susied23

Behold my future!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:36:12 GMT



		I will marry Keith Murray.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in The Mountains in our fabulous Apartment.
		We will have 5 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a Orange DeLorean.
		I will spend my days as a Movie Producer, and live happily ever after.



		I will marry Andy Monaghan.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in New York City in our fabulous Apartment.
		We will have 4 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a red Toyota Prius.
		I will spend my days as a movie director, and live happily ever after.

I did two earlier today. I got like polar opposites: Stephen Colbert vs Andy Monaghan. New York City vs Selkirk. Renault Clio vs Hummer (yes a Hummer in Selkirk). 200 kids vs 9 kids. Movie director vs gig photographer (both of those made sense with the husband, it was quite cool).

The cinema was dead again. Maybe it'll pick up with Hulk out tomorrow. The screening was cancelled today and is tomorrow at 10am for 10:30am. Think it's a bit early for me so might just see it at night. I do want to see it though. C'mon Hulk power!

I think Fast Blood may be becoming my favourite Frabbit song. Not just my favourite from the second album (over The Modern Leper and Good Arms vs Bad Arms) but also past The Greys and Square 9 from Sing the Greys. I blame the guitar solo, it sounds so awesome. Also I just saw this picture on Flickr. Andy please wear tight t-shirts more often, you have nice arms. (I am not gonna say this to his face or on the myspace (I rhymed!)/Bebo because it's just asking for trouble.)

And because it's too good not to share - Max and Adam FTW!. I am sad WAS aren't doing a Scottish instore for Chick Lit. I entered the competition to win tickets to The Charlatans gig in London on 18th, I don't know why. I'm working that night it turns out and no way my parents would let me. But I just like trying.

I am so easily pleased

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:07:35 GMT

Frightened Rabbit decided to actually use their Bebo for about the 3rd time since they created it (I do realise it's basically only there to get word out more). Tonight they uploaded 2 Midnight Organ Fight photoshoot photos, 2 SXSW interview videos (parts I and II (which is just tempting me and I think they know it)), the link for the new Set You Free video and upon the request of 2 fans (someone who got in before me and myself obv) updated the main profile to say "Now a four-piece comprising Scott, Billy, Grant, and Andy."

Basically all they need to do was add those three words to their profile and I'm cheesing. :D They take advice from fans. Hehe. I was gonna call them on the out-of-date Bebo at the Cab Vol gig but got caught up in other banter. Since that gig in three myspace comments and the one on the Bebo I think my Andy love has reached new levels. It's probably a very good thing I don't get to be around them for another 54 days. However it's also too long, I miss them. *sad, crazed groupie fan* Anyone want to go to a show for me and tell them I say hi?

I watched The Last King Of Scotland last night and the performances blew me away. I'd seen it at the cinema but not since last February. Just woah. Forest Whitaker was so deserving of his Oscar and James McAvoy makes me so happy. Check this film out.

The cinema has been dead my past 3/4 shifts. It's great because I basically get paid to banter with my workmates and do very little else. Been on screens recently so must be due some retail shifts again. Working Wed night and also going to the staff screening of The Incredible Hulk that morning. Can't wait. Ed Norton! Robert Downey JR cameo as Tony Stark! HULK! For freeeeeeeeeeeee. Cinema work is pretty easy and there's perks. Loving it.

My "Chick Lit" bundle came today! I has new WAS single! I has 2 more vinyls! I also has nothing to play the vinyls on, dammit. They are very pretty though. Very interested to see where in the charts this one ends up. It's amazing.

Oh and new One Tree Hill started here tonight. It was pretty good. That is my guilty pleasure show. I love Mouth. *sigh*

Tell me some exciting stories flist, it's a Monday night and nothing's doing.

Brain Thrust Mastery details

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:01:02 GMT

My flist can ignore this unless they want to know what random shit went down at We Are Scientists' Brain Thrust Mastery session on Wednesday lunchtime.

So we got let into the union at 1ish, it was really small. The stage was really close and when the boys came out you felt very close to them. I'll mention it again for everyone - Keith wears THE red shirt from the ad video and it's so hot in person. Yum.

Okay so the boys come out. Lots of cheering. We're excited. They both have clipboards (with I'm assuming random call words for them to try and remember what they are talking about). They show us the ad video on the big screen behind them which I'd already seen and I'd imagine most/all other people had too. They then tell us what it's all about. It's about the brain which according to Chris is the cauliflower in your head. He may have said this a few times and Keith backed him up on it. They asked us what we thought about when you hear the word thrust. Needless to say they read our minds. Keith even did some actions of thrusting. And mastery means that we are gonna be masters on all the techniques.

They said "if you don't believe us, just look and see what BTM has done for these people." and this is where the testimonials come in. Keith was quite enjoying all his parts which was great and Chris was nodding along a lot. So clearly BTM works. To make sure we got that point they showed us a graph of numbers which I can't really describe because you have to see it but it basically showed people who had gone to BTM sessions and those who hadn't and their percentage of happiness (or well-being, something like that). Non-BTM goers stick around 20-25% every year but BTM goes go from around 50% the first year to repeating after 4 years to have 110% happiness. Oh yes you better believe it.

Next up was telling us about what techniques they use. Mind Sound - I can't quite remember what they said about this one (but don't worry I've got the method down). Face Thought which is thinking with your face. Chris was kinda swaying back and forth and looking at us when he talked about it and said "I'm using it right now". Time Vision Performance - which is very important. And many more... They actually just said "and more of course" or something to that effect as if there will be more to be learned.

The first method they talked about was Mind Sound. This is how peaceful it is inside your head. And you better believe the boys have an invention to hear inside your head. What is this contraption? A colander (with the tag still attached - it's that new and still in development they said. lol) with lots of little wires sticking out. So to show us how we should be we got to hear Chris' mind sound. Keith told us there is no one more at peace than Chris and so we found out when the colander was placed on his head. You heard birds chirping and all that kinda stuff you get on those peaceful music CDs. Just to prove their point further Keith was up next, though I will mention when Keith took the colander off Chris' head the peaceful music was still going - Chris was like "Got a bit of an echo there." Hilarious. Keith also got the colander on his head and yes you better believe he was also very zen and peaceful inside that head of his. Now they wanted volunteers to show why we need these sessions. First up was Steve (I think) and he got the lovely colander on his head. Oh dear, this boy needed help - inside his head were sex sounds, car noises, music. Clearly not peaceful. Another guy came up and he was basically the same - even some Hallelujah sounds. More help needed. The third and final volunteer started off as maybe he was fine and didn't need the session but his peaceful mind was soon disrupted by car chases and guns. Things are clearly bad here. We need help.

How to fix us? Oh the power phrase of course. That makes everything right. This you need learn, to memorise. But don't worry it's easy. What is it?

"Derrida's examination of the inchoate hegemony of the dialectic sort of renders that obsolete, don't you think?"

Uh huh. That is your power phrase. To help us say it whenever the occasion calls for we got lovely handy cards with the phrase on it handed out by Keith Murray himself. I got a few extra so gave them to a few people - mostly to show how random the entire thing was. Here's a scan of mine which stays in my wallet now:

To prove how this phrase will help us we got more video proof. The power phrase - in the boardroom, in prison... It really works.

To go with your power phrase you need a power move. Everyone has your own power move, you just need to find it and use it. This time we got video of Chris and Keith's power moves. A lot of them are in the testimonial video where they are jumping around, etc when people thank them for BTM. Chris uses the same thing a lot, just different variations. The called it something but the name is lost on me now. Either way it was hilarious when every time we saw Chris we got "[name of thing] again, different variation there, [name of thing] again".

The next method was for them to show how well Chris can read people. He can figure people out after a few simple questions. They asked for volunteers again and for the first time a few people put there hands up but the boys chose this lovely blonde guy from the back. His name was Max. When he told them that Chris said "Are you American too? That's a coincidence". Very much so. Now Chris got to ask him a few questions. He chose - how many sisters do you have? (Max - none). What are their names? (Max confused). Chris figured he knew enough and both of them got writing pads and pens and Keith now asked questions which both of them answered to see if Chris knew Max well. These were - favourite colour, dream job and worst fear. Once both had finished we got to see how good Chris was. Max's favourite colour is orange, Chris had the same. His dream job is safari tour leader, Chris had adventure tour leader (he said he didn't have enough time to get it exactly right). I think Max put his worst fear as spiders and Chris also had the same. Well done Chris!

So now that Chris proved he could read this Max fella they asked for another volunteer. I'm not really quite sure the questions Chris asked this time, there were only about 2 and there is no way he could figure out our volunteer from them. So Keith asked the same questions again and we got to see the boys answers. Volunteer had amber for fave colour, Chris had orange. It is orange apparently and they asked how he felt about that colour and if he could come round to it. Dream job - Volunteer had mechanical engineer whilst Chris had dog assassin. Had our volunteer considered that as a career path before? Nope. Well now he can. Finally worst fear. Our volunteer said failure. Chris took sometime to write this one down and he said "In bed with a girl and his thingy won't work and the girl turns out to be his sister." That is his worst fear. Clearly. Chris can definitely read people.

Finally they told us it was exam time. They wanted to see how much we had learned. So lovely Keith came round again and handed out our exam papers. They told us to look it over, and gave us some time to get the answers. Let me tell you I heard so many "what the fuck"'s in relation to the exam paper. People were confused as hell. But then our time was up and Chris told us that before BTM we couldn't answer any of these questions but now we can. And we got them all right! On the screen behind the boys they had 1-7 with correct written beside them. Wooooooo!

Our exam paper.

Here's an example of a question:
1. Which of the following is a characteristic of the Hardy-Weinberg law?
a] mating between species occurs at a set rate
b] Migration is a considerable factor
c] Mutation occurs at the locus
d] Genotype selection does not occur at the locus.

:S

That was our session over. It went really quick and was hilarious. I realise I probably didn't get over a lot of the comedy on this but that's because most of it came from their random comments which are impossible to remember. They were that random. The entire thing was random. But amazing.

I hope this helps people understand a little what goes on.

Why must trains to Inverness be £30 return? I want to see WAS there as well! God dammit!

I am about to buy an Editors ticket though. Yay!

6/21 Hobocamp report

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:51:09 GMT

Seven people. Seven hours. Lots of banter. Stephen Colbert.

Thursday was my last day in New York. We were gonna do stuff we’d missed so I did some shopping (got a lot of DVDs, no Americone Dream : ( ) and went to the Top of the Rock plus my parents took me to see the Waldorf Astoria hotel where they stayed in 2003. It was pretty amazing but waaaaaaaaay too far from the TDS/TCR studios.

At around 2pm I bugged my parents into going to check the line at TDS so I could catch up with the JSX Jon Con. We pass TCR and there are only 4 people waiting! I got there before that time Thursday and there was at least 10/15 people in line. So we walk down the street and get to the TDS studios. This is around 2.15pm now and NO ONE IS THERE! The roped line bit isn’t even out. There isn’t a single sole in the area. Not only am I wondering where the JSX crew is but where is everyone else going to TDS. We start walking back up the street to go do more touristy stuff and this band of people walk past. Now I was still thinking WTF is going on here and it was my mum who noticed it was the JSX crew. We stopped, said hi and had piccies taken. Then we set up for me to come back 7pm for the stakeout. They went off to wait for TDS and me and my parents went to the Top of the Rock where I got in for child prices (ages 6-12).

At 7pm (after I’d had a Happy Meal to keep me going for a while) we walk back down to TDS and the JSX crew are crossing onto a street just as we are walking down it. We meet in the middle and once my parents’ leave we set off for W 54th. Before starting the stakeout we go to Diagastino’s (sp?) to get food. Whilst there I hear behind me “Do eagles have eyebrows?” and it’s Shishu and Truthy! They were meant to be at TCR but had the 6 month rule brought out on them. They were gonna wait with us to meet Stephen so there now there was about 10 of us hanging around outside Diagastino’s. We walk back to the studio and TCR hasn’t even let out yet. Banter ensues. At around 7.30pm the TCR audience starts filing out and acushla’s story starts swirling around. The round of awwww’s and OMG’s was pretty huge when we all heard what happened.

The TCR audience leaves after a while but there are a few people from there waiting back too so around 14 of us are hanging around at this time. And after some banter and most of the TCR crew leaving (we had seen TCR on the TV on the first floor and figured they were editing earlier. I squee’d a little thinking Jimmy and Stephen were together editing. Think everyone else was just like OMG Stephen in there!) Paul Dinello comes out of the building and goes off down the street. Fangirling ensues because y’know PAUL! Turns out Doob runs into him as she’s walking down the street. Paul comes back a little while later with a bunch of shopping bags which we figure is food for him and Stephen. More squee’ing. There are a few rounds of Tek Jansen and Stephen, Stephen plus Lefty puts on Strangers with Candy on the DVD player and breaks out the champagne.

Truthy leaves some time around 10pm. We don’t want her to go, neither does she but her parents had waited there for around 2/3 hours so they were very patient. After we lose Truthy it’s down to me, Shishu, Lefty, Mea, Pulp, AR and acushla who came back at some point to join us. There is banter for a great deal of time, mostly about Stephen and Jon, everything and nothing. Basically what I’m saying is I can’t remember what we talked about.
At some time after midnight there is a group of youngsters further up the street from us and a cop car comes by, slowing down near that group and not us because apparently a group of hobo-looking people outside a celebrity’s studio after midnight is normal in New York. The streets are pretty quiet at this time but everyone walking past gives us these stares wondering what on earth we are doing. A crazy lady comes down the street with on a long red t-shirt and slippers on. She walks a few steps then stops every time she moves. She comes over to us, I think it was Mea and Lefty she came to, and points out $10 saying something about her leg hurting then wanting cigarettes. It was weird and I couldn’t stop laughing. Lefty instructs her to the store and she disappears down the street. We keep an eye on her then she decides to cross the road! Everyone is sure she’s gonna get splattered by a truck or a taxi but by some miracle makes it across the street. Lefty calls the cops because this woman is clearly disturbed. The cops come up the street but don’t seem to care and miss the woman. Then she’s coming back down 54th! Towards us and the studio. Lefty calls the cops again because now she’s sitting on Stephen’s steps smoking a cigarette. The cops finally arrive and get the woman to move. They put her in an ambulance which takes around 20 minutes. No one asks us anything because again waiting outside a celebrity’s studio at almost 1am is normal in NY.

Lefty then notices the lights on the second floor are off and everyone started squee’ing and getting cameras and stuff ready because Stephen is coming! He comes out the door with Paul and a security guard (who had bitched to us, though I guess was just doing his job too, about 3 hours earlier telling us it’s his job to get Stephen right to his car after 10pm but it wasn’t coming from Stephen it was coming from his company). Stephen shouts down to us “You crazy bastards!” We all cheer and squee. He shakes everyone’s hands because he is simply a nice guy. When he shakes mine he says “Hi. You were yesterday.” He got his days mixed up which is understandable but OMG STEPHEN COLBERT REMEMBERED ME! I cannot believe that. It’s been days and I still can’t. It’s so freakin’ amazing. Mea must have shaken his hand after me because I remember someone saying “aww baby you hurt your hand.” After he shakes everyone’s hands he asks if we want stuff signed or photos. Acushla gets something signed then Pulp holds out his camera and says “Well someone needs to take the photo.” And then Paul Dinello steps up and takes the camera. He takes the photo which turned out blurred. I hand him my camera and he takes another photo, which turned out. So Paul Dinello touched my camera and it now a sacred object. Stephen leaves after the photos because it’s about 1am and he has to get home. I think I remember people saying bye. Paul stays back a bit and signs Wigfield for Shishu and for me. He then tells us all to get some sleep. Yeah that wasn’t happening. The JSX crew walk me back to my hotel where I catch a lift pretty much right away and go into my room. My parents are still up and ask what happened. I tell them everything in a total fangirl excited voice then go to bed. I don’t think I slept a wink from the excitement.

Hobocamp 2007 was the best experience of my life. And the best end to my New York holiday I could have ever asked for. I spent the most of the trip home either looking at my signed script or at the Stephen picture. I still can’t believe my luck. To everyone I met whilst there thank you for making my experience that bit more memorable. It was a truly wonderful experience that I’m looking to repeat ASAP.

My Paul Dinello signed Wigfield.

Pulp's blurry pic. I think I am coping feel and I don't remember! I want to remember if I did.

The non-blurry pic from my camera. Yay.

New York was amazing!

TCR 6/19 taping report

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:59:46 GMT

Queue banter, desk touching, Stephen speaking to me and the signed script.

We got up super early on this day because we were touring Yankee Stadium. I’m a Mets fan but this had to be done. Turned out to be awesome, we even saw inside the clubhouse. However it was not as awesome as what happened next.

As soon as we got out Yankee Stadium I made my parents practically run to get the D train (I was there a week and never took a C train :( ) back to our hotel then onto the TCR studios which were only like 3 blocks away from where we staying. Great place for a hotel in my opinion. So this is a mini recommendation for The Manhattan Club from me for anyone going to NYC to see TDS or TCR and wants to be close to the studios. /recommendation.

We finally got to the studios some time after 2pm. Around 10/15 people were there. Shishu had instructed me at TDS yesterday to ask the first person in line “Do eagles have eyebrows?” but it turns out I didn’t have to because after about 15 seconds standing there I hear the question and shout my answer back. Turns out Shishu is there and she invites me to sit in the front of the line beside her and ColbertisMyHero and her mum. In two days for both shows I’d gotten to the front of the line thanks to internet people. You guys rock! Shishu and I discuss the Mets, my “Jon” hat (which is the all black Mets hat that Jon always wears and the Mets hat which I wear the most now too) and some other stuff. Someone (and I apologise hugely for forgetting who) from OSCLA comes up to me in the front of the queue and says “Are you Susie?” I was like yeah. She said hi and went back to her group. At that point CMH says “Wait you’re Susie?” and it turns out CMH and me had “chatted” on LJ as we both had the same ticket problem. The world works in mysterious ways. CMH had been in constant contact with Truthy and at around 3 she finally arrived with her flag. More queue banter ensued, we saw Meg on the steps, we recorded our Ron Paul chant, had pics taken with the flag and then Shishu left because she was just there to have some fun and didn’t have a ticket.

After more banter they finalllly handed out tickets and let us in. They didn’t even look at me so again I beat the system thanks to tickets being in my parents’ name. I was only 4 days off 18 on that day but I was still majorly excited to have a ticket. I took number #4 so I was beside CMH, her mum and Truthy. We went through security, and sat in the waiting room for what seemed like an eternity. During that time pictures were taken, a note was left in the #1 ticket and more banter took place. Mark then came and announced they would be letting people in soon by ticket number. Squeeing ensued.

And when we got in wow. The studio is indeed much smaller in real life. The distance between the desk and interview area is nothing. I don’t know how Stephen makes it last that long when he goes to it. My seat had a great view of the desk (though I did have some problems with camera positions but I just leant over to one side and got a good view of Stephen). Once everyone was seated Pete came out and did his set and had me rolling with laughter. He was simply hilarious. The real audience coordinator checked our laughter levels and showed us the signal to cheer then Pete came out again and asked if the 4 of us (CMH, her mum, Truthy and me) would like to touch the desk. We screamed YEAH and ran over and molested the desk. CMH and Truthy even touched the chair. Pete noticed us going crazy and called us back.

And the moment of truth was upon us. Stephen came out and did his run around the studio, high five thing. I got him the first time but missed the second time round. He has so much energy! He asked if anyone had a question and CMH had her hand up right away so he played with her a bit moving closer asking if anyone had a question, anyone? Then he took a step back and allowed CMH to ask her question. She asked him about her DVD of fanvids which she had sent for his birthday. He didn’t get it because Viacom reads all his mail first. Viacom! They suck. Some point when Stephen was over the side asking questions I got the guts to put my own hand up (I don’t where from but I hadn’t asked Jon a Q yesterday so I wanted to ask Stephen something). I kept putting my hand up as he kept asking more questions. He came back to our side and ask some woman in the second row and she asked if he would ever do Even Stevphen on the Report. Way to steal my thunder. I kinda didn’t put my hand up after that but Stephen being the great guy he is pointed to me and said “yes you have something.” I blurted out “Yeah I was just gonna ask if you would ever have Steve on the show?” because I had been planning to since before even I came out NY and that woman stole my thunder. Stephen looked me right in the eye as he answered which was just amazing. He said he’d love to but Steve’s busy and he’d do a thing with his character and have to find out if Steve was acting before or if the anger was real. The actual full answer is lost on me because Stephen was looking at me right in the eyes.

The Q&A ended after that and he did the heel click and went to his desk. Some crew people came over to go over some stuff and I thought Stephen was making a change when he took out his pen and doodled something. Then he started folding the script into a paper airplane. I was like “whaaa?” then he points the paper airplane at us and we all hold out our hands and he sends it over and it lands right in front of me! I pick up, open it and realise he signed it. It was the most awesome thing ever. Audience coordinator guy reminded us to laugh at the Table of Contents and cheer when he did the signal. And filming began. We cheered really loud after the credits and gave him a standing O. Stephen tried to quiet us and when we finally quieted down he said “I wish I had a paddle so I could send your love back to you. Get on it science!” Brilliant. He did the opening bit with the NY Times next which was simply hilarious. I think you can hear me laughing and clapping at some point on the track. Then they filmed the eagle bit which was amazing. A live eagle in the studio and Stephen feeding it! Plus a Jon Stewart mention! They went to C-Break at which point some awesome music came out. Truthy, CMH and I were dancing along and Stephen joined us. He did loads of actions for the stuff too. I think it was Chumba Wumba. Totally amazing. They filmed the Alpha Dog of the Week segment after the break and Stephen almost broke twice because the delay of the sound effect. He managed to stay in character though. There was great in-studio reaction to the John Kerry bit. After that it was time for another C-Break. There was more music but this time Stephen was doing a bit more rewrites. Once he had got done with them he looked over at me (who had been gazing at him all this time) and gestured at me with his eyebrows. I did really almost faint. The interview was quite interesting. Stephen did a good job being in character with her. We had to chant “We’re #1!” though only twice while I was quite ready to go for a few more. Lol. Another C-break between the interview and the end. Stephen was again furiously writing but also taking time to note his audience which I really love him for. They got the ending done quick which meant they had no reshoots for the show. Stephen thanked us for being a great Tuesday audience then Meg told us how to file out. I still had my note for Jimmy because whilst I had asked Stephen a question the note was in my bag. I got the note out and handed it to Meg who said she’d try to get it to him. I hope he got it.

Once we got out we looked at Truthy’s signed flag which Mark had gotten for her and at my signed script. We all decided to stay and wait for Stephen but it wasn’t to be. Truthy left first, then CMH and her mum called it a night so they could see more of NY and finally at around 9pm my parents had had enough. Chinese had been delivered so we knew it’d be a while. We walked down to a restaurant and had a meal during which I told them I was gonna hook up with the JSX crew on Thursday and we were gonna meet Stephen. I told my dad I’d pay him quadruple the price of the Cyclones tickets we had for that night. He agreed and I got on the internets as soon as we got back to the hotel to share my fangirliness over the day and make sure I could tag along for the stakeout. All was good and we were set for Thursday.

The TCR taping was totally different from TDS. So much more energy most of which coming from Stephen who is so connected with his audience. My parents said they enjoyed TCR more and how Stephen was so great with the audience. My signed script is now safely in my bedroom waiting to be framed. Such a great memento of my trip. I love you Stephen! And it was great to meet Truthy and CMH.

The signed script complete with fold lines from the paper airplane.

6/21 - Hobocamp/the wait next.

TDS 6/18 taping report - The Scottish perspective

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:14:57 GMT

Jon. Steve. Daily Show live. The third day of my NY holiday.

Before leaving the UK, in fact before my leaving my house at 4am last Friday I had checked with Lefty from JSX to make sure she’d hold the places and when was the latest me and my parents could join the line. I think we ended up getting there around 3pm after having seen the Bethesda Fountain (Angels in America fans represent!) in the morning and going down to Battery Park after that where we had planned to take the boat to the Statue of Liberty but were well and truly scared away by the lines. By this time I was already bugging the parents to get back down to our hotel and then onto the Daily Show line. They finally backed down and when we got there the line lady and some other people were out there offering water and tried to show us to the back of the line (around the corner people!) but I was adamant someone was waiting for me and even though it took a second to register I finally noticed Lefty and walked over and woot we got in the front of the line at 3 o’clock. I also met Shishu from CN and narcissenoir and her mum (also there for her 18th) on the line. Banter ensued about all things with my parents ending up directing late comers to the queue around the corner since they didn’t get any of what we were talking about.

Then they started handing out tickets. OMG I got way excited at this point. They gave me mine after they asked my dad for the name on the tickets without really looking at me so I was good to go. Then we saw them ID these baby faced boys in the VIP queue and my dad insisted I hide behind him for the remainder of the time outside so audience lady didn’t come over and ID me. They didn’t and we got let in soon after.

So we are finally inside and I have traded tickets with my dad so I am 103 and sitting next to Lefty and Shishu. More banter ensues inside then Shishu finds Tracey’s post-it behind the banner, removes and we replace it with one about our two part JSX con.

Then after a little while in the holding room they started letting VIPs in and tell us they shall be letting us in by the people who arrived first and we should respect them etc, etc which we should ‘cause Shishu was there at 12pm! Anyway I managed to get in the door behind Narcissenoir, her mum, Lefty and Shishu and we got amazing seats in the front row. Great view of the desk and even the mini control room off to the side which is basically a desk with three monitors on it where Chuck sits (and I am more than sure we saw Chuck at work which ‘caused me to get slightly more excited than is probably healthy for a normal person). The studio is tiny in person, the desk and the entire space is all so much smaller. I couldn’t really believe it so I had a good look at the set while we awaited Paul coming out to do his set. Paul’s set wasn’t bad. It was quite funny and he did pick on some Viacom people. He makes us chant “Jon! Jon! Jon!” like three times and every time I get over excited thinking Jon is coming out. But instead we have to make sure we laugh loud enough and he does the “Ha!” thing with a few people.

Then Jon comes out and I am just in awe. I had planned to ask something (about the Mets) and give him the note to Chuck (though now I realise Chuck might have been there all along and that would have been weird). I knew as soon as he walked out and stood beside the desk and giggled a little that my power of speech was gone so I was just gazed at Jon while he answered the questions other people had. I remember someone asking if he’d run for President to which he said no and the next person asked if he got that question every taping and he said most days. Someone from William & Mary was there but I can’t remember what they asked. Someone asked what he got for father’s day and he said he got a little card from the kids. Insert many awww’s from the audience here including loud aww’s from Lefty, me and Shishu. Shishu asked if he’d watched the game Sunday (the game I was in the bleachers at). He said yeah in this sad little voice. I totally felt his pain then some Yankee fans started going off and that wasn’t very nice. Leave us Mets fan alone. It wasn’t even nice Yankee fans like the ones at the game though I guess they were kinda it-getters but still Yankee fans = boooo. The Q&A ended somewhere after Shishu’s question.

And the taping began. Jon went to sit down at the desk at which point Dave, Chuck (I’m sure it was him anyway) and someone else come over and they go over the final things before taping the opening. Please note when I was sure it was Chuck I told Shishu and Lefty and had a little squee. After Chuck etc left they had to set up so Jon was at the desk and he put his chair and was sitting with just a little more than his head above the desk and it was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. He doodled as the cameras started rolling. So then they started filming and I’m pretty sure I cheered rather loudly on the opening bit but so did everyone else and Jon tried to quiet us all which was adorable. They filmed the start of an opening which you wouldn’t have seen because they ended up running over. It was about The US Open and Angel Cabrera. The specifics are eluding me now but it was funny. He went right into the Mess O’Potamia bit and then the screen beside him turned green and Aasif came out. Shishu, Lefty and I squee’d a little at this because Aasif is love. They get onto the Aasif bit and there’s this little bit of time where I think we are gonna get extremely lucky and get 4 correspondents (John O would have been one) but we were already getting Steve so I very much enjoyed Aasif’s segment.

They went to C-break (excuse me going all technical on you, too much Studio 60) where they had some music playing. It was good stuff I remember. Dave, etc came over to the desk again just to go over last points and then Rob Riggle came out. Yay! I love Rob now though he took a while to grow on me. We cheered Rob very loud. My dad was like “Who’s that?” I said “Rob Riggle” and then he said “Who’s Rob Riggle?” I told him a correspondent which he seemed happy with. lol. Rob filmed his hilarious segment about his hatred of Steve Carell which went very well apart from a mini technical hitch which caused a reshoot but it was only during Jon’s opening bit. I laughed a lot during it. It was a real fun bit. Rob finished his bit and Jon gave him love then we the audience did too.

It was time for another C-break. Jon was going over his cards. I think Dave may have come over that time too but it’s a bit blurry since Shishu, Lefty and I were too busy noticing Stephen pacing. You could see his shadow moving on and off the screen which was hilarious and then Jon also noticed the pacing and was looking right at Steve and giggling. A-dor-able. Steve came out for the interview with the servant and we cheered really loud for him. Yay Steve! The interview was just awesome. They talked about Steve’s time on TDS and how Stephen had found him and the Producer Pete segments. It was just really great to watch them interact. You could totally hear us on the track during the interview. And during the C-break between the interview and the pre-toss and toss Jon and Steve had a total catch up session. I mean Steve was sitting down for a bit then got up as if to go back to the green room but then they started talking again and I just wanted to hear what they were saying.

After Steve finally managed to stop talking to Jon they got set up for the toss and Stephen came up on the monitors and he had a pen in his mouth. I squee’d. I know I did. Stephen! Stephen and Jon talking! They talked about the book and how Stephen was finishing it in 5 days (which would make that the 23rd, my 18th birthday). He said he’d written “35 fucking pages over the weekend.” Stephen swearing and to Jon and us was just amazing. I loved it. Pre-toss banter is totally amazing. They filmed the actual toss where they talked about Steve and how Stephen totally hated him which you saw. Good toss.

After the toss they filmed Jon’s walk away bit as we cheered then all of a sudden Jon is coming back and they have to reshoot! They ran a minute and something over and had to film the entire opening over again minus the golf story and so we had to cheer just as loud for a mini opening which you saw and then right into Mess O’Potamia. After they had finished filming the reshoot Jon threw his scripts in the air and ran off into the fake newsroom bit before coming back and thanking us all for being a great audience.

I still had my note for Chuck at this point because obviously I had gotten too much in awe when Jon walked out so I handed it to audience lady and I hope she can get it to him because he deserves to know he has a fangirl. And I shall admit at one point (I can’t remember where though) during the filming I looked away from Jon and watched Chuck at work. Director geek indeed.

I loved seeing The Daily Show tape live. It gave me a whole new perspective on the show and seeing Jon film it in the flesh is such a great experience. If you think he’s adorable on TV he’s so much more adorable in person. I love you Jon! And Lefty and Shishu for making my pre and during taping experience wonderful.

TCR 6/19 up next.

BTW after the TDS taping we went up the Empire State Building which gave us a great view of the city at night. Totally amazing. Never seen anything like it.