In a previous blog post I mentioned that I had got tickets to see a new BBC Three show, ‘The King is Dead’. Three of my friends and I went to see it last Thursday.
It was a novel and great experience to enter the BBC studios and actually watch a real live proper recording! It takes about 3 hours to record a 30 minute show, and we get to see all the stuff that happens off-air which is quite exciting. I’m glad glad I got those tickets. I had in fact asked for 1 ticket as that normally improves your chances of getting a place, but they gave me four instead which was much cooler.
So anyway, we got to the BBC studios where we first had to undergo some airport-like security checks (Clement had a little trouble with his pen-knife…what did they think he could do with it anyway? Kill a camera man? Kill himself from laughing too much at really bad jokes?). Then they led us to a restaurant/bar like thing where we bought snacks. Joe asked for a panini that seemed to take ages to make, when in actual fact they had forgotten about his order. Epic sandwich fail.
Then we were made to stand in a somewhat orderly queue that involved some slight shoving and shouting, and plenty of rain. We were made to stand outside for a good 250 seconds I would guess. But once we were seated in the studio everything was fine. We had a ‘warm-up-er’ to help us understand our role as audience and to ease away boredom before the show began. He was a welsh guy who was as funny as the show itself. It was mostly light-hearted insult-based comedy directed at various stage managers, but they didn’t seem to mind. I think he was on the path to becoming a real comedian – it would be great if in a few years time I could say, ‘Hey, yeah I saw him when he was a mere crowd-warm-uper!’.
The show was presented by Simon Bird, who, as Tanya put it: ‘looks so funny you would just laugh at him if you saw him walking on a street’. It’s true. With his suit and his overly posh accent and his over-sized glasses you can’t help giggle a little.
The idea behind the show is that each week a famous person is killed off, and three celebrities compete to take their place. It’s like a job interview. The recording that we went to was the last in the series, and the assistant regional head of sales had just died. So Eamonn Holmes, some chick from ‘The Saturdays’ and another chick from ‘The Apprentice’ came to take his place.
Of course, as the audience our role was to clap, laugh and jeer. For some reason I had in my head that they would hold up signs, but I needn’t have worried. Sometimes we had to laugh as the same joke five times because of scene retakes. Sometimes during the filming they would redo a scene from the previous hour which seemed to be perfectly fine. It was a very strange and interesting experience. I loved it.
And then, because this was the last show they wanted to have a fake fire alarm where members of the audience walk onto the stage and clap at the winner. I got singled out as the asian girl in maroon! Had to sign a ‘release form’ which basically ‘waived my moral rights’ as the terms and conditions worryingly put it. Basically it meant that if I tripped over the stairs the BBC wouldn’t pay. I decided to go for it as I have plenty of experience in fire alarms being a Mech Eng student and all.
It was the weirdest thing ever.
Walking on stage, making eye contact with the presenters was so funny! Now I have thirty seconds of ‘fame’ on BBC Three. Do watch the show when it airs. You can’t miss me; I’m wearing an Imperial hoodie lol. And besides, the show is actually quite hilarious.
See, loads of free things to do in London!
