The show broadcasts live from NYC and audience tickets are
free. You have to reserve a ticket
online and check in at the studio by a set time but there is no guarantee that
you will get in to the show with a general ticket. It’s a first come, first served situation so
when studio capacity is reached, remaining ticket holders are turned away,
regardless of how long they may have been waiting in line. I have learnt a thing or two about lines in
NYC so I knew I would have to get there WAY before the recommended time. But imagine my surprise (and delight) when I
woke up at 5 a.m. on the day of the show to discover that my ticket had been
upgraded to a priority ticket, thereby guaranteeing my entry to the show. Still, I wasn’t taking any chances so I got
to the studio an hour before I needed to and secured a spot near the front of
the line.
Once I, along with the rest of priority ticket holders, got
inside, it was another hour wait. The
soon-to-be audience was entertained by the charming Heath, self-proclaimed
“funny guy at Live with Kelly and Ryan”, who also promoted some of the K &
R merchandise. Eventually the moment
arrived and we were ushered in to the studio.
I scored a front row seat and I knew what that meant – high fives from
the guests!
There was some audience preparation ahead of the show but it
was presented in a concise and light-hearted way. This was followed by a welcome by producer,
Michael Gelman, and the selection of the Dance Party Travel Trivia dancer (the
person who would dance along with the Kelly and Ryan avatars during the Travel
Trivia intro) through a dance-off. And
then the countdown began and before I knew it, we were on our feet to welcome
Ryan and guest co-host, Maria Menounos.
Kelly was on vacation, which was a little disappointing, though Maria was
absolutely lovely. Being part of the
applause that I was so used to hearing on television, seeing the show from
behind the scenes – the lights, the cameras, the cue cards – not to mention
watching Ryan Seacrest doing what he does best just a few feet away from me
felt completely surreal. During the
commercial breaks, Ryan interacted with the audience, happily taking selfies
with his fans. Although I didn’t get a
selfie with Mr Seacrest, I was thrilled to get a hand shake from him.
The first guest was Bill Pullman, who was promoting season 2
of The Sinner (a brilliant series by the way – binge watch season 1 if you’ve
haven’t seen it). I missed a high five
from him but I was hopeful for one from the next guest, Nina Dobrev (of Vampire
Diaries fame). Sadly, this did not
happen either because, as payback for an earlier prank, Nina snuck up from
behind Maria in an effort to scare her, instead of entering from the usual
entrance. She was on the show to talk
about her new film, Dog Days. There was
also a cooking segment, in which Maria made baklava and hilariously said “shit”
on live TV when the baklava took a turn for the worst. The show concluded with a performance by
country singer Chris Young. However,
there was still another segment to be filmed, this time with Orange is the New
Black star (who was recently cast as Bat Woman), Ruby Rose. And I finally got my high five. From Ruby freakin’ Rose!
The experience exceeded my expectations and, as a pop
culture junkie, left me on a bit of a high for the rest of the day. I’ll definitely be trying my luck again to
get a seat in the audience – and hopefully more high fives.
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