I'm back from the taping of tonight's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. My friend Neil Gaiman was among the guests (and the musical performer was his amazing bride, Amanda Palmer) and I needed to get something to Neil so I took it over myself. I live within walking distance of CBS Television City…so naturally in my career, that's the studio where I have least often worked on shows. I've been over in the executive-type wing a few times in the last decade or two for meetings but I think the last time I was in the "studio" section was 1985 when we did CBS Storybreak there with Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan. That's more than a quarter-century ago.
My confidence that I knew the place wronged me. I didn't pay the closest attention when the lady at the Artists Entrance told me how to get to Stage 58 and soon found that walls have been moved since I was last over there. Many walls. And elevators that once went to the third story now only go to the second. I wound up on the wrong floor, stumbling through where they store the sets for The Price is Right…and I actually made a right turn at the Plinko Board.
Then a passing stagehand saw the I-don't-know-where-the-hell-I'm-going look on my face and offered to direct me. I joked about how the place sure has changed since I worked there and he asked me, "What show did you work on here?"
I said, "I did a show here with Captain Kangaroo." The man's eyebrows shot up and for a moment, he thought I was lying and was therefore perhaps a trespasser. "Captain Kangaroo taped in New York," he said.
He was right insofar as the Good Captain's main show was concerned. But I told the man, "He also hosted CBS Storybreak which taped here in Studio 33" and that seemed to satisfy him. He then gave me what turned out to be faulty directions, thereby routing me to another place which was not where I was supposed to be. Finally, another stagehand pointed me to my destination and I found the dressing room of Neil and Amanda. Soon after, I also found Neil and Amanda.
I was impressed with the smooth professionalism of the production crew. That is not always the case, even with long-running shows. In this case, all was well though Mr. Ferguson had thrown his staff a curve. An opening musical number had been proposed for tonight, it being Halloween and all. Last week, they decided not to do it. This morning, CraigyFerg decided to do it. They had to scramble and book dancers and pre-record the song and rehearse it…and they wound up delaying the taping from 4 PM to 5 PM. The number required two takes because Geoff Peterson's eyes didn't light up at the proper moment the first time.
As I already knew, Ferguson tapes his show slightly out of sequence. The cold openings they do — the segments that precede the opening title — are taped second. The first thing they record is his entrance before the live audience and his monologue. Then they tape the cold opening. (And speaking of cold, you could preserve meat for ten years in that studio. One of the performers in Amanda's band wore a parka while performing. Ms. Palmer, dressed in the frilliest nothing, vowed to wear one whenever she's asked back.)
I was very impressed with Craig Ferguson. He was funny backstage. He was funny chatting with the audience during commercial breaks. As a matter of fact, he was even funnier during the commercial breaks than he was during the show itself…and he was pretty funny during the show itself. From what I can tell, he does very little preparation for the interviews — a lot less than Letterman or Leno or anyone else currently in that line of work.
But then I was briefly unimpressed with something. They taped the first interview, which was with Zooey Deschanel. Then they taped Neil's spot, which went extremely well. (It felt long and I'm wondering if there won't be edits in it when it airs in a little while.) Then they taped Craig introducing Amanda's number…but they didn't tape the number. Then they taped the end of the show and then Ferguson left and after he was gone, they taped Amanda's number.
I was startled. First off, it's common courtesy to any performers you have on your show to watch their performance. Jay Leno, for instance, makes a point of not only watching the musical act perform (as opposed to, say, chatting with his producer during the number) but Jay always moves to a position where both the audience and the performer(s) can see he's watching. It's also good show business to "button" a performance with the host coming over and shaking hands with the performer(s) and joining in on the applause. David Letterman, like Jay, always does that.
Like I said, I was briefly unimpressed. Then several folks explained to me that Ferguson usually does just that but tonight, he had to dash home due to the late taping and his son's Halloween plans. Okay, I'll accept that. I am no longer unimpressed.
Another odd moment. I got to talking with a slim, bald gent backstage though I had no idea who he was. He was wearing a shirt with the show's logo on it and I guess I assumed he worked on the staff. We were talking about CBS and I told him, walking encyclopedia that I am of such things, about some of the shows that had taped in that building. After about ten minutes of folks interrupting us to ask him about musical matters, I figured out that he was part of Amanda's band. And after fifteen, I realized that he was Moby.
So I'm good at TV history, bad at recognizing popular musicians…even musicians whose work I like. Later, I was introduced to another performer who was helping Amanda out — Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields — and I had a momentary inability to recall the name of that CD of his I liked so much. It was 69 Love Songs and I wish I'd had its name on the tip of or anywhere around my tongue when I told him I knew and enjoyed his music. Since I didn't name anything by name, I'm not sure he believed me.
Amanda's number, performed with those two gents plus Neil, went quite well. The live audience seemed to really like her, which is not always the case with audiences who come to see a star and are annoyed they have to sit through other things. Letterman's audiences were at one point notorious for their disinterest in anything on the stage that didn't involve Dave. You could have had the Beatles reuniting over in the performance area and half the audience would have been staring at Dave sitting behind his desk in the dark and they'd be wondering when he'd be talking again. A lot of comedians who might otherwise do stand-up on their own fare better when they sit in the guest chair and perform much the same material as a conversation with Dave. The entire audience will actually listen to the act that way.
As good as Amanda's song was, I actually enjoyed it more when we were in the dressing room earlier and they were rehearsing with just ukuleles or, in a few cases, no instruments at all. It was just Amanda and her spectacular voice, Stephin and Neil (Moby had gone for a walk) running through the tune several times sans microphones. I wish there was a place to hear that kind of thing more often.
So I was impressed by Neil and Amanda both. I was impressed by Craig Ferguson, on and off camera. I was impressed with the opening musical number and the closing one. I was impressed with Josh Robert Thompson, who's the fellow who provides the voice of the Robot Skeleton Sidekick. What else was I impressed by? Oh, yes: The food and beverage in the green room. I worked on a lot of shows and never saw a spread that good. I was even impressed with me, finding my way out and back to my car when it was over. I didn't get lost. Then again, I was walking with Neil's associate Cat, who can do absolutely everything. But I was impressed that I knew to just walk with her…and that's the only reason I'm home to blog about the show before it airs. Trick or treat.
