Route 66: Taping of Chelsea Lately and a Taste of Traffic (15-of-20)
Yesterday, I attended taping of the Chelsea Lately show. Chelsea Handler is one of my favorite comedians. She’s the best-selling author of My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands and Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea. In her writing, she makes fun of herself and the rest of the world.
Chelsea’s show is on E! Network at 11:30 p.m. She begins each show with a monologue, which recounts the day’s celebrity gossip and gives an opinion on the subject. She can’t stand Heidi and Spencer and also the Jonas Brothers. Yesterday, she expressed her congratulations to Clay Aiken for finally coming out of the closet.
After the monologue, Chelsea introduces her roundtable of three other comedians and acknowledges her assistant, Chuey, a jovial Latino little person. The roundtable comedians change with each show, but most of them appear pretty regularly. My favorite is Nastasha Leggero is my favorite.
After the roundtable, Chelsea usually interviews a guest or presents a funny video of her, for example, playing the part of a therapist. The show is then wrapped up with Chelsea’s final thought.
It was relatively easy getting tickets to see the show. The instructions were explicit:
- Be there no later than 2:15 p.m.
- No gum chewing
- Dress in an upscale fashion
- No shirts with logos
- No cameras
- No cell phones
There were more rules, but I can’t remember them. The audience is often filmed for reactions, hence the rules.
After my close call with Jeopardy!, I decided to leave my hotel extra early. It’s a good thing I did, because I couldn’t find the parking lot. When I got to the building, there was already a line of 30 people or so. By the time they started security screening, there must have been 100 people waiting. Unfortunately, there are only around 50 chairs (folding), so a lot of people were turned away. I’m glad I got there early!
I’m convinced that life is mainly about being on time and reading the directions.
Comedian Brody Stevens warmed up the audience. Natasha Leggero was on the roundtable, so that was good.
The guest was a dwarf from Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas spectacle, Zumanity.
My observations from this experience are:
- The set is much smaller than I imagined.
- The audience sits on folding chairs.
- Chelsea and the rest of the bunch look better in real life than on TV.
Since the show ended at around 4:00 p.m., I knew I’d hit some traffic on the way back to Arcadia, CA, where I was staying. My navigation system said that my hotel was 30 miles away and it should take around 30 minutes to get there. I got back to the hotel at around 6:30! From Erie, there’s no destination 30 miles away that it would require a two-hour drive. Even with the traffic, I’m glad I went to the taping of Chelsea Lately and I can’t wait to watch it on DVR when I get home!
My Reboot: Solo Route 66 Trip Introduction
2. Route 66: Erie, PA, to Elkhart, IN
3. Route 66: Elkhart, IN, to Normal, IL
4. Route 66: Lebanon, MO, to Chandler, OK
5. Route 66: Chandler, OK, to Amarillo, TX
6. Route 66: Amarillo, TX, to Santa Rosa, NM
7. Route 66: Santa Rosa, NM, to Gallup, NM
8. Route 66: Gallup, NM, to Williams, AZ
9. Route 66: Williams, AZ, to Barstow, CA
10. Route 66: Barstow, CA, to Santa Monica, CA!!!!
11. Route 66: Santa Monica Pier
12. Route 66: Stars’ Homes Tour
13. Route 66: Live taping of Jeopardy!
14. Route 66: Taping of Chelsea Lately Show and a Taste of Traffic
15. Route 66: Arcadia, CA, to Flagstaff, AZ
17. Route 66: Amarillo, TX, to Tulsa, OK
18. Route 66: Tulsa, OK, to Terre Haute, IN
19. Route 66: Terre Haute, IN, to HOME!
Here’s a gallery of photos from the trip.
A Couple of Articles Written for Suite 101:
Traveling Route 66 Solo By Car
A Nine-Day Guide to Driving Route 66
Ann Silverthorn (Twitter: @annsilverthorn) is a versatile blogger who also writes about a wide variety of topics in numerous genres, including technology, travel, creative, and grant writing.
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