Hello friends!
It’s been awhile since I’ve sat down to write, and part of that is because I haven’t seen a movie recently that I’m excited enough about to write a whole post on. I’m thinking about writing up something about the 3rd season of Channel Zero on Shudder, because let me tell you it’s a wild and disturbing ride! HOWEVER, that’s not why we’re here.
We’re here because I met Nicholas Brendon on 7/6/19 (Saturday), and if that isn’t something that the internet needs to know about, I don’t know what is!
So, here’s the deal: if you aren’t a Buffy or Criminal Minds fan you may not know who I’m talking about, but that’s okay. I shall explain.
Nicholas (or Nicky as he goes by now!) played one of the main characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris. If you are a Buffy fan you know that over the last several year Nicky has struggled with substance abuse, depression, and has been in trouble with the law. When I initially heard that he had been arrested on domestic abuse charges I had pretty much made up my mind I was done with him.
However, I was unaware that he is now clean and sober and has made one of his primary goals to share his struggles with fans and help raise awareness about depression and mental health struggles. The “cancel” culture we live in is so dangerous and leaves no room for people to make mistakes, and then make up for those mistakes. I’m going to try to keep my soapbox short – but all I’m saying is, there are some things that warrant cancelling, however, a man who struggled with the disease of addiction and is now using his struggles to help other people is not one of those that deserves cancellation.
BUT NOW FOR INFO ON THE ACTUAL EVENT!
So Nicky has been doing the “Happiness Runs Amok” tour for awhile now, and I have to be honest when my mom first asked if I wanted to go while I was home over the weekend, I was rather ambivalent. I love Buffy, but when she first asked me I basically felt like I could take or leave it. But I am SO SO glad that I went. Nicky is one of the kindest people I have met, and he was so genuinely happy and appreciative that we were all there.
At the beginning of the event his PA/girlfriend, Sarah (and spelled the CORRECT way with an H!), ran through the list of everyone who was supposed to be there. She kept saying she wanted to be done before Nicky got there, and mentioned that he liked to learn the names of everyone at his events. I assumed he would just go through and ask names and that would be that.
BUT NO
Nicky took a good 20-30 minutes to go around the room, ask everyone’s name, connect it to someone that he knew, and continued to repeat all the names until he remembered them all. It was really amazing that he cares so much to, not just ask names, but LEARN ALL OF THEM. There were at least 40 people there, and he managed to remember every single person. (I’ll put up a video on my Instagram! @wickedlittleblog).
They then screened the musical episode of Buffy, “Once More With Feeling”, and he continued to mingle throughout the whole episode. He would quote his favorite lines, pop out to talk to the waitresses at the bar, tell little anecdotes about filming the episode, and he sang along to the entirety of Xander and Anya’s song “I’ll Never Tell”. After the episode he then spent about 15 minutes talking to us, and that’s when he was very honest with us about his struggles. I so admire people who use their past struggles to help other people, and not just to garner sympathy.
We got the lowest tier ticket because I’m a broke new graduate, my mom is in nursing school, and my sister has a 2 year old to worry about; so that meant autographs and selfies were $30 for us. I didn’t have the money to pay for a selfie, but my sister went ahead and got a selfie with him which I will also post on Instagram! However, when my sister was waiting to selfie with him my mom (sweet sweet Julie!) went up to him and, like a good momma does, told him one of the reasons she came was to support him and his recovery.
And you know what he did?
He put a hand on my mom’s back and said:”Let’s go outside and chat!”
He then proceeded to spend a solid 10 minutes outside with the three of us just talking about his past, and his career, and was just so sweet and friendly! It was better than any selfie.
So, I encourage you to check out what Nicky is doing now, and if he comes to your city or a city near by I would suggest going ahead and getting a ticket! Even the lowest tier ticket is worth it, and you won’t be sorry.
I’m going to stop rambling before this mini-post becomes a full post! Check out my Instagram for a some of the videos I took of the event!
Wicked Little Blog 
One reply on “Mini Post 3: Nicky Brendon Runs Amok!”
Thank you for this. I’m a Buffy fan, and I love your recollection of meeting Nicky. It shows that what we hear about someone in the media or through gossip is only the surface of the story (and that perception often can be wrong), and there’s a lot more to a person’s character below the surface–but that usually doesn’t interest the media because it doesn’t get as many clicks as the naughty stuff.
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