Every Sunday night at 11pm, I get sad that I don’t have HBO. Every Monday morning I wake up, go on Youtube, and feel better. Last Week Tonight, the only weekly TV show I give a hoot about, shares the lead story of each episode on Youtube – to the joy of all of us too cheap to spring for premium cable. Last week on Sunday night, I got an experience even better than an HBO subscription – I was in the live studio audience of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver!

I saw the March 1st taping that was all about Coronavirus. I only got tickets to the show because fear of Coronavirus made other people cancel.

How I Scored Last Week Tonight Tickets (They’re FREE!)

All tickets for tapings of Last Week Tonight are free! Thanks to the show’s popularity and numerous awards, these free tix are in high-demand and hard to get. Free tickets are available for the show only on Tuesdays at exactly 2pm through https://www.lastweektickets.com/. If you load that page at 2:01pm, you’ll be greeted by a discouraging message that the upcoming show is FULL and you’re out of luck. 2PM on the dot! The available tickets will be for a show that’s a month away, so you have plenty of time to plan.

Now, even if you manage to make it into the tiny one minute window for entry, you’ve only made it into the first round. You still have to cross your fingers and hope your name gets picked to get actual tickets. They’ll tell you if you don’t get an email from the Last Week Team by a certain date, you should accept that you were not chosen and will have to set your alarm to enter at exactly 2pm for the next show for another try.

I tried about 6 times to get tickets, between this season and last season. My name was never chosen. Once you get the hang of the EXACTLY 2PM Rule, it’s easy to enter.

So I kept trying to get tickets. For 3 reasons:

1. I really love free things. Did I mention tickets are FREE?
2. Last Week Tonight is really the only show my boyfriend and I claim as “our show”.
3. I totally have a crush on John Oliver and a separate crush on each of his dimples. That’s a total of 3 crushes involved here.

The date I was supposed to be notified about tickets came and went. I sighed and set the alarm on my phone to go off on Tuesday. Then, on the morning of the show, I receive an email telling me tickets had opened up and they were mine if I could make it that night.

It was awesome to get tickets! But I’m pretty positive I only got them because some people were scared to come into the city. This was on March 1st, which seems so long ago. So much about Corona Virus has changed since then.

Today it was announced that late night shows are canceling their audiences due to Corona Virus concerns. So it’s sadly not an option to see John Oliver live in the immediate future. How bonkers is that? That said, he will have audiences again! This pandemic can’t last forever! And when he does-

What to Expect When You’re in the Live Studio Audience for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

1. Arrive early, get better seats

The Last Week Tonight team told us to arrive by 5:30pm, that if we were late the doors would be shut. (Yes, the show tapes the same day it is broadcast, but significantly earlier than the 11pm broadcast.) What they didn’t tell us is that the earlier you arrive, the better seats you get. With my tenancy towards chronic lateness…we arrived early for me, but not early. Our seats were still pretty decent!

2. Expect to wait over an hour before you even get in the studio

We were ushered through a security metal detector, then through different hallways of the building, and finally to a windowless room where we all sat in the precise order in which we had arrived, marked by pink index cards. It made waiting for the show felt like being at jury duty – but with an infinitely better pay off! The taping started around 7pm – we were told it was delayed more than usual due to last minute edits and lawyer sign-offs.

3. Do not try to take any pictures while John Oliver is anywhere near the studio

We were yelled at over and over again to put our phones away once we were seated in the studio for the taping. The staff takes this very seriously and you have to respect it! Don’t try to sneak a picture!

4. You can take pictures in the studio after the taping!

I was relieved that when the cameras stopped rolling and John Oliver left the stage, no one cared what you did with your phone any more. I was still tentative to take photos though, as you can see!

5. Come with a question to ask the host during a pre-taping Q & A

John Oliver does a Q & A with the audience as a warm up for the taping! I was not expecting this, I did not have a question prepared. He was maybe even more delightful AND dorky in person answering these questions. The best one was (paraphrasing) “Did you ever feel pressure to add nudity to the show to keep up with HBO’s reputation?” We got a hilarious story about John casting an elderly penis for a clip in an early episode. Then, after that experience, deciding nope, no nudity going forward.

It’s quite remarkable to see John Oliver perform the show – he is flawless, just like you see on screen. The show might as well be taped live, he didn’t make a single slip up, didn’t even stop for a water break. My crush only grew, but alas, I was seated too far in the back – I could barely see the dimples!

If you haven’t seen the episode on Corona Virus yet, you can watch it here. Maybe you’ll even be able to pick out my laugh among all the others (hahaha)!

Have you been in the studio audience of a show before? Do you watch Last Week Tonight? Do you understand my choice of celebrity crush, or think I’m completely batty? Oh, and please stay safe out there and wash your hands!!