That Night (Thursday)

My friend and I met up shortly after I finished my audition. She spent some more time in Central Park taking in the surroundings. We talked a little about our individual processes and found out we had different tests, but the same interviewer. Short, blond woman with a cold.

We started walking back to our hotel to drop off our things and change into something more suitable for the city, when we passed a mass of people and flashing lights in Columbus Circle. It was over by the Time Warner building and we looked at each other and thought we had better check it out. As we approached the mob of people standing on the tips of their toes trying to get a good peek, we see Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live fame. It was a red carpet event that we later found out to be "Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2007". It was after 7:00pm and we may have gotten there a little early to see the more famous folks that would be making their way up the carpet. It's hard to tell having never been to one of them before. Of course, I wasn't dressed for the occasion too. We stood around for a while trying to spot others and here's a quick list of who we saw (that I can remember): Bob Balaban, Matt Lauer, Lorne Michaels, Martha Stewart, Charlie Rose, Rupert Murdoch, Lance Armstrong, Will Forte, and Joe Scarborough.

After getting back to the hotel, splashing some water on our faces, and figuring out where we were headed, we got back on the street and headed for Times Square. The sun was quickly setting and it was the perfect time to see it lit up in all it's excessive LCD glory. I had seen this scene once before nearly ten years ago and it has changed quite a bit from what I remember. We began walking north past the Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood, and the Virgin Megastore when this guy selling comedy show tickets stopped us. He told us of a show that was taking place up-town and told us a number of comedians were going to be there tonight. We both hesitated for some time before agreeing to purchase a ticket. We had 45 minutes to get there in time for the show. We thought walking would be quick enough, so we continued on our way. We passed Dave Letterman's CBS stomping grounds and, randomly, Random House publishing. Yes, the pun was intended. As it came closer and closer to 10, when the show was supposed to start, we decided our feet were not going to assure us a timely arrival. We began trying to hail a cab. It's not easy. We spent a lot of time trying to find one available and on duty. We continued walking in the direction we needed to go to keep from wasting too much time.

After five minutes of failed attempts, we nailed one. We rode for five, maybe ten, minutes before we got to the location. There was a line outside and we were not late. In fact, we didn't even sit until sometime closer to 10:30. The club was packed and there was a benefit being held, much to our surprise, for rescued dogs and cats in shelters. They were trying to collect money to help pay for the expenses of housing the animals and rehabilitating them back to health. There was a short video afterwards that showed the work that the people at the shelter do. It was pretty heart-wrenching. Anyway, of the comedians the street vendor told us of only one was there, Dave Attell. A little disappointing, but the others were still funny and worth the time. After the show we actually caught up to Dave Attell and I was able to get a picture with him (which is to the left). He was much shorter than I thought, but then again I'd only seen him on television and that adds three feet. We communicated via beard.

After that we jumped on the subway to a stop close to Columbus Center and once again walked to our hotel. After all that walking I fell asleep pretty quickly. I didn't even bother talking off my jeans.