Hubster Victoria sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the February 20th, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hello, everyone! I had the pleasure of attending my third Colbert Report taping last night! The first two times, I went with my parents (the second time also included our friend). However, last night, my friend Kelly and I went together. This was her first taping and she had only seen the show a few times, so she was looking forward to going. We arrived at 3:40pm and there were already a number of people there. Yet, nobody from the staff was there with the clipboard, collecting our confirmation emails. One of the guys on the line said they would be out at 4:00pm. Kelly and I decided to get on the line and take our place. A minute after, two other guys joined the line behind us. As we stood there, I began to realize something. There seemed to be lacking some species with XX chromosomes! The whole line was nothing but men! I looked in front of me -men. Behind me-men! It was quite funny, especially after I pointed this out to Kelly. And as the line began to grow, lo and behold…more men! We were beginning to think this was going to be an all-men’s show and perhaps we missed the memo! But that was okay; we would definitely stand out in the audience! As we stood there, starting to slowly feel the cold 30 degree temperature start to embrace us more and more, something magical occurred! A female arrived! Yes! Girl Power! Of course, she was with a guy, but, even with that, I began to feel the estrogen levels rising! Within some time, the crowd began to grow, with both males and females, allowing all of us to remember that we should all live together in harmony!
Around 4:10pm, two staff came out to begin to collect our names. No more clipboards-all on iPads now! The last time I attended a show was in August and the two females (Yes, females! Wait, I forgot…harmony, harmony) that were in charge were not the same as this time. But both groups were equally nice and efficient. When it’s time for her to take our information, I told her that we were together but had two separate reservations. When I had gotten my ticket, at the time, everyone I knew that wanted to attend a taping, couldn’t in February. But it was my 6 months and I REALLY wanted to go. So, I got my own ticket. However, shortly later, I found out that Kelly was available, so she was able to get a ticket under her own reservation. So, we asked if it would be possible for us to sit next to each other, even though we weren’t together. She didn’t think it would be a problem, especially since we were towards the front-end of the line. And more good news! Since it was so cold, they said they were going to let us all in earlier at 5’o’clock into the waiting room. That would mean more time waiting inside, though, in that little room. Who cares! It has heat in there! 5 o’clock could not come any sooner. As the time passed us by and our toes began to began to feel like they were going to clip off our feet, I decided to engage in a discussion that has much worth to me…and to keep our minds off the fact that our legs were minutes away from becoming permanently frozen. I decided to ask Kelly for her advice. “What question should I ask Stephen?” Okay, if any of you remember my prior taping reporT’s, I had a record of 0 and 2 in mustering up the courage to ask Stephen a question. Problem is every time I want to ask a question, I begin to realize that I have forgotten how to speak. So, I just sit there and listen enjoyably to everyone else. Yes, I have met Stephen a number of times now. And yes, I HAVE spoken to him at book signings, etc. And yes, he is the one of the nicest humans I have ever met. But there is something about me, that studio and questions. I guess it’s one of those mysteries in life. But this time, I really wanted to try, so I practiced a few on her. There was one in particular that I really wanted to ask, but I realized it consisted of a lot of words and a very complex sentence structure (or at least it seemed that way, knowing Stephen was going to be looking at me when I asked this question and my lips and tongue may choose not to cooperate). Or I can go with the other question. It was cute. It was interesting. It only had six words! We might have a winner! As we continued to ponder the greatest debate of our time, it was 5 o’clock and keeping with their promises, they began to let us inside! By the time it was our turn to leave the line and walk to the entrance, my feet were numb. My legs were close behind. And I had to hobble to the entrance. But I hobbled with gusto, knowing warmth was on the other side…and more importantly, Stephen!
We enter the room and I notice that they changed the setup of the security check-point. It is on an angle now, as opposed to horizontal. And beyond that, what do I spy? Benches! Four of them! I jump through the metal detector (beep-free) and go claim our seats! From experience, I know we had quite a bit of waiting to do and it was nice to think of the idea of thawing out while sitting down. So, we grabbed our seats, but not before we got our picture taken with flat-Stephen on the wall. Hey, I may have a picture with the real Stephen, but it’s always fun to have it with a wall-embedded one, as well. Plus, I got to do the “I’m with this guy” point! We sit down, update our Facebook status’(hey, people were interested in our journey) and take a few self-pictures together of ourselves, displaying our tickets. Of course, they had the “Best of” DVD rolling. I found myself saying, “Okay, Kelly. This clip is next.” Yes, I’ve seen that DVD a few times now! But that’s okay; it’s as funny the first time and it will be the 500th time I will probably be seeing it.
We wait. We watch. We talk…to each other and the people sitting next to us. Rinse and repeat a number of times! And then, it’s finally the time! It’s 6:50pm, the volume on the television mysteriously starts to descend numerically from thin air (how does it do that???????) and I hear a voice from beyond….ok, more like from the front of the room, but it was still a very ethereal noise to hear, considering we were so ready to get in there and see STEPHEN! He enthusiastically goes through his speech, “Scream loud! Have fun! It’s what gives Stephen his energy! And…you all do realize it’s a character, right?” Kelly and I start to get our things together, when one of the girls announces, “Okay! We need all the red tickets first. Then we need numbers 16, 17….” She continues to say random numbers, followed by, “And then, we will start calling people in from number 1.” Now, the thing that made our ears perk up were the numbers 16 and 17. Those were our numbers! Did we win a prize from a contest we entered a year ago but forgot all about? Nah, probably not. So, we better go and see why they called our numbers. We go up to the girl and we hear her say, “Okay, I think we got them all.” No! Wait! Don’t forget us! We showed her our tickets and she says, “Okay. Great. Right this way.” We are going in! We walk in and almost all of the front row seats are taken and the second row in the center section. The security guard is there and says to us, “Hi, ladies. Would you like to sit in the front row?” WHAT? Gee, let me ponder this! Hmm, sure, why not!! He points to our seats and I prance to it like I just won the lottery! Hey, I may have to consider this compatible! We sit down and I begin to hug Kelly! This is happening! We are in the front row, right hand side of the studio! More people begin to gather in and then I begin to think of my previous epic conundrum-question or no question: the sage continues! Kelly states that she does like the first question better, but then I kindly remind her about my lack of mouth/brain coordination when I’m in front of Stephen in that studio. So, we leave it at that and decide to let the wind carry us into a decision(figuratively, of course. We had enough wind outside to last us a few months). As we wait, security approaches every one sitting in the front row to tell us that Stephen is going to run by and high-five us. He just wanted to remind us not to step out when he does this, for fear of accidentally tripping him, causing him to fall. Of course! No problem! The last thing I want to do is hurt Stephen. And cause him to break anything, like his back, or hip, leg. Plus, I think it would be quite hard for Stephen to have to wear a rubber bracelet around any of those body parts! Talk about a nuisance putting it on everyday! So, I promised to keep back and just stretch out my arm and hand!
We had the same warm-up comedian as last time. This time, on the other hand, we did not get picked on. It was last time when he picked on us and affectionately called our friend Bob, “Jim, the creeper from the col-de-sac.” This continues to be Bob’s new name! When he finished his act,Mark McKenna comes out and begins to get us ready. And then…it was the time! The music starts, the screams increase, I begin to shake like a paint mixer and Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me,” begins to engulf the room! And there he is…the man…STEPHEN! He comes running out, circling the room, rounding the desk, high-fiving the crew and makes his way back to our side of the studio! As I continue to scream and clap, he begins to head down the front row! Here he comes! Here he comes! HIGH-FIVE!! Woohoo! I high-fived Stephen, injury-free! Yes! Double-gainer! Stephen stops in front of his desk, raising his arms in victory! At this time, we happen to make eye-contact and he smiles right at me, probably seeing that I am about to burst from excitement! Well, if I wasn’t going to burst beforehand, I certainly am now! Woohoo! We sit down and Stephen starts the Q&A. Stephen says, “Are there any questions you might have before we begin that might humanize me in your eyes before I say these terrible things in character?” Okay, this is my time to shine! Right? Maybe. We’ll see. This was approximately the order of questions:
- What is your high score on the Lord of the Rings pinball game? Stephen said that he had not played it in a long time. He said that he promised himself he would only play it if he had ten minutes to spare between rehearsals and the taping. He said he played that gave five times since the show began! HAHA! He asked the girl what her score was. She told him and he responded, “Um, okay. That sounds good!”
- Someone asked about what political plans he had now since the Super PAC is gone? He said he has nothing in mind and went on to tell the story how he never planned to have a Super PAC and how it just happened. “So, the network called and said, ‘If you start a PAC, that could be trouble.’ So, we decided to start the PAC.”
- Was there ever a guest that did not work well with you? He went on to tell the story of how Bob Kerry forgot that Stephen had warned him about his ignorant character and began to get very mad during the interview and once it ended, he said, “What was that,” and stormed out of the studio. Stephen emphasized how upset he was and that some people “forget everything” once the camera goes on. Now, during this Q&A session, Mark McKenna is sitting on the steps in the audience right next to me. When Stephen was telling the story of how upset Bob Kerrey was, Mark looks up at me and says, smiling, “It’s true!”
- Someone asked about the toss and how come they don’t do it anymore. Basically, as he has said before, it’s too much work. It takes too much coordination and there is not enough time. He said they loved doing it and they wish they could get back to it again, but it’s just too much for them. He did say there is a fiber-optic cable that runs from his studio to The Daily Show studio that is able to send information to them at rapid speed. So, when they were doing the toss, they would be able to communicate with each other off-the-cuff when they wanted to, which is what happened a lot. As a matter of fact, that is when they had the most fun. However, Stephen said that we would not believe half of the stuff that came out of their mouths. “Very vulgar and would never make it on tv!” The audience loved that, as did I!
- Someone said that they were at the Fordham event with Stephen and Father Martin and Dolan. She wanted to know if Dolan becomes Pope, what would that make Stephen. And right now, I, for some reason, cannot think of what he said. It was funny, I could tell you that!
Okay, so it was time for the taping to begin. No, I did not ask a question. Next time. Hee! Status quo-gets his hair and make-up fixed; he plays with the hairdressers hair; bops along to “Fell in Love With a Girl;” and begins to toss out the WristStrong bracelets, ending with him holding up the knife. I explained to Kelly that he always does this, but it’s just as adorable the third time as it was the first time I experienced it. Oh, and one of the bracelets came right in our direction, but flew right over our heads!
Okay, the taping. Now, last night, I tuned into the show on tv, all ready to hear, “Tonight!” Instead, I got an eagle flying at me and Stephen rising from the earth, greeting me with open-arms. In other words, he filmed a “table of contents” but it never aired! This was actually very funny because every taping I have been to, there has never been a table of contents. Now finally, I get one…and it gets edited out of the show. At least I got to see it filmed, finally. And honestly, it was definitely a time-issue. The two interviews, which leads me into my next point, were very long. They had to cut a bunch of the content out. And even with the content, they clearly had to still do more editing. And as Stephen has said in the past, “when there are too many jokes or content, they get rid of the table contents.” So, that is what had to have happened last night. The interviews. The first one was enjoyable. Leading up to it, Stephen flubbed his line slightly and asked to do it over (a first for me, as well). Actually, as he flubbed his line, you can see the guest in the wings (Alexi) and the staff quickly brining out the chair to place next to Stephen’s desk. Stephen did it over and he went right into the interview. A big part they left out…and it was so funny! At one point, Stephen was talking to Alexi and suddenly, Stephen’s chair just gave out. It’s like he released it himself and made it lower; however, he didn’t touch the lever and it lowered on its own! Everyone started to crack up, but Stephen went right along with the interview as if nothing had happened. I was wondering if they were going to leave that part in, but I guess they didn’t feel it flowed well with the rest of the interview…and perhaps, because of time constraints. Either way, it was very funny! And the pretend slap that Stephen received was perfect! At the end of that segment, the crew quickly removed the interviewing table, put it aside, and placed his wing-back chair by the fireplace. Watching Stephen perform that segment took some skill because they set up all of the cameras right in front of us. But I was determined to see him tape it live, not on the monitor. So, I hunched over in my chair, placing my head close to my lap and watched it that way. Yep, skills! When that was over, they quickly re-assembled the set back to its normality. I was trying to watch Stephen during the breaks but it was difficult because everyone talking to him was gathered around his desk, blocking my view. However, I was able to finally see him talking with one of the crew right before the David Goldhill interview. I have no idea what they were talking about, but towards the end of their conversation, I was able to read Stephen’s lips very distinctly as he said two words, “F**k ‘em!” Woah! I’m no lip reader, but I’m positive I read that correctly. I told Kelly what I just saw and she said, “I wonder what happened?” He did look a little serious for a few moments longer, but he then started to smirk, then smile. So honestly, I have no idea. I missed everything beforehand so it could have been anything. The second interview with David Goldhill. Another long one. David was very serious and kind of rambled at times. He was able to get his point across, but he definitely was taking the scenic route, so Stephen definitely had to do some work with that interview. You can see that Stephen was listening very intently and trying to come up with something to say, keeping the balance of funny and serious. The joke he made about spinning the wheel…perfect, again! Once the interview was over, he thanked David for coming and Stephen headed back to his desk…or more like danced back to his desk…to the music! He really has some great moves there! When he sat back down he went over a few more things with the crew and I actually had a perfect view this time. When everyone left his side, he began to bop and sing to the music. Now at this time, one of the cameramen right next to me leans over and says, “Here. For a really big fan.” He hands me his directions list! Cool! A souvenir for me! I thanked him and quickly looked at it before the show started again. It goes down the line, breaking up the scenes into small parts, stating what Stephen is going to talk about, when it’s going to happen, etc. And there were columns stating if something was newly added or any other direction notes. It’s a few pages long and it has Jim’s name on the bottom of it! A nice little keepsake from an already wonderful evening. I quickly place it in my bag, as I see they are ready to begin again. The show comes back on, Stephen’s wishes us good night and that’s it. Well actually, not quite. He said that he needed to tape over one line, for the sound didn’t come out well the original time. It was a line from the soccer segment and he said it a number of times, each time with a different inflection. Once he was done with that, he asked if anyone had one more question. Ooh! We got to hear him fix a line AND get another question. Someone asked, “What was going on with that Diane Keaton interview?” BRILLIANT QUESTION! Stephen responds, “Yeah,what was going on?” Stephen starts to laugh. He gets up from his desk and starts to walk in front of it to tell the story. Basically, he said that before the interview backstage, in character, Stephen said to Diane, “Free ride’s over now.” Diane looks at him and says, “Oh, it is, I see.” And that was it, I guess! He said he had no idea what she was going to say or do next. He had a number of questions planned for her since he was excited about the interview, but he was not able to get to any of them because of the way the interview went. Did he enjoy it, you ask? Yes! He said he had a great time and he likes a guest that keeps him on his feet and not knowing what’s going to happen next. He asked the guy who asked the question, “Did you like the interview,” for the guy responded, “Yes, I thought it was hilarious.” Stephen responded, “Yeah, me too.” Stephen looked very happy when he told this story, as if he was thinking back on it and the hilarity that ensued. He thanked us again for coming and left the room. And that was it! Another great taping concludes!
Kelly and I headed out and decided to go get some dinner. We had not eaten since lunch and we were hungry! We went to one of my favorite diners not too far from there and spoke about the show. She really had a good time and I told her that she did not get a “political-heavy” show. I went on to tell her that’s what’s great about The Colbert Report. Yes, it is very politically-heavy at times, but because it’s all about the character and his opinion, Stephen does not have to focus on politics exclusively. Not that the political humor isn’t completely brilliant and enjoyed, because it certainly is. She said she will definitely want to come back again…at a warmer time. Yes, good call!
And that’s it. If you are still reading this, you deserve a prize. This has now turned into the length of one of my graduate school research papers. But, I do hope you enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it. It was fun to recollect on all of the happenings of yesterday…even the near-frostbite. Once again, Stephen brought it, as he always does!
February 20th, 2013: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster Victoria sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the February 20th, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hello, everyone! I had the pleasure of attending my third Colbert Report taping last night! The first two times, I went with my parents (the second time also included our friend). However, last night, my friend Kelly and I went together. This was her first taping and she had only seen the show a few times, so she was looking forward to going. We arrived at 3:40pm and there were already a number of people there. Yet, nobody from the staff was there with the clipboard, collecting our confirmation emails. One of the guys on the line said they would be out at 4:00pm. Kelly and I decided to get on the line and take our place. A minute after, two other guys joined the line behind us. As we stood there, I began to realize something. There seemed to be lacking some species with XX chromosomes! The whole line was nothing but men! I looked in front of me -men. Behind me-men! It was quite funny, especially after I pointed this out to Kelly. And as the line began to grow, lo and behold…more men! We were beginning to think this was going to be an all-men’s show and perhaps we missed the memo! But that was okay; we would definitely stand out in the audience! As we stood there, starting to slowly feel the cold 30 degree temperature start to embrace us more and more, something magical occurred! A female arrived! Yes! Girl Power! Of course, she was with a guy, but, even with that, I began to feel the estrogen levels rising! Within some time, the crowd began to grow, with both males and females, allowing all of us to remember that we should all live together in harmony!
Around 4:10pm, two staff came out to begin to collect our names. No more clipboards-all on iPads now! The last time I attended a show was in August and the two females (Yes, females! Wait, I forgot…harmony, harmony) that were in charge were not the same as this time. But both groups were equally nice and efficient. When it’s time for her to take our information, I told her that we were together but had two separate reservations. When I had gotten my ticket, at the time, everyone I knew that wanted to attend a taping, couldn’t in February. But it was my 6 months and I REALLY wanted to go. So, I got my own ticket. However, shortly later, I found out that Kelly was available, so she was able to get a ticket under her own reservation. So, we asked if it would be possible for us to sit next to each other, even though we weren’t together. She didn’t think it would be a problem, especially since we were towards the front-end of the line. And more good news! Since it was so cold, they said they were going to let us all in earlier at 5’o’clock into the waiting room. That would mean more time waiting inside, though, in that little room. Who cares! It has heat in there! 5 o’clock could not come any sooner. As the time passed us by and our toes began to began to feel like they were going to clip off our feet, I decided to engage in a discussion that has much worth to me…and to keep our minds off the fact that our legs were minutes away from becoming permanently frozen. I decided to ask Kelly for her advice. “What question should I ask Stephen?” Okay, if any of you remember my prior taping reporT’s, I had a record of 0 and 2 in mustering up the courage to ask Stephen a question. Problem is every time I want to ask a question, I begin to realize that I have forgotten how to speak. So, I just sit there and listen enjoyably to everyone else. Yes, I have met Stephen a number of times now. And yes, I HAVE spoken to him at book signings, etc. And yes, he is the one of the nicest humans I have ever met. But there is something about me, that studio and questions. I guess it’s one of those mysteries in life. But this time, I really wanted to try, so I practiced a few on her. There was one in particular that I really wanted to ask, but I realized it consisted of a lot of words and a very complex sentence structure (or at least it seemed that way, knowing Stephen was going to be looking at me when I asked this question and my lips and tongue may choose not to cooperate). Or I can go with the other question. It was cute. It was interesting. It only had six words! We might have a winner! As we continued to ponder the greatest debate of our time, it was 5 o’clock and keeping with their promises, they began to let us inside! By the time it was our turn to leave the line and walk to the entrance, my feet were numb. My legs were close behind. And I had to hobble to the entrance. But I hobbled with gusto, knowing warmth was on the other side…and more importantly, Stephen!
We enter the room and I notice that they changed the setup of the security check-point. It is on an angle now, as opposed to horizontal. And beyond that, what do I spy? Benches! Four of them! I jump through the metal detector (beep-free) and go claim our seats! From experience, I know we had quite a bit of waiting to do and it was nice to think of the idea of thawing out while sitting down. So, we grabbed our seats, but not before we got our picture taken with flat-Stephen on the wall. Hey, I may have a picture with the real Stephen, but it’s always fun to have it with a wall-embedded one, as well. Plus, I got to do the “I’m with this guy” point! We sit down, update our Facebook status’(hey, people were interested in our journey) and take a few self-pictures together of ourselves, displaying our tickets. Of course, they had the “Best of” DVD rolling. I found myself saying, “Okay, Kelly. This clip is next.” Yes, I’ve seen that DVD a few times now! But that’s okay; it’s as funny the first time and it will be the 500th time I will probably be seeing it.
We wait. We watch. We talk…to each other and the people sitting next to us. Rinse and repeat a number of times! And then, it’s finally the time! It’s 6:50pm, the volume on the television mysteriously starts to descend numerically from thin air (how does it do that???????) and I hear a voice from beyond….ok, more like from the front of the room, but it was still a very ethereal noise to hear, considering we were so ready to get in there and see STEPHEN! He enthusiastically goes through his speech, “Scream loud! Have fun! It’s what gives Stephen his energy! And…you all do realize it’s a character, right?” Kelly and I start to get our things together, when one of the girls announces, “Okay! We need all the red tickets first. Then we need numbers 16, 17….” She continues to say random numbers, followed by, “And then, we will start calling people in from number 1.” Now, the thing that made our ears perk up were the numbers 16 and 17. Those were our numbers! Did we win a prize from a contest we entered a year ago but forgot all about? Nah, probably not. So, we better go and see why they called our numbers. We go up to the girl and we hear her say, “Okay, I think we got them all.” No! Wait! Don’t forget us! We showed her our tickets and she says, “Okay. Great. Right this way.” We are going in! We walk in and almost all of the front row seats are taken and the second row in the center section. The security guard is there and says to us, “Hi, ladies. Would you like to sit in the front row?” WHAT? Gee, let me ponder this! Hmm, sure, why not!! He points to our seats and I prance to it like I just won the lottery! Hey, I may have to consider this compatible! We sit down and I begin to hug Kelly! This is happening! We are in the front row, right hand side of the studio! More people begin to gather in and then I begin to think of my previous epic conundrum-question or no question: the sage continues! Kelly states that she does like the first question better, but then I kindly remind her about my lack of mouth/brain coordination when I’m in front of Stephen in that studio. So, we leave it at that and decide to let the wind carry us into a decision(figuratively, of course. We had enough wind outside to last us a few months). As we wait, security approaches every one sitting in the front row to tell us that Stephen is going to run by and high-five us. He just wanted to remind us not to step out when he does this, for fear of accidentally tripping him, causing him to fall. Of course! No problem! The last thing I want to do is hurt Stephen. And cause him to break anything, like his back, or hip, leg. Plus, I think it would be quite hard for Stephen to have to wear a rubber bracelet around any of those body parts! Talk about a nuisance putting it on everyday! So, I promised to keep back and just stretch out my arm and hand!
We had the same warm-up comedian as last time. This time, on the other hand, we did not get picked on. It was last time when he picked on us and affectionately called our friend Bob, “Jim, the creeper from the col-de-sac.” This continues to be Bob’s new name! When he finished his act,Mark McKenna comes out and begins to get us ready. And then…it was the time! The music starts, the screams increase, I begin to shake like a paint mixer and Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me,” begins to engulf the room! And there he is…the man…STEPHEN! He comes running out, circling the room, rounding the desk, high-fiving the crew and makes his way back to our side of the studio! As I continue to scream and clap, he begins to head down the front row! Here he comes! Here he comes! HIGH-FIVE!! Woohoo! I high-fived Stephen, injury-free! Yes! Double-gainer! Stephen stops in front of his desk, raising his arms in victory! At this time, we happen to make eye-contact and he smiles right at me, probably seeing that I am about to burst from excitement! Well, if I wasn’t going to burst beforehand, I certainly am now! Woohoo! We sit down and Stephen starts the Q&A. Stephen says, “Are there any questions you might have before we begin that might humanize me in your eyes before I say these terrible things in character?” Okay, this is my time to shine! Right? Maybe. We’ll see. This was approximately the order of questions:
Okay, so it was time for the taping to begin. No, I did not ask a question. Next time. Hee! Status quo-gets his hair and make-up fixed; he plays with the hairdressers hair; bops along to “Fell in Love With a Girl;” and begins to toss out the WristStrong bracelets, ending with him holding up the knife. I explained to Kelly that he always does this, but it’s just as adorable the third time as it was the first time I experienced it. Oh, and one of the bracelets came right in our direction, but flew right over our heads!
Okay, the taping. Now, last night, I tuned into the show on tv, all ready to hear, “Tonight!” Instead, I got an eagle flying at me and Stephen rising from the earth, greeting me with open-arms. In other words, he filmed a “table of contents” but it never aired! This was actually very funny because every taping I have been to, there has never been a table of contents. Now finally, I get one…and it gets edited out of the show. At least I got to see it filmed, finally. And honestly, it was definitely a time-issue. The two interviews, which leads me into my next point, were very long. They had to cut a bunch of the content out. And even with the content, they clearly had to still do more editing. And as Stephen has said in the past, “when there are too many jokes or content, they get rid of the table contents.” So, that is what had to have happened last night. The interviews. The first one was enjoyable. Leading up to it, Stephen flubbed his line slightly and asked to do it over (a first for me, as well). Actually, as he flubbed his line, you can see the guest in the wings (Alexi) and the staff quickly brining out the chair to place next to Stephen’s desk. Stephen did it over and he went right into the interview. A big part they left out…and it was so funny! At one point, Stephen was talking to Alexi and suddenly, Stephen’s chair just gave out. It’s like he released it himself and made it lower; however, he didn’t touch the lever and it lowered on its own! Everyone started to crack up, but Stephen went right along with the interview as if nothing had happened. I was wondering if they were going to leave that part in, but I guess they didn’t feel it flowed well with the rest of the interview…and perhaps, because of time constraints. Either way, it was very funny! And the pretend slap that Stephen received was perfect! At the end of that segment, the crew quickly removed the interviewing table, put it aside, and placed his wing-back chair by the fireplace. Watching Stephen perform that segment took some skill because they set up all of the cameras right in front of us. But I was determined to see him tape it live, not on the monitor. So, I hunched over in my chair, placing my head close to my lap and watched it that way. Yep, skills! When that was over, they quickly re-assembled the set back to its normality. I was trying to watch Stephen during the breaks but it was difficult because everyone talking to him was gathered around his desk, blocking my view. However, I was able to finally see him talking with one of the crew right before the David Goldhill interview. I have no idea what they were talking about, but towards the end of their conversation, I was able to read Stephen’s lips very distinctly as he said two words, “F**k ‘em!” Woah! I’m no lip reader, but I’m positive I read that correctly. I told Kelly what I just saw and she said, “I wonder what happened?” He did look a little serious for a few moments longer, but he then started to smirk, then smile. So honestly, I have no idea. I missed everything beforehand so it could have been anything. The second interview with David Goldhill. Another long one. David was very serious and kind of rambled at times. He was able to get his point across, but he definitely was taking the scenic route, so Stephen definitely had to do some work with that interview. You can see that Stephen was listening very intently and trying to come up with something to say, keeping the balance of funny and serious. The joke he made about spinning the wheel…perfect, again! Once the interview was over, he thanked David for coming and Stephen headed back to his desk…or more like danced back to his desk…to the music! He really has some great moves there! When he sat back down he went over a few more things with the crew and I actually had a perfect view this time. When everyone left his side, he began to bop and sing to the music. Now at this time, one of the cameramen right next to me leans over and says, “Here. For a really big fan.” He hands me his directions list! Cool! A souvenir for me! I thanked him and quickly looked at it before the show started again. It goes down the line, breaking up the scenes into small parts, stating what Stephen is going to talk about, when it’s going to happen, etc. And there were columns stating if something was newly added or any other direction notes. It’s a few pages long and it has Jim’s name on the bottom of it! A nice little keepsake from an already wonderful evening. I quickly place it in my bag, as I see they are ready to begin again. The show comes back on, Stephen’s wishes us good night and that’s it. Well actually, not quite. He said that he needed to tape over one line, for the sound didn’t come out well the original time. It was a line from the soccer segment and he said it a number of times, each time with a different inflection. Once he was done with that, he asked if anyone had one more question. Ooh! We got to hear him fix a line AND get another question. Someone asked, “What was going on with that Diane Keaton interview?” BRILLIANT QUESTION! Stephen responds, “Yeah,what was going on?” Stephen starts to laugh. He gets up from his desk and starts to walk in front of it to tell the story. Basically, he said that before the interview backstage, in character, Stephen said to Diane, “Free ride’s over now.” Diane looks at him and says, “Oh, it is, I see.” And that was it, I guess! He said he had no idea what she was going to say or do next. He had a number of questions planned for her since he was excited about the interview, but he was not able to get to any of them because of the way the interview went. Did he enjoy it, you ask? Yes! He said he had a great time and he likes a guest that keeps him on his feet and not knowing what’s going to happen next. He asked the guy who asked the question, “Did you like the interview,” for the guy responded, “Yes, I thought it was hilarious.” Stephen responded, “Yeah, me too.” Stephen looked very happy when he told this story, as if he was thinking back on it and the hilarity that ensued. He thanked us again for coming and left the room. And that was it! Another great taping concludes!
Kelly and I headed out and decided to go get some dinner. We had not eaten since lunch and we were hungry! We went to one of my favorite diners not too far from there and spoke about the show. She really had a good time and I told her that she did not get a “political-heavy” show. I went on to tell her that’s what’s great about The Colbert Report. Yes, it is very politically-heavy at times, but because it’s all about the character and his opinion, Stephen does not have to focus on politics exclusively. Not that the political humor isn’t completely brilliant and enjoyed, because it certainly is. She said she will definitely want to come back again…at a warmer time. Yes, good call!
And that’s it. If you are still reading this, you deserve a prize. This has now turned into the length of one of my graduate school research papers. But, I do hope you enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it. It was fun to recollect on all of the happenings of yesterday…even the near-frostbite. Once again, Stephen brought it, as he always does!