A quiet crowd set up Saturday in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear at a companion event--with Neon Tommy reporter Olga Khazan likening the experience to being in one big outdoor living room where everybody's watching television.

While the main event is being held in Washington, D.C., mini-rallies are being held across the country, including in Austin, New York and L.A. Stewart and Colbert took the stage in D.C. earlier Saturday, hoping the rally will reinvigorate young voters.

But in D.C. and in L.A., the events have attracted people of all ages.

About 100 people checked-in to the L.A. event on its Foursquare page, but the total attendance was closer to 1,000 people, mostly sitting in lawnchairs. Families have brought their kids and dogs for a relaxing day under partly cloud skies and mild temperatures. Folks on Twitter are also calling the event a relaxing affair.

People have made political signs reminiscent of headlines from faux-newspaper The Onion. However, excitement is minimal with people only chuckling from time to time.