Before A Live Studio Audience...
So as part of my Sitcom class, my professor arranged for us to go to a taping of Two and a Half Men. I'm no fan of the show, but hey, I've got to learn about comedy.
So me, Tom, Susan, and Colleen met James, and we drove down to Burbank. We got there early, so we went to a bar first. We figured it was a good idea to eat a bit and have a couple drinks to, well, loosen us all up.
Then we went over to the Warner Brothers lot. And let me tell you, their DC animated mural KICKS ASS! I haven't seen it in a couple years, so now it's updated. It's got Batman, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman from Batman the Brave and the Bold, Robin and Cyborg from Teen Titans, Green Lantern from First Flight, Wonder Woman from her movie, and Superman from...honestly, I can't place his design. Although it's a little sad they don't have any DCAU characters (Batman from Batman the Animated Series is freakin' iconic), it was cool to see it all contemporary and everything.
We had to leave a lot of stuff behind, including cell phones, and then we went through security and got a WB stamp. The lot was cool, there were like 20 stages and each stage had a plaque on it that showed what films and TV shows were filmed inside it (I totally geeked out over the Batman Returns/Batman Forever/Pee-Wee's Big Adventure stage).
We went to the end of the lot to the Two and a Half Men stage and then got our seats. The audience was a decent size, I suppose. They showed us the previous episode of Two and A Half Men, and then we were introduced to the Sweetener, the appropriately named Mark Sweet. Mark Sweet worked the audience, kept the high spirits going by encouraging people to dance, making jokes, and giving people candy after they show their hidden talent.
He had to keep us entertained between takes. In the meantime, we got to see the show. We only saw the scenes filmed on the main set of the house. They had filmed some previous scenes on location (which they showed us). It was actually a good experience. I don't like the show, and I don't like laugh tracks/studio audience, but being IN a studio audience is a different experience. Mark Sweet encouraged us to laugh at every take, of course, and we complied.
It was pretty cool seeing Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Holland Taylor, and special guest star MARTIN MULL!!!! They were all funny, although Jon Cryer engaged the audience more than Charlie Sheen did.
The taping was about 3 hours long, and we were there for 5 hours. Again, it was a good experience, and being in the audience is a lot different than watching it at home and hearing the audience laugh on TV.