David on Regis
June 6, 2001
Photo from the fine site ::Digital Duchovny::
This year, Tara, the friend I made on last year's Howard Stern extravaganza, and I met in NYC to try for standby tickets to Regis. I'd also gone into the city the day before, but missed David by minutes on Today and couldn't get in to see him on Rosie, so this was the last chance! ;-)
Tara and I met a little before seven at the front door of the ABC building. We knew we had to be early, because on Regis, it's first-come, first-served. We were the first people there, but only by a few minutes! They handed out the standby numbers at quarter to eight and told us they'd know how much room they had at 8:30.
Tara and I both had our radios, so we could listen to David on Howard Stern while we waited. And we had our cell phones, so we could try to call in, too. ;-) We kept listening, watching the clock creeping closer to 8:30, and hoping we'd get on the air. Finally, at -- I am not kidding -- 8:29 when Howard took his last phone call, he picked up Tara's line! So she said 'Hi' to David, and passed the phone to me so I could too. David remembered who we were from last year! Tara also told them we were waiting in line for Regis, and I told David I'd seen the movie in a sneak preview and that it was really funny. Which it is. :-)
At about quarter to nine they let the first fifteen of us in! The studio's really pretty small -- there are only about 150 people in the audience. I'd never been to a live taping of a show like this, so it was really interesting to see all the things that go on.
The minute they went to commercials, cameras started popping up everywhere. I was glad you were allowed to take pics, because the commercials were hysterical -- the best parts of all! :-) David took over the whole show. Regis looked like he couldn't quite figure out what to make of the whole thing.
During David's first commercial break, Tara and I stood up and yelled "HI DAVID!!!" together at the top of our lungs, and waved a rubber chicken (I was going to ask him to sign it if we could get to him). David waved back and said, "Oh, hey, you've got the chicken! Where's the bologna?"
"I left it home," Tara said, and that made David laugh.
Tara and I kind of started the ball rolling when we stood up and yelled hi the way we did, because then other people got brave and started standing up and yelling hi too. David kept saying hi back, and waving. Then a woman in the back yelled, "David, I want to give you a hug!"
David looked at Regis, and Regis looked at David and said something we couldn't hear, and David shrugged and laughed and said, "I give hugs!" and started going up the aisle. I got the impression most guests don't do that, because the whole crew looked a bit perturbed. ;-) But David went up and hugged the woman and posed for a picture, and then had to go back down because the break was ending.
At the next break David immediately went right back up the aisle and started posing for more pics, and signing autographs, and giving more hugs. I guess this got all the blue-haired old ladies who were Regis fans started, because then a lot of people started calling out to Regis to come up, too.
Now, before David came out, Regis had come out to the front of the audience during the commercials and shaken a few hands and signed an autograph or two, but he was carrying his coffee cup like a shield so he didn't have to start getting too cozy. ;-)
When people started calling Regis, David got into the act and started calling him, too! He went back down to the stage and hugged the people in the front row. Then he started hugging the crew. Kelly obviously thought this was hysterical, but Regis just looked like he hoped it would be over soon!
Then, David marched up to Regis, and took him by the shoulder, and said, "Come on, Regis, there are people here who need hugs!" and took him out to the audience, and all the Regis fans started hugging him and taking his picture. You could see poor Regis didn't feel the lu-u-u-u-uve in the room the way David did! :-D
Meanwhile, David had abandoned Regis to the crowd, and started putting his foot up on the edges of the chairs at the end of the aisles, and rolling his sock down to show people his tattoo. When David got back down to the stage, he started comparing ankles with Kelly. Regis was still being pawed over by the blue-haired old ladies. ;-)
I think this was why at the end when David asked something like, "Am I done?" Regis said, "Yes, you're DONE!"
Tara and I considered vaulting over the people near us to get in on the action, but we were pretty far back, and parked right in the midst of a bunch of the blue-haired ladies. We kind of decided we'd had our big moment in the sun last year, and we could afford to just watch the fun this time around.
Next year, we decided, David will just have to be filming something in NY so Tara and I can be extras! :-D
