Continuing on from my last post about our mentalist one-week trip to the States, the day after the Rally we braved a train to New York (despite it being scary and Halloween), for what turned out to be a 5-day TV/BeerFest (without really watching any TV ... and drinking a lot of Beer).
First order of business: seeing both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in Washington DC was clearly not enough - we were determined to go to tapings of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, too.
We had hoped to go to one or both shows when we were in New York back in 2007, but they just happened to start a writer's strike THE DAY WE TOUCHED DOWN IN THE U.S., so we were unable, that time around (note my sad face and the "No Show Today" sign in the window in the photo below, which would stay in the window at least until we left the country):
First order of business: seeing both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in Washington DC was clearly not enough - we were determined to go to tapings of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, too.
We had hoped to go to one or both shows when we were in New York back in 2007, but they just happened to start a writer's strike THE DAY WE TOUCHED DOWN IN THE U.S., so we were unable, that time around (note my sad face and the "No Show Today" sign in the window in the photo below, which would stay in the window at least until we left the country):
This time, in 2010, was our chance to make amends.The main problem, of course, was actually getting tickets. Although the shows are free, they are ticketed.
Now, I thought that, since we were making the effort to fly half-way around the world to attend their Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive, the least Messrs Stewart and Colbert could do would be to let us attend a taping or two whilst in New York. Plus, Australians are so, like, adorable, right?
I thought wrong. And no.
E-mails went unanswered, a tweet to @ColbertReport of "Hey! My wife and I are flying from Australia for the March. We're AFRAID we won't also get tix to the Report - little help?" also received no love. And, according to Comedy Central's website, they don't even open snail mail. So it seemed that the ONLY way to get tix was via the websites themselves, at http://www.thedailyshow.com/tickets and http://www.colbertnation.com/tickets.
Unfortunately, every time I logged on to those sites, they reinforced the lack of fortune and said "Unfortunately, there are no tickets available to see The Colbert Report/The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at this time. Check back soon to secure your tickets or sign-up below to receive e-mails letting you know when new dates open up" (just as they probably will NOW if you hit those links). After many attempts I naturally concluded the internet was broken, because there were NEVER tickets available.
However, and in a reversal of the Fortune-Lack, a few weeks before we left I discovered (like I'm Magellan) a Twitter account that constantly updates when tickets become available: @dailytix. Thanks to this service, and my near-constant monitoring of Twitter (just kidding, boss, if you read this!! Everyone else: I'm not kidding), we managed to get tickets to The Daily Show about 2 weeks before we left for the States. And then, whilst still in DC just before we caught our train to New York, we managed to score two tickets to The Colbert Report for the show being taped the VERY NEXT DAY!
So, after arriving in New York, checking into the Bowery Hotel in the East Village - a great place in a great location, just one block from the former CBGBs - and then partaking in the Greenwich Halloween Parade and many, many microbrews, we recovered on the Monday and made our way to The Report's studio on 54th Street. Thanks to arriving pretty early (around 4:30pm for a 7pm taping), we were something like 20th in line, and dead-certs to get in (although we had tickets, they overbook (since they're free, people tend to not turn up), so they still recommend that you get there early if you want to be sure about getting in).
For an idea of what to expect (e.g., in the queue, once clearing security, in the actual studio), I recommend reading one of these highly informative reporTs, all of which involve stories better than mine:- Girl asks Stephen a perfect question;
- World's Biggest Fangirl meets Stephen and he sings to her;
- Another Australian has BEST HOLIDAY EVER.
The warm-up guy for us was the very funny and charming Julian McCullough, who asked if anyone was from out of town. Our hands shot up, and we surprised him by apparently being the first Australians in the history of the show to proudly announce "Yes, We Are Convicts", before he had a chance to.
A very cool thing about attending the tapings is that, before every show, Stephen comes out and allows the audience to ask him questions, about anything, out of character. There are some examples of very good questions in the reporTs above, but I did manage to get his attention and wittily ask: "Would you ever think about getting John Travolta to fly a planeload of your audience out to Australia?" To which he frustratingly replied, with a twinkle in his eye: "You seem to know the way!" and moved on to the next question.
NOOOOOOO!!! I really wanted to know if he would think about coming to Australia! Plus I forgot to mention that we flew over just for the Rally (like I've told everyone else I've ever met)!!
However, I got a hint of why he may have moved on from my question so quickly the next night at the taping of The Daily Show, when another Australian in the audience right behind me boringly asked Jon "When are you coming to Australia?" YAWN!! Can't you Australians think of anything else to ask? Especially since (as we were told by staff when we were in the queue for The Report) they have had at least one Australian in the audience EVERY NIGHT since The Colbert Report began!
So if I can offer some advice: if you're Australian, don't even think about asking "When are you coming to Australia?" (even if asked cleverly and topically like me) - ask something interesting about Watership Down or Large Fruit-based sculptures like the ladies above.
Anyhoo - the shows were great. The episode of the Colbert Report was the first one after the Rally, which started with Stephen doing his "Steph Colbert's Hobby Hovel" in front of a green screen (right in front of us - the studio really is small, and we were only about 4 rows back, so we were super-close) and we all had to practise and then perform the song "It's the Greatest, Strongest Country in the World" ("From North to South and East to West and diagonally!") along with Stephen when he went through some Rally highlights, as well as at the end. Plus Stephen looked right at me after one of his jokes, knowing that I get his stuff, and we also both wear glasses.
And The Daily Show we went to the following night was the live election special (on 2 November - the day of the mid-term elections) which was also very exciting. Although the guests weren't super-famous for either show, at The Daily Show taping we were blessed with seeing not 1, not 2, not 3, not 5, but FOUR of the regular correspondents: Aasif Mandvi, Olivia Munn, Jason Jones and John Oliver (wearing his green-screen suit)! We just needed a Wyatt Cenac or a Sam Bee for a full house! (though we did run into Kristen Schaal in The Pony Bar in Hell's Kitchen after the show - did you know she's a horse? Incidentally, The Pony Bar is one of many, many great bars in NY with many, many microbrews on tap - check it: http://www.theponybar.com )
So, anyway, after the two tapings, and speaking to some of the legends involved, I think I can very safely and humbly say: "TV Cha-Ching!!!"
In all seriousness, it's great to watch both the shows now and picture how it all fits together behind-the-scenes (especially when we get glimpses of the scary security guys who just watch the audience the whole time ready to open up multiple cans of W-A. For a comedy show, they sure look like they want to dismember some audience members).
Our TV Adventures didn't stop there, though.
The same night we saw The Colbert Report, we managed to then get into another show - the script reading of a movie based on Glenn Beck's book "The Overton Window" - at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (which, since we're speaking about TV, was started by, amongst others, Amy Poehler, and includes such alumni as The Daily Show's Rob Corrdry and Ed Helms). They promised a special guest, and they delivered when Chris Meloni (Elliott from Law and Order: SVU, as well as a scary man from Oz (the prison drama, not the colloquialism referring to Peter Allen)) walked out and sat 3 metres away from us!
TV Cha-ching!
The next day at our hotel we were accompanied into the elevator by a dashing and familiar young man. Tash couldn't help herself and simply asked: "You're in something aren't you?" He was gracious and suggested helpfully that he was currently in the TV series "Bored to Death (questioning shrug?)", whereupon Tash wrinkled her nose and said That's Not It. He took it in his stride and was very friendly, though, and told us he loved Melbourne and would live there if he could (Go Melbs)! Back in our hotel room we fell back on good ol' reliable IMDB and discovered he was Jason Schwartzman (and that he'd been in The Darjeeling Limited, which is what Tash recognised him from, among many others things)!!
TV Cha-ching!
We also went to another comedy show another night (at Comic Strip Live - although it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap, they claim it's the "legendary home of Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Paul Reiser, Carol Leifer, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano and more") and Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock was the first of the infinite number of comics they had on. He actually wasn't very funny, but he's on TV!
TV Ka-Boing!
Plus William Stephenson, who played the bus driver in the first episode of Louie CK's show "Louie", was the MC.
TV Mini-Ching!
Ummm...and we also went to Carrie's apartment and Magnolia Bakery in the West Village...
TV A-hem!
The New York Comedy Festival also just happened to be on while we there, and we were tempted to extend our trip by an extra day just so that we could see Joel McHale's (of Community and The Soup fame) stand-up show at Carnegie Hall on the night we left, before realising that New York is the worst place in the world to say "We'll just extend our holiday each day there's something we'd like to go to" ... and so we let it go.
But basically what I'm saying, in case I didn't make it clear, is that we managed to squeeze in a lot of TV experiences in our 5 days in New York without really watching any Cathode Rays. You could say we had a Cathode Rays-Ban!
I am very glad that my writings have led me to type that sentence.
Before I wrap it all up, we also managed to squeeze in some movie experiences, combined with a liberal helping of AWESOME, by hitting the New York edition of Lebowski Fest at Brooklyn Bowl the night before we left (this is something we actually did extend the trip for).
I only found out about Lebowski Fest last year, and never imagined that one day I would actually be able to see, in the flesh, the many people dressed up as The Dude, Valkyrie Maude and Baby Nihilists, the many people drinking white russians ... and bowling.
If you're interested, this is a link to a news item about the night we were there: http://vimeo.com/16722086
The organisers also booked the obligatory cock rock band to finish off the night: Diamondsnake.
And yes, that's Moby in the picture on the left (not just a dude who looks like Moby) shredding on the guitar. We also recognised the bassist, but couldn't quite place him, until we realised it was Dave Hill, who was also one of the "stars" of The Overton Window script reading at the UCBT: Craziness!
The lead singer also plays in a Bee Gees tribute band: Tragedy!
Seriously - "Tragedy" is the name of the band.
Gold.
Below is a video of Diamondsnake playing "D-Snake Riot" that night:A very cool thing about attending the tapings is that, before every show, Stephen comes out and allows the audience to ask him questions, about anything, out of character. There are some examples of very good questions in the reporTs above, but I did manage to get his attention and wittily ask: "Would you ever think about getting John Travolta to fly a planeload of your audience out to Australia?" To which he frustratingly replied, with a twinkle in his eye: "You seem to know the way!" and moved on to the next question.
NOOOOOOO!!! I really wanted to know if he would think about coming to Australia! Plus I forgot to mention that we flew over just for the Rally (like I've told everyone else I've ever met)!!
However, I got a hint of why he may have moved on from my question so quickly the next night at the taping of The Daily Show, when another Australian in the audience right behind me boringly asked Jon "When are you coming to Australia?" YAWN!! Can't you Australians think of anything else to ask? Especially since (as we were told by staff when we were in the queue for The Report) they have had at least one Australian in the audience EVERY NIGHT since The Colbert Report began!
So if I can offer some advice: if you're Australian, don't even think about asking "When are you coming to Australia?" (even if asked cleverly and topically like me) - ask something interesting about Watership Down or Large Fruit-based sculptures like the ladies above.
Anyhoo - the shows were great. The episode of the Colbert Report was the first one after the Rally, which started with Stephen doing his "Steph Colbert's Hobby Hovel" in front of a green screen (right in front of us - the studio really is small, and we were only about 4 rows back, so we were super-close) and we all had to practise and then perform the song "It's the Greatest, Strongest Country in the World" ("From North to South and East to West and diagonally!") along with Stephen when he went through some Rally highlights, as well as at the end. Plus Stephen looked right at me after one of his jokes, knowing that I get his stuff, and we also both wear glasses.
And The Daily Show we went to the following night was the live election special (on 2 November - the day of the mid-term elections) which was also very exciting. Although the guests weren't super-famous for either show, at The Daily Show taping we were blessed with seeing not 1, not 2, not 3, not 5, but FOUR of the regular correspondents: Aasif Mandvi, Olivia Munn, Jason Jones and John Oliver (wearing his green-screen suit)! We just needed a Wyatt Cenac or a Sam Bee for a full house! (though we did run into Kristen Schaal in The Pony Bar in Hell's Kitchen after the show - did you know she's a horse? Incidentally, The Pony Bar is one of many, many great bars in NY with many, many microbrews on tap - check it: http://www.theponybar.com )
So, anyway, after the two tapings, and speaking to some of the legends involved, I think I can very safely and humbly say: "TV Cha-Ching!!!"
In all seriousness, it's great to watch both the shows now and picture how it all fits together behind-the-scenes (especially when we get glimpses of the scary security guys who just watch the audience the whole time ready to open up multiple cans of W-A. For a comedy show, they sure look like they want to dismember some audience members).
Our TV Adventures didn't stop there, though.
The same night we saw The Colbert Report, we managed to then get into another show - the script reading of a movie based on Glenn Beck's book "The Overton Window" - at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (which, since we're speaking about TV, was started by, amongst others, Amy Poehler, and includes such alumni as The Daily Show's Rob Corrdry and Ed Helms). They promised a special guest, and they delivered when Chris Meloni (Elliott from Law and Order: SVU, as well as a scary man from Oz (the prison drama, not the colloquialism referring to Peter Allen)) walked out and sat 3 metres away from us!
TV Cha-ching!
The next day at our hotel we were accompanied into the elevator by a dashing and familiar young man. Tash couldn't help herself and simply asked: "You're in something aren't you?" He was gracious and suggested helpfully that he was currently in the TV series "Bored to Death (questioning shrug?)", whereupon Tash wrinkled her nose and said That's Not It. He took it in his stride and was very friendly, though, and told us he loved Melbourne and would live there if he could (Go Melbs)! Back in our hotel room we fell back on good ol' reliable IMDB and discovered he was Jason Schwartzman (and that he'd been in The Darjeeling Limited, which is what Tash recognised him from, among many others things)!!
TV Cha-ching!
We also went to another comedy show another night (at Comic Strip Live - although it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap, they claim it's the "legendary home of Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Paul Reiser, Carol Leifer, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano and more") and Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock was the first of the infinite number of comics they had on. He actually wasn't very funny, but he's on TV!
TV Ka-Boing!
Plus William Stephenson, who played the bus driver in the first episode of Louie CK's show "Louie", was the MC.
TV Mini-Ching!
Ummm...and we also went to Carrie's apartment and Magnolia Bakery in the West Village...
TV A-hem!
The New York Comedy Festival also just happened to be on while we there, and we were tempted to extend our trip by an extra day just so that we could see Joel McHale's (of Community and The Soup fame) stand-up show at Carnegie Hall on the night we left, before realising that New York is the worst place in the world to say "We'll just extend our holiday each day there's something we'd like to go to" ... and so we let it go.
But basically what I'm saying, in case I didn't make it clear, is that we managed to squeeze in a lot of TV experiences in our 5 days in New York without really watching any Cathode Rays. You could say we had a Cathode Rays-Ban!
I am very glad that my writings have led me to type that sentence.
Before I wrap it all up, we also managed to squeeze in some movie experiences, combined with a liberal helping of AWESOME, by hitting the New York edition of Lebowski Fest at Brooklyn Bowl the night before we left (this is something we actually did extend the trip for).
I only found out about Lebowski Fest last year, and never imagined that one day I would actually be able to see, in the flesh, the many people dressed up as The Dude, Valkyrie Maude and Baby Nihilists, the many people drinking white russians ... and bowling.If you're interested, this is a link to a news item about the night we were there: http://vimeo.com/16722086
The organisers also booked the obligatory cock rock band to finish off the night: Diamondsnake.
And yes, that's Moby in the picture on the left (not just a dude who looks like Moby) shredding on the guitar. We also recognised the bassist, but couldn't quite place him, until we realised it was Dave Hill, who was also one of the "stars" of The Overton Window script reading at the UCBT: Craziness!
The lead singer also plays in a Bee Gees tribute band: Tragedy!
Seriously - "Tragedy" is the name of the band.
Gold.
I could go on (for example, our A380 plane was mysteriously absent from LA airport on Friday 5 November), but I think you've read enough.
Congratulations - you are an Achiever - and take 'er easy.
Congratulations - you are an Achiever - and take 'er easy.
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