Even Truthier in Person

I hope everyone watched the Colbert Report last night, because if you didn't, you missed an excellent crowd cutaway featuring yours truly.

I got tickets through my work, so Erin and I went to the taping. We had VIP tickets, which apparently just means that you get to go in first (along with the other 50 "VIP" ticket holders) and that you're actually guaranteed a seat, so the whole ordeal was fairly painless, and without the feeling of cattle being hearded that I got that time I saw Jerry Springer.

The set is a vast improvement on the old Daily Show set that once occupied that space, where I saw a taping 4 years ago. The best part is all of the souviers that they've collected from past episodes, which includes the painting above the fireplace of Stephen recursively standing in front of a fireplace with another painting of himself, as well as an official Saginaw Spirit hockey jersey, and, more recently, Captain America's Shield. Sadly, we were a week late for the episode with Ben & Jerry where they apparently gave out free samples of "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream" to the audience, as well as the follow-up episode, two nights ago, when Willie Nelson came on as the guest to defend his Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor and is later joined by Stephen and former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke for a rousing rendition of "On the Road Again". We were however lucky enough to be there on a day when the Daily Show was running late, so they let the audience watch Stephen do "the toss", in which Stephen links up with Jon Stewart at the end of the Daily Show (which is taped two blocks away) via sattelite, allowing us to see some humorous banter between them that doesn't go to air.

The comedian they had warming up the audience was actually really funny, and I would probably try to see him at the Comedy Cellar or something if I could remember his name (he accurately pointed out that he looks like a younger Mr. Burns, if anybody knows of any NYC comedians that fit that description, let me know). After he was done, Stephen came out to field questions from the audience, which he explained was his way of "humanizing" himself before he comes out as his "awful character". It was refreshing to see that, behind his character, he really is just an goofy, earnest guy having a good time pretending to be a preening narcissist. When they cut to the pre-taped "Better Know a District" segment (which was definitely one of the funiest of those segments I've seen) he was looking at the monitor the whole time, cracking up as hard as anyone in the audience.

The guest was a little disappointing (some unremarkable leftist author), though if you check out this clip of the interview, there's a crowd cutaway at the beginning where me and Erin are visible on the right side in the middle of the audience (if you look closely you can tell the exact moment where we're looking up at the monitors and figure out that they just cut to us - I look like a complete tool).