I suppose at this point it wouldn't be amiss for me post the trip report I filed on AFL last week. I saw the show on the 12th.
Many things about the new regime work. Many don’t. We arrived a little after 1:00, and found that many people were already in line. About 2:00, people who were obviously from the show started exiting the Ed, and about 2:15, they were going down the line with iPads, asking for names and IDs and checking us in. Then they started handing out numbers and stamping hands. The new tickets simply have the “LSSC” logo and a number; nothing about “we’re taping you” or “your noise will make or break the show.” (There is a disclaimer poster in the lobby that basically says “We’re taping you and you have no rights to stop us from using your image.”) We got numbers 40 and 41 and were told to come back at 3:45; that there was no point in coming any earlier. We went to get some lunch, then back to the hotel to change (for our nightclub date after the LS) and then back to the Ed about 3:40. We got back in line in numerical order, and about 3:50, they started to let us into the lobby – which is where things started getting odd. As I say, we were number 40 and 41, but there were only a few people standing at the door leading from the big lobby to the inner lobby. My first thought was that they were going to let people in in small groups of 25 or so, but they never opened the door. A bunch of people were inside, but everyone else was stuck in the lobby (which, by the way, still has all the photos of the older incarnations of the theatre – except for Dave’s tenure). I know the smaller group was still in the inner lobby until it was time to be seated as we could hear them get a warmup before we got ours. It took a while, but eventually, everyone made it into the lobby (with clips from Colbert’s public access show and the podcast playing on the two monitors) – and we just stood and waited and waited and waited. (Except for a few people – more than likely, showbiz weasels – who were let in early every so often.) One does have to pass through metal detectors now, and there’s an explosives-sniffing dog. [This was the day before the Paris attacks, obviously; I have no idea if the procedures have gotten tighter since.] I put my wallet and phone in a tray as I went through and set down my umbrella – all of which were given back to me by Bill DeLace. (He and Pat were the only staffers I recognized.) Finally, about 4:50, a page with a headset came out, gave the pep talk (which is much less obnoxious than the previous version), and we were finally let in at about 5:00. We were seated in the second row, extreme house right, right in front (ironically) of Tambourine Cowboy’s setup). [Which has since moved upstage.] Had it been Dave’s setup, it would have been an excellent seat. As it was, because of the camera, I was able to see some Colbert’s back and virtually nothing of the guests. (The wife couldn’t see anything.) It’s still cold in the theatre, but not as frigid as in the old days. After ten or fifteen minutes, the stage manager came out, told us to yell and clap when he waved his rolled-up rundown, then introduced the warmup guy. [He more or less demands the audience do the "Steven" chant and give Colbert a standing O, so whether it's what Colbert wants or not, it's going to happen.] The warmup guy started to pick on the audience, then started calling up folks on stage. He chose an African American woman on the aisle house left, then zeroed in on me [I was wearing a nice suit and a bow-tie because we were going to the Cafe Carlyle immediately after the taping, so I stood out like a sore thumb], then an Asian woman from the middle of the house. We got on stage, he asked us about ourselves and assumed that I worked on Wall St. “You are the whitest man alive” (because of my suit and bow tie), then went to town when he heard I work in Silicon Valley, then couldn’t grasp what I do at work, so he called up an Asian American guy (cause they’re smart?) to translate for me. I played along (wasn’t at all nervous; all those years of acting and being on the stage helped) and was a good sport, laughing at him and acting as though I were having a good time (I wasn’t not having a good time, I just amped it up.) Eventually, he let us go, and introduced the band. They came out one by one, played one number, launched into “If You’re Happy and You Know It” (endless choruses of it at different tempos). Not clapping really wasn’t an option. I was resentful of the enforced merriment, but that’s the price of seeing the show, I guess. They played another number (which included Tambourine Cowboy snapping a drumstick as he beat his tambourine with it, then hurling the tambourine to the ground, where it shattered) then intro’d Colbert, who pointed out that night’s ceiling projection (saying to the people in the orchestra “bet you wish you had the shitty seats now, don’t you?”); which was impressive. He took some questions – two lame (“Were you nervous at the White House Correspondents Dinner? and “What did you think of the debates?”) and one good – which I don’t remember. Eventually, it was time to roll tape, and we were off and running by 5:35. What aired was pretty much what we saw. (Albeit it seemed much livelier on the screen than in person; that might have been due to my crap sightlines; plenty of monitors, though.) Colbert blew one line in the intro to the John Dickerson remote and redid it on the spot and got so involved in the Jennifer Connolly panel that he forgot to include the movie clip, so he retaped her intro to include it after the band’s set. The oddest thing was the writer’s meetings between each segment. Before Connolly, there was a meeting of about 6-8 minutes (enough time for the band to play three numbers), and after her, and before Judd Apatow, another one of about 5 minutes. There was even a short meeting before the band played, which didn’t make sense at the time, but I assume now was about the need to retape the Connolly intro. We were out the door by 6:45, which was fortunate, since we needed to make it uptown ASAP. After that, the band did the line formation into the lobby – which is a mistake in that anyone who just wants to leave gets stuck behind the rubes who are dancing and taking photos of them. On the way out, we were handed free copies of the “Trainwreck” DVD – the perfect gift for someone who loves Amy Schumer as much as I do … Overall, the length of the wait in the hot and stuffy lobby aside, it was a mostly-pleasant experience. The band is much better – and much more versatile – than they sound on TV (except for the damn melodica). If they cut down on the lobby time and the in-show writer’s meetings, they should have things running pretty well pretty soon. --Dave Sikula On Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 2:33:20 AM UTC-8, PGage wrote: > > After spending the first couple of months in solid second to Fallon, > Colbert is now tied with and sometimes behind Kimmel: > > http://www.avclub.com/article/colbert-slipping-ratings-228790 > > Is it because he is too political? Too liberal (his audience is less > Republican than either of the two Jimmys)? Or is it the lack of chemistry > with his bandleader? > > I remain a big fan of the show, but for me the big question was always > going to be how he would play on a network when he is by far the most > liberal person on broadcast tv. I thought his recent take-down of Jeb! and > other Republicans for their hostile attitudes towards Refugees was > brilliant, but predictably my FB feed, contributed to by a lot of > evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, has been in histrionics ever > since. I love his short monologue and current events oriented Act 2, but it > may be costing him - of course I hope he never changes. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. 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