As it happens, everyone in L.A. always knows someone who works with someone who once babysat for someone who can get you tickets to most anything. In my case, I had a good friend who played football every Saturday with Houston (pronounced House-ton) who at the time was a sort of sidekick to Ellen. So, I asked him if he could ask Houston (whose real name I can't remember now) if he could get us on the show. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure my friend really asked, or maybe he did, I don't know, but about two or three weeks after that, he apparently stopped showing up to their Saturday football games, and that was the end of that.
I didn't give up though. I also have a very good friend who works for Warner Brothers who's gotten me on the lot for other things including a couple of sitcom tapings. I now turned to him, but as was my luck, despite the fact that the Ellen show is a Warner Brothers show, at the time, it was not taped on the Warner Brothers lot and so, he informed me, there was really nothing he could do as he didn't know any of her staff. And that's about when I gave up.
Cut to last September when I get a notification from the Dave Matthews Band Fan club (oh, yes, I'm that fan) that the band would be performing for the first time ever on the Ellen show and we could put in requests for tickets through the fan club. So I did and lo and behold we got in. Sort of.
It was an outdoor concert and those of us who got tickets through the fan club were outside in front of the stage waiting for the band to come out and perform. While they played audio of the show taking place inside the studio (Jennifer Aniston was the guest that day), we were never actually in it, and there was no video so we couldn't really see what was going on in there. I didn't so much mind really, because I was excited to be able to see the band perform. And here's footage of that:
Somewhere in this crowd there's a dude with a black and white print hat. I'm behind him.
The good thing that came of that is that they offered us guaranteed tickets to come back and watch an actual studio show at a later date which brings us back to yesterday.
I'm not going to lie, I was hoping for a giveaway. I don't know if that makes me ungrateful, but if anyone went on her show and said they didn't at least hope for that, I would say they were liars. I'd been watching the week before and was keeping an eye on what those audiences were getting: Movies, CD's, money, jewelry, headphones and goodness knows what else. For some reason, I had a bad feeling about our show though. I'm just sayin'.
They don't tell you who the guest will be when you get your tickets.I had a feeling though that we wouldn't get a big star. I went on the website a few days before and looked. Apparently we were getting Ali from The Bachelor and Sade would be performing. As it turned out Kellie Pickler would be there too though she wasn't mentioned on the website when I'd looked.
Anyway, the website said it was going to be a big Mardi Gras show so I got excited. I've seen her other Mardi Gras shows. They're fun and loud and they've given away some fun stuff... but it wasn't to be for us. Except for the decorations and footage of people on Bourbon Street, there was nothing Mardi Gras about our show.We did get a Sade CD, but I'm not really a big fan of hers so... I don't dislike her, she's just not really on my radar. I have a friend who is a fan though, so I'll be giving her my CD.
Lest it sounds like I'm ungrateful let me just say that it's not the case. I am grateful I got the chance to go and experience it. I quite enjoyed being on that set, noting that there are not as many seats as it looks like on t.v and that while it is a big sound stage, it also is not as big as it seems at all. It is also hard work being an audience member for that show because there is a lot of dancing that you don't see on t.v. and you do have to clap and cheer a lot. Kellie Pickler was hilarious (though when the show aired today I noticed they cute some of her interview out, I'm guessing due to time). Also, I unwittingly broke protocol and gave Ellen a high five as she passed by me during a commercial break which was very cool. So, yes, it was a fun experience, unfortunately, I think I'd just imagined too many scenarios and my expectations were a bit off.
The Ellen show is now taped at the Warner Brothers lot so my friend who works there has said he'd try to get us in sometime in the future. If he does succeed in that, I will show up with absolutely no expectations so as not to be disappointed when we leave!
The Ellen DeGeneres sound stage, Burbank, CA. From the parking lot after the show.
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