Most of you have probably heard about the late night show Conan or you’re probably even a fan of the show and Conan himself :). Well, if you are a fan and haven’t seen a live taping of the show…this is your lucky day! Hahahaha! I’m just really excited to share my experience watching the show live. It’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s actually in my bucket list and it has a check next to it now! 😉

Anyway, if you have plans on visiting SoCal (Southern California) sometime in the near future make sure you add going to at least one live taping of a talk show being filmed in the LA area in you list of MUST DO’s. It’s definitely worth it and it’s a lot of fun. You just have to have a LOT of patience waiting and standing in line because you’ll spend a good 1.5 hours doing that until the show’s start time but like what I said, it’s all worth it because it’s a LOT of fun and the best part of it is you get to see the behind the scenes of this type of shows for FREE! You get to have an amazing experience for FREE! Did I mention that it’s free FREE?!! Hehehehe! 😀 I really think it’s a great experience at least once in your life.

As some of you probably know already, Conan (Late Night with Conan O’Brien) used to be based in New York until Conan moved to LA sometime in 2009 because he replaced Jay Leno on the Tonight Show when Mr. Leno decided that it’s time for retirement. Well, that was short-lived for Conan as Jay Leno decided to “unretire” within a few months. I won’t go over the details of the whole issue but it was all over that news for quite some time as it affected not just Conan but also many of the people who works for him since these people moved their entire lives with him all the way from New York! Can you imagine the agony of these people knowing that they are about to lose their jobs after moving across the country! It’s crazzzzy! Anyway, luckily the show was picked up by another network and the rest is history!

So, a few weeks ago I scored 2 tickets to see Conan and I couldn’t be more excited! I wasn’t looking forward to waiting in line but I kind of know already what to expect since I’ve been to another live taping of a show a few years back. I was lucky to see a live taping of the Big Bang Theory before they hit it really big :D. Both shows are being filmed at Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, CA. It’s really easy to get a ticket. I just went online at http://teamcoco.com/tickets and you can pick the date when you want to see a show. If tickets are not available on the date that you chose, they have standby tickets but it’s not guaranteed. You’ll get an email confirmation after requesting for a ticket and you can then print it and off you go to the show! It’s that simple! 😉 The confirmation email comes with instructions on how to get to the Warner Bros Studios and where to park. Once you get there you’ll be given a parking pass and will go through security screening then you can check-in to find out your group number. My fiance and I actually didn’t make it on time for the taping that we intended to watch because we got stuck in traffic on the way to the studios BUT luckily that week that we went was the first week where they were trying out doing two live tapings in a day so we were very lucky and we got to see the show! 😀 So then we checked-in and we were group #22. We’re not really sure where we were going to be seated but we were hoping that we will be in a good spot to see everything and maybe…just maybe we can be seen on TV too even for a few seconds! Hahahaha! Of course that’s like a little souvenir for us from being a part of that show that day ;-). So after checking in you’re given a Conan bracelet and you’re allowed to leave the premises but you have to be back 30 minutes prior to the indicated start time of the show. So we left and hung out at Sunset Blvd. (Hollywood) for a bit to get a bite to eat and to find the newly added Backstreet Boys walk of fame star! I’m a huge Backstreet Boys fan and since I didn’t make it to their free 20th anniversary concert and the unveiling of their walk of fame star, I made sure that I got to see it that day and have a photo with it! Hehehehe!  Mission accomplished! It was so hot that day and we couldn’t stand being under the sun for too long so we decided to head on back to the studios after getting a bite to eat. We got back right on time and still had time to use the restroom because you don’t really want to miss any part of the taping just to go to the restroom unless you have to go really bad. Also, there are no public restrooms in the studio. It’s strictly for employees but I’m sure if you have to go so bad they will let you use it. We waited for about half an hour until a staff started calling each group number then you wait in line again to get on the bus to head to Studio 15 where Conan is being filmed. I’m so glad that they actually have a bus that took us to the studio that day especially that it was a very hot day because when we went to see the taping of The Big Bang Theory, we actually had to walk to the studio where it was being filmed. So once you get off the bus, you’d have to wait again to be called (group number) before you can head inside the studio and then you will be directed by a staff member where you will be sitting according to your group number. We were quite surprised at how close we are to the stage. We were seated on the third row and on our the left side was the live band :D. It was awesome! The show lasted about 55 minutes. Not too long compared to watching a live taping of a TV series. Big Bang Theory’s live taping took about 4 hours! Good thing they fed us dinner! Hahahaha! Both shows are a lot of fun to watch though! I would definitely do it again! Photography and video is not allowed but I was able to sneak in a quick shot just before leaving the studio. It was really a lot of fun and definitely lots of laughter. My jaw was starting to hurt from too much laughing that day! There was a comedian right before the show starts who tells you the do’s and don’ts while watching the show and of course he does  this in a very funny way and even pokes fun at some audiences. The comedian was picking on some guys from Sweden who were sitting at the first row and a guy who was wearing a tank top that looks like from the ’80’s! Hahahaha! How he made fun of him was really hilarious and not in any way insulting or rude or offensive. The guy in a tank top himself couldn’t stop laughing. 😀 There was also a fire fighter who talked a little bit about safety and stuff then the band was introduced, Andy Richter and Conan. The guests that day were Zachary Pinto who was promoting Star Trek, Heather Graham was also there to promote Hang Over III and comedian Jen Kirkman. The show is definitely worth seeing and the whole experience is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it! 😉

Below are some photos from that day and screenshots I took from watching the show online. 😀

Here are some photos from our side trip at Sunset Blvd. to check out the Backstreet Boys Walk of Fame star 😀