by Steve
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/
Ed Sullivan Theater
54th & Broadway – Midtown

I got tickets for a David Letterman Show taping a few weeks back. Just getting the tickets was a bit odd. I applied online and then received a phone call during which I was directed to call another number. I called the number and spoke with Karen who took all my info and asked me a single trivia question about the show. If I missed the question I presumed I would not have gotten the tickets. I answered the question correctly. The question was ” What is the name of Rupert Jee’s store”? The answer was “Hello Deli”. Good thing I studied up on the show. I decided to take my friend Derek to repay him for taking me to a Jimmy Fallon Show taping a few weeks back (See Review). Dave was taping two shows that day. I had tickets to the first taping.

It seems all of the shows have similar audience protocol. You wait around in a line and then you wait around in another line and probably in another line. It starts with the Check in line. You wait in a line to check into the show. You show your ID and let the staff know which list you are on. I suppose this lets them know who has shown up and how many seats are left for standby fans. After you check in you are given a pep talk and told what time you need to be back to wait in another line. We were told to come back at 2:15PM.

Derek and I decided to hunker down at a bar/restaurant around the corner called Gallagher’s Steak House. Gallagher’s opened in 1927. It is a New York Institution. One of those places you walk into and can feel the history all around you. We had two drinks and some complimentary fresh cut potato chips at the bar.  http://www.gallaghersnysteakhouse.com/

We made our way to the second line we would wait in to be divided into five new lines inside the Roseland Ballroom. When we checked in we received a ticket with a number on it. Our numbers were 59 and 60. We were in the first line or group to be taken across the street to the Ed Sullivan Theater.

As we waited in line in the Roseland ballroom we recieved yet another pep talk. This pep talk lasted about ten minutes. Ten minutes too long. Finally we were led over to the lobby of the Ed Sullivan Theater where we waited in a very cramped and hot line to get in. After about 15 more minutes of waiting and surviving some idiot’s flatulence we received yet another pep talk and were led into the Auditorium.

Loud dance music played as we were seated in the auditorium. We were seated in the fourth row on the right side of the room. In front of everyone was an intern who clapped to the music and insisted that you do the same. I believe the idea behind the clapping was so that the interns to could look about the audience and see if people were taking pictures or on their cell phones which were highly frowned upon. Derek indeed was not clapping and was on his cell phone. The little wiry intern shot me a dirty look and I nudged Derek. He got off his phone and we were saved from expulsion. So we clapped for another 20 minutes as the CBS Orchestra played the Rolling Stones, The Police, Bill Wither’s Lovely Day, Lenny Kravits and some other songs I can’t recall. We literally clapped our hands raw.

The clapping stopped and after a little warm up by Eddie Brill, the Audience Warm-Up and Comedian Talent Coordinator, Dave came out to greet everyone. This is what all the waiting was about. As soon as he began to speak all the waiting and clapping was forgotten. He is a true master of his late night hosting. He is a professional through and through! He really connected with everyone and made us feel good about being part of his audience.

The announcer, Alan Kalter, said the magic words ” Now Here’s David Letterman” and the monologue began. David mentioned he was a little under the weather during his earlier greeting of the audience and you could hear it in his voice every once in a while. The monologue was a success. A few jokes about Egypt, the weather and Charly Sheen and it was over. I laughed quite hard.

The shows guests were Justin Bieber, who plugged his new movie and Pauley Perrette, an attractive young tattoo’d girl from the CBS show NCIS.The musical guest was Best Coast an LA based band. All in all the show was great and I had a really good time. I would definitely recommend going to the David Letterman Show.

http://bestycoasty.blogspot.com

http://www.pauleyperrette.org/