By Michael Schneider

General editor of the variety

CHICAGO — It was relatively quiet Tuesday morning at the Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago — probably no surprise, considering how late it had gotten the night before. “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” kicked off a series of four live shows at the venue — part of the campus of Roosevelt University — with one episode that didn’t air until just after 1 a.m. Central Time.

Which is perhaps why the Auditorium still seemed a little dead around lunchtime — except for one man sitting outside the theater, carrying two large backpacks. Either he was willing to wait days to get a ticket to the show, or he was a Roosevelt student who had chosen that particular spot to sit and scroll on his phone for hours.