[stextbox id=”custom”]Getting Ready for Super Bowl Fun

The email came, asking the faithful to come to a special taping last Friday. I’ve seen Craig do Sean Connery bits before at a regular show taping, so I knew that it would be hilarious, especially the parts that would never make it to air. I packed my bags and left Thursday afternoon so I could catch a late stand up show Thursday night by none other than Eddie Izzard. He’s been doing shows in LA in a small venue called Largo at the Coronet. This night he was working out some new material for his new show that he’s starting in March in Europe. It was amazing and a dream come true to see him work.

But back to Craig. Friday was very cool and windy so the waiting outside the studio was cut as short as they could manage and we filed upstairs to Studio 56. It was actually just as cold in the studio as it was outside but we got to enjoy the comedy stylings of Chunky B., the warm-up comedian. Soon it became apparent that things were going to go long. Chunky’s part is usually about 20 minutes of dumb jokes (my favorite!) and instructions but instead, Chunky introduced Bob Oschack to help him with the warm-up.
Bob Oschack has been a writer on the Late Late Show since 2010. He’s also written for Dennis Miller and a few other comedy TV shows. He was hilarious and very adept at stretching out for time as he gave away t-shirts and yukked it up with various audience members.

So why the delay? As we learned later, Craig and Josh Robert Thompson, the voice/puppeteer of Geoff Peterson, had been filming promos for the Super Bowl show earlier in the day and it had taken a little longer than expected. Then Craig had to get into the Sean Connery makeup, a complicated process which takes an hour what with the bald cap and beard.

Of course, Chunky and Bob explained the delay away by joking about “union breaks” and getting snacks. In any case, we finally made it through the long wait. The show’s long-suffering producer, Michael Naidus, came out and sat at his podium and Bob introduced a special guest, Sir Sean Connery!

From the moment he came from backstage, Craig remained in character as Sean Connery, even when he was chatting with Tuyen and Liza, the hair and makeup artists, as they did touch-ups. He ran through a number of Super Bowl bits as he sat on a leather couch in the familiar gentleman’s library set. Drinking scotch (actually apple juice) and eating popcorn, he would ramble after performing a bit and those rambles were the best part. None of them will air because of the cussing! He also worked a lot of sight gags using a life-sized stuffed sheep. The funniest one was when the sheep ended up next to him on the couch, facing away from him, and Craig ran through a dozen facial expressions as he looked at the sheep’s arse, and then to the camera.

On to Michael Caine in Space! Craig dashed offstage, Chunky and Bob vamped for about 15 minutes, and then introduced Michael Caine. He had the requisite glass of scotch (apple juice) and a cigarette, and he surprised everyone when he asked for the cigarette to be lit. I immediately thought of a July 4th debacle several years ago when Craig wanted to wave a sparkler and found out that he needed to take a fire safety course before he could. The same problem this time, only they needed to have a special effects person on set before they could light the cigarette. As long-time viewers know, Craig can’t live by their rules, man, and so many of the bits were punctuated with rants about impressionable youth being corrupted by a late-night show. So cutting and so funny! Everyone was laughing, Michael the producer, the camera people, the grips, and the audience of course. It’s the moments like these that make going to a taping like this so special. None of those rants will make it to air but we got to see it happen on the spot! There’s nothing like grumpy Craig on a rant.

After many takes, with cigarette and without, Craig asked, “Are we done?” and conferred with Michael. There were a few more things to do with Geoff but Craig said to reschedule those since he’d have to spend time getting out of the makeup. Michael mentioned that they needed a cold open so Craig did it as Michael Caine in Space, with a little help from your humble narrator. We’ll see if it actually airs or not.
All in all, my cohorts @HMSFox and @Diane4mail had an awesome time at the taping, even with all its stops and starts. Sometimes it’s fun to see behind the curtain[/stextbox]