In his weekly column for LateNighter, Chris “Wally” Feresten (aka the guy holding the cue cards To Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Seth Meyersand beyond) tells stories from his remarkable career. Do you have a question you would like Wally to answer in a future column? Send it to (email protected).

I didn’t get a chance to watch the Netflix documentary Will & Harper still, but I hear wonderful things about it. And I’ve worked with both Will Ferrell and Harper Steele SNL For many years I have been looking forward to seeing it and reuniting with my old friends.

Speaking of which, did you know that I performed with Will Ferrell at Carnegie Hall? Stop laughing – I’m not kidding! I actually took part in a comedy show with the very funny Will Ferrell at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Okay, I can tell you’re still a little skeptical. Allow me to start from the beginning…

Shortly after the horrific events of September 11th, a benefit comedy show came calling Stand up for New York was to be held at Carnegie Hall to benefit the Twin Towers Fund and the New York Police and Fire Widow and Children Benefit Fund. Will hosted the event, which also included well-known comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Colin Quinn.

Since the fundraiser was for a good cause, the tickets were very expensive and I didn’t have the money to attend. My brother Spike came to the rescue.

Jerry Seinfeld helped sell some of the high-priced tickets and politely suggested that Spike buy two, even though he was living in Los Angeles at the time. My brother, wanting to support the cause, bought the tickets and asked me if I wanted to take my wife to the show. I happily accepted and was thrilled to see all these great comedians perform – and also see Carnegie Hall for the first time.

We rehearsed on the Thursday before the fundraiser Saturday Night Live and I asked Will if he would perform. He told me that he was hosting the event. When I asked if he knew what he would say and do as host, he told me that he had been so busy working on sketches for this week’s show that he really had no ideas. I told him I would be there and jokingly suggested I would be available if he wanted to play a game of cue cards with me. He told me to ask him again on Saturday.

Saturday came quickly, as always SNL, and Will told me that he still had no idea what he was going to say or do and asked if I was still going. I told him and he asked what my idea for a cue card was. Luckily, I had thought about it and told him to come out and tell the audience that he wasn’t used to performing without help. Tell them he uses cue cards SNL and that he was lucky because Wally, who does the cue cards there, is in the building tonight.

“Call my name,” I said to him. “I’m sure my seats will be far away and high up so you won’t be able to see any of the cards I’m holding up. Carry binoculars in your coat and pull them out so you can see the maps better.”

Will thought it was funny and said, “Okay, if I’m a little desperate, let’s do it.” I asked him what I should write on the cards and he told me to write anything I thought was funny…anything no pressure!

After that conversation on Saturday, Will and I didn’t talk about the benefits at all since we were both busy doing our exercises SNL Tasks. Even if he had wanted to contact me on Sunday or Monday, that wouldn’t have been possible because he didn’t have my contact details and I didn’t have his.

On Monday I wrote a few cue cards that I hoped would be funny and headed to Carnegie Hall with my wife. She was skeptical that Will would call me, just like I was. But I told her if he did and I didn’t have any cards for him to read, that would ruin the whole joke.

I was extremely nervous as we took our seats on the fourth balcony, about ten rows up. As I suspected, we were very far from the stage.

The show started and Will came out, told a funny story and introduced the first comedian. After the first comedian was done, he came back out, joked a little, and then brought out the next comedian. I relaxed a little and thought that he would not do our part.

As the second comedian left the stage, Will walked on and basically said verbatim what I suggested to him: “I’m sorry if I seem a little nervous tonight, I’m a little out of my element. You see, at SNL We use cue cards and they really help you. But I just remembered that the guy doing the cue cards is here tonight… I hope.” Then he yelled, “Hey, Wally, are you out there?” That was my cue.

I grabbed the cards, ran to the front of the balcony and shouted, “Up here, Will!”

Two huge spotlights, one on the left side of the house and one on the right side of the house, were aimed at me and I was immediately and professionally illuminated. Will asked if I had brought any cards to help him and I replied that I indeed had and held them up. Realizing he couldn’t see the maps, Will reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the binoculars. There was a lot of laughter.

He read out the first card I was holding, which said, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” Will yelled, “Wrong show, Wally,” which got another big laugh.

I showed him the next card, which said, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” It’s the setup of that old joke where the punchline is “Practice, practice, practice.” But I thought it would be fun to just write the word “practice” on a card of my own – three times. So he had to wait until I had drawn each card to get the point.

I remember pausing a little longer on the last card, which caused him to pause a little longer before reading it. But when he did, it brought the house down with an outburst of laughter and applause.

He asked me if I had any more cards to read and I told him I didn’t. He thanked me, I went back to my seat and our play was over. I smiled at the success of an idea that was mine, as did my wife. It was an incredibly cool moment and has become one of my most common party stories.

When I saw Will SNL The following Thursday he gave me a big hug and told me he was so happy I was at the fundraiser. He told me he would trust me for the rest of our lives. I was happy that I stood up for him. My job as a cue card guy is all about gaining the trust of the host and cast and I work very hard to do just that.

I may not have been on stage at Carnegie Hall, but a comedy bit I dreamed up, wrote and got to perform with Will Ferrell was a small part of this wonderful fundraiser. Now you all know the whole story. So if I see you at a party, forbid me from telling you again – or don’t (I really love telling you).

If you would like your very own cue card written and signed by Wally, please go to cuecardsbywally.com and get all the information you need. It’s the perfect gift for the late night comedy fan in your life.