W00TSTOCK!

[FredHuggins]

I just got back from seeing W00TSTOCK 2.6 at Largo At Coronet in Los Angeles. Holy smurf, what an amazing show. Dr. Demento, Paul & Storm, Chris Hardwick, Mike Phirman, Garfunkel & Oates, Adam Savage of Mythbusters, Eric Schwartz, Molly Lewis, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and a surprise guest appearance by AL!

Here's how it went down: throughout the show, Dr. Demento played excerpts from various Dr. Demento Show hits - "Fish Heads," "Dead Puppies," "Another One Rides The Bus" etc. Then towards the end, he said "I have one more song, and this is the only song I actually sing." Then he brought all the guests back on stage to back him up, asking "Can anyone who knows this song accompany me on it? Anyone?" And then suddenly AL jumped on the stage, accordion in hands, to applause that can only be called riotous. He proceeded to play (of course) "Shaving Cream" on accordion, with Dr. D singing lead vocals and all twelve guests singing background vocals and swaying like pirates. Al was clearly resting his voice from all the recording this week, but his accordion playing was flawless as always.

And that wasn't even the end of the show! The show ended with a wildly digressive, inhumanly hilarious 26-minute version of Paul & Storm's "The Captain's Wife's Lament," performed by Paul, Storm, Chris Hardwick and Adam Savage. This had to be the best show I've ever seen in my life. Smurf, at one point Adam Savage sang Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" with Mike Phirman on piano, and even that was maybe in the top five greatest things of the evening. THAT'S how crazily amazing W00tstock was.

Al stuck around long enough to take one final bow at show's end, but did not stick around for the after-show meet-and-greet with Paul, Storm, Hardwick, Phirman, Lewis & Schwartz. For those who missed it, never fear - the audience was encouraged to videotape the proceedings, so it should be popping up on YouTube soon!

[minnick27]

That is awesome! I really wanna see the elements performance

[FredHuggins]

Here's a nice still pic from the event.

[Wizzerkat]

I have wanted to go to one of these but alas none come around my way

[Big Spoon]

That sounds awesome! I hope a good video surfaces of the event soon.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I'm now even sorrier I missed this, but my transmission is being rebuilt at the moment.

[TMBJon]

How'd you find out about this, Fred? Was it in any way advertised that Al might show up, or were you totally shocked?

[FredHuggins]

Al's appearance was not advertised whatsoever. I first heard about it on Chris Hardwick's Twitter, and I attended for Dr. Demento more than anything.

I admit I wasn't totally shocked. More like 90% shocked. I knew that Al had made a surprise appearance at one of Hardwick's live Nerdist podcast tapings at the same venue months ago, so the possibility did cross my mind. But I was determined not to get my hopes up, since the lineup was stellar enough for an amazing show with or without Al.

[FredHuggins]

Sorry to double-post, but...

[amzo39]

Wow Al at w00tstock! That is pretty awesome!