Taping Report for Monday, January 7

Normally we don’t publish taping reports for “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report”. But since this was the first show after a two-month break, it had a few gems about the evening that haven’t been reported in other places. And I really enjoyed reading it, so I thought I’d share.

So please, enjoy the taping report of somuch2kno, after the break.

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O.K., so I’ve finally wrestled myself away from reading NFZ and watching TCR long enough to pull together my scribbled notes and recollections on my day yesterday. I’m still conflicted about watching the show – not that I can actually resist gluing myself to the TV now that it’s back on – but I justified going to see the show taped yesterday by reasoning that I’d shown my support for the writers by showing up in various ways in person over the last 2 months, now I wanted to give my support to Stephen, the staff and the crew at TCR by showing up for them in person. So I did.

Filing slowly into the studio building allowed me a taste of two extremes in this strike situation. I was afforded the opportunity to outline the utterly outrageous behavior of the AMPTP to a very nice couple behind me in line who’d managed to stay fairly uninformed about the WGA’s situation. It felt good to do a little stumping for the cause. My emotions turned quickly as, just before I entered the building, a dozen writers showed up, pulled signs out of the plastic bags they’d been carrying, and began walking slowly back and forth in front of the studio. I honestly felt like crying.

Once inside, the anticipation quickly built as the crowd waited through the warm-up to finally, FINALLY, get to see Stephen, welcome him back, and watch him do his glorious thing.

Before Stephen came out, Mark McKenna, the show’s Stage Manager, reiterated for us just how much Stephen feeds off our reaction, encouraging us to be loud and boisterous with our response to the material. He took extra care to point out to us that Stephen would be performing with absolutely no papers or cards in front of him and completely blank teleprompters.

I was in the back row (all of about six rows from the studio floor) and could hear some of the chatter going on beyond the curtains behind me; curtains which opened between the two sections of studio seating; curtains through which I knew Stephen would emerge at any minute. I can’t tell you the rush I felt when I heard his voice behind me, talking to others backstage, getting himself pumped up. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was along the lines of, “Let’s do this!” It was all I could do to keep from yelling into the curtain, “Bring it on!” Which Stephen then proceeded to do. The audience could feel it before he even came out and we were clapping and stomping and shrieking, and he shot out onto the stage floor, taking his victory lap around his desk, beaming like there’s no need for tomorrow, right now will do just fine, thank you very much!

Stephen accepted his welcome and got right down to asking for questions “to humanize me blah, blah, blah” (even his stock, rote shtick felt warm and comforting to hear!).

I couldn’t actually hear the first question from the audience, but Stephen nodded knowingly, stepped back so everyone could see him and said something about “flipping his ear.” (I can never remember where those dang quotation marks are supposed to go!) He folded the outside of his right ear down and tucked it in, assuring us, “This is not the trick.” He then gave a huge wink. And we all know what happens when he winks – SIGH! Then he stepped back to take in the applause.

One of the first people Stephen called on pointed out that his wife, sitting next to him, was pregnant. Stephen immediately observed, “Stephen’s a nice name!” The guy then went on to ask if Stephen would be the baby’s godfather, and then something else I didn’t catch, which Stephen answered with an overly-sincere and emphatic, “Yes!”

Someone else asked, “How long did it take you not to write the show tonight?” Stephen responded, “You will hear things I am not aware of yet!”

Another question came up about growing a strike beard, to which Stephen replied with a cryptic, “You’ll get an answer to that.” And then moved on to someone else (heh heh).

When someone asked, “How did your wife like the extra time with you at home?”, Stephen called back behind the curtains, “Honey, how did you like the extra time with me at home?” To which a female voice (Evie, that you?!) answered, “A lot!” and Stephen gestured to the unseen voice as if to say, “There’s your answer.”

There didn’t seem to be too many questions, so after looking over the audience to see if any other hands were raised, Stephen said, “Well, I’m not curious about you either!”, and turned to head towards his desk to start the show (BIG WOOPIN’ YAY!). He stopped for a second, turned back to the audience and said, so genuine and sincere, “I love my writers. I can’t wait for them to come back.” We all hollered in agreement and Stephen went to take his rightful place.

The show went off pretty much as we all saw it on air. I noticed a smidge of editing on the interviews, but nothing significant. The fun stuff for me was keeping an eye on Stephen when he wasn’t on camera. He would intently watch whatever clips were being shown in the monitor on the camera, occasionally smiling, sometime almost in anticipation (just like us!). He chuckled in particular during the description of the “economy” cow pooping out workers. That little boy LOVES him some poop jokes.

During the breaks for commercial, Stephen would leave the set for a while. I didn’t recognize a good amount of the music that was being played, both before, during the breaks, and after the show, but it was obviously intended to keep the place bopping. Stephen would come back out not just singing along with the songs and dancing (YES, DANCING!!), but he’d go back behind his desk and “perform” them into the camera and pretend to be playing drums at his desk. At one point his was singing along with Amy Winehouse, and really meaning it, girlfriend! – “They tried to make me go to rehab” and then he’d hold his hand to his ear to encourage the audience to join in on, “No, no, no!”, smiling that smile as we played along with him.

I also tried to grab an occasional glance at the crew. Being a former theater crew member myself, I remember the wonderful feeling of being in a special hybrid niche – being a working part of a show while also being able to be a close witness of, if you’re lucky, a great performance. And the TCR crew is no acception. They’re right on top of their jobs, but they’re also watching Stephen do his thing. I noticed that Mark would laugh and nod at what Stephen was saying, and on a few occasions even seemed delightedly surprised by some of the lines he’d just heard. (Improv much?)

At the break before the very end of the show, Stephen returned from offstage in the Moses beard and explained to the audience that we were going to see he and Jon tape the toss at the end of TDS (oops, sorry, ADS). He pointed out that here was the answer to the pre-show strike beard question, and that, during Jon’s show he had done a bit about growing a unibrow. We wouldn’t get to see it because it was gone by the end of his show. They taped the toss and afterwards Stephen ask us in the audience, quite earnestly, “Did it look like the shredder took my beard off?”

After taping the closing, Stephen exited the stage to more of our applause. He came right back out and thanked us. “Your energy kept me going through the nothingness”, he pointed, indicating an empty teleprompter. “I’ll never forget you guys!”

And then he was gone. And we were ushered out. And I passed the last few writers out on the sidewalk packing up their signs. That’s when I saw the chafing dish with some hot food. Earlier in the day, while waiting outside the studio, I’d seen the delivery truck bring in catering trays and coffee dispensers. It wasn’t until that moment, leaving the studio, that I realized the food hadn’t been for those inside the studio, but for those who’d had to stay outside of it.

I work at a Quaker school and I attend Quaker meeting on a somewhat semi-regular basis (which is to say slightly more than occasionally). The Quakers have a saying that I love – Let your life speak. Part of our mission statement at school states that we attempt to educate our students to strive to live “in the world as it aught to be.” I can’t think of anyone I’ve encountered lately who brings those sentiments to my mind and heart more than Stephen.