Friday, May 12, 2006
Guests: Senator Barack Obama, Wilco
By Vanessa L.
It’s funny how you do things that you never expect you would do. My week started with absolutely no plans of seeing Conan in Chicago. How quickly things change.
After reading numerous reports from people about how easy it was to get in with standby tickets, my friend Lisa and I decided we would make the trek to the city to see the show. My day began at 5:30 am, when I woke up. You see, if I was going to do this, I was going to do this right. The weather had been cold and rainy the day before, so I was prepared with a poncho, an umbrella, and nearly full winter gear. Lisa picked me up from my house at 6:30, and we arrived at the train station at Midway airport a little after 7. The trip didn’t take too long, and we got off at State and Lake at 8.
We asked a security guard sitting by the door of the theatre where we needed to go. He told us that the line started at Potbellys across the street. He also told us that getting in line now meant we were definitely going to get in and that there were about 75 people in the line already. So we walked to the standby line and found only about 30 people in the line. Not bad at all. And so began the waiting. At some point, I tried to find the bathroom, but the hotel across the street didn’t have a public bathroom, so I walked down State Street to the Borders. At least there, the people aren’t judging me just using the bathroom. At 10:30, we moved up in line, and then finally received our standby tickets, crossed the street, and joined the general line. At 12, Lisa went to Potbellys for lunch first. She came back and then I went in at 12:30. I had just sat down to eat when Lisa called me. Me: Hello?
Lisa: Oh my God, Conan is outside!
Me: Are you serious?
Lisa: Yes!
Me: Holy crap! Alright, I’m coming outside!
At this point, everything seemed like slow motion. I scrambled to get rid of my tray, shove my sandwich into a paper bag, carry 2 drinks, and run back to the line. I got there as Conan was moving down the line shaking hands, signing autographs, and talking to the people. I was about 3 feet away from him, as there were 2 security-type people separating me from him. I saw Conan talking to people and even gave someone a hug. Lucky! Everyone started chanting, “Conan! Conan! Conan!” He was jumping up and down to make sure everyone in the back could see him. He’s so considerate! I followed the entourage down the line for a couple of minutes and then went back to my place in line. After a few minutes, he walked back up the line to go back to the theatre. We all started cheering, and Conan jumped sideways and forwards to make sure we in the back could see him. Now, according to Lisa, the news, and other people there, before I came out, Conan did a silly walk to our line and stood up on something, possibly a chair, holding a megaphone. He said, “Thank you, mah babies!” Then he said something along the lines of (and don’t quote me on this), “Hey, everyone! Thanks for waiting in the rain and cold. We really appreciate it. And to show our appreciation, free pizza for everyone!” I didn’t realize when I got back to the line that the free pizza was from Conan. So generous, too! Lisa had tried to shake his hand, but he was moving kind of fast and there was a mad rush to get to the edge of the line. She told me he was 2 feet away from her. After he left our line, he went to the standby line and greeted the fans there. I could hear them cheering. When he was done, he ran and skipped back to the theatre in the middle of the street. I feel so special that Conan chose that day to say hi to us.
Throughout our wait, people were passing pizza to the crowd and tossing bags of M&M’s. Some people in the line borrowed a staff member’s megaphone and started singing that “Don’t You Want Me Baby” song. This was followed by a strange guy playing the guitar and singing old songs with repetitive lyrics. He seriously looked like he was on crack, with the head banging and shouting. The staff member let him sing into the megaphone. It was amusing at first, but then it got old fast. He was even passing around a milk jug for tips. Our last bit of entertainment was a guy juggling plungers. That was bizarre. He had on a sign that read, “Will do a trick for tips.” Sounds dirty to me.
Finally, at 3:30, they let us in. Our organized line became a herd of cattle. We were very near the front of the line, but as we turned the corner, people from the back were stepping out of the barricades and cutting in front. I’m guessing a good 75 people went in front of us. Can you imagine a herd of people crossing a busy street? They were yelling at us not to run, but in the back of my mind I was saying, “We’re running for better seats. Seventy-five people just cut in front of us.” We got to the front door and they checked our bags really fast. The staff was telling us that cameras would be taken from us if we had them, but they checked us so fast that I could have brought my camera and hid it in my jacket pocket. We finally got to our seats, which were on the main floor, in the section right of the center section, about 20 rows back, and 4 seats from the end. We were pretty close to the stage and could see everything clearly, but they weren’t as close as I had hoped for. I guess that’s what happens when 75 people cut in front of you.
For 45 minutes we just sat in our seats, listening to the music playing over the speakers, occasionally cheering for people coming out of the curtain. Mike Sweeney, the head writer, came out and he waved when we cheered. At 4:30, Brian McCann came out and did the audience warm-up. He welcomed us to the show and gave us a few rules, but in a hilarious way. He said (and this is not exact), “Now we all know you came from all parts of the city and suburbs to see us today, and there will be moments during the monologue or when it’s quiet when you think it’s the perfect time to yell out, ‘Schaumburg!’ We like to keep the show running for an hour, so please, we’d like it if you didn’t yell, ‘Schaumburg!’ or ‘Lisle!’ during the show. Also, we know that this city has 2 baseball teams. Please turn to the people next to you and argue about who’s better… now.” Everyone started laughing and talking and after a few seconds Brian said, “Ok, some very good points were made.” We all laughed and then he said, “And as always, please no flash photography. There is a delicate light balance in here, and Conan is albino and will burn up.” Brian was done with his part and then introduced the band one by one, with Max Weinberg as the last one out. We all stood up and cheered as the band came out of the corner of the main floor and stepped up to their positions. They rocked out with a couple of songs. Mark Pender sang on the 2nd song and totally ruled. At the end of the song he did a trumpet solo and ended it with the longest held note ever. It was literally a good 3-4 minutes before the note ended. When it was close to airtime, Joel Godard got up to his place on stage and put on the headphones. He waved to us when we cheered for him as well. The show was about to begin.
I won’t get into too many details because if you saw the show, you know what happened. I will highlight a few interesting things that weren’t on TV.
The band started playing the theme. We all went wild, and I could barely hear Joel doing the opening announce. It took a while for Conan to come out after Joel said his name. I was laughing and saying, “Where is he?” He finally came out and did the monologue, which was hilarious, of course. He then introduced the Max Weinberg 7, and when the camera cut away from the band, La Bamba quickly ripped off his jacket and put on his Empire Carpet Guy costume. It was like 1 minute he had on a suit, the next minute he was the carpet guy. Also, I thought it was very funny that the whole audience sang along with the Empire theme.
When it was time for the desk drive, Conan walked down the aisle close to where I was sitting. The spot where he found Andy Richter was literally 4 feet away from me. I watched my tape later that night and I found Lisa and myself on TV. If only I had been sitting at the end of the row…
During the first commercial break, there was so much happening on stage. Conan was intensely preparing for his “Small Talk Moment” piece by quickly reading through all of the cue cards. You could see his mouth moving at warp speed. Max was looking at his cue cards while playing. I was amused by all of the minions that were setting up the stage and the lady that was using the lint roller on Conan’s pants while he was reading. He was unfazed by all that was going on around him. Also during breaks, he frequently received powder touchups from the makeup lady.
The show kept on. During 1 break Conan danced, pointed to the crowd, and signed an autograph. You could tell that he really enjoyed being there and appreciated the love we were giving him. During the beer segment, when George Wendt drank that beer, we were all chanting, “Chug! Chug! Chug!” really fast. I don’t know if our chanting came across on TV, but he chugged that beer like it was his job. During the break after that segment, Conan, George, and Chewbacca danced together. It was magical.
Wilco came out and performed their song. I have heard of them but I’m not too familiar with their music. They sounded good, though. Conan was watching from the side of the stage, tapping his foot, bobbing his head, and singing along! It was really cute!
During the last break he pointed to all of us in the crowd and said, “Yeah!” a few times. For the last segment he thanked everyone in the staff and crew and especially thanked the people of Chicago. A marching band named Mucca Pazza played out to the end of the show. I was very confused by this band. There was so much going on onstage. Conan seemed to have disappeared but popped up within the audience. Unfortunately he was in the middle aisle, so I couldn’t get close enough to him again. I was so busy watching him in the audience that I wasn’t paying attention to the band. He was shaking hands and thanking everyone for coming. By the time the cameras stopped rolling, he was going down the aisle signing more autographs. So many people were taking pictures, which made me think again that I could’ve brought my camera. We were trying once again to get close to him, but we couldn’t.
All the security people were trying to get us out even before Conan was done with the audience. I was thinking, “No, I’m going to savor this moment as long as I can.” And I did. After a few minutes he got back up on the stage, waved to us and thanked us again, and went backstage. And that was the last we saw of Conan. Outside I had Lisa take some pictures with her phone of the marquee. There was a Cingular store across the street that had a sign that read, “Cingular Welcomes Conan.” Naturally, I had Lisa take a picture of that. All in all, it was an amazing day. For no one else would I be willing to stand in the rain and cold. I am now proud to say that I’ve been to a taping of Late Night With Conan O’Brien twice in 1 year. I hope to be back again someday soon.