We Are the Vote - And So Can You!

God, I'm glad this election is finally over - I'm so ready for a new president.

I know I don't have to tell you guys to vote - I know everyone who reads this is incredibly intelligent, witty, and aware of what's important. Vote for who you want, far be it from me to tell anyone what to do. As long as you've formed your own opinion and found a candidate that best reflects your views, he or she deserves, and is lucky to have, your vote. And, if you can't figure out who to vote for, may I suggest the duo in the video above?

Not Related to "The Office" but AWESOME Nonetheless...

And, here is the accompanying and even more awesome interview with both of them.

Seriously, could Stephen Colbert be anymore adorable in that 'fro??

ZOMG!!!! Bernie!!!!

(My apologies in advance - this blog post is being fueled by perfect gin and tonic, two glasses of wine, the girlish squeeing that can only occur when I see Bernie F-ing Williams in centerfield at Yankee Stadium for the last time, the joy in my heart I feel when I read that Stephen Colbert has won his precious Emmy, and the vision of Bobby Murcer's family striding out to centerfield, only to be greeted by said Bernie Williams two minutes later. Sufficed to say, this entire post makes no sense. Just look at the pretty pictures and pretend I'm not insane).

Bernie!!! 51!!!! He's at the Stadium!!! I'm so excited, I'm thrashing about on my couch alone!!! I heart you Bernie!!!!

Also, he totally looks like he could still play...just sayin'.

And, the entire stadium chanting Bobby Murcer was amazing!

OK, also, bring out Babe Ruth's daughter to throw out the last first pitch at Yankee Stadium - brilliant!

Edited to add: Here's an awesome article with some quotes from Bernie about his return.

Edited to add 2: I'm trying to find pictures of Bernie's return to The Stadium, but there are NONE as of yet...I can't believe it. I'd ghetto-style it and take a picture of my TV with my camera, but, unfortunately, I don't have my camera as SOMEONE took it with him to the actual game...

Edited to add 3: Also, non-Yankee related, but ZOMG!!!!!! Stephen Colbert Emmy!!!

Also not Bernie/Yankees related: Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" for the win at the Emmys!!!

Edited to add 4: Here's a picture of Dave:

I can't believe they have a picture of Dave and NONE of Bernie. WTF? Although, I will say, Dave looks like he could still play, too...

Edited to add 5: This picture makes me happy:


Edited to add 6: OK, Getty Images, if you're not going to post any pictures of Bernie from the pre-game ceremonies today, I'll post random pictures you have of him from assorted concerts he played earlier this year:



And this random picture of him from the 2003 ALDS;


Edited to add 7: I MUST give a shout out to my girl, Tine Fey, for winning Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy for the delightful "30 Rock,"

Edited to add 8:
Finally, a picture of Bernie from tonight...

And a lovely article, too. Yes, Bernie DOES belong among the Yankee greats!!

Last Edited to Add, I promise...we're on #9 already?


And another article, from NYT.

Ed Helms Post of the Day

In a continuation of an infinite-part series:


Also, the toss between Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert last night was made of pure brilliance. Seriously watch this. I won't ask you again.

OK, I will - seriously watch this.

The Daily Show Taping and Too Much Meat

VIP! VIP! VIP! Was our chant as we walked the streets of Manhattan, way the F over to the West Side to the studio where they film "The Daily Show." Since we had gone to the show before and been rejected, the show was nice enough to offer VIP tickets for all members of the party for a subsequent show...unfortunately, due to ticket demand and the fact that the show didn't film for the past two weeks, we were unable to get tickets until July 17. Henceforth known as the hottest day ever to be wandering around NYC (HDEtbWAN). Ever.

Luckily, since we were VIP! VIP! VIPs! We got to wait in a special line (in the shade) and got brought inside the building, into the holding cell, much earlier than the rest of the people waiting for the show. I think we got in line around 4:00pm and were let in probably 15 minutes after that - mostly because they wanted to get everyone inside, due to the fact that it was the HDEtbWAN and they didn't want people getting heat stroke while waiting outside. No rejections for us!

Here's a shot of the sign above the door to go into the studio:

Once we got through the metal detectors and security personnel who questioned us at length about the dangerous contents of our bags (pepper spray, knives, sharp implements?), we got to hang out in the holding cell. And see this delightful poster, hanging from the wall:

Is it Ed's bicycle? Maybe he parked it there one day, after his ride to the studio from Brooklyn and they left it, kind of as a bootleg reminder of the greatest Daily Show correspondent ever (behind Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, to be fair). Anyway, I was way too excited about seeing a poster of Ed, and even more excited when the security people moved the ropes that were keeping me away from Ed, so I could get right up next to him! Sidebar: There will be no pictures of me with Ed or anyone else, for that matter, because, since it was the HDEtbWAN we were all quite shiny. I don't think any pictures of us even came out...the reflection of the flash off of all of our shiny, pasty-white skin was more than my camera could adjust for.

We were let into the actual studio early, as the people in charge of making sure the audience members don't pass out from heat exhaustion had to get the other people inside, as well. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures inside the studio, so I don't have any. I figured it wasn't worth being thrown out onto the streets on the HDEtbWAN without even having seen the show. Once everyone was inside, the warm-up comedian guy came out to chat with us. And I do mean chat. He basically talked to random members of the audience, then either insulted them or told them way too much information about himself. He was pretty funny, though, and we learned the word "pre-tarded" from another audience member, as a result of his ramblings, which kind of made the comedian worthwhile.

Next, Jon came out to answer a few pre-show questions! He is quite small, I'm not going to lie, but very, very adorable and, of course, hysterically funny and SMART! Here are some of the questions he got asked and his responses:
Best books he's read recently - he mentioned Fareed Zakaria's recent book, "The Post-American World" as a good one, but he said he can't really read any books, other than ones for the show, because they have so many authors as guests, and he always has to read thinking, "what interesting questions can I ask this asshole?" Ha!

On the weirdest thing anyone's ever asked him - if he reads fan fiction about himself. To which he responded that he didn't know what that was, and, once it was explained to him, he was like, WTF is wrong with you people?

Boxers, briefs, or neither? - He then amended his answer to the previous question with THIS one being the strangest one he's received. Then said, "you'd be amazed how often that comes up." He then answered the question by saying he's actually duct taped in - no underwear. Ha, again!

On having the teleprompter actually say, "Welcome to 'The Daily Show!' My name is Jon Stewart" - he said it's a superstition, kind of, since they started the first show with those two phrases, they've begun every show the same way. It is kind of funny, though, that he needs to be reminded of his own name. I wonder if anyone has ever put someone else's name up there, and if Jon has read it? If you saw the show on Thursday night, that's why he stopped right after saying, "My name is..." which we in the audience, clearly, thought was hysterical.

The show taping actually went by pretty quickly, the Lou Dobbs-o-meter and the McCain-NAACP debacle were awesome:

Although, during the first break, we could see Jon get really angry about the people who play the clips cutting off the important words, "Martin Luther" before one of the clips, since it didn't really make any sense, just hearing the word "King." He did look pretty upset about it, but I didn't think you could tell during the actual airing - and they clearly edited the show so it would make sense, so, really, no big deal, Jon - you're awesome! The "Cougars" piece was OK, I loved how uncomfortable Jon got when that lady was petting him and the end where Kristen said she thought Jon was 70 and slept in a beef dehydrator was really funny. The Maggie Gyllenhaal interview was good (on Jon's end), but I wasn't such a fan of hers. maybe she was just really tired from all the promotion for "Batman," but she came across as, how shall I put this, not so bright? I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt here, I can't imagine it's that much fun to do nothing but talk about one movie for months on end. She is incredibly skinny, too, which I don't think you can see on TV...like in a "I may be able to snap her in half like a twig, even though I can't even lift a 5-lb weight" kind of way. Jon talking about watching Batman with his son made the interview, though.

Once the show was done, Jon thanked us all for coming and sent us back out into the HDEtbWAN - which had turned into the evening at this point. Our next stop was Daisy May's, a BBQ place just down 11th Ave.

The Menu:

The Accolades:

I got the pulled pork sandwich, with delcious scoop of coleslaw on top, a side of creamed spinach and a sweet tea:

I like how they have to put a sticker on top that says "pork." My favorite kind of sticker EVER.
Here's the sandwich unwrapped:

Yes, that's some coleslaw trying to escape from the inside of the sandwich.
Creamed Spinach:

Sweet Tea:

Pulled Pork platter with cornbread and sweet potatoes (I didn't eat this, too, don't worry):


OK, seriously guys, this was SOOOOOOO good. I should not have gotten the creamed spinach, though, as I didn't have enough room in my stomach for that AND my delicious sandwich. In retrospect, I should have just gotten the pulled pork platter and skipped the delicious, carb-y bread, as that clearly took up too much space. The sweet tea was really good (very sweet) and had the added visual bonus of being served in a giant Mason jar. I highly recommend hitting up Daisy May's when you're in Manhattan. Seriously. You know what? Just go there now. It's Saturday afternoon, what else are you doing today? I'd go back right now, if I wasn't still full from excessive meat consumption.

After Daisy May's we decided to head back to Valhalla, which you may remember as the place we all got drunken when we were rejected from "The Daily Show" the first time.



I chose a cider:

while my companions chose some fancy beers:

This one, we made look like a jack-o-lantern:

The only issue here, was that we were all so full from the food, that drinking beer and cider made us all a little ill. I could barely take a sip of my second cider, while the other people with me fared only slightly better. Thus, we didn't stay at Valhalla too long, just enough to watch some of the Mets game and make fun of some DBs sitting near us. DC, however, had an epiphany of great brilliance while we were sitting there - next time we go to a taping we're totally getting take-out from Daisy May's and bringing it TO Valhalla to eat while drinking. Strong work, DC, strong work! Your brilliance is unparalleled.

And thus ended our trip to see "The Daily Show" as VIP! VIP! VIPs! on the HDEtbWAN. We all went home, immediately showered, and then ceremoniously burned the clothes we had worn into Manhattan.

VIP! VIP! VIP!

Today is the day...we are actually going to be able to SEE "The Daily Show." We have received VIP tickets due to the unceremonious denial last time. No rejections for us today! Followed by a delicious BBQ dinner at Daisy May's and drinks at Valhalla, or perhaps another, undisclosed location.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some goo pictures before and after the show, maybe we'll see Aasif Mandvi or Rob Riggle wandering around the area by the studio? Maybe Ed Helms will randomly show up to do a quick correspondent segment, you know, just for old times sake. So, watch the show tonight at 11, you may even see me running at Ed/Jon, getting tackled by security, and being dragged off the set!

Steve Carell Post of the Day

Steve on "The Daily Show" last night - the water out the nose gets me every time...I've seriously watched it about 7 times today...Jon's giggling makes it even better...

Do You Have a Report to File? The Steve Carell Post of the Day

Programming reminder: Steve Carell interview tonight on "The Daily Show." Comedy Central at 11 pm. This is from the first time Steve went back to "The Daily Show," and it's, if I may say so, brilliant. How the two of them can stare at each other and not lose it is beyond me. Seriously, just looking at Steve Carell makes me smile.

Steve Carell Post of the Day

Steve will be on "The Daily Show" on Wednesday this week (June 18th), so here's the interview from the last time he was there, just to whet your appetite.



They are seriously the cutest together (well, not as cute as Jon and Stephen, but you get the idea).

The Return of the Stephen Colbert Post of the Day

OK, I think I saw this on the delightful No Fact Zone first, or, maybe on TV Squad. Whatever, it doesn't matter - it's and oldie but so, so good and completely hysterical. Especially Jon Stewart cackling and giggling in the background, and, well, everything with Stephen. In particular, the complete inability to speak at the end - complete with tears!

We Were Rejected by "The Daily Show" - And So Can You!

Well, we tried. I reserved tickets online ahead of time. We got into line around 3:45, well within the suggested 3:30pm - 4:30pm line-entering time listed in the email sent to me by "The Daily Show."

But, around 5:00pm, the line police told us we weren't getting in to see the show. So sad. However (bonus alert), the line police said we could get VIP tickets to another show, provided I emailed them to schedule a day! Score one for us. What were scores two and three? Seeing Rob Riggle and Aasif Mandvi leave the studio and come back, enabling me to take surreptitious, stalker-esque pictures of them from the line.

Rob Riggle talking to a writer (?) and drinking a large, iced coffee beverage:


A pissy-looking Aasif Mandvi:


Once we found out we weren't getting in and had given my name to the line police to ensure the VIP treatment next time, we decided to walk the two blocks to "The Colbert Report" and get on the standby line to see if we could see Stephen instead.
We waited in line for a bit, then were called up to the front to put our names on the list (apparently we were supposed to do this to begin with, whatever, we had no clue what was going on). Then, the douche-y McDouchersons behind us tried to cut us and get their names on the list first. Douches. We ended up in the right order on the list, after I yelled at those bitches, no worries. I'm old, I have probably 10 less years on this earth than they did, I deserve to see the show more than they do.*

Unfortunately, all the arguing was for naught. We didn't get in Colbert, either. So, we wandered up the street, being left with three hours to kill before our dinner reservations at Blue Smoke. Once we hit 9th Ave., we saw a bunch of bars, and, clearly, since there's nothing else to do in NYC other than drink when you have to kill time, we settled on Valhalla. They had lots of beer and the Yankees game on multiple plasma screens. Why would you choose somewhere else?

Wall of Beer:


The Beer Flights:


MD and I settled on a cider, Doc's Draft Hard Apple Cider, to be more specific. It was delicious. The beer flights and the concoction of Jack Daniels and beer were very tasty, according to BMG and NC. I didn't try them. I'm not that bold. It was a great place to spend a few hours on a Thursday afternoon, killing time before dinner, being happy to not be at work. If you're in Hell's Kitchen, I highly recommend it.

After two flights of beer, three 22-oz ciders, a few more beers, and two of the Jack and beer debacles, it was time to cab it over to Blue Smoke for dinner. Luckily, our cab driver was not nearly as angry as the one who took us to Otto, so we arrived without incident.





Now, just to warn you, we were all extremely hungry, due to not eating since lunch and the excessive drinking that had stopped occurring not even twenty minutes before. So, please don't be shocked when you see the amount of food we ordered and subsequently ate. Here we go:

The Porch Swing


The Condiments and an Illinois Swing


My Pulled Pork Platter


MD's Chicken Fried Sirloin


NC's Rib Sampler Platter with the sides of Collard Greens and Sweet Potato Fries


The Mac and Cheese


The Hush Puppies and the Delicious Dipping Sauce


OK, now, let me tell you. This was all so, SO good. The pulled pork, well, you can see the pink smoke ring, so you KNOW that bitch is good. MD loved her chicken fried sirloin and NC devoured the ribs like there was no tomorrow. The mac and cheese was creamy and smooth and incredibly rich. The sweet potato fries were enormous (TWSS) and cooked perfectly. The collards were clearly cooked for hours and tasted of sweet, sweet, delicious ham hock. The hush puppies were made of awesome and not greasy at all, despite the fact that they were submerged in boiling oil for a healthy amount of time. I don't have a good picture of it, but we also ordered two sides of cornbread. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on your point of view, NC and I were the only two powering through most of the sides, so the two of us had more trouble than the others, me especially, as NC appears to have acquired a tapeworm. Thus, behold the aftermath:



Yeah, I know, kind of pathetic. We tried. Honestly, we did. Next time (oh, there will BE a next time), we'll do better. There was some talk of dessert, since one of the signature items is chocolate cake, served with a glass of milk. And we all know how BMG feels about dessert with milk. However, we decided against it, probably for the best.

Thus ended our adventure of non-Daily Showing, drinking, and the excessive stuffing of our faces. Back to Jersey City we went, to head home and watch the season finale of "The Office" on my TiVo.**

Next up at AbS - MD's Birthday celebration at Daryl Wine Bar.

*That, and while we were waiting on line, they treated us to such delicious sound bites as, "social conservatism is bigotry" and "McCain is pandering more than the other candidates." There were some other choice words spoken, but mostly we were trying to ignore the douche-y McDouchersons, which I apparently did a pretty good job of doing, since I have no recollection of any other word-vomit they uttered.

**And what an incredible disappointment it was. And NOT because of Jim and Pam, I could care less about those two at this point.

Ed Helms Post of the Day

Now, with bonus Stephen Colbert AND Jon Stewart!

It's an old clip from "The Daily Show," but it's about the '04 election and Florida, so somewhat relevant today...my how things don't change...



Also, how cute are Ed and Stephen when they break after the bootleg high-five? (Insert Iko squeaking fangirl-style)

Stephen's Really Biting Me

Here are some hilarious outtakes from the Late Night fight of last week!

The worst thing ever shot...

An Intoxicating Cocktail of Hope and Joy

If anyone has been following the Stephen Colbert-Conan O'Brien-Jon Stewart feud, it all went down tonight. And apparently it really goes down (TWSS) tonight on Conan's show, so don't miss it. If you haven't been watching - look for it on YouTube, or like Comedy Central's website, or something. Maybe look for it after the strike, though.

Some spoilers:
Stephen looks for a bobby pin in his shoe.
Stephen and Conan harmonize
Conan tells Jon he's a handsome man
syllogism
Conan's studio is apparently a broom closet in the Comedy Central studios.

EtA - Found the video!