So what’s it like to be an audience member for the taping of a late night talk show? Well, let me tell you. For quite some time, I’ve meant to go see a live taping of “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” but it was always one of those things that I put off because I could do it anytime. But as soon as Ferguson announced his plans to leave the show by the end of the year, that thing I kept putting off became a ‘now or never’ situation.
The last time I saw a live taping of a talk show, it was probably over ten years ago. I got tickets to see The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I had family in town and thought they’d really enjoy it. Quite frankly, I’m more of a Letterman fan, but since Letterman tapes in New York, Leno it was. I found it to be a fun experience, though. It’s always quite exciting to see something live that you’ve only previous seen on the small screen. It gives you a slightly different perspective afterwards in the way you view the show. So I thought it was time to revisit that experience and see another live taping.
I choose Craig Ferguson because I always found myself laughing the hardest at his show. His off brand humor and general approach is always very refreshing. His skits and interviews are just so different than what everyone else is doing. I find him much more laid back and personable than other talk show hosts. He actually talks to people and listens to what they have to say. I never get the impression that he has moved on to the next question in his head before his guest finishes their answer to the previous one.
As for why he didn’t get the Letterman spot? Although I find all of the above traits admirable, the networks want someone who is broader and less niche. And Ferguson is definitely niche. His style just won’t translate to a broader audience in an earlier time slot. He is able to do what he wants to in his current time slot, but if they moved him up an hour, they would have had to strip away a lot of what makes him, well, him – and try and mold him into something else with greater range appeal. That to me would take away what makes his show special.The network probably made the right choice in choosing someone else, and now with the changing talk show climate, Ferguson probably made the right choice in choosing to leave his show as well. They would have just tried to fix what wasn’t broken.
Anyhow, before it was too late, I wanted to see a live taping of his show. And getting tickets is a very easy process. I’ll put a link to the website at the end of this article. I actually thought it might take me weeks or months to get in but I was surprised to find that I was able to get tickets for the following week. They announce which guests are going to be on the show on the ticketing website so you have an opportunity to choose who you’d like to see. I choose a night that Christina Hendricks from “Mad Men” was going to be the featured guest. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the show, there must have been a scheduling snafu. It seems they replaced Christina with Kathy Griffin. Ugh! I would have chosen another day to go. I’m really not a fan of hers. Really not!
When I signed up for tickets, I was put on the standby list. But less than a day later, I received confirmation that I was in. The ticket information stated that I was to arrive no later than 3:30 (but they recommended being there a half hour prior to that, which meant actually being there by 3:00). Then a few days later, they sent me an email saying that the show schedule had changed. They were now going to shoot two shows that day and that I was to arrive no later than 3:00 (which meant being there by 2:30). As for your actual tickets, you can just print them out at home.
So on a windy Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon, I drove down to CBS studios and parked at The Grove (an outdoor shopping and entertainment complex) on Fairfax Avenue. The show recommends you park there since they do not provide on-lot parking. From there, it’s only a few walking blocks to the studio. Side note for those who choose to go to a taping – although the show tickets are free, parking at The Grove is not. I think it was about $12.00 to park there.
Once I arrived, there was already a line of people outside the gates. The show has an audience coordinator on hand who checks your printed ticket and answers any questions you might have. At around 3:00 they ushered us inside the gates and onto the CBS lot. You are sent through a security check point. No electronic devices are allowed inside so you either have to leave your cell phone in your car or they’ll hold onto it for you. You are also not allowed to wear anything with a logo on it. No free advertising on CBS. No hats or sunglasses allowed as well. There is a waiting area once you get through security. They seat you on metal benches, conveniently in front of the CBS gift shop (for which they encourage you to visit).
After about another half hour wait, another CBS audience coordinator runs through the list of things that are expected of you once you are inside. Basically, he says to just laugh at all of the jokes. Be a reactive audience. But not too reactive. Don’t be distractive and scream something out during the show. They will eject you if you do that. I’ve seen them do it on his show before. Once the coordinator is done with his spiel, you are ushered up four flights of steps. I believe an elevator is available for those that can’t make the stair journey. And then onto the set you go. Or I should more accurately say ‘the audience section’. You don’t actually get to step onto the set.
Once there, another audience coordinator directs you to a seat. After everyone is seated, a warm-up comic starts his act. I believe his name was Bob. His job is really just to get the audiences excitement level up and to make sure they understand that they have to laugh big at every joke whether they want to or not. So if Ferguson doesn’t do it for you, prepare to bring your fake laugh with you. And then the show began.
What’s interesting about Ferguson is that he partially shot his show out of order. At first, the announcer (Shadoe Stevens) announces Ferguson who comes enthusiastically running out and jumps right into his monologue. It should be pointed out that he mostly looks right into the camera (since the people at home are the real audience) but he does occasionally look up and address the studio audience. But with Ferguson’s show, he opens it with a cold opening (somewhat of a skit) before the opening credits and monologue. But he filmed this part after the monologue (or in this case I should say monologues). Because he was filming two episodes, they filmed him coming out twice in a row and performing both monologues for each show (one for May 6th and the other for July 7th). Apparently he is on vacation in July and is doubling up on shows this week.
I’m sure that the reason he films the cold opening after the monologue is in order to get the full audience reaction when he first comes out on stage. Because when he does the cold opening, usually the audience is to remain quiet when they first fade in. On a funny side note, Ferguson would make subtle jokes on air about the fact they were filming two shows, one that was to be broadcast that night and one that wasn’t to be broadcast for a couple of months. The at-home audience probably wouldn’t get it so it was more of an inside joke for the studio audience. Also interesting is the fact he doesn’t change wardrobe between tapings. He made little jokes about that as well.
Once the monologues were finished, Ferguson pulled a gay Swedish couple down from the audience and did a comedy bit with them (which was implemented into the May 6th cold opening of the show). I have to say that the two guys were really good on air and they really went with the flow. They were so good in fact that Ferguson pulled them back down from the audience later and did the July 7th cold opening using them as well.
As for the guests for the May 6th airing, he interviewed Colin Hanks (promoting the TV series “Fargo”) and Richard Ayoade (promoting the movie “The Double”). I won’t get into details here. If interested, you can watch the entire episode below. Since these shows are shot in real time (more or less), what is interesting is that in-between what was to be the commercial breaks, they didn’t really pause for more than a few moments (especially during the celebrity interviews). They came right back and continued the show almost immediately without missing a beat. Ferguson did the usual bits with his robot sidekick Geoff (an actual mechanical robot puppet voiced by Josh Robert Thompson) and his trusty fake horse Secretariat (actually two people in a horse costume, played by Joseph Bolter and Ryan Mcgowen). For both tapings, he also did his ‘Tweets and Email” segment, along with the phone call bit where he has celebrities phone him up (impersonations done by Josh Robert Thompson).
As soon as the Richard Ayoade interview was over, Ferguson did his usual “What did we learn on the show tonight, Craig?” bit where he does a jokey wrap-up of the show. And as soon as that was over, they jumped immediately into the next show. Ferguson already previously did his monologue for this show so he moved right over to the cold opening where once again, he brought down the gay Swedish couple and did another bit with them. And then after his “Tweets and Email” segment, he brought out his first guest. As I previously mentioned, his original guest was supposed to be Christina Hendricks but instead we got another red head in the form of Kathy Griffin. Again, not a big fan or hers, but don’t worry, I made it through alive and in one piece. As for what she talked about, I really don’t know. I tuned most of it out. It’s not that I wanted to. My brain gave me no choice. It just doesn’t find her funny. But I do remember her talking about hair pies and such. I think the interview might have gone a little long because Ferguson knew that, due to Griffin’s chosen topics of conversation, some of it would probably have to be edited out. He even commented on it later.
His other guest was singer Ingrid Michaelson, who performed a song. A funny side note is that he pronounced her name wrong, instead calling her Ingrid Mickaelson, for which he acknowledged later on by saying that he made a “Travolta.” But right before she performed, they were having some equipment issues so things kind of came to a stand still for a few minutes. But once they got up and going, it was actually a pretty good performance. Ferguson included her in his “What did we learn on the show tonight, Craig?” segment. She was a great sport and played along. She was very lively and personable.
Once Ferguson said his good-nights, off he went. I almost expected him to make a curtain call and maybe address the live audience for a moment, but that didn’t happen. We were instructed to stay seated for a few minutes as they did some pick up shots with Geoff the robotic sidekick. As soon as that was finished, the audience coordinators helped to guide the audience out. Down the four flights of steps we went, out the doors, and off the lot.
Overall, I found it to be a very fun experience. Both shows actually flew by very quickly. I’m glad I was there when they shot two episodes otherwise it could have been a ‘blink and you missed it’ experience. I highly recommend that if you are ever in Los Angeles to check out a live taping of a talk show, Craig Ferguson in particular. But you better hurry. He only has seven more months on air until his show ends up in the TV Afterlife.
View the Show broadcast on May 6th, 2014
View the Show broadcast on July 7, 2014
For Ticket Information to see a taping of “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” visit: http://1iota.com/Show/157/The-Late-Late-Show-with-Craig-Ferguson