By Gillian Reagan

November 4, 2008 | 8:36 p.m

Before they started "loading people in" to Comedy Central's "Indecision 2008" special with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, 200 people were lined up outside. Network folks were passing out water and popcorn. The first in line, Siobhan McCarthy, 25, and Valerie Addonizio, 25, had set up shop at 2:45 in the afternoon. Ms. McCarthy and her sister, Fiona, 23, an investment banker, was there too, and they went to the same high school as Mr. Colbert's kids, at Montclair Kimberley Academy in New Jersey. Ms. Addonizio is also from the Garden State. Their friend Asher Kaboph, 24, is a grad student at MIT.

To occupy themselves, they'd brought knitting, books and a radio, which blared NPR. They were also jotting down results as they were called in an issue of The Economist.

Ms. McCarthy the elder and Ms. Adabbonizio wore silver New Years hats that Ms. McCarthy found in her basement, left over from New Year's Eve. They'd been waiting for this day for a long time-they'd ordered tickets back during the first primary. They were optimistic that the big surprise tonight would be some live animals (perhaps a donkey and an elephant?).

Another fan, Mira Weisenthal, 24, from Astoria, said she just got the ticket tonight through a friend. "I had no election party plans but then when I voted this morning there was real electricity in the air and I decided to do something social," she said. She came straight from a dentist appointment and joined her friends Mary Mayo, 20, of Enfield, Conn. and Allisa Boulette, 21, also of Enfield, Conn. in line. Staffers brought their friend Joanna Gilliland, 20, of Trenton, New Jersey, a chair because she had a broken leg from a previous accident.

Ms. Boulette said she has been watching The Colbert Report since its early days, and got the tickets to tonight's show in March.

"It's the greatest place to be on election night because Jon Stewart together with Stephen Colbert is something that you never see," she said. As she entered the studio, she checked her iPhone for results on mobile CNN and MSNBC.        

 

UPDATE: Susan Sarandon just walked in with her family!