Dancing Barefoot by Wil Wheaton Page B

When I write a sketch, I always end it with a big laugh, or a big surprise and the
     lights must then immediately come down. If there’s even a three second lag, it can ruin
     the whole scene.
    [ 4 ] In sketch comedy, when you do well, you “kill” when you do poorly, you “die.” We
     comics are obsessed with death, I guess.

Appendix A. Acknowledgments

    When he sits down and commits some thoughts to paper, an author makes the bold assumption
     that a reader will spend her time (which could be spent a thousand other ways) taking the
     journey he’s laid out.
    The road from assumption to realization is long and complicated, and I could not have
     successfully navigated it without these people:
    Dan Perkins said to me, “You know, you should write a book. . .”
    Andrew Hackard edited that book, Just A Geek , from which these
     stories were excised. Without Andrew’s guidance and encouragement, I wouldn’t have gotten past
     the title page.
    Bobby The Mat edited the Saga of SpongeBob Vegas Pants, and helped me find the beginning
     that I so desperately needed.
    My family (the one I grew up with and the one I made myself) participated in the real-life
     events that inspired these stories, reminded me of stuff I’d forgotten, and didn’t get upset
     at the stuff I left out.
    Thumper introduced me to DeHart’s printing, where Wendy patiently answered all my stupid
     questions.
    Travis Oates taught me how to write sketch comedy, helped me overcome my fears of not
     being funny, and has been a treasured, faithful, reliable friend. He also wrote the awesome
     one-line descriptions of all the stories that’s on the back cover. And he told me to include
     an introduction.
    Stephen King wrote stories I liked to read when I was a kid. One of those stories became Stand By Me , in which I played a writer – more than just a coincidence,
     it turns out. Before I started writing this, I read his book On Writing ,
     and the information he shared in those 288 pages made all the difference.
    Oingo Boingo, Underworld, Cake, Radiohead, The Ataris, and Scratch Radio all provided
     music to silence the rest of the world while I worked. U2’s cover of the wonderful Patty Smyth
     song “Dancing Barefoot” provided me with a title.
    My wife, Anne, patiently supports everything I want to do, whether it’s writing a book or
     playing in the World Series of Poker.
    Aunt Val loved me my entire life, and probably still does. I wish you could read this. I
     know you’d be proud.

Appendix B. About the Illustrator

    Ben Claassen III is originally from New Orleans, but currently lives in Washington, DC. He
     has been drawing big foreheaded people without noses for a very long time. He stays up every
     night ‘til the wee hours of the morning with ink all over his fingers, dreaming of life in a
     castle on the beach with a swimming pool moat around it and an underwater pirate bar that
     would have a talking parrot for a bartender. The parrot would wear a small blue tuxedo and
     would be able to speak French, German, and a little bit of Japanese.
    Ben likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, people who send him drawings of monsters,
     and dancing lemurs with tiny red cowboy boots. He can be contacted through his website, bendependent.com , or through killoggs.com .

Appendix C. About the Author

    Wil Wheaton started acting at age 7. As a teenager, he starred in the Academy Award
     nominated classic, Stand By Me , and the television series Star
     Trek: The Next Generation . After leaving Next Generation in
     its 4th season, he went on to star in several award-winning independent films before taking an
     extended hiatus from acting to write fulltime.
    His website, wilwheaton.net, won weblog of the year in the 2002
     bloggies, was named Best Celebrity Weblog by Forbes.com in 2003, and is
     read by a global audience of over one hundred thousand people a week.
    He