In his weekly column for LateNighter, Chris “Wally” Feresten (aka the man holding the cue cards on Saturday evening live, Late Night with Seth Meyersand beyond) shares stories from his remarkable career. Do you have a question you’d like Wally to answer in a future column? Send it to (email protected).

I haven’t had a chance to watch the Netflix documentary yet Wil & Harper but I hear wonderful things about it. And I’ve worked with both Will Ferrell and Harper Steele on SNL I’ve been looking forward to seeing it and reconnecting with my old friends for years.

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 routine with the very funny Will Ferrell at the very prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Okay, I notice you’re still a little skeptical. Allow me to start at the beginning…

Shortly after the horrific events of September 11, a benefit comedy show was broadcast Stand up for New York was to take place 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 included major comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Colin Quinn.

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

Jerry Seinfeld helped promote some of the expensive 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 if I wanted to take my wife to the show. I happily accepted and was excited to see all those great comedians perform – and also to see Carnegie Hall for the first time.

We were rehearsing the Thursday before the benefit Saturday evening live and I asked Will if he would perform. He told me he was hosting the event. When I asked if he knew what he was going to say and do as host, he told me that he had been so busy making sketches for the week’s show that he really had no ideas. I told him I would be there and jokingly suggested that if he wanted to do a cue card piece with me, I would be up for it. He said I should ask him about it again on Saturday.

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

“Call my name,” I told him. ‘I’m sure my seats will be far away and high so you can’t see any of the cards I’m holding up. Keep a pair of binoculars in your jacket and pull them out so you can see the cards.

Will thought it was funny and said, “Okay, if I’m desperate, we’ll do it.” I asked him what I should write on the cards, and he told me to write what I thought was funny… no pressure at all!

After that conversation on Saturday, Will and I didn’t talk about the benefit at all because we were both busy doing our SNL duties. Even if he had wanted to check in with me on Sunday or Monday, he wouldn’t have been able to because he didn’t have my contact information and I didn’t have his.

On Monday I wrote some playing cards that I hoped would be funny and went to Carnegie Hall with my wife. She was skeptical that Will would call out to me, as I did. But I told her that if he did, and if I didn’t have cards for him to read, it would ruin the whole joke.

I was extremely nervous as we took our seats on the fourth balcony, about ten rows back. 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. He came back after the first comedian was done, made some jokes, and then brought out the next comedian. I started to relax a bit, thinking he wouldn’t do our part.

As the second comedian left the stage, Will came in and said word for word what I had suggested to him: “I apologize if I seem a little nervous tonight, I’m a little out of my element. See, op SNL we use cue cards and they really help you. But all I remember is that the guy who makes the cue cards is here tonight…I hope.” Then he shouted, “Hey, Wally, are you there?” That was my signal.

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

Two huge spotlights, one on the left side of the house and one on the right side of the house, swung towards me and I was immediately professionally lit. Will asked if I had brought any cards to help him and I replied that I did and held them up. Noticing that he couldn’t see the cards, Will reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the binoculars. There was a lot of laughter.

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

I showed him the following map, which said, “How to get to Carnegie Hall?” It’s the setup of that old joke where the punch line is, “Practice, practice, practice.” But I thought it would be funny to just write the word “Practice” on his own card – three times. So he had to wait for me to pull out each card to get the punch line.

I remember pausing a little longer on the last card, which made him pause a little longer before reading it. But when he did, the house collapsed with an eruption 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 part was over. I was all smiles at the success of an idea that was mine, as was my wife. It was an incredibly cool moment and has become one of my frequent 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 there at the benefit. He told me he would trust me for the rest of our lives. I was glad I came to see him. My job as a cue card man is all about gaining the trust of the presenter and the cast, and I work very hard at that.

I may not have been on stage at Carnegie Hall, but a comedy piece I created, wrote and had the opportunity to perform with Will Ferrell was a small part of that wonderful fundraiser. Now you all know the full story. So if I see you at a party, make sure I don’t tell you again – or don’t (I’m happy to tell).

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