Last night I sat in on a taping of “Canada’s Got
Talent" in Calgary. I won 2 tickets from Tim Horton’s and City TV in a
contest I found on twitter. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of CGT or its American
version, but it sounded like fun to see how a TV show gets made.
My friend and I arrived early and were disappointed to see a
long line outside Jubilee Auditorium. The email I received instructed me to
pick up my tickets at Will Call, so I approached a security guard to ask where
that was. Unfortunately, another man got to him before I did and was apparently
asking about tickets as well.
“She’ll have to get on the end of that line,” the guard said
to the man, gesturing past me.
“Really? But she’s got that e-mail,” the man said.
Damn, I thought. All those people on line won the contest?
Security Guard Guy pointed at the e-mail in my hands and
said, “See, you need to have this logo on the e-mail in order to go right in. Her
email doesn't have that, so she needs to get on the line.”
"Oh, wow, that sucks," I said to the guy.
No Logo Guy seemed disappointed but accepted the news and
walked away. I was told to go through the theater doors to a table inside for
contest winners. We wouldn’t be able to take our seats yet because they were
still filming the afternoon’s auditions, but we didn’t have to get on that
line, either.
Sweet! My friend and I loitered around by the entrance,
feeling pretty darned special. There was
a big trailer parked across from us with “Canada’s Got Talent” splashed across
the side. A camera man set up a tripod and aimed his camera at the long line.
Several other people walked around with an air of importance, talking into
headsets. This was getting exciting.
“Good luck!” someone called to us as he entered the theater.
“Why did he wish us good luck?” my friend asked me.
“I think that was for me,” a voice replied, behind us.
Turning around, we saw a small young woman leaning against
the building, smoking a cigarette. She had a number stuck to her shirt.
“Oh! You’re a contestant?” I asked.
“Yeah. I already went on,” she answered. “It was so weird to
have Martin Short like…right there!”
I didn’t know Martin Short was one of the judges! I didn’t get to ask her how it went
because suddenly there was a small crowd around us and the doors were opening. We were swept into the theater lobby. Occasionally, someone
with a number stuck to their shirt walked by. Free coffee was offered from Tim
Horton's. I was digging the atmosphere. People seemed happy and excited, ready
to get the party started.
Cool stage! Unfortunately, we couldn't sit because our
entire section was covered with a heavy black cloth. I gotta say, I wasn't feeling
so special anymore. There was much confusion as more people in our section
arrived, clogging up the aisles, and various ushers squeezed through, looked at
the situation, left and were never seen again. Apparently, the problem was a
camera which needed a clear shot of the stage without a bunch of heads in the way.
Finally, one of those important looking dudes with a headset
lined us up and marched us through the auditorium, looking for empty seats.
"Who are those people?" I heard someone say. Ha! We were contest
winners with nowhere to go. Well, two seats here, four seats there, and we were
all finally seated. Some in our group got to sit in the front row! Grr!! We
wound up in the middle of the middle of the right hand section. My friend
convinced me the seats were better than the front row. (She's a good friend!)
Once everyone was settled, we received instruction on how to
cheer and boo correctly. "Louder!" "More energy!!" When our
“spontaneous” reactions met with the approval of the director (and were
recorded to be dubbed in later- spontaneously), we had to practice wild,
standing ovations and the possibility of responding to something overwhelmingly
cute. "AWWW......"
We were very proud of ourselves as we were the "BEST AUDIENCE
EVER!!" Loud applause for us, though not quite a standing ovation
moment. We had been trained well.
The emcee or hostess or whatever was introduced. Dina
Pugliese is a co-host of Breakfast TV Toronto. She's adorable. Throughout the
evening, I spied her watching every audition from the wings, reacting if she
disagreed with the judges and dancing when a particularly good song was played.
This was all off-camera. Well, as far as I know.
So let's talk about the judges! Unfortunately, the only one
I've heard of is Martin Short. I tried to grab a photo of him coming down the
aisle to take his seat, but all I got was this blurry shot of him hugging a kid
in front of me.
A quick word about photography. After we practiced our
heart-felt reactions, we were told NOT to take any flash photography during the
show. The director didn't say we couldn't take ANY photos, but I still took
mine on the sly with my phone. I didn't want to be a bad little audience
member. The result is some pretty bad, fuzzy shots.
The other two judges are Measha Brueggergosman, an opera
star, and Stephan Moccio, an award winning songwriter. They were all very good,
doling out their opinions eloquently and with a lot of humor. I won't give away
anything that may wind up on the show, but some of the most fun moments
happened when the cameras weren't rolling, anyway.
In between acts, the stage would be cleared and cleaned, the
director would walk over and speak quietly to the judges and maybe their makeup
would be retouched. "I love you, Martin!!" rang out from the audience
several times. Martin Short always spun around in his chair to yell back some
kind of acknowledgement. "I love you, too, man!"
If the pause between acts was going to be longer than a few
seconds, some loud, fun music was piped in. At one point well into the third
hour, when everyone was getting a little punchy, the judges suddenly got up and
danced to our between-acts-music.
It was all fun and games until the director
cut the music and chimed in with his usual, "Big applause! Here we
go!" and our next act came out on stage.
And damned if the next act wasn't No Logo Guy! "Hey!"
I said to my friend. "I talked to him outside!" I don't want to ruin
the surprise but I will say that this guy KILLED! He received a rousing (and
sincere) standing ovation. I hope to be seeing more of him.
I've seen snippets of America's Got Talent and my impression
is that CGT is a kinder, gentler version.
The buzzers WERE used (Causing many of us to suffer minor cardiac events.
Those suckers are LOUD) but all of the contestants got advice on how to make
their act better even if they weren't moving on the next round.
There were
several surprisingly polished and impressive performances during the night and
only a few...well...ODD ones. You'll see it all when it hits our TV screens.
(Well...you will if you live in Canada.)
One thing you won't see was the way the crowd cheered every
time the floor sweeper came out. Give us a break, we were bored! The show took
almost FOUR hours to complete. As soon as a contestant got his "Yay"
or "Nay" and left the stage, this guy would come out pushing a big
mop that shined up the stage for the next victim. We all cheered for him. After
one contestant criticized Judge Stephan's scarf, Floor Sweeper Guy came out
pushing the mop wearing a scarf. Wild applause.
Late in the evening when our floor cleaner came out for
about the 15th time, Dina Pugliese told us, "I know you've been enjoying
him- let's hear it for Dennis!" Dennis paused in mid-swept to wave, but
quickly got back to work. Later, as he made his very last pass over the floor
and headed for the wings, someone yelled out, "I love you, Dennis!!"
The fat lady sang and that was it. The judges left their
seats without fanfare, disappearing through a door by the stage as the audience
filed out. Someone grabbed a microphone and thanked us for coming. “Look for
this episode to air sometime in March 2012!”
It was late, we were tired, but it had been a very
interesting experience. And if you happen to see something overwhelmingly cute
and need someone to give the perfect, “Awww,” I’m your girl.
