Hubster lockhart43 sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the May 8th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hey there Hubsters! As you might know, yesterday I was able to attend my second taping of The Colbert Report. Like the first time, the day literally could not have gone better.
I’m going to assume most of you have read a taping reporT before, so I won’t spend time on what happened before the taping started. But I will get to the awesomeness that happened after.
Pete Dominick was the stand-up comic, and he was very funny. This is worth mentioning because he talked to a member of the audience who said he was a “cousin” of Stephen’s from South Carolina (the man is probably telling the truth, but I still feel the need to use quotations), and was there to ask Stephen about his SuperPac money. The man said that South Carolina was thinking of seceding again and Pete very cleverly said something along the lines of, “You guys can go ahead. I think America can really do without South Carolina.” Ha!
Stephen came out to greet us, peppy and joyous as always and right away began to take a few audience questions. The ones I remember:
– The girl sitting directly in the row ahead of me asked Stephen what person (Stephen had her clarify that she meant what race so he could give a specific answer) from LOTR he would be, and he said a man. Then he went into a long, adorable spiel about why he wouldn’t be anything else, but I don’t remember it. Just know that it was nerdy and wonderful. He asked her what she would be and she said an elf/hobbit hybrid and Stephen laughed and said it sounded impossible because “What elf would do a hobbit?”
– A guy asked him about his experience doing “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Stephen said “So I did Whose Line…” and then stopped talking like he was done. Then he said that he has a background in improv theatre, but when he thinks of improv, he doesn’t think of it in terms of improv games, which is what they do on “Whose Line.” When he said that he would do the show, he told them he would only do it under one condition: he didn’t have to rap, because a white guy rapping was the “lowest form of comedy,” which got applause. So he told them that one condition, “And they f***ing made me rap!”
– Stephen’s “cousin” that Pete had talked to earlier asked Stephen to use some of his SuperPac money to run for some sort of office in South Carolina. I can’t for the life of me remember his response, but in finding out that the man was from South Carolina, Stephen asked, “Are we related?” and the man said yes, so Stephen then said, “Ever since it got out that the SuperPac has 1.3 million dollars, I suddenly have a lot of cousins.”
– A guy asked him if when he gave his SuperPAC to Jon Stewart, if he gave him any threats not to spend any of the money. Stephen then explained that he couldn’t just give it to Jon because it would have been illegal. Jon had to offer to take it from him so that it wouldn’t be considered coordinating. He said with a wry smile, “If you think there is such a thing as federal election law, you are soooo, so wrong.”
The show went very smoothly; they only had one redo. It was during the joke about Karl Rove getting monetary donations from unknown sources and receiving them through a glory hole – first of all, Stephen about cracked up, which was hilarious. But the graphic popped up too late, so Stephen wanted to redo it, and then said to us, ”If we’re going to do a joke about Karl Rove getting money donated through a glory hole… I want to get it right.” He stifled a giggle and then said, “Karl’s a friend.” Also, before the cut to the video, Stephen practiced the emphasis-implying hand gesture (which he used immediately after) while he was watching the clip, which I loved, because it shows how seriously he takes every second of that show.
I want to tell you that I paid attention during the interview with Senator McCaskill, but I did not. I cheered and laughed when I was supposed to, but throughout the show I basically spent as much time as I possibly could watching Stephen, his reactions to things, and the way he interacted with Tom Purcell and Paul Dinello during the commercial breaks. The taping goes by so fast, so you really want to soak in every second you can. During the break before the Michelle Alexander interview, Paul and Purcell were talking with Stephen and they must have been talking about something very funny because Stephen started laughing and then began to mime a parachute landing. He also pet the Hair and Makeup woman’s hair just before the show, as always.
I wanted to take a minute to give you my own background on Maurice Sendak before I talk about that segment. Unfortunately, the only Sendak book that I have read has been Where The Wild Things Are. But that book was such an enormous part of my childhood. I’ve said this before, but my childhood can be summed up with three things: the television show “Rugrats,” any book by Shel Silverstein, and Where The Wild Things Are. It so perfectly captures the absolute joy, but also the absolute pain and uncertainty of childhood. When I saw the film that they adapted from the book, I didn’t get five minutes into it without bawling my eyes out. So I was incredibly sad to hear of his passing this morning. In my opinion, Sendak was absolutely spot-on in saying how painful life can be as a child sometimes and how you shouldn’t shield your children from knowing that that pain is possible. I tell you this because during that segment, Stephen was watching it very intently on the monitor in his desk, and he was smiling and laughing right along with us. His reaction at Sendak’s remark about how one should raise their kids seemed to reflect that he really appreciated what he said. It was very sweet and a big moment in the show for me, and if I hadn’t been so amped to be there, I would have started crying.
During the sign-off, Stephen was trying to figure out how to sit in his chair while reading I Am A Pole, and after talking it over with Mark, the stage manager, he settled on kicking his feet up on the desk.
After the taping, Stephen asked if there were any more questions. Because I thought of this question during the Alexander interview, I shot my hand up right away. I asked, “I noticed you’ve been having a lot of musical guests on the show, and more and more you’ve been singing with them. Is there a reason why that’s happened or are you just getting more comfortable singing with them?” He said he did it very early on in the show, and he’s been doing it a lot now, and that there have just been more opportunities to sing with them. I nodded and then said, “I enjoy it, is what I’m saying.” Some women in the audience cheered and Stephen smiled and said thank you very graciously.
Stephen said he could take one more question, so a guy from Michigan State (I come to New York City and I still find people from my home state) said he started a Spartans For Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Stephen wished them the best of luck. He then said that even though he has no control over the PACs starting up at all of the colleges, he really does hope that they start to “f**k things up.” In other words, Stephen’s really hoping the college PACs start to bring to light all of the issues with our current federal election laws and that they start to make it very difficult for the laws to continue. I really love that he said that. Stephen also asked the guy if he was looking for the treasure and hinted that it would be complicated to find.
After the taping, my friend and I walked outside and I met up with the two girls who I had stood next to and talked with in line. One of the interns had given them a swag bag and they were very excited about it; they also had been given VIP seats during the taping and were sitting right in the front row where Paul Dinello had been standing. I asked them if they knew that that was him, and they didn’t until I told them he was Geoffrey Jellineck on Strangers With Candy. They were all excited after finding that out, so I asked them if they planned on waiting for a bit to try to meet Stephen. They said they hadn’t, but they were totally up for it. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on it either (since I met him at the taping I was at two years ago), but they seemed like big fans of the show like me and I sort of wanted to wait around with them and help them if I could. Well, it totally worked. About five-to-ten minutes later, Paul Dinello walked out! As soon as I saw him, I said, “Hi Paul Dinello! How are you?” He smiled and asked if we had been to the show and asked if we liked it. He then very graciously posed for pictures, chatted with us for a bit and could not have been nicer. He seemed tickled that we recognized him.
Then, as if the night wasn’t wonderful enough, about twenty minutes after that, Stephen walked out. I noticed that his wife Evie was with him, which made me a bit nervous because that probably meant that he was in a hurry and I didn’t want to bother him. So as he came closer (with an adorable smile on his face), I said “Hi, Stephen” and asked him as politely and kindly as I possibly could if we could get a picture and again, he could not have been nicer. Seriously. There’s the nicest guy on the planet, and then there’s Stephen. Most people would just say they’re too busy and be on their way. Not Stephen. And I cannot thank him enough for that. Evie was also very, very nice and even offered to take his umbrella for him so that we could all squeeze in the picture (he was in a hurry after all, and couldn’t take pictures with each of us).
Well, there you have it! I may or may not have written the majority of this on my iPod on the subway back to our hotel rather scatterbrained-like to remember as much as I could, so I apologize if this has been way too long and a bit of a read. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did typing it and reliving it!
May 8th, 2012: The Taping ReporT
Hubster lockhart43 sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the May 8th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
Hey there Hubsters! As you might know, yesterday I was able to attend my second taping of The Colbert Report. Like the first time, the day literally could not have gone better.
I’m going to assume most of you have read a taping reporT before, so I won’t spend time on what happened before the taping started. But I will get to the awesomeness that happened after.
Pete Dominick was the stand-up comic, and he was very funny. This is worth mentioning because he talked to a member of the audience who said he was a “cousin” of Stephen’s from South Carolina (the man is probably telling the truth, but I still feel the need to use quotations), and was there to ask Stephen about his SuperPac money. The man said that South Carolina was thinking of seceding again and Pete very cleverly said something along the lines of, “You guys can go ahead. I think America can really do without South Carolina.” Ha!
Stephen came out to greet us, peppy and joyous as always and right away began to take a few audience questions. The ones I remember:
– The girl sitting directly in the row ahead of me asked Stephen what person (Stephen had her clarify that she meant what race so he could give a specific answer) from LOTR he would be, and he said a man. Then he went into a long, adorable spiel about why he wouldn’t be anything else, but I don’t remember it. Just know that it was nerdy and wonderful. He asked her what she would be and she said an elf/hobbit hybrid and Stephen laughed and said it sounded impossible because “What elf would do a hobbit?”
– A guy asked him about his experience doing “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Stephen said “So I did Whose Line…” and then stopped talking like he was done. Then he said that he has a background in improv theatre, but when he thinks of improv, he doesn’t think of it in terms of improv games, which is what they do on “Whose Line.” When he said that he would do the show, he told them he would only do it under one condition: he didn’t have to rap, because a white guy rapping was the “lowest form of comedy,” which got applause. So he told them that one condition, “And they f***ing made me rap!”
– Stephen’s “cousin” that Pete had talked to earlier asked Stephen to use some of his SuperPac money to run for some sort of office in South Carolina. I can’t for the life of me remember his response, but in finding out that the man was from South Carolina, Stephen asked, “Are we related?” and the man said yes, so Stephen then said, “Ever since it got out that the SuperPac has 1.3 million dollars, I suddenly have a lot of cousins.”
– A guy asked him if when he gave his SuperPAC to Jon Stewart, if he gave him any threats not to spend any of the money. Stephen then explained that he couldn’t just give it to Jon because it would have been illegal. Jon had to offer to take it from him so that it wouldn’t be considered coordinating. He said with a wry smile, “If you think there is such a thing as federal election law, you are soooo, so wrong.”
The show went very smoothly; they only had one redo. It was during the joke about Karl Rove getting monetary donations from unknown sources and receiving them through a glory hole – first of all, Stephen about cracked up, which was hilarious. But the graphic popped up too late, so Stephen wanted to redo it, and then said to us, ”If we’re going to do a joke about Karl Rove getting money donated through a glory hole… I want to get it right.” He stifled a giggle and then said, “Karl’s a friend.” Also, before the cut to the video, Stephen practiced the emphasis-implying hand gesture (which he used immediately after) while he was watching the clip, which I loved, because it shows how seriously he takes every second of that show.
I want to tell you that I paid attention during the interview with Senator McCaskill, but I did not. I cheered and laughed when I was supposed to, but throughout the show I basically spent as much time as I possibly could watching Stephen, his reactions to things, and the way he interacted with Tom Purcell and Paul Dinello during the commercial breaks. The taping goes by so fast, so you really want to soak in every second you can. During the break before the Michelle Alexander interview, Paul and Purcell were talking with Stephen and they must have been talking about something very funny because Stephen started laughing and then began to mime a parachute landing. He also pet the Hair and Makeup woman’s hair just before the show, as always.
I wanted to take a minute to give you my own background on Maurice Sendak before I talk about that segment. Unfortunately, the only Sendak book that I have read has been Where The Wild Things Are. But that book was such an enormous part of my childhood. I’ve said this before, but my childhood can be summed up with three things: the television show “Rugrats,” any book by Shel Silverstein, and Where The Wild Things Are. It so perfectly captures the absolute joy, but also the absolute pain and uncertainty of childhood. When I saw the film that they adapted from the book, I didn’t get five minutes into it without bawling my eyes out. So I was incredibly sad to hear of his passing this morning. In my opinion, Sendak was absolutely spot-on in saying how painful life can be as a child sometimes and how you shouldn’t shield your children from knowing that that pain is possible. I tell you this because during that segment, Stephen was watching it very intently on the monitor in his desk, and he was smiling and laughing right along with us. His reaction at Sendak’s remark about how one should raise their kids seemed to reflect that he really appreciated what he said. It was very sweet and a big moment in the show for me, and if I hadn’t been so amped to be there, I would have started crying.
During the sign-off, Stephen was trying to figure out how to sit in his chair while reading I Am A Pole, and after talking it over with Mark, the stage manager, he settled on kicking his feet up on the desk.
After the taping, Stephen asked if there were any more questions. Because I thought of this question during the Alexander interview, I shot my hand up right away. I asked, “I noticed you’ve been having a lot of musical guests on the show, and more and more you’ve been singing with them. Is there a reason why that’s happened or are you just getting more comfortable singing with them?” He said he did it very early on in the show, and he’s been doing it a lot now, and that there have just been more opportunities to sing with them. I nodded and then said, “I enjoy it, is what I’m saying.” Some women in the audience cheered and Stephen smiled and said thank you very graciously.
Stephen said he could take one more question, so a guy from Michigan State (I come to New York City and I still find people from my home state) said he started a Spartans For Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Stephen wished them the best of luck. He then said that even though he has no control over the PACs starting up at all of the colleges, he really does hope that they start to “f**k things up.” In other words, Stephen’s really hoping the college PACs start to bring to light all of the issues with our current federal election laws and that they start to make it very difficult for the laws to continue. I really love that he said that. Stephen also asked the guy if he was looking for the treasure and hinted that it would be complicated to find.
After the taping, my friend and I walked outside and I met up with the two girls who I had stood next to and talked with in line. One of the interns had given them a swag bag and they were very excited about it; they also had been given VIP seats during the taping and were sitting right in the front row where Paul Dinello had been standing. I asked them if they knew that that was him, and they didn’t until I told them he was Geoffrey Jellineck on Strangers With Candy. They were all excited after finding that out, so I asked them if they planned on waiting for a bit to try to meet Stephen. They said they hadn’t, but they were totally up for it. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on it either (since I met him at the taping I was at two years ago), but they seemed like big fans of the show like me and I sort of wanted to wait around with them and help them if I could. Well, it totally worked. About five-to-ten minutes later, Paul Dinello walked out! As soon as I saw him, I said, “Hi Paul Dinello! How are you?” He smiled and asked if we had been to the show and asked if we liked it. He then very graciously posed for pictures, chatted with us for a bit and could not have been nicer. He seemed tickled that we recognized him.
Then, as if the night wasn’t wonderful enough, about twenty minutes after that, Stephen walked out. I noticed that his wife Evie was with him, which made me a bit nervous because that probably meant that he was in a hurry and I didn’t want to bother him. So as he came closer (with an adorable smile on his face), I said “Hi, Stephen” and asked him as politely and kindly as I possibly could if we could get a picture and again, he could not have been nicer. Seriously. There’s the nicest guy on the planet, and then there’s Stephen. Most people would just say they’re too busy and be on their way. Not Stephen. And I cannot thank him enough for that. Evie was also very, very nice and even offered to take his umbrella for him so that we could all squeeze in the picture (he was in a hurry after all, and couldn’t take pictures with each of us).
Well, there you have it! I may or may not have written the majority of this on my iPod on the subway back to our hotel rather scatterbrained-like to remember as much as I could, so I apologize if this has been way too long and a bit of a read. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did typing it and reliving it!