03 October 2007

The Daily Show day

Emily checked the Daily Show site for ticket info. Miraculously, tickets became available, so we skipped on our plans to see MOMA. Instead, we had a delicious Italian lunch near the Daily Show studio, and got in line for the best fake news show out there (so far).

Here's me in line with a miracle ticket stuck to my forehead:


After two hours in line, Emily and I took our seats as two of only 239 audience members. A miracle!


(...
Later in the day, we found out why this miracle blessed us. The proof lie at the bottom of our bar tab:



Take a closer look and you'll see that it was the work of jesus (in the humble lower case).



No, thank you, jesus. You're our lord and savior.
...)

Being at a taping of The Daily Show was awesome. The only thing I didn't care for was all the fake behind-the-scenes stuff where they got us pumped up and told us over and over how loud we had to cheer (because the studio was so big, and because Stewart and guests are given a greater share of the overall mic level). They didn't need to tell me though. That show makes me laugh enough at home. You better believe I'm gonna laugh louder when I'm there for a taping.

And this preliminary fakeness was by no means the domineering part of the experience. There were many more reasons it was neat to be at the taping. Numero uno was being privvy to inside jokes that don't make it on the air. For instance, we got to see an error that required some editing by re-entering an in-studio discussion with correspondent Rob Riggle. As Riggle was building toward a punchline, the teleprompter stopped working, forcing him to try "riggling" his way out of the technological difficulties with improv, but to very little avail. Jon Stewart thought it was hilarious, and so did we (the audience). So not only did we get to see the edit, but we also had an inside perspective regarding Ted Koppel's later joke about how the show is edited for mistakes. Yep, Emily and I were in on the inside jokes of news greats Koppel and Stewart. You might even say the two of them are our peeps now.

Other interesting aspects of being at a taping:
- Jon Stewart is shorter than one might think
- fun to see a show with the naughty words not cut out
- Emily noticed Jon Stewart swishes sips of water in his mouth before swallowing them (just like the zimdog!)
- seeing Jon Stewart's reactions to pre-taped segments on the screen; that day it was a John Oliver segment about partisan politics in children's books... hilarious.

John Oliver came out and waved to the audience after the show "went to commercial." Very humble guy; he had barely waved before he got himself back out of the audience's sight.

I will never watch The Daily Show the same way again. 'Twas very much the familiar revisited.

2 comments:

Shannon O'Brien said...

I love John Oliver (and Jon Stewart)
I always suspected Stewart was rather short because many of his guests appear very tall when they are near him. Was it a fluke that tickets became available? My husband was surprised that you were able to get tickets, but I just assumed if you purchased them far enough in advance, you wouldn't have any problem getting any.

Em said...

What about day two??