Letterman's audience - filled with paid "fans"?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
GibsonExplorer said:
Actually, the producers coach the audience beforehand how to react at these kinds of shows. They usually cue the audience on when to applause and when to applause even louder. It's not exactly fakery, but the audience does need encouragement sometimes, because not everyone there is a fan of the band but perhaps a fan of a guest or just the show in general. I've been in the audience of a few talk shows and late night shows myself and that's always been the norm for me.
Click to expand...
Not really. I've been to Letterman before and we were told not to cheer in a certain way for TV purposes. No screaming "woooooo!!" and no whistling but as far as coaching and when to cheer and applaud. NO.

You don't buy tickets to Letterman. You apply to get in. We applied one day before the tapeing. We did an interview and they said they'd call us if our names were drawn. The morning of the show they called us. We got in. I promise you 99% of the people who applied for Letterman this week are U2 fans.
 
chlorinedream said:
This is just a suspicion on my part. But after watching the Beautiful Day performance I find it hard to believe that every single person in Letterman's audience would be on their feet and clapping (and instantly rise up when Bono tells them to). Of course, U2 has a vested interest in this week-long stint appearing successful. I wonder if they would stoop to filling the audience with paid shills ala Michael Jackson? Something seems fishy to me.
Click to expand...

with all due respect, this might be the most stupid thing ive ever read on an internet forum.
 
U2FloridaFan said:
Did they smile more or move???

I thought the whole "fan" thing looked a bit odd myself. Everyone had to be SO restrained but they were bopping up and down in their seats in unison...weird (not your fault). It looked a bit ridiculous...until Bono gave everyone the "okay" to get up. Why did they do that to you? They said they wanted energy, didn't they?
Click to expand...

honestly, i live in LA and have in the last 6 months been to kimmel, leno, and ferguson tapings. i was at letterman on wednesday and have to say the way his people run things was REALLY dissapointing being a letterman fan.

before you go in they give you a whole song and dance speech about clapping for dave and paul etc. but then tell you not to hoot/holler/scream shout or yell or woo for anything at ANY time. if you do any of these things you may be "escorted" out of the theatre. now, maybe if you are seated in the lower level this doesn't happen, but i and some others were seated in the balcony and when u2 came out to do the top ten list we started applauding, standing-up, and "wooing." an intern came over and gave me one warning, and the next time i was to "woo" i would be kicked out. well, since i flew from LA for this f@#$ing taping, i kept my mouth shut the rest of the time. including when i was supposed to laugh at dave.

as i said, i've been to see the other late night tapings recently and each of the other shows BEG you to hoot/holler/scream/shout/yell/woo the ENTIRE time, for the host, the band, the guests, the jokes....EVERYTHING!! lettermans people claimed we couldn't "woo" because of their "sensitvie sound equipment." let me ask you something....if i can scream at ALL the other late night tapings and not lettermans, and it's because of the sound equipment....doesn't that mean that mean the equipment is SHIT and it's time to join 2009????!!!! :scratch: just a thought. :shrug:


anyway, that's why bono had to encourage everyone to standup...because we were all scared shitless by thugy interns that we'd be booted.
 
chlorinedream said:
This is just a suspicion on my part. But after watching the Beautiful Day performance I find it hard to believe that every single person in Letterman's audience would be on their feet and clapping (and instantly rise up when Bono tells them to). Of course, U2 has a vested interest in this week-long stint appearing successful. I wonder if they would stoop to filling the audience with paid shills ala Michael Jackson? Something seems fishy to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for playin' newbie! :down:

Don't let the door hit ya ...
 
popbellydancer said:
honestly, i live in LA and have in the last 6 months been to kimmel, leno, and ferguson tapings. i was at letterman on wednesday and have to say the way his people run things was REALLY dissapointing being a letterman fan.

before you go in they give you a whole song and dance speech about clapping for dave and paul etc. but then tell you not to hoot/holler/scream shout or yell or woo for anything at ANY time. if you do any of these things you may be "escorted" out of the theatre. now, maybe if you are seated in the lower level this doesn't happen, but i and some others were seated in the balcony and when u2 came out to do the top ten list we started applauding, standing-up, and "wooing." an intern came over and gave me one warning, and the next time i was to "woo" i would be kicked out. well, since i flew from LA for this f@#$ing taping, i kept my mouth shut the rest of the time. including when i was supposed to laugh at dave.

as i said, i've been to see the other late night tapings recently and each of the other shows BEG you to hoot/holler/scream/shout/yell/woo the ENTIRE time, for the host, the band, the guests, the jokes....EVERYTHING!! lettermans people claimed we couldn't "woo" because of their "sensitvie sound equipment." let me ask you something....if i can scream at ALL the other late night tapings and not lettermans, and it's because of the sound equipment....doesn't that mean that mean the equipment is SHIT and it's time to join 2009????!!!! :scratch: just a thought. :shrug:


anyway, that's why bono had to encourage everyone to standup...because we were all scared shitless by thugy interns that we'd be booted.
Click to expand...


for god's sake what a crap system they have there.. :mad: Sorry u got put thru that BS. :hug: I think they probably do have shitty equipment then.. Cuz it certainly doesn't make sense to me. :huh:
 
Now I know what that piece of paper that intern slipped to Chizip was.....here he is getting a paycheck and I just thought someone was giving him some digits. :angry: Where's mine?!

The bottom line: This is a comedy show and not a concert. Sure, I wanted to run full throttle onto the stage screaming my head off but I was more than willing to play by the rules to be thisclose to the band. I mean, I wasn't even that close in the front row during the tour....so if people tell me to sit and clap like a moron for an hour in exchange I will gladly drink the Kool-Aid.
 
Chizip said:
i was in the front row there, and i think we were all itching to stand up from the beginning but didnt want to piss off the letterman people. but once bono signaled for us to stand up, we got up pretty quickly, obviously :wink:
Click to expand...

It was kind of funny watching it on TV, watching people bouncing in their seats and just knowing that they were dying to get up but couldn't . . . and then when Bono gave the signal to stand up, people almost jumped up out of their seats. :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
  • Locked
NBA 2022-23 Thread
46 47 48
Replies
1K
Views
45K
U2inUtah
U2inUtah
A
The little stranger chapter 12
Replies
0
Views
729
annj
A
A
The little stranger Chapter 5
Replies
0
Views
677
annj
A
MrsSpringsteen
Eliza Dushku OpEd
Replies
1
Views
752
Moonlit_Angel
Moonlit_Angel
N
Best Live Track Survivor - Intro, Rules & Discussion
Replies
1
Views
675
Hewson
Hewson

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom