ben harper was so bad ass tonight at the “last call” taping. for some reason, nbc decided to tape two seperate shows, so we got to watch a total of 3 performances.
this, however, did not come without a price.
since they were taping 2 shows, that meant 2x as much carson daly. ok i’m sure he’s a nice enough guy in real life, but when he’s on stage everyone in the room can feel that this guy has no discernable talent and/or skill. i have no doubt that hosting a talk show is difficult, but there’s just nothing great about this guy. jokes were lame. guest interviews were mind numbing. worst of all the two bit comic they had to “prep” the audience was the most annoying person on the planet.
“no sir! i will not clap like a trained seal for one of your shitty “last call” tshirts. fuck you! i know that you dont have all kinds of great prizes to give the audience if we’re ‘the best audience you’ve seen’. fuck you. bring out ben. no more fucking dance offs between audience members. we didnt come here to basque in the glow of nbc. the only reason this place is filled with people is to see ben harper, we could all care less about your shitty show that comes on at 130am. bring him out and until then shut up.”
one interesting sidenote, every last word carson said was on a cue card. i dont mean just the monologue, i mean all the “impromptu banter” between him and the house band, the off the cuff desk comments, everything. cards were flipping the entire time and homeboy was reading away. oh and in between segments he was highlighting his note cards like a college student the night before his english lit final.
to his credit, he did make a couple of funny comments. when he came out to “greet” the audience, they instructed us to stand and applaud for him, but when he came out he asked us to save all the fake love for the taping. nice.
then once during the monologue of the “tuesday” show, he was talking about hanging out with ben harper and said, “…yeah like you guys need another reason to hate me.” alright, so at least the guy knows where he stands. this makes him less of a tool in my book.
ben harper and the innocent criminals did not disappoint and played, “morning yearning“, “waiting for you” and “black rain” all from the new album. there’s one more taping tomorrow night in burbank, so if you’re local to socal and have nothing going on you might want to make the trip. otherwise, set your tivo for 1:35 on NBC next Mon-Thurs for some incredible live performances.
oh yeah and sarah chalke from scrubs was smoking hot. mandy however did not get a chance to kiss her…oh how i wish she could have tried.