Subject: Trip Report Part 2 of 2: Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back to the Newsgroup
From: steve31415@hotmail.com (Steve)
Date: 16 Jul 2002 00:32:47 -0700
Newsgroups: alt.fan.letterman

Part 2 of 2: Show Day and Beyond


Thursday 6/20/02: SHOW DAY!

I got up an hour late, at 11 AM.  (After reading some of the trip reports
about how early some people got up, I'm not surprised that some of the
group seemed a little more tired than I was at the end of the day!)
I went to an Internet cafe on 49th and checked my e-mail, including my
work e-mail.  (On my previous trip, work had interrupted me a lot with
e-mails and phone calls, but this time it was very quiet, thankfully.)

Then I spent a while looking for an ATM.  I figured that, even if
the person collecting the money for dinner was gonna be too drunk
to notice, I still ought to pay my share.  I eventually found one in
a Food Emporium on 49th and 8th.  I really liked this store--I thought
it was cool that such a large store (with pretty much everything I could
think of) was in Manhattan.  Not that I ended up buying anything there....

For some reason, all of this took way too long, and it wasn't till
2:45 or so when I arrived at the Manhattan Chili Company.
Most of the group was already there, and I was introduced to everyone.
Wow--what a rush to meet all these people at once!  I was seated near
Bill and Lance.  Bill kept mumbling about Iago and Svetlana, while Lance
was telling me that he'd been to work that day.  What a range!  From people
like Greg, who flew through a 6-hour time change, to people like Lance
and Karen (and others?) who actually went to work the day of the show.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet everyone, but all of the people
I met were interesting and nice.

The passing out of CDs, buttons, shirts, etc. has been written up
thoroughly.
    One thing about the shirts.  The fact that they were somehow done in
    Lakers colors reminds me of an analogy between the Lakers and Leno's
    Tonight Show.  I don't like either of them at all, and I see some
    similarities.  They are both LA products, obviously.  And both Leno
    and Shaq seem amazingly unsubtle.  Their flashy, obvious style appeals
    to the masses (both the Lakers and the Tonight Show are very popular),
    but it seems lacking to me.  When I say "flashy and obvious" about the
    Tonight Show, I mean having the big stars on and asking dull,
    uncreative questions.  For Shaq, it's the brute-force,
    seemingly-lacking-in-talent power game that makes his basketball
    look more like football.  Now to be fair, Shaq has recently improved
    his shooting, his teammates are not horrible shooters, and Kobe
    certainly has ample talent.  But it still feels like Shaq's being
    the biggest guy on the court is the root of the Lakers' success,
    just like having the Tonight Show name and big-time LA guests is
    likely the root of Leno's.  Does any of this make sense--just an idea.
By the way, I'm not complaining about the shirts--I think they're great!

I talked to Karen for a little while, and she didn't seem that drunk.
Actually, she seemed quite pleasant, and I made the mistake of telling
her she was nice....

After we got our tickets dotted, we went back to the Manhattan Chili Co.,
and this time I was seated by Dave Sikula, Shirlee, and Kate.
Dave critiqued the shows he'd seen so far, Shirlee made up something
about having a dentist uncle in San Diego, and Kate told a story in which
she emphatically went about getting a waiter to actually do his job right.
Against my better judgement, I showed them a Xerox of part of my This Dave
"database" (old handwritten stuff from '96).

Soon, we went down to wait in/on line, and we took the photos for Pat Fleet
and AP.  The rest, including the Altoids, has been covered.

Once we were in the theater, it was a bit surreal.  A place I'd seen
so many times, and now I was there.  The set really does look much
better in person.  It's nice to be able to look wherever you want
instead of where the camera goes, too.   [:)] It was indeed cold, and the
band ended up being loud, but not as loud as I expected.  They were
great, by the way, even when they seemed to be deciding what Beach Boys
stuff to do on the fly.  I was seated in the front, between Brad and
Renee, so I just missed being on camera in the Act 5 sweep.  0-for-4
in that department--oh, well.  On the other hand, I had a great seat
for the pre-show part, with Brad standing up right next to me and
turning toward the crowd instead of asking his question of Dave.
Speaking of Dave, it was really cool when he came running out and did
his opening remarks before the show.  That part and the monologue were
especially exciting, to have him right in front of us.  During the desk
bits, there was this equipment between me and the desk, which made it
hard for me to make out what was going on at the desk during the
commercial breaks.  By the way, aside from the edits that have been
mentioned, we saw the show pretty much "as is", except that the bumpers
at the beginning and end of each commercial break were apparently added
in later.  During the commercial breaks, they play comedy bits without
sound on the monitors, but it's usually more interesting to look
around.  At the end of the show, I speculated to Brad that we'd get the
full credits this time (I had a hunch based on how short Act 6 was),
but I was way off--I'd forgotten how long Act 1 was, I guess.  Right
after the brief credits were done, the band stopped immediately, and
Dave said "good night" and was gone.  Then we ended up on stage
for the (well-documented) Tony Mendez show.  Tony was very funny
and generous with his time, especially during the photo-at-the-desk
shooting.  Mine didn't come out the first time, so he patiently re-shot
two more.  By the way, Donz5 appeared, somehow, for this part.  Maybe
the man has the power of telekinesis.

Then we got to go on the tour of the building.  On the tour,
as we were walking down the stairs somewhere, I asked Tony what
"mamarracho" meant.  He said it meant something like "fool", but he'd
never heard it when he was in Cuba.  He uses it because the writers
like him to.  (If no one has heard of it, maybe the writers made it up?)
He added that those bits where he goes nuts are a little scary because
he ad libs the Spanish and he doesn't want to say anything too bad.
At that point the tour arrived at a room, and the conversation abruptly
ended.

Later, I asked him about working on Saturday Night Live, and he said
he was there working during the Hartman/Carvey/Hooks years, which was
a lot of fun.  He liked working with a different movie star each week.

One of the places we saw on the trip was the control room, which was
really neat.  Lots of bits of paper disappeared from there that night.
There were also plenty of clocks down there, and I set my watch to
them.  So if you want to set your watch exactly to Late Show time,
the current time is 9:37:24.  (This may vary depending on how fast
you read.)

Mike McIntee was on this tour as well, and he mentioned that they
do some pre-tapes on Fridays, but they can't use the theater itself
because it's too expensive, due to some union rules or other.

At the end of the tour, Tony gave out cue cards, and he ended up signing
them (creatively) for some people.  He was very generous.

Eventually we found a door where we could get out (the office building
door onto 53rd Street--where we'd spoken to Walter the day before)
and that was it.  Time for Martini's.   What an amazing experience,
though.  Thanks to Tony, Walter, and Mike for their patient cooperation,
insightful stories, and giving up so much time for us.

The food at Martini's was very good.  Unfortunately, after we'd gone to
all the trouble of pre-ordering, they made us order again, due to some
change in the menu.  In the middle of dinner, Tony and Mike showed up.
Tony had a little "friend" with him.  I was surprised they came to say
"hi" to our group--beyond the call of duty again.

After dinner, when people were talking and others were eating their
candy necklaces, I was reminded/informed of the 10-second rule.
I must've led a sheltered life.

I was part of the last small group of people standing on the sidewalk,
talking until the end.  We decided not to follow Chad, but instead went
our separate ways.

It was great to meet everyone that I met, and I kind of wish I'd said
more, but I tend to be shy, especially around big groups of new people.
Also, I didn't get to meet everyone, but hopefully that can be fixed
in the future....


Friday 6/21/02: Four Ship Afternoon

In the morning, Traci called, and I decided to tag along with her and
Carl on some touristy stuff.  I headed down to meet them at Rona's,
and there I got a glimpse of the Tony Mendez show on her computer--
pretty cool!  By the way, it's quite impressive how big some of those
downtown apartment buildings are, not just in height--lots of
apartments on each floor, too.

As mentioned in other reports, Carl didn't feel comfortable on the
boat, so Traci and I went on the Staten Island Ferry and then
to the Statue of Liberty without him.  It was great being out on the
open water--it was nice and sunny, but not too hot.  Seeing the Statue
up close is impressive and quite moving.  (It is still closed--no one
can go up it.)

Traci was in good form on the boat--she observed what a good marketing
idea the foam Statue of Liberty hats are, she told a tourist what
"Soho" is, and she razzed the crewman on the return boat who had to
keep telling people that the boat was not going to New Jersey.
("Is this boat going to NJ?")   Needless to say, it was a fun afternoon;
it was good to get to do some more standard tourist stuff at least
one day, and great to hang out with AFLers another day--the witty banter
is even more fun in person....

    For dinner, I went north on the 1 subway line to visit Mike's place
    (my school friend, not McIntee).  He has the misfortune of living
    right where the subway line comes out of the ground, so it's pretty
    loud over there.  We were pretty near Columbia, so we stopped by
    there on the way to the restaurant.  I am a pretty big Seinfeld fan,
    so we considered eating at Tom's diner--this restaurant at 112th &
Broadway was the exterior of the diner on the show (called "Monk's"
    on the show).  But the food there isn't the best, apparently, so I
    settled for a quick photo there and dinner at a nearby restaurant.

    After dinner, I eventually headed back to the hotel.  I got there
    just in time to watch the Late Show we attended, and, for some reason,
    it was a lot more fun to watch than normal.


Saturday 6/22/02 and Beyond: You Did Say Unlimited Mileage, Right?

    It was a bit warmer than I expected on Saturday.
    I had a few hours before I was scheduled to leave Manhattan at 1 PM.
    (The President was nice enough to bump up my check-out from noon to 1.)
    The real "Soup Nazi" restaurant was nearby at 55th (see
    http://www.soupkitchenintl.com/rules.htm ), so I stopped by and
    looked at that, but they are apparently closed for the summer.
    Still, it was fun to see what the storefront looked like.
    I also wanted to see Zabar's, for some reason, so I headed up there
    and got lunch and something from the bakery.  On my way back, I
    stopped by Strawberry Fields in Central Park.  I'm into the Beatles,
    and the story of Lennon's death never fails to anger or upset me, so
    it was quite moving to be there.

    Near the hotel, I picked up some postcards and a newspaper.  I like to
    get a newspaper and postcards from each state I visit.

    I got my stuff and the car took me back to Newark.  The driver
    wanted to take the Holland Tunnel, which was fine with me, as
    I got to see more of Manhattan.  I can see why Lennon (and millions
    of others) moved to New York and enjoyed living there--it's an
    exciting, thriving place.

      At the Newark airport, I rented a car and headed north.  (I'd heard
      that Newark car rental agencies require proof of plane flight, as
      they charge higher rates to the locals than to tourists, but no one
      checked.)

      I drove through New York State up to visit a friend in Montreal.
      The exciting part of the drive happened about halfway.  There were
      only two cars around (mine and a car just in front of me), and we
      were going--I mean, the car in front of me was going--about 7 MPH
      over the limit, and a cop in the median pulled out and gave the
      other driver a ticket.  I like to think my slowing down (and giving
      the cop plenty of room to pull the other car over) made a difference,
      but I'm guessing it's bad to be in the front in that case anyway
      (easy radar target).  Anyway, that woke me up a little bit!
      One more thing: the road signs start appearing in French as well as
      English even before you get to Canada--that was a little surprising.

      I enjoyed Montreal, other than the weather.  It was pretty hot and
      humid there.  But it was nice to see my friend and meet a couple
      of new people.  (I'm realizing how long this report is, so I'm
      trying to be somewhat brief now.)  One bit of trivia that turned
      out to be useful: in Canada, the flashing green light apparently
      gives you a protected left turn, like a green arrow in the U.S.

      One "fun" moment was when we were out at dinner and my cell phone
      rang and a friend of mine said "What's going on?  I just got a
      four-minute message of you talking in the background on my voice
      mail.  It sounded like you were talking to a waitress."
      Apparently, when I put the phone in my pocket, the "dial" button
      was pressed and it redialed the last number!  Whoops--I hope we
      didn't say anything we shouldn't have.  (Once again, this was
      new equipment for me--work loaned me this cell phone, so I sort of
      had an excuse!)

      I decided to go to the long way back from Montreal, so I could see
      some of New England.  The route took me through Vermont and New
      Hampshire, my first time ever in those states.  I was struck by
      their unspoiled beauty, with lots of trees and few people.
      The interstate in Vermont, in particular, is nice with all the
      vegetation growing around it--there are trees even at the exits--
      in stark contrast to many of the highways in northern New Jersey,
      for example.  I managed to find a gas station in VT before I ran
      out of gas, but they were few and far between at one point.

      My favorite road sign on the trip was in Vermont; it said "Begin
      Experimental Pavement Markings".  I still have no idea what that
      means.  The pavement markings looked pretty normal around there.
      (But I guess if you were going to try out some experimental
      markings, a low-density place like VT might be the place to do it?)

      I stopped in Boston overnight and decided to visit the campus of
      Harvard--it was a nice night there, with low humidity and a full moon.
      It was relaxing to walk around the campus; I liked the grassy
      quads and the brick buildings.  The campus was a little more urban
      than I expected--Cambridge seems as city-like as Boston did to me.
      There, I saw, for the first time, those walk signs that count down
      the time you have left to cross the street.  We don't have those
      in San Diego....

The next day, I headed back to New Jersey.  The route took me along
the Merritt Parkway.  Now if Dave really has gotten a speeding ticket or
two on there, at first I was kind of mystified by this.  It's a quiet,
tree-lined, rural-feeling road with no trucks allowed, so it's a pretty
pleasant ride--why rush through it?  On the other hand, the speed limit
is only 55, and if you are in a hurry to get to work....  I was just
thinking how good the traffic was on the Merritt when there was a big
tie-up (one of the two lanes was closed).  But I still made it to the
Newark airport in time.

The route I took also went over the Tappan Zee Bridge.  Let me just say
that I like the name of the bridge much more than the bridge itself.

      In New Jersey, I went on the Palisades Parkway, which is also a
      nice rural-ish road with no trucks, so I shouldn't criticize *all*
      the NJ highways as being hideous.  What's the deal with the gas
      stations being all full-serve, though?  Did I just get unlucky with
      the one at the turnpike service plaza, or is that a state-wide thing?

      The rest of the trip was uneventful.  I had a direct flight to
      San Diego, and I headed home.  I arrived to find that the phone
      company had turned my phone service off (due to their mistake,
      it turned out)....


Thanks to everyone in the group--it was a great group, and I am very happy
to have been included.  Thanks again to Traci and Renee for organizing
everything.  Also, for those of you who have read this far (even reading
every other paragraph), thanks.  (My hunch is that, given the hour I'm
posting this, Dave S. will reply first and then any responses in this
thread will be to his post.  Wait, that's not true.  More likely, by
the time Google gets around to sending this out, the West Coast will have
been asleep for a while....)  On a more serious note, thanks to Tony,
Mike, and Walter (and the rest of the staff) for putting up with us for
so long!   [:)] And, of course, thanks to Dave himself for his years of
entertaining us, and for that show in particular.

Finally, to steal an idea from Traci (and is that not a more than fair
exchange for some hair?), I know this report wasn't photo-integrated like
Libby's or enumerated like Marilyn's, nor did it have the promptness
of Brady's, the poetry of Shirlee's, the frenetic pace of Cathy's,
the wondrous haziness of Greg's, the blatant inaccuracies of Brad's,
the double-meaning title of Bill's, the non-trip-report status of Renee's,
the occasional scariness of Traci's, the stand-up stories of Chad's,
or the sheer power and length of Helen's.  Still, for those of you
still reading, hopefully it was something.

Steve

-- 
"The farther one travels, the less one knows." -- The Tao Te Ching