CONGRATULATIONS to Mercury account executive Anna Nelson, who luckily scored herself a ticket to Dave Chappelle's recently added shows at the Aladdin! As you all know, Portlanders were thrilled over Chappelle's surprise announcement that he would be coming to Portland—and less than thrilled when the tickets sold out in under three minutes. But then Portlanders were thrilled again when Chappelle added two more shows to his run, which went on sale at noon today. Everyone at the Mercury office was wondering, "Who would be the lucky person(s) to score a coveted Chappelle Golden Ticket™?" As it turned out, one of those people was the Mercury's own Anna. We interviewed her to see how she got so goddamn lucky.
MERCURY: As one of the few people who got tickets to Dave Chappelle’s show at the Aladdin, how do you feel?
ANNA: I am SO excited!! I was actually at Pioneer Square back in 2009 to see his free show, which was a total bust—so it will be nice to see him perform at a reasonable hour inside an actual venue.
How did you prepare to buy your ticket? Did you have a strategy going in?
I set an alarm on my phone, which was definitely not necessary since I’ve been staring at the clock all morning. Clicked the link as soon as the clock switched over, and I guess I got lucky.
Do you feel that the Mercury's constant tweets and blogs about the new tickets helped or hurt your chances?
I was bummed that we kept tweeting about it, because I figured that would lessen my chances. BUT I had no idea that Dave had added new shows until I read it in Blogtown. So as usual the Mercury has been both a blessing and a curse.
How has your life changed since getting the tickets? Are long lost family members suddenly calling up to ask how you are?
I chose not to immediately tell my friends and family. I figured it would take hours of deliberation to decide who to take as my guest. Although it only took two minutes for my co-worker to pop her head over my cube and offer me money.
Do you think Dave Chappelle has a mysterious factory where he makes all his jokes, and perhaps he’ll give you a tour of it, and if you don’t mess anything up along the way, he might end up even giving you the factory?
I have heard a rumor that there will be a tour of his joke factory before the 7 pm Friday show—which is the one I will be attending. If that is the case, then I solemnly swear not to sell any of Chappelle's jokes to Mr. Slugworth.
Do you have any words to say to those who tried but could not get a ticket?
Only that I apologize. I didn’t try to buy tickets the first time around, so I feel pretty lucky!
CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN TO ANNA (please don't kill her)!
