Archive for August, 2011

Nine daily dispatches in this made-for-YouTube documentary. In other words, if you’ve been following my adventure, you’ve seen them already, but not like this. Instead of nine short video dispatches, the reports are woven together to make this one short film.

My adventure at Sturgis was a wild ride. Seemed appropriate to film my last dispatch while flying down the Buffalo Chip Zip Line.

It’s about not giving up. And for the stories.

Photo Credit: My friend and guest comic Tiffany Norton who just happened to be walking by.  She didn’t realize it was me at first. She said, “Look at that lucky guy.  Her husband said, “That’s Dwight.”

I am including an excerpt from The Big Risk, 2009.

One of the cool characters I met that night was Rupert Bonehom of CBS’s Survivor All-Stars fame. Sporting his trade-mark tie-dyed T-shirt, a dynamic personality and a likeability that’s even larger in life, Rupert was in full party mode and when I mentioned that it was my first time at the Buffalo Chip, he spent the better part of two beers assuring me that the next ten days would be among the most memorable of my life. Having this assurance from a guy who’d won a million dollars for “surviving” in paradise left no doubt in my mind that I was absolutely in for one fantastic time. Rupert promised me that I’d entered a partying-nirvana; that the campground was a very special, even magical place. “Whatever you need, the Buffalo Chip provides” he explained and provided colorful stories from past rallies (as if I needed proof). Though adequately intoxicated by the time I returned to my tent, it wasn’t easy falling asleep. Thoughts of needs ran through my head and I couldn’t wait for the “best party anywhere” to start and for the Buffalo Chip to provide.

August 7, 2011; Legendary Buffalo Chip Campground; Sturgis, SD.

Last night I was reminded of the reason I do comedy. But last evening’s adrenaline rush didn’t come from being on stage, it was the thrill I felt creating my video report. I filmed myself, arm reached out, talking to my camcorder in the middle of the crowd waiting for the Alice Cooper concert to begin. The bikers around me looked at me like I was a nutcase, but I didn’t care. The image I was capturing was cool and I was in the moment. It was hard to believe that I stood on that very stage, for a crowd like the one I was in the midst of, once myself. It was surreal and it was exciting.

Why do I love doing comedy for bikers? I understand their passion. I live dangerously too. Instead of riding motorcycles, I take risks telling jokes on stage.