The Daily Show, LIVE (for me, at least)

Yesterday I went into NYC to see a taping of "The Daily Show" with some friends from college. Tickets were free, but had to be reserved a few months in advance.

Always overbooked, we arrived early and stood in line outside for about 2 hours. After we were let in and seated, a visiting comedian warmed us up, had us practice cheering loudly, and otherwise did his act. The studio and the audience was suprisingly small (about 150 or so).

Once Jon Stuart came out, he spoke with the audience for a bit, answered questions, etc. Then the show started. While most of it was on the teleprompter, the interview with Tobey Maguire was apparently unscripted. From what I hear, most shows are done in 1 take, but they had to reshoot one scene when Jon Hodges (aka "PC") kept looking at a camera, and it switched to another one.

It was a really neat expereince, but 3 hours of waiting is a bit much for about 40 minutes of filming. Even so, I'll probably go again.