Katie's Celebrity Run-in

One of Katie's favorite stories to tell is how she once had a correspondence with a semi-famous comedian. It was when Katie was just getting back into the dating scene after her divorce that she and a girlfriend (Beth) went to see the comedian Dwight Slade. Dwight was in the middle of a divorce and made a number of raw and emotional jokes about his anger. Egged on by Beth, Katie went up to Dwight after the show and gave him her business card, saying she thought that he "really needed a lawyer"! She followed that up by buying his CDs and then sending him an email, redacted by Katie before she gave it to me (click on the image to enlarge):

The joke here is that Lorne is the name of the imaginary stalker who was the apparent author of Dwight's very funny web page back then. (His web page is more straightforward now.)

Here are the attachments that Katie included:



(Links to the full coloring book in html or pdf.)

Much to her delight, Dwight wrote back a very nice response:

Hey there;

Thanks for the nice note and the hilarious attachments. Hope you are able to balance the intense world of being a lawyer with your creative/playful side.

I sometimes wonder as I do my show, "Is anybody really getting this???" I can't tell you how nice it is to hear, "Yes!"

I'm back in Portland and then on to Redding, CA and Detroit, MI. Busy travel month. February is not so crazy.

Hope to see you at another show sometime! Thanks again for the note.

-Dwight

Five minutes later, Katie got a second email:

E-mailing Dwight is fine. But more than once, and I worry.

-Lorne

So in the span of a few minutes, Dwight wrote one very flattering email followed with one saying, essentially, "Please don't send me email ever again." Katie got the message and didn't write again. Eventually she met me, fell madly in love, and we married a year and a half ago. She still loves to tell the outrageous story about going to see Dwight along with the crazy email she sent.

I found out that Dwight Slade was coming to town last week, so I got tickets to see the show on Tuesday. I told Katie to block off the evening and that we would be having dinner and then going to a surprise theater event. Despite the subzero temperatures, we trudged over that night to the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis. We had a absolute blast. I can see why Katie thought he was funny! My favorite part of the show was when he did an impression of the swaggering bravado of an old, toothless Minnesotan that was dead-on, and it turned absolutely hilarious when you took that image and then started tacking on horrible things the old man did to avoid the cold.

Here and here are some of his YouTube clips.

She was a little reticent going to see Dwight, worried that either (a) he would recognize her or, worse, (b) he would have written a joke about her. I told her that he probably has lots of women throwing themselves at him. That didn't make her feel much better. But he didn't even make eye contact, much less recognize her, and she was not incorporated into his comedy act.

So . . .

I had to send Dwight an email to see if he remembered her. I told him that my wife went to see him last time he was in Minneapolis, loved his comedy, and sent him an email with some Halloween photos. I explained that she eventually met me and we got married but that she still loves telling the story. Dwight did, in fact, remember Katie, and he sent me a nice email:

Hi There;

Thanks for the fun email. Glad that you were able to make it down to ACME for the show with your blushing bride.

I do remember the Halloween pictures and running into Katie after the show a couple of years ago. It made me laugh. And trust me, I never have enough pretty ladies throwing themselves at me. But I don't recommend using a Halloween picture to try and entice a "hookup." It's sort of like saying, "here's a photo of me looking nothing like myself. Interested?" ha!

So here's a greeting for your blog:

Dear Katie;

Since you are an attorney, perhaps you can point me in the right direction about getting a restraining order on inebriated, freshly divorced, cougar-lawyers who try and push a devout, pure stand up comedian into a romantic tryst by buying his CD's. Please include a terrifying Halloween photo. Congratulations on your new marriage and may I suggest you secure your own attorney when you let your new husband into the "discovery" period of your past. All the best.

Yours in absolute Purity,

-Dwight

Katie was (a) shocked and nearly horrified that I wrote to Dwight, (b) highly amused that he wrote back saying he remembered her, and (c) befuddled at the cougar comment considering that she is several years younger than he is!

All in all, I thought it made a great story. Never a dull moment with Katie!