On June 14, CBS announced that Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk programme will resume filming in front of a studio audience. Approximately 400 people will be admitted into the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in Manhattan if they can produce proof of coronavirus vaccination, such as a New York State Excelsior Pass or an original physical vaccination card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There will be no limits on the number of people that can attend, and masks will be optional.
Staff and crew members will be tested for the virus before starting work and will be evaluated for symptoms on a regular basis by a Covid-19 compliance officer, according to CBS. According to the network, the plan complies with New York State regulations.
The alterations to the show will take place just a few months before Broadway plays resume, and roughly a month after baseball stadiums in New York began designating distinct seating sections for individuals who have been vaccinated and those who have not.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo eased the state’s capacity regulations last week, allowing businesses to serve as many customers as they want as long as there’s enough room for people to socially remove themselves. He also repealed the requirement that vaccinated persons wear masks both indoors and outside, however particular firms may adopt tougher mask requirements. Many late-night talk shows were halted for a while in mid-March 2020, when the epidemic forced tight social distance and quarantine measures in New York and Los Angeles, where many of them are produced.
Since then, the shows have had to become inventive, interviewing guests via video conference and recording in empty studios or the hosts’ homes, with family members occasionally doubling as crew members. Mr. Colbert’s debut episode, when he started conducting his programme from home, included him delivering his monologue from his bathtub. Mr. Colbert and the network modified the show’s name from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to “A Late Show with Stephen Colbert” at the time to reflect the show’s precarious situation. When the audience returns, the name will revert to its previous state.
Mr. Colbert stated in a statement included in CBS’s announcement on Monday, “My staff and crew (and family!) have astounded me with their professionalism and ingenuity as we made episodes for an audience we couldn’t see or hear over the last 437 days.” “I am looking forward to performing for an audience that I can smell and touch once more.”
In August 2020, the show returned to the studio, using a modest set in the Ed Sullivan Theater, a far cry from Mr. Colbert’s usual location. So far, 16 of the 205 episodes shot without a live audience have been shown live, including an impromptu response to the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.
Mr. Colbert noted in a recent interview on “Fresh Air” that working without an audience presented issues that only a crowd could solve. Mr. Colbert stated, “Without an audience, I’m much more likely to mess up and have to retake something, lose the rhythm of a joke, or even just misread the prompter, because there’s some critical performance adrenaline spark that the crowd supplies that I’m lacking.” “As a result, my wife and kids have witnessed me repeatedly shank monologues. It’s also humbling for them to understand I’m not very good at this.”
