The headlining comedian of the night was Pete Holmes. When he had first announced that he would be coming to Appleton, probably about 4 months beforehand, I told my girlfriend that we had to go! I would normally have preferred to go to a Friday or Saturday show, but we had items conflicting with both of those days, so we went to the Thursday show with some friends. I really wasn't sure what the club would be like on a Thursday night.
The club was not completely full, but was mostly full. We got there pretty early and got seated at the front, something you normally have to pay extra for. I think the crowd was really into the show, which always helps, and I was very excited for the show. I had only seen a few of Pete Holmes' bits, but really love his podcast, You Made it Weird, which you can find on iTunes.
I really enjoyed all of the comedians that were on that night. I had seen the host/emcee do his act a few times before, but I could tell that he had been working on his bits, and his act had become more polished. The comedians did a great job of getting the crowd going, when Pete came out, I think he could tell that the crowd was into it.
Now for those of your who may not know me in person, I really love to laugh. I think it is really easy to make me laugh, and my sense of humor encompasses just about all aspect of humor. I am a bit of a laugh slut, I give up my laughs pretty easily, what can I say? I just love to laugh.
As I knew from listening to Pete's podcast, he and I really have similar senses of humor, even when he is riffing he makes me laugh a lot. His set was no different, I was with him from the first joke, laughing very very hard, and enjoying every moment of his set. He noticed how hard I was laughing, asked me my name during the set, and went on a riff out of that, he called my King Peter, and made some other nice comments about how I am just living life and enjoying it. When he was starting into a bit he asked for my help in guiding the people with my laughs. In the end it was my favorite set of comedy that I have seen in person. My expectations were pretty high, but he just blew them out of the water.
When he got of stage he had to go behind me, he tapped me on the shoulder, stuck out his had for me to shake it, and said thank you. A comedian who made me laugh harder than I can ever remember laughing, thanked me personally after his set. How awesome of a guy is he? Well it gets better!
Went to talk to him for a few minutes in the lobby after the show, he actually didn't recognize me right away, I would guess the lights are pretty bright on stage. Once I identified myself, he got really excited, called me King Peter again, I got my picture taken with him, and the best part of all was that he said anytime he was in town he would put me on his guest list and I could get in for free!!! How awesome could this guy be?
It was my first real interaction with someone that I am a fan of, and boy did Pete Holmes not let me down. I really was, and still am, blown away. I would gladly pay to see him do his set anytime he is in the area. I honestly don't know what else I can really say other than how amazing of a guy he is?
After the show I was really on a laugh high, it took me quite a while to come down from it, also something I have never really had to deal with before.
I will say that I know he is recording an hour long special for Comedy Central in a little over a week, I hope him the best with that, I will definitely be watching it when it comes on. He also made a pilot for a show that would follow Conan, which I think would be awesome to see. I really hope it gets picked up, Pete Holmes deserves to get more notoriety.
I guess the point of this post is really to say how awesome it can be when you have high expectations, and when those expectations are exceeded. I will always appreciate when someone is so nice and well just all around awesome. He was able to turn a big fan into an even bigger fan.
