DAVID LETTERMAN: AN EASY TICKET!
written by the New York Party Shuttle staff
NEW YORK, NY - In the past few years since September 11th, 2001, tourism & travel to New York City has been down. With sudden decrease in the number of tourists and business travelers to the Big Apple there have been a number of indirect benefits for those travelers who do visit New York City. For one, show tickets – Broadway and live TV shows – have been steadily available for lucky fans. Prior to September 11th, 2001, obtaining such tickets was virtually impossible. For most live studio broadcasts, in order to obtain tickets, one would have to send a postcard to the show’s producers requesting free tickets. Most of the shows still require postcard requests. For the case of Saturday Night Live, fans are still required to send in their ticket requests during the month of August (no exceptions). Send your postcard on September 1st or July 31st and it will be discarded. Fans are used to jumping through many hoops to be a part of the show.
Today, the live TV shows still maintain the same postcard/ticket request policies, however, the loop holes have become more porous as last-minute tickets can now be secured by fans. Knowing that a full live audience creates an air of popularity for a show, producers are allowing more last-minute ticket requesters into their shows. In the case of The David Letterman Show there are two rather simple ways to get a last-minute shot at going to New York’s most popular live TV show. The first most notable way is to call 1-212-247-6497 right at 11am Monday through Thursday or during a day when the show is scheduled to be taped. Worth noting that David Letterman tapes his five shows on four days of the week. Thus, on Thursday, they tape two shows, one for Thursday night and one for Friday night. Fans know this, so they tend to request shows on a Thursday so they can get 2-for-1. The other way to increase one’s chances of getting a last-minute shot at tickets is to go to the studio right at 11am and wait. On most occasions, an Assistant Producer or a Page (a Hollywood term for the lowest position in the business – some Pages are not even paid!) will walk out of the studio and offer free tickets in Times Square where most of the tourists tend to congregate. The only catch to this is the Page or Assistant Producer may ask you a few questions about the show to see if you’re really a big fan. The purpose of this is they would rather have guests who are more likely to laugh and have a good time during the show than just some average Joe who wants to say he went to The David Letterman Show. The questions tend to be slightly obscure so that people who just flip around the show would never get the answer – real fans will know them. For instance, one question most commonly asked is “Who is Biff Henderson?” In case you’re wondering, he is the show’s producer, who is commonly asked to participate in gags created by Letterman himself.
A simple overall strategy would be to combine the two aforementioned tips to get tickets into one almost fool-proof game plan. To do this, one would only need a cell phone. Simply go to the Ed Sullivan Theatre at 54th and Broadway right at 11am. At the same time, call the ticket hotline number from this article on your cell phone to see if you have a shot at doing it there. While you’re on the phone holding and possibly listening to on-hold music – you should keep your eyes out for someone walking out of the theatre with tickets in-hand donning a David Letterman T-shirt. If you’re lucky, either someone will answer the phone or walk out the door to approach you with free tickets to tonight’s show. There are days they do not need any extras to fill the seats, but in most cases they do. If you’re thinking about getting tickets to advance shows on the street or by phone – no chance – they only give them out for same-day shows.
So, if you’re planning a trip to New York City while overall tourism is down to take advantage of the great deals - you will most likely visit the Statue of Liberty or Empire State Building, but you should also leave the David Letterman Show and other live TV show broadcasts as an available option - - one that used to never be possible.
Check out our Empire State Building tour information link
Check out how to get tickets to David Letterman's show.
Check out how to get tickets to Saturday Night live.
Article Copyright 2005 by New York Party Shuttle.
