Introducing Matt

I have seen Matt naked,  but who hasn't?

This story is an office favorite.  Sorry if you have already heard it. 

He's a singer, an actor, a musician...  Matt is an entertainer.  Matt is also a sweetheart and a lovely supporter of the arts.  There are a ton of performers at our office, which means there are a ton of performances to see, which means you could go broke supporting your buddy's Iron Maiden tribute band.  As a performer myself, I feel the need to make my gigs stand above the rest in hopes that I can get a crowd to gather.  $15 is a lot to ask of your friends who are strapped, but I shelled it out to see Matt in "Hair".  And I always feel bad for asking people to pay cover and adhere to the two-drink-minimum at Andy's, but a handful of people have shown up.  Anyway, what I'm saying is, you have to wake up pretty early in the morning to encourage people to come to your show, and there really should be some pay off.

So, I was going to have a gig at Horseshoe.  I needed to get people in the door in order to get future gigs there.  It was a free show, but I felt that our coworkers needed more encouragement to show up.  A flyer got some attention, word of mouth always works, but I made tickets.  They looked pretty good, too.  I printed out generic-looking business card-sized passes.  They had phrases like "Admit One," "Void if Duplicated," and "Lot #0668243."  We put a little pile on our desk, and told people there were a limited number them.  Then the fun began.

People started grabbing them left and right, planning which friends they would bring along, placing them back in the pile when there was a cancellation, everyone seemed very excited to have a free pass.  It was a great marketing scam.  No one ever asked how much this (free) concert would cost without a ticket.  Matt, knowing the value of a comp, only took his fair share, but was excited to see the show for free.  As the week went on, people were buzzing, and the tickets were gone.  I promised to try to get some more, but couldn't make any promises.  Gig day was coming up, and Mark and I estimated we could get about 30 people in the door to this thing. 

The day of the gig comes up, and people are buzzing.  Mark and I are giggling because we have fleeced the entire bunch.  Mark goes for a smoke break.  Mark comes back to the office cracking up.  He tells me that Matt cornered him in the smoke room, desperate.  Matt apparently pleaded with Mark to "score some more comps, man." 

Matt was a very good sport when he arrived at the venue and realized he never needed a ticket at all.  We all had a good laugh.