Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch your favorite TV sitcom live in person? Just think, your favorite actors in their familiar settings only just a few feet away from you? You could just literally reach out and touch them (though I would strongly suggest you don’t do that). Well, if you live in or visit Los Angeles, there is a good chance you could see a taping of your favorite show.

Most multi-camera sitcoms are filmed in front of a live studio audience. They usually seat around two to three hundred people, give or take. And believe it or not, tickets are not that difficult to get.

When I first came to Los Angeles some 18 years back, the first show I ever saw filmed in person was the Lea Thompson vehicle “Caroline in the City.” I was an avid watcher of that show so when I got to see the actual actors performing live on the sets (which look much smaller in person), it really was quite the surreal experience. I knew previously what went into the taping of one of these things, but seeing it live blew my mind a little. It was really cool.

Since then I have seen many other show tapings, including the 100^th episode taping of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Dharma and Greg,” for which I was able to go back stage afterwards and hang out with the cast and crew for the episode wrap party. Nice people.

But my favorite to date was a taping of “NewsRadio.” I got to see the late, great Phil Hartman in action. He couldn’t have been a nicer guy. Most actors don’t usually interact with the audience (very much), but Hartman came up to the stands and spoke with the audience for a while. He then broke into his “Simpsons” impressions, to the entertainment of all. But to make things a bit more wondrous (and sad), the late comedian Chris Farley stopped by the taping to visit with his friends on set. Even he took time to interact with the audience as well. Both Hartman and Farley were two great and funny icons whose lives were cut much too short and who are both still greatly missed.

But one of my greatest disappointments, though, was the time I had to turn down tickets to go see one of the very last tapings of “Seinfeld.” My friend and I had put in for tickets months earlier. But when they finally arrived, I had just started a new job that week and couldn’t ask for a day off right away. Well, I have to tell you that it really sucked to pass up a chance to see a live taping of one of the greatest sitcoms in television history. But, grrrrrrrr, sometimes it’s necessary to be a responsible adult (I think).

But now onto “The Big Bang Theory.” It’s been well over a decade since I’d seen my last live sitcom taping. I had gone to see a live taping of “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” last year. You can read my write up HERE. I don’t watch talk shows on a regular basis, but every time I would tune in to his show, I would find myself laughing hysterically. So I had to go see him live before it was too late.

As I said earlier, getting tickets to see a live taping isn’t terribly difficult. But getting tickets to the most popular sitcom on TV right now is a different matter altogether. It isn’t the easiest feat, but not an impossible one by any means. And I’m going to tell you how to do it at the end of this article. There is a rather easy trick to it.

So my first attempt to get into a taping of “The Big Bang Theory” failed miserably. I was only able to get stand-by tickets. And for those to be of any use, you really have to get there about five to six hours in advance and just wait in line. And there is still no guarantee that you will get in. But I only managed to get there two hours ahead of show time. There were a lot of people there and I knew there was no way I was getting in. But I waited anyways because you just never know. And as I suspected, I didn’t make it (and neither did many others).  Yes, it sucked, but like I said, I pretty much knew it wasn’t going to happen that day. Now don’t get me wrong  — many people with stand-by tickets made it into the show, but they’d be waiting there for many, many hours.

So now let me start from the beginning and explain how the process goes.  The first thing you need to do is go to the Audiences Unlimited website (www.tvtickets.com) and find the show that you are interested in seeing. If there are tickets available for a particular date, you’ll be able to request them. And if no tickets are available, the option for requesting tickets doesn’t appear.  But instead of checking back every few days to see if tickets suddenly become available, just follow my little trick (not really a trick) below. It will save you some time and hassle.

So if you manage to score tickets to your favorite show you are then directed to print out a couple of pages, which include your ticket, your instructions and your directions to the studio.  

In regards to “The Big Bang Theory” I was instructed to show up at least an hour and a half before show time. I did call and ask one of the coordinators at Audience Unlimited if this ticket guaranteed me a seat this time. They told me that it did, but I absolutely had to show up on time or I might not get in. So I made sure to get there at least two hours in advance.

The directions from the printout led me to Warner Bros Studios in Burbank and had me pull into Gate #3 (which is a parking garage). Once there, I pulled up to the guard booth and showed him the ticket printout (which I printed at home). He then instructed me to park a couple of floors up. As I looked over to the left of the guard booth, I already saw a crowd of people seated in the holding area.

Once parked, I made my way down to that holding area. I found a helpful audience coordinator and told them that I needed to check in. (Absolutely make sure you check in. Don’t just take a seat.) She glanced at my ticket printout and pointed out the section where I needed to sit.

I was not allowed to bring a cell phone, camera, or any kind of recording device in with me. You’re instructed ahead of time to leave it in your car. If you don’t, they will make you go back to your car if you do bring it with you. And you don’t want to risk not getting in so it’s important to follow their instructions. I do believe though if you make it to the stage and realized you still forgot, they may allow you to check it at the door. But still, why risk it? As difficult as this sounds, you can live without your phone for a few hours.

Eventually as show time approaches, an audience coordinator directed my particular group to follow them across the street and onto the lot. You do have to go through a metal detector so leave those weapons at home.  Prior to entering the studio, though, everyone’s hand had to be stamped. It’s a marking that can only be seen under a blue light. This way, no one on the outside can bypass the check-in process and sneak into line.

Once on the studio lot, we were given a last opportunity to use the washrooms before entering the sound stage. Even if you don’t have to go, I suggest you do it anyways since you will be in the taping for several hours. It’s not that you are not allowed to go once you are seated, but it’s just less of a hassle if you get it out of the way before you enter.

Once inside, we were handed a small program guide (which you can find in a PDF below – or click HERE).  This just basically gave the title of the episode, the shooting date, and a rundown of the cast and crew. 

As for the sound stage itself, it was a rather quite big (which is necessary in order to house all of the various standing sets). Everything was blocked off so I really couldn’t see any of the sets until the show began. But once the partitions were removed, I noticed that all of the show’s familiar sets were sprawled all across the stage. What this means is that no matter where you sit, you won’t be able to see everything that is filmed. I found it best to try and sit in the center which gave me an overall view. 

Prior to the show starting, an audience warm-up person made their appearance. The person on duty this evening was Mark Sweet (visit his website HERE) and he’s done over 4000 hours of television as the warm-up. His job was to tell the audience what we were going to see and give us basic instructions as to what to do and what not to do. In short, we were to laugh at every joke, even if that same joke had to be performed multiple times.

Mark Sweet was also responsible for keeping everyone’s energy levels up between scenes by doing a little bit of comedy, magic, and lots of audience interaction. I’m sure it’s a very tough job to keep everyone engaged for three to four hours, which is the normal length of time it takes to film a half hour sitcom. The show is filmed in the same order that we view it at home on TV, but due to the fact that scenes are filmed multiple times (plus the down time between scenes) it takes longer than a half hour to finish filming an episode. Unlike talk show tapings, sitcoms are not done in real time.

While scenes are being filmed, it’s important to remember that your laughs are being recorded, so in essence, you are a part of the show. Laughing happens to be your job for the night. And you thought you got your tickets for free. Nope, you’re working for them. Tough job, right?

As a little side story, at one point, Mark Sweet asked an audience member (a young man) if he was a huge fan of “The Big Bang Theory.” He replied, “I’ve never seen the show before in my life. I just think that Kaley Cuoco is hot!” She heard what he said and in a professional, sweet way just smiled and showed that she was flattered.

So right now I know you’re probably asking… “What if I get hungry during the show? That’s a long time to sit without eating.” Well no worries… Mark occasionally tossed out pieces of candy to the audience. And if you weren’t lucky enough to grab one, a free slice of pizza and a small bottle of water were handed out to everyone. In truth, the pizza is not very good, but if you’re starving, it will surely hit the spot.

So let’s now get to the episode itself. This particular episode aired Thursday, April 30, 2015 and was called “The Maternal Combustion.” It guest starred Kevin Sussman as Stuart, Christine Baranski as Beverly (Leonard’s mom), and Laurie Metcalf as Mary (Sheldon’s mom).

Prior to the start of this episode, the audience was shown the previous week’s episode “The Graduation Transmission” which at the time hadn’t aired yet. I believe they do this in order to get the audience revved up for the new live episode they are about to watch (and maybe also catch everyone up to date on the show).  Plus, I’m sure it gives the crew more time behind the scenes to prepare.

The plot for “The Maternal Combustion” went like this… Sheldon’s and Leonard’s mothers meet for the very first time. One is a woman of faith and the other a woman of science. Needless to say, they don’t get along. Leonard is also jealous of all the attention that Sheldon is getting from Leonard’s own mother since Leonard never receives any. The subplot involved Howard’s wife Bernadette getting fed up with her husband and his friends (Raj and Stuart) for just sitting around playing video games all day while she is running around doing errands. So she orders all three of them to clean the kitchen from top to bottom.

Having just watched the finished episode, I noticed we didn’t get to see the prologue of the show filmed that day (the scene before the opening credits). It seems they filmed it after the fact, and I’m guessing it’s because it involved the character of Amy (Mayim Bialik) who wasn’t present during the taping of the show (or in the rest of the episode).  I assume if they filmed it prior, we would have been shown it on the studio monitors, which was the case with one or two other scenes that day.  Sometimes they need film scenes prior to the live audience taping.  This is done for various reasons, such as having to shoot on location, or in the case of Mayim, the actor may not be available the day of taping.

Of minor interest, when the show started, the first scene filmed was between Sheldon and his mother. Jim Parsons was a bit off at the beginning because it took him around five takes to get that first sentence out. Can you say blooper reel? I found it pretty amusing.

Everyone in the cast seemed in good spirits. And other than a few flubs here and there, nothing occurred out of the ordinary. But I took special notice of Johnny Galecki. He seemed very intense and a bit stand-offish from the rest of the cast between takes. This isn’t a criticism of the man himself. It’s just more of an observation of his technique. To me, it seemed his way of staying in character was by remaining in his own space and focusing on the current scene. Keeping his distance probably helped to keep his mind clear for when the cameras rolled again. (Or maybe he was in some kind of mood. What do I know? We all get them.  His parents were in the audience that night so maybe he was just nervous.)

But later in the show, he and Kaley Cuoco came over and addressed the audience. They just basically thanked everyone for watching the show at home and for coming out that day to participate. They didn’t have to do that, but it was very cool of them to do so. Both actors couldn’t have seemed nicer.

The show started around 6pm and ended around 10pm. They shot each scene a minimum of two times and a maximum of around four to five. As soon as they felt they nailed the scene, they moved on.  Sometimes, they would only do a pick-up (a small portion of the scene and not the whole thing).

The staff occasionally got together on stage and rewrote a joke on that spot that might not have worked as well as they had hoped. And in various takes, the actors would try different inflections with their dialogue if the way they said it originally seemed a bit off. Sometimes reading something with a different intensity ended up helping a scene or a joke.

There was a diner scene near the end between Sheldon and Leonard’s mom that the audience couldn’t see. The set was at a different part of the sound stage that was facing away from the audience. But there were multiple monitors hung throughout the stage so that we could see everything that was being shot.

Mark Sweet, the warm-up guy, would every so often announce a cast or crew member by name as they passed by.   He even pointed out Chuck Lorre, the show’s creator, at one point.

Also of possible interest, in terms of set layout, there is only one apartment building hallway set. The staircase, going up and down, leads to nowhere.  As actors walk up and down the staircase, they need to cut the scene and redress the set to make it look like a different floor of the apartment building. It’s not too much work so they managed to do it rather quickly.

So eventually, when the last scene was filmed, a ‘wrap’ was called and everyone was thanked for coming out and attending the show. And at that point you’re up from your seat and ushered out of the stage where you make the final trek back to your car.

And for those of you hoping for a moment with your favorite ‘Big Bang’ star before you leave, that’s just most likely not going to happen. Unless, of course, you know someone personally involved with the production of the show. There are generally no pictures and no autographs allowed. After all, these folks have been working all day, and considering the late hour, they are just ready to move on. And it’s entirely possible that they may have some additional pick-up shots to do after the audience leaves.

So that is basically the process of going to see a live taping of a sitcom. Oh yeah, and as I promised above, I’ll tell you how to better your chances of getting tickets to such a popular show such as this. Simply call up and get a hold (or leave a message) for one of the coordinators at Audience Unlimited and ask them when tickets will be released online for the next available taping for whatever show you’re looking to see. They’ll tell you the date and time to check back online.  It’s as simple as that.  This way, you don’t have to drive yourself crazy randomly looking back at the site hoping to get lucky.

For me, I was told to look on their Website between 8 and 8:30am on the following Monday and tickets would be made available. So at 8am I kept refreshing their webpage every thirty to sixty seconds until the new show date popped up. Of course, it happened to be exactly at 8:30am when they were made available. And it is extremely important to know that you can only request one ticket at a time. Do not under any circumstances put in for two or your order will not go through. Only put in for one at a time. And if you need another ticket, then refresh the webpage and add in the information for the second ticket (you’ll need your guest’s information). But do it quickly because for a show as popular as “The Big Bang Theory” the tickets will go in minutes. Once the main tickets go, you’ll be stuck with standby. And I’ve already talked about how fun that can be.

So once again, to get tickets to your favorite sitcom, visited the Audiences Unlimited Website at www.tvtickets.com.  And to contact them by phone, call 818-260-0041.  Or email them at Tickets@AudiencesUnlimited.com.  Their mailing address is: 801 South Main Street, #200 Burbank, California 91506.

If you would like to watch this episode (The Maternal Combustion) which I saw live, click HERE to view. 

If you would like to view the program guide that was given out to the live viewing audience, click the Pic below to bring up the PDF.