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My Letterman Experience (Long and only somewhat PJ/EV Related)
AlltheWay23
Posts: 158
in The Porch
I don't have a blog but wanted to put "pen to paper" while the experience is fresh on my mind and figured this would be an ok place to do it.
Getting Tickets:
I've been a huge Letterman fan for a long time and considered it a "bucket list" item to see him. One night, a few weeks ago after having a few drinks out in Chicago I decided that I would try to get tickets to one of the final week shows. I registered on the website and figured it was a long shot.
A few days later I received a call and they told me that I would have to answer a trivia question and that it would be harder than normal due to it being the end of the show's run. They also asked that I not ask google to get any help. They asked me who some lady was on the show. I had no idea who it was, took a guess and was wrong. The guy on the phone gave me another chance and asked me a question about something Dave sometimes says on the show. Complete the phrase "I wouldn't give your troubles to......" Again I had no idea, but figured this would be my last shot, so I googled the answer
.
Getting to NYC:
After speaking with them and confirming I had tickets I then looked at flights to NYC and options of flying in Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or even Monday morning. The flights were pretty pricey (~$500). After almost booking my flight I then started to think that this was a lot of money to go see something I could just watch on TV (not to mention NYC cabs, meals, etc.) and was about to call the show back and bail. I went over to a friends place and he told me to sleep on it, which I did.....
I didn't sleep that well because I was having a tough time deciding whether or not to fulfill a bucket list item and spend a bunch of money, or bail. I was also pretty fired up about seeing Eddie Vedder with the Who that night up in Rosemont. I decided to look at flights one more time and see if I could use some FF Miles. I then logged on to my facebook and saw a notice that Eddie Vedder would be performing on Monday's show. At that moment I decided it was a sign and I had to book my flight. I was going to see David Letterman AND Eddie Vedder!
The Eddie/Who show on Thursday was great. My friend and I bought $120 seats and snuck in to some of the more expensive ones to get a better view (don't hate the player, hate the game ). I met a really nice girl from NYC that was doing the same thing as us and we exchanged some stories about seeing Pearl Jam.
Then next day, after a really stressful day at work trying to get everything done before leaving, I landed in NYC, had a great weekend catching up with friends, running Central Park,
Day of Show
They tell you to arrive at 2:00pm for the taping of the show. I got up there around 1 and didn't have much to do, so I went over to where the guests come in to see if I could see Eddie arrive and maybe sign something. I didn't have anything with me to sign, so I bought a Late Show T Shirt at Rupert's deli. I met a really nice guy from New Zealand and chatted with him about a bunch of PJ shows we had seen.
I then noticed that the line to get in to the show was getting really long and stretching around the corner of the building. I got in line and met people that had flown from all over North America to see the show.
They run a really tight operation and there are about 7 check points for your IDs and tickets before you are actually seated. When we talked to the girl that hands out the tickets, she asked us our name, where we were from, if we were fans of the show, etc. I told her I flew in from Chicago and that I was a huge fan of Letterman and also Eddie Vedder. We noticed she put some sort of sticker on the back of our ticket.....They then check your tickets and separate you in to two different groups. We were in a very small group where we were then pulled outside. They told us that we were in this group because somebody "liked us" and that we were going to be seated in the first three rows of the theater and would get a chance to ask Dave questions before the show. My best guess as to why they liked us was that we were younger than a lot of the people there and my friend Christina is easy on the eyes.
We were then shuffled in to a room where we had to wait for about 45 minutes. There were some people with "VIP" tickets in front of us that were seated in the front of the balcony. This included a couple that went on their first date on Letterman over 20 years ago and were now married.
When we were finally let in to the theater, they seated Christina and I in the front row all the way to the right (stage left). There were only 3 seats in this row.
Alan Kalter comes out and explains to everyone how everything is going to work. They bring out the CBS Orchestra one by one, and they are just jamming, on fire. Great band. Then they show a video of Alec Baldwin explaining what to do and mention not to ask Dave any personal requests. Bummer (I had planned to ask Dave to grab a beer after the show). Dave sees a guy wearing a Late Show sweatshirt, asks him if it is new and tells Alan to reimburse the guy. It was pretty hilarious.
He then opens things up for Q and A and about 30 hands go up. I figure my chances of talking to Dave are slim. He calls on a lady who is from Michigan that asks him about an upcoming race (Dave is a big racing fan). He talks about it for quite awhile and mentions he will be attending the Indy 500 next weekend. Very engaging, very nice. He then says he will take another question, looks over to my section and calls on someone. The lights were pretty bright in the theater and I was having a hard time seeing if he was making eye contact with me, so I had to confirm (me Dave??). At this point everyone was laughing and I couldn't hear what he said so I again asked him to clarify (What??) Dave said something to the effect of "What do you got??" I think he was pretty annoyed at this point because I was having a hard time communicating with him, but I asked him my question about "Besides Montana, what is your favorite place to hang out??" In typical snarky Letterman fashion he answers "MY BASEMENT" then basically runs off stage and comes back on to start the show a minute later. I felt lucky to get to talk to a legend even if he was annoyed by me and it was only for a second.
The Show
It was amazing how quickly the show started after Dave left for Q and A. Also when you are in the front row there are lots of cameras blocking your views of the stage, so I could only see parts of the stage. The CBS orchestra sounded great and at one point they started playing an instrumental version of Hail Hail (I've heard them do this a bunch on the show).
After Tom Hanks exits they start running a bunch of speakers and a mic in front of the CBS Orchestra. Eddie's guitar tech (wearing a Lightning Bolt Hoodie) starts tuning his guitar while the CBS Orchestra is playing. I could see Eddie on the side of the stage hanging out wearing a suit and Dave went over and started chatting with him for a minute. Next, Eddie came over and started to jam with the CBS orchestra a bit. They were rocking out pretty good. The CBS orchestra was all the way on the left side of the stage, so I was on the opposite side, but luckily I had a great view of Eddie between two cameras. Dave introduces them and they started playing Betterman. I was rocking out the whole time, but not a lot of others were as much as I was (I'm not sure a lot of the older people closer to him knew the song). After the song, I was hoping for an encore, but it is just like you see on TV, Dave thanks them, and basically everyone leaves. The show goes by really fast, especially considering the commercial breaks between the Tom Hanks segments are shortened.
Overall a great experience. Definitely worth the trip.
Kevin
Getting Tickets:
I've been a huge Letterman fan for a long time and considered it a "bucket list" item to see him. One night, a few weeks ago after having a few drinks out in Chicago I decided that I would try to get tickets to one of the final week shows. I registered on the website and figured it was a long shot.
A few days later I received a call and they told me that I would have to answer a trivia question and that it would be harder than normal due to it being the end of the show's run. They also asked that I not ask google to get any help. They asked me who some lady was on the show. I had no idea who it was, took a guess and was wrong. The guy on the phone gave me another chance and asked me a question about something Dave sometimes says on the show. Complete the phrase "I wouldn't give your troubles to......" Again I had no idea, but figured this would be my last shot, so I googled the answer
.Getting to NYC:
After speaking with them and confirming I had tickets I then looked at flights to NYC and options of flying in Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or even Monday morning. The flights were pretty pricey (~$500). After almost booking my flight I then started to think that this was a lot of money to go see something I could just watch on TV (not to mention NYC cabs, meals, etc.) and was about to call the show back and bail. I went over to a friends place and he told me to sleep on it, which I did.....
I didn't sleep that well because I was having a tough time deciding whether or not to fulfill a bucket list item and spend a bunch of money, or bail. I was also pretty fired up about seeing Eddie Vedder with the Who that night up in Rosemont. I decided to look at flights one more time and see if I could use some FF Miles. I then logged on to my facebook and saw a notice that Eddie Vedder would be performing on Monday's show. At that moment I decided it was a sign and I had to book my flight. I was going to see David Letterman AND Eddie Vedder!
The Eddie/Who show on Thursday was great. My friend and I bought $120 seats and snuck in to some of the more expensive ones to get a better view (don't hate the player, hate the game
). I met a really nice girl from NYC that was doing the same thing as us and we exchanged some stories about seeing Pearl Jam.Then next day, after a really stressful day at work trying to get everything done before leaving, I landed in NYC, had a great weekend catching up with friends, running Central Park,
Day of Show
They tell you to arrive at 2:00pm for the taping of the show. I got up there around 1 and didn't have much to do, so I went over to where the guests come in to see if I could see Eddie arrive and maybe sign something. I didn't have anything with me to sign, so I bought a Late Show T Shirt at Rupert's deli. I met a really nice guy from New Zealand and chatted with him about a bunch of PJ shows we had seen.
I then noticed that the line to get in to the show was getting really long and stretching around the corner of the building. I got in line and met people that had flown from all over North America to see the show.
They run a really tight operation and there are about 7 check points for your IDs and tickets before you are actually seated. When we talked to the girl that hands out the tickets, she asked us our name, where we were from, if we were fans of the show, etc. I told her I flew in from Chicago and that I was a huge fan of Letterman and also Eddie Vedder. We noticed she put some sort of sticker on the back of our ticket.....They then check your tickets and separate you in to two different groups. We were in a very small group where we were then pulled outside. They told us that we were in this group because somebody "liked us" and that we were going to be seated in the first three rows of the theater and would get a chance to ask Dave questions before the show. My best guess as to why they liked us was that we were younger than a lot of the people there and my friend Christina is easy on the eyes
. We were then shuffled in to a room where we had to wait for about 45 minutes. There were some people with "VIP" tickets in front of us that were seated in the front of the balcony. This included a couple that went on their first date on Letterman over 20 years ago and were now married.
When we were finally let in to the theater, they seated Christina and I in the front row all the way to the right (stage left). There were only 3 seats in this row.
Alan Kalter comes out and explains to everyone how everything is going to work. They bring out the CBS Orchestra one by one, and they are just jamming, on fire. Great band. Then they show a video of Alec Baldwin explaining what to do and mention not to ask Dave any personal requests. Bummer (I had planned to ask Dave to grab a beer after the show). Dave sees a guy wearing a Late Show sweatshirt, asks him if it is new and tells Alan to reimburse the guy. It was pretty hilarious.
He then opens things up for Q and A and about 30 hands go up. I figure my chances of talking to Dave are slim. He calls on a lady who is from Michigan that asks him about an upcoming race (Dave is a big racing fan). He talks about it for quite awhile and mentions he will be attending the Indy 500 next weekend. Very engaging, very nice. He then says he will take another question, looks over to my section and calls on someone. The lights were pretty bright in the theater and I was having a hard time seeing if he was making eye contact with me, so I had to confirm (me Dave??). At this point everyone was laughing and I couldn't hear what he said so I again asked him to clarify (What??) Dave said something to the effect of "What do you got??" I think he was pretty annoyed at this point because I was having a hard time communicating with him, but I asked him my question about "Besides Montana, what is your favorite place to hang out??" In typical snarky Letterman fashion he answers "MY BASEMENT" then basically runs off stage and comes back on to start the show a minute later. I felt lucky to get to talk to a legend even if he was annoyed by me and it was only for a second.
The Show
It was amazing how quickly the show started after Dave left for Q and A. Also when you are in the front row there are lots of cameras blocking your views of the stage, so I could only see parts of the stage. The CBS orchestra sounded great and at one point they started playing an instrumental version of Hail Hail (I've heard them do this a bunch on the show).
After Tom Hanks exits they start running a bunch of speakers and a mic in front of the CBS Orchestra. Eddie's guitar tech (wearing a Lightning Bolt Hoodie) starts tuning his guitar while the CBS Orchestra is playing. I could see Eddie on the side of the stage hanging out wearing a suit and Dave went over and started chatting with him for a minute. Next, Eddie came over and started to jam with the CBS orchestra a bit. They were rocking out pretty good. The CBS orchestra was all the way on the left side of the stage, so I was on the opposite side, but luckily I had a great view of Eddie between two cameras. Dave introduces them and they started playing Betterman. I was rocking out the whole time, but not a lot of others were as much as I was (I'm not sure a lot of the older people closer to him knew the song). After the song, I was hoping for an encore, but it is just like you see on TV, Dave thanks them, and basically everyone leaves. The show goes by really fast, especially considering the commercial breaks between the Tom Hanks segments are shortened.
Overall a great experience. Definitely worth the trip.
Kevin
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I attended a taping a few years ago and it seems like they try to put the energetic people in the first few rows. Me and my buddy had many beers before the taping and we managed to be entertaining enough to the staff that they put us in the front row.
I also remember that they asked me the trivia question on the phone and i had no idea what the answer was but they still gave me the tickets. Weird.
Great story. Thanks for sharing.