The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 01/08/2014

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

January 8th, 2014

The Tonight Show is an icon of late night television. I knew this had to be one of my first stops for touring the live studio audiences circuit. It's really sad to know that Jay Leno will be retiring and Jimmy Fallon is moving the show to New York. BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

TICKETS:

I requested tickets through http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/tickets/ and the form requires you to indicate three dates that you want to attend. I just entered some random dates as any time was fine with me! I believe I received my #2 choice. 

THERE IS ONLY ONE TYPE OF TICKET- IT IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE and they issue more tickets than seats available in the studio. What does that mean? Means that even if you have tickets, you're not guaranteed to get in!

STUDIO LOCATION:

3000 W Alameda Avenue, Burbank, CA 91523

The Show tapes on the NBC Burbank lot in Studio 11, located just off of the 134 freeway. The pedestrian entrance is on Bob Hope Drive or East side of the facilities. 

PARKING: 

Parking was very simple as they are SOME available spots on the street (with a time limit) or a parking lot right across the street that charges $5 (right off Parkside Drive.)

LINE:

Tickets indicated that the arrive no later time was 2:45 pm with the show beginning at 4pm. We arrived early (at 12:45 pm) as ticket holders aren't guaranteed entrance. We wanted to make sure we received seats! When we approached the front of the studio, there was a fenced-in holding area that had a few trees with a high enough concrete border that it provided a few seats for those in the front of the line. A security guard was present and ensured we were standing in the correct location and made sure no one else attempted to cut in line since there really isn't a line (the area is wide and people just mingle around.) We were approximately number 32 and 33 in line. 

At around 1:30, the line moved from the holding area into the actual studio lot. Here we are posing in front of the sign :)

You then enter the gate through a metal detector and security searches your bag. Cell Phones are allowed on premises but must be turned off when inside the studio. The staff checks your ID and tickets and hands you a number.

We sat on benches for about another hour, giving us ample opportunity to use the restrooms (which were located in a trailer). The first 150 people are seated on benches inside a shaded area. The rest of the ticket holders are standing outside the shaded area. There were probably around 350 people waiting to go inside!

Then around 3 pm, we made our way inside the studio. Cell phones off and the staff seats you. We were about 4 rows up in front of Jay's Desk. They initially tried to seat us in the corner in front of where the band plays but we requested different seats as it was very out of the way of where most of the action occurs.

***TIP*** 

The order in line does not mean you get better seats. VIP's have their seats roped off and reserved groups have their seats roped off as well and these are mostly in the front few rows. Additionally, we noticed an attractive female in the back of the line who was wearing bright, flattering clothing. She ended up being escorted (with her male companion) from the back of the line to a separate entrance where they seated her in the front row on the floor. Being as it's an on-camera audience, young attractive females in cute outfits were seated in the first three rows on the floor. Here me and my girlfriend are dressed for cold weather and bundled up. We're not exactly spring chickens either! Lesson learned!

The monitors were playing music and leno sketches and everyone was pumped up. The Emcee came out, informed us of our jobs (clap, be energetic and laugh our faces off) and the band played at every intermission.

Jay came out before the show, did a small skit to get us in the laughing mood. He asked for questions, which one person received an autograph on their book, another got a picture taken and a young female told Jay her mom said hello... so Jay picked up the phone at the desk and proceeded to call her mom and offer her tickets for another show. 

With 5 minutes left before show time, Jay disappeared to get dressed. The cameras fired up and The Tonight Show began. Jay did his monologue; watching it in person was very surreal. You were encouraged to stand up and dance on commercial breaks and clap a lot. The Emcee would give out gifts to those who were highly energetic.

IT. WAS. EXHAUSTING. 

The Guests came out and for our episode it was Steve Carell and Maria Shriver. 

More commercial breaks with the band playing, people standing up and dancing. 

The guest band came on and played in front of us. Then that was it- the end of the show!

My girlfriend is a big Steve Carell fan. At the very end of the show, when the cameras had stopped rolling, it was actually quiet in the studio because the audience was told to sit down and wait so the celebrities could exit the studio first (the ones that were on stage). So, here we are watching Steve Carell and Maria Shriver walk in front of us with their staff and fixing to exit. My girlfriend and I yell out (as it was dead quiet) "WE LOVE YOU STEVE!

Steve looks up, freezes for a second in only a way that Steve, and proceeds to RUN UP INTO THE AUDIENCE AT US. He shakes our hands, says hello and runs back down to leave. 

BEST. EXPERIENCE. EVER. 

Even when he's being himself, he's funny and unpredictable.

The Audience then exits, most people make a beeline for the trailer restrooms and then we leave. It was 5:15 pm when we left the studio. 

Overall it was very fun, very memorable and exhausting from all that clapping, laughing and dancing. BUT, I did manage to receive a tee shirt from the Emcee for my efforts. 

It's going to be sad to see Jay leave and The Tonight Show move to NY. I've requested tickets during his last week here so *fingers crossed* I'll get to go again. 

***TIPS***

*Bring a sweater, the studio gets cold

*Bring snacks to munch on while you're waiting

*DRESS TO IMPRESS, the attractive people get front row seats

*BE ENERGETIC- drink your redbull

*Have $5 in cash for parking

Jessie 12/06/2013

The first show I was able to get tickets for was Disney channel's "Jessie". We had just moved to California and my daughter was chomping at the bit to go! So, off we went...

TICKETS:

Tickets are free and can be obtained through http://www.tvtickets.com/. The Audiences Unlimited company releases them 30 days before taping. Just find the page that lists the future showing dates and log in 30 days before at 8:30 am PST. Be ready to fight the error page for those tickets! The server gets bogged down with so many people on the webpage. Due to security reasons, each individual must have their own ticket with their name on it. This means that if you are lucky enough to enter the form and get a ticket, you must hurry and do the process again for any companions; since this is a kid's show, obviously you'll be taking a kid or two with you. So getting tickets for your whole group can be tricky but most certainly can be done! 

There are two types of tickets: VIP and Priority. 

VIP tickets are the first to enter the studio. These are usually friends and family of the cast and crew. 

Priority tickets are NOT guaranteed entrance and these are the tickets you are issued from the website. This is important because since most of the stars are children, the studio will probably have a high number of VIP's attending the taping (and friends of the crew/cast will want to take their kids too!) Priority ticket holders are turned away due to not having enough seating left in the studio. The studio can't predict how many VIP's will be there so it's really an uncertain type of experience. Even with a priority ticket, there's no telling if you'll make it in. 

STUDIO LOCATION:
HOLLYWOOD CENTER STUDIOS
1040 N. LAS PALMAS, HOLLYWOOD, CA

PARKING:

Parking is a mess! There are spots along the street but there is a sign indication a 2 hour time limit. You WILL be here for more than 2 hours. You can take your chances or walk a few blocks to secure a less chancy spot. This is the worst parking situation I've seen at any of the tapings. So show up early just to take your time finding a spot. 

LINE: 

We arrived at 12:30 pm and were the first ones on scene. Another family showed up right afterwards, and we all were waiting in the wrong spot for over 30 minutes. Don't do that! 

This is the part of Romaine St that you'll be lining up at 

Even better:

Look for this sign and line up at the sidewalk below it. 

There is nowhere to sit so grab some sidewalk and be prepared to wait. There are no restrooms or vending facilities either. On the day we went, a guy with a push snack cart showed up and everyone pounced on his goodies. Take snacks and drinks or you'll be starving in no time. 

ENTRANCE INTO STUDIO:

At around 3:30 pm, an audiences unlimited member came out and broke us into the two groups based on our tickets. Around 50-60 VIP's went in first. We were numbers 9 and 10 in the priority line and we made it in! Stories from the other guests indicated that sometimes NOBODY from priority makes it in. 

Upon being told you're making it in, you'll proceed through medal detectors and a bag search. This is the holding facility when you're first admitted into the studio. Benches and restrooms are available once you're admitted. 

After a short wait, AU staff escort the group to the studio. You pass by the stages of Liz and Maddie and a few others. Here's the entrance to Jessie! We were inside by about 4:30 pm. 

AU staff will then seat you. We were in the back row (there are 5 rows of chairs). You don't know what scenes they will be filming so you could have bad seats or you could have good seats! From left to right in the photo below are the kids rooms, the lobby, the kitchen, the downstairs living room, then the balcony. Seats are only in front of the kitchen/living room and a smidgen of the balcony. 

As you can tell, the view is pretty good!

Overhead is where the monitors and microphones are. When they are filming a scene, the cameras view is displayed so you always know what is going on so you can laugh :) Before the actors came out, the staff showed us an episode that had not been aired yet. Then you're informed that the episode you're about to watch being filmed will take place months from now (on our date, the episode is set to be aired in June.)

The scenes take awhile as they do the same scene over again a few times before moving on. That means you must laugh just like it's the first time you've seen it. Often, if there's not enough of a reaction, the writers will make changes and tape it again. It's fun but a very long process. 

During the waiting time, there is a funny Emcee that keeps you entertained. He engages both the parents and the kids and everyone was having a good time. If you participated then there was a chance to get prizes such as dvd's, other gifts and a signed photograph of the cast. Not too shabby. Halfway through the AU staff passed out a baggie of snacks and a water. 

Here is the cast after the show. Each and every actor was amazing. They came up into the stands with us and answered questions and talked a bit. Debby Ryan was so personable and as everyone was leaving, she thanked the audience for coming. My daughter got a high five from her! Additionally, the audience received a signed copy of the cover of the script. It was a very nice gesture and my daughter loved it. 

When exiting the stage, you walk by some of the sets.

All in all, a great experience but full of uncertainty. I prepped my daughter for the instance if we weren't able to make it into filming. But once we did, it was a fantastic adventure. We were there until about 9:45 pm. It was a veeeeery long taping and we were exhausted! 

**TIPS**

*Bring snacks. You're there for hours without food 

*Bring a sweater. It's freezing in the studio. 

*Bring something for the kids to do. Hours of waiting is boring for them! (We were there a total of 9 hours; 4 of those hours waiting.)

*Cell phones are allowed to be brought in, they'll just have to be turned off. 

And last but not least, have fun! 

Feel free to ask questions or share experiences. Got any tips of your own?