TORONTO – Canadians hoping to make a profit off Charlie Sheen’s upcoming tour dates have, thus far, not been winning.
The volatile former “Two and a Half Men” star will perform in Toronto on April 14 and 15 and in Vancouver on May 2.
But Craigslist and Stubhub are already crowded with vendors looking to sell tickets at cost or below, and many of the hopeful sellers are reporting tepid interest — at best.
“It’s been a pretty tough go,” said 27-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont., resident Jordan Resnick, who has two pairs he’s trying to move at face value on Craigslist.
“(I’ve received) pretty much no messages. I’m hoping to get rid of them at cost so I don’t have a loss, but there might be a loss there even.”
The 45-year-old actor has been a fixture in the news for months, with his increasingly bizarre rants and public feud with the producers of “Two and a Half Men” dominating headlines and generating endless amounts of Internet chatter.
Some have worried for the health of the “Major League” star, who has been open about his drug and alcohol use, while others have elevated Sheen to something of a cult hero — or at least an endless source of amusement, repeating his catchphrases (“winning!” and “tiger blood” among them) ad nauseam.
Sheen launched his “My Violent Torpedo of Truth” tour over the weekend in Detroit to poor reviews and reports of fans booing and fleeing down the aisles.
His second show in Chicago seemed to go more smoothly (with a grateful crowd apparently lauding Sheen with a standing ovation), but those early reports have not helped build demand for his Canadian shows.
Those looking for refunds are likely out of luck. A representative for Live Nation, which is promoting Sheen’s show, said that ticket buyers can only get a refund within three days of purchase.
Tickets for Sheen’s Vancouver gig are still available on Ticketmaster, and while the Toronto shows are sold out, it wouldn’t take a warlock to track down available seats.
A 27-year-old Toronto government employee — who asked to be identified only be her first name, Jaclyn — is trying to sell four tickets to Sheen’s shows.
She’s a fan of “Two and a Half Men” and had originally planned to attend Sheen’s first show with her parents and boyfriend, but her father picked up the tickets for her and spent more than she wanted to — “This is double what I wanted to pay — it’s Charlie Sheen, y’know?” she lamented.
She ultimately decided to sell all the tickets at face value — and even that is proving a challenge. She put the tickets on sale before Sheen kicked off the tour and said she hasn’t received a single message from anyone interested in buying.
“Worst money I’ve ever spent,” she said with a laugh in a telephone interview Monday.
Jaclyn said that Sheen’s early reviews were not helping her case.
“Now I’m like, frig, there’s no way I can get rid of these tickets,” she said.
“I think people don’t really want to watch a trainwreck. It wasn’t clear what to expect. I just wanted to go for jokes. But I think now, it’ll be especially hard to sell. I’ll go because I don’t want to take a loss on it.”
“It’s kind of brutal. I’m out 234 dollars. … Losing!”
Resnick, meanwhile, agreed that the reports of mass walkouts in Detroit weren’t likely to stoke interest.
“I wasn’t necessarily getting emails previous to (the Detroit show), but it definitely didn’t help my cause — that’s for sure,” he said, laughing.
“I don’t know if it really did a lot of damage, but realistically, people who may have wanted tickets, maybe don’t now.”
“When I heard (about the reviews), I was disappointed too. For him to start the tour like that, it made no sense — to lose the actual people who are still supporting him through all this crap.”
Resnick was already planning on attending the first Sheen show with his dad, and hoped to sell the remainder of the tickets for profit.
“I may have to go to an extra show now,” he said. “My ticket costs were 125 bucks so I hope I don’t lose the 500 dollars. But what can you do?
“You gamble sometimes.”
