Truthiness

So, yesterday Booby and I went to New York to see a taping of The Colbert Report. I know a few of you out there are fans, so I thought I'd recap the glorious event. In the grand TV Guide tradition, I thought it might best be summed up by "Cheers" and "Jeers."

CHEERS to Arabella and her husband, who cheerfully agreed to accompany us to the show after Booby's friend had to bag out last-minute.

JEERS to the asinine P.A. who refused to let Arabella join her husband, Booby, and myself in line at two minutes after six (the line closed at six; her train sat at a platform for several minutes, rendering her a little late). Way to be drunk with power and fuck up my outing with my friends, sister. Our friends had to miss the show and go home and hang a lamp instead of hanging out with us.

CHEERS to getting a seat in the second row, right alongside the little hallway from whence Mr. Colbert emerges. He's not as boyish as he looks on TV, ladies. But he did wear a nice suit.

JEERS to the five frat boys who repeatedly shouted WOOOOOOO!!!, YEAH!!!, DUDE!!! and WE LOVE YOU STEPHEN, at the very top of their beer 'n' whiskey soaked lungs. Seriously, do you need to bring a fifth of rotgut into the taping of a TV show?

CHEERS to the coffee place two blocks away whose delicious vanilla latte provided the caffeine necessary to free me from the bondage of my aching head after three acetaminophen and two advils failed as I stood in line.

JEERS to being made to wait in an anteroom of the studio for half an hour, where we all had to stand, and the only entertainment was Jeopardy! with the sound turned off and scathing people-watching/commentary (if you're me).

JEERS to the strangely surrendered Caitlin Flanagan, Stephen's guest last night. I haven't read Ms. Flanagan's book or her articles. In fact, bad feminist that I am, I hadn't even heard of her until yesterday. After seeing her odd performance on The Colbert Report, though, I am a little curious about her. Stephen tried to play off like she was kidding along with him when he addressed the crowd after the show, but I have to say, she seemed rather fervently serious while he was being sarcastic and playful. Maybe I'm suddenly a poor judge of sarcastic tone. And don't get me started about a writer who claims to be a stay-at-home mom (because she only writes while the kids are at school). I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks about this woman.

Fun Fact 1: "Bobby the Cameraman" isn't really a cameraman. He's Eric Drysdale, one of the show's writers. Ahh, all my illusions have been shattered.

Fun Fact 2: The crowd was warmed up by comedian Drew Fraser for half an hour before the show began. He was OK, and even rather funny at times. He also complimented my engagement ring, oddly enough, as he stood next to my seat when taping began.

Stephen Colbert to audience member who admitted, during the Q&A session prior to the show's beginning, to missing some of the shows: "There's the door, motherfucker."

P.A. to audience before she let us into the studio: "We really, really want you to clap and scream and yell while you're in there, OK, you guys? Stephen really feeds off your energy." That made me feel like he was going to suck out my life force and leave my corporeal body a dry, dead husk, but whatever.

**Update** Here's a link to a great story about Caitlin Flanagan in Elle magazine (Elle? Who knew?). After reading it, I'm pretty sure Ms. Flanagan is a hypocrite.