Weekend Brunch
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Welcome to our (mostly) weekly discussion group to talk about Stephen, our lives, our friendships with each other, and pretty much anything you’d like to talk about with other readers of No Fact Zone, what we here affectionately call “the Zoners”.
Good morning, Zoners! My sweet husband and I are still under the weather, so brunch today is a big bowl of soft, soft oatmeal and an accompanying big bowl of orange juice. I’ve been under the weather for a week, and my husband has been sick for over a month. We’re both kind of sick of it.
How is everyone enjoying Colbert in HD? My trusty new iMac is really helping with the crankiness I have in not yet getting Comedy Central in HD, as I can watch the Full Version high-res stream. It’s not quite as high-res as a true HD signal on an HDTV would be, but it is a lovely improvement over the standard res. Plus the colors are so bright!
So here’s my question to all of you this week:
Have you made any pop-culture pilgrimages?
I got this idea from a post in The Onion asking staffers of the magazine about their pilgrimages. It got me thinking about the pilgrimages I’ve made in the name of my pop-culture fave flavor du jour. Now, of course, I’ve got my latest pilgrimage, to NYC in October of 2008 (has it been that long?!). It was fantastic to get to go to the show and see and meet so many of the things and people I’ve blogged about over the past few years. But I’ve been a fangirl for a very, very long time and have had some pretty amazing experiences.
I was lucky enough to be able to go to the very first ConeCon, a Conan O’Brien fan convention in 1995. About 30 of us who were hard-core fans (including myself, who ran a Conan fanzine at the time) got a block of tickets for the show, and afterwords were invited to party with the cast and crew. At the time, Conan was barely 34, the show had been airing in that time slot for less than a year and was still the “Letterman replacement”, and the show had a very small, but loyal following. Because the network still thought the show to be iffy as far as longevity, the show was on 13-week renewal contracts, and it was the end of the 13 weeks before a weeklong break. We got to attend the post mortem party, where catering brought in a great spread of food and alcohol, and we got to mingle and drink with Conan, Andy, the Max Weinberg 7, the night’s guest (Don Novello, aka Father Guido Sarducci), and the writers of the show who at the time included Louis C.K., Dino Stamatopoulos, and Robert Smigel. I got to give Andy Richter a hug, and I have to honestly say that he gives the absolute best hugs of anyone. Ever. Andy’s just the sweetest, most genuine guy. I was beyond nervous, and he kept reassuring me and doing his best to get me to stop shaking like a leaf. Conan got a little tipsy off of Heineken, and at some point I had my picture taken with my tongue in his ear. That was AWESOME! The best moment of the day was talking to Smigel and a couple of the other writers. I was talking about things I liked and didn’t like about some of the recent shows, and Robert was asking me questions, and I realized, oh my Krunk, Robert Smigel, THE Robert Smigel, was asking *my* opinion about comedy! The staff was so generous to us, and Conan and Andy and everyone treated us with kindness and respect. It was magical, it really, really was. That’s still pretty much in the top 3 days of my life, ever.
In my late 20’s my big thing was going to “Weird Al” Yankovic concerts. I saw him multiple times, and even sneaked backstage once or twice for the Meet and Greets he tends to have after shows. He is always fantastic to his fans and is always up for a handshake, a hug or an autograph. My biggest pilgrimage for Al, however, was not a concert at all – I went to AlCon 2000, a fan convention for Al held in Chicago, IL in, well, 2000. You have not lived until you’ve gone to a con ball with 120 other insanely passionate “Weird Al” fans and danced to the best that Dr. Demento had to offer.
So what are some of the pilgrimages you’ve made over the course of your fandoms? Tell your stories, and share your pop culture passions with the rest of us!
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53 Comments
January 9th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I am so glad I read this post! I can’t believe you got to hang out with Conan, Andy and everyone. I don’t post that often on this site but something you may want to know about me is that I am OBSESSED with Conan!!!!! I have been a huge fan for almost 10 years now and I absolutely LOVE that story and Picture!!! Thank you so much for sharing. I am just up in arms about the whole Leno moving back to 11:30 story, I think it is absolutely ridiculous, it makes me want to punch NBC in the face! Anyways just got to say you are pretty kick ass DB!
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
“I am just up in arms about the whole Leno moving back to 11:30 story…”
OHHH you and me both! The fact that they even kept Leno on 5 nights a week right before Conan’s show is just a huge slap in the face, honestly. Especially when Conan is doing such a fantastic job. I shouldn’t talk about this anymore, ha…*think happy thoughts*.
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January 9th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I’m still in my early teens, so my pop-culture pilgrames are not plentiful, but I do have one. In the summer of 2009, my favorite musician, Roy Zimmerman, came to my state. Unfortunately, the concert was a few hours away. I came up with all these arguments as to why going to the concert is important to my well-being and convinced my dad to take three of my friends and myself. I am so glad he did. I got to talk to Zimmmerman a lot during intermission and after the show. He was unimaginably nice. There are rumors of him coming back to Arizona (my state) this month. I can’t wait!
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January 9th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I love Roy Zimmerman! I’m sure the concert was great. I really hope that I can finally make it to one of his shows in March when he’s back in the Los Angeles area
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January 9th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Awesome question! Well, I am a true die hard fan of NBC Nightly News, especially the Washington Bureau. Chuck Todd, Savannah Guthrie, Tim Russert, and David Gregory are my role models. Therefore, when I went to D.C. this summer, I went to the White House back gates where you can see the White House Correspondents do their broadcast. I got there at 5:30, and hour before the broadcast. Right when I got there Timothy Geithner walked out the back gates. I also got to see the butt of so many jokes, Burlesconi drive by in his limo. He actually waved to me. Finally, when it was 6:35, Chuck Todd was at his place for the news and I got so excited! I watched him do his broadcast, but continued to wait in case he walked out the gate. Sure enough, just after 7:00, he came out, and I got his autograph and pictures with him. He was so nice and talked to me a few minutes. It was one of the highlights of my trip! Of course, being the Colbert fan I am, I got mad at myself that evening for not trying to give him a Writststrong bracelet. :)
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
That’s really neat. A lot of people don’t think of hanging out back there and meeting these folks. NBC has the nicest seeming of the correspondents.
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January 9th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I agree. My dream job would be working there! :)
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
WOW! You have no idea the jealousy I feel for you right now. Lolz. That is so very very cool that you got to hang out and meet NBC correspondents. NBC is definitely my favorite place to get my news so…yeah, really neat. :D
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January 9th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I love having people who think they are as awesome as I do :) btw, I have the photograph and autograph hanging on the wall next to me right now :) thnx
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January 9th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Aww – so awesome! :D
January 9th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I love that those guys are your role models. I really do. It’s really nice and refreshing to hear that you look up to Tim Russert instead of some Hollywood socialite or something. I’m so happy you got to meet Chuck Todd! :]
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
:) Thanks! Tim’s book is sitting next to me too.
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
I really can’t believe you got to hang out with Conan and everyone. How cool! That picture of you and Conan is ridiculously awesome. I’ve never really done huge things for the fandoms I’m into. I’ve gone to see a taping of The Colbert Report twice, but I live in Mass and had been to NY before, so it wasn’t really a huge thing as it might be for someone who lives farther away from NY.
Hmm, one thing I did though is when I Am America first came out, I was determined to get one of those Colbert cardboard cutouts. So I called all of the bookstores in the area and finally the one I found that would let me have the cardboard cutout was a Borders which was one and a half hours away. So my roommates and I went on a little roadtrip to go pick up a Colbert cutout. Lol. It was a fun little trip though and so worth it. I still have that cutout in my room.
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Haha! How neat that you get to have one of those Colbert cutouts!! :D
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January 11th, 2010 at 10:42 am
hey, I am also from MA. It’s great because it’s not all that far from NYC. I have done a few “pilgrimages” to things in NYC. I went to see Letterman, I went to Howard Stern’s last terrestrial broadcast, but I was already in the area so it wasn’t like I made a special trip for that one. I really want to see the Report, but it will have to wait until the weather is warm.
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I am still very cranky over the fact that I can’t watch TDS and TCR in HD but there’s not much I can do about it. Stupid TWC.
DB, that picture and the accompanying story are priceless! I think the only real pilgrimages I’ve made are two trips to NYC to see TCR and I also saw TDS on the first one. Oh and some other stuff in NYC as well. :-)
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Um….DB, you’ve been holding back on us! That is the coolest Conan story ever. You met him before he hit the big time. I feel so bad for him right now,I think NBC is acting so reprehensibly. I wish I could have gone to something like that, and meet Andy Richter particularly. He seems like such a great Chicago/midwestern guy. Also, I am a huge Smigel fan. I would love to meet him and talk with him. I have heard that Conan is really really great with his fan base.
Going to the SC reunion weekend was definitely my pilgrimage. I had to fly in, take off work, get the kids taken care of, etc. But it was worth it. I got to hug Greg Hollimon, who also gives great hugs. But of course seeing Stephen perform those second city scenes was something I will never forget. I hope they do put the whole thing on TBS so everyone can enjoy it.
Now I am extending my pilgrimage because I am trying to go to my first TCR taping ever. I have tix for Jan. 28th, so if Newark airport will release its hostages (passengers) in a timely fashion, I am going to NY to visit some family and see Colbert. And then, after this, I hope my pilgrimaging will be done for a while…
But I kind of would like to see “Coco” in person too, whatever network he is going to be on :(
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
I’m still jealous of you for getting to hug Greg Hollimon. ;)
I did add him as a friend on facebook, though, and sent him a message telling him just how awesome I think he is. I got so excited when he messaged me back, and still have the message saved in my inbox. :)
Good luck on your upcoming TCR pilgrimage! Hopefully I can make one of those this summer.
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January 9th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
i know he is so nice and sweet. i love having him on FB, it’s like my little connection to all my
SWC heroes.
he does perform in chicago, and i think also at second city. he had a pic recently of him performing with tim meadows. so if you get a chance to come to Chicago…
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January 9th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
It’s weird to think that famous people use facebook, lol. Mitch Rouse is on mine as well. I think Paul Dinello has one, too.
Yeah I think I saw that picture of him and Tim Meadows. If I ever get the chance to come to Chicago, I will be making a pit stop at Second City and any other comedy show I can get my hands on, trust me. :)
January 9th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I’m not usually the fanning type, which is why the Stephen thing is a little out of character for me, but I do have a strange affection for Colin Mochrie, and went to see the show he was doing with Brad Sherwood in two different cities, though one was where I was actually living at the time, so it certainly doesn’t count as a pilgrimage.
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January 9th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
I used to love wliiaw. If they had come to my city I would have gone.
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January 10th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Colin makes me laugh out loud! I’d enjoy seeing him do an interview with Stephen.
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
So sorry to hear that you guys are feeling sick over there.
Wow! That’s so neat that you got to meet ‘n’ greet with Conan and the gang! :D
I guess you could call the Harry Potter midnight release parties my pilgrimage. I went to two of them, right at the end. The seventh book’s party was definitely the best. We went to this bookstore that absolutely went all out for the release of “Deathly Hallows.” It was in a little downtown area of a Chicago suburb and the blocked off the entire street for the party! It was so much fun and a great way to kind of say goodbye to Harry Potter.
Also, of course, I went to see Stephen at that Second City panel in December. I consider that to be a pilgrimage, but the one true pilgrimage for me will be when I finally get to see an actual show taping in person. =D
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January 9th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Any chance that was the Oak Park Harry Potter party? My brother lives there and he says it was fantastic.
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January 9th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Ah, no. I think this one was in…Naperville? But, yeah, I heard that the Oak Park one was really good! :D
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Oh, no way – my parents live in Naperville! I bet the party was at Anderson’s Bookshop (one of my all time favorites). Small world :)
I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, but never had a chance to go to any release parties. Mind you, I wouldn’t have actually bought the books, because I always ordered the UK editions. But I do like a good party :)
January 9th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Actually, I just made a mini-pilgrimage two days ago when I trekked into Chicago’s Loop during a snowstorm to attend a taping of the NPR radio news quiz “Wait,Wait…Don’t Tell Me.” Carl Kassel has more energy than a man his age should have. Peter Sagal is cute. Kyrie O’Conner doesn’t look like her voice. Paula Poundstone is as funny as I expected her to be, and Paul Provenza is a hunk!
I also took a trip to NYC many years ago to go to as many Broadway shows as I could afford (not many). This was before TCR, so I didn’t go there. And I went to the last Harry Potter release, but didn’t consider it a pilgrimage. Just a very late night trip to Borders (my second home).
(the two words I have to type in under this box are velcro breakfast. Is that a breakfast that really sticks with you?)
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January 9th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Oh, awesome!! I just started listening to “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me” and it’s so fun! I bet the taping of it was really neat. :)
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January 9th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I did enjoy seeing “how the sausage is made.” LOL They tape 2 hours of material and then edit it down to fit in their time slot.
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January 9th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Heehee! Nice phrase there. :P Wow – two hours of material, that’s crazy! How on earth do they shave it down?
January 9th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
hmmmmm. I have not made any fandom pilgrimages besides NYC, twice. the first time to see Colbert, of course, and the second time to see John Oliver.
I feel like fandom will be at least one motivating factor in my travel as I get older, because I been a very stationary person so far, so half the way I can learn about other cultures or places is through the internet (which quickly lends itself to fandom in my case.)
I have thought about making some different sorts of trips in NYC, some kind of historical fandom tour. an Edith Wharton-themed tour would be cool, for example, because reading her novels was experience that made me interested in the city. besides that there are a million things I’d love to see in Los Angeles or London.
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
When did you see John Oliver? I watched the premiere of his new stand-up show last night, and the only word I can think of is HI-larious! The bit he did with Nick Kroll was so, so funny.
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January 9th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
I went to one of the shows when he did a weekend at Comix in NYC this past summer. it was so hilarous, a wholly satisfying experience. I enjoyed the show last night as well. I’d heard of almost all the comedians but I hadn’t actually seen them in action, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to do that.
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January 9th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Oh cool! His stand-up is ridiculously funny; the joke he did about people voting drunk in Australia had me cracking up. I was unaware that it’s illegal not to vote there…that seems like something the United States might want to look into.
I managed to watch him on Jimmy Fallon Thursday as well, and he was great. He’s definitely my favorite TDS correspondent after Stephen.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Saw Billy Zane on Broadway in Chicago ten times. And also met him at the premiere of his movie “I Woke Up Early The Day I Died,” a movie made from Ed Wood’s last screenplay.
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
I have a special place in my heart for Billy Zane that I’ve never quite been able to explain. So the fact that you met him and saw him on Broadway is awesome! :]
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January 9th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I loved Billy Zane because he made me laugh. I love Stephen for his body!
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January 9th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Besides my tcr trip last summer, I went to a taping of “The late late show with Craig ferguson”, which was really fun.
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January 9th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
DB, that pic of you and Conan is awesome! And out of all of the people you mentioned, I gotta say that I’m most jealous that you met Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7! I saw Springsteen this summer (I was at the show in Detroit in November when he thought he was in Ohio LOL. I forgave him for it though, because he rocked for 3 hours straight and was awesome), and got so excited when I saw Max playing on the drums.
As far as pop culture pilgrimages go, I’m proud that I’ve been able to make a couple. For one, I met my favorite musician, Rocco Deluca (blues rock musician out of California, his first cd was actually from the company started by Kiefer Sutherland), last May in Grand Rapids with a couple of friends that go to college there. So I drove 3 hours to get there, even though I had to work early the next day. It was totally worth it though, especially because I didn’t think I would get to meet him. But I got a picture, he signed a poster for me and I got to tell him how fantastic I thought he was, and he was super, super nice. I have the picture in a frame right next to my bed.
But the more important pilgrimage would definitely be my road trip to New Jersey to see Stephen at Two River back in November. Making the decision to drive 1400 miles round trip with my brother over a weekend to see Stephen was not something I thought I would be doing a year ago, but it was entirely worth it and I’m so happy I did it. Definitely in the Top 3 Best Days of My Life, if only for the fact that I got to talk to my hero.
This was such a great question, DB! Thanks for making me nostalgic and all the more excited for my upcoming pilgrimage to NYC :).
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January 9th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
I’m more the wallflower/loner type when it comes to pop culture pilgrimages. I think this is the first time I’ve been really active in a forum for a show or person I admire. I’m hoping to change that soon. And I hope I get to travel to NYC to attend a taping of either of my favorite fake news shows. :)
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January 9th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
As you can probably guess from my name, I’m a pretty big Beatles fan. Last fall, when I was studying in London, I got the chance to travel up to Liverpool and do a whole “Beatles” themed pilgrimage. I got to see the site of the original Cavern Club, their childhood homes, Penny Lane – it was amazing!
Haven’t had a chance to go to a taping yet; maybe some time this year, if I’m lucky!
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January 9th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I am a HUGE Beatles fan. I became obsessed around age 12 and never looked back. I’m actually moving to London in September for grad school. I’m definitely planning on making that same pilgrimage while I’m there.
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January 9th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I’m not sure this is the same kind of pilgrimage, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since Stephen’s brilliant suburban take on Empire State of Mind – “I own this town from 41st to 47th!”
When I was young I’d (very) occasionally take the train into Manhattan from Connecticut on the weekend and I managed to see a few Broadway shows on their matinees (I don’t remember the prices but it was definitely way cheaper then). I was about 15 the first time and thrilled to see people performing live.
DB that is a great Conan story (and photo!). I feel so bad about the way he’s being treated now. I hope he & his staff will move back to New York however this is resolved.
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January 10th, 2010 at 1:20 am
i LOVE this discussion. i’ve had fun reading where everyone’s interests lie. it’s already been said, but that conan picture really is priceless DB! :)
going to see a taping of TCR was the furthest i’ve ever traveled for fandom. though, something that stephen and i have in common is that i’m a bit of a nerd and am a huge Lord Of The Rings fan. so much that i attended every LOTR convention they put on during the hay days upon the release of the movies. i’ve met all the actors, and one year was even selected to be on the question panel to assist elijah wood and sean astin. needless to say my favorite part about my visit to The Colbert Report was when I got to ask stephen a LOTR related question. my worlds collided and the connection was brilliant!
i hope you and your husband get feeling better soon!
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January 10th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Besides attending a taping I think my only other travels, in terms of pop culture was to DC last year for the inauguration. I have friends who traveled from MI to PA and then I drove the rest of the way to DC and we stayed with another friend who lives near the National Cathedral. We attended the Concert on the Mall so we got to see Steve Carell, Tom Hanks, U2, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, etc. and poked our heads around all the news outlets: MSNBC, CNN, ABC–we never found FOX News, though. They weren’t strategically placed on the Mall for some reason ;). I had my picture taken next to Stephen’s portrait, Seinfeld’s puffy shirt, and Oscar the Grouch at the American History Museum so that was fun, too.
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January 10th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
You. Are. So. Lucky.
I would have LOVED to go to the inauguration. There was actually a group of students at a college right down the road from mine that got to go, and if I had found out about them going sooner, I would have tried to find a way to make the trip. I know it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
And how cool that you had you picture taken next to Stephen’s portrait! I’m still kicking myself in the head for not getting a picture taken with it when I was in DC back in March last year :(.
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January 11th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Hey all…I’m looking for the sign-off of Stephen (my fave) where he said something like “If you’re having trouble sleeping, take your TV to bed with it frozen on my face. Remember, I don’t spoon.” I’ve looked through all the sign-offs and all the sleep tags, and can’t find it on the site.
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January 11th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Do you remember the year it was from? I’d be happy to look for you myself – sometimes they forget to tag them and you have to go through the entire thing to find them. :)
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January 11th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Unfortunately no. It was most likely 2007 or 2008…but it seemed like they had all the sign-offs tagged (even the ones where he just says “goodnight”) so I’m not sure how else I’d search for it. I mostly wanted to make sure I was getting the quote correct. :)
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January 11th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
http://www.nofactzone.net/?p=1945
January 11th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Thanks cordgrass! I gotta say, that sign off is awfully cute. :)
January 11th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
thank you! i should have known to search NFZ instead of the official site…they don’t have that sign off video online. :(