Following our wonderful tour of the Disney Studios, it was now time to head over to NBC for the taping of The Tonight Show. Since Jimmy and I were required to wear jackets at The Magic Castle later that night, we foolishly decided to go ahead and wear the jackets to The Tonight Show. This was in hopes of getting better seats. Bob’s friend Michael had arranged for our tickets to be waiting, but the seats are not assigned until you enter the studio.
After some confusion of trying to find out exactly where we were supposed to be, and nearly getting chased off the lot for snapping the photo below, we eventually found our way to the waiting area where we claimed our tickets. While we waited, the local news anchor regaled us with the idiotic mysteries surrounding Anna Nicole’s death and the father of the baby. Zsa Zsa Gabor’s decrepit old husband came forth and claimed that he was the proud papa. Yuck. Anyway I digress…
Finally we were herded into the small studio. Leno decided early in his career that he liked a more intimate setting, so this studio sat maybe 1000 – if that. In Carson’s day, the suits might have gotten us up front, but Leno likes a younger, hipper crowd down front to greet him, so we ended up being seated in the upper right section, suits and all. But really there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.
I was impressed with Jay Leno. He came out and warmed up the crowd before the taping and seemed to genuinely enjoy what he was doing. We were kept entertained until the show began with music and jokes from various people. When the show started, Leno had his typical funny monologue, followed by some via satellite interplay with Fred Willard. Then before he began to bring his guests out, he showed his video footage of “Jaywalking” where he went door-to-door asking everyday Joes to imitate their favorite Grammy-nominated singers. It was pretty funny.
Then Drew Barrymore came out. Looking stunning, she also knew how to shine for the crowd. She related a story of how she found a snake in her poolside refridgerator and also promoted her latest film Music and Lyrics. Some young female Drew Barrymore fans (and creators of the ‘Drewseum’ website) who we had met before the show, were seated up front and screamed with glee while she was on stage.
Drew was followed by Kyle Kirchbaum, a twelve-year old vacuum cleaner aficianado. Although it sounds ridiculous, he was quite a charismatic and funny kid. Drew had left by this point, but Kyle remained on stage when blues singer Solomon Burke came out on the very left side of the stage to perform. I had never heard of him, but he wasn’t too bad.
After the show, Jay filmed (and flubbed) a couple of promos to play prior to the show. I don’t know if we would have had any luck if we had stuck around and tried to meet anyone, but we couldn’t even if we had wanted to. We had 6:00 reservations at the Magic Castle. Friday, February 9 was becoming a full day.
Hey, I’m on of those Drew fans you wrote about 😉 Thanks for the shoutout! Totally remember you guys.
Ashley
March 23rd, 2007