Just back from Maher. Had no idea til we got there that the show is actually entirely live. Wow - that is seriously impressive. It's such a great show, and I agree with Bill most of the time re his take on religion and politics, and totally respect the fact that he always has the opposing view on - even obnoxious assholes like Breitbart and Tucker Carlson. To think that amongst all the discussion and crosstalk all these years that it's always been live and comes off perfectly timed and that I've yet to see any real flub-ups. Wow. Totally professional stuff.
We got there around 5:20pm, and the line had already formed and was beginning to file towards the exterior door for the show.
(Had to include the above crowd/line shot, as it contains these two absolutely adorable young gayboys - the floppy haired kid on the right was particularly cute. It was so nice to see them freely holding hands and being comfortable with that in public. Yes, it's West Hollywood and Maher's is a liberal show, but still - it was really sweet and I was smiling stupidly behind their backs.)
Anyway ... where was I?
They told us to be there at 5:15, and so in arriving at 5:20, after hitting the very first real traffic I've seen so far, we were behind most of the lineup, so ended up being among the very last people seated once we got inside. Not that anyone 'sat' us - they just said, find an available seat except for those taped off, as they're reserved, which left slim pickings indeed.
Btw as we walked up the stairs into the studio, there was a huge painted sign on the wall - must have been easily 10 feet high - the logo for The Price Is Right, man. Also, we passed some groovie vintage CBS 'eye' pattern curtains that all three of us coveted it was so tv-retro.
We went through airport-like security ie metal detectors when still outside, and our cell phones were confiscated for the duration of the show. Funnily, I've become so weirdly attached to my Iphone that it was a bit nerve wracking to hand it over to a stranger, like giving your new puppy to a dog boarding facility you know nothing about. Yes. I am a weirdo.
Fascinating experience all the way around. Location is CBS studios, where Craig Ferguson, Letterman, and, the warm up/head writer guy informed us, Carol Burnett, Sony & Cher, All in the Family, and Price Is Right were all filmed (Chris can attest to the latter as he was once in the audience for PIR). It's such a small studio - maybe seating, I'm guessing, 200?
At first we could not find 3 seats together - we could only find 3 seats in the far right side, which was badly obstructed by a giant tall/wide monitor/speaker ahead of us. I opted to try and find a single seat on my own, and did - a folding chair directly behind one of the main cameras, in the very last row. I literally watched Maher's monologue through the camera monitor itself - could not see Bill at all other than when he gestured with his hands to the side.
They warned us up front about no shout-outs - that same would not be picked up by the microphones anyway, and mentioned some incident from 4 yrs ago when a '9/11 truther' apparently stood up and began shouting during the show. They said not only are you not heard by the tv audience, you are promptly whisked away and (they were joking I'm sure:) arrested. He said the holding cell contains Ann Coulter who has just drunk a case of Red Bull.
They also warned us up front about obstructed view seats - even if you had great seats, this is not stadium seating - if you're up front, you're in the equivalent of the orchestra pit, ie down pretty low vs the level of the stage, and the cameras, monitors, equipment and crew are all moving around at your eye level, so even in the best seats, you were obstructed fully or partially at times. But it's fine - certainly not complaining, here. Best view I had was of the initial up front one on one interview Bill does to start the show, which unfortunately was with, of all people, Arsenio Hall, reason being, it's the 20th anniversary of the LA Rodney King riots and Arsenio was there doing his lame idiot show at that time. Anyway, it was a bit surreal being there watching it all, and seeing on the monitors when they would put up a film of something else, or a graphic next to Bill's head. I always wondered what they did, for example, while a film clip is being shown - so I watched Bill and panel during same, and of course, they just sat there and sipped their coffee watched the film or Bill would look down at his notes. What else would they do?
Panel contained Ed Shultz (?) - I think that's his name, from MSNBC, who made some great points, as did Bobcat Goldwaithe, the 80's comic, and some ex military advisor from Bush 41 era + a female GOP strategist, who wasn't all that forceful or passionate. A perfect evening would have been if my man Dan S had been on - he's been a guest tons of times, and in fact, that is where I first discovered him, but twasn't to be.
How about Bill at one point making a reference to of all things ... Fight Club ? I looked over at Chris but couldn't find him - he was in the right hand section whilst I was now in the middle. When I saw him after the show ended he immediately mentioned it.
Interesting as hell to watch the crew move around, including one woman who did nothing but walk around taking what appeared to be long lens photos of the panel/Bill all night, from next to/between the camera operators. Lots of slow swooping camera action. Fascinating, fascinating. Great points made by Bill, who the crowd prep/head writer guy said had been drawing fire re last week's show for his religious criticism. They said Bill was going to go right back to it, so if anyone was sensitive about this, they were free to leave. We were asked to show "a lot of love and laughter" during the show, and there were certainly flashing applause signs and also this same dude stood in front of us at times and mimed clapping to us, but then that's the biz.
Show went by quick. Not quick enough for my arse sitting in an insufficiently padded folding chair, however. I was sitting next to a nice woman with a crew cut, age 44, LA resident who told me she's been in LA as long as she was in India, where she was born - 22 yrs each, owns a small motel in town which allowed her to raise her kids 'at work' and 'work' from home. Nice woman who was there by herself. Something about her son getting her tickets for Mother's Day but not being able to make it himself.
The show ended and the audience fluffer dude told us to stay seated, that 'Overtime' was about to be shot - this is the thing they do every show that does not go out on HBO, but only online for HBO and at Maher's website. They take questions/emails/tweets that Bill reads from on his 3x5 cards, and address them - like maybe 5 questions total. And then that's it.
Bill and panel stood, he thanked the crowd again, and interestingly, all of them stood together and a group photo was taken. Bill chatted with someone, and all the panel turned to leave the stage when fucking Arsenio decides to sprint over to the front of the stage to slap hands with people - the sheep who did the 'whoop-whoop' idiot chant when he first came on. I thought that was such a classic Arsenio move, to go over to meet his 'fans' like he was a rock star and this was his show. What a dick.
Afterwards we headed out and drove maybe 1/2 mile to Canter's:
An old Hollywood Jewish bakery/deli that has a very long list of stars and celebs who frequented the place including Cary Grant, Marily Monroe, Elvis, Judy Garland, Muhammad Ali, Monty Hall (!), Brad Pitt, River Phoenix, members of Motley Crew, The Wallflowers (who played there live - in fact, there is live music here every nite) etc. Place is open 24/7 and has been there since the early 40's. Sunset Strip is only a half mile away.
Cary Grant. You don't really need to hear any other names, do you? To put your place on the map? I mean, Axl and Slash don't exactly fucking cut it. Wonder if Cary sat at this booth:
Yes, that is my photo. I love you, Instagram.
So I had a BLT (definitely not a kosher place), and we all had drinks (gin and tonic for me, which was dee-lish - I don't have these often enough) and dessert. Mine was a decadant and sinful hot fudge sundae, particularly seeing as it was 9:30pm:
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Okay, so it's just after midnite as I type this, and tomorrow is my last day here. It's gone too fucking fast. Chris has some sort of play planned, but won't tell me what it is for some reason. Hopefully nothing requiring audience participation or karaoke or any o' dat crap ...
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