smeg.blog

so, because i'm watching the short lived 'late world with zach' (while cheez-it crawls in and out of a plastic bag... crazy like his daddy), i feel the time has come to share my zach galifianakis story.

i saw him perform long ago on 'late night with conan o'brien'.  i loved him instantly, due to my personal sense of humor being rather odd and off-beat; in that way that is understood to be incredibly intelligent, or incredibly stupid... it didn't hit racial, political, topical, or other standard comical devices; but rather those odd and random little quips that tug at my 'weird-o' strings.  i love stand-up comedy in the way most people love musicians; however, it is rare for me to find one that can make me really laugh.  i'm not going to force myself to laugh at a comedian that i don't find funny.  i'm not saying i could do better, or that it is easy; however, as selective as i am in what i find funny, it's an even harder task to make ME laugh.  zach achieved this with such ease, that i instantly devoted an intense night of internet searching to finding what i could about him.  upon my search, i came across his website.  although fairly simple, it did contain a 'contact zach' email address that i, rather childish and half heartedly, wrote a 'will you marry me' style fan letter to.  it was meant as a joke, being that i did not believe this was his personal email address, but that of his web page creator, manager, friend, etc...  when i received a reply, i was a bit taken aback; however, believing it was one of the aforementioned people playing into my joke, i began a correspondence.  after 5 or 6 replies over the course of a few months, whoever 'zach's' email responses were coming from mentioned he would be coming through portland soon, and requested my phone number so he contact me to meet up when he was in town.  i agreed, believing that though this was a joke, whoever this person was had been very kind and funny in his emails; so he would be worth meeting.  a week or so later, i was spending the night with some new (very short lived) friends, and i received a call from a los angeles area code number.  i answered and the first sentence spoken was:

"hey meg, it's zach... the guy with the beard."

it was really him.  i was in shock.  we spoke for a moment, and he invited me to come meet him that night at his hotel, and we could go out to grab a drink.  i headed down to the vintage hotel, and waited in front of his orange VW bus, as he had instructed me to.  across the street, i was instantly focused on a short man wearing a brown sports jacket and jeans with a large beard and reddish brown hair.  he smiled at me, crossed the street, and introduced himself.  i don't think the butterflies in my stomach stopped doing backflips the whole nite.  we began to walk through downtown, looking for a place to sit and talk.  it was dark out, and the city lights had lit the streets perfectly, to which zach noted, "portland is such a beautiful city."  as if that was their cue, two giant rats ran out of the bushes and crossed in front of us.  we paused, turned and looked at each other, and after a moment i finally replied, "yep... beautiful."  we ended up at virginia cafe, and although i don't think he knew i was only 19, he offered to buy me a drink.  i made some excuse and just drank water during our few hours together.  over the course of his slow waltz into drunkenness, we discussed movies, his new 'meeting people who contact him online' movement, and his 'engagement' to anna nicole smith.  he wrote down a bunch of woody allen movies i should see on a napkin (which i still have... photo will be posted soon).  i think it was due to my excitement/awe/adolecent awkwardness/stupidity mixture i had going on, i didn't take photo documentation of this moment, on of the greatest of my life; even though the camera was at my side all night.  when it came to an end, i was almost relieved, because the excitement was literally making my stomach churn to the point of nausea; although, i would have gladly sat through hours of sickness to remain in his company.  

i have spoken to him a few times since, and he has never forgotten me... or even needed to be reminded of our meeting.  so many people always claim to 'know' a celebrity, and when they see them again, they have to remind them of their name, place/date they met, the one sentence conversation or minor event they shared... and i don't often brag about my celebrity associations because of that fact (plus it's lame and nobody gives a shit to begin with); however, this is more than just a story about the time i 'met someone famous'.  this is about how someone famous met me.  how this amazing comic i admired pursued a chance to meet a fan, rather than give into a fan attempting to make contact with him.  this is just one more reason i think this man is one of the greatest comics ever to grace the medium.  

much love to zach, and a huge thank you for being a true fan of his fans.