AB noted today that he had been timing the interval between when Conan is announced by Andy Richter and when he begins his first monologue joke (95", 77" and 97" the last three nights) compared with Dave, who clocks in around 39". I put my own stop watch on Conan tonight, and clocked him at 80" (I had Dave at 44" tonight). AB had an interesting point about Conan needing to learn how to get control of the show from the audience, noting lessons that Dave learned many years ago.
All of that provides me with an excuse to finally ask a question I have been wondering about for a long time, related only in that it has to do with Dave's opening ritual. For many years now Dave runs across the back of the stage (from the TV viewer's left all the way to the right). Sometimes he seems to have already made this run before he is introduced, sometimes while he is being introduced, and once in a while he seems to be a few seconds "late". He then walks toward the camera from the TV viewer's right. More recently (I think) he will occasionally stop a few yards on his way upstage (or is that downstage?) and talks to someone offstage. What is going on here? Dave has done this the whole time he has been at CBS - of course for a while he walked in with those "Dave Babes" on his arm, and even without them I don't really recall him making that backstage run. I want to say he started running soon after his return from the heart surgery - though maybe I just noticed it then because it was startling to see him running after that major procedure. Why does he have to "enter" the stage from the TV viewer's right? Wouldn't it work just as well to walk into the stage directly from the off stage area? Is it that Dave likes to get pumped up a little with adrenalin before doing the monologue? And who is he talking to when he occasionally pauses, and why is he doing that? I am not criticizing the production values here, its just something that I wonder about. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
