Saving the World with Comedy

"Microphone with Flowers"

366 pieces  |  LEGO: 31172

Assembled by Rachel Deese, June 2025

Interaction Rating: 4 / 5 (interaction with the set is encouraged, but use extra care)

April 19, 2023 & August 5, 2023

Hunter took Sarah to her first-ever comedy show at the Sandman Comedy Club in Richmond on April 19, 2023. Hunter wanted to see the comedian Ben Palmer, whom Sarah had never heard of (but then again, she also couldn't name very many stand-up comedians in general). Hunter knew about him because he's a semi-famous internet comedian, but wasn't very familiar with his comedy. His brother-in-law, Steve, liked him and encouraged Hunter to go see him when he heard that Palmer would be in Richmond. They ended up in a balcony seat, overlooking the crowd below and the stage. The best part of the show was when Palmer recounted the story of how he created a spoof website made to look like Parlor (which was a social media site used by conservatives in the days before Truth Social took off), and ended up developing a relationship with former Congressman Ted Yoho when he reached out through a form on the fake website asking for help setting up his new podcast. From there, things became progressively more strange as Ted Yoho proved himself to be gullible and admitted to committing perjury on a recording. If you're curious, here's a link to the complete set, which was posted to YouTube in 2024, after the couple first saw the set at the comedy club. At the time, Palmer was still waiting to see if he would get sued (he didn't).

On August 5, 2023, the couple's friends, Vanessa and Mike, invited them to a community open-mic comedy night at Castleburg Brewery. Unlike the first comedy show they saw together with a professional comedian, this one featured local hobbyists competing for best act of the night, as measured by audience noise. There were some hilarious acts, with one in particular standing out in Hunter and Sarah's memory. They arrived at the show after it had begun, and the only seats left were really close to the stage. Usually, you'd want to sit close to the stage for a performance, but comedy is different. If you sit too close to the stage, you're liable to get picked on by a comedian doing crowd work. That's precisely what happened to Hunter, who was called on by one of the comics and asked to reveal his "kink" in front of the whole room of people. Hunter turned as red as a tomato and devolved into a fit of laughter that lasted the length of the comedian's entire set. The comedian periodically came back to Hunter and asked him if he could finally answer the question, which would spark off another round of laughter for Hunter until he was sinking into his chair and could barely breathe. The comedian could hardly believe his luck. He could point at Hunter's hysterical breakdown, and people would laugh with him (the comedian that is; they were definitely laughing at Hunter).

Oddly enough, both of these venues closed permanently in December 2023. Comedy really is dead.

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View of the Sandman Comedy Club from the balcony seats before it went belly-up.