As someone who has spent years navigating the bustling city streets of New York, I must say that the energy and enthusiasm I felt at the Auditorium Theatre during Tuesday’s taping of The Late Show was truly something else. It was like being transported to a Chicago version of Times Square, minus the traffic and noise pollution, of course.
During Tuesday’s broadcast of The Daily Show, held in Chicago, host Desi Lydic announced that James Taylor was scheduled to appear on the program after being rescheduled from Monday night’s Democratic National Convention. She made this announcement twice during the episode, but unfortunately, at the end of the show, it was revealed that the singer-songwriter had been removed once more because the program exceeded its allotted time.
After a few hours had passed and traveling a few miles, CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert began with a recording of Taylor performing “Fire and Rain,” but with much more intense lyrics compared to the original version. For instance: “I’ll ignite fires and inflict pain/I’ll twist your limbs in ways that they should never be twisted.”
Indeed, both occurrences were clips: Lydic disclosed to the audience of the Daily Show during an intermission that the show opted to air a segment from the extended convention program of the previous night, and the Late Show’s opening was cleverly spliced (convincingly) over old footage of Taylor performing. You can view both instances here.
Despite both shows, The Daily Show and The Late Show, reporting on the same local news, they coincided only in their Taylor-related humor on a Tuesday night. The Hollywood Reporter was present at both events, here’s a summary of what transpired.
The Daily Show
For the current week, the Comedy Central show has been established at the Athenaeum Center for Intellect and Arts in Chicago’s Lakeview district. From Monday to Wednesday, it is recording pre-taped episodes, while on Thursday evening, a live episode will be held, hosted by Jon Stewart.
As the Tuesday convention kicked off past 5 pm Central time, I found myself primarily drawing inspiration from the opening night of the DNC for my show’s content. This is a standard approach for us here at The Daily Show, especially when we’re back at our New York headquarters.
“Jen Flanz, showrunner and executive producer, shared with THR last week that the show typically discusses the previous day’s news the following day. However, there are broader topics expected to be discussed at the convention, such as the reactions from the Republicans to recent events. These aspects will undoubtedly be incorporated into our discussions. As much as possible, we aim to address these issues in real-time.”
On Tuesday, this translated to a first segment discussing the length of time President Joe Biden waited before speaking on Monday night. It included a live, green-screen shot featuring Ronny Chieng donning an American flag suit, as well as a shot of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who was reportedly quite insistent about Biden ending his re-election campaign – holding a “We Heart Joe” sign on the convention floor. Lydic quipped, “That’s like the iceberg saying goodbye to the Titanic.”
The month since Biden stepped aside and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris has brought an unending stream of news and reaction from political players and pundits that is The Daily Show’s stock in trade. Before Biden’s announcement, supervising producer Elise Terrell told THR, “We were like, ‘All right, we know the jokes.’ We know what we’re going after, and of course we’ll always come up with new angles. But this is just such a wealth of new information and new reactions and new attacks that are fun for us to cover. We’ve got two new Democratic candidates, essentially, and one new Republican candidate in J.D. Vance. Being able to tackle all of the different angles that have been thrown our way has been really, really fun.”
As a dedicated fan of political talk shows, I was thrilled to witness the week-long appearance of esteemed political figures on the program. On Tuesday, I found myself particularly captivated by Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood, who had graced us with her insights at the convention just the night before. Her passionate advocacy for maternal health and family policies resonated deeply with me, as a mother myself. What made her appearance even more special was the presence of her parents in the audience, a rare occurrence that added an intimate touch to the proceedings. The show’s warm-up comic, Vince August, acknowledged this unique moment by engaging them during his pre-show banter with the audience, stating, “That’s never happened before.” Indeed, it was a memorable experience that underscored the human element within politics and policy-making, reminding us all that our elected officials are not just faces on television, but people with families who care about the same issues we do.
Lydic performed an impeccable set, momentarily pausing to re-deliver a line, which earned a barrage of massive laughs from the crowd in the 863-seat theater (over four times larger than The Daily Show’s New York studio). Towards the end of recording, she engaged with some audience queries and, following this, the attendees were free to leave well before the show was broadcast.
Or, perhaps, get across town to see another late-night show.
The Late Show
A stroll of about half a mile and a 20-minute journey on the el (elevated train) takes you to the Auditorium Theatre, an old structure that’s almost 135 years old and can accommodate close to 4,000 people – roughly ten times the number that The Late Show’s usual venue, the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan, can hold. On Tuesday, the queue for the show extended over several blocks, with attendees catching up on CBS News updates about the convention as they waited for the event to begin.
On weekdays, The Late Show is broadcast live, which means the viewers saw a replay of some convention footage used humorously about an hour later. The main distinction between the two shows on Tuesday was that airing live enabled Colbert and his team to make jokes based on the freshly viewed events. He made remarks about speeches by Bernie Sanders (“I came to sip soup and tax billionaires, and I’m all out of soup!”) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (“Every time he appears on stage, I think his first words are gonna be ‘Yabba Dabba Doo!'”), among others.
As a gamer, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the song selections for each state during the delegate roll call. For instance, Texas picked “Texas Hold ‘Em” from Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album. It’s an excellent tune, but let me clarify something amusing: the very first line goes, “This ain’t Texas.” Now, if I’m not mistaken, according to Democratic Party rules, this implies that all those delegates are now committed to none other than the magnificent state of Beyoncé herself!
Before the performance began, the theater buzzed with excitement. The crowd roared their approval for convention speakers, and when CBS News showed delegates wearing Green Bay Packers hats, there were clear disapprovals from the audience, showcasing true Chicago spirit. Actress Laura Benanti, returning with her Melania Trump impersonation since June, struggled slightly with a fake mustache but managed to power through, earning hearty laughter from the audience.
During Colbert’s interview with Pelosi, some passionate pro-Palestine demonstrators interrupted. Despite this, the atmosphere didn’t escalate. Calmly addressing the protesters, Colbert pledged to inquire about Israel and Gaza from Pelosi later on. After another interruption near the end of Pelosi’s time, he asked the protesters to wait for her response, becoming annoyed when they persisted over her words. He then requested that his guests not be disturbed, to which a few audience members chimed in, asking the protesters to quiet down. However, the mood didn’t seem to shift significantly. Eventually, the protesters voluntarily departed from the theater, and the rest of the show featuring House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries as a guest proceeded smoothly without further disturbances.
A crowd of protesters assembled outside the theater while the broadcast was going on, beating drums and shouting “Nancy, Nancy, you can’t escape!” Around midnight, approximately 40 Chicago police officers amassed and instructed the group to vacate, citing it as private property and warning them they would be taken into custody if they did not disperse. As I exited the theater, it seemed like they were leaving.
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2024-08-21 22:55