22U – Jimmy and Matt perform at Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis
Live notes by Matt Fugate (who humbly refers to himself in the third person as “Matt F.” in these notes)
Editing and additional notes by Darryl Asher
Jimmy comes out to a huge ovation, acknowledges more sides than there are.
Speaks to a man in front named Abe. Jimmy asks if it’s short for Abel, but no, it’s Abraham. Jimmy guesses his age as 31, but realizes that he could be just about any age.
Jimmy introduces Matt Fugate, Twin Cities comic and former road opener for Jimmy (still has opened for him at ACME), as Garon-for-a-day. Matt immediately acknowledges that doing the pre-show announcements is much harder than it looks. Jimmy is glad he realizes where it went off the rails. Came in “too hot.”
Jimmy asks about Matt F.’s health. Matt has Relapsing/Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, which had manifested as trigeminal neuralgia (extreme pain in the face), which sidelined him from road comedy. Fortunately, Matt’s been in remission for 3 1/2 years, though the road isn’t really an option anymore.
Jimmy asks Matt F. how his daughter’s softball tournament went – abysmally, but Matt gets caught up in being diplomatic.
Jimmy can’t believe the show sold out — overwhelmed and grateful by the NNF fans coming to the show.
Jimmy introduces Matt Belknap (he’ll just be “Matt” from here — the GFAD will be “Matt F.”)
Matt and Jimmy talk about the Twins playing the Indians nearby. Matt saw an Indians fan, but it may have been an Indian Ghost.
At some point a guy in the front row is bullied into betting on several questions. Matt F. is too busy looking this stuff up to make note of who owes what and when.
Jimmy asks for the current Twins score, and when he hears it, he predicts that each team has had one HR and makes a guess at who the hitters were.
Matt F. is down to his phone for research duties, owing to the lack of wi-fi, and struggles with reading a box score. Jimmy is correct that each team has hit a home run, but only gets the Indians player correct. If I remember correctly, he guessed Encarnacion for the Indians, but Dozier for the Twins. Dozier did hit a homer later in the game, but at that point, only Rosario — who would hit two more in that game, including the walk-off that ended the game — had hit one for the Twins at that point. How any of this affected Jimmy’s fantasy baseball is anyone’s guess.
Jimmy and Matt chat about having been up since the wee hours of the morning to fly into MSP, arriving at 8:30. They chose to spend the extra time before the show at the airport. Matt was silly in the PGA store, and Jimmy — discovering that Matt had never gotten a massage before — decided to treat Matt to an airport massage.
The massage was comically underwhelming and inept to the point that after it was all done, Jimmy told Matt that they must never speak of it until the show.
Not sure when or why Jermaine Stewart (“We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”) came up, but as this was Matt F’s second attempt at looking something up (“what was Jermaine Stewart’s second hit?”) and the narrative aspect of Wikipedia made it difficult for Matt F. to find it on his phone. (it was “Say It Again” from the album of the same name).
A discussion of Lin-Manuel Miranda recognizing Jimmy as “the comic’s comic” upon meeting him led Matt to suggest that he had been coached. Jimmy contested this saying that Lin is a big comedy nerd, and that he (Jimmy) had been told by other comics prior to meeting Lin that Lin knew who he was.
In a discussion of Jimmy’s various lists of favorites, it was revealed that Jimmy had never said what his favorite guitar solo was. It was Prince’s solo at the end of Purple Rain. When Jimmy mentioned that Prince was dead, Matt F. jumped in to say that word had not yet reached the Twin Cities, because they were breaking it slowly so the city would not obsess over it.
Dirty Carson makes an appearance around this time. Prince sticks something (guitar neck?)into Joyce DeWitt. Ed McMahon responds with “Little Red Corvette,” but Matt expresses that he’s just not feeling it anymore.
(note: given that Little Red Corvette is about that part of the body where the guitar neck went, he was actually dead on).
A joke about his favorite guitar solo being Flea’s base riffs in Red Hot Chili Peppers led to questions of Flea’s real name (Michael Peter Balzary) heritage (born in Australia, but of Hungarian descent).
The topic went to supergroups. Temple of the Dog was discussed as at some point, where Matt suggested that Jimmy is a “grunge bigot.”
Some listing of just who was in Chickenfoot (specifically, which Chilli Pepper – the drummer, Chad Smith). Whether Michael Anthony is a good base player led to a consensus that he was a great backups singer and a good bass player.
Around this time or earlier, the question of where the term Welch comes from (because front row guy is probably going to) — does it have anything to do with being Welsh? (note: the topic was dropped, but dictionary.com is inconclusive on this point — it may have been originated as a slur against the Welsh, or maybe not)
SEVENS
Matt F. chooses 1970s Music and sets a high bar at 20.
The prize is a 2018 Pardcastathon hat.
Jimmy rejects multiple players. Steve, for living in sin with his fiancee. A fellow in a suit that Jimmy calls Don Johnson comes up, but is sent back (height related?). A young woman comes to the stage, but is DQ’d for her name “Brett-Anne.” Joey is called up, but is sent back for cutting fruit. A tall fellow is called up, but when Jimmy sees the full magnitude of his handlebar mustache, he sends him back. Justin from St. Cloud somehow manages to DQ himself, but his friend comes up and is also sent back for reasons lost to memory.
(these reasons may not be 100% accurate)
Heather, a surprisingly tall (Jimmy describes her as “Linda Evans-like”) child of actors chooses Musicals. Jimmy and Matt both express doubt, but Heather won’t be swayed. Heather also won’t be getting a hat, as the curse of the Musicals category leaves her with an 8.
Tim is brought to the stage. His cargo pants are discussed, but do not disqualify him. Tim is a catering chef in Waseca, MN, and is unmarried, but in a 19 year relationship. Matt is the giver. The category is Movie comedies. Tim scores 15, but is given the hat anyway.
Some post-sevens discussion gets a little bleak once the discussion turns to Mel Brooks’ post-Young Frankenstein career. Matt F. sums up the problem with Spaceballs with three words: comb the desert. Sensing a tailspin, Jimmy ramps up to the good-byes.
Jimmy gets what he calls “maudlin,” but expresses genuine appreciation for the turnout and the passion of the Twin Cities fanbase. He does the outro, but does have to jump in afterward to remind everyone that they’ll be out in the hall to meet & greet.
