I Supported KATG on Kickstarter and All I Got Was This Awesome Podcast Episode

[Kultcher]

Hey guys, Mike here, my wife Jeannette supported the Marathon/Tour Kickstarter and got to be guests on episode #2181 "Make-A-Wish" with Myq Kaplan, Christian Finnegan and Mike Lawrence.

It was awesome, and I wanted to fanboy out a little bit and share some highlights with everyone. If you were thinking about supporting the next one at that level, I can't recommend it enough.

Here goes:

- Chemda and Keith are every bit as warm and welcoming as everyone says. This is no surprise, but it was great to experience it first hand. I'm a pretty shy/nervous guy meeting new people, but I immediately felt like I was among friends. Granted hearing their voices for the last 10 years was probably part of that, but still. Also generous hosts - they had my drink of choice (Kraken rum) and pizza for everyone.

- Was a fun "behind the scenes" moment seeing the pre- and post-show stuff. Lots of highlighted newspapers and printouts everywhere, Danny running errands and making drinks, a breaker kept getting tripped so the power kept going out. Keith did not punch anything, though.

- I felt validated when Christian praised my choice of best Smashing Pumpkins song ("Mayonaise") during pre-show.

- I apparently was TOO relaxed (or maybe buzzed), kept sitting back from the mic. I felt like I was operating in slow motion though, everyone is so damn quick and witty. I'll just consider my contribution to the show as guest choice. You're welcome. (For the record, I also wanted Jesse Joyce and JFOD were also on my list).

- After the show we walked over to QED (just a couple blocks down) and hung out there. Everyone came, though Mike Lawrence left pretty soon after (had a show later). Got to meet Kambri there as well, and Lauren stopped by a little later, too. We played Taboo for a few rounds and had some drinks. I swear it was almost as funny as the actual show.

- I smoked for the first time courtesy of - I'm sure you can guess who. Yes, I'm 33, I know, a late bloomer. I've been making an effort to be more open to new experiences this past year - even going on the show in the first place was a big step. That said, I can't think of a better circumstance or group of people to try it with. Although I think I did it wrong, I didn't feel much. Will have to try again.

- Myq and Mike Lawrence were both doing shows that evening, and since we hadn't made plans we decided to check those out after the little party at QED broke up. Myq's set was actually part of a sketch show that Micah Sherman was doing, met Micah briefly after the show as well. Sketch show and Myq's short set were both great. Hung out with Myq a bit after as well.

- We were thinking about going to a strip club (Hustler, at Keith's recommendation) - also would've been a first for me - but by the time we were done we were getting tired and it was like 30 minutes away. Plus our phones were dying and we weren't too confident about our ability to navigate the city late night without it, so we called it a night. Didn't make it to Mike Lawrence's show either, sadly. Too much to do, not enough time (or energy, since we got up at like 6 that morning).

- Unrelated to KATG but funny tidbit: when we parked near the studio, it was at one of these ticket kiosks. Our car is "decorated" like the TARDIS from Dr. Who, so some dude who worked nearby who was also a Who fan came out and chatted with us. We didn't know what we were doing so he explained, but said that he'd never seen anyone get a ticket so we probably didn't need to pay. We took that gamble, but later Chemda said we probably were screwed and going to get a $40-ish ticket. Luckily, we didn't! But unfortunately, we later parked too close to a fire hydrant (apparently you need 15-feet of clearance) and got a $115(!) ticket. Win some, lose some.

I think that's it! It was a fantastic experience, just so much fun. We might even do it again ourselves.