Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/569837
dga quarterly 39 to go through it. "I'm always crossing my fingers that we get it before we have to block the music outside," she says. Wong started on Kimmel as a script supervisor before being bumped up. "As the tape AD, my job is to make sure everything gets taped and edited and goes to air," she says. "So basically I watch TV and count backward for a living. Thank god I know how to count from 10 to one." She also has the crucial ability to stay calm. Technology has made her job move even faster. "As soon as we tape an act, they can edit it right away, it ships back down to me, and I feed it." Wong has watched late night change in other ways over the past 13 years. "Now, social media is big. Everything is instant." Pretty much everything is instant on Kimmel. Fortine points out that, unlike other live shows, they have no prep time. "Usually on a normal show you'll have a script, you'll go over it, there'll be pre- marks." Not here. But that's all part of the fun. "You have to look at it, figure it out, and do it," Restrepo Considine says. "You can't get bogged down in the minutiae or you'll die. And you can't over- rehearse either, or you'll beat the comedy out of it." Restrepo Considine reviews the monologue to see if she can use any of the jokes as 'callbacks,' funny bumpers featuring that night's guests. If that's a go, Wader, who handles talent, will then pitch them the bit to be shot live. A recent bumper featured the stars of Black-ish doing a ribbon dance in their dressing room, a callback to Kimmel ribbon-dancing in an earlier field segment. "The best part is if I hear Jimmy laughing," says Wader. "That's the goal; making the guy laugh who makes us laugh every day." Restrepo Considine also uses the monologue to choreograph the cameras. "I have to figure out which ones have to go outside. If that happens too close to the top of the show, then I have to take them out of my opening, because there won't be enough time to get them outside. We've often started with a Steadicam shot and as soon as I cut off that shot, he's got to run out the lobby." Everyone's flying by the seat of their pants on a daily basis. "You never go into a show with the con- fidence of 'All right, I've got it un- der my belt,'" says Fortine. "We go in with, 'This is problematic, oh, god get us through that.' And somehow we always do." At 4:30, musical guest Zedd starts rehearsing outside. In the booth, Restrepo Considine's right hand waves in the air, as if conducting the shots while she calls them out. Her concert ex- perience, along with her ability to sight read, comes in handy. "I don't script any of the music, I just watch the cameras and try to feel it," she says. "Kathy is giving me a road map of where the solos are." A little after 5:00, they're ready to go. Potter brings Kimmel down to the stage and hands him off to Wader, who runs a four- point check with him: hair, mic placement, zipper, and shoelaces. During the break after the monologue, Wader supervises the crew setting up the stage desk and chairs while Kimmel chats with audi- ence members. Potter and Wader always know where the other one is. "We work so closely together, it's like having a brand-new brother or sis- ter," says Potter. "We're in the deep end, all of us, in diverse ways. We've got to be very close and trust each other." Fortine, who's worked with 17 directors in her 13 years on the show, agrees. "I understand Sandy. I understand what she's going for. We have a trust relationship, which is a must. If you don't have that, it's hard to do a show like this." For her part, after all her years on the road, Restrepo Considine enjoys the pace, and place, of the nightly show—not to mention weekends off. "And I really like being around the same people. It's like a family here," she says. A funny one. ® FUNNY PEOPLE: (left to right) Stage manager Josh Wader; AD Jeri-Ann Wong; the team; and stage manager Alec Potter. "It's like a family here," says Restrepo Considine. the minutiae. And you can't over-rehearse, or you'll beat the comedy out of it."