Has anyone been in the studio audience for a sitcom?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by PaulKTF, Feb 1, 2016.

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  1. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    Hollywood, USA
    A lot changed when Johnny left The Tonight Show -- and by that, I don't just mean the curtains and the desk. Johnny never liked having a lot of cameras (he felt they were distracting), and actually fought against them going from 3 cameras to 4 cameras in the late 1980s. The moment Carson left, the new Leno director brought in 6 cameras, and I believe Letterman also always had at least 6 cameras and sometimes a 7th as a swing camera outside.

    Another thing that happened with talk shows starting in 1992 was they started getting heavily edited, which was never how Carson worked. Carson's show was always what they called "Live to Tape," meaning they didn't stop the VTR unless a light fell and hit somebody or a guest keeled over dead with a heart attack (which actually happened on an infamous Dick Cavett show). Once digital editing came in, they'd record the show in segments and then the moment they went to "commercial," that segment would get heavily tweaked and adjusted, cutting out the slow parts, extending the good parts, sweetening with added laughter, fixing camera screw-ups, and so on. Often, they'd make the host stay and do insert shots to cover up bad edits or re-record the end of the opening monologue where they announced the guests for that show, in the event that a guest had to be bumped.

    It's very interesting to see how much editing goes on with today's "live"-ish talk shows. A few critics have pointed out how choppy and obviously-edited Stephen Colbert's show is, and that's because they tend to go long with guests and then cut down the segment to only include the bits that worked.
     
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  2. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Wow, I never knew someone died while being interviewed. The guy was a health nut, discussing how he would live to be 100.

     
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  3. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    I know of shows where people have died off-stage or just after they left the studio, but it's pretty rare that they die on camera. An old pal of mine who was a longtime post-production supervisor told me that one of the worst days of her life was working on the Red Foxx sitcom in October 1991. During a rehearsal, Red clutched his chest and fell to the floor. Everybody thought it was a comedy bit ("it's the big one, Elizabeth!"), but when they saw that the comedian was having trouble breathing, they rushed over. He died an hour or two later of a real heart attack.
     
  4. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    That's one of the most infamous "actor dies on set" stories out there, yeah. I'd like to think that Redd would have seen the irony in the situation.

    On a semi-related note I've been watching a lot of Sanford and Son lately and he really was hilarious. I need to check out some of his stand-up.
     
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  5. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Weren't some non-Carson talk shows on radio/TV notably edited going back 50-70 years?

    One of the big guys(Berle?) used to edit out dud jokes from his monologue.

    Another reason I miss Craig Ferguson. For a couple years there his show would open with a 12 minute monologue from a single camera.
     
  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    The only one I can think of would be the Bob Hope specials, and those were heavily, heavily edited for many years, pretty much from the day they could do tape editing. I saw a Bob Hope special being taped at Studio 1 in NBC/Burbank, and I think it took him roughly 45 minutes to get through a 10-12 minute monologue. Every other joke wound up getting cut from the air version, and he also had a lot of difficulty stumbling through the material (which was sad to see).
     
  7. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Funny you mention Bob Hope. I did not know that but it reminded me of the "Land Of Confusion" video where his puppet is reading cue cards and he says "I.... gotta.... tell ya..." (2:58 in the video). So I guess it was common knowledge to some that he had to use cards and was terrible at it.

     
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  8. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
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    I was (and still am) a fan of Bob Hope's work, and I think he was one of the biggest comedians in history. It was sad to see him kind of towards the end of his career, when he was having a lot of problems. I think this was around 1989 or 1990 or so, when he was 86.
     
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  9. Tuco

    Tuco Senior Member

    Location:
    Pacific NW, USA
    A guy with whom I played hockey was on the lighting crew for Seinfeld. He invited me to the studio for rehearsals a number of times despite it being a closed set, and I very much enjoyed watching how the show would unfold. I have several memories, but the two I will relate here involved Michael Richards.

    The first involved him rehearsing by himself. As others have mentioned, there were several sets side-by-side; two of the main ones were Jerry's apartment and Monk's Cafe. On this occasion, there was what I believe was a doctor's office set far camera-right. Richards was facing a corner in this set and was practicing lines with very animated arm and body language just like you'd see with Kramer during the shows. It was quite an eye-opener -- and very cool -- to see him rehearsing alone like that.

    The second story I'll relate was a different time, and my buddy with the lighting crew allowed me to bring a friend along. She and I were sitting a little over halfway up one of the bleacher sections watching a rehearsal. At one point, an actress (who was only in this one episode) came and sat down about four rows below us and was studying her script. After a bit, Michael Richards came up and sat next to her and started chatting. My friend and I tried hard not to eavesdrop and were keeping our attention focused off to our left, but it became apparent that Richards was doing a bit of flirting with the woman. Suddenly, he turned his head and looked up at us, and curtly asked, "hey, who are you?". We were both taken by surprise and could only mumble, "nobody". He seemed satisfied and went back to his conversation, but we quickly moved off a ways to our left.

    My lighting-crew friend invited us to stay for the taping that evening and even arranged for us to join those audience members who made up the nightclub crowd for Jerry's monologue. Something that struck me while sitting up that close was how very "sharp" Jerry's features were. I'm guessing that has to be a desirable characteristic in front of a camera.
     
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  10. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Earlier in the thread I referred to a laugh track used on the Brady Bunch. There was one guy's laugh in particular that always stood out to me because he was on every episode. When I was a kid I thought the guy attended every taping and thought it would be cool to be in the audience for every Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch episode. I finally found that laugh on line after I had completely forgotten about this thread when I was watching the Happy Days Pilot on "Love, American Style".

    Here it is at 3:36. That is "that guy" and I am sure we have all heard it before.

     
  11. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    I saw Hope in the early-mid 80's. His timing was still superb. Old jokes, old style, but all the best had their timing down pat. I knew someone who worked in an entertainment venue in the 70's. Hope was the most generous star, he said. Everyone got a solid gold money clip or cigarette lighter with his cartoon face on it.
     
  12. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Does anyone remember the Laugh that uses to be on Night Court? It was the same laugh used at the end of the credits. I thought I had read it was Reinhold Weege's father but I'm not sure. That laugh used to crack me up (still does when I see a rerun) and if I could go back I think that would have been a riot to see taped!
     
  13. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Is this the laugh?



    or even better sounding here …

    Starry Night Productions - Warner Bros. Television »
     
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  14. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Just this one: The Good Guys with Bob Denver and Herb Edelman. My grandpa (former LAPD) was a security honcho at CBS Studios and he'd get us in to see all kinds of shows being shot (Gunsmoke, Wild Wild West etc.) but this was the only sitcom I recall seeing. I was only 8 0r 9 years old at the time...I remember being traumatized at all the filthy words flying out of Gilligan's mouth when he flubbed a line :laugh:


    [​IMG]
     
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  15. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
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  16. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    Only ever saw two. The Carol Burnett Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Both were fun but Bob Newhart was so good. He did the warm up before the show and was so funny. Living in So Calif I wish I would have seen more.
     
  17. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Darn CBS, that Love American Style clip has been online for years and the day I decide to link it they remove it.
     
  18. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    From Kliph Nesterhoff's book The Comedians:

    You Bet Your Life premiered on radio in October 1947, formatted to fit Marx’s personality. It became an excuse for Marx to ridicule civilian contestants with trademark snipe. Fans were impressed with how often Marx’s quips hit the mark—but the audience didn’t know he was the first beneficiary of magnetic tape. Unlike competing programs, the show was not live. For every half-hour episode, there was an extra hour the public never heard or saw. “The ability to edit was a very important thing,” said director Robert Dwan. “If it wasn’t funny at all, it wasn’t used. We gave Groucho crutches to lean on.”​

    Re laugh tracks:

    Charley Douglass almost sold motion picture studios on the use of the laugh track. The Lee Marvin–Jane Fonda film Cat Ballou actually had a laugh track added and was sent out to a handful of drive-in theaters to gauge response. Naturally, the response was negative. Further use of laugh tracks in feature films was abandoned, but it had been a serious consideration for half a second.
    At least one theatrical short was released with a laugh track:

     
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  19. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
    I went to a couple Kate and Allie's in the 80's. They seemed very proficient at getting what they needed quickly, with only a few re-do's of anything. A couple of different takes for a couple of scenes, but a pretty smoothly run set. If they didn't actually get the whole episode done in 90 minutes, it couldn't have been too much more than that. It wasn't much more than attending a stage performance somewhere.

    In the 90's I went to a taping of Murphy Brown, mostly because my brother wanted to go, as he was a big Candace Bergen fan. That show took 5-6 hours. Nobody was allowed to leave. If anyone needed to leave, it would only be during a break between shooting scenes, and they wouldn't be allowed back in. Much more multiple takes of scenes, much slower pace. I didn't mind too much, but as we hadn't had lunch earlier, I was starving by the time we got out. After the taping, the audience was offered the chance to attend a late night taping of a Friends episode. They told us that for some reason they needed to do that episode at night which was certainly not normal. Since it was late and we were starving, we passed. And I was never a huge Friends fan to begin with. Had no regrets.
     
  20. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Well, the only regret I would say is to find out if it was just a very, very cold set temperature wise or if Jennifer Aniston was just happy to see everyone ...
     
  21. krock2009

    krock2009 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Not quite the same thing, but Rodney Dangerfield suffered a massive heart attack after this segment on Leno in 2001. As you can see, he wasn't exactly on the top of his game.
     
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  22. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    That was a short and sweet answer! Which made me think of something. I just can't get enough of books about behind the scenes elements, and for all the shows and music that are out there, there are precious few of them. I think this post may set a record for the number of "likes" it will probably get as you have a lot of fans here, but have you ever considered writing a bio Steve?? Every time you take the time to write about an experience, we just just drink it in and find it all fascinating. I know that humble people (you seem to be based on the tone of your writings) feel people aren't interested in what they do, but I can tell you I for one would absolutely run to the nearest bookstore if you wrote about some of your most enjoyable experiences (well, and of course the worst one's too....like maybe setting a vintage master reel on a board and then spilling a nice, ice filled refreshing 16oz Coke all over the master and the board...I had a studio, so I know this stuff can happen, though I doubt you would have ever set yourself up for something like that). Aside from what you have experienced, I'm sure you've heard your share of war stories too.
     
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  23. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hanahan, SC
    I feel like Steve Hoffman is the Zelig of our era.
     
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