A history of The Tuxes
Ok so time for another "get to know Ken blog post". I have fun writing these I hope you enjoy the read :)
If you happen to be in State College, PA this Saturday, you may catch a glimpse of two fine gentlemen wearing a bright orange Tuxedo and a bright blue Tuxedo, fashioned after those donned by Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in the movie Dumb & Dumber(R). (Update - the bachelor party may actually be dressed as The Blues Brothers(R) instead, but either way, The Tuxes are a fun story).
Believe it or not, if we wear them, this would be the 11th excuse I've found to wear said Tuxes and I've had 6 Harry's to my Lloyd along the way. The Tuxes have sort of taken on a life of their own.
You may ask why in the world do you own them? Of course there's a story, in fact maybe too many stories to tell, but at least here is the story of how I came to own them:
It was a dark and stormy night... and it all started Halloween of 2011. My friend Tom called me and asked if I'd like to come to a party he was invited to and to dress up as Harry & Lloyd with him. Without hesitation, I agreed. The tuxes came from a costume rental agency and when we got them we tried them on and all seemed well, but then the largest snowfall of the year happened the same weekend the party was scheduled for - it's rare for snow in October let alone the largest snow of the winter in our parts - so the party was pushed a week. This meant we needed to rent the tuxes another week. Fine. Whatever. I don't remember how much extra it was but it wasn't cheap.
So the party happens and although there was no official best costume contest, the host said if there was one, we'd have won. Rather than return them right away, on a whim I called the rental company and said "Well, we paid the original rental fee and the week extension fee, so at this point, how much would it be just to keep them?" The agent on the other end ran the numbers and said "That would be $40". I'm not sure how my excitement level sounded to that poor agent on the other end of the phone but in my mind I went all caps. SWEET!!! I'LL KEEP IT. I immediately called Tom and said "TOM! TOM! TOM! DON'T SEND THE TUX BACK!" and the legend began.
The history: (I'm not 100% sure on the dates or sequence here but it's close enough)
-Excuse #2 was I think early 2012. Our buddy Dan was moving to Denver and the going away party was to be a surprise and was disguised as a "Prom Party" so Tom (Harry#1) and I donned them again. For some reason, after the party Tom took his off to go out to a bar, and I couldn't be the only guy in a bright tuxedo, so I changed back to normal attire as well.
-Excuse #3 was Mardi Gras, in New Orleans, I think 2013. My sister lives there and a friend we've known for years happened to be a roommate of hers - Peter (Harry#2). I borrowed Tom's Tux and flew on down there and numerous shenanigans were had. I remember at the parade I would only collect beads that were tossed high enough for me to catch by spearing them from the air with the orange cane. After getting home I then dry cleaned Harry's Tux and returned it to Tom.
-Excuse #4 was for Andy's (Harry#3) bachelor's party...in Aspen! Pretty sure that was March 2014. We had thought this might be the best wearing ever, that it would be impossible to top wearing them in Aspen (same town as the movie was set if you didn't know), but you'll find out later that history confirms it is no better than the second best wearing. I'll never forget Andy's brother Matt's face when he walked in to dinner and saw us. His face went from "What the heck is going on" to "Oh my god that's amazing" in about 2.5 seconds. It was so easy to read his face at the moment he realized the awesomeness. Many fun times were had in Aspen, including dancing around on the streets to an impromptu concert featuring the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the lead singer from Skid Row and I think the guitarist from Jane's Addicition if memory serves. Again after getting home I returned Tux to Tom after dry cleaning.
-Excuse #5 was when Dumb & Dumber To(R) made it's debut, November 2014. We gathered a bunch of us and went to see it on opening night and why wouldn't we put the Tuxes on? Tom if you couldn't already tell, seemed to have outgrown the idea of wearing them so even though Tom came to the movie, good old Gordo, my Dad (Harry#4), jumped at the chance to dress up. The movie was meh, 5 out of 10 at best, but it had a few funny moments. I think at this point I stopped returning the Harry Tux to Tom.
-Excuse #6 was at our longtime family summer home, maybe Sept 2015. The end of season talent show (picture Dirty Dancing) had a theme that year of "Hollywood", so Dad and I figured why not and attended the show in costume. This made Gordon the second multiple Harry to my Lloyd.
-Excuse #7 was the number one wearing, and it's going to be hard to ever top. It was 10/31/2015. Tailgateoween we called it. My buddy from PSU and eventually my best man, Scott (Harry#5), wore them with me to the PSU/Illinois game. The rest is history.
We had stood up at every commercial break throughout the game and looked directly at the nearest camera well. The time before we were live the camera was pointed at us and the camera man made it seem like we'd be coming on but they didn't shift over to us I guess. Next TV timeout the camera was at us and the light was on. Had we known they were going to stay with us for as long as they did we would have done something other than smile and hold up #1 fingers. Oh well. No sooner than we sat down my phone started blowing up with texts, calls and emails, so I knew we made an impression. As my friend Matt quipped, we had "reached the pinnacle of costumes".
I will forever be grateful to Beth Mowins, the play by play announcer, for the "So you're saying there's a chance" line at the end of that clip.
Side note - I just so happened to meet my wife the very day before - our first date was 10/30/15. I figured if she could put up with my 15 seconds of local fame, she may be a keeper. She did, and she is!
-Excuse #8 was at my social club's annual golf outing. Yep, Scott and I played 18 in Tuxedos. Scott became the third multiple Harry.
-Excuse #9 was at the bowling alley also I think in 2017 - this was just that our league bowling night happened to fall on Halloween, so why not. Eric (Harry#6) still bowled well, Lloyd did not. Eric also gave Peter a run for the money on smallest Harry, he was swimming in it, but that didn't stop the smiles.
-Excuse #10 I had almost forgotten about and had to be reminded about by my wife (I had to admit she was right after photographic proof was brought forward). We hosted a small Halloween party in 2018 for family and friends and Gordon took the lead as Harry for the third time.
-Excuse #11 could be Harry#5's (Scott) Bachelor's Party 3/7/20. No stories from this for a bit yet (we'll wait until after the statute of limitations expires), but Scott would return to a tie for the the lead as a third time Harry to my Lloyd.
There you have it, the history of the tuxes. Tons of stories as you can tell but I just love how many people we can make laugh when we put them on and go out.
-LPL Financial and Jones Financial Group are not affiliated with any actors, movies or bands mentioned in this post.