(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Man, I don't know you guys, the more I listen to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and certainly the more I attend it (all of...twice now) the more I realise what a $25 crapshoot it is to see it live.

Because you don't know who the panel will be or who the guest will be and that's fine, I get it, they're kind of a shoestring operation. But last time I didn't even get to see Peter Sagal, he had a Substitute Peter in, and this time man, that was a boring guest. And his interview went on forever.

Don't get me wrong, the show was funny and entertaining, but I found myself questioning whether I'd have paid $25 after the show for having seen it. The guest was Fred Armisen, which is a name 100% unknown to me, but apparently he's on Saturday Night Live and writes a sketch show on IFC called Portlandia. And I guess if you're into sketch comedy it might have been cool, but I'm...really not, and for a comedian he gave a truly bland interview. They kept asking him really interesting questions and he kept giving really vague answers, like a mediocre date or something. Maybe he was having an off-night.

Bobcat Goldthwaite was awesome, but there's only so much you can do with the material you're given. He did make a joke about etch-a-sketch that I desperately hope gets into the final cut of the show.

Anyhow, I am home now and in the warm, and it's snowing, so I am about to make the Traditional First Snow In Chicago post. Stay tuned. :D

Comments

[brightly-woven.livejournal.com]

I used to volunteer at "Whatta You Know?" in Madison and the show was free and they even fed you doughnuts.

$25!

Wow.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's to cover the cost of renting the space; performance space in downtown Chicago isn't cheap :D

[orangepenguino.livejournal.com]

I went when I was in Chicago in October 2011 and had a good time, though I won the WWDTM lottery. One of the call-in contestants was a legitimate crazy person. Gave about two minutes of unusable highly personal information and sort of, kind of came on to Peter Sagal. It was beautifully absurd and something that was obviously not going to make it to air.

That said, I was traveling with my dad at the time, so he bought the tickets. My evening would have been worth it regardless.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I was so lucky with the recording I went to when I was in Chicago four years ago - it was the free show in the park, my three favourite panalists were on, I managed to get a seat undercover despite the rain, and I was sat next to a fan of Classic Who so the long wait before it started went really quickly. Not that I ordered my train trip around the States so it coincided with that. Oh no.