Jon Stewart Rally

Welcome to POLITICO CLICK's live blog from the scene of Stewart and Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” We'll be on the Mall delivering you the latest sightings and scoops throughout the day. To watch a livestream of the event, click here. For more up to the minute coverage, check out our Twitter feed.

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Comedy meets a sporting event: A couple of guys from "Mythbusters" have taken the stage. And they're asking the crowd to start doing the wave. (12:42)

It appears to be working.

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Daily Show writer Tim Carvell tweets: "I'm told we're now at 150K attendees, and they've closed 7th St. Our apologies to 7th St.—we know it had a busy day planned." #rally4sanity

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A critical observation from the Mall: Singing a song by Bill Withers about the Vietnam War, John Legend tactfully evokes the sentiment of a political rally without getting political.

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Check out Patrick Gavin's Twitter feed for lots of rally pics.

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Surprise, surprise: Singer John Legend is at the rally and on stage (12:20 p.m.).

Legend has basically been living in D.C. lately. He's been inside the Beltway recently for the "Waiting for Superman" screening and at a Capitol File party celebrating his appearance on the cover. And, earlier this year, he was in town to meet with administration officials.

And he's coming back for a Gucci event at Tyson's in a couple of weeks..

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Whatever this event might be, music festival it is not. The Roots are blasting bass heavy tunes, but the crowd is barely moving!

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The Rally, by the numbers:

The Huffington Post Twitter feed reports that more than 10,000 people piled on to more than 200 buses from New York to attend the rally.


Oprah Winfrey also said she would be sending approximately 200 members of her studio audience to attend the rally.

And on Facebook, more than 226,000 people said they would attend on a page for the rally.

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A roundup of rally sign slogans:

"I obviously don't work for NPR."

"I like my tea with sugar not hate."

"In Satire We Trust"

"Real tea parties involve scones"

"I hate crowds"

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12:02 p.m.: The Roots just started performing.

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"If only people would put their damn signs down," someone says, struggling to see over the crowd. Nearby, a person holds a sign reading "The person behind me can't see!"

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Spotted: A group of rally goers, dressed as clowns, holding a sign which reads "Sane Clown Posse."

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11:41 a.m.: To entertain the crowds, huge screens are playing musical performances from previous "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" shows.

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A group of Rutgers students who came down from Jersey last night told POLITICO they had thought more people would be in Halloween costumes.

Standing next to his friend in a skimpy "Ghostbusters" get up, one student dressed as Slash from Guns N' Roses said, "We thought everyone would dress up. Oh well".

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A girl is limping onto the Mall with a leg cast... Showing some commitment!

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Some on the rally front-line told POLITICO they had arrived in the dawn hours to get their front row spots.

"I don't even know how long we've been here, but we got to DC at 4 am," said Kati Sorenson from Massachusetts, whose beaming smile belied her sleep deprivation.

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Daily Show writer Tim Carvell is obviously done with the writing portion of today's rally. And now he's taking pics backstage—and tweeting, of course.

Through the morning, Carvell has been playing the roll of spoiler, taking snaps of the podium Jon Stewart will use for the rally, showing Tweeps the view from the stage and a familiar face or two. (Ahem, Aasif Mandvi.)

On Friday night, Carvell tweeted: "Being in Washington makes me really wish I collected small statues of eagles holding flags, because I could get a lot of shopping done here."

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The New York Times' Brian Stelter tweeted a good take on how packed the Mall started to become early Saturday. "Mark Endsley, 42, from Raleigh, says he arrived on the mall w/ 14-year-old son at 5am. There were already '400-500 people' there, he says."

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Check out our video montage of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and others talking about the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Also, our Rally Rundown with POLITICO's Patrick Gavin and Natasha Lennard, and TBD.com's Ryan Kearney.

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A roundup of rally sign slogans:

"I spell check my political signs"

"Rally to ignore Hannity"

"Mama Grizzlies for Climate Change: Spill, baby, spill"

"Fox News: fair and balanced my ass!"

"My taxes aren't as high as I am"

"Don't make me pull this country over"

"Stephen - I wanna hold you until the fear inside me subsides"

"Somewhat irritated about extreme outrage"

"This sign is heavy"

"I tolerate tolerance"

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Not from the Mall: Porta-potty concerns were justified. Queues already outside grey cabins neatly lining Madison Place.

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A report from the Metro: "Every platform on the Green Line, from Columbia Heights down, is lined with rally goers. There are lines to even reach the platforms. Every third person has a rally sign."

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Today's schedule, from Playbook:

"10:00 a.m.: The pre-pre-show begins with videos and music on the jumbotron ... Noon: The pre-show starts with a performance from The Roots. ... 12:40: A comedian ... warms up the audience. ... 12:57: A video countdown with a show introduction. ... 1:00: The show kicks off with the national anthem ... 1:20: Mr. Colbert enters, and two actors ... Don Novello and Sam Waterston ... perform readings. ... 1:40: Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staple perform for 10 minutes, followed by Stewart and Colbert until 2 p.m. ... 2:15: Sheryl Crow performs for five minutes, followed by speakers and guests ... 2:30: Musical guests ... come on. ... 2:40: The show turns to a pre-taped sequence ... The Sanity and Fear Awards ... Stewart and Colbert ... final statements."

Stewart is anticipated onstage at 1:05 p.m., and Colbert will join shortly thereafter. The two, who are expected to have roughly equal time during the show, will meet with select reporters at 4 p.m. Today's rally has the same physical footprint as April's 40th Earth Day concert, which drew an estimated 200,000.

— A Comedy Central source tells Playbook: "In terms of crowd estimate, the official estimate of the show is 400 million people. and in terms of talent, you can also say, 'Hendrix, Presley and Morrison will not be performing — together.' "