re: Have any of you ever been in the audience of a late night talk show?

My wife and I saw Conan O'Brien on a trip to NYC back in 2005. The guests were Benicio Del Toro and Jordana Brewster. I can't remember who the musical guest was but if they were great I think I would have remembered them.

My experience was very similar to others here. The only coaching we were given was to cheer and clap like crazy when the "Applause" sign went off. They had a comedian come out to warm up the crowd before the show and he was hysterical. He interacted with the audience a bunch, asked where people were from, poked fun at them and just got us all in a good mood overall. Then Conan came out and he was even funnier somehow. He played off the audience a good bit too and just told us to have a good time, etc.

By the time the show started, we'd probably almost laugh at anything even mildly amusing. All the laughter was real. The only thing that was "fake" were the cheers when the "Applause" sign would go off which was only used to transition in and out of commercial breaks.