My morning with Strombo
A few weeks ago I found out George Stroumboulopoulos (henceforth referred to as Strombo, because eff spelling THAT name out multiple times!) would be filming a week’s worth of shows here in Vancouver. Someone mentioned that you can get free tickets to the tapings, so I went to the website and requested one, knowing I had a couple days off before Good Friday. A few days ago I got the email saying I was in for Wednesday’s morning taping of a Mother Mother performance - one of my favourite local bands!!! I was SUPER excited, because being part of a live studio audience is actually on my bucket list, PLUS I’ve loved Strombo since he was a VJ on MuchMusic, and I’d get to see a free Mother Mother performance to boot!
I went to the CBC building just before 11 and there were already tons of people lined up - all different types and ages, which kind of surprised me! Elderly people, middle-aged people, young people… and to my relief, quite a few people came solo as well (I didn’t ask if anyone wanted to be my date, figuring everyone would be at work). We waited in line outside for only a short time, then they started leading us into the bowels of CBC - seriously, we went down a million flights of stairs! Then we had to wait in line some more down in the basement where the studio is. They gave us a survey to fill out, and there was free coat check and everything. Eventually they started loading us in, and people could sit wherever they wanted, so I found a “forever alone” spot 3 rows from the front and close to the aisle. Two other forever alone girls sat on either side of me, so maybe we weren’t so alone after all. UNITED IN OUR LOVE FOR GEORGE!!!
Most people (including me) were disappointed to learn that we weren’t going to be watching any interviews - our taping was for Friday night’s show, when they re-run the “highlight” interviews from earlier in the week. We would just be seeing the musical performance, but we also go to watch Strombo film a few “throws” and intros and stuff. When he came out, all the women started fangirling. He’s handsome but way thinner than I thought he’d be. One of the showrunners said it was from his recent veganism, and that he’d lost 30 pounds from it! He wasn’t as tall as I thought, and was wearing a sweater that looked like an old man cardigan in the front but with a “cool, hip” hood at the back. He was very charming, funny, and personable. He talked to the audience, answered questions, and was super professional: they only had to re-shoot one intro, he was that good.
As for the audience, we just had to cheer and clap when the stage manager told us to, and stand up during the musical performance. Mother Mother did one song with the singer from the 70s Canadian glam rock band Sweeney Todd (“Roxy Roller”), playing it twice with different camera/audience shots, then they did one of their own (“Dirty Town”) twice as well. They were fantastic live, though the lead singer is incredibly weird (which was not surprising at all, considering some of their songs haha).
All in all, the taping only took an hour. They kept us fairly entertained while changing the cameras and whatnot - I’m pretty sure the “audience warm-up” guy was one of the dudes who sometimes hosts at The Comedy Mixx downtown. He was fun! It was really awesome to see ~the magic of TV~, and at the end of it, I wasn’t even sad that I didn’t get to see any interviews… though if I’d gotten tickets to the afternoon taping, I could’ve seen him interview Lieutenant Daniels from The Wire, MY FAVOURITE SHOW! :( Overall though, I had an awesome time! It was such a cool experience!
Watch for me on CBC Friday night, 11:05, during the musical performance. :D Right side, a few rows above the people standing at the front! :D
I went to the CBC building just before 11 and there were already tons of people lined up - all different types and ages, which kind of surprised me! Elderly people, middle-aged people, young people… and to my relief, quite a few people came solo as well (I didn’t ask if anyone wanted to be my date, figuring everyone would be at work). We waited in line outside for only a short time, then they started leading us into the bowels of CBC - seriously, we went down a million flights of stairs! Then we had to wait in line some more down in the basement where the studio is. They gave us a survey to fill out, and there was free coat check and everything. Eventually they started loading us in, and people could sit wherever they wanted, so I found a “forever alone” spot 3 rows from the front and close to the aisle. Two other forever alone girls sat on either side of me, so maybe we weren’t so alone after all. UNITED IN OUR LOVE FOR GEORGE!!!
Most people (including me) were disappointed to learn that we weren’t going to be watching any interviews - our taping was for Friday night’s show, when they re-run the “highlight” interviews from earlier in the week. We would just be seeing the musical performance, but we also go to watch Strombo film a few “throws” and intros and stuff. When he came out, all the women started fangirling. He’s handsome but way thinner than I thought he’d be. One of the showrunners said it was from his recent veganism, and that he’d lost 30 pounds from it! He wasn’t as tall as I thought, and was wearing a sweater that looked like an old man cardigan in the front but with a “cool, hip” hood at the back. He was very charming, funny, and personable. He talked to the audience, answered questions, and was super professional: they only had to re-shoot one intro, he was that good.
As for the audience, we just had to cheer and clap when the stage manager told us to, and stand up during the musical performance. Mother Mother did one song with the singer from the 70s Canadian glam rock band Sweeney Todd (“Roxy Roller”), playing it twice with different camera/audience shots, then they did one of their own (“Dirty Town”) twice as well. They were fantastic live, though the lead singer is incredibly weird (which was not surprising at all, considering some of their songs haha).
All in all, the taping only took an hour. They kept us fairly entertained while changing the cameras and whatnot - I’m pretty sure the “audience warm-up” guy was one of the dudes who sometimes hosts at The Comedy Mixx downtown. He was fun! It was really awesome to see ~the magic of TV~, and at the end of it, I wasn’t even sad that I didn’t get to see any interviews… though if I’d gotten tickets to the afternoon taping, I could’ve seen him interview Lieutenant Daniels from The Wire, MY FAVOURITE SHOW! :( Overall though, I had an awesome time! It was such a cool experience!
Watch for me on CBC Friday night, 11:05, during the musical performance. :D Right side, a few rows above the people standing at the front! :D