I’ve dealt with sound engineering for 30 years, as a film maker, interviewer, musician, working with master reel to reel tapes/decks at EMS Music in Seattle in the 80’s as a sound duplication engineer, or setting sound levels for my and other bands in live situations at shows. I won a Hollywood award for animation in 2000. I know sound. And it’s my opinion that audio portions of Sarah Palin’s March 2nd appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight show were added or amplified, edited before broadcast to make it appear that Sarah Palin was more welcome than she was. I know. I was there. They added laughter where there was none during uncomfortable portions. Well, there was some laughter. Mine, of derision. During those pregnant pauses in her performance I was laughing long and loud, couldn’t help myself as much of what she was saying was utterly surreal, ridiculous, hypocritical – nonsense, spewed platitudes, pushed buttons. I was seriously thinking of leaving as it was getting hysterically unfunny. After sitting through the taping of the show in the studio I can recount many portions where there was little or no laughter or response, but at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that WERE NOT THERE at the taping. Groans, hoots, grumbling, or just dead silence – all missing. Well now isn’t THAT interesting? You know I wondered how Palin was able to elicit such big laughs from an audience that I assumed was probably made up of mostly progressives. This fellow’s explanation certainly makes sense. From my seat to the right of the stage, by the band, I could tell that an average of 70% of the audience did not like Sarah Palin. Many literally sat on their hands. This is LA and I wondered when we went in, just how many people would be into Palin here. C’mon, this is LA, man! Make no mistake, the national figure for nutjobs were represented, the same insane 30% of the country that always believe in racism, GWBush, War, Torture, the Libertarians, Teabaggers were there too, and quite vocal. Throw in a shotgun microphone and you’ve got yourself a laugh riot with these guys. Now in the interest of full disclosure it should probably be noted that this guy is NOT a Palin fan, and in fact he and his wife created the “ Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book ”. However that alone does not insinuate that he is a liar. In fact, using my own personal measuring tool for determining if a person is lying, the very fact that he reports the opposite of what Sarah Palin wants us to believe virtually assures that he is being honest. Check out this guy’s description of what Sarah’s stage presence looked like from the audience and decide for yourself if it does not jive with other times you have seen Palin in front of a live audience. Jay came out to raucous applause, hell, we clapped too, I like the guy, not as much as Letterman or Connan but I’m a comedy fan, and some of the show as funny. Shaun White was way cool, funny, authentic, there multiple ovations, and Adam Lambert ROCKED the house, as the latest and future incarnation of David Bowie. Lots of fun. But when Jay brought out Sarah Palin, she was completely nerved. Watch the video, check out her breathing, she’s Freaked and talks a mile a minute. Both my wife and I agreed – when you actually get close enough, she’s just plain Creepy, and those yech vibes filled the room. Nevermind the applause sign – something that’s a staple of late night shows. Now as somebody who has witnessed a number of Sarah Palin speeches first hand, this rings very true. Even while giving her speech in front of her hometown crowd she was often frantic, with her voice changing pitch in the oddest places throughout her speech. Now what I am REALLY interested in is whether having the Tonight Show technicians put a positive spin on the audience reaction was part of her deal for showing up. And whether that is also the case when she appears on other programs. If true it absolutely guarantees she will never do a David Letterman show, or sit with John Stewart, or even Stephen Colbert. THEY would never provide cover for her on their shows. And I have NO doubt that Palin would never expose herself to their hostile audiences without some protection. And speaking of protection check out what our friend says about Palin’s security. The basic rules for the studio audience were simple: NO Eating, NO drinking and NO shouting anything out. Other than that, knock yourselves out, have a good time. Yet, judging by the Security surrounding the stage where Palin brought the Silly, shouting out, “Hey Sarah, How many wolf puppies have you gassed?!” would have been suicidal. What the hell is she so frightened about? “Hey Sarah! Liberals don’t use violence! You don’t have to fear us. The only thing we would assault you with is the tru……oh….now I get it! I guess in Sarah’s world truth is the scariest weapon of all.” (Just click the title to read the rest of Michael Stinson’s very interesting post.)
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Sarah Palin may not have done as well on the Tonight Show as we were led to believe.
