I Was on the Tonight Show!

I had quite the Presidents’ Day weekend. No, it had nothing to do with presidents of the US of A, but more with F.U.N. That’s right. Emma and I went to SoCal along with part of my family. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of them I just realized. Steve, if you’ve got any extra footage of us in the Teacups I’d like to see it. I’m pretty sure we beat Emma and Naomi in the speed factor, but I need proof.

I flew out on a Thursday and decided to rent a car, which I had never done. I was a little nervous, but I ended up with a pretty sweet little ride for not much money. Is it normal to pay about $16 per day?? I have no idea. I used my mom’s Costco card or something in order to get a discount. I was thinking I was gonna get some old compact beater, but I ended up with a Chevrolet Cobalt Sport that had under 10,000 miles on it. It was actually pretty fun.

Of course, this opened up the door to the wonderful world of Southern California’s freeway system. I had to find where my sister and her family was staying at, but couldn’t even if my life depended on it. (Which I thought it did during one sketchy encounter with a gas station attendant.) Apparently, in this part of the world, it’s okay for roads to disappear and suddenly reappear. I still have no idea how Firestone Blvd. exists as a thoroughfare—I’m almost positive that it’s really a black hole or some sort of TV prop from the hit show Punk’d.

Well, I eventually did make it to the hotel with no help from the car rental agent, or the two English-as-a-second-language gas stations attendants who attempted to help me on my futile journey at 11:30 at night. However, I was rewarded with a snug place on the floor to rest my head. I’m not complaining, it was just a little hard.

The next day was Universal Studios/Hollywood Day. I have this friend, Kristian, who has an enormously entertaining blog, if you’re interested. He works for NBC/Universal in the Burbank area. I asked him if we could get some tickets to the Tonight Show knowing that he had worked there before, but my anticipation level was quite low since I had only asked him the day before. But Kristian, the miracle worker, pulled some strings and got us some free tickets to see Jay Leno!

I have to be honest. I’ve been a huge fan of the Tonight Show since Johnny Caron. Being able to watch one of these late-night comedy shows is a kind of a life long dream of mine. I do have other dreams, don’t get me wrong. But I grew up watching these shows mainly with my dad and they’ve kind of become part of my collective childhood memories. So, I’m deeply indebted to Kristian. I did get him some CPK, so hopefully that makes up for it somewhat.

Before I explain what happened on the show, I just wanted to say that Kristian also volunteered to give us a free tour around Universal Studios. I’ve been on this tour before, but getting taken around in a golf cart while giddy stargazers snapped photos of us because they thought we were celebrities was pretty cool. I’ve posted a couple of pictures on here for your enjoyment.

One more thing; Kristian pointed out at the end of the tour that Conan O’Brien is taking over for Jay sometime next year. Conan is getting a brand spanking new studio to go along with the prestigious promotion and we were able to glimpse the outside of it. Keep this in mind.

Emma and I, along with her friend Tara, then headed off to the show. I wish I had pictures of our little outing, but unfortunately you’re not allowed to take pictures in the studio. Nevertheless, we were all still very excited for what lay ahead. Now, I’ve been told this before, but the studio really does look a lot smaller once you’re inside. I don’t know what it is, but Kristian says that the cameras they use are somehow specially equipped to make it look like it’s bigger somehow, but I don’t remember what he said.

I wasn’t expecting to get good seats, because we were so far behind in the line when we entered the studio. But it’s not a first come, first serve basis; the pages that work there actually sit you depending their whim. Fore some reason, we just happened to get three seats in the second row right in front of Jay. I seriously almost wet my pants. Jk ;)

This was about three in the afternoon. The show actually films extremely early even though they call it the Tonight Show. I believe that part of the reason they do this is because of the Eastern time difference. Of course, the Late Show with David Letterman still shoots pretty early, even though they don’t have to deal with a time difference. Anyway, I kind of already knew this, but what I didn’t know was that during the commercials of the show, they actually stop the show for the exact same amount of time that it takes to air the TV commercials. Meaning that when he pauses for a break, he actually pauses for a break and gets make up applied or something. Also, they don’t edit the show really at all, which means that if there are any mistakes those get put into the show.

Before the show started Jay came out and kind of told us all of this. He was wearing his denim shirt that he always wears when he’s not wearing his suit. He was personable and pretty quick-witted, which isn’t surprising, but still amazing to watch live. He’s a little shorter and stouter in person that what appears on the TV, but this wasn’t that surprising either.

The show starts filming at 4:00 and pretty much goes for an hour. When Jay first comes out some of the audience goes up to the front and shakes his hand. Since I knew this I grappled my way up to the front and pretty much nabbed his hand as he was trying to shake someone else’s. It was awesome. You can actually see me on TV if you want to check it out here. It's the February 15 Friday episode.

I was pretty much psyched out of my mind at this point, so I wasn’t expected anything else of that caliber to happen. But during the program, on this particular episode they decided to do this thing when audience members can ask Jay a question. I sat there and listened to various members of the audience ask Jay something stupid, so that they could set him up for a joke. A few minutes went by and I knew I needed to say something. So, I raised my hand. As soon as I did Jay called on me. I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I didn’t wait for the mic or for the spotlight to shine on me or anything—I just blurted out the first question that came to my head: ‘So, I noticed today that they’re building a new studio for Conan O’Brien, it looks pretty big….’ I wasn’t able to finish my question—before I could blurt out, ‘what do you think about that?’ he started into his joke. Something about how NBC was building a cathedral for Conan made out of solid gold, with a throne and candles to boot. It was pretty funny. I’d like to think that I made America laugh somehow. See here. It's the second chapter: Jay's Open Mic.

After that, we headed out into LA rush hour traffic. That wasn’t as fun. But still a pretty good start to the Presidents’ Day weekend.