Maximum Fun was had

“Papa Jesse, the benevolent colonel of the nerd plantation.” – Marc Maron

How do I even begin to explain this last weekend? I still feel all blissed out and dreamy about the whole thing.

Thursday night we left the house painting behind to drive down to Bear’s parents house, dropped off Atti with his grandparents, and kept on trucking out to the mountains of Lake Arrowhead to party with a bunch of people who care way too much about a variety of things, and all like to listen to the podcasts put out by the Maximum Fun organization.

I listen to a whole heck of a lot of podcasts during the week, and the ones that come out of Maximum Fun HQ never even make it to my ipod. They get listened to as soon as they show up in itunes. And I think what makes me like them so much is the thread of positivity that runs through all of them. Jesse Thorn is not a man afraid to criticize or call it how he sees, but he spends so much more of his time chasing after what he enjoys, rather than complain about what he doesn’t, and that kind of attitude is infectious.

The whole weekend was really an embarrassment of riches. Friday night there was a talk from Andrew WK, some hilarious sketch comedy from Kasper Hauser and Elephant Larry, then a concert from Jonathan Coulton. Saturday was podcast tapings from You Look Nice Today and Jordan Jesse Go, a variety of classes, a lecture from RadioLab savant Jad Abumrad, and then a standup show for the ages with Jimmy Pardo, Maria Bamford, Al Madrigal, and Marc Maron. And then Sunday brought more podcast tapings with the guys from Never Not Funny. I swear, someday I’ll be telling Atti about this as if it were woodstock.

Big social situations can be difficult for me, you know, with the anxiety and all, but by Saturday afternoon I felt like every person there was my friend. Everyone there was so creative and friendly and interested in other people’s creative endeavors. And what really blew me away was that the performers were the same way. I ate most of my meals with one or another of the performers and they were amazing.

People. I’m telling you. Try not to be jealous of me, but I ate dinner with three guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000. And when I say three guys, I mean Mike, Tom Servo, and Crow.

MST3K. The seminal comedy force that, along with Kids in the Hall, completely shaped what I find funny in this world. I managed to keep my comedy nerd-hood to myself during dinner, but that’s why I’m spilling it all over you now.

I took the afternoon craft class with Jenny Ryan of Home Ec, and they made the most adorable crosstitch patterns of the MaxFunCon logo. Jenny, Jessica and I had the best time letting our crafty nerd selves geek out all over the place, including giving an impromptu course on the importance of scissors and what types are best for each job. John Hodgman gave a welcome speech and gave a special shoutout to the craft nerds, and I was so excited to hear a huge WHOOP! come up from the crowd. Crafters are passionate people, even in a roomful of passionate people.

Bear was just the very best sport through all this. He’s not so much of an internet person, and not very much of a nerd. As most of us were discussing the inside jokes of fandom or our latest creative endeavor, Bear, totally out of his element, hung in like a trooper. I’m dragging him into this world whether he like it or not. It’s so rewarding, so full of uplifting, supportive, friendly and interesting people, that it’s for his own good. He still managed to have so much fun that before the second day was over he was talking financial planning to make it back the next year. And we will.