From: nebusj-@-rpi-.edu   
      
   	And then there was that wrapping up of activity ahead of the real   
   and final plunging ahead to taping.  The main feature there was somebody   
   pulling down a ladder by the front row ahead of me to climb up to the   
   scaffolding.  He pulled the ladder up after him and vanished, and I was   
   left pondering how the ladder is secured so that it can't fall down and   
   impale an unsuspecting audience member's head.   
      
   	Taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien's final episode began   
   with a surprising quiet and darkness falling over the audience as someone   
   counted down the last five, four, three, et cetera, when Max Weinberg   
   began drumming hard and the studio monitors played the opening credits,   
   the montage of opening credits they'd had over the years and used for just   
   the final three shows.   
      
   	The taping of Late Night, if you hadn't heard, is very close to   
   what you actually see on television, except that things like opening   
   credits or cutaways to whatever movie the guest is promoting are shown on   
   overhead monitors which the audience more or less watches.  The people   
   doing the performing watch as well, or talk with producers, or get a drink   
   of water while it doesn't appear on TV.   
      
   	The major difference in being in the audience, besides being   
   surrounded by it all, is that it is much *louder*.  The band is loud to   
   start with, and the studio speakers play as loud as they can without   
   producing feedback or legally provable hearing damage, and the audience   
    --- whatever the show --- will make as much noise as they possibly can.   
   However loud you think it is, it is louder than that.  Bringing in ear   
   protection is not a bad idea.   
      
   	I could tell that near the end of the opening credits that Joel   
   made some quip --- this was itself a callback to the earliest shows'   
   openings, when he always had a joke --- but there was no way to tell what   
   it was in studio.  (At home I learned what it was: ``I hope Conan likes   
   the farewell gift I got him ... big, beautiful flames!'')   
      
   	At the end of the opening credits the audience jumped up in the   
   first of what would be many, maybe honestly too many, standing ovations,   
   of which I believe only two and a half were detectible on-camera.  This   
   was briefly visible, and the one at the close of the show was, and one   
   for executive producer Jeff Ross was mentioned by Conan when he said to   
   sit down, ``You're cheapening my standing O''.   
      
   	Well, the audience is always a cheerful, excited crowd with this   
   energy feeding back on itself, and we're probably fairly lucky that it's   
   used to a silly and amusing purpose.   
      
   --   
   								Joseph Nebus   
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)