James Acaster’s decision to “hijack” his chat with Seth Meyers to promote a record store appearance paid off.
Acaster’s recent visit to Late Night saw him repeatedly refer to a February 8 Q&A event at Wax Trax Records in Denver, where he would discuss his musical project Temps with one of his collaborators, Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp.
As a result, Wax Trax was swarmed by “hundreds” of visitors to see the English comedian on Sunday.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Acaster dilligently delivered a slew of pitches for the event, all as Meyers tried to talk about a trip he’d taken to London. (Acaster hails from Kettering, Northamptonshire, England.)
“Wax Trax. Denver, Colorado. Eighth of February,” Acaster interrupted. “Half one. 1:30… Wax Tax record store. I’m doing a Q&A.”
Acaster went on repeat the date, time, and location, explaining that “because I don’t have social media, they’re very worried that people aren’t going to show.”
“I promise, I’m only going to half-answer all of Seth’s questions,” Acaster told Late Night viewers. “If you want to know the full answers, you gotta come to Wax Trax. Put your hand up and ask the same question that Seth did, and I promise I’ll give you the complete answer.”
Acaster weaved several more mentions of the event into his Late Night sit-down.
According to Wax Trax, the abundant on-air shoutouts were above and beyond anything they had asked of the comedian.
“I’m personally a big fan of James Acaster, and I have been for a while,” Delaney Schoenfeldt, Wax Trax’s Marketing and Events Director, tells LateNighter. She notes that she had only asked Acaster’s team if he could mention the appearance during his Denver tour stop the day before the Q&A—with a “no worries if not!” thrown in. (Acaster indeed did so, during his sold-out Denver show on Saturday.)
When Acaster’s Late Night segment aired, Schoenfeldt was flooded with texts and emails. On Instagram, the store called the flurry of Late Night mentions “very unexpected,” then began preparing for a crowd—warning attendees that they were “expecting a huge turnout” for the event.
With limited space at its Capitol Hill location, the shop set up an overflow area outside with a makeshift video broadcast of the event for those who couldn’t fit inside.
“HEAR THE FULL ANSWERS,” read a sign over the store’s entrance—just one of several ways that Wax Trax peppered references to Late Night into the event.
On Late Night, Acaster had suggested he might turn the tables during his record store Q&A. “I should have promoted [Late Night] at Wax Trax, so that the Wax Trax people would watch this,” Acaster told Meyers. “Because actually, this is severely under-promoted, my appearance on [Late Night].”
As it turns out, Wax Trax helped Acaster stay true to his word.
“I said in the beginning that this event is happening to promote James Acaster’s appearance on a little-known show, Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Schoenfeldt quips.
Acaster had shown up for his Late Night interview decked out in the show’s merch, prompting him and Meyers to joke that he might similarly show up to the record store in a “Wax Trax onesie.”
Wouldn’t you know it: Wax Trax on Sunday presented Acaster with an actual onesie bearing the store’s logo.
Acaster’s Late Night rallying cry also became a catchphrase. “The whole day, there were people just shouting, ‘Wax Trax! 1:30! Denver, Colorado!’—all day in line,” Schoenfeldt reports. “We had a car drive past and shout it at us.”
After the event, Schoenfeldt asked Acaster why he wound up devoting so much of his Late Night appearance to Wax Trax. The comic’s answer was simple: “I don’t know. I thought it would be funny.”
Wax Trax plans to release video from Acaster’s visit on their YouTube and Instagram pages soon.
Watch his February 4 Late Night visit below:
Pure gold. James is a real gem of a human and I am so pleased to see him gaining more and more traction =)