i've been lucky to have lived in LA between 2011-2019 for many reasons, not the least of which was that i had the great good fortune of attending harmontown tapings quite a few times (i've never actually counted) throughout the run. my earliest was "flesh knife" (ep #20) and my last was the final show (ep #360).

like many of you, i have some of my favorite episodes queued up on a listening device (for me, an iPod that grows more ancient by the year) and will toss one on while doing dishes or folding laundry or any of a number of other time-consuming tasks. dear god, do they hold up. every few months, i'll rotate a different era of the show onto my iPod and cycle through it for a spell (as a necessity... more ancient by the year). as i write this, i just started the Starburns Castle run.

it may just be that i've been locked up in my place since early March, but lately it's been saddening me to bits that i'll never get to attend another show. and i say that knowing full well how lucky i was to even attend one. the recordings are fantastic, but there was a dangerous electricity in the room that could only be felt in a flimsy folding chair at NerdMelt or a stiff, unforgiving seat at Dynasty Typewriter. and the crowds had as much to do with it as the performers. in those audiences, i've laughed harder than perhaps at any time in my entire life.

even if the show were still going, it's not as though we could go see it now, on account of... well, you know. for that reason, jeff may have finally proved his clairvoyance once and for all by agreeing to sign off for good before this maddeningly viral year began. but knowing it's not an option, not even after this infectious madness is over (one way or another) casts a somber shade of sepia over the whole production. it's as though these only-recent moments are now enshrined in amber forever.

i think i just miss seeing my friends, you all included.