The Daily Show Set, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.
If you were as lucky as I was, on May 1st, 2008 you got to reserve tickets to one of the nights The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is taping at the History Theatre in Saint Paul this week. I was there today and got a lot of questions. Here are the answers:
Q: If I don’t have tickets, what are the chances of me getting in?
A: Almost nil. I’m not sure if it’s even worth trying.
Q: I have tickets; what time should I show up?
A: I got there at 2:00 and my group, Ann Friedrich, Rex Sorgatz and Ana Marie Cox got decent seats. My friend and coworker Ian Davis got there about 2:50 and he was seated in the balcony. Ed Kohler got there at 3:20 and got seated in the “simulcast theater.” Jeremy Gibbens, Angie Dezelske, Max Sparber and Courtney Mault arrived before I did and got great seating. Get there around two. Update: Angie Dezelske states that for Wednesday’s show, there was a line of 100 people not long after 2:00.
Q: How do I get to the History Theatre?
A: The History Theatre is at 30 10th St E. I was surprised I found a place to park. There’s a lot at Jackson and 7th that was only four dollars and there were a number of open spaces. Make sure you have exact change. There’s another lot nearby that’s ten bucks. Metro Transit has rerouted buses and many drop you off a block away from the theater. Here’s a map PDF.
Q: I heard there are riots in Saint Paul. Is it safe?
A: I’d say yes, for the most part. As you’ve likely seen in photos and video, there are forces in riot gear and an incredible police presence in Saint Paul. The Daily Show blog even calls Saint Paul a “police state”. It sure seems true at times. It’s unnerving, but the law enforcement outnumber the rioters by an enormous margin. Unfortunately, the History Theatre is humorously smack dab in the middle of the approved protest route. After the taping on Tuesday we were told we were on “lockdown” due to protestors outside that had the potential of getting violent. We had to remain in our seats. After most of it passed, we were given the option to leave at our own risk. Walking back to the car we had to wait to get permission from police in riot gear to cross an intersection.
Q: How strongly do they enforce the no-food, no-phone, and no-camera rules?
A: Ann took a photo and got her camera taken away. Ana was told to turn off her iPhone. It’s enforced. I snuck the above photo before taping started and turned off my phone. I don’t recommend trying it because everyone’s watching.
Q: When and how do we get in?
A: While in line, you’re asked for your name and you’re given plastic tickets with handwritten numbers on them. You are given one ticket per person that you are with, up to the amount of tickets you reserved. The email tickets imply this happens at 3:31 but it happened a bit later for us. If there are more people in your party that are not present yet, I do not believe they will get tickets. By 4:30 or so they started letting people in to the theater lobby where you go through metal detectors. Around 5:15 we were seated by the numbers on the plastic tickets.
Q: When is the actual taping?
The opener (for us it was Paul Mecurio), started just after 6:00. Jon Stewart came up and continued to warm up the crowd, mostly by taking questions from the audience. Taping then began and it was done around 7:15.
Q: Is it fun?
A: It’s seriously hilarious.
More from David Brauer, Jeremy Gibbens, Rex Sorgatz, KARE 11, The Daily Show’s Indecision 2008 blog, Bob Collins and photos of us waiting in line.
Comments 17
Perfect. Thanks so much for the info. Hoping it’s not raining on Thursday.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 06:43 ¶I think even with the long waits and the riot threats, it’s totally worth it. It actually made the event more exciting. The protesters gave you something to look at while in line. And the riots police gave you reason to get a little exercise in, mayby a little jog.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 09:15 ¶Going today, this info helps quite a bit. I’ll be sure to get in line early!
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 09:24 ¶i have four tickets but not everyone will be getting there at the same time. do you know if they will give me all four tickets (they’re reserved in my name) when i get there or does the whole group have to be there?
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 09:56 ¶Melissa-
Good question. I updated the answer to “When and how do we get in?” People can join up with you in line until about 3:31, according to the tickets. After that, they either don’t get tickets or your entire group gets moved to the back.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 10:34 ¶thanks, aaron!
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 10:51 ¶Did you have stand-by tickets or general admission tix? What’s the difference? I have stand-by tix for Thursday.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 11:49 ¶Kari-
That is a good question that I cannot answer. I’m not familiar with the tickets you speak of. I got my tickets on May 1st and I assumed they were completely sold-out afterwards.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 12:13 ¶Thanks, Aaron. I requested my tix on May 1st as well. I guess we’ll find out! Thanks for the great info!
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 13:27 ¶Aaron, did you print out and bring anything like a ticket confirmation or anything to the show? I’m trying to figure out what I need to bring.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 07:28 ¶Tom-
The email confirmation with your name, phone numbers and number of tickets is your “ticket.” the instructions on it say you must print and bring it but they did not check for mine.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 07:42 ¶I had tickets for Wednesday. One from our group was in line at 11:30 and she was #12 of the people who were there. Most of these people were in groups so it translated to us being about #22-25. We all joined her at about 2:30. The line by 3:00 had zigged its way back to us completely obstructing the sidewalk. There were 150 VIPs so we don’t know how many people didn’t get in, but our friend who was there early was told by event staff that about 1/2 the people with tickets and no stand-bys got in on Tuesday. -not that I want to disappoint anyone, but probably better to know that going-in-
Mayor Chis Coleman was there and Paul Mecurio sincerely didn’t know it… after calling him a male prostitute (because everyone in the crowd seemed to know him) and asking his wife how long they had been married, finally asked him what he did. When he responded he was the Mayor, the room exploded with Chris Chris Chris and Paul fell to the floor speechless.
The show was great fun. Be ready for a lot of hurry up and wait. They aren’t kidding about the phones- a woman behind us had her blackberry confiscated…
Thank you so much for posting all the information Aaron!!
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 07:43 ¶Noel, your news that only half of the ticket holders got in is discouraging. I won’t be able to get down there until 2:00pm. Damn VIPs.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 08:59 ¶This speak of standby tickets is confusing me. If I got a ticket of hte webpage…is that stand by? How do you know the difference?
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 09:40 ¶Aaron- can you tell me, did all the VIP’s get the good seats (and get let in early)? Or did they just seat people kind of randomly? I’m curious if I have any chance of getting a front row seat with just a regular ticket.
Thanks for posting this by the way.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 16:59 ¶Julie- I believe you have a regular ticket, not standby. But I’m not positive.
Melissa Lee- I did not pay attention to the VIPs. It is quite possible that there were not many of them at the showing I was at. My guess is that it would be difficult to get a front row seat but honestly all the seats are great.
Also, David Brauer recounts what it’s like to go to a taping of the Daily Show.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 17:13 ¶We got in! Receiving a laminated ticket numbered 303 I was surprised to be seated in the front row. It was awesome except for times when a TV cart was rolled right in front of me. Thanks again Aaron for the parking recommendation and other info. It really helped a lot!
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 20:06 ¶Post a Comment