LA Activities for Houseguests

In other parts of the country, "summer" translates into "Let's visit my friend/relative/person-I-kind-of-used-to-know in LA." So cousin Joe and his girlfriend from Pennsylvania end up couch surfing at your place -- for a two-week vacation.

After doing the requisite trips to Disneyland, Universal, the Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood and the beaches in Malibu, getting out of work again is out of the question. Cousin Joe and said girlfriend are also a little frustrated at the lack of seeing any [recognizable] actors in LA. They must return to the East to regale others with star-spotting tales.

LAist would like to remind activity-challenged hosts that there's a surefire way to get your houseguests out of your hair for a little while: free TV show tapings.

Two of the more popular distributors of free tickets are Audiences Unlimited and On Camera Audiences. The former currently offers tickets for shows like "The King of Queens," "Two and a Half Men" and "According to Jim," while the latter has passes available for a lot of talk shows like "The Late Late Show with Colin Ferguson", "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" and reality shows like "Rock Star: INXS".

These tapings also ensure your guests fill their celeb quota. Until next summer.