Being an audience member for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Normally I blog about things from my professional life, but today I want to write up my experience getting tickets for and attending the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, particularly since some of the detailed advice you might find online is over a year old and a few things have changed.
A few weeks ago, knowing I’d be in NYC for my cousin’s wedding, I signed up online and scored two tickets for Stephen Colbert. You can request tickets for yourself and a guest, after which you’re “waitlisted” until you get an email for which you should promptly hit the “confirm” button. I ended up with a “priority” ticket. The “priority” people are ahead of the “regular” people, but there are separate “VIP” people, who I guess get their tickets from charity auctions and such.
How do the lines work? When should you arrive? We showed up at 12:30pm and were roughly #10 in line. Even at 1pm there weren’t many people but the line grew quickly after that. So yeah, we stood outside for four hours. Bring sunscreen or a good hat. If it’s any consolation, there’s a Starbucks and Pret a Manger right across the street. The Late Show staff are cool with one of your pair leaving the line, but you’ll lose your place if you both leave the line. So get to know the people around you and settle in for a wait.
At roughly 2pm, they ask for your tickets, check your IDs, and give you wristbands. At that point, they move you into a holding area, still outside the theater. As before, one of you needs to hold your place in line. Finally, around 4pm, give or take, they opened the theater doors and we had the joy of air conditioning. They emphasize that you should use the bathroom now, since once you’re seated, that’s it. (They have an accessible bathroom on the main level and most bathrooms are down a flight of stairs.) At this point, the “priority” ticket holders were on one side of the lobby and the “VIP” ticket holders were on the other side. The “VIPs” ultimately ended up in the front of the balcony and we “priority” people ended up in the floor seats. We were in the second row. So far as I can tell, the very front row was reserved. I have no idea for whom, maybe friends of the show’s guests.
What should I wear? They tell you to wear “nice casual” like you’d wear to a dinner party. In practice, they had no objection to people wearing shorts. I will warn you, dear reader, that it’s an arctic blizzard in there. I live in Houston. I know from over-air-conditioned buildings. Most of the Late Show staff are wearing fleece. Bring layers.
Once we were finally in our seats (4:30pm or so), the audience was warmed up by comedian Paul Mecurio. Among other things, he pulled various people on stage and made fun of them. First up, he picked a couple who turned out to be “IT professionals” so I cheered for them. He then looked right at me. You, get up here. He’s proceeding with that couple and a college kid, who also turned out to be a CS major, and then he asked me what I do. “Computer science professor”. This really got the audience going. Then he took some pictures of us, sent us back to our seats, and did it again with somebody else. Fun! (He posted the pictures on Facebook the next day.)
Overall, would I do it again? Sure! Among other things, I was genuinely impressed by the band, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, who you never really get to hear on television. To pick one example, they had an actor from New Orleans, Anthony Mackie, being taped on our day to be shown later; the band did a great New Orleans brass band piece. They rocked. They swung. Oh and the musical guest, Randy Newman, had a whole Putin themed song.
Stephen Colbert, in person, is pretty much exactly what you see on television. They only filmed retakes of a short bit where he sung a few bars, adapting Cat’s In The Cradle to poke at Trump and Trump Jr. Everything else ran straight through. If you’re into it, it’s intriguing to see how all the behind-the-scenes action works. Between guests, Colbert huddles at his desk with a staffer to go over what’s coming up next. Running around in the background, you see a photographer with a telephoto lens taking stills of the guests. At one point the stage manager got into a groove and danced to the band. And the energy of the room is just relentless. What a joy.
We emerged starving hungry and in dire need of a bathroom around 7:30pm. After that, say hello again to the city and go find yourself something to eat for dinner. Highly recommended.
