A bang of a night

Last night I went to my sixth taping of the sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’. My sixth in two years. For baseball fans, this is akin to attending six baseball games in two years, not so odd. And cheaper. And funnier. I’m just saying, there’s not much levity in baseball until the big-headed mascot comes out to lead a song or a spinning of the heads on bats. (Full self-disclosure, I’m not a huge baseball fan. If I do one game a year, I’m good. And there better be some fun baseball snacks or a shopping trip on the way there or something.)

But yesterday I took my parents to the Warner Brothers lot, we waited in line for three and a half hours, passed through several security checkpoints, left our cell phones at home, and then sat smooshed together in tiny seats for about four hours. All to see some actors put on a little “play” as it were. A little play that takes about 150 people weeks to craft and execute and will eventually be seen by tens of millions of people around the globe. It was rather exciting. For all of us.

It was a special night because it was the taping of the fourth season finale. The cast and crew all seemed to have a light-hearted energy. They laughed and danced and waved. They broke up during takes, they came out to talk to the audience members (which rarely happens in my experience). Everyone had fun. So much fun. At work. Doing what they love. (Well, I am just assuming the guy who holds the mike and the guy who puts paper towels over the prop food love their jobs.)

And as the curtain call commenced I watched the guys over on the left hand side of the stage: Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, the co-creators of the show. They stood there watching these actors bow and wave and be cheered on. They had pretty big smiles on their faces. And all I could think of was how much I want to be down there on that stage. Not in front with the cheering and the bowing but off to the side, standing with the other writers, watching what I’ve created happen. What I’ve created be applauded. What I’ve created make so many people happy. Amazing.

This is why I moved to Los Angeles. This is why I have spent the last three years worry over scene descriptions and one-liners. This is why I spend most of my waking moments thinking of the next script, or the current script, or the script that I wrote two years ago. I want nothing more to be down there, in the trenches.

It was an amazing night. It was awesome to see it through fresh eyes. To laugh, to be surprised, to smile at the little jokes, to watch all these people work. An amazing night. That’s what I want.