The Jay Leno Show

So living in California, more specifically, in Burbank, definitely has its perks.  One of those perks is that we basically live next door to all the major tv and movie studios.  This allows us to go see tapings of shows like The Jay Leno Show.  Tickets are free, you just need to reserve in advance and show up on time. 

The time to show up was 2:45 and we left our apartment at 2pm - NBC is less than a mile from our house.  Well, NBC sits on the intersection of Alameda and Olive which is a stupid, crooked, little intersection.  Olive runs diagonally through Alameda so it's a little confusing.  Anyway, we found where we were supposed to line up and there was already a TON of people there.  Basically, if you wanna be one of the folks who go up and shake hands with Jay at the beginning of the show, you better be there waaaay early. Anyway, now that we knew where we were going, we had to find parking.  I am still astonished at the complete lack of parking in LA.  You would think that a city that is so reliant on auto transportation would have places to park. UGH! Anyway, we parked in a parking garage under an adjacent building (that cost $12.50, by the way!).  And then we had to walk all the way around NBC studios to get to the line-up area.  

We got to the place to line up around 2:35.  Now, on the tickets it says that seating is "first come, first served and that a ticket doesn't necessarily mean you will get a seat."  There were already 2 sections of the line that went in to the holding area next to the studio so we were a little worried that we wouldn't get in.  But finally, we made it to the holding area - where we waited...and waited...and waited.  The show doesn't start taping until 4pm and we were seated at about 3:50.  We were seated in the far stage right corner (near where the musical guests perform).  Not the best seats in the world, but hey, they were free.  The guests for the show were Morgan Freeman (AWESOME!), Maxwell (who?), a segment of "Jaywalking" and then comedian Daniel Thune (Hilarious!) at the end. 

It was hard to actually watch Jay and not watch the tv monitors right above our heads.  Most of the time Jay was blocked by camera equipment or the guy sitting right next to me that was leaning over way too far.  What was interesting is that while the show was on commercial or there was something playing on the monitors, like the Jaywalking pre-taped stuff, Jay would just kinda wander around, chat with crew and then quickly go over his next cue cards 10 seconds before the cameras came back to him.

I had no idea who the musical guest was, and I guess his song was ok, but I was mesmerized by his suave moves - that boy could dance.  And then it was done and we were all ushered out.  It was fun, and it's nice to have a free (except the parking) thing to do in California.  I'd really like to go to the Ellen show someday, but she seems to be a pretty hot ticket and books up fast.  Anyway, there you have it, our Jay Leno experience.