How crazy will this book signing be?
October 28, 2014 2:20 PM   Subscribe

I'm thinking about going to this John Cleese book signing at a midtown NYC Barnes & Noble. Is this going to be Black-Friday crazy, or merely annoying?

Wristbands are involved, apparently. They're giving them out at 9:00 for a signing that's supposed to start at 12:30. How early should I get there to get a wristband? Will there be a tickle-me-elmo style crush when the door opens? Am I going to have to wait in line for the whole time between 9 AM and 12:30?

I love John Cleese and this may be my only chance to see him in person, but I don't know that it's worth fighting a mob or losing half a day of work waiting in the cold. Thanks.
posted by PlusDistance to Media & Arts (6 answers total)
 
Best answer: The biggest mob scene book signing I ever worked was Kareem Abdul Jabbar. That was a huge line of people, willing to wait hours for a moment's meet-n-sign with the man. It was orderly enough, but they definitely had to spend a lot of their day doing this. The wristband and line system sounds like it's designed by people who have done this before (as I'm sure B*N in New York has) and it's there to keep things from getting Black Friday crazy. If they do the crowd control right, there will probably be no Black Friday crush, but you are going to need to wait in line three hours.
posted by thelonius at 2:31 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: In a lot of these situations, once you have the wristband, you can leave, but you are still going to be waiting in multiple hours of lines, both to get the wristband (I'd say get there before 7am to be sure) and then again once the actual signing begins.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:37 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Mick Fleetwood is there signing today.
I'd pay close attention to how that went. Seems similar in celebrity status, IMO.
posted by artdrectr at 3:06 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


I pass by there often and I agree with the others. Long lines outside *and* inside the store, orderly, no mob.
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:23 PM on October 28, 2014


Call the bookstore. They should have a general idea of how much craziness / delays to expect, based on the relative amount of phone inquiry they've gotten about this event as compared to others.
posted by jessicapierce at 10:45 PM on October 28, 2014


I work across the street from the B&N in Union Square and they have these sorts of events a lot. Longest lines were for Chris Colfer, James Franco and Hillary Clinton in recent memory. The lines wrapped around the block and people were there hours before B&N opened to get wristbands.

I think if you show up at 9:00 you may not get a wristband at all.

These events tend to be very orderly, nothing like Black Friday madness. The meet and greet / book signing usually has people line up row by row from the front to the back, so the closer you are to the front of the line when they let people in the better.
posted by Julnyes at 11:39 AM on October 29, 2014


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