Okay, this post is LONG overdue!

A while back I mentioned my love of the podcast Welcome To Night Vale. Well, way back at the beginning of May (Baconfest weekend, actually!), we went to see the Welcome To Night Vale live show!

I was very worried the tickets would sell out, so I waited online and bought them the minute they went on sale. I was a bit overzealous; I’m not sure if they ultimately sold out or not, but there were still tickets months later. Oh well. 🙂

The show was amazing. There were plenty of guest stars, of course. Mara Wilson was there; you may know her as the kid in Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, or Matilda. But it is more or less a Cecil Baldwin one man show, and he KILLED IT, basically orating for 2 straight hours. All of the fan energy and costumes were great as well. Man I love that show.

The very best part of the show was when they asked us to look around and make eye contact with a stranger. Naturally, we all giggled and uncomfortably stared at our feet. A bit later in the show, they admonished us for not making eye contact with a stranger as instructed, and once again told us to do so.

The lady in the row in front of me and a couple of seats down started to look around, so I thought, “Okay, it’s on!” and locked eyes with her. I mean, I’m generally down for whatever, so if she was game, I was game. At least I *thought* she was game, because when Cecil told us to point at the person we were making eye contact with, I think I scared her very badly. 🙂

However, after that, we had a blast. I think both of us were never quite sure if the other one was still going to play along, so every time they would give new instructions to us “partners”, she would kind of glance back really quick to see if I was still doing it. Naturally I was, so we continued on, giving each other exaggerated winks, raising our fists to the sky (or the floor, or kind of both, since we weren’t exactly coordinating), and ultimately saving Cecil from a killer.

So, thank you stranger in the row in front of me, for (kind of) taking the chance and (accidentally) looking at me. Totally made my night.

So, in addition to my brother and his wife, I took Sara. Sara is not a fan, but I thought, “Surely this amazing, highly regarded show will win her over with its awesomeness!” However, as soon as I saw the sheer number of people dressed in Night Vale costumes, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. This is not the sort of thing Sara would typically attend.

Afterwards I asked her, “So, did you enjoy the show?” and she said, “Well…I think I smiled a few times.” So Night Vale, feel free to use that quote on your promotional posters and whatnot.

Anyway, I think the tour is already over so…I highly recommend you go see it in the past! You may even have smiled a few times.