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Rove finale for 2008 (live from Sydney) studio audience experience

2008-12-28T17:00:00.005+11:00

ROVE - Live from Sydney 16th of November, 2008

Guest line-up: Daniel Craig, Ben Stiller & Chris Rock, Tom Piotrowski. Plus performance by Snow Patrol.

Cast: Rove McManus, Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar, Dave Hughes, Hamish Blake, Andy Lee & Ryan Shelton.

NOTE: Did not plan to make an entry and broke the ‘what happens backstage stays backstage’ rule.

But below are some thoughts about the experience (some cringe worthy moments but all complimentary towards the show) and you can judge on how it went down from my point of view. A majority of the good stuff is in Anniea’s blog so be sure to also check that out.

The season finale of ROVE for 2008 was being broadcast from Sydney, and we were extremely fortunate enough to have been offered tickets to be in the studio audience.

I skimmed the email the first time and upon reading it the second time, I realised it stated that we were invited back to the green room. Now this is the part where there was a lot of swearing of disbelief on my end.

- ON THE DAY

About to leave home, received a call from my friend Bob* informing me he was going to be arriving late, and the fact that he didn’t want to wait around in the lobby like the previous time.

"Late? Alright, I didn’t want to mention this because there was never a guarantee but we might have access to the green room....they specified that you can’t arrive later than 7 pm on the paper any way... wait, what do you mean ‘what’s a green room?'" I responded over the phone.

(* Name changed)

- ON SITE

Arrived in front of the studio and rang regular visitor to RoveOnline.com, Anniea to meet up, unaware I was walking behind her but we introduced ourselves for the very first time.

Then joined the surprisingly large queue where I met Anniea’s friend Kat, just had to find her food and toilet (in that order) and she was satisfied. Easy.

- INSIDE THE COMPLEX

Once we passed the doors we met the production assistants at a desk ready to mark our names.

Nervously and slightly intimidated by the security presence, I handed over a piece of paper "I’ve made it easier for you, those names at the bottom"

Next thing we know, they’re handing each of us two passes and telling us to follow Murray to the green room, it went smoother than I thought it would – Nice!

"So what did you do to get these passes?" Murray asked,

"That’s a good question..." I replied as he accompanied us.

- GREEN ROOM

There weren’t many people lingering around, Kat at this point had her eyes set on the food awaiting us on the table (plenty of wine, bread and dip).

Anniea and I decided to walk up to the next level to explore the unfamiliar surroundings, first thing I noticed – the unsupervised fridge.

What was upstairs? Nothing worth noting, offices and Snow Patrol’s dressing room.

Bob eventually joins us, and we kept to ourselves. The area began to fill and we spotted Haydo chatting to Megan Gale.

Anniea visually excited - spotted Wil Anderson from a distance, and pointed him out while considering whether or not to approach for a photograph.

I turned around for a curious look and said "Ohh yeah..." did a double take and recognised the man Wil was chatting to, it was Rove’s manager Kevin Whyte!

This is the odd part, for that split moment I got a bit excited and contemplated about approaching (don’t ask me why, I should be excited about Wil Anderson but wasn’t), in the end didn’t because he was in a conversation and the last thing you want to do is interrupt.

- MEETING ROVE

Rove’s personal assistant Lisa approached us and pulled me aside to briefly talk about an opportunity to meet Rove, unfortunately I became incoherent and rambled on a bit after she introduced herself.

I do remember asking for permission to take photographs with Rove but I believe she said no, it’s up to him (photographs were not authorised on site you see, and I just gave away the fact that we had cameras).

Some moments later, looked up and there he was next to Lisa.

This is the ‘oooohh...’ moment, then followed by the thought Geez, he’s pretty tall... wait, I’m short of course he is.

I reached out and shook Rove’s hands and said "Hi John... errr, Rove", possibly in a brain dead yet semi-shock state.

"So you’re based in Sydney?" Rove initiating the conversation.

"Yup... just south of Sydney, not that far from here... really easy to get here" [incoherent mumble continues, someone should have given me a slap]

Not sure what else happened beside the fact that he had to carry the conversation, I wasn’t prepared with any questions. I was hoping we’d bump into him as he walked passed for rehearsal but didn’t expect he’d actually make time to meet us - massive bonus, couldn’t believe they’d be that considerate. He also agreed to pose for photogaphs.

Introduced Anniea, she was brilliant - had a lot to comment on so I stood back a bit while trying to sneak a photograph in.

As Anniea’s blog stated, they did chat about future DVDs, recent stand-up tour, and praise for the Jay Leno appearance.

I might be making this part up, but at the time I thought he was apologising for the ARIA Awards, because I stood there thinking ‘wait why is he apologising? – it was great’ [also had a flashback of Pink onstage presenting the final award].

Looking back on it, it was related to the YouTube account suspended by Channel Ten.

(My fault for uploading snippets from the ARIAs, but if you’re reading this TEN – Please temporarily remove the copyright infringements so I could access the profile and delete the clips).

I thought he also mentioned something about our previous visit; drawn a complete blank, was actually hoping Anniea was taking notes.

Rove turned to his personal assistant and asked her where we were seated; her response "to the right" both making out hand signals to one another at this stage.

My final words should have been ‘thanks for your time and allowing us backstage’ but embarrassingly enough what came out of my mouth? - "thanks for not suing". Yes, either I was not in the best mental state at that time or need to stop doing that.

- LEAVING THE GREEN ROOM

As we were being ushered out of the green room, a very familiar face was rushing around with a headset in the background. I shouted ‘hey what is your name?’ at the poor crew member who of course looked a bit dazed and confused by my random comment.

"Fitzey" he replied

You might recognise him in the thumbnail or from this sketch on the show

- PRIOR TO SHOW TIME

Ushered into our seats by the crew, and pleasantly surprised to see reserved notes on them.

First thought: ‘Really?’

Second thought: ‘Must souvenir that piece of paper home after the show.’

"I thought the green room was going to be green" Bob commented.

A massive audience turn out for the finale show, one of the show’s largest.

Studio warm up guy K.B, went through the clapping procedure to the audience, switch phones completely off not on silent, don’t be the last one clapping ... etc, then introduced Rove and Pete.

Rove told the crowd how there was a room party or get together for the crew but he unfortunately forgot the room number, only the floor level. Whilst looking for it heard music emitting from a room, assuming that was it he went in.

Turned out to be a gay couple expecting a stripper, and then something about trying to leave over the back fence/balcony but was caught by one of the party goers and dragged back in.

Peter Helliar gave us a heads up on a joke used during his PeteSpace segment.

Head turning soon-to-be Wonder Woman Megan Gale ran to her seat to our right, a walk way gap separated us. (Nudged Bob, but like the rest of the men he was too busy drooling. I didn’t want to make her paranoid by staring so I ignored her, of course glanced her way a few times but that was because she had lollies and I secretly wanted some).

N.B Don’t take photographs while the show is still in progress (esp. with celebrities in the audience) or you’ll have the warm up guy running up to have a word with you. It happened to a couple sitting behind her.

- ON AIR

Rove psyched himself up as the intro commenced by running around the stage and over the furniture, it would have been awkward if he stacked right about now.

Regular segments such as PeteSpace (Who doesn’t love Pete?), Carrie at the Newsdesk, guest Daniel Craig, Hamish & Andy, Help Me Hughesy's segment topic? Meeting celebrities - how ironic, Chris Rock & Ben Stiller, Ryan Shelton, Tom Piotrowski etc.

- DURING COMMERCIAL BREAK

Rove walked up to where we were seated to ask how the show was going, I panicked and might have said "Good... great... she’s blogging it [later]" pointing to Anniea redirecting the attention.

Anniea: "It’s brilliant!"
Rove: "Taking notes?"
Anniea: "For sure!"
Rove: "What would you rate it?"
Anniea: "Five"
Rove: "Out of ten?"
Anniea: "No, out of five."

I really did think he was coming up to have a chat with Megan Gale, unaware Anniea had previously requested he say hi during the show.

He looked to his left and noticed Megan and continued his chat with her.

- END OF THE SHOW

Visualise this image - Rove running slow motion Baywatch style towards you.

Unfortunately this is what was going in my head at the time (100% accurate):

We’re never going to be invited back here again, quick take a photograph! **FLASH** ok you just blinded him - bad idea

He handed over a blue running order sheet "so you know how the show works"

- EXIT

Managed to convince one of the crew members I recognised to pose next to the sign, he seemed hesitant at first but proudly declared that he was the "lolly bitch" (I thought K.B was).

I forgot to ask permission if it could be uploaded online so this image may disappear in the next few days.

"What does ‘Greenroom Online’ mean?" Bob quizzed me referring back to the reserved seating paper which he was now holding.

"Don’t worry about it" I replied but thinking ‘OK, it doesn’t say RoveOnline on that but I think he’s going to Google’

- CONCLUSION - Did you actually read all that?

I rate it 10 out of 10 for hospitality towards their fans. The generosity encountered by the Roving Enterprises team was outstanding and honestly unexpected. I can’t speak for everyone but it did seem like a bit of organisation were placed towards ensuring we had a great night.

We weren’t celebrities, family members or friends, just a few random fans but it was a bloody great experience so I applaud them for the trouble.

Anniea – GREAT time meeting you, it’s nice to put a face to a name. And now you have access to my social network profile, feel free to stalk me.

Kat – You’re hilarious full stop, enjoyed your commentary.

Bob – Come on you’re not supposed to know I have a website what are you doing reading my personal blog?

- Random

If you’re going to be in the studio audience, when you leave and there’s someone by the door handing you flyers, don’t do what I did and take it to be nice but assume it’s junk.

On the night we went they gave out free Nando meal vouchers, not realising this I stuck it on the sign outside as we parted ways.

It apparently stated ‘Rove finale 08’. Now Bob was smart enough to sell this piece of paper for $20.

THE END. No more blog entries from me. Promise.

These Things We Love - ROVE finale 2008

ROVE highlights and crew credits

Don't forget to check out Anniea’s blog or visit the official RoveDaily.com.au site

Rove (live from Sydney) studio audience experience

2008-04-30T20:03:00.017+10:00

Rove (the official after-party for SYTYCD) - Live from Sydney 27th of April, 2008

Hosted by Rove McManus

Guest line-up: Hugh Jackman, Mischa Barton, So You Think You Can Dance judges, winner Jack & runner-up. Plus performance by The Rogue Traders

Cast: Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar, Dave Hughes, Hamish Blake, Andy Lee & Ryan Shelton.

HOW it started:

Someone was generous enough to offer tickets to the 27 April Sydney show (advertised as the official after party for SYTYCD). So of course, I took up on the offer since I missed out.

Managed to also secure 2 additional tickets for Steve (everyone’s favourite cartoonist) but unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances he was unable to attend on the night.

RoveFeed also received the offer but because he was located in Melbourne, it wasn’t exactly feasible for him to travel up to Sydney with only a few days notice so he was able to transfer the tickets over to another fan (anniea)

THE NIGHT:

First off, the location of the studios were less than a 10 minute walk from the train station so no issues getting there at all - extremely convenient for those using public transport.

It was situated in an old rail yard converted into a venue for contemporary arts & other shows, they retained the exterior of the old building & modernised some of the interior so pretty funky.

We walked into the venue & were greeted with security and the friendly Roving Enterprises production staff. They asked for the name of the person who booked the tickets and that’s when a red flag came up.

They were unable locate it anywhere on the lists so slightly panicked I tried to explain to them using the email I printed off as back-up (it’s worth it – print it off because you don’t want to be refused entry at this point).

We made it into the venue and got our ‘band audience’ laminated passes (makes for a really nice souvenir), for us they gave the option of seats or standing but I honestly told them that we got the ‘worst off’ tickets which meant we had to stand hidden during the entire broadcast.

WAITING..

There was a lot of waiting around prior to the show, so in the mean time we visited the indoor bar. (Drink responsibly)

FIRST Roving Enterprises crew sighting:

We ventured outside to kill time, and a slightly confused looking Kent Valentine approached us & asked where security was, easy enough question. Pointed him the right direction & done deal.

Who’s Kent? He updates the RoveDaily website with the content we see, and also a comedian managed by Token.

MORE WAITING...

Spotted Kynan Barker (more on him later) with the headset in the lobby mingling with the other production assistants, and no idea who they were.

TIME TO ENTER THE STUDIO

Please note: They do scan you with a metal detector, so attempting to bring a camera in probably isn’t the best move.

We were divided into two separate groups, the people with reserved seating or folks stuck with standing the entire night.

For us it worked out great in the end, I thought we were going to be ushered into a dark corner with camera equipment in our way but we ended up approximately 4 metres (?) away from the desk facing the couch.

Possibly one of the best and actually the closest position - real lucky.

If you saw the broadcast then you’ll notice for the Sydney set-up, they had a red carpet entrance for the main guests so most of the people in the group hi-fived Hugh Jackman or Mischa Barton as they entered.

Great for us but I think we were an annoyance to the behind the scene crew because we were unpredictable & technically on the set and in their way.

They warned us to stay within the designated area as marked off with rope & tape and not to get in the way because you could get knocked in the head with the camera. The cameramen next to me started swinging his camera and I flinched. They weren’t joking.

WARM-UP

The warm-up guy (Kynan Barker, although on the night he introduced himself to us as ‘K.B’) told us the basic rules, I’m sure he has done the routine a thousand times. Cracked some jokes, made sure the audience knew when to clap and gave us some lollies from a bucket to keep us going. Pretty good.

But I don’t think he liked my joke when I said ‘give us the lollies now so we can throw it at Mischa Barton’, his response – “No, don’t throw lollies at anyone”.

INTRO

We were introduced to the cast members; Rove came in and started talking to the audience & briefly explained what was going to happen.

Someone stated they were from Tasmania in our group (and in an attempt to defend themselves, they stated they weren’t raised there only moved there) & Rove made a quick-witted response by explaining to them that people generally would try to leave Tasmania NOT move there voluntarily.

Pete then came in soon after, made a good CSI: Bankstown joke.

Rove then dashed off to the SYTYCD set for a live cross-over, he later did a dance for the camera while waiting for the live feed.

BELVEDERE - Floor Manager

Someone tapped me on the side and told me to “move”, I turned around and my first thought was “Belvedere?” because it was Rob "Belvedere" Mascara (you’ll recognise him from Good Morning Australia, I had to google his name).

I had to make room because where I was currently standing was where Carrie, Pete, Hamish & Andy would wait off camera until their segment came up. Fair enough, moved over a bit so they could fit between the camera equipment & myself.

Carrie Bickmore walking onto the stage for her segment

LIVE ON AIR

The show officially goes live on air, Rove walks from the SYTYCD set to the ROVE set. Audience is anticipating his entrance at this stage so the room is in high gear. Next thing we know the show is in full swing.

Regular segments such as Rove’s monologue, Carrie at the Newsdesk & PeteSpace...

HUGH JACKMAN

Crowd pleaser Hugh Jackman made a nice entrance by high-fiving people in our section before proceeding to the seat. Very comfortable interview, quiet enjoyed it.

After the show cut to commercial, Haydo (spell check) from RoveDaily came onto the set with a portable camcorder for the website’s exclusive behind the scenes footages.

Hugh Jackman posed for the photographer with Rove than dashed off the set but not before giving the $20 he won to a lucky member of the audience.

MISCHA BARTON

Yeah... (nothing comes to mind with the interview). Personally wasn’t my cup of tea but she stayed around until the end.

DURING THE COMMERCIAL BREAKS

You’ll have people coming onto the set to wipe down the glass table, and reapply make-up.

The executive producer (?) Craig Campbell seemed fairly happy for someone who has to work on a late Sunday night.

At one stage, Rove started picking on my mate because he had his jacket on the velvet ropes (he removed it after the crew advised him to), can’t recall exactly but Rove asked if his crotch was that big that he needed to show the audience.

Then my friend started asking him something really random which even had me confused, Rove stood there with a ‘Huh?’ face reaction. Classic.

This is the same friend that asked me ‘What channel is Rove Live on?’ prior to the show. He still refers to the show as ‘Rove Live’, what happens when none of your friends are aware that you have a fan site.

Note to anyone going to the show: Take a friend who follows direction & orders from security. There were a few moments when I wanted to give him a little slap and tell him to just calm down and stay away from the Redbull.

Rove also walked over a few times to show the crowd what was coming up on the paper or how many minutes there were for each segment.

Random audience interaction.

THE COUCH

Apparently Hamish elbowed Mischa Barton in the head, didn’t see it (but kind of wish I did now).

THE ROGUE TRADERS

I enjoyed the performance, the SYTYCD contestants from the series really got into the song in the mini mosh pit.

THE OFFICIAL SYTYCD after-party

There was an actual party, but it was for exclusive industry types & V.I.P so it appears.

OVERALL

Had a great experience, the cameraman next to me yawned so I’m assuming he just wanted to get it over and done with but it really was fun for fans to see how it works each and every week.

It came and went fairly quickly for me, I’m sure there was more to it but didn't recall all of it (I'll update if anything else comes to mind or when other bloggers mention something I forgot to include.)

I don’t think the person who gave me the tickets would read this but just in case – big special thanks (you know who you are). Appreciate it.

Rating: 10/10 – Biased of course. Didn’t encounter any issues and didn’t have to wait in the cold.

AND no I did not receive any special treatment, it was just a fluke that we were ushered into a good spot on the night. No one else in the room beside anniea was aware I was even there keeping track of what was happening. :)

Review of the Sydney ROVE after party for SYTYCD

2008-04-29T22:00:00.002+10:00

... will be online tomorrow. Currently locating any decent screen captures.

Be warned, the blog entry will be long & honestly not very amusing.

But it might be useful for anyone attending the ROVE filming in the future.