The Daily Show

We had a glorious day yesterday taking advantage of Faina feeling generally decent in the second week of her chemo cycles. A former student put the "Audience Supervisor" at the Daily Show in touch with me and while trying to work out going to the show in a few weeks, I finally asked, "How about tomorrow?" Her answer was "Perfect" and we made quick plans for a day trip to Manhattan.

Jamie played hookey, Margo did her project work late into the night and took advantage of the WiFi on the Mega Bus, and Faina and I enjoyed the scenery from the upper deck, front row seats. At this point, we can't do much walking, so we took taxis everywhere, to Ben's for lunch, to the studio at 52nd Street and 11th Ave., to 5 Napkin Burger for supper and to 31st Street and 9th Avenue for the return trip.

Faina is a huge Jon Stewart fan and this family outing was a great treat. We were ushered into the Crew Lounge where we waited to be seated in the studio along with other "VVIPs" (Very Very Important People)as we were called by our handler. The "fluffer" (the warm-up comedian) got the crowd psyched and Mr. Stewart came out to take questions, at first saying that they had to do a lot of re-writes, were running late, only had 30 seconds, but took a lot of questions and was clever with his answers. Then the show started and WOW how fast the segments move along. It is taped around 6:00 pm for airing at 11:00 pm, but it moves as if it is live, the breaks between segments move in time as if there was a commercial breaks, there were no second takes, except at the end he re-read a few lines that would be "Seamlessly" edited in. He is every bit as charming, warmhearted, and self-deprecating live as he is on air. This whole day was a delightful Hanukka gift.

Tomorrow is our 24th wedding anniversary. Hanukka came late that year, so the two did not coincide, but we met at a Hanukka party, so this holiday has long been special for us.

Happy Hanukka and Shabbat Shalom