The stuido, where photography is expressly forbidden(!)
In case you didn’t already know, like most British TV programmes, tickets to be in the audience are given away for free.
Get Ready!
Series of the show always run from April-June and October-December, which means tickets are usually released in March and September. They are ordered from the production company, Hat Trick Productions. Tickets go quickly (easily within a couple of hours of being released), so you should check their website regularly around these times to see what’s happening – they will usually state a release date and time a few weeks in advance.
The minute they are released, Hat Trick’s website usually slows down considerably, so you should probably register for a free account before this happens, to cut out some of the stages you’ll need to do as the website verges on crashing. You can request up to four tickets for one show per account, and you must know which show you want to see before you request them (it doesn’t mean very much as even they probably won’t be sure of the line-up at this stage, so it’s a bit of a gamble on your part). As the tickets are free, there’s nothing to stop you requesting more than you need or even not turning up at all – although as the show is always over-subscribed that’s seen as pretty impolite.
Once you’ve requested them, they are usually pretty slow at assuring you you’ve got them and then getting your e-ticket to you. There’s not a lot you can do about that!
The Studio
Episodes are almost all recorded at The London Studios on the South Bank, about five minutes from Waterloo Station (into the subway, follow signs for the National Theatre, turn right), but this is confirmed when you request your tickets.
The biggest problem is that due to the number of people who don’t bother turning up, they always issue more tickets than they can handle. They say that if they have to turn you away they will give you guaranteed entry for another episode, but that’s not a lot of comfort if you’ve had to travel a fair distance. I joined the queue at around 5:15 (with doors opening at 6:45), and there weren’t a lot of people in front of me, but by 5:45 the queue was considerably long.
When you’re queueing up, you can usually use the toilets in the ITV building, and there are a few cafes nearby, with a Tesco on the other side of Waterloo Bridge and all the usual snacks available back at Waterloo Station – most people usually leave one person holding their place whilst they go eating/sightseeing. The staff will check your e-ticket but not much else.
When the doors open, the queue files in with the central area filled in first. The front row(s) will almost certainly go to VIPs, but after that the side stands are filled up, which means you could be fairly far back in the queue and still get a fairly good seat. Just under half the seats will be briefly visible on camera – the front row of the side-stands are the best for this, while the back row of the main stand is the worst. It’s another gamble.
Oh and by the way, the staff are keen to stop people taking photos of the studio, but despite that everybody does.
The Show
The show always begins with an amateur warm-up comedian, who to be honest is usually a bit cringeworthy but worth sitting through. They will then introduce Paul Merton, Ian Hislop, the two guests and the host. Up until that very moment they wouldn’t have been confirmed, but the world has usually already spread through the internet and TV guides if you look in the right places.
Once they are on, they will test the microphones with a few jokes and then they record the whole episode with few interruptions. At the end, there may well be a few re-takes and extra footage to film, which Paul Merton will usually keep alive with his jokes and by deliberately ruining some of the recordings.
They say that the show will be finished by 9:30, but for us it ran on until 10:30, so bare that in mind if you’re planning to do anything afterwards.
All in all it’s a good, free night out, so long as you’re prepared for a bit of standing around. The seats get quite uncomfortable though! The best bits are the between-scenes bits you don’t see on TV – basically there is a tendency for the audience to get bored while the show isn’t happening, but with 20 years of experience the HIGNFY people have learnt to take advantage of this. Paul Merton, in particular, gets great joy out of irritating and embarrassing the production crew whilst waiting for them to prepare the show.
You may even find that, once you’ve seen what it’s like un-edited, you find it harder to watch the televised version!
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