Seven blocks were packed with eager fans waiting in line to see “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” live from the Auditorium Theater in downtown Chicago. I snuck past the line and was led to a back door—the VIP entrance. 

From Aug. 19-22, Colbert, based in New York, came to Chicago to report on the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The show focused on the events that occurred at the DNC that night. In addition, a different Democratic figure was interviewed each night. When I attended on Aug. 22, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the guest. 

My family arrived at the venue around 8:45 p.m. While we had a fast wait time, this was not the case for the majority. Most people arrived around 5 p.m. and waited in line for hours. My uncle, Steve Waltien, is a writer for the Colbert show, and because of him, my family was able to receive the VIP tickets. The main perk was avoiding the three-hour-long line, but we also got floor tickets and were seated relatively close to the stage.

Upon entering the theater, live footage from the DNC was projected as we waited for Colbert to come on. The show couldn’t start until the DNC had concluded because the writers needed to cover everything that happened at that night’s convention. 

“We only do live shows when we are reacting to something that has happened that night, so we are basically writing as a team as we watch the event,” Waltien said. “Everything has to happen a lot faster. It’s a lot of fun but different because we don’t have the whole day to digest the news. We have to watch it and then give our immediate reaction. The things that people are talking about most after the convention tend to be live moments that no one can anticipate. That is what’s fun about the live show. At the last minute, you are cramming in some reaction to some big moment that no one saw coming.”

While waiting, I felt like I was actually at the DNC; the crowd would cheer and react as if we were there. I attended the show the night Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her nomination from the Democratic Party to be President of the United States. The crowd went wild as Harris concluded her speech and the DNC wrapped up. 

Comedian Paul Mecurio acted as Colbert’s “hype man.” His job was to get the crowd excited. Due to the show being live, there was no laugh track, so the audience had to be loud. Shortly after Mecurio left the stage, Colbert did a Q&A with the audience before starting the show. My favorite part of the Q&A was when he did the viral TikTok dance to Charli XCX’s song “Apple.” However, while this happened, the audience didn’t see what was happening behind the scenes.

“It’s usually pencils down 20 minutes before the show goes live,” Waltien said. “We usually get that window [to finish up] and feed the scripts into the teleprompter because the local news has to go on after the convention is over. It’s really right up to the last minute.”

Finally, it was time for the show to start, and Colbert came on. He started with the opening monologue, which usually lasts around 12 minutes. 

“We basically spend the entire day [writing the opening monologue], with the live show day being a little bit different,” Waltien said. “We’ll start at 9 a.m. with pitches; between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., we turn those pitches into scripts, rewrite and rehearse that script. The script really keeps evolving throughout the day. For the live show, we do the same schedule, but we kinda end up writing towards what we think is going to happen. Sometimes you have an idea of what people’s remarks are going to be before they even make them, so you can write jokes in advance.”

After the monologue, a clip of Colbert attending a Cubs game earlier that week was shown. I found it entertaining as he interacted with fans and sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Shortly after that clip, Colbert brought out Ocasio-Cortez, who had previously attended that convention. Throughout her interview, she shared her perspective on the DNC, the upcoming election, and anecdotes from her life relating to her political views. The guests from the previous nights included Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and Pete Buttigieg. 

“All week, we were just looking for interesting people who had been to the convention and could talk about the experience of having been there,” Waltien said.

Throughout all of the commercial breaks and occasionally during the show, Colbert’s live band played for the audience, keeping the crowd excited and entertained. The show ended with a performance of “Freedom Highway” by Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy. The energy was high in the room as the song ended. Colbert came out with his wife and thanked the crowd for coming. He expressed how much of a joy it had been to be back in Chicago and how grateful he was for the opportunity to be here during the DNC. 

The show was a lot of fun to attend, and I enjoyed all that came with being there live. If you want to see any monologues or interviews, many clips from all four live shows are posted on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” YouTube channel.