The Farewell Tour. Part 2 - The Beginning.

"Hey, I left my wallet in my bag in the overhead compartment.  Why don't you buy me a drink since I bought that case of PBR?"

"Ok."

A couple minutes later the male flight attendant hands me a Bailey's and coffee.

"Seven dollars, please."

"Oh, my partner is going take care of that."

Kurt whipped his head towards me at the use of the P-word, like "What the hell?;" the flight attendant smirked like "Aw, aren't they cute;" and when he walked away, I giggled and giggled...and determined to publicly acknowledge my 'partnership' at every opportunity - my partner's uncomfortableness feeding my joy!

A couple days, a few run-throughs, and an abbreviated dress/tech rehearsal later - it was showtime.  Early showtime.  An opening-weekend matinee.  We also had the late show that night, so we really had no idea what kind of crowd to expect for the afternoon world priemere of Bromance, our comedy about "two B-list solo fringe festival performers joining forces to create a A-list two-person hit" before one of them retires.

And here we were, just that.  Hopefully.

We're backstage laying out the hazmat suits for our costume change when the venue manager peaks around and tells us there's already a pretty healthy line at door.

Wouldn't this be something?  What if we really did make a hit?  Out of a show about our inability to make hits.  Did the $40 psychic call it right??

Kurt finishes setting up the show.  I head out front and give the thumbs-up to open the house.

And what a house it was.  The biggest either of us have ever played to on the fringe circuit.  A sellout and then some - they're pulling chairs from the adjoining restaurant.

I head backstage and tell my partner the news.

"This silly show?" he says, a little mystified and a lot excited.

I'm as excited for him as I am for myself.  Maybe more so...

I mean, he's worked longer and harder (and smarter and funnier) on the fringe circuit than I have.  And I already had my dream run in Fresno two years ago.  He had a good run (including his first sell-out) last year, but this one was already shaping up to be something special.  I remember thinking "he deserves this" and feeling glad that I got to help make it happen.

We would also sell out our next show a few hours a later.  And another later in the week.  We scored universally good reviews and had a shit-ton of fun.  It was really something special.

Two B-listers had an A-list hit.

I guess Madame Ida knows her shit.