Next week: Nyima Funk. No second episode apparently (or repeat).
Following week: Jeff Davis and Proops. 2nd episode, Proops.
So wait, Davis and Proops? Apparently Ryan was ill for that show.
Season 11 (US), or season 3 (CW), premieres April 10th.
Oh hey, tickets to the live filming still available? Checking…on my son’s birthday? Wooohoooo! Prints tickets…
That is a super awesome present, corsair :-D
I take the same route down the 170 Freeway that I use to go to my Sunday night Roleplaying group, just a few more blocks south on Laurel Canyon, so it’s a drive I’m used to making, anyway. The trick is that they overbook and you aren’t guaranteed a seat (which means showing up early and waiting).
Dan Patterson (referring to the camera shot): “…as we come into Aisha…”
Aisha Tyler: “Bam! Phrasing!”
And there you have it, Archer: phrasing is still a thing.
The third CW season premiere seems to now be April 17th rather than the 10th, though oddly I just saw the end of that season (last episode filmed).
Whose Line is it that I am Standing In Anyway?
The tickets warned to be there by 4:30 PM - they overbook and you are not guaranteed a seat for the taping session. So I planned to be stepping into the line to register at 4:00 to be on the safe side - this was for my sons birthday, precisely timed to the actual date. Not to mention this was the last show of the season (even though the actual debut for the season is tomorrow night - Friday, 8:30 on channel 5 here in the Los Angeles area). Since I drive the route virtually every week, I pegged it perfectly, getting through the line to get into the parking structure and down the elevator at 4:00:21 where I was greeted by another line. This took a few minutes and then got into yet another line with the numbers 55 and 56. Since this was the last taping if the year, apparently every hanger on and person with connections had already been given priority, but some quick guesstimation and I figured we still looked good since the studio held 250 or so. Anyone who hadn’t made it through the registration line by 4:20 probably didn’t get in, and they kept getting off the elevator after 4:30. Hey, the tickets are free - you get what you paid for.
Those who made it out if the third line (I’m counting that line to get into the parking structure - also free) went into a fourth line, the final holding area before you go into the studio. Here you had to sign a waiver form, and were given a last chance at the restrooms, because as likely as not, you wouldn’t get a chance at them during the taping (nor water or food). Had a hearty Wendy’s double hamburger on the way down, and did not get the large drink in anticipation of all that. Hey, I used to sit through double-features in my youth without ever getting up, so I had trained well (sigh, double features…). Recording was to start at 6 PM and we were warned that it could go to 10:30 and please if you couldn’t make it all the way till then, let someone else in. They do not like any empty seats. We all walked in careful order to studio 22 at CBS studios in (logically enough) Studio City. Not so logically, CBS for a CW show? I presume since they bang the whole show out in short order, it’s cheaper to just rent space at CBS.
Utterly no choice in your seats - they usher you in and start at the bottom right (behind Aisha Tyler) work up to the top, then work across, bottom to top. We were on the second row, far left as you face the seating (so maybe another 50 made it in after me - didn’t bother to count the seats), directly across from where Laura Hall and Linda Taylor set up yo play and near the green screen backdrop. So, reasonably close to the stage, but the cameras often blocked our view of Aisha. They gave warnings that the studio would be cold, regardless of the weather. It wasn’t, really. Dan Patterson did the final warm up at about 5:50, the crew for tonight was brought in, the standard three, plus Jonathan Magnum as the rotating member. I did finally figure out how tall Colin was. He’s so often standing next to the towering Ryan Stiles you think of him as short, but he was the same six feet as Aisha (who was not wearing heels for once).
From there it flies along pretty much at the pace you see on the actual final product. There was a break for Magnum ripping the sleeve on his suit, followed by night long fussing by the crew over his clothes and microphone that led to constant continuity cries by Jonathan about jacket or no jacket for the pick-up shots that dominated during the last hour.
They shoot two shows in one go - two guest stars (some wrestler/boxer whose name I forget, and some blond from Empire - Kaitlin Doubleday?). They probably shoot enough for three or four shows. If they don’t like a segment for whatever reason (Ryan gets increasingly cranky at Dan Patterson when he calls for these) they do it over again, either in part or in whole. They did one Hoedown three times, with the performers pretty much coming up with a new song each every time.
If you have a chance to go, I heartily encourage it. Lots of fun, you’ll see stuff that never makes it onto the show, nothing is censored, but you do have to sit there for four and a half hours. People would dash to line up for the toilet during a few brief breaks - I just stood up and stretched my legs. You don’t dare stand up during recording since the mobile crane-camera sweeps above your head by maybe two feet (you are specifically warned not to, in fact).
Format is pretty much the same as before. No new games, though Aisha sprinted onto the stage a few times to do a bit during scenes from a hat and participated.
One last thing: the clapping. There is no “applause” sign beyond a guy waving for everyone to be as enthusiastic as possible for the “back from break” sequences. My hands kinda hurt by the time we got to the end. You could tell the performers were cranking out at Dan Patterson as the night wore on, and would do subversive jokes and impromptu songs needling him. So, they want you to be as enthusiastic as possible, allegedly to them on, and that’s probably true.
Anyway, looking forward to the new season - it always makes me laugh.
some wrestler/boxer whose name I forget
Colt Cabana? He does stand up.
Definitely not. This is a guy with huge boulder of a head that looks like it has been rolled downhill more than a few times, mixed martial arts? I did recognize his name, he is a legitimate fighter…Chuck Liddell?
Great write up. Gonna show it to the wife, we both love the show.