How was the tour? I'm so happy you asked

THE TOUR WAS SO AMAZING!!!!

So fun, in fact, that it's hard to share a reasonable number of photos with you in a relatively short post, so I'm sharing pictures from our Seattle show in this post, and from our LA show in another one. (Our shows in Portland and San Francisco were fantastic and off the wall as well, but we didn't get high quality photos of them. This is not middle part of the west coast discrimination.) All of these photos are by the incomparable Chona Kasinger, who I cannot recommend highly enough when you want to capture some magic.

Above: our producer Carolyn Kendrick shreds. Below: our editor Miranda Zickler croons. We began each show with music, and are excited to share it with you here in October.

Above: reading from Hunting Humans. Below: in conversation with my co-host for the Portland and Seattle shows, American Hysteria's Chelsey Weber-Smith. We talked about serial killers first. and then about spiritualism. It was a well-rounded evening.

Then we performed a little seance.

Hey, how'd they levitate that table?

Backstage, the slime is waiting. Make your choice.

After both flunking a pop quiz (which was built to be impossible because at some point I decided a public sliming was the only thing I truly wanted on this earth), we await our executioner, Jigsaw. Yes, Jigsaw was there. He looks a lot like my You Are Good co-host and our tour coordinator Alex Steed, but he's not. He's Jigsaw. Why wouldn't he show up at a live podcast event?

More photos coming soon. In the meantime, here's the poem I began each live event with, which is really a compilation of various Wikipedia synopses of Criminal Minds, because the more I thought about it, the more I felt it said everything I wanted to about how thoroughly bananas serial killer narratives have become over time.

Season 1 Episode 1, “Extreme Aggressor

When a Seattle, Washington woman goes missing and authorities connect her disappearance with three unsolved murders, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit sets out to apprehend the killer and rescue his latest victim.

Season 1 Episode 10, “The Popular Kids”

When a high school student’s body is found near Massanutten Mountain and his girlfriend is reported missing, the BAU attempts to determine whether or not the crimes were committed by a Satanic cult.

Season 3 Episode 2, “In Name and in Blood”

With Gideon missing, Hotch transferring, and Prentiss resigning, Strauss and the remaining members of the BAU set out to track down a Milwaukee, Wisconsin spree killer who cuts women’s hearts out with a chisel.

Season 3 Episode 19, “Tabula Rasa”

When a suspected Roanoke, Virginia serial killer wakes up from a coma and insists he doesn’t remember the crimes he committed four years earlier, the BAU relies on brain fingerprinting to determine if his claims are true.

Season 4 Episode 8, “Masterpiece”

When a narcissistic psychopath (Jason Alexander) obsessed with the fibonacci sequence confesses to killing seven people and claims that five more will die, the BAU attempts to locate his latest victims before time runs out.

Season 4 Episode 13, “Bloodline”

When a Harvest, Alabama couple is stabbed to death in their home and their daughter is abducted, the BAU determines the crime was committed by a Romani family enacting a ritual aimed at acquiring wives for growing sons.

Season 7 Episode 2, “Proof”

When two Durant, Oklahoma women are sexually assaulted and blinded with sulfuric acid, the BAU searches for a killer determined to exact revenge against a face from his past. Meanwhile, JJ confronts Reid about his recent behavior and Rossi organizes a team cooking lesson.

Season 9 Episode 18, “Rabid”

When three sets of human remains are excavated from a shallow grave outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the BAU attempts to track down a killer who infects his victims with rabies and films them as their symptoms worsen. Meanwhile, Garcia and Reid juggle preparing for an upcoming fitness test and keeping their plans secret from Morgan.

Season 10 Episode 15, “Scream”

When several Diamond Bar, California women are abducted and tortured, the BAU sets out to catch a killer who witnessed profound abuse as a child. Meanwhile, Kate becomes concerned when her niece Meg makes a date with a boy she met online.

Season 10 Episode 23, “The Hunt”

When Meg and her best friend are abducted while preparing to meet who they think is a teenage boy, the BAU hunts for a predator connected to an online human trafficking ring that caters to serial killers.

Season 15 Episode 6, “Date Night”

When a father and daughter are kidnapped in Washington, DC, Reid is forced into another confrontation with hitwoman Cat Adams (Aubrey Plaza), which threatens his date plans with Maxine.

If you were able to come to this event, or to any of the four shows we just put on, I cannot thank you enough for turning up and for taking a chance on a new idea. This first tour was our attempt to figure out if we liked doing this and if we wanted to do more, and the answer from all of us was a giant YES. The whole thing was a learning experience, and we can't wait to use what we've learned in our next dates. Thank you for coming to see us, and if you couldn't, thank you for being here. You are what makes the show great--you are what makes it possible at all--and rarely has that been clearer to me than during these beautiful, slimy nights. Where should we bring the slimebucket next?