As with any appearance by a high-ranking politician on a late-night talk show, Vice President Joe Biden‘s interview Thursday night on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert is plastering the internet today. But the content of Biden’s appearance—a raw, deeply emotional interview focusing on he’s coped with the death of his son, Beau—leaked more than four hours before the Late Show aired.
Biden’s and Stephen Colbert‘s conversation was supposed to be under wraps until 11:35 PM, when the show airs, in accordance with embargoes issued by CBS and the White House. New York Times reporter Michael D. Shear, who’s been doing pool coverage of Biden’s trip this week to New York, had a seat in the Ed Sullivan Theater and prepared a dispatch to send to the rest of the White House press corps at 11:35.
But Politico was up with a summary of Biden’s interview at 7:10 PM, featuring some newsy quotes from the vice president about his trepidation toward running for president one more time. A few minutes later, the White House lifted its embargo, forcing Shear to pound out his report to enable a raft of premature Late Show recaps.
If Shear was the pool reporter, though, how did Politico’s Edward-Isaac Dovere get the jump on Biden and Colbert? Shear filled in the White House press list Friday afternoon. Politico, it turns out, did an end run by sticking Dovere in the one part of the Ed Sullivan Theater not subject to news embargoes: the audience.
Dovere lined up on Broadway with the masses on Thursday afternoon and waited several hours to get into the theater, he tells Washingtonian in an email.
“I didn’t travel with the vice president and wasn’t in the vice president’s pool, so wasn’t bound by any embargo that applied to the pool,” he writes. “The screening is open to members of the public, who are free to discuss the taping after they leave. I waited in line with other audience members Thursday afternoon and was admitted on a stand-by ticket.”
Tickets to late-night talk shows are typically free, but they’re tough to come by, especially during a new host’s first week. The Late Show‘s website reads that Colbert is sold out through October, but there are always a few spares in case people who have made reservations don’t show. People who want to attend the Late Show are told to line up outside the 400-seat Ed Sullivan Theater by 3:15 PM.
That Dovere had a stand-by ticket suggests that it was more of a whim of an assignment than a drawn-out gambit developed when the first batch of Late Show tickets became available. Still, the ploy succeeded on several levels. Politico got a head start on the kind of television-clip driven story every political- and entertainment-news website covers, and proved that most embargoes are pointless.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Politico Reporter Avoided Embargoes on Joe Biden’s Late Show Appearance by Sitting in the Audience
As with any appearance by a high-ranking politician on a late-night talk show, Vice President Joe Biden‘s interview Thursday night on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert is plastering the internet today. But the content of Biden’s appearance—a raw, deeply emotional interview focusing on he’s coped with the death of his son, Beau—leaked more than four hours before the Late Show aired.
Biden’s and Stephen Colbert‘s conversation was supposed to be under wraps until 11:35 PM, when the show airs, in accordance with embargoes issued by CBS and the White House. New York Times reporter Michael D. Shear, who’s been doing pool coverage of Biden’s trip this week to New York, had a seat in the Ed Sullivan Theater and prepared a dispatch to send to the rest of the White House press corps at 11:35.
But Politico was up with a summary of Biden’s interview at 7:10 PM, featuring some newsy quotes from the vice president about his trepidation toward running for president one more time. A few minutes later, the White House lifted its embargo, forcing Shear to pound out his report to enable a raft of premature Late Show recaps.
If Shear was the pool reporter, though, how did Politico’s Edward-Isaac Dovere get the jump on Biden and Colbert? Shear filled in the White House press list Friday afternoon. Politico, it turns out, did an end run by sticking Dovere in the one part of the Ed Sullivan Theater not subject to news embargoes: the audience.
Dovere lined up on Broadway with the masses on Thursday afternoon and waited several hours to get into the theater, he tells Washingtonian in an email.
“I didn’t travel with the vice president and wasn’t in the vice president’s pool, so wasn’t bound by any embargo that applied to the pool,” he writes. “The screening is open to members of the public, who are free to discuss the taping after they leave. I waited in line with other audience members Thursday afternoon and was admitted on a stand-by ticket.”
Tickets to late-night talk shows are typically free, but they’re tough to come by, especially during a new host’s first week. The Late Show‘s website reads that Colbert is sold out through October, but there are always a few spares in case people who have made reservations don’t show. People who want to attend the Late Show are told to line up outside the 400-seat Ed Sullivan Theater by 3:15 PM.
That Dovere had a stand-by ticket suggests that it was more of a whim of an assignment than a drawn-out gambit developed when the first batch of Late Show tickets became available. Still, the ploy succeeded on several levels. Politico got a head start on the kind of television-clip driven story every political- and entertainment-news website covers, and proved that most embargoes are pointless.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
Are Friends More Important Than Romantic Partners?
The Local Girls Who Inspired the Hollywood Classic “Mean Girls”
These Volunteers Wake Up at Dawn to Collect DC’s Dead—and Injured—Birds
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This May
Democrats and Republicans Pass Balls, Not Bills, at Congressional Soccer Game
3 New Memoirs by Prominent Women
Everything You Wanted to Know About Urban Bear Sightings but Were Afraid to Ask, Because Who Wants to Get That Close to a Bear?
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist