Original Commentary

Yes, it's a real thing. Hamlet was first published in a bootleg edition in a much shorter format. But I used to do that, to intend to go do cultural things that I didn't necessarily find interesting or enjoyable. Hence my brief fascination with free jazz and Inuit double-fiddle jigs. My interest in free jazz lasted about until I started actually listening to it. I got three disks into a John Coltrane box set before realizing that I didn't enjoy it at all, and decided that no matter how cool it may be to listen to free jazz, it wasn't worth the price of actually listening to free jazz - Terrence

Modern Commentary
When you're a cartoonist on a schedule, there's worse hooks than "Here's a cool thing I found out about"

Was Kimberly's "people who can get us anything bootlegged" a reference to a shady ex-boyfriend who never materialized? Might have been. We definitely could have been considering it. - Terrence