California – Showbiz

Caty and Becca channel the Partridge Family in Warner Brothers' prop department

As we switched our locale from south of Los Angeles to Burbank, we made two detours, neither of which were really worth the effort. If I had to do it over, I would have driven on the eastside through the mountains rather than along the west side. We had repeatedly discussed going to the Griffiths Observatory and the Hollywood sign. That would have been an option.

We drove through Palos Verdes, which, on a nice day, is gorgeous. Unfortunately, the fog was worse there than in Seal Beach, so it was fairly drab. We really didn't even stop.

Of course, it didn't help that I missed a turn and we ended up on the 405 instead of the Pacific Coast Highway. Yuck!

After deciding that the coast had nothing to offer on that day, we headed for the iconic Santa Monica Pier. 

That's a better concept in the abstract than it is in reality. 

Lunch!

It was crowded, parking was difficult and crazy expensive, it smelled bad and was populated by some sketchy characters and lots of pigeons (Becca's favorite part). Plus, there isn't really anything to look at. 

But, we parked, walked to the end, ate lunch (Mexican again; it was really the only viable option) and got out of there. 

But, the picture of the sign is pretty cool.

Not as great as you hope

Then, we checked in to our hotel in Burbank -- a very nice, CLEAN, centrally located Best Western. Now it was time to get down to the real reason we went to LA -- showbiz.

I already outlined the difficulties we encountered with that. But, we did have three good experiences.

Seems appropriate for LA

Our first night in Burbank, we went to Flapper’s Comedy Club. It was graduation night for students of “Flappers University,” the club’s comic training program. So, we got to see the debut of many aspiring comedians. A few were really good; most shouldn’t quit their day jobs. 

The rest of the evening was improv. I love improv. Ironically, one of the funniest performances was from an audience member who was called up on stage to do sound effects for comedians. She was hilarious. But, since comedians tend to hang out in comedy clubs, she may have actually been a comedian.

One reason we went to Flappers is that famous comedians sometimes drop in. Whitney Cummings is often there. We did encounter one “celebrity,” but it took a while to figure out that she was who we thought she was.

Yep, you've seen her

It was Edie McClurg, a comedian and actress known for her character roles as a Midwestern woman (clerk, teacher, nurse, principal) in movies including Carrie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. She came in with another comedian (I never found any evidence that he was known or not).

She just looked like a regular person. We just thought she “looked like that woman who was in all those movies.” Then, they called her on stage to participate in an improv number. So, she was “that woman who was in all those movies.”

Our next adventure was the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. 

More showbiz

This is a very nice, very well-organized tour. We were able to walk from our hotel – nice in an area where all decisions are predicated on traffic. Plus, we were able to grab a delicious lunch as we walked back after the tour. I had been driving a lot, so that was a nice break.

All of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour employees are personable and friendly. The process for lining up visitors and assigning them to tours seems well-thought-out and the pace was good. 

Our guide

While not mind-blowing, the tour was interesting and lots of fun. I suspect it's even more fun if you are a hardcore film or TV buff -- especially if you like Marvel movies.

Our tour guide, Dustin, was knowledgeable and entertaining. 

I wonder if guides come into the job fully informed about Warner Brothers films and shows (I suspect many are aspiring actors or filmmakers) or if they have to watch lots of movies and TV shows as part of their training. Probably both.

The tours are conducted on small trams (sort of like elongated golf carts) with a small amount of walking. It certainly wasn't challenging. We had a little bit of intermittent rain, but, fortunately, it was never bad enough to cause a problem.

We got to walk along streets made famous in movies as diverse as Annie, The Last Samurai, The Matrix and Christmas Vacation ... 

The sets and real examples

We hung out in Stars Hollow, including visiting a house with two fronts. We learned that the interiors of many of the streetscapes are actually offices. Here’s the production office for Young Sheldon ...

A house in use

We saw costumes from popular movies ...

Costumes

We saw the props department ...

Props

... and a garage full of batmobiles and bat props ...

Becca calls for help

We passed sound stages (and walked through the Lucifer set) ...

The lot

The girls even got “sorted” ...

Becca got Gryffindor; Caty got Slytherin

We toasted each other in Central Perk ... 

Coffee?

And, Caty and Becca both accepted Oscars ...

And, the Oscar goes to ...

It’s a good comprehensive tour – we’ve heard that it’s the best of the studio tours.

We had one sighting – well, Caty did. She saw Andy Richter drive by (Conan tapes on the lot). The closest we got to The Big Bang Theory was the soundstage and parking spaces.

Soundstage

The price for the tour is a little steep -- $65 for just a few hours -- but it was a good experience. But, at that price, I wouldn't do it again any time soon.

That afternoon, we went to a taping of Superior Donuts, a sitcom based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts, that debuted in 2017. 

Photo: Superior Donuts

While I was not familiar with the show, I was with many of the members of the cast. 

Photo: Superior Donuts

Here's a synopsis of the show from Wikipedia …

The series revolves around the relationship between donut shop owner Arthur Przybyszewski (Judd Hirsch -- famous for Taxi), his new young employee, Franco Wicks (Jermaine Fowler, who is also one of the show's producers) and the shop's patrons in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. 

With the Superior Donuts shop struggling financially, Franco makes suggestions for improvement and modernization to the sometimes-reluctant (read curmudgeonly) Arthur. 

Superior Donuts' regulars include loyal patron Randy (Katey Sagal -- famous for Married with Children and Sons of Anarchy), a detective whose late father was Arthur's best friend; Tush (David Koechner -- famous for The Office), a colorful customer who uses the shop counter as a makeshift office where he keeps tabs on a variety of odd jobs via fax machine; Sweatpants (Rell Battle), Franco's roommate; aspiring real estate capitalist Fawz (Maz Jobrani); and Sofia (Dianne Guerrero -- famous for Orange is the New Black), a food truck owner with a crush on Franco. 

The taping we attended focused on Franco and his relationship with his girlfriend, Tavi, played by Shamikah Martinez.

Photo: Superior Donuts

As I said, I had never seen the show, but it was the kind of sitcom that doesn’t require much viewing to get up to speed.

We had to arrive by 3:00 p.m., where we went through security. No cell phones are allowed, so you really do disconnect from the world; no cameras are allowed either. We were taken to the stadium-like seats above the sound stage, which had two permanent sets – the donut shop and the kitchen. 

Other scenes were shot over to the side and we had to watch on the television screens. In addition, a few scenes had been shot in advance. We saw those on the screens in the correct chronological order.

Our job – what we have to do in exchange for a free show – was to laugh robustly. We were recorded so they could use our laughter  on the show. Does that make us TV stars?

Photo: Superior Donuts

Caty, Becca and I had gone to a taping of King of Queens way back in 2004, so we had a relatively good idea of what to expect. However, we were a bit surprised when they asked us if we could stay until 9:00 p.m. (King of Queens didn't take that long). And, we were even more surprised that we didn’t get out until 11:00 p.m.

Before surrendering our lives

It wasn’t that lots of things went wrong or that there were lots of costume or scene changes. They just moved fairly slowly.

During the down time, the crowd was entertained by and interacted with a comedian. So, he basically put on an eight-hour comedy show, filled with audience participation, juggling, balancing chairs and ladders on his chin and keeping us distracted. Now, that was the hardest working guy in TV. I wish I could find his name. I was very impressed.

The show was fun, but a long, long haul. They normally provide no refreshments, but took pity on us and passed out bottled water, half sandwiches and Rice Krispies treats.

I got the distinct impression that the length of this shoot surprised everyone.

After we got out, we were hungry, so we used GPS to route us to the “nearest” open restaurant – a Wendy’s. Little did we realize that the route was through Laurel Canyon on a narrow, dark, winding road in the rain. Not fun! But, we survived.

Oh, and we didn't make it to the Griffiths Observatory or the Hollywood sign.

Iconic sign

We headed home the next day, all on different flights. Becca had to leave early, so she took an Uber. Caty and I drove. My timing was perfect; poor Caty had to hang at the airport for hours.

It was fun spending time with the girls, but I think for entertainment, it makes more sense to just buy some tickets and watch a show – especially in a place where you don’t have to get on the 405! Like New York City! Of course, had we gone to NYC, we would have gotten caught in a blizzard.

And, that did not happen in Los Angeles.

The Pacific Ocean

Trip date: March 8-14, 2018