Behind The Curtain: The Nite Show At 200

It was another thrilling night at The Gracie Theatre, Modern Philosophers, as The Nite Show With Danny Cashman returned for a new season.

Maine’s favorite late night talk show also hit the 200 episode mark.  To commemorate this special milestone, I thought I’d pull back the curtain and give you a behind the scenes peek at the making of the show.

I took so many photos tonight, Modern Philosophers, that I’ll probably write several posts over the next couple of days to make use of them.

For now, though, let’s check out some of the things that the television audience usually never gets to see…

The Gracie Theatre is on the campus of Husson University in Bangor.  The Nite Show’s crew is made up of students from NESCOM, the New England School of Communications, which is on the Husson campus.

Let me say, once again, that the NESCOM students are incredible!

The plaque shown above greets all those who enter The Gracie on the way to a taping.

This is the board that hangs outside the dressing rooms to greet the guests.  This way, they know that they’ve shown up for the correct late night talk show.

Recognize any names on the list?  One of them is a member of Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Speaking of the dressing rooms, I found the guys from Mes Amis just hanging out and getting ready for their first ever appearance on The Nite Show.

Wells, the gentleman on the right, is the bass player and he informed me that he is also a professor at Husson.  Small world.

We chatted it up for a while, and they were a really nice group of guys.  They were the first ones I talked to tonight and the ones who closed tonight’s taping…

Here’s Mes Amis on stage.  They were awesome.  They had a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy type of vibe and made me think of Swingers, which is one of my all time favorite movies!

This is what the theater looks like when one of the writers walks out onto the stage during sound check and takes a photo.

That’s Joe Kennedy, Dan’s loyal sidekick and announcer, talking to the crew.

The Jump City Jazz Band warming up before the show.  They haven’t changed into their fancy show duds yet.

These guys are awesome, and I’d love to see them take on The Roots some day in a Battle of the Bands for the title of Best Band on Late Night TV!

Joe saw me taking his photo during a commercial break, and waved for the camera.  I told you he was awesome.

Did I mention he got married last weekend?  That might explain why he was in an even better mood than usual!

Someone bought us a cake!  Now it’s officially a party.  Who’s going to cut it because I want a piece.  Now!!!

Dave, my fellow blogger and Nite Show writer, published a book and gifted me with an autographed copy tonight.  I’m going to write more about this in a post tomorrow, but I wanted to congratulate Dave on completing his novel, and thank him for the gift.

Did you notice the Back to the Future reference?  His name is Brown, and I’m pretty sure that Doc is his Uncle.

One of the NESCOM crew members manning his camera over by where the band sets up shop for the show.

Several members of the NESCOM crew making final adjustments before the audience is allowed to enter the theater.

Joe doing sound check as I lurk in the shadows back where the musical guests would normally set up to perform.

This is the set during a commercial break.  I think the talent has disappeared to get a little touch up on their makeup.

I love this photo because it look like Danny is using The Force to raise the backdrop to reveal the musical guest.

Look who it is…Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary!

Danny asked me to write that I have no proof whatsoever that he did not use The Force to raise that backdrop.  Perhaps he is a Jedi after all, Modern Philosophers!

To celebrate the 200 episode milestone, Steve really dressed up fancy for tonight’s show.

Yes, this is a photo of Steve and not a photo of the very pretty NESCOM crew member who just so happens to be centered in the shot!

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour behind the curtain.  I’ll be back with more tomorrow, as I’ll have plenty of time to write during my Writer’s Day Holiday.

It was an awesome night, and I highly recommend that you attend a taping of The Nite Show as soon as possible!  Bangor has an International Airport, so you can fly in to catch the show…