Hubster Mary Beth has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the January 31st, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
I was lucky enough to be on Facebook in early December when a post popped up that there were tickets available for select dates for a taping of the Colbert Report! Within 10 minutes they were all grabbed up and I was lucky enough to secure tickets to the 1/31 taping.
I live outside of Philadelphia, so my husband and I were able to take a train up to NYC. After reading different websites, I found it would be a good idea to walk by the studio around 3:30-4:00 to see if there was a line. Since we went in January (very cold and windy!) and the guest wasn’t an A-lister, there were three people sitting on the ground outside the studio. Then we knew we had some time to walk around and get a bite to eat before getting back in line.
The Colbert Report studio is definitely not in a part of NYC where I thought it would be. Not that I expected it to be near the NBC or Fox news studios or near Times Square, but it’s in Hell’s Kitchen. Not only is Hell’s Kitchen home to so many amazing restaurants, but as we walked the blocks around the studio, there is an elementary school, a high school, and John Jay College. Definitely a gentrified area.
We knew that the doors would open around 6pm, so we made sure we were out of our restaurant by 5:15 to get our spot in line. The staff at the Colbert Report really runs everything so professionally and smoothly. Never once was it crazy or chaotic. So we get to the line, which is actually down the side of the building, kind of like an alley. There is a staffer standing at the front with an iPad checking everyone in. We needed to show a copy of the email confirmation and ID in order to get in line. They have a canvas cover over the line, which was great for us that day because of the wind and it being below freezing. Once you check in, you and your guest(s) are assigned a number. At that point, you are free to leave the line, as long as one member of your party stays behind. That worked great for us because there was a Dunkin Donuts around the corner, so I stayed in line while my husband got us coffee. We were numbers 40 and 41. Not too bad, especially since I estimated the crowd once we were in the studio at 250-300.
Before they began to let people into the holding area, the head of security came out and advised everyone that no drugs or weapons are allowed in the studio. The best part was when he said that if you do have them, you would have to let security hold them, but they would give them back to you at the end of the taping! Of course, no cell phones or cameras are allowed to be used either. After that they started to let people in, only 2 – 4 people at a time. Everyone needs to walk through a metal detector and have their bags searched. This whole process took about an hour, getting everyone scanned before entering the holding area. Once you’re in the holding area, which is really just the size of a fairly large office, they have a large screen TV playing the best of Colbert Report episodes. I forgot how funny some of the older ones are (like from 2007-2008), especially when some of the politicians didn’t realize he was doing a character. There’s also some Colbert memorabilia on the walls, but for the most part, it’s a pretty stark room, painted a dark blue. Shortly before 7pm, a production guy got up on a table to give us some info about what would be happening next.
He told us that Stephen feeds off of the audience’s energy, so we needed to be loud and enthusiastic! That our enthusiasm is the laugh track for the show and everyone watching it at home will hear us, so we need to be loud! They also have a comedian who warms up the crowd. We then found out that Stephen also comes out (out of character) before the taping to do a Q&A session (about 5-10 minutes) with the audience, which they said helps energize him. He told us to get our questions ready and that he loves talking about his Super PAC, how he got to where he is today, and anything creative! The staff member also told us to keep in mind that Stephen does this show all by himself, no other people out it in the field like the Daily Show and reminded us that Stephen Colbert is a character … he said there are actually some people who didn’t know that and he hoped we weren’t those people!
Now the time had come to let us into the studio … again, it was done is such an orderly fashion, no craziness at all and even if someone tried to be, it wouldn’t be tolerated. They first call people in who have any VIP cards and then proceed with people 1-10. They actually take the cards as the people walk in and you have to enter in order (#7 would not go in before #10). And even then they are only letting in the people who are together instead of letting all 10 people in at once. I got a little worried when they called our numbers because we were in the group of numbers 31-40 and my husband was #41, but they let him come in with me 🙂 Once you take the 30 ft walk to the studio, there is another person telling you where to sit, depending on the number of people in your group. I couldn’t believe it but we were able to sit in the 3rd row on the far left, right in front of Stephen’s desk!!! It was just so electrifying walking into the studio … it’s gorgeous! So surreal being there and seeing his news desk. It’s also amazing seeing the table and chairs where he does the interviews. It’s actually much closer to the news desk than it appears.
We had a great comedian warm us up that night, Paul Mercurio. He was hilarious and went back and forth with a few audience members…I was lucky I wasn’t one of them! He wrapped up after about 15 minutes and then the stage manager went over a few things, how loud we should be, what his signals meant, and again, no cell phones or cameras could be taken out. Even after all of that, there were two people who took out their phones and then their phones were taken away.
The stage manager then introduced Stephen Colbert and he came running out … the crowd went wild! It was really so awesome to see him in person! He then asked if anyone had any questions so a few people raised their hands. The first person was in his early twenties and said he was doing a documentary and could he interview Stephen for it. Stephen asked if the documentary was about him and the guy said no and in return, Stephen said no. The audience roared. There was another group in the audience who shared that one of Stephen’s sister’s was her kindergarten teacher back in the day. Another person asked him if there were any guests he didn’t like … he responded not with any names in particular, but said he only dislikes guests when they represent themselves or a situation as one thing during the pre-interview and as something else during the actual interview. After a few more questions, the taping was ready to begin! There were actually two occasions where Stephen stumbled on some lines. He dropped the F-bomb, which was awesome and made everyone laugh. He explained that they had just changed some jokes right before he came out and he still had the old joke in is head. During the commercial breaks as they appear on TV, Stephen reviewed notes with his staff and they were laughing during the breaks. During the last segment, he interviewed Matthew Guerrieri. Mr. Guerrieri was sitting in the table and chairs area for a few minutes while Stephen was reviewing things. He even looked a little nervous then, just looking at the coffee cup. When the interview started, it was so quiet in the studio. The interview seemed to go on for a long time, with Mr. Guerrieri doing most of the talking. I looked at my husband and noticed that other people were looking at each other, too. I wasn’t sure if it just seemed that way because we were sitting there for it. When we were looking at the monitor, I could see that Mr. Guerrieri’s hands were shaking and his voice didn’t seem as strong as it did in the beginning. I also remember thinking that I can’t imagine how this will come off on TV. But when Stephen commented that he wasn’t sure if he remembered it all, but gave a pretty accurate synopsis, we all laughed. Stephen was so gracious and so kind to Mr. Guerrieri, who is obviously so intelligent and well-known and in his field, but was obviously a little nervous doing this interview. But Stephen did his best to make him feel comfortable and I think it helped. As a side note, when I watched the episode at home the next day, there were parts of the interview that were edited.
After the interview, Mr. Guerrieri exited and went back stage. Stephen then went back to his desk and said there was one more thing that needed to be done. He stumbled over a word in the one of the opening segments (that wasn’t obvious to me), so he asked us just so sit there while he recited the segment of the line a few times so they had a good one. We then had to applause and that was it! Stephen left the studio first, jogging out, waving and thanking everyone. After he exited, the audience exited the studio. We exited onto the street around 8:15, so all in all, the taping took about 45 minutes, not too long at all, but we enjoyed every single minute!!! My husband and I then caught a 9:20 train to head home, feeling like this was truly one of the best dates we’ve ever had! He even said I should try to get tickets again in 6 months, which is how often you can request tickets. Definitely a must do experience if you can!!!
January 31st, 2013: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster Mary Beth has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the January 31st, 2013 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
I was lucky enough to be on Facebook in early December when a post popped up that there were tickets available for select dates for a taping of the Colbert Report! Within 10 minutes they were all grabbed up and I was lucky enough to secure tickets to the 1/31 taping.
I live outside of Philadelphia, so my husband and I were able to take a train up to NYC. After reading different websites, I found it would be a good idea to walk by the studio around 3:30-4:00 to see if there was a line. Since we went in January (very cold and windy!) and the guest wasn’t an A-lister, there were three people sitting on the ground outside the studio. Then we knew we had some time to walk around and get a bite to eat before getting back in line.
The Colbert Report studio is definitely not in a part of NYC where I thought it would be. Not that I expected it to be near the NBC or Fox news studios or near Times Square, but it’s in Hell’s Kitchen. Not only is Hell’s Kitchen home to so many amazing restaurants, but as we walked the blocks around the studio, there is an elementary school, a high school, and John Jay College. Definitely a gentrified area.
We knew that the doors would open around 6pm, so we made sure we were out of our restaurant by 5:15 to get our spot in line. The staff at the Colbert Report really runs everything so professionally and smoothly. Never once was it crazy or chaotic. So we get to the line, which is actually down the side of the building, kind of like an alley. There is a staffer standing at the front with an iPad checking everyone in. We needed to show a copy of the email confirmation and ID in order to get in line. They have a canvas cover over the line, which was great for us that day because of the wind and it being below freezing. Once you check in, you and your guest(s) are assigned a number. At that point, you are free to leave the line, as long as one member of your party stays behind. That worked great for us because there was a Dunkin Donuts around the corner, so I stayed in line while my husband got us coffee. We were numbers 40 and 41. Not too bad, especially since I estimated the crowd once we were in the studio at 250-300.
Before they began to let people into the holding area, the head of security came out and advised everyone that no drugs or weapons are allowed in the studio. The best part was when he said that if you do have them, you would have to let security hold them, but they would give them back to you at the end of the taping! Of course, no cell phones or cameras are allowed to be used either. After that they started to let people in, only 2 – 4 people at a time. Everyone needs to walk through a metal detector and have their bags searched. This whole process took about an hour, getting everyone scanned before entering the holding area. Once you’re in the holding area, which is really just the size of a fairly large office, they have a large screen TV playing the best of Colbert Report episodes. I forgot how funny some of the older ones are (like from 2007-2008), especially when some of the politicians didn’t realize he was doing a character. There’s also some Colbert memorabilia on the walls, but for the most part, it’s a pretty stark room, painted a dark blue. Shortly before 7pm, a production guy got up on a table to give us some info about what would be happening next.
He told us that Stephen feeds off of the audience’s energy, so we needed to be loud and enthusiastic! That our enthusiasm is the laugh track for the show and everyone watching it at home will hear us, so we need to be loud! They also have a comedian who warms up the crowd. We then found out that Stephen also comes out (out of character) before the taping to do a Q&A session (about 5-10 minutes) with the audience, which they said helps energize him. He told us to get our questions ready and that he loves talking about his Super PAC, how he got to where he is today, and anything creative! The staff member also told us to keep in mind that Stephen does this show all by himself, no other people out it in the field like the Daily Show and reminded us that Stephen Colbert is a character … he said there are actually some people who didn’t know that and he hoped we weren’t those people!
Now the time had come to let us into the studio … again, it was done is such an orderly fashion, no craziness at all and even if someone tried to be, it wouldn’t be tolerated. They first call people in who have any VIP cards and then proceed with people 1-10. They actually take the cards as the people walk in and you have to enter in order (#7 would not go in before #10). And even then they are only letting in the people who are together instead of letting all 10 people in at once. I got a little worried when they called our numbers because we were in the group of numbers 31-40 and my husband was #41, but they let him come in with me 🙂 Once you take the 30 ft walk to the studio, there is another person telling you where to sit, depending on the number of people in your group. I couldn’t believe it but we were able to sit in the 3rd row on the far left, right in front of Stephen’s desk!!! It was just so electrifying walking into the studio … it’s gorgeous! So surreal being there and seeing his news desk. It’s also amazing seeing the table and chairs where he does the interviews. It’s actually much closer to the news desk than it appears.
We had a great comedian warm us up that night, Paul Mercurio. He was hilarious and went back and forth with a few audience members…I was lucky I wasn’t one of them! He wrapped up after about 15 minutes and then the stage manager went over a few things, how loud we should be, what his signals meant, and again, no cell phones or cameras could be taken out. Even after all of that, there were two people who took out their phones and then their phones were taken away.
The stage manager then introduced Stephen Colbert and he came running out … the crowd went wild! It was really so awesome to see him in person! He then asked if anyone had any questions so a few people raised their hands. The first person was in his early twenties and said he was doing a documentary and could he interview Stephen for it. Stephen asked if the documentary was about him and the guy said no and in return, Stephen said no. The audience roared. There was another group in the audience who shared that one of Stephen’s sister’s was her kindergarten teacher back in the day. Another person asked him if there were any guests he didn’t like … he responded not with any names in particular, but said he only dislikes guests when they represent themselves or a situation as one thing during the pre-interview and as something else during the actual interview. After a few more questions, the taping was ready to begin! There were actually two occasions where Stephen stumbled on some lines. He dropped the F-bomb, which was awesome and made everyone laugh. He explained that they had just changed some jokes right before he came out and he still had the old joke in is head. During the commercial breaks as they appear on TV, Stephen reviewed notes with his staff and they were laughing during the breaks. During the last segment, he interviewed Matthew Guerrieri. Mr. Guerrieri was sitting in the table and chairs area for a few minutes while Stephen was reviewing things. He even looked a little nervous then, just looking at the coffee cup. When the interview started, it was so quiet in the studio. The interview seemed to go on for a long time, with Mr. Guerrieri doing most of the talking. I looked at my husband and noticed that other people were looking at each other, too. I wasn’t sure if it just seemed that way because we were sitting there for it. When we were looking at the monitor, I could see that Mr. Guerrieri’s hands were shaking and his voice didn’t seem as strong as it did in the beginning. I also remember thinking that I can’t imagine how this will come off on TV. But when Stephen commented that he wasn’t sure if he remembered it all, but gave a pretty accurate synopsis, we all laughed. Stephen was so gracious and so kind to Mr. Guerrieri, who is obviously so intelligent and well-known and in his field, but was obviously a little nervous doing this interview. But Stephen did his best to make him feel comfortable and I think it helped. As a side note, when I watched the episode at home the next day, there were parts of the interview that were edited.
After the interview, Mr. Guerrieri exited and went back stage. Stephen then went back to his desk and said there was one more thing that needed to be done. He stumbled over a word in the one of the opening segments (that wasn’t obvious to me), so he asked us just so sit there while he recited the segment of the line a few times so they had a good one. We then had to applause and that was it! Stephen left the studio first, jogging out, waving and thanking everyone. After he exited, the audience exited the studio. We exited onto the street around 8:15, so all in all, the taping took about 45 minutes, not too long at all, but we enjoyed every single minute!!! My husband and I then caught a 9:20 train to head home, feeling like this was truly one of the best dates we’ve ever had! He even said I should try to get tickets again in 6 months, which is how often you can request tickets. Definitely a must do experience if you can!!!