I was fortunate enough to obtain tickets to watch a Conan O’Brien taping yesterday as part of his week of shows here in San Francisco.
All in all, it was a very good time and only added to the absolutely euphoric mood hanging over the city (thanks to nice weather and the palpable excitement surrounding the Golden State Warriors). The show was being taped at 4pm, but I got in line at about 1pm to pick-up my tickets and join the throngs of mostly twenty-somethings already in line.
My buddy Brian joined me at about 2:30 and we both admitted that the waiting in line portion of the day was pretty amusing. The show was being taped at the Orpheum Theater. A classic SF stage venue located in the heart of the Tenderloin. As Dave Chapelle once said, “ain’t nothing tender about it.” Even Conan had a riff about the ‘Loin during the show as he commented, “The Orpheum Theatre. San Francisco’s very best venue located in San Francisco’s 25th-best neighborhood.” Brian even commented that one day we should pull up a couple of folding chairs, a 12-pack, and just observe the crazies that traverse this section of Market Street every day. It would definitely be amusing and worth about five blog entries on its own.
Upon finally entering the Orpheum (no cameras allowed unfortunately), we found seats at the orchestra level about 15 rows from the stage on the left side or as Brian said, “bulls-eye with Max Weinberg’s gut.” While the show itself (Robin Williams and the Glide Ensemble-a local choir) was a solid B with regards to hilarity, actually observing the inner workings of Late Night and unbelievable crowd reactions made the event worthwhile. First of all, its amazing how much activity there is during the commercial breaks. About five different folks are giving Conan water, flashing him cue cards, helping him edit stuff, and moving things around the stage. Its pretty amazing and surprisingly seamless. I give Conan much-respect for being able to juggle all of these things and make it look so smooth merely 30 seconds later.
Secondly, it is amazing how people react when they know they have the potential to be on TV. People were dressed in funny wigs, holding up crazy signs (one said “I Like Conan (as a friend)”), and bizarre outfits (one older woman that we dubbed HR Puffenstuff wore a scarf and headdress that looked like marijuana plants). Whenever a camera is present, folks would wave their arms in excitement. I guess its natural for anybody, but when you see it non-stop for a hour it gets to be pretty annoying.
His two skits, one on Sam Wo Chinese Restaurant, the other a trip to Napa, were well-executed and left the house in stitches. Then almost as quickly as it started, it was over. Less than an hour later, we were out of there.
While it was super fun to be part of the magic, I was hoping for Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, but no such luck.
All in all, it was a very good time and only added to the absolutely euphoric mood hanging over the city (thanks to nice weather and the palpable excitement surrounding the Golden State Warriors). The show was being taped at 4pm, but I got in line at about 1pm to pick-up my tickets and join the throngs of mostly twenty-somethings already in line.
My buddy Brian joined me at about 2:30 and we both admitted that the waiting in line portion of the day was pretty amusing. The show was being taped at the Orpheum Theater. A classic SF stage venue located in the heart of the Tenderloin. As Dave Chapelle once said, “ain’t nothing tender about it.” Even Conan had a riff about the ‘Loin during the show as he commented, “The Orpheum Theatre. San Francisco’s very best venue located in San Francisco’s 25th-best neighborhood.” Brian even commented that one day we should pull up a couple of folding chairs, a 12-pack, and just observe the crazies that traverse this section of Market Street every day. It would definitely be amusing and worth about five blog entries on its own.
Upon finally entering the Orpheum (no cameras allowed unfortunately), we found seats at the orchestra level about 15 rows from the stage on the left side or as Brian said, “bulls-eye with Max Weinberg’s gut.” While the show itself (Robin Williams and the Glide Ensemble-a local choir) was a solid B with regards to hilarity, actually observing the inner workings of Late Night and unbelievable crowd reactions made the event worthwhile. First of all, its amazing how much activity there is during the commercial breaks. About five different folks are giving Conan water, flashing him cue cards, helping him edit stuff, and moving things around the stage. Its pretty amazing and surprisingly seamless. I give Conan much-respect for being able to juggle all of these things and make it look so smooth merely 30 seconds later.
Secondly, it is amazing how people react when they know they have the potential to be on TV. People were dressed in funny wigs, holding up crazy signs (one said “I Like Conan (as a friend)”), and bizarre outfits (one older woman that we dubbed HR Puffenstuff wore a scarf and headdress that looked like marijuana plants). Whenever a camera is present, folks would wave their arms in excitement. I guess its natural for anybody, but when you see it non-stop for a hour it gets to be pretty annoying.
His two skits, one on Sam Wo Chinese Restaurant, the other a trip to Napa, were well-executed and left the house in stitches. Then almost as quickly as it started, it was over. Less than an hour later, we were out of there.
While it was super fun to be part of the magic, I was hoping for Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, but no such luck.
1 comment:
where's the cabo blog? YOU're a taxi.
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