John Vs. Conan…

Two of the most interesting things we did in New York had to have been attending the taping of a couple of shows. The shows that we got into were Late Night with Conan O’Brian show (unfortunately he didn’t pull out the Walker Texas Ranger Leaver) and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with John Stewart. Both are on about the same time, late at night. The first most people are familiar with. It airs on NBC affiliates and is similar to the Tonight Show, and David Letterman. The second is cable only and is a news show that mocks current events. Interestingly enough the Daily Show is becoming more and more popular and I’m not sure they even know how to handle the success.

The one thing you need to know about going to tapings of television shows is be there early. We also went to The Today Show and only got there about 40 min before the show started. That show we saw (well I did RB couldn’t see much because of all the tall people in her way) from several rows back and could not work our way forward. So for the Daily Show we arrived 2 hours early. The Show tapes at 5 and showed at 3. We were far from the first. In fact we were behind about 50 people or so. The building for the Daily show is a non-descript 3 or 4 story building on the West side. You would have no clue it was a TV Studio except for large banners hanging from the second floor that say “Comedy Central” or “The Daily Show”. Waiting in line was kind of boring though we did me some grad student from Duluth. He was going for his masters in Fine Art… What are you going to do with a masters in Fine Art?

After about one hour and fifteen minutes then started to hand out tickets and move people inside. These tickets were just yellow pieces of paper with “The Daily Show” and a number printed on them and laminated. Everyone was marched in groups down a flight of stairs into a little holding area. After a few minutes of milling about a couple of staff members came down and gave the rules. Pretty simple stuff really: Sit where they tell you, don’t yell obscenities, and no cameras or recording. Then we waited some more. After a while we were brought up into the studio. It was a pretty large room with high warehouse style ceilings. There were 3 sets of bleachers making a semi-circle around John Stewart’s desk. We sat in the largest one directly in front of the desk. After everyone was seated the reiterated some of the rules (no filming or photos) and then a guy came out to warm us up.

The Comedian that came out was pretty funny. They really needed to get people to be loud because the space was so big and swallows sound. After that John Stewart came out and talked with the crowd, he seemed like a nice guy and was really funny. He is also very short. 5’8” I would guess. That night his guest was Caroline Kennedy JFK’s daughter that runs some organization. The interview was not all that but the rest of the show was hilarious. John Stewart is very animated during the show and it is totally different seeing it live then on the Television. We really had a good time there and after it was all over a snapped a quick picture of the stage. What I found really interesting is they don’t really realize how popular they are and don’t really know how to handle it. Talking to people in line as recent as two years ago you didn’t even need to call ahead to get tickets, just show up. Also the whole process of getting tickets (sending an eMail… that was the whole process) and then getting people in line into the studio show that this is all really new to them.

We saw The Daily Show on Monday night and the next night we had tickets to Conan O’Brian. These tickets were hard to come by because you had to call on the day they were taking reservations for the week you wanted to see the show. They don’t post when they will be taking reservations either. So you have to repeatedly call the reservation line and check the message. They only give ½ weeks notice of when they will take reservations so I think I called in no less than 10 times! But I did get tickets so it worked out. Conan films at NBC studios which is located in Rockefeller Plaza just a few blocks from our hotel. The building is amazing and a must see even if you don’t go see Conan. We knew how to get there as it is the same location that they film The Today Show at. The nice thing about Conan is that they have been doing this for more than a decade and while it was a hassle to get tickets the rest of the process was pretty nice.

Again we arrived at about 3 when the show taped at 5. But this time there were only a dozen or so people in line ahead of us. After only a 15 minute wait or so a staff member came and gave everyone in line tickets to the show with the place in line indicated on the back and wrist bands. Then you could leave and you were guaranteed your place in line in a little over an hour when you came back. That was nice as the building was kind of stuffy. So we left went and saw St. Patrick’s and checked out the NBC store. The tickets were real looking tickets too. Once we came back and got into our place in line they had us go through security (a reoccurring theme in New York) and took us in groups up the elevators to the studio. Another nice perk was a free t-shirt for coming to see the show, as the tickets were free that was really cool.

Conan’s studio was tiny. I mean tiny. His desk only sits about 3 feet high and is no more than 4 feet long. He must literally sit on his legs to get behind it. The whole room was no more than 30ft across. The Band was squirreled up in a corner and they must use wide angle lenses to capture everything because everything is so close together. Again we heard the rules, they were almost identical to The Daily Show’s and again a comic came out to warm up the crowd. I have to say thought the comic at the first show was better. After that Conan came in and worked the crowed. RB and I got to shake his hand (we were in the 3 row!) and he hugged the guy sitting behind RB. He then had another guy hug the first and then hug Max Weinberg the band leader. It was pretty funny. RB was funny because she thought, and I agree, that Conan has a really weak hand shake. Not only that but he is really, really tall, skinny, and in real life looks a lot older than he does on TV.

His guests that night were Will (I don’t know the actors name) from Will and Grace and Jean (again not so good with names) from the new X-Men movie with musical guest the Drive by Truckers. The show was fun and seemed to go by super fast. When it was over Conan didn’t seem to want to leave so he grabbed a microphone and just started singing for us. It was kind of weird and really funny. Not really sure what that was all about but it was fun. I have to say that I had a little more fun at The Daily Show but it was a great time both nights. I would recommend trying to get tickets to either or both shows.