A few months before Jimmy Fallon took over the Tonight Show we became pretty avid Late Night fans after seeing a couple hilarious skits that were popular around the interwebs. Once we started DVR-ing Late Night we were instantly hooked. Some of my favorite skits were Ew with Lindsey Lohan, the worlds most epic lip sync battle, #hastags with Justin Timberlake, and this amazing rendition of "Your Body" with Christina Aguilera . I mean how can you not love a guy who has a serious bromance with JT? Needless to say, we were back to excited when Jimmy Fallon got upgraded to the Tonight Show and even more excited at the opportunity to see a live taping of the show.
Similarly to picking up tickets for the Daily Show our email confirmation said that we needed to pick up our tickets at the NBC Experience Store by 3:40. However, just like the Daily Show they overbook the tapings so we started milling around (aka: stalking the NBC Experience store) around 1:30. We were told to come back at around 2:30. So we basked in the sun and people watched near Rockefeller Center and checked back in around 2:15 when they let us upstairs to wait for them to hand out our official tickets. By that point there were about 10 people ahead of us.
Before they started handing out tickets they let us know that everyone's tickets would have either a number or a letter written on it. They assured us that the system was arbitrary and not to fret over which you got it because it just meant that you would be lining up to get into the studio at a different time. We were also told that there would be no food or drinks allowed in the studio and that once inside we couldn't use our phones or cameras and wouldn't be allowed to leave to go to the restroom. They started handing out tickets around 3 or 3:30. We were given alphabet tickets and were told to meet back in the lobby of the Rockefeller Center at 4:45.
We arrived just at 4:45 and were quickly ushered through airport-like security. After clearing security we were lined up alphabetically in one of the hallways in Rockefeller Center. While standing in our line we noticed a very distinct difference between our line (the alphabet line) and the other line (the numbers line). Even though the producers had told us that the selection of alphabet versus line tickets were arbitrary, the alphabet line had a significantly lower average age than the numbers line. They let us into the taping studio one group at a time we were seated in the second row front and center...I thought I was going to die of excitement. Once we were seated we looked around, interested to see how the alphabets and numbers would be arranged in the studio. By the end it was clear that the alphabets were seated up front and center...god forbid we see old people in any audience shots (JK!) The nice thing about the Tonight Show is that they show highlights from previous shows to keep the audience entertained since they don't let you use your phones inside the studio.
Similar to the Daily Show they have a comic come out and warm up the audience. The guy reminds us that we are the "laugh track" so we should laugh heartily at anything remotely funny that Jimmy or the guests say. Then the Roots came out and played a few songs before they bring Jimmy out to do the show. Once the show got started we realized that being so close to front and center wasn't all that great since the cameras were constantly moving around and blocking a lot of our view...boo. Just like the Daily Show, once the show gets started the entire taping runs pretty quickly.
The guests that night were Seth Rogan, Matt Bomer (plays Neal Caffery in one of our favorite TV shows, White Colllar), and Coldplay. Like I mentioned in a previous post we signed up for tickets for a couple of different days so that we could choose the day that had the best guests. Even though our view was always a littlee obstructed it was a great show.
Once the show was over Jimmy Fallon did a run up and down the aisles to high five the audience members and I even saw him sign an autograph or two. After that he dug out pretty quickly and the warm up comic came back out keep us company as they escorted us out from the back of the studio to the front.
After getting out from the taping we were starving! All that cheering and laughing really works up an appetite. We grabbed some yummy ramen and headed back to our room to rest up for our next day.
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