My First Experience
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
By Katie Zipper
Is it ever edited? I mean, I thought they would edit out the parts where the audience kept clapping. But nope. They left it. Which was pretty awesome. WE HAD RHYTHM!
I got to Rockefeller Center at 11:00 AM but no one knew where I should go. I asked the same 5 people so many times; they kept sending me in circles. I couldn't leave because I was meeting my friend there. So I wandered. And every once in a while I'd ask someone again.
The day went by pretty quickly, thanks to my handy dandy digital camera. I just took pictures of everything.
Finally, around 3:30 PM my friend arrived, shouting, "I need to go to the bathroom." So we did. And then I was said, "Let's go line up!" I totally expected to be first. I mean I had been there since 11:00 AM!
But no. There were about 10 people in line. Do you know how pissed I was? I should have been first. I was really pissed. Mostly at my friend for not knowing her way around Rockefeller Center or I might have been able to just wait where the line was and she could have met me there.
Regardless, we did make friends with the people in line behind us, which helped the 2 hours we had to wait go by much quicker. It’s nice to know that Conan’s fans aren’t bitches.
Finally they handed out the tickets and bracelets. They took the tickets when we went upstairs (the studio is on the 12th floor or something) [editor's note: 6th through 7th floors], but we did get to keep the bracelets. Mine is still on my fridge.
Anyway, they took us upstairs and that was the best part! I mean riding in elevators is awesome. We get up there and end up waiting in this hallway for probably half an hour. But it was cool because there were pictures of Conan everywhere. It was like the Conan hall of fame! Some of the pictures were so old and it was cool to see what the set looked liked when he first started.
Before I get to the rest, I’m going to let you know that my friend and I made Conan shirts. Mine said, “Conan O’Brien is my homeboy” on the front and “Are you gonna go to hell when you die?” on the back. Everyone loved it. The people who worked there thought it was awesome. Ok, back to the story. While we were waiting in the hallway, one of the ladies who worked there asked, "So who thinks they're the biggest Conan fan?" Everyone pointed to me for some reason (apparently making a shirt makes you the biggest fan, so I played along). And not just my friend; the people in front of us in line and behind us did too. Then she asked me what college he went to. Like I know. It was Harvard and he was editor of the newspaper twice. He did something that hadn't been done for 85 years. It has to do with the newspaper. I'm sorry; I can't remember exactly [editor’s note: Conan was the president of the Harvard Lampoon in 1983 and again in 1984 -- the first two-time Lampoon president since Robert Benchley, class of 1912]. And he did a double major. I was really impressed. I mean, I didn't think he was stupid, but he is REALLY smart.
They also handed out shirts that have the Conan "logo" and say "audience member" (which they do at every taping; I’ve been twice so now I have 2). They're awesome. But the one I made is better.
When they sat us, my friend and I were in the front row! Right in front of where Conan does his monologue. It was awesome. I think some of the people in the camera crew saw my shirt and they smiled. It made me happy. I was so convinced that Conan would see it.
He came out right before they started the taping to talk to the crowd and I stood up and clapped for him. I was the only one who stood up...I thought everyone would. Oh well. I'm a nerd. Despite my standing up-ness, CONAN DIDN'T NOTICE ME!! Well, when we were all clapping and cheering for us he was like, "YEAHHH!!" and made this weird face and looked right at me, to which I responded with a "YEAH!!" and made a weird face back. But he didn't say anything about my shirt ever. That made me sad.
He randomly chose some guy in the audience to make fun of. He actually hugged him, and then made that guy hug a guy sitting across from him, and then the guy got to hug Max and Max gave him his drumsticks (which also happens at every taping)! I was jealous. But right before the guy got Max's drumsticks, Conan saw this girl with a sign that said it was her 18th birthday and so he said, "Aw that's great. Happy birthday! Do we have something to give her? What can we give her?" And he looked around and all he found was 2 pencils. So he gave them to her. But 2 seconds later some guy gets Max's "one of a kind" (Conan's words) drumsticks (and then Conan was all "Oh wait, no they aren't! He has another pair." It was funny. Trust me.)? I think the girl should have gotten the drumsticks.
So then the show started. Conan came out for the monologue. He hardly looked at the audience at all...I thought he was always looking at them. It turns out he's actually looking at his cue cards. I don't know why that didn't occur to me before. And then the guests came out...(who I had managed not to find out until about a half an hour before the show started; I was happy about that). It was actually people I knew. Michael Chiklis (from The Shield), who is awesome, and funny. Finesse Mitchell (SNL) was cool too. When he left after the show he was waving to the audience and actually being interactive. (I couldn't help wondering the entire interview if he's gay....)
Before the show and at the commercial breaks Max and his 7 played songs and everyone clapped along. Mark Pender is INSANE. He was dancing and stuff. It was so funny. I love that guy. After the show I asked him for his show-schedule-song-list-thing, which basically has the timing for the show, when the skits were and how long and when the guests were supposed to come out and the names of all the songs they were going to play when and that kind of stuff. It's a very well planned show. I guess they really DON'T need to edit it.
After the show, Conan SANG! He sang his "end of the show" song. It was so awesome. I really wish they had let us take pictures. Man, he sang. He can actually sing. It was a funny song. I don't remember exactly how it goes. Sorry. I guess you'll never know...mwhahahahahahahaha.
They kicked us out like right after it ended. I wish we could have just sat in there. I remember when I first walked in I couldn't believe how small it is. It's so small. Like, tiny. And when I watched the episode it looked big. (I sound really stupid right now.)
OH! I was on TV. This episode had a skit that had to do with New York getting the Olympics and when some guys were running through the audience, I was in the left corner for a couple of seconds and my friend is sitting next to me in the green shirt. The timer was pretty much covering my face but you should be able to see my shirt.