In This Section
|
« Heller Hath No Fury
My Trip to Letterman
No, I wasn't a guest (one fine day, folks, one fine day). A friend meandered by last week and picked up a pair of extra tickets, so I went as a member of the studio audience. And boy was it strange.
First off, remember when Letterman was all avant garde and edgy, mocking guests without them even knowing it? We all know those days are gone, and my experience as a member of the audience only served to prove it. No edge left at the Ed Sullivan Theater, no sirree, now the halls are lined with — literally — cheerleaders. As ticketed guests line up in the lobby, Worldwide Pants staffers in jock-boy jackets scream, "Are you excited?" with merciless repetition. It's annoying at first, then downright alarming, then nervously laughable in a "Somehow, suddenly, I am in a cult" kind of way. But after that, weirdly, my friend and I started to have fun.
The staff of Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, is made up of about 10 intern-age kids who help line up the audience and tell them where to go and what to do. But the staff's more important job is to warm up the audience after lining them up; it was repeatedly explained to us, in loud, excitable, laughing-gas-smile tones, that the Late Show with David Letterman proudly does not use recorded laughter, so it is up to us to provide the giggles and the claps. Whereas if watching at home you might smile at a joke, here you gotta guffaw, and they're there to put you in a guffawing kind of mood. They do this with a series of comedy acts (Eddie Brill most notably) and with musical performances from the CBS Orchestra. Seating is "random," which means that the Pants staff put happy-faced, good-energied people in the front rows (I shoulda been an actor — I got third row!). Before Dave comes on with his warm-up act, as well as during commercial breaks, the band plays, and these frantic, fresh-faced interns literally dance madly in the aisles. What's most strange is that, bizarrely, in a magical act of emotional transformation, this sneery cynic right here found herself laughing and clapping along. I was grinning like a loon, frankly. Who needs Prozac when you've got Worldwide Pants girls?
The taping I saw was Samuel L. Jackson, touting his new movie Black Snake Moan. I've seen the ads for this thing (I've got me a little Timberlake problem, so it, shall we say, caught my eye), and that movie truly looks like a cinematic fart. But, that said, one cool thing was that the CBS Orchestra's own Felicia Michele Collins was Samuel L. Jackson's guitar teacher — he plays a blues musician in the film and had to learn to play quick. So he chatted a bit with Dave and then got in the orchestra pit to play with his teach. That was very cool, and he, well, he just bleeds cool. Dave himself was sharp, obviously, and every bit on the game as he seems. What you don't realize when watching from home is that when Dave and his guests are sitting at the desk, they're facing a half-moon of huge camera and sound equipment, so they can't really see the audience and the audience can't really see them. Most of the interview I was watching from the monitors, even though I was in the third row, although when Jackson started guitar-picking, I had a perfect view of the band. That Paulie Shaffer, what a stand-up guy.
The Samuel L. Jackson interview, which also includes a very funny bit from comedian Jim Gaffigan, airs tomorrow night. But never mind those guys, look for me in the third row!
|
|
|
|
Feb 22, 2007 6:33 PM
|
It's annoying at first, then downright alarming, then nervously laughable in a "Somehow, suddenly, I am in a cult" kind of way. But after that, weirdly, my friend and I started to have fun.
From what you described, I imagine my reaction would be very similar although I'm taking your word for it on that last part. Actually, I adore Dave so maybe it's not such a stretch.
Unfortunately, I missed that episode. Did you get to see yourself on tv?
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 12:46 PM
|
"Cinematic fart" is my new favorite phrase. That was pretty funny.
I think Dave might want to mock the guests 'behind their back in front of their face' but their agents and friends/family probably all caught on to his MO awhile back and CBS probably yelled at Dave for making it hard to book some guests. They may not be the sharpest tools in the shed but somebody spilled that they weren't coming out of Dave interviews looking like Stephen Hawking and they listened.
|
|
Mar 4, 2007 5:16 AM
|
|
|
