My partner and I unsuccessfully attended the Live Show Standby queue this past weekend for the Danny Dyer show, and I thought it’d be useful to discuss some aspects I saw missing from other reports. I’ve included some things I wish I’d known beforehand.

 
We arrived to around 16:30 as the dress rehearsal queue was underway. The staff told us we were way too early and recommended coming back no earlier than 19:00. Understandably they wouldn’t commit to a good time to arrive as they didn’t want to be blamed if we didn’t get in.

 
I’d read a few threads about standby queues on here and knew 19:00 would be far too late to have any chance to get in, so we wandered around for just over an hour and got back just before 18:00. At this point there were 4 people already queuing. The 2 people at the front had been unsuccessful at the dress rehearsal standby but told they were welcome to come back later. They’d just stayed and immediately started queuing.

 
Initially the wait wasn’t too bad, we were pretty happy to find ourselves in 5th and 6th place and were quite confident we’d make it inside. People arrived slowly over the next hour. There’s no staff outside as the dress rehearsal is taking place, so the queue is very ad hoc at first. People just leant against a nearby wall/bench area opposite the official queue barriers.

 
Around 19:00 a staff member came and asked us to separate into 2 separate queues of standby ticket holders and real ticket holder and let us standby people into the official barrier area. There was some confusion initially when they checked the tickets, as the people in first place were actually Dress Rehearsal standby ticket holders rather than live show standby ticket holders the staff member thought that our tickets were incorrect as the colour is different. They realized quickly but it did show how unfair this seems. This staff member had no awareness of whatever agreement was made earlier on with another staff member, he just had to take them at their word. Technically they didn’t have the right tickets, so shouldn’t really have been allowed. They took the 2 best spots away from everyone else with the correct tickets. To be fair to them, they did wait for the majority of the day for this chance, so they did earn it in that sense. But it really undermines the process. If dress rehearsal standby people essentially get 2 attempts in the same day to get in, then those are the much more desirable tickets. This was probably agreed as various staff members wanted to avoid the unpleasantness of having to disappoint people, but I’d say they should’ve been more hardline out of fairness.

 
Once in the official part of the queue, you have to wait as all the official ticket holders file past you and through security. We eventually learned that there’s 2 separate parts to this queue. Ballot ticket winners, and Production Guests. The guests still go through security but it’s a quicker process. To my eye there seemed to be a lot of guests this show but that could be normal for all I know.

 
It was a long wait as everyone went past and we had to wait quite a while past the point when the queue had cleared. This wasn’t a pleasant experience. It was clear that as standby guests you are literally the most insignificant people there. The staff seemed unsure on how to communicate with us. Again, I’d say they didn’t want to face the unpleasantness of delivering bad or potentially misleading news and dealt with this by just not saying much at all.

 
Around 20:50 they came out and took 20 of us through security and gave us wristbands. The rest of the standby queue were sent home. I’d say there was around 50 people total waiting. Someone from the show came out and hand numbered everyone’s wrist bands then took us inside briefly to use the toilets, saying it would be our last chance until the first ad break. All they said they were fighting to get us in and would call us by number when it was time to go in, that was the last update we had.

 
We were left outside waiting for another 50ish minutes. Given how close to the front we were I was still fairly confident we were making it in, but that eroded as the clock ticked on. When 21:30 arrived and we were still outside I knew things were looking grim. 21:40 arrived, grimmer still. We caught some quick glimpses of Al Nash and George Fouracres waiting to go onstage through the window as we waited. I also overheard a staff member say something like “we need to check if the seats at the back are working” at some point but I’m not sure if that had any bearing on how things played out.

 
Finally, at 21:45ish a security guard arrived and asked for 4 people, they left with these lucky 4 and said they’d be back soon. I knew while that was true it probably wouldn’t be with good news… A few more long minutes went by, and they came to say that they were at capacity. It was a genuinely apologetic but avoidant “sorry but thanks for coming”. You could tell they’d rather be doing anything else. Everyone just sadly filed out.

 
Obviously, it was heartbreaking to be so close. I’m usually very hesitant to spend a long-time queuing for something, but my partner and I have been such big fans of the original SNL for so long that we decided to roll the dice. We thought it’d be easy to tell when we arrived if waiting it out would be worth it. We told ourselves that if weren’t in the top 20 when we arrived that we’d just immediately sack it off but honestly things looked great when we arrived.  I really don’t see how much more we could’ve done to increase our chances. Maybe we should’ve just stayed when we got turned away at 16:30 but even then, we would’ve been competing with Dress Rehearsal rejects and the unofficial nature of the early queue makes this a bit tricky.

 
To people thinking of trying for future live shows I’d probably say don’t bother. Your standby ticket couldn’t be less of a ticket. You’re in no way a guest and will be treated as such. You’re essentially there to be glorified prop or seat filler. Any last-minute additions to the guest list etc. will mean another standby person isn’t getting in. For this show 4 people got in, and 2 of those people didn’t even technically have the correct ticket. That’s really not great for a process that is asking a lot of people’s time and comfort. They’re really taking advantage of people’s love of the show whilst not really recognising it.

 
I’d say this should be managed by staff members who can comfortably be honest. A few more updates with realistic predictions really would’ve gone a long way. A simple “it’s looking very busy tonight” would’ve made a big difference in managing everyone’s expectations. I find it hard to believe they didn’t have at least a rough idea of how many seats were available long before we were told. Also, way too many Standby tickets have been sent out. Maybe we just got unlucky and Danny Dyer is a popular guy with a much longer guest list than most, but either way if the variance is 20 standby people get in one week, then 4 get in the next then it definitely isn’t worth the gamble.

 
We decided to try despite knowing it was risky as we thought at the least, we’d come away with an interesting memory. But overall, it was quite disheartening!

Danny larkin' about wif a few lads on 'is way in th' door? Proper cultural, that is*.

He's also clearly so tickled to be there that it's infectious.

*-I'm an American so I hope this makes sense

In past weeks, they've been putting the Cold Open online pretty much as soon as the show ends, but this week's is still not out as far as I can see...

The only explanation I can think of is that Larry stumbled quite badly on the final line, so maybe they're going to clean that up (maybe using the dress performance)?

The jokes were hitting in succession. The asides worked brilliantly and we had real drama. Oh, and Fouracres faked us all out with the most ridiculous wig. This bit was amazing.

I genuinely think he’d be great.

Celeste may be my favorite performer on both UK *and* US SNL right now. I'd noticed her utility strengths and talents already before this week. And then in the recent Danny Dyer episode she seemed to be everywhere - Russian accents, the social worker checking in on Oliver's gang, supervisor in the brilliant paint-naming sketch - before absolutely nailing it as a member of a reunited boy band with a colourful past.

Al Nash was pretty ubiquitous the previous week, too, but this isn't Celeste's first time in almost every sketch. And she does both straight person and bizarre comic character really well. It's an early call, but she may be the Dan Aykroyd / Phil Hartman / Will Ferrell of early SNL UK. (Or Kate McKinnon / Cecily Strong / Kristen Wiig in more recent times, I guess, but somehow even moreso.)

I'm looking forward to whatever she does next (week).

Hi all! I know these posts have circulated a lot but thought it was worth outlining my experience for others in future as I found it really helpful to read some of the other people's in preparation for going and being sure what to do/where to go/how it all works to get the best out of the day. Also just a fun exercise for me to try to remember everything! I haven't actually had chance to watch the live show back yet so some of my recollection of the show itself might not tally up with what eventually ended up being broadcast but hopefully still gives some insight.

Header image was taken from the seats in the green room. Phones were turned off and put in pouches before going into the main studio so no photos from there.

TL;DR it was amazing 10/10 would go again every week if I could.

Ticket

As expected, I received an email approximately 10 days before the show from a fairly dodgy looking email address that only included a JPG image stating I'd won tickets in the lottery for that show and to click the link to confirm my attendance, which I did straight away. A second email came about 3 days later which included the actual ticket and key info about arrival times etc. Worth noting that this was 7 days before the 10th of October show, so I'd expect tickets for future shows to probably come in around a similar time in advance probably.

Entry

The email stated to arrive at 4pm but we were there in the pub outside Television Centre waiting from around 3pm. There were a handful of people already waiting in a standby line when we first arrived but the line for reserved tickets was just being set up and coordinated. Ended up getting into the queue at 3:45. Ticket email and IDs got checked and we were given red and white wristbands before entering the queue. The wristbands and tickets were then checked again just before going through the security scanners. This was all still outside of Television Centre itself. One thing I noticed was that all the staff (security/ticket checkers/PAs etc) were all seemingly in a really good mood and excited, as were the people queuing up to get in.

After passing through the security checkpoint we were in a line waiting to be allowed into the green room studio. I'd read on another post about the black wristbands being handed out to people to allocate floor seats so was cautiously optimistic but still didn't understand how that actually worked. Very luckily for us, while we were standing in this queue one of the PAs came down and said they needed 4 people for floor seats so checked with me and my plus one, along with 2 others behind us, which we were all very excited about. The red and white bands got removed and taken away, then replaced by the black ones. It does seem as though the people picked for floor seats were generally shorter than average, so maybe that plays a part in it but I couldn't say for certain.

Green room

After that we get allowed into the green room which was pretty cool. Free drink option as soon as you enter then black wristband people were asked to put coats in the cloakroom. From there we got pictures in a photo booth, got to peruse some cool SNL memorabilia that was dotted around (cue cards, board set up for how they plan the week etc) and a stall for some free popcorn. Ended up sat in there for about 45 minutes while a DJ was playing and periodically they would announce that everyone should use the bathroom and get prepared to enter the main studio.

Studio entry

All black wristbands were taken into the main studio first, back through the door we entered from and outside, then into TC1 the main studio. It was pretty overwhelming being walked through the rafters, seeing the cue card department and other little nooks and crannies full of people running around getting everything ready. It felt very chaotic but not stressful, all the people involved were happy, smiling and very accommodating of the audience as we were taken to our seats. The floor seats in front of the stage had all been occupied as we were at the back of the queue going in, but this meant we were then placed in the row of seats directly to the left of the main stage. As we were seated we were told that we would be moved around during the show, specifically after the monologue. The floor manager came over and explained that once the monologue was over we'd all have to stand up, the seats would be taken away and replaced, then we'd be led to those seats after.

Intro

We sat in the seats waiting for about 10-15 minutes while the other audience members were brought in. During this the band were playing songs, the vibes in the room were great. Then Paddy and Ania came out to do a little intro thanking everyone for coming and to get people a bit excited, followed by Annabel coming out and singing a cover of Crazy with the full band before everything really kicked into gear. The floor manager was announcing over the mic how much time was remaining, counting down by the minute. While all this was happening the cold open set was built in about 30 seconds directly behind us (right in front of the musical guest stage).

Show

The countdowns continued, people were constantly moving around with cameras, lights, pieces of sets and then all of a sudden the cold open was happening! This was bang on 6pm for dress rehearsal. We couldn't see anything of the cold open from where we were sat but there are TV screens put up everywhere that give you the 'TV view' as it is happening so you don't directly miss anything.

Then straight into the title sequence and monologue. Being directly next to the stage during that was genuinely mad, felt like an out of body experience for someone that's been a fan of SNL in general for 15 years. As soon as the monologue ended, us on the sides of the stage all stood up and the chairs got whisked away. There was a camera nestled in the centre of the floor seats to film the monologue which got taken out, the chairs got put there and we got sat back down - front row dead centre. I could barely contain my excitement to be honest.

From there the show itself kind of ran how you'd expect, some sets were built already in different areas of the studio (one to the right of the main stage, one way over to the left, one almost behind us to the left and a mini green screen set behind to the right which was used by Al Nash during WU).

I was trying to take everything in and really just enjoy the moment but it's pretty overwhelming just how fast paced and coordinated everything is during the show. Following the monologue was a pre-tape about a tube driver but I could barely focus on that as huge pieces of sets were moved around and changed. Super impressive to see it all working from so up close.

Being on the very front row we did get told a few times by PA's and floor staff to be careful of things being moved around and people walking in front of us with equipment.

Boy band sketch

During the next ad break was another mental turn of events. The camera used to film the monologue was brought back and placed in the centre of the floor seating, meaning myself and about 9 or 10 other people had their chairs taken away but we got told to just stand as close to the stage as possible and stay out of the way while it was all set up. We didn't really know in the moment where we'd end up being moved to but it turned out... nowhere. The floor manager came back over and said to those of us standing up by the stage "This is a boy band sketch, mid 2000s singing a ballad. After the ad break ends and the sketch begins, you guys need to go absolutely mental waving around and screaming as though you've waited your entire life to see this band".

At this point I won't lie I was internally screaming at being very very tangentially involved in an actual sketch. The ad break got counted down again and with about 10 seconds to go the cast and Dyer were brought on stage and sat in the seats. We all went crazy and then it started. That was all a bit of a blur so I'm excited to watch it back.

Weekend Update

After the boy band sketch during the next changeover we got our front row seats back and everything continued. Few more sketches (Dyer in hospital as they try to translate multiple layers of cockney rhyming slang which was great then a pre-tape with Jack Shep as the gay guy in his 20's that has control of any girl on a night out which I think had a heist premise but I was very distracted by what was going on around) and before we knew it the Weekend Update set was put up right in front of us.

WU was great and is usually my favourite part of the show but I found it really interesting watching the other person while one of them was talking to camera. More often than not they were smirking/chuckling at the jokes or making notes/crossing things out before the camera cut back to them and they carried on with their next lines. We did also get a Scrimpch appearance which was awesome, along with Emma Sidi as the Evri delivery robot and Fouracres turning up as a crazy cartographer before revealing that he was actually just Fouracres and he wanted to have a go at Paddy for the Isle of Man not being included in the map at the back of the set. That part had everyone in stitches especially. There was also a very brief cutaway to Al Nash on the green screen but I cannot for the life of me remember what that was actually for.

In dress I was genuinely surprised by how long Weekend Update went on for, easily half an hour with the 3 guest appearances but I'm guessing that gets cut down pretty significantly for the live show.

Last sketches

After WU there were 4 (I think!) sketches and the second musical guest song. Worth mentioning that the audio mix for TV often gets slated for the musical guest but in the room it sounded fantastic. We saw a Dulux paint sketch where Danny Dyer was the man responsible for giving all the paints a stupid name, very funny and he really committed to getting absolutely covered in gunge/paint. It was also really funny that he had to introduce the second song straight after that sketch and walked right past us all in the front row to get to the music stage. As he was walking past we were all just laughing at how mental he looked covered in paint and he turned to us and was like "This is mad innit" which got a good laugh.

That was followed by the Fagan/Oliver Twist sketch where he's being inspected by child protective services, again that seemed amazing from where I was but can't wait to watch it back. Then a sketch about a guy asking for his girlfriend's father's approval to propose, which just devolved into an elaborate family scheme to steal diamonds from people and finally a NASA sketch where the best astronauts were tasked with diverting a meteor away from earth but one of them (Dyer) was just obsessed with being able to eat tortillas in space. The only other thing I'd (possibly stupidly) never realised was that the 5 second ad break interstitial that just has the logo and background music was actually played by the band, I sort of assumed it was just part of the broadcast but apparently not!

Then everybody came back to the main stage for the goodnights as the band played them off and that was basically that! Floor seats were escorted out first and within 30 seconds we were just on the pavement outside still very overwhelmed by the experience as all the people with live show tickets were starting to queue up. By the time we got out it was 7:45.

Overall

Genuinely seeing how the whole show comes together was unbelievable. I was very lucky to win the ticket lottery and would've been overjoyed just to be in the crowd but then to end up on the floor and front row was amazing. If you ever get the chance to be there in person I cannot recommend it highly enough as an experience. Now I just can't wait to watch the live show!

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them.