5/19/11 MY EXPERIENCE IN THE TONIGHT SHOW LINE: Arrived for tonight show tickets @ 750am...one lady in line..she said she got there very early..turns out they only had standby tickets avaialable..seems strange..guests mike huckabee & jack black..wouldn't expect an overflow..I want to see huckabee b/c he has a positive christian influence..but wouldn't expect too many hollywood vips to be interested in huckabee (& jack black is a regular on talk shows, nothing new)..the lady was upset because we only got standby..she had guests coming from oregon..and had assured them they would get in ..she even knew jay and said she knew a cameraman who used to give her vip tickets...and she said she's the aunt of somebody who was on the show not long ago..didn't catch the name..the guy at the desk ..a regular from hastings, mn...tall fellow, usually pretty nice..called me "sir"...
Returned for the show @ 2pm..& everything was going well...until..I gave the guy (elihu?) my standby ticket...he waved me thru, but then..a few moments later a guy said "sir" and told me to go back & said "He's got a special ticket for you"...it turns out I had grabbed an old standby ticket from april that I hadn't used...so he was giving me a "special ticket" OUT ..and I looked like a liar & a con man in front of everybody..as I stammered "Uh, I must have grabbed the wrong ticket"
So I walked rapidly back to my car & found the right standby ticket..the only other one in my car..can't believe I still had the april ticket laying around..I got back to the lineup & waved it excitedly at the dude (not sure if his name was elihu)..he didn't seem impressed nor showed much evidence that he cared one way or another (albeit he cared enough to make sure I didn't get in with the wrong ticket, but didn't seem to care that now I had the right one)...
By the way, he wouldn't give me the old ticket back..saying it was their property. What the -? It was unused. Why can't I keep it as a souvenir ? One rule at the Tonight Show..like being around a cop. NEVER ARGUE. They don't like to think that much or care that much. If u show any emotion apart from laughing & cheering inside, you're suspicious. Keep a poker face and all emotional reactions to a minimum, if at all.
Anyways, needless to say, I didn't get in, and the African-American gal (the only one without a nametag by the way) who has become sort of "bossy" ...said "sorry, I got bad news for you guys" (a few of us extra standbys)...
I was there mainly to show support for Huckabee who I had gotten a fairly positive impression of when he was running for president. I guess he's not going to run this year. The other guest was Jack Black..don't know much about him.
Vander
