asked to do SNL?” And Stephen just responded, “I have!” And that was it …”. Hmmmm!!!!
- When Stephen told the story how he used to listen to Bill Cosby records continuously as a child, he also used to read Mad Magazine underneath the covers and used the light on his heating pad so he could see them (he used a heating pad because he used to get a lot of back and shoulder aches). After he told this story how he would sneak in the magazines while he should be in bed, he said, “My children are here tonight, so I’m watching you and I know the tricks!” HA!!
- Someone wanted to know how Stephen and his family adjusted from South Carolina to New Jersey, since the two cultures are so different? Stephen stated that he got to NJ slowly. He went to school in Chicago, lived there for many years, then to NY and then, NJ. He went on to say, though, that his children were born and raised in this area, so they think SC is strange. He quoted them, “They owned slaves????”
- Seth Myers has not asked Jimmy for advice yet!
- How do you know when you made it big? Stephen said when he was able to get great service at a plant nursery – he needed to purchase mulch and one of the employees got if for him! HA!
- The last question was quiet memorable! Stephen explicitly stated that they had time for one more question, for they had to get to the VIP party for all those that had purchased those tickets. They take the question of a man sitting in one of the balconies. Maybe he was nervous, but the question took quite a while to leave his mouth. Lots of repeating the same phrases, like he was from “Nutley.” As he continued to repeat, Jimmy says, “Hey, Professor of Communications from Nutley University!” HA!! He then he kept saying to Stephen, “You flipped …” Stephen said, “What? I flipped you the bird?” Finally, it came out that Stephen flipped him a Wriststrong bracelet years ago and he still had it.” I’m not sure if he said anything else after that, because Jimmy fell to the floor and Stephen jumped on top of him to give him CPR. Then, they grabbed each other and started to kiss, still on top of each other on the floor. There ARE pictures out there of this, so if you have not seen them yet, please do! It was GREAT!
- When they both finished, they left the stage in opposite directions, but they kept coming back out, trying to outdo each other. At one point, they started to chase each other around the stage!
And that was it …
It was a fantastic night. Full of nonstop laughs! When it was over and I was waiting in the lobby for my friend, two guys approached me. One had a movie camera and the other a microphone. The cameraman was wearing a “Montclair State University” sweatshirt … so maybe, they were from there. They asked if they could ask me a few questions about the evening.
- What was my favorite part? Everything … but I love the end when Stephen gave Jimmy CPR and they kissed. HA!!
- What did I think of the questions and did I ask one? Questions were, overall, good. And no, I didn’t ask one. I mentioned that I had been to a number of these events now, so I always enjoy the Q&A’s.
- Who was I there to see-Stephen or Jimmy? Heh … STEPHEN! I did mention that I like Jimmy … but I LOVE Stephen! Yes, I think I totally gushed … HA!!And that was it. I should have asked where they were from and where this would potentially air. Oh well.
They were also selling some very nice tee shirts with Stephen, Jimmy and the MFF names on it. I quickly called my parents and said, “They have some really nice shirts here! Can I have an early Christmas present?” HA! They said yes! Thanks Mommy and Daddy!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little reporT (well, not that little. Everything I write is usually the length of a dissertation).
Event ReporT: Jimmy Fallon in Conversation with Stephen Colbert
On November 24, 2013, I had the pleasure to attend yet another Stephen-related event. This time, it was to benefit the Montclair Film Festival. The event, “Jimmy Fallon, in Conversation with Stephen Colbert,” was an absolute delight! Earlier in the month, I attended the event at the Town Hall (see my reporT), so this was turning into “the month of Stephen.” Works for me!
Let me start out by saying that it was quite exciting to see Karenatasha sitting in front of me with her lovely friend. I was attending this event solo, so it was great to be able to see them! But really, what are the chances that our seats would be right in front of each other. I call it Colbert News Hub kismet!
Before the show started, we were entertained with some music from both Stephen and Jimmy’s shows. For The Colbert Report, we were treated to Stephen singing “Carolina in my Mind” with James Taylor (I could almost see Stephen’s slow smile happening before me)!! Also, we heard Alicia Keys, “New York State of Mind,” accompanied by a rapping Stephen!!
The show started just after 8:00pm and Steve Higgins, announcer of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, was doing the introductions. After, they played a montage of Stephen/Jimmy clips they put together (ice cream wars, BBF for six months, Friday, Get Lucky video, etc). Then, it was time for the two men to make their grand entrance. As you can see from the pictures, it was the typical setup – two chairs, two end tables and one larger table. We also got a big screen, which was great, considering the place has four tiers!! Before I go through what was discussed, I must say that the two of them are hilarious! I laughed non-stop for two hours and they managed to turn EVERYTHING into a laugh, one way or the other. First, I will list what was discussed between the two of them.
One thing, as an aside, I noticed quite a bit was that Stephen kept taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, especially as the evening went on. I don’t think it was anything serious at all, it was just an observation … especially since I kept looking at those beautiful new glasses of his!
And that was it …
It was a fantastic night. Full of nonstop laughs! When it was over and I was waiting in the lobby for my friend, two guys approached me. One had a movie camera and the other a microphone. The cameraman was wearing a “Montclair State University” sweatshirt … so maybe, they were from there. They asked if they could ask me a few questions about the evening.
They were also selling some very nice tee shirts with Stephen, Jimmy and the MFF names on it. I quickly called my parents and said, “They have some really nice shirts here! Can I have an early Christmas present?” HA! They said yes! Thanks Mommy and Daddy!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little reporT (well, not that little. Everything I write is usually the length of a dissertation).