latenightexperience2

I had to start 2001 off with a bang. On Thursday, January 4th, I made a trip up to NYC to see a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien with my friends Jessica and Morgan. It had been easy to get tickets for the show. I had simply called NBC at (212) 664-3056/3057 a few weeks earlier and gotten myself on the list of audience members. I was a Conan veteran having already seen a taping over the summer, but I was in for a few surprises.

After eating (and getting free dessert--don't tell anyone it's not Jessica's b-day!) at the Hard Rock Cafe and shopping in the not-so-crowded stores, my friends and I walked in the cold winter weather over to NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center. Every seat at Conan is a good one, but we wanted to sit in the front row, so we were the first in line at 2 pm. While I left the line for a minute, a NBC employee told my friends that it was too early to be in line, and it wasn't guaranteed that they would get good seats because of it. This is just another example of why you cannot trust them.

The waiting process for the show is a bit grueling. It requires hours of standing in line in the stuffy second level of NBC Studios while tour groups parade past every half hour and NBC employees snap at you to remain standing at all times. However, when we first arrived to the line, an extremely nice security guard gave us a chair to sit on, which was later taken awhile by the NBC ticket taker.

While at the front of the line, my friends and I took turns leaving our place to go shopping and get munchies (and coffee!) on the lower level of NBC Studios. By 4:30 pm, we passed our security checks and made our way up to wait outside the actual studio while rehearsal diligently went on inside the closed doors. Since we were still at the front of the line, we chatted with the NBC employees and overheard that a lot of ticket holders at the back of the line had been turned away because too many tickets had been distributed.

It wasn't until 5:15 pm that we finally sat down in our front row seats in the chilled studio, but it was well worth the wait. Conan's studio is beautifully designed with an outdoor theme of sun, moon and stars painted on the walls. As soon as everyone was seated, Late Night's warm-up guy asked where everyone was from and cracked jokes about the cities that outgoing audience members had shouted out. He was funnier than ever! Then the Max Weinberg 7, the show's band, roared into some snazzy jazz music.

Of course, Conan came out last since he's the star of the show. He's a unique talk show host in the way that he interacts with the crowd before the show. Conan doesn't just stand on stage and talk to us, but he comes into the crowd to chat and dance. As always, he came into the audience almost as soon as he was introduced and shook hands with some people sitting along the aisles. He pulled a guy named Brendan up and asked him to dance. My friend Jessica thought that Brendan "danced like a bricklayer," which Conan acknowledged and had him sit down. Here comes the cool part.

Suddenly, Conan looked right at me and began to playfully flirt with me in front of the audience in the typical Conan-esque way of asking my name, shaking my hand, growling like a tiger at me (with hand motions and all) and replying "That never works with women." Then, unexpectedly, he asked Brendan and I to dance in the aisles with him and some of the guys in the band. The only problem was that he messed up my name by calling me Angie. I instantly corrected him, and he said that he could have sworn that I said Angie and insisted on calling me that. I wasn't having it, and he said, "The other night was a little foggy. I'll call you Gwendalin," to the laughter of the crowd behind me.

After the whole name mix-up, I danced in the aisles with Conan, who I might add isn't intimidated like most guys when it comes to boogying on down. After we danced for a few minutes, Conan shook my hand once again and said "Thanks Annie" with a smile. He finally got my name right.

The show was better than ever with a skit set at a New Year's Eve party for 2000 where Triumph the Insult Comic Dog made resolutions for the upcoming year with Conan, Max and Late Night's announcer Joel. They showed hilarious clips from shows throughout the previous year where they broke their resolutions, but some were later cut for time during the television broadcast. During the commercial breaks, Conan chatted with his head honchos at different parts of the studio, but mostly over by his desk. I always witness this when I go to various tapings, but I'd like to know exactly what they're saying.

The night's guests were comedian Dave Chappelle and The View's Meredith Viera, who were both funny and interesting. After the show, Conan graciously thanked the audience and headed backstage to the cheers of the rowdy crowd. All in all, it was the best time I've ever had at Late Night. It's not everyday that I get to dance with a talk show host (but it should be).