Hubster Staffer Melanie has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the February 7, 2016 Live Post-Game Supershow LXXXVIII taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
After being able to attend the first live show in January, I was lucky enough to attend the Super Bowl show as well. My friend and I got in line around 2pm and there was already a respectable amount of people there. On the email notifications it said tickets would be handed out around 5, which meant that we had to stand in the cold for a solid 3 hours and even though it wasn’t nearly as cold last Sunday in New York as this Sunday, there are only so many layers you can wear and unfortunately the studio is not in the most comfortable spot wind-wise. Long story short, we were basically frozen by the end of our wait, but with numbers #40 and #41 it had all been worth it at least. They told us to be back around 8.15 so we grabbed some burgers and coffee and returned perfectly on time. They finally let us in and as we lined up again inside, we were actually able to catch the last few seconds of the second quarter before the halftime show started. All the screens in the waiting room were turned on and there’s always something very enjoyable about watching these moments with a big crowd, and oh boy, this audience did not disappoint. Most people didn’t really care for football all that much (we did miss the first half of the game after all), but put Beyoncé on stage and you are sure to get a reaction. It was FUN! They let us wait for quite some time after that, longer than usual, and they seemed to make changes and set up the studio until the very last minute.
Now on to the actual show: thanks to a ridiculously lucky coincidence me and my friend actually ended up front row and center. I could say now that I was perfectly fine with that, but “fine“ doesn’t really capture my reaction. I was freaking out and screaming internally. I mean front and center is one thing, but front and center for a historic live show is more than just icing on the cake. My friend and I had to pinch ourselves repeatedly to make sure we weren’t dreaming.
The studio had been redecorated a bit to fit the theme, and all the screens were once again turned on for the game so we were able to watch until the very end- and some people got really into it (shout out to the guy seated next to me, yelling a bit too aggressively at the monitors in front of him). As soon as the game was over and the winner was declared, the broadcast was turned off and it was taping business as usual. Paul coming out, getting the crowd ready, making some (almost good-natured) jokes; then Jon and the band who just hit it out of the park every single time (wrong sports metaphor?); and then, as excited as ever, Stephen himself. There was definitely a special kind of excitement and anticipation in the air, and that was almost palpable as soon as Stephen started running across the stage, jumping and cheering and waving. We were all more than ready to go. Well, I personally was still recovering from being so damn close to everything but you get my point.
I remember two audience questions. One was regarding the spelling error in the Even Stevphen Daily Show segments, and the second one was “when are you going to run for president?”, which, unsurprisingly, got a huge reaction from the audience. As far as I remember, a big smile was his reaction. Fair enough.
One thing that was definitely interesting about this taping in particular was all the preparation that went on backstage. The satellite set-up, Stephen’s constant “are we live yet? I can’t hear on this ear. Are we live yet? Are we on?” when the show was about to start, the football throwing which of course on screen was received by nice people in space and, oh yes, the president, but in the studio was just a back and forth between Stephen and his crew members. Once the show started, everyone in front of their TVs basically got to witness the same things we experienced in the studio. For any live shows, it’s the commercial breaks that really make it special. Stephen chatted with Margot and Tina, then they had to set everything up for the Will Ferrell interview and his animal co- stars (a segment that had me and the entire audience in tears basically- I think I got to a point where I couldn’t breathe from laughing. And we finally knew what the domestic animal warning in the ticket confirmation was for). However, the “dangers” of live television really became noticeable during the Megyn Kelly interview when the clock was ticking down and Mark, everyone’s favorite stage manager, grew more nervous by the second. After the interview, which went on a bit too long in my opinion, Stephen asked Mark about the time. “Thirty seconds over,” he said and Stephen started laughing, before responding “I don’t give a fuck.”
Some general observations: I thought they did a fantastic job with this episode. From the taping I can most definitely confirm that everyone was excited and in good spirits and very proud by the end of it. Stephen’s family was in the audience cheering him on, and so were the rest of us. We all had a blast. Stephen ended the taping with throwing some footballs into the audience, before bidding us all goodnight. Definitely the best Super Bowl I ever got to experience.
February 7, 2016 – Live Post Super Bowl: The Taping ReporT!
After being able to attend the first live show in January, I was lucky enough to attend the Super Bowl show as well. My friend and I got in line around 2pm and there was already a respectable amount of people there. On the email notifications it said tickets would be handed out around 5, which meant that we had to stand in the cold for a solid 3 hours and even though it wasn’t nearly as cold last Sunday in New York as this Sunday, there are only so many layers you can wear and unfortunately the studio is not in the most comfortable spot wind-wise. Long story short, we were basically frozen by the end of our wait, but with numbers #40 and #41 it had all been worth it at least. They told us to be back around 8.15 so we grabbed some burgers and coffee and returned perfectly on time. They finally let us in and as we lined up again inside, we were actually able to catch the last few seconds of the second quarter before the halftime show started. All the screens in the waiting room were turned on and there’s always something very enjoyable about watching these moments with a big crowd, and oh boy, this audience did not disappoint. Most people didn’t really care for football all that much (we did miss the first half of the game after all), but put Beyoncé on stage and you are sure to get a reaction. It was FUN! They let us wait for quite some time after that, longer than usual, and they seemed to make changes and set up the studio until the very last minute.
Now on to the actual show: thanks to a ridiculously lucky coincidence me and my friend actually ended up front row and center. I could say now that I was perfectly fine with that, but “fine“ doesn’t really capture my reaction. I was freaking out and screaming internally. I mean front and center is one thing, but front and center for a historic live show is more than just icing on the cake. My friend and I had to pinch ourselves repeatedly to make sure we weren’t dreaming.
The studio had been redecorated a bit to fit the theme, and all the screens were once again turned on for the game so we were able to watch until the very end- and some people got really into it (shout out to the guy seated next to me, yelling a bit too aggressively at the monitors in front of him). As soon as the game was over and the winner was declared, the broadcast was turned off and it was taping business as usual. Paul coming out, getting the crowd ready, making some (almost good-natured) jokes; then Jon and the band who just hit it out of the park every single time (wrong sports metaphor?); and then, as excited as ever, Stephen himself. There was definitely a special kind of excitement and anticipation in the air, and that was almost palpable as soon as Stephen started running across the stage, jumping and cheering and waving. We were all more than ready to go. Well, I personally was still recovering from being so damn close to everything but you get my point.
I remember two audience questions. One was regarding the spelling error in the Even Stevphen Daily Show segments, and the second one was “when are you going to run for president?”, which, unsurprisingly, got a huge reaction from the audience. As far as I remember, a big smile was his reaction. Fair enough.
One thing that was definitely interesting about this taping in particular was all the preparation that went on backstage. The satellite set-up, Stephen’s constant “are we live yet? I can’t hear on this ear. Are we live yet? Are we on?” when the show was about to start, the football throwing which of course on screen was received by nice people in space and, oh yes, the president, but in the studio was just a back and forth between Stephen and his crew members. Once the show started, everyone in front of their TVs basically got to witness the same things we experienced in the studio. For any live shows, it’s the commercial breaks that really make it special. Stephen chatted with Margot and Tina, then they had to set everything up for the Will Ferrell interview and his animal co- stars (a segment that had me and the entire audience in tears basically- I think I got to a point where I couldn’t breathe from laughing. And we finally knew what the domestic animal warning in the ticket confirmation was for). However, the “dangers” of live television really became noticeable during the Megyn Kelly interview when the clock was ticking down and Mark, everyone’s favorite stage manager, grew more nervous by the second. After the interview, which went on a bit too long in my opinion, Stephen asked Mark about the time. “Thirty seconds over,” he said and Stephen started laughing, before responding “I don’t give a fuck.”
Some general observations: I thought they did a fantastic job with this episode. From the taping I can most definitely confirm that everyone was excited and in good spirits and very proud by the end of it. Stephen’s family was in the audience cheering him on, and so were the rest of us. We all had a blast. Stephen ended the taping with throwing some footballs into the audience, before bidding us all goodnight. Definitely the best Super Bowl I ever got to experience.