The Colbert Report
Livi and I went to see The Colbert Report last night. It was excellent.
We got there around 4:15 and waited in line until around 6pm. We were up pretty close to the front (the numbers on our passes were 16 and 17) and the line was in a nice shaded area.
We had to go through a metal detector to get in, then we all waited, 100 people crammed into a very small room, with only a few seats. (And only one ladies' bathroom, which meant one long line of women.)
They let us in, in exact numerical order (yay!), around 7pm. VIPs first, then us plebeians. But this actually turned out lucky for us, because they filled the rows from the back to the front, so Livi and I ended up in the front row, in the center of the first section (there's two sections of seats, one in front of Colbert's main desk and the other in front of the interview table). When he did The Word, he was looking almost exactly at us!
Once everyone was seated, they brought out this comedian guy to warm up the crowd (Livi immediately squealed because she'd seen him doing the same thing at the Greg-something show). I forget his name, but he was actually pretty funny. (Unlike the guy at The Daily Show, who was dull.) He asked us some Colbert trivia and gave t-shirts to the winners (Two of the questions were "What's the name of Stephen's high school girlfriend?" [Charlene] and "What's the name of the segment where Stephen debates himself?" [Formidable Opponent]).
Unfortunately they had a computer crash or something, so this poor guy had to stay out there and keep us entertained for what seemed like forever (it was at least a half hour). He was going through the audience asking questions of everyone (and making incessant fun of this one guy who was a banker). He called some kid up on the stage to let him touch Stephen's desk, then asked him to touch his (the comedian's) ass--and the kid responded by giving him a huge slap to the ass. The comedian totally didn't expect that, so it was hilarious. He also told us some stories about Stephen--how he would get people to ask Stephen questions in other languages, and Stephen would respond without missing a beat.
So after a long, long time with this guy, they finally announced that they'd fixed the problem and were ready to start. So they introduced Stephen and he came running out, ran circles around the studio, ran in front of the audience and gave everyone fives (my hand was touched by Stephen Colbert!). He was apologetic about the wait and kept complementing us on our patience (I don't think anyone minded; the audience was SO into it, even more so than at the Daily Show).
He took a few questions from the crowd. Someone asked him what it was like being only a few feet away from the president, and he said "My character loved it. To my character it was the greatest place he could be, right there with his hero." Someone else asked him if he'd ever played any sports, and he got all offended and asked if Dungeons and Dragons counted. Then he went to the shelf and pulled out a picture of himself doing some kind of wind-surfing thing, and showed it to the crowd, and then said that, thanks to Photoshop, he can do any sport he wants. There were a couple other questions, nothing too memorable though.
Then he brought out Chris Matthews' son, who is apparently studying to be an actor or something like that, and explained that they'd had the same voice coach. So then Stephen, Chris Matthews' son, and one of the guys from the crew (Mark?) asked us to rise, and the three of them sang the national anthem in a three part harmony. It was *hilarious*. I have no idea why they did it, but it rocked.
Then the show started. Like I said, Stephen was *right in front of us*. It was so cool. It was a really funny episode, too; if you saw it, you know what I mean. Stephen kept making incessant puns about balls, since the guest was Chris Matthews from Hardball. He also made a reference to "Snakes on a Plane," played part of his "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)" 80s video, complained about the "transexual barnyard animals" of an upcoming animated film, talked about "Pirates of the Caribbean" (and explained that Keira Knightly had to be in drag because no one is allowed to be prettier than Orlando Bloom), and stayed in character while ordering everyone to go see "Strangers with Candy" and pay full price, even if elderly.
Then they moved over for the interview segment, which wasn't as cool because it was on the other side of the room from us. But it was still a really cool interview. For one thing, they got up and did some insane wrestling thing in the middle--and then went back to doing the interview. And it was just funny.
Once the show ended, they filmed Stephen walking over to his bookshelf and examining something, while the audience clapped for a long time, but sadly that didn't air. So you couldn't see us on the show--but we were there!! :)
We got there around 4:15 and waited in line until around 6pm. We were up pretty close to the front (the numbers on our passes were 16 and 17) and the line was in a nice shaded area.
We had to go through a metal detector to get in, then we all waited, 100 people crammed into a very small room, with only a few seats. (And only one ladies' bathroom, which meant one long line of women.)
They let us in, in exact numerical order (yay!), around 7pm. VIPs first, then us plebeians. But this actually turned out lucky for us, because they filled the rows from the back to the front, so Livi and I ended up in the front row, in the center of the first section (there's two sections of seats, one in front of Colbert's main desk and the other in front of the interview table). When he did The Word, he was looking almost exactly at us!
Once everyone was seated, they brought out this comedian guy to warm up the crowd (Livi immediately squealed because she'd seen him doing the same thing at the Greg-something show). I forget his name, but he was actually pretty funny. (Unlike the guy at The Daily Show, who was dull.) He asked us some Colbert trivia and gave t-shirts to the winners (Two of the questions were "What's the name of Stephen's high school girlfriend?" [Charlene] and "What's the name of the segment where Stephen debates himself?" [Formidable Opponent]).
Unfortunately they had a computer crash or something, so this poor guy had to stay out there and keep us entertained for what seemed like forever (it was at least a half hour). He was going through the audience asking questions of everyone (and making incessant fun of this one guy who was a banker). He called some kid up on the stage to let him touch Stephen's desk, then asked him to touch his (the comedian's) ass--and the kid responded by giving him a huge slap to the ass. The comedian totally didn't expect that, so it was hilarious. He also told us some stories about Stephen--how he would get people to ask Stephen questions in other languages, and Stephen would respond without missing a beat.
So after a long, long time with this guy, they finally announced that they'd fixed the problem and were ready to start. So they introduced Stephen and he came running out, ran circles around the studio, ran in front of the audience and gave everyone fives (my hand was touched by Stephen Colbert!). He was apologetic about the wait and kept complementing us on our patience (I don't think anyone minded; the audience was SO into it, even more so than at the Daily Show).
He took a few questions from the crowd. Someone asked him what it was like being only a few feet away from the president, and he said "My character loved it. To my character it was the greatest place he could be, right there with his hero." Someone else asked him if he'd ever played any sports, and he got all offended and asked if Dungeons and Dragons counted. Then he went to the shelf and pulled out a picture of himself doing some kind of wind-surfing thing, and showed it to the crowd, and then said that, thanks to Photoshop, he can do any sport he wants. There were a couple other questions, nothing too memorable though.
Then he brought out Chris Matthews' son, who is apparently studying to be an actor or something like that, and explained that they'd had the same voice coach. So then Stephen, Chris Matthews' son, and one of the guys from the crew (Mark?) asked us to rise, and the three of them sang the national anthem in a three part harmony. It was *hilarious*. I have no idea why they did it, but it rocked.
Then the show started. Like I said, Stephen was *right in front of us*. It was so cool. It was a really funny episode, too; if you saw it, you know what I mean. Stephen kept making incessant puns about balls, since the guest was Chris Matthews from Hardball. He also made a reference to "Snakes on a Plane," played part of his "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)" 80s video, complained about the "transexual barnyard animals" of an upcoming animated film, talked about "Pirates of the Caribbean" (and explained that Keira Knightly had to be in drag because no one is allowed to be prettier than Orlando Bloom), and stayed in character while ordering everyone to go see "Strangers with Candy" and pay full price, even if elderly.
Then they moved over for the interview segment, which wasn't as cool because it was on the other side of the room from us. But it was still a really cool interview. For one thing, they got up and did some insane wrestling thing in the middle--and then went back to doing the interview. And it was just funny.
Once the show ended, they filmed Stephen walking over to his bookshelf and examining something, while the audience clapped for a long time, but sadly that didn't air. So you couldn't see us on the show--but we were there!! :)