The Daily Show

You can reserve tickets to the Daily Show online, for free, if you can find an opening. I have been checking their site regularly to see if I could find a date open where I could actually leave work a little early and go see the show.

I actually do not even watch the Daily Show regularly, mostly because I'm lazy, but I feel like it is one of those NYC experiences I would regret not having. So, I reserved a ticket for me, got off work at 3 and got to the studio at 3:45 to stand in a line along the side of building. I happened to be standing next to a pile of trash, and it was quite warm outside for a New York April afternoon. So, I stood in line, for about 2 hours - reading and being grateful that I had an iPod with me (with new music! I finally put some new songs on my iPod for the first time in 2 years!). Then some crew people came out and checked our names off lists and handed out little slips of papers with numbers on them. I was one of the last to get a slip - and I was only number 34. Apparently a lot of VIP people had showed up and stolen everyone else's spots! (jealous...)

So - I got in, got a seat in the second to last row and sat down to enjoy the show. There was obnoxiously loud and not very good music playing for about 15 minutes, then our "prep" guy came out to warm us up and get the laughter going. He was entertaining, but I feel like he was a little off from his normal stride. (I obviously have nothing to base this on, just a feeling) He slightly reminded me of my older brother...

Then Jon Stewart came out and everyone went crazy!!! It's always neat to see someone famous close up - it makes them a real person to me. Whereas before he was just some character on a TV show. He always answers questions before the show so he talked to some people in the audience and it was pretty entertaining. One woman's sister apparently had picked him up when his was younger and hitchhiking thru New Jersey and so he reminisced for like 5 minutes about his time at a club there... it was entertaining because he obviously got sort of lost in it and then snapped out of it and was like, "buuuut no one here cares! Next question!"

One of the bits was Jon Stewart interviewing puppet Michael Steele. Hilarious. Especially since apparently the wire kept falling off of the puppet's arm so the puppeteer couldn't control it and was just like flailing it around. Jon was gracious enough to help "Michael" out several times - and I just could not stop laughing. Fucking brilliant. I love that despite the fact that they film the show ages ahead of time and could obviously redo it -they choose to just roll with it. It's amazing he doesn't mess up more than he does. Also - Sam Bee is a cute little pregnant lady.

Steve Carell was the guest - and man does their interview go quickly!!!! Of course - the two of them interacting was hilarious because they are both very funny guys. I'm not so sure about this new movie of his, Date Night, but I did like that for Steve's introduction they played a clip of Ed Helms in the Hangover.

All in all - a great experience and totally worth the wait and the constant search for tickets online. I totally want to go again!! I have tickets for the Colbert show in a couple of weeks - so I'm hoping that it goes as smoothly as this one did. Now I know that I need to get there early though! Since apparently there really are no guarantees even with a ticket and only being 40th in line...