image courtesy of the Fallon Tonight twitter page
We got back last night (technically, this morning. 2am to be exact) from NYC after a wonderful weekend that consisted of food and only food. Aside from the taping, I don't know that we did anything other than eat. It was glorious. I'll update later with a food post and trust me, you'll want to read it (spoiler: 10 dumplings for $1.00).
So recently Jimmy Fallon took over The Tonight Show and quite honestly, he's done a fantastic job. I never really watched when Jay Leno hosted, but Jimmy is great. And considering my boyfriend is basically Jimmy's #1 fan, I decided to be the best girlfriend ever and get tickets to a taping. Little did I know, it's quite the process. A process that took me no less than 3 months. I wish I were kidding. Tickets are generally released a month prior to the taping. We attended the August 4th taping (yesterday) and I reserved them at the beginning of July.
TICKETING
The Tonight Show twitter (@FallonTonight) announces when tickets will go live usually a few days in advance. Since I had failed 3 times prior, I set an alarm and forewarned my bosses that all my work would be on hold for at least half an hour. I also recruited my coworker, and Josh recruited his coworker, to ensure that at least one of us got through the queue. Speaking of queue, that's exactly how the system works. Back in Jimmy's 'Late Night' days you used to call and request tickets and then get them. Easy. Not anymore. The Tonight Show is in much higher demand, therefore, you have to literally (not literally, but almost) fight people over the internet for them. It's the ticketing Hunger Games.
At exactly the time the Twitter/Facebook account said the tickets would go on sale, you hit your refresh button. And I mean, hit the button over and over until you are in that queue. And then DO NOTHING. Don't close your browser, don't hit refresh again, NOTHING. Leave it alone.
Once it's your turn for tickets (this is why clicking that refresh button at the EXACT minute change is so important. I learned the hard way that my work phone is actually slower than the time their system goes by, so I suggest using your iPhone which is what worked for me) you will be automatically directed into the ticketing page where you will see a calendar. I highly suggest knowing what days you can attend in advance, because you are timed (much like other ticketing services) and there are other people snatching up tickets by the second. I got lucky and got my first choice right off the bat. But again, I stress, BE PREPARED. The last two releases haven't included Friday shows, but instead two tapings on Thursday, so have a backup just in case those aren't available. I know it's tempting to make a weekend out of it, but try for a Monday (what we did) and you can still have a three day weekend. Plus, Monday's suck so spend them with Jimmy. Once you select your date, you have a few minutes to enter in your information and then confirm your reservation. TICKETS ARE FREE. You don't need a credit card. Once everything is confirmed, YOU'RE GOING TO JIMMY! Print your confirmation (you also get an email) and rejoice. The stress was worth it and now you are one of the lucky few that has survived the monthly battle for tickets. When I got my confirmation I was shaking and called Josh in an excited panic because you know, Jimmy.
BEFORE THE SHOW
There are two call times. Your ticket confirmation will tell you what time to be at the stairs inside of the NBC Experience Store, which is usually an hour and a half before the second call time, so plan your day accordingly. We arrived around 1:15 and were told someone usually comes down about 1:45 or so. The store employees won't let you form a line so just pretend the browse the store (near the stairs, of course) and wait for the NBC page. Once they've checked your ticket they let you upstairs where they will check your ticket again and then have you line up. There is a lot of waiting at this point because they have to make sure all reserved ticket holders show up (stand by ticket holders are also waiting with you, but in a separate line) and then a producer type guy gives a funny speech on the process, what not to do, what not to bring, etc. Then they check tickets again and give you an actual ticket to the show with a letter or number on the back. They are "random" to a degree, but we noticed a trend that I'll get to later. We got lucky and ended up with C (for Casey, obviously) but the two girls in front of us got Y. You also get a wristband and some candy. Then the pages explain when to come back (letters come back at 3:45, numbers come back at 4:00) across from the TUMI store. Now, this is important to remember: THERE ARE TWO TUMI STORES. One outside in Rockefeller Plaza, and one inside Rockefeller Center (the actual building). GO TO THE ONE INSIDE or risk getting caught in the swarm of tourists staring at the sky and walking perpetually slow. Also, do not, I repeat, do NOT, show up any earlier than your designated call time. Not even a minute earlier. They will ask you to leave. So go grab something to eat or walk around for about an hour and a half, but don't stray too far or you could risk getting left behind.
Once your call time hits, they line you up in order by the letter (in our case) or number on your tickets. After everyone was lined up it was quite obvious that letters were given to younger groups, and numbers were given to parties with slightly older (and I mean like 40 or 50, not geriatric) guests. I remember reading that other guests noticed this trend on other sites, and it's definitely true. So if you really want to sit close to the stage, leave mom at home. Also, at this point, TURN YOUR PHONE OFF. All the way off. Once you are in the elevators you CAN NOT take it out at all. They will yell at you. If you're caught taking a photo, they will search through all your pictures and delete any you took inside. They will remind you of this several times. You've been warned.
We were the third group (because you know, C is the third letter. Note: One letter/number is assigned to each ticket holder+their guests, so Josh and I were the only C's). Then you wait some more. (It's also important to note that you are only allowed a bottle of water in the studio, no food or other liquid. There is also a security checkpoint so don't bring 18 shopping bags, fragile gifts, weapons, etc. Oh and you better use the bathroom before your call time because you can't leave once you're lined up. I mean, you can leave, you just can't come back, so you might want to rethink that Big Gulp you just bought.) After security they start loading you into the elevators and bringing you up to the 7th floor. Then you wait again. The whole day is a lot of hurry up and wait. But it's worth it. THEN they take your tickets, ask how many are in your party (like at Disney!) and a page directs you to your seats. We got super lucky with first row seats. I was a bit worried because a lot of people have said that front row is great for the opening monologue, but then once the guest segments start, cameras block your whole view. We got even luckier in the sense that our seats (on Steve Higgins' side) weren't ever really blocked, but other front row seats definitely were. FYI the studio is COLD (they keep it at 60) so bring a jacket/sweater. You'll need it. It's also, like others have noted, smaller than it looks on TV.
THE SHOW
While everyone is being seated, highlights (Slow Jammin The News, Tight Pants, etc) from the show are being played on the monitors so you finally have some entertainment. Then the warm up guy, Seth Herzog comes out and talks to everyone for a bit. He's a pretty funny guy. After Seth is done The Roots come out and play some songs/dance with Seth and it's a real good time. And then (after hours of waiting) Jimmy. Jimmy does his monologue, introduces the guests and then commercial break. A few more segments, some interviews, a couple more commercial breaks and a live performance (band or comedian, usually) and it's over. Taping takes about an hour and goes by pretty fast. Our guests were Helen Miren, James Cameron and the band Spoon (whom I had never heard of but my boss has so... cool). After Jimmy thanks everyone and signs off on the show, he runs up the aisle and high fives everyone in the aisle seats (his parents were also there that day, it was his 100th show). Since Josh and I were on the aisle we got to fist bump/high five him and it was awesome. He has soft hands. Then the camera focuses on portions of the crowd close up which, unfortunately, included me. Luckily, it appears that they cut the show before that because I know I looked hella awkward/the show would have ran over because we were the last row he got to since he started on the opposite side. Since Spoon had to start their song over once or twice, after the show ended we had to stay while they played it again since I don't think they liked their performance that much (which I wasn't too happy about, I didn't really like the song and had to use the bathroom at this point). They had some technical difficulties that started taking a while so Seth came back out, made fun of a Brazilian and Russian in the audience, and then finally after about 15-20 minutes, Spoon finally played and we got to leave.
Watching a live taping of a talk show is definitely very interesting and if you have the chance you should absolutely attend one. It's fascinating to see what goes on during commercial breaks and how organized everything is. And to top it off, Jimmy seems like a genuinely nice guy and comes off very gracious and humble.
XO,
Casey
p.s. Don't forget to keep your wristbands to get 10% off in the NBC store!
Tickets for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon can be found here. Tickets are free. You may only attend a taping once every 6 months. Monologue Rehearsal tickets are also available here and are also free. For full tapings, expect to reserve about 5 hours of your day from the initial ticket check to being released from the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment