Wait Wait Coverage
Apr. 23rd, 2011 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gonzaiOK, I'll do as much as my fingers allow.
We got there pretty early because Mom gets antsy. Got a good spot in the garage across the street and walked over. We were greeted at the door with a quiz form, 3 questions. If you got all 3 right, you were entered into a drawing to go on stage and try to win Carl on your answering machine (or voice mail). I only got 2 right as it turned out. We also got the program and the guest panelists were perfect for me, esp with Mo Rocca's recent board game article and Adam Felber being a writer for Bill Maher. What they didn't have was merchandise for the show. I was hoping to get the Carl Kassell pillow. (WYPR was there with swag for themselves and NPR.) Finding our seats was tricky as well, we followed the signs to terrace level but as our seats were alongside the stage, those seats were supposed to be accessed from balcony level.
One of the local sponsors of the show was the Ladew Topiary Gardens, so there was topiary on the stage. Yes, really. Three dogs on one side and a fox on the other. Also a disco ball, and what appeared to be an Etch-a-Sketch at Adam's seat. The show started with the disco light, the Alan Parsons Project's 'Sirius, and a sports stadium intro, then a monologue from Peter. I saw Hairspray for the first time a couple months ago and it's a good thing, as Peter referenced it several times. Then the show got on the road. They recorded in segments, beginning and ending with Peter mentiloning NPR and CSX, and I could almost hear the local stations/NPR news that would go between, In fact, Peter started to poke fun at Corva Coleman's newscast, then stopped to point out that Corva was, in fact, sitting in the front row. It was hard to hear what was said on stage much of the time between the audience noise and the acoustics it was hard to understand. Had to just trust that the mikes would pick up what they needed to. Amy Dickinson appeared to have allergy issues and asked them to pause a couple times so she could blow her nose. All of them seemed a little confused by having the audience wrapping around the stage, it was almost a show in the round. John Waters came out halfway through, complete with purple striped socks (I have a pair just like them) and the show promptly proceeded into the nearest gutter :) I haven't heard the finished product yet, but I'm assuming 'sex in chimneys' and 'caning' did not make the good taste cut! For the record, I've never heard of this 'Meat Man' thing, but about a dozen people in the audience 'fessed up to paying. Then back to the regular show and Mo's difficulties taking hints. The production crew were on stage and were communicating with the hosts/panelists throughout by way of IPads, and the occasional post-it. When the show was 'over' Peter rerecorded a dozen bits, then a Q&A with the audience and the quiz winner was brought onstage to tackle a limerick. He got it right, so everyone got a Wait Wait totebag. And show over.
We didn't get totebags and went in search of them downstairs, eventually coming up with a pair. There was a ticketed reception that we didn't know about (we'd have gotten tickets had we known) but I correctly guessed which door the WWDTM gang would exit on their way. DIdn't see Amy come out and Peter came out, um, intensely and I didn't get in there, but Adam was next and we had a nice chat. Turns out it wasn't an Etch-a-Sketch - his IPad is designed to look like one! He said he has trouble getting on airplanes because all the security people want to check it out. We also talked Bill Maher, he loves working on the show and says it's often a challenge because he'll be tasked to write he personally doesn't agree with. His most recent bit was Bill's editorial on last week's show about trading the NEA for the EPA. Carl came out next and charmed Mom, then told me how his Labrador, who ordinarily is a love, absolutely hates the Carl Kassell pillow. Carl never did make it to the reception, talking with fans outside it the whole time, and I found another totebag for him while he talked on. Then Mo came out, I thanked him for the board game segment on CBS Sunday Morning, he said he was afraid it would be all weird people in costumes but it was almost entirely exceedingly normal and/or nerdy folk, which made it much easier to do. I later located Amy and talked to her from across the rope, she said they'd all talked to John Waters prior to the show and hence everyone's mind was already in a bad place before they ever came out. She signed the program 'Amy is Awesome!' and drew a mustache on herself. I caught Peter on the way out and much more relaxed, I complimented him on just how quick he was with the comebacks, and on finished the Boston Marathon which he did a few days earlier. Mom was ready to go then, so we headed for the door and ran into Mo again, who was trying to figure out how to get to the hotel. I was all set to help, but they were stayng in a hotel I've never heard of! The security folks had never heard of it either, so perhaps he had it completely wrong. In retrospect, he was probably giving us the name of where he stayed in another city. I hope he did find the right place eventually.
Last but not least, some piccies:
The panel:
Does Amy have something on her back?
Adam looks studious. Note the EtchaSketch.
Peter and Carl hold forth
John Waters gets comfy
We got there pretty early because Mom gets antsy. Got a good spot in the garage across the street and walked over. We were greeted at the door with a quiz form, 3 questions. If you got all 3 right, you were entered into a drawing to go on stage and try to win Carl on your answering machine (or voice mail). I only got 2 right as it turned out. We also got the program and the guest panelists were perfect for me, esp with Mo Rocca's recent board game article and Adam Felber being a writer for Bill Maher. What they didn't have was merchandise for the show. I was hoping to get the Carl Kassell pillow. (WYPR was there with swag for themselves and NPR.) Finding our seats was tricky as well, we followed the signs to terrace level but as our seats were alongside the stage, those seats were supposed to be accessed from balcony level.
One of the local sponsors of the show was the Ladew Topiary Gardens, so there was topiary on the stage. Yes, really. Three dogs on one side and a fox on the other. Also a disco ball, and what appeared to be an Etch-a-Sketch at Adam's seat. The show started with the disco light, the Alan Parsons Project's 'Sirius, and a sports stadium intro, then a monologue from Peter. I saw Hairspray for the first time a couple months ago and it's a good thing, as Peter referenced it several times. Then the show got on the road. They recorded in segments, beginning and ending with Peter mentiloning NPR and CSX, and I could almost hear the local stations/NPR news that would go between, In fact, Peter started to poke fun at Corva Coleman's newscast, then stopped to point out that Corva was, in fact, sitting in the front row. It was hard to hear what was said on stage much of the time between the audience noise and the acoustics it was hard to understand. Had to just trust that the mikes would pick up what they needed to. Amy Dickinson appeared to have allergy issues and asked them to pause a couple times so she could blow her nose. All of them seemed a little confused by having the audience wrapping around the stage, it was almost a show in the round. John Waters came out halfway through, complete with purple striped socks (I have a pair just like them) and the show promptly proceeded into the nearest gutter :) I haven't heard the finished product yet, but I'm assuming 'sex in chimneys' and 'caning' did not make the good taste cut! For the record, I've never heard of this 'Meat Man' thing, but about a dozen people in the audience 'fessed up to paying. Then back to the regular show and Mo's difficulties taking hints. The production crew were on stage and were communicating with the hosts/panelists throughout by way of IPads, and the occasional post-it. When the show was 'over' Peter rerecorded a dozen bits, then a Q&A with the audience and the quiz winner was brought onstage to tackle a limerick. He got it right, so everyone got a Wait Wait totebag. And show over.
We didn't get totebags and went in search of them downstairs, eventually coming up with a pair. There was a ticketed reception that we didn't know about (we'd have gotten tickets had we known) but I correctly guessed which door the WWDTM gang would exit on their way. DIdn't see Amy come out and Peter came out, um, intensely and I didn't get in there, but Adam was next and we had a nice chat. Turns out it wasn't an Etch-a-Sketch - his IPad is designed to look like one! He said he has trouble getting on airplanes because all the security people want to check it out. We also talked Bill Maher, he loves working on the show and says it's often a challenge because he'll be tasked to write he personally doesn't agree with. His most recent bit was Bill's editorial on last week's show about trading the NEA for the EPA. Carl came out next and charmed Mom, then told me how his Labrador, who ordinarily is a love, absolutely hates the Carl Kassell pillow. Carl never did make it to the reception, talking with fans outside it the whole time, and I found another totebag for him while he talked on. Then Mo came out, I thanked him for the board game segment on CBS Sunday Morning, he said he was afraid it would be all weird people in costumes but it was almost entirely exceedingly normal and/or nerdy folk, which made it much easier to do. I later located Amy and talked to her from across the rope, she said they'd all talked to John Waters prior to the show and hence everyone's mind was already in a bad place before they ever came out. She signed the program 'Amy is Awesome!' and drew a mustache on herself. I caught Peter on the way out and much more relaxed, I complimented him on just how quick he was with the comebacks, and on finished the Boston Marathon which he did a few days earlier. Mom was ready to go then, so we headed for the door and ran into Mo again, who was trying to figure out how to get to the hotel. I was all set to help, but they were stayng in a hotel I've never heard of! The security folks had never heard of it either, so perhaps he had it completely wrong. In retrospect, he was probably giving us the name of where he stayed in another city. I hope he did find the right place eventually.
Last but not least, some piccies:
The panel:
Does Amy have something on her back?
Adam looks studious. Note the EtchaSketch.
Peter and Carl hold forth
John Waters gets comfy
