Last night was a Derby Dolls game that I wasn't skating in and the premiere party for Allen Gregory, the show I worked on in between Bob's Burgers seasons. How do I decide which to attend? I don't, I just go to both.
I worked the wine bar at the Doll Factory, which is usually staffed by fellow Fight Crew teammates, and last night was no exception. I got to hang out with Trixie Biscuit, serve wine to interesting people with interesting manners(my personal fave was the lady who asked me if I was a skater. When I said "yes", she asked how old I was. When I told her, she was so DELIGHTED. Very amusing.), and heckle everyone as they walked by. When our shift was over at the start of the game, I did some more heckling for the first half of the game(which turned out to be a helluva great game by Sirens and Tough Cookies), and then we had to take our leave to go to the Allen Gregory premiere.
Not a lot of the people that I work with were talking about going to the party, but I was intent on going because a) I never seem to go out unless it's derby-related, and that's dumb. And b) the party was held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, which of course is Old Hollywood, and therefore I'm definitely going because I love that type of stuff.
When we get there, I didn't recognize anyone immediately, so we wandered around, got drinks, and stuffed ourselves silly on food. The Dear Husband had his computer tablet with him, and so we ended up watching a lot of the second half of the Sirens/Tough Cookies game online while everyone else was doing whatever it is that people do at Hollywood parties.
After awhile I finally found people that I knew, and so was able to do a little bit of schmoozing. The loudest schmoozing I did was with designer extraordinaire, Craig Kellman. I worked with him back at Film Roman a million years ago, and not only is he super-fucking talented, but he's funny. VERY funny. We were talking and laughing loudly out on the patio, and of course drew annoyed/curious glances from the other party-goers. The most repeated glances was from Allen Gregory's co-creator, Jonah Hill. Yeah, that Jonah Hill. Once I noticed him being annoyed, I figured I'd try to get a photo with him. Of course that's when he disappeared.
DAMMIT.
While trying to stalk him, I hear a very familiar voice. I turn to look, and it's one of the other voice actors from the show, French Stewart. Yeah, the one who was on Third Rock From The Sun. I turn to the DH and quickly hiss, It's French Stewart! Get the camera out! I'm getting a goddam photo with him! and I immediately corner him and ask him if I could take a photo with him. I also quickly explained that I'm one of the board artists on the show so that he doesn't think I'm too much of a weirdo. His response was gracious, friendly, and warm. I did a little Snoopy dance when he agreed to a photo, and that didn't scare him off. He said, You guys all did a great job! several times in regards to the artists who worked on the show, and I told him I thought he was awesome.
French Stewart, his wife, and me:
French Stewart, me and the DH:
I was delighted to meet him!
After the highlight of the evening, the DH and I wandered the room a bit more, had a few more cocktails, and kept on the look out for Jonah Hill. At one point I came across one of the owners of the studio that does the production for Allen Gregory and Bob's Burgers, and I told him of my plan to get a photo. He said casually, I think he'd be happy to do it. By the way, he's right over there. and points to Jonah standing about fifty feet away.
WELL, ALRIGHTY THEN. I gathered the DH, handed him the camera, and up to Jonah Hill I stomped. I asked for a photo, and he gave an impatient sigh and agreed.
Ta-daaaaaa!
He left the party right after that, and the room cleared out quickly once he left. We grabbed our goodie bags(white wine and a wine glass with "AG" etched on it. All in a small canvas wine bag. Not too shabby!) and got the hell out of Dodge.
A rare night of balance between derby and day job worlds! It was worth the hangover I woke up with today.
