I agree with Mike that this was a good night for Wally. Wally's annoying crybaby persona was still there, but Z-Man somehow made it seem part of the Wally character, rather than a reflection of the man above the marionette strings. The back and forth between him and the Greggulator (who seemed blitzed out of his mind) was fun, and Wally's "no Comment Sutra" line when Skeevy was asking him about the Kama Sutra, made me laugh. Wally was actually intentionally funny tonight, which has to be a milestone of some sort. Still unbelievably lousy at keeping the voice, though. Would like to have heard more from Mike and Skeevy, who were absolutely killing it towards the end of the show. Credit goes to Hatch for keeping things from going off the rails during that final segment.
A few people on Twitter also said I sounded hammered.
I was completely sober! In fact, I haven't had a drink in about two years! However, I will fess up to having had close to a pot of coffee before the show. And a ton of caffeine can trigger my mania. And I was also working a character, especially right at the beginning. So that's how to explain it. I can't even imagine how insane I must have sounded.
Anyways, last night was SO much fun!
The submarine's on the top floor of the studio. Hatch and everyone wanted to keep my appearance a secret from Wally, so I arrived late and was then stashed out on another floor while Z-Man and The H-Man were upstairs. Aside from a few moments with Maggie and Puloma, I was completely by myself, only keeping myself sane with backdated Rolling Stone magazines. I also threw a few red herrings on Twitter in case Wally was checking his account before the show to throw him off the scent.
I thought Wally/Z-Man hit a total home run last night. I had no idea how it was going to go with both of us in the studio together. I've also never met Zach and had no idea how that was going to work, either. But he did a great job with Wally and also switching into Z-Man and making them completely different. He stepped up and DELIVERED big-time. I'm really proud to have been a part of what I hope turns into a Wally Resurgence, since I genuinely love the puppet. My heeling on him was largely shtick, but I did think Z-Man lost a bit of direction with the character and last night I think he got that back and won a lot of people back to his side.
Also, if Twitter is correct, I managed to alienate a few listeners I won over with my appearance with my brother last night. This makes me happy since, when I'm in villain mode, that's part of my intent. I was a little bit in heel mode when I was on with my brother, but nowhere as near as I was last night. (And I hope everyone on here knows I'm not like that at all in reality! At least, I hope not!)
The Skeevey stuff was so incredibly warped. Mike was standing next to me when he was doing this and, for some reason, was making this Elvis pose whenever he did Skeevey. It was insane to stand next to that.
On a personal note, the Wally/Greggulator Summit comes at the absolute perfect time. I've been commuting between Philly and Manhattan for the past two years and stay with my parents in North Jersey a few nights a week to cut expenses. However, I got a job 20 minutes from my house that I start next week. This was literally the last possible time I could have done a summit with Wally, at least for a long while. And now, since the hatched with Wally/Z-Man/H-Man has been buried, I can move on to another target!
(One disappointment: My trolling of Zach from Richmond didn't work, but that might be for the best.)
The past few months have been really difficult for me since the commute has really bugged my wife for a bit. I haven't had too much fun or much of a social life. Having the honor of being in the studio twice this year, as well as becoming friends with a bunch of fellow Best Show die-hards, has really helped me out. This really is more than just a comedy show and it's awesome.
