Former Zoner and Hubster Mariana has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the “The Colbert Report” way back on March 21, 2011.
Hi everyone! I have a Taping ReporT from this episode! I was in New York for my spring break and was so happy when tickets popped up online a few months ago for this particular week, especially since the last couple of years they did their break this week rather than the previous one. The friend I was going to be traveling with came down with a bad case of the flu, so it was just me, but it turned out to be lucky at least in one respect because the audience coordinator put me in an empty seat in the front row!
Since other Taping ReporTs have given so many details about what a taping’s like, I’ll just tell you a few highlights from the Q&A and other interesting things I noticed.
I asked Stephen if he had a Confirmation name– Yes– and what it was. He said it was Simon, to honor his brother Peter, which I think is so sweet. He then proceeded to quote the whole “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church…” line! He then asked me what mine was; I said Anne. There was a pause and I stupidly said, “Mary’s mother.” He responded, “You don’t have to tell *me* who she is!” Hopefully I covered for that okay by saying I was just telling the audience! He then started talking about Mary being the Immaculate Conception, not Jesus, and how people sometimes mix that up. I was just nodding along kind of in awe! He transitioned to the next question by saying, “Thus endeth the lesson.”
Another person asked Stephen what the worst job he ever had was. Stephen described his two summers working demolition for a construction company, and how he had to break through this insulation made of fiberglass that left him covered with needle-sharp fiberglass particles. Every night he would take alternating hot-cold showers, would wake up in the morning and sweep all the fiberglass dust off his bed, and then start the process all over again. He said that it was at this time that his then-girlfriend had a pregnancy scare and he thought that he would have to work that job for the rest of his life! He said that the Bruce Springsteen song “The River” was popular at the time and seemed particularly apropos. Stephen then sang a verse in a Bruce-like voice. “Then I got Mary pregnant/ And man that was all she wrote/ And for my nineteenth birthday/ I got a union card and a wedding coat.”
Stephen had a major character break in the very first segment. It was when he was saying the crisis-within-a-crisis line. He just stopped and started laughing and put his head down on the desk! So they retaped from the top of the show. He had a few little laughs during that segment afterward, probably just from remembering what had happened the first time. He said it was from being on break for a week.
I was very impressed with how focused Stephen is. Even though he’s such a happy and joyful person, he definitely is serious about the work. For example, rather than watching Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers directly as they did their songs, he watched it on the monitor to see how it would look on television. He’s so concerned about the quality of the show! He was also watching the taped segment with Simon de Pury very intently.
Also, Paul Dinello was out many times consulting during the breaks, and he is very cute in person!
March 21, 2011: The Taping ReporT!
Hi everyone! I have a Taping ReporT from this episode! I was in New York for my spring break and was so happy when tickets popped up online a few months ago for this particular week, especially since the last couple of years they did their break this week rather than the previous one. The friend I was going to be traveling with came down with a bad case of the flu, so it was just me, but it turned out to be lucky at least in one respect because the audience coordinator put me in an empty seat in the front row!
Since other Taping ReporTs have given so many details about what a taping’s like, I’ll just tell you a few highlights from the Q&A and other interesting things I noticed.
I asked Stephen if he had a Confirmation name– Yes– and what it was. He said it was Simon, to honor his brother Peter, which I think is so sweet. He then proceeded to quote the whole “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church…” line! He then asked me what mine was; I said Anne. There was a pause and I stupidly said, “Mary’s mother.” He responded, “You don’t have to tell *me* who she is!” Hopefully I covered for that okay by saying I was just telling the audience! He then started talking about Mary being the Immaculate Conception, not Jesus, and how people sometimes mix that up. I was just nodding along kind of in awe! He transitioned to the next question by saying, “Thus endeth the lesson.”
Another person asked Stephen what the worst job he ever had was. Stephen described his two summers working demolition for a construction company, and how he had to break through this insulation made of fiberglass that left him covered with needle-sharp fiberglass particles. Every night he would take alternating hot-cold showers, would wake up in the morning and sweep all the fiberglass dust off his bed, and then start the process all over again. He said that it was at this time that his then-girlfriend had a pregnancy scare and he thought that he would have to work that job for the rest of his life! He said that the Bruce Springsteen song “The River” was popular at the time and seemed particularly apropos. Stephen then sang a verse in a Bruce-like voice. “Then I got Mary pregnant/ And man that was all she wrote/ And for my nineteenth birthday/ I got a union card and a wedding coat.”
Stephen had a major character break in the very first segment. It was when he was saying the crisis-within-a-crisis line. He just stopped and started laughing and put his head down on the desk! So they retaped from the top of the show. He had a few little laughs during that segment afterward, probably just from remembering what had happened the first time. He said it was from being on break for a week.
I was very impressed with how focused Stephen is. Even though he’s such a happy and joyful person, he definitely is serious about the work. For example, rather than watching Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers directly as they did their songs, he watched it on the monitor to see how it would look on television. He’s so concerned about the quality of the show! He was also watching the taped segment with Simon de Pury very intently.
Also, Paul Dinello was out many times consulting during the breaks, and he is very cute in person!