Hubster maxxamerica has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the November 19th taping of “The Colbert Report”.
I was in town on business this week and found it impossible to pass by NYC without spending an evening at the Report!
I got tickets the morning of the show, and drove into the city in the afternoon. I arrived around 4:30 and ended up with ticket #51. The wait was relatively painless because they’ve added heat lamps in the alley now and some decent lighting, and we were let into the studio around 5. They finally made a new Best Of video! As much as I loved the classic segments from the old video, it was fun to see more recent clips including basic training in Iraq, the Get Lucky music video, the Triscuits sponsorship segment, the Facetime bucket, Joe Biden as a hot dog vendor, and the Tom Hanks Halloween costumes.
We got the speech in the holding room about how the audience is a big part of the show, and we have to laugh at the jokes “whether you think they’re funny or not.” Stephen’s an improv actor, he feeds off our energy, etc. I feel bad at this point that I don’t remember the name of the man who does this, because it’s always the same guy and he’s funny. He talked about how the energy of the audience helped them finally beat out ‘The Daily Show’ for an Emmy for the first time in seven years, and as usual he told us to think of creative and interesting questions to ask during the Q&A, because it is a rare chance to talk to Stephen out of character “and dear God I hope you know it’s a character!”
Paul Mercurio did the warm up, it was funny because after his usual bit where he gets the audience pumped and makes people yell HA! and makes fun of them, he picked on a group of men in the front row who were all Lieutenant Colonels at West Point. They were good sports, Paul asked one man if he and his son could come golf at West Point because I guess they have a good golf course, and the man’s wife gave Paul her number, which of course led to lots of “i’m going to sleep with your wife” jokes. Paul also called out a woman for looking stoned who turned out to be a teacher at the JCC, and pointed out a woman who he recognized because she’s a judge on daytime TV. I forget the name of her show.
After that, Mark the stage manager came out and explained how the camera pans across the audience during the table of contents, which we did film even though it got cut. He got us up screaming and clapping and then Stephen came running out to Cheap Trick’s ‘I Want You to Want Me’, slapping everyones’ hands in the front row. Later I thought maybe that was a bad idea, because during every commercial break Stephen was coughing and drinking tea and sucking on cough drops. It was pretty clear that he was sick. Still, his energy is amazing and if it weren’t for the commercial breaks I never would’ve known. He’s a great actor; the only time I can remember ever seeing him off his game was in that episode he did in a bathrobe once, and even that was part of the joke of the show. Anyway, he asked for questions, “to humanize me in your eyes before I say these terrible things.”
The first question was whether Stephen still plays Dungeons and Dragons. He said that he doesn’t have time anymore but he used to.
Someone asked what really happened with Daft Punk and if Stephen could email him the ‘Get Lucky’ video because it’s not available online anymore. Stephen said, “What do you mean what happened, did you see the show?” The guy said he did, and Stephen said that what he said on the show was really what happened. He also said that he was happy when Daft Punk didn’t show up, because they’d known it might happen and it was uncertain until the afternoon of the taping, and it was fun to get in front of the camera and be angry for real. As for the video, Stephen wasn’t aware that it was removed but he assumes that it was because they only get the rights to the song for a couple of months before they have to buy it again. He joked that they probably couldn’t buy it again because “they’re probably [in a sing-songy voice] ma-ad!” Then he got more serious and said actually Daft Punk wrote him a letter and said they liked the episode.
A very enthusiastic woman asked Stephen if he could have played any character in Lord of the Rings, who would it be? He considered very seriously for a few seconds and said that it was an interesting question, because while Faramir is his favorite character (to which the woman interrupted and yelled “mine too!” and Stephen said she’d probably say that no matter which character he’d picked), he would’ve liked to be Gandalf because who doesn’t want to be Gandalf? Stephen also said Faramir was his favorite character because “he really grieves for his brother”. I thought that was very moving, to hear him say that.
A woman asked what was Stephen’s favorite episode of Dr. Who. He said he doesn’t watch Dr. Who and never really got into it. I couldn’t hear what she said next, but he responded “I need to spend that time with my children, but thank you.”
Another woman complimenting Stephen’s singing voice and asked if he’d ever do another musical. He said he’s done couple, and would like to do another someday. He asked her what role she saw him playing, to which she replied, “the witch from Wicked,” which made everyone laugh. Then Stephen sang part of a song from Wicked. He does have a really nice voice, even though it cracked on the high part probably because he was sick. His voice was a little bit hoarse in general, although once he wore the mic for the show you could barely tell.
There was a short break before the show, where Stephen sucked on cough drops and drank tea out of ‘The Colbert Report’ that cup he gives to his guests. A couple of women fixed his hair and makeup and dusted his jacket, and he stroked his hairdresser’s hair back. Then he tossed WristStrong bracelets, and threatened to toss a dagger which I assume is a Lord of the Rings prop. It’s pretty! After that he told us that in the first segment there was a pre-taped satellite interview that they’d done earlier that afternoon, and he showed us where to watch it on the monitors and warned us not to be confused when we saw him in front of us but also up on the screen.
We filmed the table of contents, which got cut later. That went straight into the theme music, during which Stephen drank more tea while we cheered and screamed. The camera panned over us, and Stephen didn’t put the mug away in time so he made it part of the opening bit. He filmed the entire setup to the satellite interview about Walmart with no mistakes. During the news clips, he was signaling to a cameraman something about his right ear. I think his in-ears must not have been working. That Wal-Mart story was pretty terrible but those amazing Colbert writers made it funny. The satellite interview was seamless, it played just as if it were one of the news clips. Stephen introduced Robert Reich live in front of us and then they cut to the taped interview. During it Stephen mouthed some of the words along with himself and Robert Reich, looking very concentrated and also smiling. When it ended Mark the stage manager signaled commercial.
The commercial breaks all went pretty much the same way: some writers (I recognized Paul Dinello front ‘Strangers with Candy’, rocking the chic hipster-dad look) came up to the desk and surrounded Stephen and talked while pointing to and making notes on the script. Stephen sucked on cough drops and then spit them out right before taping started – I hope there’s a trash can under that desk! To be honest I didn’t pay super close attention during the commercial breaks because I met a really cool guy next to me in the audience and we were talking. Colbert and Daily Show audiences are the best, I always meet interesting people!
I laughed super hard at the Slate segment. I’d never noticed that feature because I only read Slate on my phone and the mobile version doesn’t have it. Which is too bad, because actually when I’m on the subway between stops or something I totally think it would be useful to know how long an article is. I loved the way he counted down until the end of the segment and then they cut to commercial. Again, no mistakes the entire time.
There was a long commercial break before the Santorum interview. Maybe they were planning for the interview at the last-minute, I don’t know. When Rick Santorum came out a few people booed, but Stephen signaled to clap and almost everyone did. I’m glad he did that, because even though Rick Santorum thinks some pretty offensive things, you have to respect your guests and the booing made me uncomfortable. Thanks, Stephen, for your South Carolina gentlemanliness.
The interview aired pretty much as it was taped. What was lost, though, were some of the audience reactions. There was some hooting when Stephen took off his jacket to put on the sweater vest. There were some horrified gasps when Rick Santorum agreed with Stephen’s ridiculous premise that orphans would be better off orphans than living with gay parents. There was some laughter as he discussed the premise of his movie, which I actually thought was rude even though I was also laughing inside. I have some South Carolina in me too, apparently. One woman kept making comments out loud, and I thought she’d get kicked out (security was watching her from the wings) but she didn’t. Some of them were funny, but still I’d think it would’ve messed with the laugh track. After the interview there was a quick break when Rick Santorum left, and then Stephen filmed the goodnight and took a few more questions.
Sadly, the only question I remember from the end of the night Q&A was what is Stephen’s favorite Star Wars character, to which he responded “the hairy one” or something like that.
All in all, a great time. Thanks, Colbert Report, and I will be back.
November 19th, 2013: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster maxxamerica has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the November 19th taping of “The Colbert Report”.
I was in town on business this week and found it impossible to pass by NYC without spending an evening at the Report!
I got tickets the morning of the show, and drove into the city in the afternoon. I arrived around 4:30 and ended up with ticket #51. The wait was relatively painless because they’ve added heat lamps in the alley now and some decent lighting, and we were let into the studio around 5. They finally made a new Best Of video! As much as I loved the classic segments from the old video, it was fun to see more recent clips including basic training in Iraq, the Get Lucky music video, the Triscuits sponsorship segment, the Facetime bucket, Joe Biden as a hot dog vendor, and the Tom Hanks Halloween costumes.
We got the speech in the holding room about how the audience is a big part of the show, and we have to laugh at the jokes “whether you think they’re funny or not.” Stephen’s an improv actor, he feeds off our energy, etc. I feel bad at this point that I don’t remember the name of the man who does this, because it’s always the same guy and he’s funny. He talked about how the energy of the audience helped them finally beat out ‘The Daily Show’ for an Emmy for the first time in seven years, and as usual he told us to think of creative and interesting questions to ask during the Q&A, because it is a rare chance to talk to Stephen out of character “and dear God I hope you know it’s a character!”
Paul Mercurio did the warm up, it was funny because after his usual bit where he gets the audience pumped and makes people yell HA! and makes fun of them, he picked on a group of men in the front row who were all Lieutenant Colonels at West Point. They were good sports, Paul asked one man if he and his son could come golf at West Point because I guess they have a good golf course, and the man’s wife gave Paul her number, which of course led to lots of “i’m going to sleep with your wife” jokes. Paul also called out a woman for looking stoned who turned out to be a teacher at the JCC, and pointed out a woman who he recognized because she’s a judge on daytime TV. I forget the name of her show.
After that, Mark the stage manager came out and explained how the camera pans across the audience during the table of contents, which we did film even though it got cut. He got us up screaming and clapping and then Stephen came running out to Cheap Trick’s ‘I Want You to Want Me’, slapping everyones’ hands in the front row. Later I thought maybe that was a bad idea, because during every commercial break Stephen was coughing and drinking tea and sucking on cough drops. It was pretty clear that he was sick. Still, his energy is amazing and if it weren’t for the commercial breaks I never would’ve known. He’s a great actor; the only time I can remember ever seeing him off his game was in that episode he did in a bathrobe once, and even that was part of the joke of the show. Anyway, he asked for questions, “to humanize me in your eyes before I say these terrible things.”
The first question was whether Stephen still plays Dungeons and Dragons. He said that he doesn’t have time anymore but he used to.
Someone asked what really happened with Daft Punk and if Stephen could email him the ‘Get Lucky’ video because it’s not available online anymore. Stephen said, “What do you mean what happened, did you see the show?” The guy said he did, and Stephen said that what he said on the show was really what happened. He also said that he was happy when Daft Punk didn’t show up, because they’d known it might happen and it was uncertain until the afternoon of the taping, and it was fun to get in front of the camera and be angry for real. As for the video, Stephen wasn’t aware that it was removed but he assumes that it was because they only get the rights to the song for a couple of months before they have to buy it again. He joked that they probably couldn’t buy it again because “they’re probably [in a sing-songy voice] ma-ad!” Then he got more serious and said actually Daft Punk wrote him a letter and said they liked the episode.
A very enthusiastic woman asked Stephen if he could have played any character in Lord of the Rings, who would it be? He considered very seriously for a few seconds and said that it was an interesting question, because while Faramir is his favorite character (to which the woman interrupted and yelled “mine too!” and Stephen said she’d probably say that no matter which character he’d picked), he would’ve liked to be Gandalf because who doesn’t want to be Gandalf? Stephen also said Faramir was his favorite character because “he really grieves for his brother”. I thought that was very moving, to hear him say that.
A woman asked what was Stephen’s favorite episode of Dr. Who. He said he doesn’t watch Dr. Who and never really got into it. I couldn’t hear what she said next, but he responded “I need to spend that time with my children, but thank you.”
Another woman complimenting Stephen’s singing voice and asked if he’d ever do another musical. He said he’s done couple, and would like to do another someday. He asked her what role she saw him playing, to which she replied, “the witch from Wicked,” which made everyone laugh. Then Stephen sang part of a song from Wicked. He does have a really nice voice, even though it cracked on the high part probably because he was sick. His voice was a little bit hoarse in general, although once he wore the mic for the show you could barely tell.
There was a short break before the show, where Stephen sucked on cough drops and drank tea out of ‘The Colbert Report’ that cup he gives to his guests. A couple of women fixed his hair and makeup and dusted his jacket, and he stroked his hairdresser’s hair back. Then he tossed WristStrong bracelets, and threatened to toss a dagger which I assume is a Lord of the Rings prop. It’s pretty! After that he told us that in the first segment there was a pre-taped satellite interview that they’d done earlier that afternoon, and he showed us where to watch it on the monitors and warned us not to be confused when we saw him in front of us but also up on the screen.
We filmed the table of contents, which got cut later. That went straight into the theme music, during which Stephen drank more tea while we cheered and screamed. The camera panned over us, and Stephen didn’t put the mug away in time so he made it part of the opening bit. He filmed the entire setup to the satellite interview about Walmart with no mistakes. During the news clips, he was signaling to a cameraman something about his right ear. I think his in-ears must not have been working. That Wal-Mart story was pretty terrible but those amazing Colbert writers made it funny. The satellite interview was seamless, it played just as if it were one of the news clips. Stephen introduced Robert Reich live in front of us and then they cut to the taped interview. During it Stephen mouthed some of the words along with himself and Robert Reich, looking very concentrated and also smiling. When it ended Mark the stage manager signaled commercial.
The commercial breaks all went pretty much the same way: some writers (I recognized Paul Dinello front ‘Strangers with Candy’, rocking the chic hipster-dad look) came up to the desk and surrounded Stephen and talked while pointing to and making notes on the script. Stephen sucked on cough drops and then spit them out right before taping started – I hope there’s a trash can under that desk! To be honest I didn’t pay super close attention during the commercial breaks because I met a really cool guy next to me in the audience and we were talking. Colbert and Daily Show audiences are the best, I always meet interesting people!
I laughed super hard at the Slate segment. I’d never noticed that feature because I only read Slate on my phone and the mobile version doesn’t have it. Which is too bad, because actually when I’m on the subway between stops or something I totally think it would be useful to know how long an article is. I loved the way he counted down until the end of the segment and then they cut to commercial. Again, no mistakes the entire time.
There was a long commercial break before the Santorum interview. Maybe they were planning for the interview at the last-minute, I don’t know. When Rick Santorum came out a few people booed, but Stephen signaled to clap and almost everyone did. I’m glad he did that, because even though Rick Santorum thinks some pretty offensive things, you have to respect your guests and the booing made me uncomfortable. Thanks, Stephen, for your South Carolina gentlemanliness.
The interview aired pretty much as it was taped. What was lost, though, were some of the audience reactions. There was some hooting when Stephen took off his jacket to put on the sweater vest. There were some horrified gasps when Rick Santorum agreed with Stephen’s ridiculous premise that orphans would be better off orphans than living with gay parents. There was some laughter as he discussed the premise of his movie, which I actually thought was rude even though I was also laughing inside. I have some South Carolina in me too, apparently. One woman kept making comments out loud, and I thought she’d get kicked out (security was watching her from the wings) but she didn’t. Some of them were funny, but still I’d think it would’ve messed with the laugh track. After the interview there was a quick break when Rick Santorum left, and then Stephen filmed the goodnight and took a few more questions.
Sadly, the only question I remember from the end of the night Q&A was what is Stephen’s favorite Star Wars character, to which he responded “the hairy one” or something like that.
All in all, a great time. Thanks, Colbert Report, and I will be back.