How I spent my evening
You might want to stand back and don those squee goggles. Because this evening I attending a taping of The Daily Show, the episode that airs tonight at 11 pm on Comedy Central.
...which if you remember from my earlier post, is what is on the sign over the door leading into the studio. The studio's a building all unto itself way the heck over on 11th avenue. You can't miss it since it has huge banners that say The Daily Show on it.
So we get into the VIP line and wait. Then they let us inside and there was more waiting. Then they let us into the studio itself, which was much smaller than I expected it to be based on how it looks on TV, and all the talk recently about the "big new studio" and all the extra seats they said they wound up having. But since I've never been to a taping in my life, this may just be a normal thing.
There were 3 or 4 cameras, including the crane camera that sweeps over the audience. There were a lot of lights. We were in the second row in one of the two VIP sections that flanks Mr. Stewart's desk, quite close, which was awesome. We waited some more, and then a guy came out and started to work the crowd. He's called a "warm-up monkey" and was pretty funny. He coached us on screaming loudly and laughing loudly enough, heckled the crowd a little.
Actually, I can see why a warm-up monkey is needed. Even though everyone was excited to be there and were psyched for it, if we hadn't had the coaching, we'd all have applauded too politely and too quietly, with just a few whoops. It's just human nature. Most of us aren't used to being in a tv studio. Someone had to tell the audience it's okay to yell your head off and go nuts. I mean, I think people generally would like to scream out their adoration, but usually you don't have a coach telling you no, you aren't expressing your love loudly enough. It was strangely cathartic.
So Jon Stewart comes out and everyone jumps to their feet and goes crazy, which was terrific. He talks to the audience a bit, makes with the funny. Then it's time to get serious and do the taping, so he gets in his chair at his desk. There's a telemprompter on the camera. The director counts down, then signals to the audience to start cheering. I could barely hear his opening words, the cheering was so loud. He was miked, and sounded oddly muffled throughout, because while the process of taping was very much like live theater, it's for TV. If he projected like they do for live theater, the sound would be too muddy and loud to use for the show.
We got to see Rob Cordry do a segment against a green screen. He's adorable and then some.
Stuff you only get to see at a taping: after Cordry finished his bit, Stewart did a little flail-flapping-papers "you rock!" thing at him and Cordry grinned and exited. The cast must have such rapport after working together, they seemed to be fans of each other.
Other small things of note: they show the clips on TVs so the audience sees what he's commenting on. During a "great moments in punditry" segment, I snuck a glance over at Jon Stewart, who was standing in the corner, and he was watching the audience watch the segment with a tiny smile on his face like "Yup, they'll love this, uh-huh." Also, he has great focus. While Cordry talked and the camera was off Stewart, he held his facial expression. Barely even blinked, so he'd be ready when they cut back to him.
Between tapings, some guys in shorts and sneakers with headsets would come up to the Desk and talk to him. He made notes. I tried to figure out what they were saying. Most likely they were just working out how they wanted to handle various cuts and shots, although I thought it was funny that for all we knew they were discussing how they all like their coffee, you need to use half and half next time, and maybe up the sugar content a little *nod nod*
There's apparently a studio dog, we saw him on the way out, very friendly with the crowd.
And that's how I spent my evening.
::happy sigh::
...which if you remember from my earlier post, is what is on the sign over the door leading into the studio. The studio's a building all unto itself way the heck over on 11th avenue. You can't miss it since it has huge banners that say The Daily Show on it.
So we get into the VIP line and wait. Then they let us inside and there was more waiting. Then they let us into the studio itself, which was much smaller than I expected it to be based on how it looks on TV, and all the talk recently about the "big new studio" and all the extra seats they said they wound up having. But since I've never been to a taping in my life, this may just be a normal thing.
There were 3 or 4 cameras, including the crane camera that sweeps over the audience. There were a lot of lights. We were in the second row in one of the two VIP sections that flanks Mr. Stewart's desk, quite close, which was awesome. We waited some more, and then a guy came out and started to work the crowd. He's called a "warm-up monkey" and was pretty funny. He coached us on screaming loudly and laughing loudly enough, heckled the crowd a little.
Actually, I can see why a warm-up monkey is needed. Even though everyone was excited to be there and were psyched for it, if we hadn't had the coaching, we'd all have applauded too politely and too quietly, with just a few whoops. It's just human nature. Most of us aren't used to being in a tv studio. Someone had to tell the audience it's okay to yell your head off and go nuts. I mean, I think people generally would like to scream out their adoration, but usually you don't have a coach telling you no, you aren't expressing your love loudly enough. It was strangely cathartic.
So Jon Stewart comes out and everyone jumps to their feet and goes crazy, which was terrific. He talks to the audience a bit, makes with the funny. Then it's time to get serious and do the taping, so he gets in his chair at his desk. There's a telemprompter on the camera. The director counts down, then signals to the audience to start cheering. I could barely hear his opening words, the cheering was so loud. He was miked, and sounded oddly muffled throughout, because while the process of taping was very much like live theater, it's for TV. If he projected like they do for live theater, the sound would be too muddy and loud to use for the show.
We got to see Rob Cordry do a segment against a green screen. He's adorable and then some.
Stuff you only get to see at a taping: after Cordry finished his bit, Stewart did a little flail-flapping-papers "you rock!" thing at him and Cordry grinned and exited. The cast must have such rapport after working together, they seemed to be fans of each other.
Other small things of note: they show the clips on TVs so the audience sees what he's commenting on. During a "great moments in punditry" segment, I snuck a glance over at Jon Stewart, who was standing in the corner, and he was watching the audience watch the segment with a tiny smile on his face like "Yup, they'll love this, uh-huh." Also, he has great focus. While Cordry talked and the camera was off Stewart, he held his facial expression. Barely even blinked, so he'd be ready when they cut back to him.
Between tapings, some guys in shorts and sneakers with headsets would come up to the Desk and talk to him. He made notes. I tried to figure out what they were saying. Most likely they were just working out how they wanted to handle various cuts and shots, although I thought it was funny that for all we knew they were discussing how they all like their coffee, you need to use half and half next time, and maybe up the sugar content a little *nod nod*
There's apparently a studio dog, we saw him on the way out, very friendly with the crowd.
And that's how I spent my evening.
::happy sigh::