Late Night

Chloe and I acquired tickets to be the audience for a recording of Late Night with David Letterman. I've always been a bit of a fan for Letterman because he kind of looked like my friends dad. Letterman is pretty funny too and his goofball skits always manage to make me laugh. In order to get tickets, one would have to sign up online and wait for a phone call from a CBS rep who will then ask you a trivia question which you must answer correctly to win the tickets. Chloe happened to sign up my phone number because she claimed to not know anything about the show. Here's how my experience went:

It's around lunch time and I head upstairs to make myself a little something. I can't really recall what it was, but I'm going to guess it was something like lobster and fillet Mignon seasoned with gold flake and diamonds. When I head back to my room I notice a missed call with a 212 designation. Manhattan? Hmm, better check the voicemail.

Caller: Hi this is Jamie calling from the Late Show with David Letterman looking for Stephen. I'm calling because you requested tickets for the week of May 3-7. Please give me a call back and only leave one message clearly stating your name, phone number and your message. I will have to ask you a skill testing question.

I couldn't believe my luck! I thought those fools at CBS forgot about me already, so in a frantic rage I redial and call Jamie up to leave her a message. I pace around the room in anticipation of her call back, but then it occurs on me; I forgot to leave a call back number! Awww, just my luck! She seemed pretty adamant about the only one message comment on her voicemail. But I figure what the hell, how will she contact me without a phone number?! So I call back, speaking and acting like it was the first time I called, mirroring the previous message I left but including that all important call back number.

A few hours roll by now. I'm growing more and more concerned that Jamie isn't going to call back and my opportunity is gone. But alas, Jamie does call back! I feel like I'm in Jr. High again when the girl you like says she'll call you at home but makes you sweat until the final hour.

Caller: "Hi, this is Jamie from the Late Show with David Letterman. Is this Stephen?
Me:: "Oh hi! This is Stephen speaking. I didn't think you would call me back!"
Caller: "Well I received your messages and I would still like to give you the opportunity to win tickets to see a recording of the show. Now I will have to ask you a trivia question about the show before I can reward you the tickets. Are you ready?
Me: As ready as I'll ever be!
Caller: Alright, you tool. David often visits Rupert Gee at the store around the corner. What is the name of the store?
Me: Ohh I know that one!
Caller: Then please, humor me and give me your answer, you douche.
Me: It's the Hello Deli!
Caller: That is correct, congratulations. Now before I give you the tickets I need a few pieces of information from you..................................

And that's when the line went dead. My phone battery died! Can you believe it?!?! Of all times for my phone to die, it had to be now! So again, I leave Jamie another message; I swear, she must hate the sound of my voice by now. Again, I wait an hour or so and she actually calls me back! In the end we get the tickets and she was a lot more pleasant then I made her sound.

The experience was amazing, but the standing and waiting sucks. There are these 'fluffer' type guys that hype the crowd up for David and eventually make you susceptible to laugh at even the most ridiculously unfunny jokes. The show featured Russell Crowe and the musical guest was Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, of which I am a huge fan. But the shining light was the CBS Orchestra headed by Paul Schafer! They are so talented, playing U2's Beautiful Day and Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up during commercial breaks. We were fortunate enough to sit in the second row right in front of the orchestra, so I was grooving in my seat the entire time.

If you have about 40 minutes to kill, below I linked the entire show. I suggest you at least watch the first 3 videos and the last one for the musical performance.









Musical Performance @ 4:30


stv