The search for actor/raconteur/gadfly Andrew Koenig, our friend AK47, continues onwards. According to news reports, the police believe Koenig is alive and laying low. I fervently hope and pray and wish, along with "Never Not Funny" fans and humans in general everywhere, that this is the case.
Andrew, if you're reading this, you obviously know from my sidebar that I only just barely speak for myself. But that being said, I don't think I'm wrong when I say that, if you need to get away from it all, to sit in a cabin and think and write or do whatever, I don't think anyone would begrudge you that. All of us have that urge from time to time-to just chuck it and go.
My own late father used to say that-"I'm going to run away." That went from terrifying to amusing to annoying as I got older. Now that he's gone, and I am a worker and a father and a husband, I now understand in a way I never could before what he meant. It's All Too Much, as George Harrison taught us.
I don't know Andrew. I never met him, nor anyone who knows him, aside from shaking his brother in law's hand once after he performed in Philadelphia. I probably never will meet him, or Matt, or Pat Francis. Never get to buy them a beer, or a Diet Monster energy drink, or a hot sandwich.
But in this weird, boundary breaking world we live in now, I feel like I do. They talk to me once a week, provoking hideously inappropriate gales of laughter as I finish my paperwork after a long Thursday at work. I've heard them tell stories, and pun viciously, and sing off key, and do all sorts of silly things. So it feels like I know them, even though I know I really don't.
So Andrew, for what it's worth, myself, and my wife, and literally thousands of others who never met you but wish we could, want to know that you're ok. If you don't want to come back, I am sure everyone will understand. But please, just get in touch-let someone know you're alright. Twitter, Facebook, here, email, phone, text-whatever. You are valued. You are missed. You are loved.
Isn't it strange how we feel like we know people because of the connections on the internet? I've been listening to Never Not Funny since the beginning and I'm surprised at how much Andrew's disappearance is bothering me. My heart hurts, it just reminds me of when I was so depressed I tried to take my own life (as an adult, not in a teenage end of the world time of my life) and I want so badly to just take away anybody's pain when they get to that place. I remember thinking it would never get better, but it does, it really does and it's so worth reaching out and getting help. I also have a nephew called Oliver and I can't imagine him having to grow up without me, and I can't imagine missing him grow up. We all get wanting to run away, I just hope with all my heart he doesn't hurt himself and gets help. It does get better. My Mum keeps reminding me..."you have to stick around to see what happens tomorrow. What if you miss something amazing!?"
ReplyDeleteGlad to meet another NNF fan.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, we can all buy Andrew a hot sandwich (as long as he's wearing a hard shoe) in the near future.