Comic Sans project, post 3
Frank and I went to the Try Guys show in July. I’m not real sure where this started, actually. I think it was when one of my friends posted some “study” showing that people who go to live concerts live longer*. So since I’m in a concert-going phase right now, I figured “let’s see who’s coming to town.” And I saw that the Try Guys were touring. Something else was happening that kept me from going to the San Antonio show, but they were doing a show in Austin the next night. And I was free that night.
I’m not really ashamed, as such, that I’m not a longstanding Try Guys fan. When I saw that they were touring, I was, like, “Those are those guys who did the drunk driving thing, aren’t they? They’re pretty funny.” And then I binge-watched their entire oeuvre (well, all of the videos since they left Buzzfeed. I think I did a bunch of the ones from their Buzzfeed era, as well). And, yeah. I loved them.
So I asked Frank if he liked them, because I’d get another ticket for him if he wanted me to. He did. So, since his house is on my way from my house to Austin, I drove and picked him up on the way.
I was kind of stressed out, since there are basically two drives between San Antonio and Austin – relaxing and time-consuming or fast and congested. And since the fast and congested route is congested, if there’s a wreck on the way, the choice can end up being relaxing and time-consuming or congested and time-consuming.
As an aside, a friend in Austin and I are expecting a visit from one of our friends from Maryland this coming summer and I suggested the relaxing and time-consuming route – US 290 West to US 281 South – when she drives from visiting our friend in Austin to San Antonio. Right now, that route takes 40 more minutes than going straight down I-35, but it takes you through Dripping Springs and Blanco. It does get congested as you get into San Antonio, but once you’re in the city proper, it speeds up a bit. Plus, if she’ll be staying downtown, US 281 goes just past the eastern edge of downtown San Antonio. I-35 goes past the western edge of downtown, but there’s all these interchanges and stuff and it’s kind of a mess. But I digress. Back to the Try Guys.
Frank and my first experience with the show kind of throws the difference in our attitudes into sharper relief. I bought tickets for the balcony, because neither one of us is made of money. We went up to the balcony and it was empty except for the guy running the sound board. While we stumbled around in the dark, the sound board guy must have called for an usher to come get us. Turns out that everyone who was in the balcony had been moved down to the back of the main floor at the concert hall and no one had told us.
I was horribly embarrassed. Frank was more than a little put out. We got our new tickets, though, and got our seats. We got there quite a bit ahead of time so I had lots of time to look around and notice that Eugene’s dad, Jae, was at the show. Frank wasn’t as big a fan as I am, so he didn’t recognize Jae at first. I had to dig up a picture of him on my phone and we had to wait for him to stand up again before he could see what I meant. We will be seeing Jae again later in the show.
I purposefully stayed unspoiled about the show, which caused a bit of anxiety on my part. The name of the show was “Legends of the Internet” and the guys came out and started singing about memes and things and I was kind of tense, wondering if that’s all it was going to be. Fortunately, it wasn’t.
Each of the guys were legends of a particular Internet-related topic. Keith was the Legend of Food, Ned was the Legend of Love, Zach was the Legend of Fun, and Eugene was the Legend of Gay (the show in Austin was less than a month after Eugene’s coming out video).
The whole thing started out with a Try Guys Game Time where a young woman from the audience came up on stage for a game of Fuck Marry Kill. Since their voices are distinctive, the sound board guy disguised their voices.
As the Legend of Food, Keith threw pieces of chicken into the audience for us to share. I say “us,” although not everyone got any chicken. The idea was for the chicken to be broken into small enough pieces that everyone would get some, but a few people declined to share (or so Keith said). Frank and I were some of the ones who didn’t get chicken. Oh, and in Boston, one of the pieces of chicken hit a chandelier and damaged it.
As the Legend of Love, Ned had a dance contest for dads. This is where Jae comes in. Since Eugene’s dad was there, they had the usual number of dads from the audience and they added Jae in to make it, if I recall correctly, five dads. Jae did not win the dance contest.
As the Legend of Fun, Zach did a Try Guys slash fiction story where the sexy bits were replaced by references to cars. So there were stick shifts instead of penises and things like that. He also showed us the tattoo of a smiley face he has on his buttock.
And as the Legend of Gay, Eugene did a dance and lipsync number in an outfit that kind of defies description. As he went through the history of homosexuality in the media (both through gay icons and through non-gay personalities that are associated with the gay community, like Judy Garland), his outfit changed, like a Transformer you can wear. It was fascinating.
The show was amazing and I had a wonderful time. I’m also procrastinating over a cover letter for them. They said in one of their videos that they don’t have a research department. Well, I’m a librarian, so I’d make a great research department. Will I ever actually send them my resume? Tune in, possibly never, and we’ll find out.
This Gratuitous Amazon Link is actually less gratuitous than usual. It is, in fact, the Try Guys’s book, The Hidden Power of F*cking Up. I bought my copy almost as soon as I knew it existed and didn’t realize until I got to the show that they were selling autographed copies. I didn’t have that much money to spare (see why we almost ended up in the balcony), so I’ll just have the one, unautographed, copy.
It’s 1:30 in the morning as I write this, so I’m going to be heading off to bed now. I’m off tomorrow and I think I might go downtown. Maybe I can check out the archaeological dig at the Alamo. I also need to see if I can find a good picture from the Try Guys show to post here.
And Alex and I went to the LBJ National Monument a couple of weeks ago. I still have the Maluma concert and a B-52s concert to write up. And Facebook keeps offering me an opportunity to promote one post for free. I have to come up with something amazing for that. God only knows what, though.
So, if I can come up with something good on the archaeological dig, that’s four or five more blog posts. I think I still have an hour or two of 24 Hours of Happy to post.
Wow, maybe the Comic Sans thing is working.
*The “study” was done by a company that owns venues where they have concerts. No ulterior motive there.