For many years as a
politics junkie and a lover of political satire, I enjoyed clicking onto
YouTube and finding the latest episode of Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ on the
Comedy Channel. One of the stalwarts of the show was contributor Stephen
Colbert. In 2015 Stephen departed his highly entertaining and funny ‘Colbert
Report’ to take over from the legend David Letterman on the popular late night
show ‘The Late Show’ on CBS, I wasn’t sure if the move would suit the comic
presenter.
Thankfully, despite the
fact that I lived three thousand miles away in Dublin, the good people of
YouTube were yet again on hand to provide the conduit whereby the Late Show
could upload clips of their nightly show. I fell in love. Stephen’s opening monologues
were pure genius, hilarious, stinging and on point. This was helped by the fact
that his taking over the big shoes to fill of Letterman, the former President
of the United States (who will not be named by Colbert on his show) announced
his unorthodox candidacy for America’s highest office. The show went from
strength to strength. The quality of the monologue, the guests and the musicians
on the show, led by Grammy winner Jon Batiste, made the show compulsive
viewing.
Every night I would come
in from work (I was a bartender), head up to bed and lay quietly in the
darkened room and watch the recent uploaded clips, tears of laughter falling to
the pillow and it was as though everything was right with the world. It would
be a huge disappointment as suddenly a week would go by with no shows. When the
pandemic struck, Stephen and his team adapted, broadcasting from his home,
originally fully dressed in the bathtub but then, with his family acting as his
crew, from an spare room in his own house. I have many favourite musicians and
bands, that I have paid money to see in concert, but getting a chance to visit
a TV show like the Late Show seemed a forlorn dream.
Following the lifting of many Covid imposed restrictions in Ireland and the US, I managed to buy a ticket to New York to visit with my aunts and Uncles over there but on a whim, I applied for a ticket to be in the audience of the Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. It was like opening a Christmas present that I had pleaded with Santa to put under the Christmas Tree when I got an email from ‘1iota’ offering me a ticket for the show at the Ed Sullivan theatre, on the famous Broadway in New York, on Thursday March 31st 2022. It is hard to find the words for the excitement I felt.
Fast forward to 5pm on that Thursday and I’m already feeling extra special and loved when I discover that not only is Stephen recording one show but two as he is also recording Friday’s show and this was not an April Fool’s joke. The queue outside the Ed Sullivan theatre stretched around the corner or as they say in the Big Apple, around the block, and the first thing that struck me was the amount of ‘meet and greet’ staff the show had, all miked up, taking each attendees details. This included my passport details (yes that famous Irish passport) and my documentation stating that I was vaccinated and boosted against Covid 19. This was a well-oiled machine, very impressive and all so friendly.
Occasionally a member of staff would travel down the line reminding us that once we entered the theatre, we must wear our masks at all times and also making us raise our arms in the air to prove we were in possession of the blue wrist band that guaranteed entry. They entertained the crowd now slightly dampened by a squally shower of rain but spirits were high. The doors opened just before 5pm and this was my first experience of such tight security at an entertainment venue. I had attended numerous live recordings at RTE’s headquarters at Montrose and the nearest to a tight security was a polite request to leave our wine glasses behind in the reception area as we entered the studio to be seated. There was an explosives sniffer dog at the door and then a metal detector that we had to pass through but the line moved quickly and efficiently. I was ushered to my seat on the ground floor, four rows back from the stage. Could this experience get any better? To comply with Covid advice, fresh air was continually being pumped through the theatre, which gave it a bit of a chilly feeling, so the jacket was coming off any time soon.
Eventually, once the theatre was full of ticketed and stand by attendees for no shows, a warmup act took to the stage and despite the fact that he invited a fellow Irish person, a lady from Cork, onto the stage, the less said about this warmup act the better. I wish him success in his comedic career, if he decides to pursue it. We were then given one opportunity to visit the bathrooms, as the shows recording would take almost three hours. I felt quite guilty as the queue for the ladies was five times as long as that for the gents, but needs must. The stage manager Mark came out and was far more entertaining and to be fair on par with the floor managers at RTE’s late night chat shows like the Saturday Show or the Ray D’Arcy Show. Waving his rolled up script in the air as an indication when we were to clap, stand amd clap, cheer or laugh, he reminded me of the unofficial parking attendants on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin who would wave a newspaper at the reversing drivers screaming ‘lock hard’. Ah the good old days. Mobile phones were to be turned off and staff moved through the aisles checking to make sure no extra recording was going on. (oops)
The next thing I noticed was the presence of professional looking black suited security guards at the sides and at the edge of the stage. No chances were being taken that a audience member might attack any of the stars of the show.
The LSSC house band ‘Stay
Human’ then took their places, minus Mr. Batiste was he was in LA collecting
multiple Grammy awards and entertained us with multiple solos including one
from the temporary band leader Louis Cato. Great fun. I was smiling from ear to
ear. Then 49 minutes and 12 seconds
after we took our seats in the impressive theatre, out came the great man
himself, Stephen ‘The Genius’ Colbert. We were on our feet cheering and
clapping. ‘Stephen Stephen Stephen’ went the chant. I was in awe. I was in the
presence of one of my heroes. He told us it was a ‘chance to say hi to each
other’ and that ‘we are one big happy family’. He teased us on the lower half
that we were not getting a chance to see the wonderful dome that dominated the
roof of the theatre. A camera panned up and that evening projection onto the
dome popped up on the monitors hanging from the balcony for us to watch. Ah
well, can’t have it all. He then generously spent twenty minutes answering
audience questions. You get a once in a lifetime chance to ask a famous
comedian, a star of US late night television (always in the battle for ratings
with Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, but always winning) a question and what was
the first question he had to field from a lady was
‘How because of your beliefs,
do you reconcile your religion and science?’ wow, what a question.
Stephen’s answer was pure
gold, ‘God made science’. Then in
keeping with real world events at the time and in reference to President Zelensky
in Ukraine, a gentleman asked him ‘if we were to have a comedian here (the USA)
as President, who would it be?’ Immediately answered by the audience with
another extended chant of ‘Stephen Stephen’ but once again in keeping with the
events of the day Stephen’s answer was ‘Chris Rock’ following his Oscar bust up
with Will Smith where he was punched on stage by Smith. Next up was another
deep and thoughtful question, ‘With the success in your professional and
private life, what are your goals dreams and aspirations?’ was the next
question. Stephen said he was doing quite well where he was, i.e., CBS, had a
lovely wife (Evie) and great children but lamented what he would like was
‘abs’. We were eating out of the palm of his hand. Then he was asked would he
consider writing his own autobiography but he moaned sardonically that would be
a lot of work. After continuing to answer questions at ease, the final question
was,
‘What have you learnt as
a comedian during Covid?’
‘What I learned was how
much I miss you’ gesturing to the entire audience
His folksy, North
Carolina accent had us in raptures. We were his minnows, his followers, his
sheep. We were his, and for that brief few hours, he was ours. ‘Let’s do it ye
all’.
One thing I did notice
and it has up to that point happened in every theatre and every TV studio I was
ever in, and this was a bit of both, there were no ‘in case of emergency’
announcements directing us to the nearest exit. A shame, when everything else
was so professional and rewarding. Safety of your patrons should be paramount. Rant
over time for the show.
The credits roll and once again we are on our feet as Stephen takes to the stage as the eight, yes eight, cameras roll. This is the opening monologue from the Thursday taping.
To see that monologue
delivered in person was just as funny even more funny probably because of the
community of laughter in the theatre. Then the first and only slip came at the
‘Rocky’ film joke but pleaded us not to tweet his mistake as it would take away
from the persona of being perfect all the time. Postproduction would sort it
out. But to be fair, if we didn’t laugh loud enough on the evening, that too
could be sorted in post-production. Postproduction
came to the rescue of the network when they would also bleep out the ‘what the
fuck’ that we heard during his segment on the CBS hiring of former Trump staff
member Mick Mulvaney.
Monologue one done, time
to immediately move on the Friday night monologue and we had to pretend we were
a different audience to Thursday. Thursday audience was good but this Friday
audience is better. This is Friday’s monologue and one must marvel at the staff
of writers that produce this kind of up to the minute quality nightly. Then the
next monologue delivery interruption was when Stephen coughed, immediately
declaring it wasn’t Covid (their staff are rigorously tested) but that it was a
piece of celery string that had caught in his throat. Throat cleared and on
with the monologue, postproduction once again to the rescue.
I think that was perhaps the worst April Fools ruse ever perpetrated on the US TV viewing public. Really Stephen ‘It’s Friday’? Alas fake news that Friday monologue was delivered on a Thursday. Now who’s the fool? (Let’s wee you try a Mr. T impression on that one)
The recordings then
zipped along. James McEvoy, the Scottish actor was first and his interview was
hilarious but a sneak peek behind the scenes were the ‘in and outs’ that
Stephen recorded so that the show that night, broadcast at 11.35, could take a
number of ad breaks during the interview. As the show was recorded ‘as live’ we
watched the inserts that filled the show including the pre-recorded musical
guests. Quickly onto show number two and this was flying by far too fast. The Friday
night guests were Ken Burns, the documentary maker and Mandy Patinkin of Criminal
Minds fame who had collaborated on and narrated a new documentary on Benjamin Franklin.
Brilliant interview, funny, educational, relatable and entertaining. Then a pre-recorded
segment with John C. Reilly, who had been the international Grand Marshall at
the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin the previous March. It was interesting to
see, that even though Stephen was the interviewer, he was enjoying watching it
back and chuckled away to the very funny actor as they discussed films that
should have been made.
And in an instant, three
and a half hours after I entered the theatre, it was over. I lingered a little
but the ushering out had begun. It was over but I had been there, I had been
within touching distance of one of my heroes of television (although a couple
of burly men at the edge of the stage would have dealt with my attempted
touching quickly). It was brilliant, entertaining, funny and an unbeatable experience
for this Dubliner. The only downside, and I’m sure this is probably covid
related but even at the smallest of concerts, in small venues, there is a
merchandise stand. There was none. No chance to buy a mug, a memento of my
visit, a signed photograph or a sweatshirt. Them be the breaks in showbiz. But
my recommendation, if you are heading to New York, on a budget and you want
some brilliant free entertainment, apply to the Stephen Colbert Late Show for a
ticket, you will not be disappointed. Thanks to Stephen and your entire staff, I hope to be back some day soon.
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