To talk about the Jon Stewart show is not nearly as much fun as seeing it for yourself!
Here's the complete, happy, Jon Stewart fan with his tickets and his umbrella -- both are necessary for today's show. Notice the tickets have large numbers in the upper right hand corner--this is important.
First we stood for a long time outside the "Imaginon," Charlotte's downtown children's theater and library. The theater seats 500+ people on a main floor and a balcony. We've been to this theater for performances on earlier trips to Charlotte, but we never had to stand outside and line up. It certainly does make this old librarian's heart swell to see a long line of folks waiting to get into a library!
After waiting outside, we moved in through the entrance doors, on through airport-like security, and up an access ramp, where we were asked to line up by the numbers on our tickets. We then waited some more while the late comers found their place in the line. More waiting........
Finally, we filed into the theater by seat number, filling in all the seats so that there would be no empty seats to be seen by the tv cameras. Jon Stewart always plays to a full house. I think there were people waiting outside in case there were seats remaining after the ticket holders had filled their seats.
Out came a staff member who spoke sternly and firmly about the house rules. Absolutely, no photographs once the show got underway. We were to laugh, hoot and holler, and have a good time, but no pictures.
I liked the "Democalypse 2012" sign.
Stewart and his staff had been in Tampa for the Republican Convention the week before the Democratic Convention. The staff for The Daily Show is large. There are a whole lot of people dashing about, each seemingly on a mission-- camera crews, sound guys, light technicians, and writers who hovered around Stewart when he wasn't on the air. Tom Brokaw was the guest for this show, coming out about halfway through the program.
The stage before the show with some of the staff walking around checking on things.
The marquee with the show's name
About time to get underway.
The show got started and seemed to be running without a hitch until Tom Brokow had problems with his mike. At that point they stopped the show, fixed the mike problem and got underway again. Later we watched on tv the show we had seen live. You really couldn't tell when they stopped taping the show--it just all flowed smoothly. Of course, there were commercials when you saw it on tv.
Jon Stewart is funny. We really enjoyed seeing him and seeing the show. Sam taped the Daily Show for all four nights of the convention, and we watched one after another Friday evening after all the events were over. The writers are clever and good observers of both the city and the actions, people and events at the convention. It is impressive that they produce such humor and wit in less than 24 hours! The stage was compact, more as you watched it live than what it seemed when you were seeing it on tv. Stewart himself was business-like, funny, but a man with a job to do. From what we could see he did not seem like a prima donna; rather he worked seamlessly with his staff, everyone doing a job and doing it with precision. What a great opportunity for us to see this production! We loved it.
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