To my first Drew Carey Show taping, I arrived about two hours early. I was very close to the front of the line. Before the taping, I met Michelle, as well as her friends Laura and Wendy. We went into the studio and got great seats. The stage was so big that no matter where you sat, there would be something you’d have to watch on the monitors (at least from what I could see. Someone correct me if there are completely unobstructed seats that I didn’t know about). Everything was covered with white screens before the taping started, and in the center there was a big white screen with a Drew Carey Show logo and caricature of Drew. Our seats were near the kitchen & living room area, which I knew from reading Michelle’s reports. Eventually, Drew came out from behind the center screen (without his glasses) and talked to the audience & took questions (“No health related ones please, I’m sick of those. I’m fine!”). He explained that we were watching the filming of the second part of a two part episode. He showed us clips from the first part on the monitors, which introduced Drew’s latest romantic interest, Nikki, as well as Lewis and Oswald’s housing difficulties. Drew had accidentally gotten married to both Nikki and Kate. As Drew introduced all of the cast members, they ran out from behind the big center screen, waved at the audience, and ran back behind the screen. Ryan looked lovely, of course, in a blue and green Hawaiian print shirt. The first scene took place in the living room. Drew came home to Nikki with daisies. Nikki said she was allergic to daisies but liked roses. Drew said, “Oh yeah, these must be for my other wife!” and tossed the flowers across the room. Then he talked to Kate (thinking Drew was in Toledo) on his cell phone after Nikki left the room. Kate asked him to bring her back a souvenir, to which Drew replied after a pause, “They don’t have souvenirs in Toledo! Whenever someone leaves, the want to forget it as quickly as possible!” They shot this scene three or four times, each time with some slight line or timing alterations. For the airing, they used the last take. Then they moved on to the “Little House Scene.” We were shown a clip on the monitors of Oswald and Lewis looking at a little house. It was interesting to see this, because they hadn’t completely finished editing the scene and the background was kind of fuzzy. The scene that they filmed took place inside of a 3 foot tall (or so) house. Unfortunately, I had to watch the whole scene on the monitors because I couldn’t see at all. The next few scenes didn’t involve Lewis or Oswald, and I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t see Ryan (my favourite!) at all. The scene after the “Little House Scene” was in the office, which I could see clearly. One of the highlights was Mimi’s “I’m so happy” dance on the chair, which they had to shoot a few times (“Well, I’ve heard of gorillas testing out luggage, but never office chairs!”) Another high point was Mr. Wick. Craig Ferguson is really funny off stage, as well as on. He was getting his costume fixed up at one point & his arm was in the air, so our “warm up guy,” Robert, made some joke about his armpit. Craig then pretended to be an armpit model for the audience. After he finished a scene with Drew & Mimi, he got off of the set and made a face like he just couldn’t stop laughing. He was upset because after he cut the wire to save Mimi (watch the episode, my fingers are too tired to explain), nothing happened, so he shouted out, “Well that’s a big bore!” Then he said indignantly something along the lines of, “I’m going to go into a chat room, find the meanest son of a bitch, and send him a frowny face!” When they shot it again, he said “bastard” instead of “son of a bitch.” The censor got upset with him and told him he couldn’t say “bastard. So Craig responded with, “What about mother f*cker? Can I say mother f*cker??” The next time they shot that line, he said something involving the word “leather.” I don’t remember what the actual line was. In the end, the line was cut from the airing anyway. Other cut lines from that scene:

• “You know, you really should stop waxing your mustache so you can twirl it”- Kate (to Mimi).
  
• “Don’t say that, I don’t like the way my bosom sounds coming out of your mouth”- Mimi (to Drew, after his line, “Could you please stop the gentle rise and fall of your bosom?” They had to shoot this line twice because Kathy started laughing)
  
• “Yeah, now what’s this about a kid stuck in an elevator?”- Mimi (into the phone. This was originally the last line of the scene.)