I'd gone to be in the audience once before. I was supposed to go with my other friend but something happened. I think she was supposed to have morning coverage for her kids and then at the last minute it didn't work out. I wasn't going to forfeit the tickets so I went alone. It was December so it was cold and possibly rainy or snowy and I remember I was wearing the WRONG shoes. Other than that, the guest was Dita Von Teese, who I'm not interested in, and I don't remember anything much else about it. Oh, except that I raised my hand to participate in the warm up before the show, and ended up having to twerk in front of the entire crowd. PS- I did not "twerk"- I twirled, because I was wearing my renaissance looking sweater coat, and that's this uncoordinated forty-something mom can handle. All I got for my embarrassment was some kind of eye mask.
This time, it was July and it was HOT. There was probably only like five over ninety degree days this whole summer and this was one of them. I made the ticket reservation for the afternoon taping. On Wednesdays, at least this July, they would do two shows- one live, then one taped. I figured that it would be easier to come for the afternoon one so we wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn AND battle rush hour traffic into NYC. We had to be there by 12:30p "officially". That means you have to line up like an hour before that just to make sure you get in. I think all of the talk shows overbook to make sure they have a full house, so even with tickets, you're not guaranteed entry, which is understandable. We got there at 11:16a and there was already a decent sized line. I let Alex out to get on line and I parked the car in the lot right next to the studio.
It was SO hot and humid. It had to be over ninety-five. We were under an overhang, but that didn't cut the humidity. We were melting. However, it was worse for the older woman ahead of us because she fainted. FAINTED.
This is where I have a problem. I get that all these shows make you wait on line. The security guys stand there to make sure you stay in line and I don't know why else, but when it's over ninety degrees, they should have a cart with water on it out there. Wendy calls the audience her "co-hosts". Well, would you make a real co-host stand outside in the heat until they faint, without having some system in place where water is offered? At some point, the security guys asked, "Does anyone need water?". When people said they did need water, they said, "Ok, you can get out of line, go down the street and buy some at Duane Reed". What, now? What the faint-ation is THAT??
This is Wendy's ninth season, not the first. Not even the second. I understand that there isn't Oprah level money going on and no one is getting a car, but water? You can't give out, or even SELL water? Have a cart and make money off it then! Something!
The woman who fainted was there with her adult daughter. After a few minutes with the lady who fainted being helped by nice line standing strangers, sitting outside on some steps that were luckily there, security took her inside. They LEFT HER DAUGHTER OUTSIDE. They wouldn't even bring her in with her mom! So, she's on the line, all worried about her mom. It seemed crazy. She didn't know what to do.
The one silver lining was seeing Kaldrick King (Andra Fuller) on his way out. He was on Wendy's live show earlier that day. I don't know what else he's in- apparently it's something out now that he was promoting. I got up my nerve, as I do, and I said, "Excuse me, were you on L.A. Complex??" He smiled and said, "Yes!" and we high-fived. L.A. Complex was this weird Canadian version of Melrose Place that I found on Netflix a few years ago to watch on the treadmill. It was awesome. Andra played Kaldrick King, this famous rapper who was secretly gay. Little trivia note: So many of the cast from that series have turned up on Blindspot on NBC. Joe Dinicol, Jonathan Patrick Moore, Jewel Staite, Aaron Abrams, Georgina Reilly, Jordan Johnson-Hinds & Ennis Esmer have all been spotted for an episode or more long-term.
Finally, we were all ushered in like cattle. My little group was picked to be surrounding the stage for Naughty By Nature's performance. They just said anyone from numbers x to x were "doing something fun and special". Yeah, that's not what I would've picked to do, but okay. We're there, so we do. We had to do a little blocking first to see where we'd stand and whatnot though. Up the cattle elevator, down the cattle elevator. Alex was claustrophobic with people too close to her, and I swear, she was ready to bolt and wash her hands of the whole scene. I didn't know she'd never been to any talk show before so I didn't think to give her the general run through. Not that it would've mattered- this was different than my experience at/on The Jane Show, Iyanla VanZant, Tyra Banks, The View, Rachael Ray, etc. Yes, I've been on and to a lot of shows. That's a topic for another time...
One thing that's very different than in other studio audiences I've been in, is the constant DJ'ing going on. It's SO LOUD. You can barely talk to the person next to you, it's so loud. I'm not just being all "Git off my lawn, whippersnappers!". It's LOUD. And the warm up is weird. I've been there twice now, and the comedian guy alludes to the audience winning something, and then it's nothing. It's really bizarre, like they're messing with you. I listened to the verbiage better this time, and it sounds like you're winning something the way he says it, then you leave empty handed. You don't go there because you're going to "get" some kind of parting gift, but I find it strange to do that to your audience. People really thought they were getting something and confused. And this was the second time I'd heard that schtick, so apparently it's the same old routine. Maybe I'm just misinterpreting what he's saying.
Then Miss Wendy came out. The Wendy you see on the show and the Wendy in person are two very different people. On the show, she makes it like she's "one of us". One of the people. A co-host. She makes it like she's on the same level as the audience, even throwing out a personal compliment here and there about what someone's wearing. She does DO that, but let me see if I can articulate this properly...
She has managed to perfect the art of her eyes being open, being physically there, but not actually seeing or interacting. Like I do at sporting events. I think the show is constantly loud, even through the commercial breaks, so that she doesn't have to talk to the audience. She'll even come into the audience to shimmy around, but she doesn't make eye contact. She also has like three bodyguards around her. She either has security because she's probably wearing around 100k worth of diamonds and other jewelry or because she's afraid of falling. She's mentioned she's not steady on her feet, which is why she wears flats when she's not sitting in the purple chair. Or simply so no one tries to talk to her. She's standing RIGHTNEXTTOYOU but it's so loud you can't talk to her and she's not looking you in the eye. She's there, but she's not THERE. She knows EXACTLY how to keep the audience at arm's length. At other shows, during commercial breaks some of the hosts would roam around the aisles and make idle chit chat. Not Wendy!
I started feeling like she was getting a bit of a superiority thing when she was on Dancing With The Stars. I don't recall exactly why, but it was just her whole spoiled tone in the way she discussed it. The other day I caught a rerun from some time over the past year and she was talking about tipping and over-tipping. The whole conversation rubbed me the wrong way. She said she never tips more than 18% and it annoys her when her husband over-tips. She said something like, her tip is her smiling face- that she's not a diva, and doesn't send food back. Awesome, Wendy, I'm sure your smiling face pays the bills of that server that literally depends on tips. No, you don't have to tip a ridiculous amount on a small bill like an Amy Schumer (Wendy referenced her as a big tipper), but if you can afford it, treating servers well says a lot and goes a long way for people who don't even make minimum wage.
At the end of the show, she won't take individual photos with co-hosts, but she WILL walk behind the rows and let you take a backwards selfie with her. :::insert eye-roll::: I look like a wall-eyed bass in mine because I couldn't take a backwards selfie that fast catching both her and I in it at the same time very well.
I'm also not loving how I felt Suzanne Bass, her producer, has been treated more recently. She talks to her like she's a moron. And then she shamed her once last season that was so mortifying. It was one of those, no-she-didn't moments I wasn't even sure was real at first. It sure as hell was though when it was referenced the next day though and Suzanne had tears in her eyes.
In the "holding area", they have one small bathroom, some mirrors on the walls outside the bathroom if you want to touch up your make-up, and just a bunch of chairs. Not even a vending machine. I'm lucky I remembered to bring a Zone bar. Alex had nothing. We were STARVING by the time we left.
Because this was a taped episode, the whole taping was longer than you'd be there for live show. For that reason alone, you'd think there would be some water and/or some snacks. Nope. Nothing. I know at either The View and/or Rachael Ray, there were definitely snacks. At Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, they didn't give snacks, but they told you prior to bring snacks and drink with you. Including the time Alex and I spent on line waiting to go in at Wendy, until it was over and we were let out, was a good four and a half to five hours. We got out around four o'clock. Then we ran, RAN, to some sandwich and salad place up the street. We didn't even speak. We just shoveled food into our faces in a hurry so we wouldn't be stuck in rush hour traffic going home.
I'm still watching, but I can't see going there again. I'll enjoy it from my chair at work. The ticket application form they have asks you why you're coming to the show. We were going for my birthday, which is August 2, but they're on hiatus in August. I wrote that we were coming for my birthday, but two weeks early because of their hiatus. Then, when we were in the holding area, they asked if anyone was there for their birthday, because they give out tiaras. I raised my hand, but they wouldn't even give me a freaking tiara because it has to be my birthday THAT DAY, otherwise they "give out too many tiaras". Come on Wendy. Seriously? Again, we didn't go there to get anything, but the whole experience from soup to nuts certainly doesn't make you feel like a co-host. Unless you're co-hosting being held captive with no food or water for the better part of a day.
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