Hubster W&M_NU has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the September 4th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
With fair warning that I’m more a mathematician than a writer, I wanted to share this Taping ReporT because it’s so joyful to read everyone else’s stories. Also, this whole visit would never have been possible without the information at the Hub about @DailyTix. Sincere apologies for the length, though.
Having been a fan of The Colbert Report since almost the beginning, I’ve had the good fortune to be living in locations where Stephen came to do some of his more unusual appearances. For example, I was living in Chicago during Second City’s 50th Anniversary celebration and got to attend the panel for Stephen and his writers; and I was living in DC during the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and so headed to the Mall at the crack of dawn. However, living in these locations means that I don’t get to New York all that often, so I have never had the pleasure of attending a taping – until this past week.
My mom turned 60 on Labor Day and all she wanted to do was have an extended stay in New York City. It dawned on me that if I timed everything right, we could go see a taping since she likes ‘The Colbert Report’ too – I was over the moon. The only problem was that we only had one night we could go and I didn’t have tickets yet. That’s when I learned about @DailyTix. For this, I actually joined Twitter (note: that’s a huge deal since I considered it the world’s largest “clock gobbler” – ah, the things we do for Stephen …). I then proceeded to obsessively track the Twitter feed until, miraculously, two nights before, two tickets were available for September 5. I ran to the website and put in my info, shaking the whole time. Immediately, I was rewarded with a confirmation message we had a place in line!
On the day of the taping, my mom and I got to the studio right around 3:15. It had been monsooning for most of the morning, but by then the rain had cleared. At that point there was only one other person in line, so the three of us chatted for a while. Around 4:00, the audience managers came out to formally start the line. Of course, at that moment I had to be on a conference call for work and so did my own bit of physical comedy: wedging my work cell between my ear and shoulder, balancing on one leg while my purse was on my other knee to find my ID, and flipping through my email on my personal cell to show my confirmation. I was reminded vividly of Stephen riding that mechanical horse while ringing a bell and trying to load a musket.
At about 5:30, the audience managers came back out to hand out tickets. I think they were training the new interns because two women came down the line – one seemed to be telling the other how the process worked. Mom and I were numbers 2 and 3 in line.
Shortly thereafter, we were welcomed into the holding area. Since we were at the front of the line, we could get a good look at everything in the room including the Rally poster and fear bunker, the Vancouver poster, and all the winning fan portrait submissions. My mom also humored me and got a picture of me in front of the fake Stephen sticker on the wall.
They were running pretty late with rehearsals that night, so we got to watch quite a bit of the Best of Colbert DVD – but quite frankly that never gets old. Soon enough, the audience managers came out to give us the rules about the dos and don’ts of asking Stephen questions and instructed us in being as raucous as possible once we got into the studio. After the VIPs were let in, our numbers were called and I entered the studio as giddy as a kid on the last night of Hanukkah (I’m Jewish). They gave us third row seats right in front of the desk, which gave us a perfect view of the man himself.
As I mentioned, they were running late that night, so we listened to the eclectic mix of music for a while and I had a chance to look around the studio from my seat. As others have mentioned, it is far smaller than you might guess on TV. The big C desk couldn’t have been more than five or six steps from where we were sitting. The base of the desk and the pillars behind it all had colorful fish swimming around and they filled the studio with blue light and mist so that you felt like you were in with the fish. Everything is there too: the microwave, the shofar, Captain America’s shield, the picture of House, the Knox College diploma, the Peabody, and the Emmy on the mantle – all live and in living color.
Eventually the warm up comedian, Paul Mecurio this time, came out to get us ready to cheer, scream, and laugh as loud as we possibly could. You would think that the audience would not have to be told to do this, but it’s really true, the studio ceiling is high and so a lot of the sound does get lost.
Now, all during this and the instructions from the crew, there was an empty chair next to my mom. After the basic instructions, a member of the Colbert Report staff came over and handed signs to some of the people right around us and then sat down next to my mom. The staff member explained that they were going to do a funny bit about the signs at the democratic convention and that we were going to be part of it. She showed those holding the signs where they should be held and what we should do when the cameras turned to us. This was also done in the other two sections to our right.
Then, the moment finally arrived, Paul introduced the man of the hour and Stephen came bounding out high fiving everyone in the front row. We were on our feet screaming and cheering so loudly I could have been at a hockey game. In person, Stephen is pretty tall and his smile is genuine and infectious. He was close enough to be able to see the laugh lines around his eyes – he is indeed a handsome man and was wearing a beautiful purple striped tie. Someone threw him a microphone and before I knew it, he was asking us if we had any questions that would humanize him in our eyes before he started saying all of these horrible things. I’ll admit to not remembering all of the questions, but here’s my best recollection:
- The first question came from a girl who led up to it by identifying Stephen as a comedian and journalist. He didn’t even let her get past that first statement before saying “F***, you were doing geat until you used the ‘J’ word” while dropping his mike and throwing back his head as though in defeat. He explained that under no circumstance is he a journalist – he’s a comedian, so he doesn’t really have to care that the audience learns anything, only that what he’s doing is funny.
- A second woman asked what he was going to do with the Super PAC money. Stephen explained that the Super PAC is truly an open improve device and so there are no set plans for the money. The main ojective was to do what they could while making sure no one went to jail for anything they did. He went on to mention that he couldn’t believe how much money “you people” had given them. As they got closer to $1 mllion he was starting to really hope we stopped. Much of the money has been spent while Stephen was running for office this year, but he had no control over the spending because Jon had taken over the Super PAC by that point and they weren’t “coordinating.” Again, the goal is to make sure no one goes to jail. In the end, whatever is left will go to charity.
- The next man asked Stephen what he would have done if he had been allowed to run in 2008. Stephen said that he knew he couldn’t actually run, so they had an out planned. As it was, people from the parties were telling him to get the he** out of the race. So he told folks not to worry, if it went too far he’d create some sort of scandal. He had it all planned out, he’d appear on camera contrite, with a woman he would hire to be his wife Lorraine, apologizing for what he had done. Then he would explain that he needed more time with his family to repair the damage and so needed to drop out. This had the audience cracking up. As it was he wasn’t allowed to run, which he admitted was a little disappointing.
- The final question came from a girl that wanted to know Stephen’s opinion on the reports that younger people get their news from Jon and Stephen more than anywhere else. As with the earlier question, Stephen reminded her that he was a comedian. He said that he thought the Pew studies overstated the results because he couldn’t see how people would find his jokes funny if they didn’t already know what was going on.
I considered asking a question, but there was no way anything intelligent (or intelligible) was coming out of my mouth with him that close so I settled for observing his mannerisms as he answered questions. As others have mentioned, he really focuses in on the person he’s speaking with. He also has kind eyes, a ready smile, and a quick laugh. What struck me most was how he was standing, with one leg crossed over the other. It was casual but a little awkward and child-like at the same time. It’s rather endearing.
At that point he stopped taking questions and went over to the desk to begin the show. Stephen’s ability to multi-task is astonishing. All at the same time he was talking to Tom Purcell, dancing to the music playing, and getting touched up by his hair and makeup people. As his hair stylist gave his helmet of hair a final pat, he patted hers back. Then he flipped his pen a few times and started flinging wrist strong bracelets into the audience. After about 6 or so, he whiped out this rather deadly looking dagger and makes to throw that into the audience as well with a wicked grin on his face. Right before Stephen starts, he smiles at all of us and tells us to have a great show – proving how much the audience is part of the show to him.
Finally, they start the taping. Since you’ve seen it already, I just wanted to share with you a few things that didn’t make it to tape:
- In the segment about all the signs on the floor of the democratic convention hall, after Stephen finds himself with an Obama “Forward” sign and throws it away, the joke actually continues. I wish I could remember what the three different signs said, but basically the joke was that there really seemed to be signs for all situations. Stephen would say something, and the camera would pan to the audience holding the signs that echoed what he had just said. Remember how I mentioned, that a member of ‘The Colbert Report’ staff was sitting next to my mom? Well, when they panned the camera to our section for the first set of signs, it took me a second to realize that my mom and I were right in the shot. Although they did end up cutting this whole bit, it was exciting to think that my mom and I might have ended up briefly on ‘The Colbert Report’.
- There was a huge character break during the Numbo-tron 3000 segment. Being a numbers person, I was already tickled by how ridiculous the whole thing was but when the number 11,394.5 showed up, Stephen yelled “Holy s***! That’s a digital.” Immediately, you could see in his eyes that he was going to laugh at that error, but he kept it together for about 10 seconds and then doubled over in laughter. At that point we were all howling. Once he got a hold of himself he asked to do that again so that they could try to at least make him sound competent. That’s why there’s so much applauding when he said “decimal” on the show.
- After they finished taping, Tom had Stephen re-record two words that didn’t come across correctly: “cacophony” and “the” (yes, “the”). Stephen couldn’t believe he had mispronounced “the” and went into a hundred and one inflections on the word “the.” The last one was done in a slow, dim-witted way that had everyone laughing. Before Stephen could re-record “the” he needed to know the context so Tom ran off stage to figure out where it was. As Tom ran off, Stephen turned to us and said not to mind Tom, they let him think he produces the show and that they think it’s cute. Again with the mischievous smile.
All throughout, I did nothing but watch Stephen since the show would be on later. He’s amazing to watch. During clips, he made facial expressions as though his character was reacting to what’s being said. During breaks, which were quite long in some cases, he animatedly talked to and joked with Tom and others at the desk or he was singing to the music playing in the background. After all the taping was done, Stephen thanked us for being a great audience, although perhaps a little too exuberant since the show that night ran long even after they paired down the interview to a normal length. He also thanked us for being so patient and waiting so long for the taping to start since the convention shows are more difficult to do. Apparently, they are built from the ground up every day. Then, this lovely man, who must have been exhausted by that point (it was almost 8:30), offered to answer another question. A young man behind me with a strong accent began to ask a question, but Stephen had to ask him to repeat it. Then Stephen quickly adopted the man’s accent and said something like oh, I can’t understand you because you have a terrible accent. After we were done laughing, the man went on to ask whether Stephen felt that being this character for so long would prevent him from getting other parts he may want. Stephen began by saying that if he only ever gets to do this character, he would be grateful. But, he does get to do other things. In fact, he mentioned he will be guest starring on a show being done by old friends soon. Although, he refused to tell us which show or when (so keep your eyes peeled).
At that, he said good night and bounded off the set. We were ushered to the darkened street and stepped back into the real world. However, I was grateful to have gotten the opportunity to spend a few hours in the middle of the Joy Machine that was made possible by Stephen Colbert and to share that with my mom. It’s truly inspiring to see the dedication and the love Stephen and his staff have for what they are doing and I could never thank them enough for a truly memorable evening. We had to catch a train back, so we couldn’t wait to try to meet the Man himself, but it now gives me something to shoot for when I go back.
So sorry that this turned into an epic novel, but thank you for letting me share. I hope it’s been at least mildly entertaining
September 4th, 2012: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster W&M_NU has sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the September 4th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
With fair warning that I’m more a mathematician than a writer, I wanted to share this Taping ReporT because it’s so joyful to read everyone else’s stories. Also, this whole visit would never have been possible without the information at the Hub about @DailyTix. Sincere apologies for the length, though.
Having been a fan of The Colbert Report since almost the beginning, I’ve had the good fortune to be living in locations where Stephen came to do some of his more unusual appearances. For example, I was living in Chicago during Second City’s 50th Anniversary celebration and got to attend the panel for Stephen and his writers; and I was living in DC during the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and so headed to the Mall at the crack of dawn. However, living in these locations means that I don’t get to New York all that often, so I have never had the pleasure of attending a taping – until this past week.
My mom turned 60 on Labor Day and all she wanted to do was have an extended stay in New York City. It dawned on me that if I timed everything right, we could go see a taping since she likes ‘The Colbert Report’ too – I was over the moon. The only problem was that we only had one night we could go and I didn’t have tickets yet. That’s when I learned about @DailyTix. For this, I actually joined Twitter (note: that’s a huge deal since I considered it the world’s largest “clock gobbler” – ah, the things we do for Stephen …). I then proceeded to obsessively track the Twitter feed until, miraculously, two nights before, two tickets were available for September 5. I ran to the website and put in my info, shaking the whole time. Immediately, I was rewarded with a confirmation message we had a place in line!
On the day of the taping, my mom and I got to the studio right around 3:15. It had been monsooning for most of the morning, but by then the rain had cleared. At that point there was only one other person in line, so the three of us chatted for a while. Around 4:00, the audience managers came out to formally start the line. Of course, at that moment I had to be on a conference call for work and so did my own bit of physical comedy: wedging my work cell between my ear and shoulder, balancing on one leg while my purse was on my other knee to find my ID, and flipping through my email on my personal cell to show my confirmation. I was reminded vividly of Stephen riding that mechanical horse while ringing a bell and trying to load a musket.
At about 5:30, the audience managers came back out to hand out tickets. I think they were training the new interns because two women came down the line – one seemed to be telling the other how the process worked. Mom and I were numbers 2 and 3 in line.
Shortly thereafter, we were welcomed into the holding area. Since we were at the front of the line, we could get a good look at everything in the room including the Rally poster and fear bunker, the Vancouver poster, and all the winning fan portrait submissions. My mom also humored me and got a picture of me in front of the fake Stephen sticker on the wall.
They were running pretty late with rehearsals that night, so we got to watch quite a bit of the Best of Colbert DVD – but quite frankly that never gets old. Soon enough, the audience managers came out to give us the rules about the dos and don’ts of asking Stephen questions and instructed us in being as raucous as possible once we got into the studio. After the VIPs were let in, our numbers were called and I entered the studio as giddy as a kid on the last night of Hanukkah (I’m Jewish). They gave us third row seats right in front of the desk, which gave us a perfect view of the man himself.
As I mentioned, they were running late that night, so we listened to the eclectic mix of music for a while and I had a chance to look around the studio from my seat. As others have mentioned, it is far smaller than you might guess on TV. The big C desk couldn’t have been more than five or six steps from where we were sitting. The base of the desk and the pillars behind it all had colorful fish swimming around and they filled the studio with blue light and mist so that you felt like you were in with the fish. Everything is there too: the microwave, the shofar, Captain America’s shield, the picture of House, the Knox College diploma, the Peabody, and the Emmy on the mantle – all live and in living color.
Eventually the warm up comedian, Paul Mecurio this time, came out to get us ready to cheer, scream, and laugh as loud as we possibly could. You would think that the audience would not have to be told to do this, but it’s really true, the studio ceiling is high and so a lot of the sound does get lost.
Now, all during this and the instructions from the crew, there was an empty chair next to my mom. After the basic instructions, a member of the Colbert Report staff came over and handed signs to some of the people right around us and then sat down next to my mom. The staff member explained that they were going to do a funny bit about the signs at the democratic convention and that we were going to be part of it. She showed those holding the signs where they should be held and what we should do when the cameras turned to us. This was also done in the other two sections to our right.
Then, the moment finally arrived, Paul introduced the man of the hour and Stephen came bounding out high fiving everyone in the front row. We were on our feet screaming and cheering so loudly I could have been at a hockey game. In person, Stephen is pretty tall and his smile is genuine and infectious. He was close enough to be able to see the laugh lines around his eyes – he is indeed a handsome man and was wearing a beautiful purple striped tie. Someone threw him a microphone and before I knew it, he was asking us if we had any questions that would humanize him in our eyes before he started saying all of these horrible things. I’ll admit to not remembering all of the questions, but here’s my best recollection:
I considered asking a question, but there was no way anything intelligent (or intelligible) was coming out of my mouth with him that close so I settled for observing his mannerisms as he answered questions. As others have mentioned, he really focuses in on the person he’s speaking with. He also has kind eyes, a ready smile, and a quick laugh. What struck me most was how he was standing, with one leg crossed over the other. It was casual but a little awkward and child-like at the same time. It’s rather endearing.
At that point he stopped taking questions and went over to the desk to begin the show. Stephen’s ability to multi-task is astonishing. All at the same time he was talking to Tom Purcell, dancing to the music playing, and getting touched up by his hair and makeup people. As his hair stylist gave his helmet of hair a final pat, he patted hers back. Then he flipped his pen a few times and started flinging wrist strong bracelets into the audience. After about 6 or so, he whiped out this rather deadly looking dagger and makes to throw that into the audience as well with a wicked grin on his face. Right before Stephen starts, he smiles at all of us and tells us to have a great show – proving how much the audience is part of the show to him.
Finally, they start the taping. Since you’ve seen it already, I just wanted to share with you a few things that didn’t make it to tape:
All throughout, I did nothing but watch Stephen since the show would be on later. He’s amazing to watch. During clips, he made facial expressions as though his character was reacting to what’s being said. During breaks, which were quite long in some cases, he animatedly talked to and joked with Tom and others at the desk or he was singing to the music playing in the background. After all the taping was done, Stephen thanked us for being a great audience, although perhaps a little too exuberant since the show that night ran long even after they paired down the interview to a normal length. He also thanked us for being so patient and waiting so long for the taping to start since the convention shows are more difficult to do. Apparently, they are built from the ground up every day. Then, this lovely man, who must have been exhausted by that point (it was almost 8:30), offered to answer another question. A young man behind me with a strong accent began to ask a question, but Stephen had to ask him to repeat it. Then Stephen quickly adopted the man’s accent and said something like oh, I can’t understand you because you have a terrible accent. After we were done laughing, the man went on to ask whether Stephen felt that being this character for so long would prevent him from getting other parts he may want. Stephen began by saying that if he only ever gets to do this character, he would be grateful. But, he does get to do other things. In fact, he mentioned he will be guest starring on a show being done by old friends soon. Although, he refused to tell us which show or when (so keep your eyes peeled).
At that, he said good night and bounded off the set. We were ushered to the darkened street and stepped back into the real world. However, I was grateful to have gotten the opportunity to spend a few hours in the middle of the Joy Machine that was made possible by Stephen Colbert and to share that with my mom. It’s truly inspiring to see the dedication and the love Stephen and his staff have for what they are doing and I could never thank them enough for a truly memorable evening. We had to catch a train back, so we couldn’t wait to try to meet the Man himself, but it now gives me something to shoot for when I go back.
So sorry that this turned into an epic novel, but thank you for letting me share. I hope it’s been at least mildly entertaining