HBO Taping - Black on Broadway
February 28, 2004
Brooks Atkinson Theater - NYC
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HBO Taping - Black on Broadway
February 28, 2004
Brooks Atkinson Theater - NYC
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I had been looking forward to this trip for months. I was finally going to be a part of the audience for one of Lewis's taped shows. I had to give up my tix for the last Comedy Central taping in NYC due to work duties and had never been close enough to any of the venues where his CD's had been recorded. And being the uber fan I am, I vowed I was going to make this show come hell or high water. And if the show wasn't enough reason to be psyched there was more, my best friend Carl was going to be able to come in from Indiana to accompany me to the event. This meant a full weekend of our favorite indulgences...food, liquor and Lewis.
I'll spare you the gory details of the gastronomical tour de force, but just in case you're ever in NYC and need a place to eat, here's a short list of fine restaurants to patronize.
Ok, ok, back to the taping details........
We had tickets for the first taping. Amazingly enough we ended up with 4th row seats. I hate the thieving bastards at Ticketmaster, but I gotta admit that online ordering system beats the fuck out of camping out all night for good seats. Carl and I arrived at 6:30pm and took our place in line about 3 blocks away from the theater. It was great to see so many folks come out for Lewis. It wasn't that long ago Lewis was a well kept secret. Now he's filling major theaters.
Even with the massive amount of folks, the venue holds close to 1500, and only ONE door open, the line moved quickly. Once we got seated, I got a chance to take a good look at the crowd. While predominately white, there was certainly a vast range of ages. There was a family in front of us with pubescent boys, a group of over 50 types down the row and a hefty complement of frat boy, college types scattered throughout. Lewis has often said he's the oddest family comic out there and the audience make-up that night certainly backs that claim up.
The crowd was certainly energetic. There was a palpable excitement in the theater. The pre-show music selection, a live Rolling Stones recording, helped fuel that energy along. I knew we had a great audience when the HBO crew brought out Lewis's shirt on a hanger for the pre-show camera check and the audience applauded wildly. The production guy gave everyone a little beefcake pose garnering more cheers and applause.
About 7:20pm opener John Bowman came out to warm up the audience. For those of you not familiar with John, he's most recognizable as the umbrella twirling guy on Seinfeld. John was a real hoot and I wish we could have seen more of him. I won't recount specific jokes, because they just don't translate well when someone like myself re-tells them. Just know he was goddamned funny. Lewis seemed to enjoy his set as well. We could see him standing backstage watching John on the monitor and laughing. John went on a tad long for the HBO crew's taste and they flashed him a "WRAP IT UP!" signal on the monitor. Seems it was the second time they had to tell him, thus the exclamation point.
As John wrapped up his set, he instructed us all to give Lewis a standing 'O' when he came out. You could hear irritated murmurs roll through the audience. We probably would have given him a standing 'O' anyway, but we certainly didn't enjoy being told to do it. Just made it seem a little false and insincere, ya know?
Well, we did what we were told and when Lewis hit the stage the crowd leapt to their feet with an ovation. Of course, Lewis immediately tried to get us to settle down. Strangely enough there was no music or booming intro. I had expected the usual Back in Black being played, but there was nothing. I am assuming there will be some sort of intro put in for the final cut of the show.
The set was extremely cool. As you can tell by the pic, it was a replica of Times Square with the signs all being references to Lewis's act. I thought perhaps the statue in the center of the set was of Lewis (in the real Times Square the statue is of George M. Cohan ), but Carl argues this point. (After watching the broadcast, I have to conceede to Carl)
As the show got rolling a group of folks in our row came in late. Being the smartass I am, I made a comment they couldn't disturb me again unless they paid me. Well, in about five minutes one of the guys is heading back out. I tell him he owes me a buck. When he returns to his seat he hands me 50 cents. In less than a minute another guy from the same party gets up. This is all DURING the show mind you. I decide to up my fee and ask for 5 bucks to get back in this time. The guy chuckles and asks why the fee has gone up. "I need cocktail money, " I respond. When the guy comes back he grabs my hand and presses a 5 dollar bill into it. Easiest $5.50 I ever made.
Lewis did a lot of familiar material, with a good amount of new stuff and revamped set-ups thrown in. Because I have no real life of my own, I've been able to see Lewis several times over the last few years in both club and theater settings. I've gotten to see the genesis of the material that ended up in the special and have thoroughly enjoyed hearing how it has evolved. It's a rare treat to get to see the culmination of that much hard work. What struck me most about this particular performance, though, was how ON Lewis was. He hit the stage with a level of confidence unmatched by any performance I had ever seen to date. He owned that stage. He just ripped through the material and the audience was right there with him. Never missed a beat. He only flubbed one line near the end, turned to the camera guy shooting from the wings and said "I guess we'll get that one in the second fucking show won't we?"
The best laugh, and best unscripted moment, of the night was about 5 minutes before he wrapped up. He was talking about the WMD and at that particular point in the bit the audience was quiet as he was setting up the end of it. Right as the lull was occurring, a siren went screaming by the theater. A few giggles arose from the audience, but for a moment I wasn't sure Lewis even heard the siren. Then I saw the look. He had froze. He stopped dead and gave a take towards the side door where the siren was came from. At that the audience fucking exploded with laughter. Lewis said "Good thing I'm not paranoid, I'd have frozen." Another round of huge laughs. Great stuff.....and as always, the first lesson in comedy......timing.
Lewis finished up the show and left the stage to another standing 'O'. This time it was spontaneous. I thought the crowd would never stop applauding. Lewis came 
back out on stage and said some thank you's and I got the one and only pic of him that night during this time. We were constantly on camera, so I never had a chance to even get my digital out of the case. An interesting side note...The steady cam guy was in the aisle next to me much of the night. I could hear him laughing constantly as he filmed.
After Lewis left the stage we were hustled out of the theater so they could prepare for the second show. I had wanted to get a clear shot of the set and approached one of the HBO production staff to ask if I could stand in front of the stage where no heads would be in my way and get the pic. I was rudely told no and to move along. Now I don't mind being told no, if I did I wouldn't have asked. What I do mind is being treated rudely. Throw attitude my way and I tend to do exactly what I am told not to. So instead of moving along I went back to my seat and took the shot from there. I figured I'd be chased down and made to delete it, but I got nothing more than a nasty stare. I waved and smiled as I left.
Out on the street we hung out for a while with the thin hope of catching Lewis outside. I was almost positive we'd not get to say hello that night, but I had to take a shot. At one point in my life I had pretty good luck chatting up crew members and getting autographs and/or backstage. (And no, Crew Slut was NOT my theme song) Well, my skills seemed to have diminished with age. I got nothing out of the HBO crew on the street taking a smoke break. We were just about to pack it in when we saw John Bowman step outside and decided to go over. Carl broke the ice by asking if he was living it up on those Seinfeld residual checks. This got a good laugh out him and we got a story about his stint as a serial killer on Miami Vice. He portrayed a guy who killed little girls and played with dolls. Turns out the episode may be reran on Spike TV in the near future, the episode is called Hell Hath No Fury, check your local listings for times. We talked with John about 10 minutes, gave our congratulations and got a picture. We tried to get him to take us backstage, but he joked he was barely allowed backstage.
We milled around for a bit longer and got to overhear a conversation between some suited muckity-mucks. They were all smiles and back slapping each other over the huge success of the first show. They were thrilled with it and were saying they would probably use almost all the first taping for the final cut and fix a couple of minor things with the second show. I found it hysterical they were congratulating each other when it was Lewis who created the show and his performance that made it a success.
I got a couple of more shots of the theater and the crowd lining up for the second show and it was time to go. Carl and I were exhausted from
laughing, but still buzzing from the excitement of the show. We headed back to Bubby's for a late night coconut cake run and to rehash the show. Both of us agreed it was an incredible night and we were thrilled to have been a part of it.
Oh, and one more thing. Just in case Lewis is reading....I'd be happy to come to the lab any time!