7 am. A little later than I’d hoped, I’m on the bus and on my way. Possible lucky break: driver says he goes right to Main Street, so my more convoluted plan of multiple Skytrains not needed. 7:05. At Main St., see the 3 bus I was told to catch. I fly across the yellow-lit intersection – and see it pull away. Damn. But, another 3 appears immediately. Joy! 7:10. In line! A few hundred people already here, so my dream of a front-row view is likely dashed, but realistically this is about as early as I’d have been here. My disappointment, though palpable, is muted. 7:15. Spoke with security staffer. Said two people were trampled when gates were opened yesterday. I’ll try for maximum fleetness when the moment arrives today. 7:29. There now appear to be almost as many people behind me as in front of me. Yes! Colbert’s stage is fully visible across the grass in front of me. 7:47. Asking another volunteer about yesterday’s “trampling”, I’m told it was more of a slipping and muddying – nothing serious. Much relieved. 7:48. Conversations around me largely inane. Not hopeful audience will make positive impression on our American visitor. 8:25. I’ve read my newspaper twice. Now realizing something: it’s cold. And, my back is a little sore. Put newspaper to good use as a buffer as I plunk myself down on the cement path. Aaah. 8:35. Someone on a megaphone down at the front of the line is saying something unintelligible… and suddenly the lineup cascades towards the field, in an organic sweep that’s rolling towards me. Shouts of “Run!” burst out, and that’s what I do, in the middle of the pack and heading straight for the stage. A moment later I’m there! No slips, no falls, no broken bones – and darned close. I made it! 8:37. We’re told it’ll be an hour till they get started, so save our voices. That’s what I plan to do. 8:40. Glad I sat down for a bit – judging from the muddy soup under my feet, I won’t be doing it again. 8:55. Tunes on the PA all have humourous double meanings: “One is the loneliest number”, “Everybody wants to rule the world”. 9:25 watching video of Colbert’s “road to the Olympics” – funny! 9:50. A weird smudge is spreading over the TV monitor, getting bigger and blacker. (I think it was due to the temperature.) Luckily the show clips still sound funny… 9:55: And here he is! The man himself! The crowd goes wild! 10:30. As entertaining as the show is, I find it just as neat to see the “process” exposed. The stage manager who came out and prepped the crowd on hand signals for when to make noise and when to stop. And once the show is underway, seeing little things like Colbert confirming the order of cameras before making his customary show intro where he whips from camera 1, to 2, to 3… or looking over his segment intro on paper, and speaking it to himself before he does it on camera. At one point he does a bit where he pretends that he’s acknowledging a “throw” from an on-the-scene reporter, but that reporter is himself in an earlier-taped segment. So he does a bunch of those, one after another, each one segueing into an introduction of a different guest. It will be interesting to see how they seamlessly integrate these different bits into the final show. 10:55. Interviewing two skiiers, he asks one about being kicked out of the Turin games for getting in a bar fight. But it turns out that happened to the other guy. So later, after wrapping the segment, hw asks the question again – this time to the right person. The skiier was a pro – he even repeated his earlier joke in his reply. 11:15. After recording his farewell for the end of the show, the crowd starts chanting for him to get up on the giant stuffed moose (as Bob Costas did yesterday). When he obliges, there’s a roar of appreciation. And suddenly, “Ride The Moose! Ride The Moose!” turns into “Don’t Get Hurt! Don’t Get Hurt!” To which Colbert says, “That doesn’t absolve you of any blame, it’s on your heads if something happens!” He repeats the show ending from up on the moose. Wonder which one they’ll use – probably the first one, as he was quite badly lit when he was up there. 11:32 Just when I’m thinking that, entertaining as this is, my back can’t take another hour… we’re done! He wraps things up and offers his heartfelt thanks to the people of Vancouver for their enthusiasm. It was a great, and very funny, experience!