The Letterman Experience

I'm so excited. I won the lottery. No, not the one that you play to try to win a gazillion dollars. The lottery that The David Letterman show holds to see if you can be a guest for a live taping of a show. Let me explain.

So here I am in New York City, the Big Apple. I love this place. It was just about 10 o'clock in the morning, and I accidentally stumbled upon the Ed Sullivan Theater.

The rules are simple. Your not allowed to line up in front of the doors of the Ed Sullivan Theater before 10AM. Lucky for me it was just about 5 minute till then. So, I detoured from my days itinerary and strolled over. There were only a handful of people at the doors. I was surprised at this. I stuck around in line and within about 15 minutes or so the Letterman interns showed up. They kindly greeted us, and let us into the lobby of the historic Ed Sullivan Theater.

A very well spoken, and assertive young lady told us how the whole process worked. She was very precise and to the point.

She told us that there was a brief form that we needed to fill out. It was just general information; name, age, etc. I happily filled out my form, smiled, thanked her, and began phase two.

At this stage more people began piling into the lobby. The crowed had nearly tripled in size. I imagined it being a lot bigger; especially for a taping of Letterman.

The next step seemed a little bit intimidating at first, but it was nothing. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I wish it lasted longer.

After handing my completed form back to the girl in charge I was instructed to wait in a second line for an 'interview'. Not really an interview by any degree. They just look over your information that you gave them and ask you some questions. Things like: "Where are you from?" "What are you doing here in New York?"; etc.

I was however asked if I was a fan of David Letterman. I smiled and said yes. I have been watching Letterman since the early 1990s. I love the guy. They also ask you what your favorite segment of The Letterman Show is. "Stupid human tricks!" I answered. She kindly smiled and said "Yeah, thats one of my favorites too." I was then thanked and moved along my way.

After all of that I was told that I would be contacted in a matter of hours to see if I won the lottery. My instance however was just a little bit different as I was staying at the West side YMCA. I was told that it was sometimes hard to reach guests at the YMCA so they gave me direct number of one of the show employees to call. I thought that was really cool. Although it did stem forth some doubt as to whether I would actually get a ticket or not.

Only a couple hours later did my doubt prove me wrong. I made the call and was awarded tickets to the Late Show with David Letterman. The man I spoke to was very helpful and friendly. He made it clear that I needed to be at the theater by 2PM. I was also give a password to use later on.

The next stage was to wait in line again. This line was a lot bigger then the previous two, but still I thought to myself that the lines would be so much bigger. Again, the staff were very friendly and entertaining. This whole part of the process took about an hour. Another line, show your picture ID, talk to a couple interns, show ID again. Next go back inside of the lobby, show ID again, they check some lists to see if your name is on it. Finally after all that I am told to come back at a specific time to get the actual ticket for the show. I had about an hour to kill.

When I returned I found myself waiting in yet another line. At this point there were two lines. A line for ticket holders, and a line full of envious stand by guests just hoping somebody with a ticket doesn't show up so they can grab a seat.

I was one of the envied ticket holders.

After about a half hour wait it was nearly time to enter the studio and watch a live taping of David Letterman. The tension, and excitement was filling the air. Everybody was eager to get inside.

There was a lot of priming going on. The Letterman staff made it very clear to all of us that everything, and I do mean everything is funny. They make it a point to let you know to laugh at everything. Not a chuckle, but a good well belted laugh, even if you didn't think it was funny. We are told that it is the crowd that makes the show. One of the interns actually said "Could you imagine sitting at home, watching Letterman, and when he told a joke' nobody laughed?"

Finally! After all that waiting in line, and run around gibberish we are escorted in.

Into the lobby over to the left, up some stairs, and voila! There it is. The Late Show with David Letterman in all its glory.

It is so surreal! You have seen it for years on TV, but when you see it live and in person it looks so much different and a lot smaller.

The CBS Orchestra is absolutely amazing. It is safe to say that they are completely taken for granted when watching from home. They sound incredible, and can really put on a good live show. Coupled together with a superior sound system its sure to get you ready to go.

I thought I had a pretty good seat. For those of you who watch I was front row of the balcony. Right above Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra. I could literally look down right below me and see the ultra cool, dread-headed Felicia Collins.

At about a minute and a half till they started recording David came out to say hello to everybody. He took only a few questions with what time he had, told a few jokes then promptly took off behind the scenes again.

The scheduled guests for the night were David Duchovny, and baseball slugger Ryan Howard; a rookie from the Philadelphia Phillies. I hadn't even heard of either of them, so a bit of a let down right there. I did later recognize David Duchovny when he stepped out onto the stage though.

The musical guest was Andrew Bird. Again, I hadn't even heard of this guy! A little bit disappointing, but I didn't let it effect me enjoying the whole experience.

On a side note. I did find it pretty remarkable at how fast the crew set up the stage for the band. They were very quick, and efficient.

The whole hour was a blur. It seemed like just as soon as it started, it was all over, and it was time to leave.

It was quite the experience to be had. I really enjoyed the whole thing. They payoff in the end was really worth waiting through all the lines and running around.

Some of the things that stand out the most are probably the amount of running around Letterman does during the commercial breaks. He likes to take his coat off, put his foot up on the chair, stretch out, walk around, talk to the crew on the floor, smile and laugh. There was at one point where he looked angry about something and this only stirred my curiosity.

I was surprised at the fact that he didn't seem to care that the whole audience was watching him during this time. Which was contradictory to my initial thoughts.

I also had my questioned answered of where do the studio guests watch when there are skits on the TV at home (Pre-recored scenes). The answer is simple. There are a ton of monitors for the guest to look up at and watch while it is playing. I found it difficult to do that however, because I liked to see what was going on down below on the floor during the commercials, and while the skits were playing. I was very pleased at how close the monitors are placed to the audience. It made for easy unrestrained viewing.

I did feel a bit disappointed after the show finished. You could tell that this was just another days work for them, and sometimes I even questioned myself as to if they even enjoyed it anymore. Particularly the CBS Orchestra. There were no thank yous, no good bye, nothing. David promptly ran off the stage, and we were escorted out.

I stuck around for just about as long as I could trying to get a smile, or a wave from somebody in the band, but to no avail. They just kept rehearsing. I didn't see anybody else get a response from the band either.

All in all though it was a great experience and something that I am glad I got to do.

I would recommend it to anybody who visits New York to try to get tickets to see David Letterman Live.

After all it is free, and only costs you a minimal amount of time.