Hubster Joe has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of his trip to the November 20, 2015 taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
Hi there! My name is Joe and I attended the taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday, November 20, 2015. This was my first time ever attending a taping of anything with Stephen Colbert, after watching him on TV for six years, and I have to say it was quite an enjoyable experience.
I had read about waiting in line for hours on end to be guaranteed a spot in the taping, as I’m sure you have, but my experience attending the taping was different in the pre-show from that of most people because I attended the taping as a winner of the Omaze raffle for the celebrity Nerd-Off between Stephen Colbert and JJ Abrams (for more on that, visit the post on Omaze’s blog) and the taping of The Late Show was a part of the experience. Therefore, I neither reserved tickets nor stood in the early-afternoon line to receive a “real” ticket – I walked past the whole line on Broadway over to the north side of the Ed Sullivan Theater at 4:15 PM where I presented a letter to a staff member who was standing with a clipboard. We were checked in, and my friend Jeremy and I waited briefly while another staff member (I believe she was named Lauren) came out and escorted us through the metal detectors right inside the theater entrance. We were then escorted to the entrance to the studio, where we encountered our first real wait.
While we were waiting, the monitors outside the studio were playing the web clips that were released over the summer, such as the lunch series or the interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The staff were constantly checking in with each other and confirming things, as well as walking in and out of the studio.
Eventually, once the house call came in, one of the CBS pages gave us the spiel, for what wouldn’t be the last time, of the theater rules. We wouldn’t be allowed to use our phones in the studio, there would be no saving of or requesting seats (“go where we point” was the mantra), and once the taping started, there would be no leaving the studio (so if you had to use the bathroom, you had to speak then or forever hold your pee). We would also be told, for what wouldn’t be the last time, not to hold in our laughter, as we were the show’s laugh track. It made sense – from everything I knew about Stephen, he fed off of the audience, so we needed to be as in the game as he was. At that point, we were escorted into the studio.
My seat was roughly in dead center in the balcony in row 3. The view was, for the most part, perfect (the sole exception would come later). Once everyone was seated, out came the warm-up act, Paul Mercurio, who began by introducing a clip from a previous episode of The Late Show (it was the “Who Am Me” personality test segment). After that, Paul came back out, got us chanting “Stephen” over and over, and began his routine of picking out people in the audience. There were a few memorable bits:
- Paul again reminded us not to laugh like we do at home, saying “You know how you laugh at home, where you’re only half-laughing while you’re mostly thinking about how shitty your life is? Don’t do that here.”
- One younger gentleman in his late 20s said he was a “torpedo engineer.” This got laughs in and of itself, but it did provide Paul with good cannon fodder for some carnal jokes.
- One older woman in the section to my left, for lack of a better word, screamed. Paul asked her who she was, and also asked if she was from Queens. The woman asked “How did you know?” Paul mimicked her scream from earlier.
- One gentleman in the section to my right was called on. He was in his 50s and was with his fiancée. Paul asked if it was his second marriage. This got some oohs from the audience.
After Paul was done, he introduced Mark the stage manager, who told us about how when he waves his hand over his head, we start cheering. Paul then introduced Jon Batiste and Stay Human, who began to lead us in a rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” where nobody sang but at the appropriate time we clapped. It quickly took a jazz improv turn, as we were treated to the rest of the band (including one very exuberant tambourine player who went rock star on his tambourine, smashing it into the ground). After about fifteen minutes, Jon walks over to the desk, sits down, and says “Hey Stephen, how are you doing?” Stephen then pops up from behind the mug wall behind his desk to the rousing cheers. He says hi to the audience, and asks the cameraman to pan up to show everyone the dome (“Don’t you wish you had the cheap seats now?”). Stephen then said he’d take a few questions “before I go backstage to pretend like I haven’t been out here before;” the highlights are below (I forget if there are more):
- “What do you use your improv training for?”
“To fight crime.”
- “Who is the unfortunate soul who waits under your desk for a hi-five?”
Stephen had him stand up from behind the mug wall and said it was Brendan Hurley. “We even have a nickname for him,” Stephen remarked, “‘Hi-Five Hurley.’”
- “How long have you been married?”
“I’ve been happily married for 22 years,” Stephen replied. Stephen then mentioned that he would be telling us a story about his first date with Evie during the show, which surfaced during the bit on curling.
- “Do you get your shoes off of eBay?”
I think this one may have caught Stephen off-guard. “Do you get your hair from the bodega?” was his response. The woman who asked it responded expectantly, “What, you don’t?”
After that, Stephen went backstage, Jon started the music, and the show began. It was hilarious seeing Stephen rattle off Tolkien knowledge in the opening monologue, and as he wrapped up, he asked Jon who the special guests playing with him were. Jon responded that it was the funk group Vulfpeck, who I was mostly unable to see as they were in the spot where the balcony starts to cover the stage view.
After the monologue, Stephen acknowledged Vulfpeck would be performing a song later for the audience (more on that in a bit), and we went into a segment on curling and its new waterproof brooms; here is where Stephen told us the true story of his first date with Evie, and how they continued dating despite Stephen admitting he played hackey-sack. “Hi-Five Hurley” was still stationed behind the mug wall, so Stephen had to get up and walk back there at the appropriate time, for very good reason – someone needed to retrieve the motorized curling stone after it crashed into a pillar on the stage, and it was “Hi-Five Hurley.” After the commercial break began, and before the producers met with Stephen, we all watched as Stephen played with the motorized curling stone for a while longer.
Stephen then brought out Michael Caine, whose interview was aired largely unedited (to the best of my knowledge). There was a point where Stephen asked what Michael Caine’s first movie was, and when Michael paused to think, a guy to my right shouted “Zulu!” before Michael could finish his answer. I have always wanted to know what conversation occurs between host and guest during the breaks, but we couldn’t hear it as the band played over their conversation.
After that, we got to the segment on the FCC’s Equal Time Rule, and Stephen got his chance to make fun of five Republican candidates, as well as every other candidate he could talk about. I have to say, seeing Stephen interact with the on-screen graphics, specifically the Jim Gilmore picture, without actually seeing the graphics was quite interesting (to be fair, the graphics were shown on the monitors in the studio).
Out came Larry Wilmore next. Again, his interview was aired largely unedited, save for a few lines when he drops some curse words. After the interview, the lead singer for Vulfpeck started in with some killer sung notes until the camera cut out.
At this point, what we got at the taping and what was aired began to divert. Stephen had announced earlier that BOOTS was the scheduled musical guest. That night, at roughly 12:25 AM, the home audience received what was promised, but in studio, we saw Vulfpeck perform “1612” instead. Stephen did hint that this was happening right before the curling segment, but this totally replaced the BOOTS performance. I had many hypotheses as to why, and after the show aired that night, I had settled on the theory that BOOTS performed for an empty theater or the show staff due to production needs. I later found out that they taped BOOTS on Wednesday, which explained the aired “I’m so excited for this performance I changed into a new suit and tie” remark that was a part of BOOTS’ intro.
After Vulfpeck performed, Stephen filmed his farewell segment, Jon Batiste and Stay Human played their final song, and we were played out into the New York City night.
The show for me took on a special meaning. It was, of course, the opening act to a special weekend for me, but it was also the first time I had seen Stephen in person. It is a pleasure welcoming him into my home each and every night to make me laugh. On that brisk November evening, I got the chance to enter into his (metaphorical) home. There are very few things that have me leaving with a smile, as I’m usually fighting to keep moving towards home, but that night, I had the biggest grin on my face and I couldn’t stop talking about what I had just experienced. Attending the taping was the most fun I had in some time, and I look forward to the day when I can return to the Ed Sullivan Theater for another such taping, which will hopefully be towards the end of May if all pans out well.
November 20, 2015: The Taping ReporT!
Hi there! My name is Joe and I attended the taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday, November 20, 2015. This was my first time ever attending a taping of anything with Stephen Colbert, after watching him on TV for six years, and I have to say it was quite an enjoyable experience.
I had read about waiting in line for hours on end to be guaranteed a spot in the taping, as I’m sure you have, but my experience attending the taping was different in the pre-show from that of most people because I attended the taping as a winner of the Omaze raffle for the celebrity Nerd-Off between Stephen Colbert and JJ Abrams (for more on that, visit the post on Omaze’s blog) and the taping of The Late Show was a part of the experience. Therefore, I neither reserved tickets nor stood in the early-afternoon line to receive a “real” ticket – I walked past the whole line on Broadway over to the north side of the Ed Sullivan Theater at 4:15 PM where I presented a letter to a staff member who was standing with a clipboard. We were checked in, and my friend Jeremy and I waited briefly while another staff member (I believe she was named Lauren) came out and escorted us through the metal detectors right inside the theater entrance. We were then escorted to the entrance to the studio, where we encountered our first real wait.
While we were waiting, the monitors outside the studio were playing the web clips that were released over the summer, such as the lunch series or the interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The staff were constantly checking in with each other and confirming things, as well as walking in and out of the studio.
Eventually, once the house call came in, one of the CBS pages gave us the spiel, for what wouldn’t be the last time, of the theater rules. We wouldn’t be allowed to use our phones in the studio, there would be no saving of or requesting seats (“go where we point” was the mantra), and once the taping started, there would be no leaving the studio (so if you had to use the bathroom, you had to speak then or forever hold your pee). We would also be told, for what wouldn’t be the last time, not to hold in our laughter, as we were the show’s laugh track. It made sense – from everything I knew about Stephen, he fed off of the audience, so we needed to be as in the game as he was. At that point, we were escorted into the studio.
My seat was roughly in dead center in the balcony in row 3. The view was, for the most part, perfect (the sole exception would come later). Once everyone was seated, out came the warm-up act, Paul Mercurio, who began by introducing a clip from a previous episode of The Late Show (it was the “Who Am Me” personality test segment). After that, Paul came back out, got us chanting “Stephen” over and over, and began his routine of picking out people in the audience. There were a few memorable bits:
After Paul was done, he introduced Mark the stage manager, who told us about how when he waves his hand over his head, we start cheering. Paul then introduced Jon Batiste and Stay Human, who began to lead us in a rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” where nobody sang but at the appropriate time we clapped. It quickly took a jazz improv turn, as we were treated to the rest of the band (including one very exuberant tambourine player who went rock star on his tambourine, smashing it into the ground). After about fifteen minutes, Jon walks over to the desk, sits down, and says “Hey Stephen, how are you doing?” Stephen then pops up from behind the mug wall behind his desk to the rousing cheers. He says hi to the audience, and asks the cameraman to pan up to show everyone the dome (“Don’t you wish you had the cheap seats now?”). Stephen then said he’d take a few questions “before I go backstage to pretend like I haven’t been out here before;” the highlights are below (I forget if there are more):
“To fight crime.”
Stephen had him stand up from behind the mug wall and said it was Brendan Hurley. “We even have a nickname for him,” Stephen remarked, “‘Hi-Five Hurley.’”
“I’ve been happily married for 22 years,” Stephen replied. Stephen then mentioned that he would be telling us a story about his first date with Evie during the show, which surfaced during the bit on curling.
I think this one may have caught Stephen off-guard. “Do you get your hair from the bodega?” was his response. The woman who asked it responded expectantly, “What, you don’t?”
After that, Stephen went backstage, Jon started the music, and the show began. It was hilarious seeing Stephen rattle off Tolkien knowledge in the opening monologue, and as he wrapped up, he asked Jon who the special guests playing with him were. Jon responded that it was the funk group Vulfpeck, who I was mostly unable to see as they were in the spot where the balcony starts to cover the stage view.
After the monologue, Stephen acknowledged Vulfpeck would be performing a song later for the audience (more on that in a bit), and we went into a segment on curling and its new waterproof brooms; here is where Stephen told us the true story of his first date with Evie, and how they continued dating despite Stephen admitting he played hackey-sack. “Hi-Five Hurley” was still stationed behind the mug wall, so Stephen had to get up and walk back there at the appropriate time, for very good reason – someone needed to retrieve the motorized curling stone after it crashed into a pillar on the stage, and it was “Hi-Five Hurley.” After the commercial break began, and before the producers met with Stephen, we all watched as Stephen played with the motorized curling stone for a while longer.
Stephen then brought out Michael Caine, whose interview was aired largely unedited (to the best of my knowledge). There was a point where Stephen asked what Michael Caine’s first movie was, and when Michael paused to think, a guy to my right shouted “Zulu!” before Michael could finish his answer. I have always wanted to know what conversation occurs between host and guest during the breaks, but we couldn’t hear it as the band played over their conversation.
After that, we got to the segment on the FCC’s Equal Time Rule, and Stephen got his chance to make fun of five Republican candidates, as well as every other candidate he could talk about. I have to say, seeing Stephen interact with the on-screen graphics, specifically the Jim Gilmore picture, without actually seeing the graphics was quite interesting (to be fair, the graphics were shown on the monitors in the studio).
Out came Larry Wilmore next. Again, his interview was aired largely unedited, save for a few lines when he drops some curse words. After the interview, the lead singer for Vulfpeck started in with some killer sung notes until the camera cut out.
At this point, what we got at the taping and what was aired began to divert. Stephen had announced earlier that BOOTS was the scheduled musical guest. That night, at roughly 12:25 AM, the home audience received what was promised, but in studio, we saw Vulfpeck perform “1612” instead. Stephen did hint that this was happening right before the curling segment, but this totally replaced the BOOTS performance. I had many hypotheses as to why, and after the show aired that night, I had settled on the theory that BOOTS performed for an empty theater or the show staff due to production needs. I later found out that they taped BOOTS on Wednesday, which explained the aired “I’m so excited for this performance I changed into a new suit and tie” remark that was a part of BOOTS’ intro.
After Vulfpeck performed, Stephen filmed his farewell segment, Jon Batiste and Stay Human played their final song, and we were played out into the New York City night.
The show for me took on a special meaning. It was, of course, the opening act to a special weekend for me, but it was also the first time I had seen Stephen in person. It is a pleasure welcoming him into my home each and every night to make me laugh. On that brisk November evening, I got the chance to enter into his (metaphorical) home. There are very few things that have me leaving with a smile, as I’m usually fighting to keep moving towards home, but that night, I had the biggest grin on my face and I couldn’t stop talking about what I had just experienced. Attending the taping was the most fun I had in some time, and I look forward to the day when I can return to the Ed Sullivan Theater for another such taping, which will hopefully be towards the end of May if all pans out well.