As if this trip to New York wasn’t already the best culmination to my epic first-holiday-away-from-home experience, I got the best email:
I randomly booked tickets on this website about a month back, knowing I was going to be in the city at this time. I booked for every day that I was gonna be in NY, but I never thought about it again because I figured it was a long shot. I was more concerned about entering the Hamilton lottery daily and getting that $10 ticket (otherwise the $250 to $1000 price tag would be a liiiittle too out there for me. For shame, Hamilton.). And then suddenly, just this morning, this popped up! My waitlisted tickets turned available and all I had to do was confirm!!!
Soon as I got this code, it was all pretty straightforward–
STEP 1: The taping starts at about 6pm and so check-in ends about half an hour before. Best to be at 30 Rockefeller (NBC Studios) early to get a good spot in line. Enter through the back (?) entrance (basta the one not facing Rockefeller plaza and also not the entrance to the studio tour/gift shop). This is between 5th & 6th Avenue, along West 50th Street and right across the Radio City entrance.
STEP 2: As soon as you’re inside, you’ll see the line right away which goes up the Grand Staircase. Just queue up and it will move along shortly. There are lots of ushers guiding every step of the way. Just make sure you have the Reservation open on your phone + a valid ID. No big bags and you need to be dressed decently. If not, they may ask you to leave or be seated at the back hahaha. There was even a guy in a suit lol.
STEP 3: You get to a lobby with a more direct line for the show’s studio where they screen you and hand out a ticket + wristband and let you go through security much like in an airport. Then they lead you to the Peacock Lounge, which is NBC’s holding area for studio audiences of the shows.
Some ~hype men~ come out at this time too to work up the crowd and give last minute reminders before sending everyone up into the studio. You are lined up according to the letter at the back of your ticket. Mine was a “K” and groups were called from A-F, then G-M, and so on. So I was in the second batch!!!
STEP 4: You are led into an elevator and brought to the 9th floor of 30 Rock where the Late Night studio 8G is. If you ever watch sketches of SNL and Late Night, the white halls with the framed photos on the walls should look familiar… It was so exciting! The SNL studio was at the end of the main hall, Studio 8H! Late Night was to the right. Too bad we weren’t allowed to use our phones to snap photos at this point.
STEP 5: We turned the corner and there it was – the Late Night studio! Since I was a lucky second batch-er, the seats weren’t too filled yet. Upon entrance, they tell you where to sit and I was led to the 3rd row in the center, which was basically front row because the seats dipped in the middle in a U-shape. The studio isn’t very big so everything feels so close-in. The desk/couch area is at the left corner, the monologue floor is right at the center, and the band platform is at the right corner.
As soon as the room is filled, the audience host or “warm up guy” I guess comes out and entertains the crowd, introduces the stage manager, the band, the crew, and even throws out Late Night caps for souvenirs. He reminded the crowd to laugh at the jokes and applaud and follow directions from himself and the stage manager, so you’re made to feel like you’re really part of the production. No canned laughter here! Of course this is all done in a funny way. Guy’s name was Ryan Reiss (@ryanreiss) and he’s a standup comedian himself so it was a riot already. It was basically an opening act for Seth. The band then plays out a song and warms up the crowd. Btw, the sound was SO good in the studio. So legit, haha.
STEP 6: Then, Seth Meyers comes out. I kid you not. He talks to the audience, welcomes us, and makes some jokes before the show starts. He looks exactly the same as on TV! And he’s sooo nice and charismatic, he makes us feel at home right away. You feel talked TO not talked at, even if they do this every single day. 5 minutes later Seth already goes backstage to enter again for the actual taped portion. Interesting to watch the crew set up as well while he speaks. It’s such a systematic, well-oiled machine. Everybody goes up to their spot with their own tasks. There’s equipment guys, camera guys, props guys, writers, PAs, the whole shebang. (How do you get in on this action… Maybe I should apply to NBC universal haha.)
See where that red circle is? I sat there. CRAZY.
STEP 7: And on with the show! The taping actually goes very fast. It went portion by portion: intro monologue, news headlines, a joke-off (theme was the Democratic presidential debates) where he relocates to the audience area (I was in the background shot!) then on to the first guest. Guest this episode was Rachel Maddow. He then shoots some promos one right after the other which would be diff forms of “Hi this is Seth Meyers. Rachel Maddow is on tonight! See you!” Then there’s a little re-blocking of the stage/set during which time Seth goes to us, the audience! As in he was in the stairs, up the seats. He does a Q&A with the crowd and very candidly answers every question. Since I was near the front, he was right there less than 3 feet away! Hahaha.
You could tell everything was scheduled and choreographed (he did mention they come in at 9am and tape at the end of the day at 6pm), but he still managed to make his answers so damn funny and spontaneous. This was not rehearsed! He was really just very natural with the crowd. Comedians are SMART you guys. This is why big stars end up marrying SNL comedy writers hahaha. Looking at you ScarJo and Emma Stone, lol. Don’t blame you. Clean-cut, smart, funny guys? Totally my type too hahaha.
STEP 8: The taping goes on to about 2 hours (he had 3 guests in this episode) and the whole time we were directed to applaud and cheer. The only real rule was to laugh at every joke, hahaha. It was SO DAMN AWESOME. After it ends, you are led out of the studio and down the elevators again to exit right into the NBC store where you can get some souvenirs. A guy hands out discount coupons for us as audience members right before entering the store:
And that’s it! If you are a TV/Entertainment nerd like me, this would be heaven. A thrill better than any theme park ride hahaha. Plus Seth Meyers is really just as classic as you can get. So sharp and witty and charming (and weirdly attractive??) – best of NBC brand of comedy. Did you see Lobby Baby?? Haha. Still in disbelief this happened when I was just thinking about the NBC studio tour before, which would’ve cost like $35 and wouldn’t even let me see any of the castmembers/hosts of any of the shows. Hell this one was FREE! Truly, good things come when you least expect it.
On my commute home, I got this email from the service I used, 1iota:
This was definitely the exclamation point to my winter break and NYC visit – the best it has ever gone. Blessedt. Haha!
Update: Caught the show when I got home! They apparently cropped me out of the frame when Seth was in the audience HUHU, but here’s a clip! 😆
26 & OVER 