hello loyal blog reader! so if you don't already know who Arthur Kade is you should go to arthurkade.com right now and get acquainted with him before reading this post. (but don't read his latest post about Cartoon Network! spoilers!)

ok, so i've been following the Journey for about a month now and i'm completely obsessed with it. i show it to everyone, i watch the videos over and over, i bring up the homepage on friend's computers when they leave the room, i quote him constantly... you get the idea. late sunday night, i was over at gareth's and a bunch of us were talking about the Journey when i casually mentioned that according to his blog Arthur Kade was currently in Los Angeles and that's when everyone started freaking out, "dude, you have to contact him!" "invite him over!" "tell him your brother directed Kung Fu Panda!" "tell him anything!!" i was jet-lagged, drunk and high, so i said "OK!" and got to writing. about an hour later, with the help of the group, i had composed this email:




we all felt it was a pretty good email and so i hit send. then i went home and went to bed. i awoke the next morning like a kid on Christmas and was delighted to find a reply from Arthur:

Do you have a cell phone that you can be reached at?

AK

holy fucking shit! hells yes i have a cell phone. i sent him my number and then i waited. when would he call? i was freaking out. i forwarded his response to Gareth, Shelby, Jessica and Liza. "First contact!" we were all excited. then i contacted my friend Rebecca (who first told me about the Journey) and she freaked out and told some of her friends and pretty soon i was being bombarded with anxious texts every 30 seconds from people wanting updates. a couple hours passed and i was starting to go a little nuts. why was this taking so long? i decided to go to the bowling alley and take my mind off it. around the fourth game i started worrying that maybe my original email was too jokey and that Arthur might think i was fucking with him, so i wrote him a second email that was a little more professional and to the point.

hi Arthur,

Sorry to bug you, just wanted to let you know that I'm directing a voice record today from 2 - 5 in Burbank and if you wanted to come check out the studio, you're more than welcome.

- kent

30 minutes later i received this response:

I tried the number and I don't think it's right. If you want to call me I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxxx

WTF? i sent him the wrong number? i checked my email and sure enough i accidentally inverted a couple digits. AHHH! i felt like such an idiot. i went outside and called him immediately. he picked up and i said, "is this arthur?" he said, "yes." i said, "hi arthur, it's kent." he said, "hello....." i started babbling and apologizing for sending the wrong number and he chuckled and said he figured it was probably a couple numbers off. i asked if he was interested in coming to the record and he said he was. he asked how far Burbank was from LA and i said, "where in LA?" and he said, "just outside." so i gave him the address and he said he'd try to be there by two. i got off the phone and raced back inside the bowling alley. i could barely concentrate as i packed up my ball and shoes and got the hell out of there. i texted Jessica and told her what was going on and asked if she would come down and meet him in case he got there after the record started. she said, "absolutely i will!"

i arrived at the studio around 1:30 and sent Arthur this text:

Hey Arthur, so the zip of the studio is 91502. There's free parking on Palm, just down the street from the building. Don't worry about getting here right at 2, if you arrive after 2 just ask for Jessica Yost and she will come meet you and bring you to the record. Also I told reception to expect you so you shouldn't have any problems. See you soon! - kent

he replied immediately with this one-word text:

Perf

HA! holy shit, i can't believe he's coming! i sat in the lobby and waited. every time the intercom buzzed i got super excited. "is that him?" around 1:50, the actors started arriving and i gave everyone a heads up that i had a guest who'd be sitting in on the record. as i was trying to explain Arthur's blog, Brian Doyle Murray interrupted and said, "So what you're saying is he's crazy and he's going to be here." everyone had a good chuckle and went into the booth. holy shit, did i make a mistake? would Arthur come and make everyone uncomfortable? would he ask Brian Doyle Murray for a job? what have i done?

we started the record and i kept looking over my shoulder. when would he arrive? around 2:15 the door opened, i turned around and saw Jessica smiling at me and then, right behind her was Arthur Motherfuckin' Kade! yes! oh yes! this shit just got real. i quickly said hi and told him we were already going and asked him to have a seat and gave him a storyboard so he could follow along. he happily sat down and quietly watched the entire record. he was super respectful, and polite, he didn't really say much except for an occasional "this is so cool!" or "wow, everyone's so talented!" at one point we took a break and i was finally able to talk with him a little. he said he was really enjoying seeing how everything worked and i offered him some water and showed him where the bathrooms were. i asked if he needed anything and he asked for something sugary because of his diabetes, so i showed him where the cookies were and he grabbed three. i went to the bathroom and when i came back Arthur was explaining to Julie (our talent coordinator) how to use his camera. "Just press this button to start recording and when I say "Kade out" just press it again to stop." (holy fucking shit, he's doing a video right now!) i asked if i could be in it and he said sure. this was a dream come true.



the rest of the record went without a hitch. Brian was the first to get cut and I introduced him to Arthur as he was leaving. i had the feeling that Arthur didn't recognize him. later i told him that Brian co-wrote Caddyshack and Arthur said, "Really?! Is he still here?!" i felt bad telling him that he was long gone, but i was also relieved because i'm still a little terrified of Brian. when Roz Ryan (who plays Bubbie) was leaving, i introduced her to Arthur and she stopped and removed her sunglasses. "Look at your arms!" she said, and Arthur flexed and smiled and told her he was from Philly. "Home of Will Smith" he added.

after the record he asked if he could take pictures and i said sure, so he went into the booth and sat down and put on some headphones and posed. (i took the picture!) then i brought him up to Jessica's cube and that's where he recorded his second video.



i thought Jessica was a lot better than me at hamming it up and playing along. (i was just a grinning idiot) then Jessica and i showed him around and he kept telling us that we should make a cartoon about him. we introduced him to some other people in the office, "hi nice to meet you," "nice to meet you too, you should make a cartoon about me." at one point he said very loudly, "i wish i worked here because you guys do nothing all day!" (?!?!) then we brought him into Thurop's office and asked if he could make a video with Thurop. Thurop looked at me like, "What the hell is going on?" (i didn't really prepare Thurop for this, it all happened so fast!) anyway, next thing i know, i was shooting Arthur's third video and i think you'll agree it plays like an incredibly uncomfortable vaudeville sketch. (sorry Thurop, but you're now a part of the Journey)



we didn't know what else to show him so we kept walking around in circles. finally i walked him outside and we chatted on the sidewalk for a bit. he asked me what i really thought of his blog and i told him i thought it was amazing and that he was really smart for making the videos so short so you can watch them over and over and that i was impressed that he doesn't have ads or edit any of the comments from the people who hate him. i rattled off some of the videos i liked the most and i even quoted a couple and he looked surprised that i knew them that well. he said he had to get going and i invited him over to Gareth's to play ping pong on Wednesday and he said he might. then, in a single glorious move, he shouted, "Kade out!" spun around and disappeared around the corner. it was then that i realized that i didn't get a picture of us together. GOD DAMMIT!

after that i left work and headed to Silver Lake Wine because they were having a tasting. i texted Liza and Shelby and they came down and i started filling them in on everything that happened. while i was in the middle of the story, i pulled out my iphone to check his blog and DUDE ALREADY BLOGGED ABOUT IT!!!! seriously, this was like an hour after he left and he managed to blog faster than i could tell the story. Arthur Kade is amazing.

reading the post a couple times, i noticed two minor mistakes so i sent him this text:

Hey dude, just saw the blog. Awesome! I can't believe I'm now a part of the Journey! Just a couple minor corrections (if u care about that) Brian Doyle Murray co-wrote the original Caddyshack (not sure about 2) And there's no U in Osborne. Other than that, genius!

this time i received a two word reply:

Ill change

we couldn't watch the videos at the tasting because it was so noisy, so we all went to our respective homes. on the way home i called Kevin (who is equally obsessed) and here's how our conversation went: (keep in mind Kevin is not on FB and had no idea that this was all going down)

Me: Hi Kev
Kev: Toes! (this is Kevin's nickname for me) how are you?
Me: Are you near your computer?
Kev: Yes. Why?
Me: You should go check Arthur's blog and call me back.
Kev: (laughing) What?
Me: Just go.
Kev: Toes! What did you do?!?!

i think this was the most awesome part of the day.

the comments started pouring in and people were immediately accusing us of fucking with him. i wasn't sure how to respond. were we? is it that cut and dry? sure, like most people, when i first saw his blog i couldn't get over how full of himself he was/is. his Kade scale is hilarious. (he wouldn't fuck Julia Roberts?!?!) and the way he speaks in superlatives is unsurpassed. ("Saucony was the premier running shoe of the 80's" "People say this is the best picture ever taken of anyone.") as i became further and further immersed in his world, i went through various stages of disbelief; "holy shit, is he for real? no, he can't be, holy shit, he is. no...wait, he's not. holy shit, he is!" i can now say, that after meeting the man, he is absolutely for real. (or maybe he's not) but what i am sure of is that somewhere along the line i went from laughing at him, to being completely in awe. say what you will but there's a million blogs out there that no one ever reads (like this one!) and there's a billion actors who would kill for the kind of exposure that he's generated all on his own! people give him so much shit and he doesn't care. he gets hit over and over and will never fall down. the man is a fucking champion.

osborne out!