Sports

Thanjsgiving

Hello cello

Wait Wait Part III

 

It was drizzling as we ran from the Berkley Station to the Wang Theatre. There was quite a huge crowd outside – I guess a lot of people waiting to meet friends – and we got in and then climbed the stairs up, up, all the way to the top of the back of the balcony. We weren’t in the back row, but we were within spitting distance.

 

The stage was set with a table on the right hand side that was obviously for the three panel members, two lectern’s on the  left hand side that we guessed were for the host – Peter Sagal – and the announcer Carl Kasell. In the center was what looked like an old leather arm chair, with a small side table beside it. Was that for the guest?

 

We waited a little while, as the theater filled in, and then the lights dimmed, music started, and…a small multi-colored disco light beside the arm-chair came on. The audience went nuts.

 

An announcers voice was heard – though who he was and where he was, wasn’t clear – and he introduced the first panelist ‘Mo Rocca’ and the crowd went nuts again as Mo came out and waved at everyone. This was great cause for excitement as Mo is a particular favorite of Skye’s.

 

The crowd was so loud, we didn’t even hear who the second panelist was – but a woman came on. It wasn’t Paula Poundstone, and I said to Skye ‘maybe it’s Roxamme Roberts?’ We didn’t find out for about another five minutes that it was Amy Dickinson. The last panelist then came out; Charlie Pierce, who’s a writer for the Boston Globe, and I had almost assumed he would be one of the panelist’s for this show.

 

And then came out the announcer Carl Kasell, and finally Peter Sagal. The crowd went nuts.

 

And then he insulted us! “Hello Boston, you crazy bastards!” and we went nuts again. He then proceeded to tell us how great it was to be in front of what was probably the largest audience they’d ever had. He also allowed that he almost thought of Boston as a second home as he used to come up to his grandparents place, and he went to college here. He said he was running around during the afternoon and he noticed something different; everyone seemed so happy! (Big roar!) And then he said “Well it’s a great time to be in Boston, your sports teams have been doing great, your Preidential candidate won (I assume he didn’t mean Kerry)” and then he added, “if you fix up the weather, it would be perfect!”

 

He also ingratiated himself by mentioning different parts of Boston (to cheers), and noted that Boston was really two regions; the Cambridge-MIT-Harvard area where everyone thought they were smarter, and then the southern part where they all thought they were “smahtah.” Finally, he invited us to show our pleasure and enthusiasm during the show to make others think that we were having a great time, “Just remember,” he added, “that it’s you guys that spent about $60 each to come and see a show you could stay home and listen to in your pajamas for free!”

 

Someone yelled “louder” from the balcony, as it was a little hard to hear him. While they adjusted the audio, Peter – who’s balding – said that when they were doing a show in Maine he had asked if everyone could hear okay, and a loan voice in the back came “We can’t see your hair!”

 

And then they were off. It was fascinating to watch them doing the show. It was much as you’d expect; it sounded just like the radio show! Except that they tended to go on for quite some time about the different topics. A question about lingerie that had a built in GPS resulted in about a ten minute digression when Mo couldn’t quite understand why someone would buy GPS enhanced underwear, and how it would work. “Is it to find your underwear, or to help you find your way home afterwards?” Amy Dickinson suggested that this was the kind of thing that would appeal to men more than woman. “They’re always taking out their iPhones and trying to impress you,” she said.

“That’s happened to you,” asked Sagal?

“Yes,” she continued, “But then they start showing it to the other men who have iPhones too…”

“You’ve got to stop hanging out at gay bars,” Mo suggested.

 

It’s clear that they extensively edit the shows down afterwards. I think they probably had about n hour and a half of material; and that’s excluding all the applause, introduction and other pauses.

 

The guest was Barney Frank, a local institution; he’s represented the 4th congressional district since 1981. He’s also the chair of the House’s Financial Services committee and is quite a wit too.

 

Sagal noted that with the election behind us, there was a lot of talk of bipartisanship, but he asked him whether – after the bitterness of the campaign – wasn’t there some urge to do something back to the opposition? “Well,” he said, “that first thing we’re going to do is nationalize the Alaskan Tourist Board” (A reference to the Republicans VP Pick Palin. The crowd goes nuts.)

 

They then talked about how the Republicans had been trying to blame Frank for the financial mess. “Yes,” he said, “they had control of Congress from 1996 to 2006, and then they suddenly realized that I had been secretly controlling everything!”

 

Finally they talked about his dealings with George Bush. Frank noted that he’d met him only a few times, and that in person he seemed like a nice guy “but you don’t get anywhere in politics if you come across as a jerk.” Sagal asked him if he’d been given a nick-name, and he said “Yes, Sabertooth.”

 

There followed a story about how he’s been at a State of the Union with his boyfriend – Frank is gay – and the President had greeted Frank and said to say ‘hi’ to the person he was with, and Frank said “You realize that’s my boyfriend,” and the President said “See, now you can tell people how tolerant I am.”

 

Mo then wanted to know if the President had a nickname for his boyfriend, and when Frank said no, Mo suggested “Well since you’re Sabertooth, maybe he’s Tiger.” Frank then made a reference to a previous topic where the FCC had ruled on “fleeting expletives’ and suggested they not continue the topic!

 

It was a great show, and we both really enjoyed it. It was interesting that they never stopped and restarted, but I did notice Peter Sagal reset himself a few times. He would start to say something, flub it, and stop and then just start from the beginning of that line again.

 

At the end, once Carl Kasall has closed the show, Sagal shushed us all and explained that they now had to re-record some pieces, and while it wasn’t that exciting, as an encouragement to stay, we were now going to get to see how the show was really made, and that if we waited they’d take some questions at the end. They then spent about five to ten minutes as he re-recorded some parts of the show; these were some of the inter-section pieces, some of the questions he asked the first caller, and the final closing announcement. He also rerecorded a question he asked the guest, but they didn’t rerecord any of the panelists, or any of the banter.

 

Finally, they took a few questions from the audience. “Where’s Paula” (Poundstone) someone shouted, and Sagal said “Well, she’s not here, but let me introduce our other panelists; Chopped Liver, Chopped Liver, and Chopped Liver,” he said waving at the other panelists.

 

Someone else from the balcony yelled out “Does Carl fly from Washington to Chicago every week for the taping of the show?” Carl, who’s very taciturn, said “Yes I do.” And after a short silence the guy yelled back, “I always wanted to know that.”

 

“I love Boston,” Sagal observed happily.

 

And then it was over and we streamed out of the theater, and the rain had stopped.

 

It was a great night.

Wait Wait Part II

Wait Wait Dont Tell Me

This is an actual picture, taken from our actual seats at an actual taping of “Wait Wait Dont Tell Me.”

At this distance it will be just like watching it on radio!

Who will be on the panel? Who will the guest be? How long until it starts?

November 1st

We went to the local Mexican restaurant because it’s The Day of the Dead. The mole enchilada was better than the spinach.
Then on to Barnes & Noble, though on the way we passed the mall and discovered that Santa has already arrived! Amazing! We just got through Halloween!