Charlie Sheen's Tour Is Not Selling Out, After All

The official line on Charlie Sheen's ill-defined touring show is that he's been selling out venues around the country, and in record time. It's a great comeback story for the recently fired star of "Two and a Half Men" — or it would be, if it were true.

CNBC contributor Jane Wells has looked into the matter, and reports that, in fact, many tickets to Sheen's shows are still available. The tour kicks off this Saturday in Detroit, where, Wells found, there were many tickets to be had. Secondary ticket sellers seem to have bought the bulk of the inventory, but are apparently finding demand to be less than expected: When Wells checked on StubHub, she discovered that "many tickets are selling for LESS THAN FACE VALUE [emphasis hers, though I certainly endorse it]."

Secondary research by this reporter indicated that many good tickets — including deluxe "Meet & Greet" packages that allow buyers to interact directly with Sheen — are still available for shows in New York, Boston, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of Friday, there were still 1,449 tickets available on StubHub for the Detroit show — that's at least 28% of tickets remaining unsold. (A rep for Sheen declined to comment on ticket availability.)

It seems pretty obvious why audiences aren't flocking to see Sheen live. For one thing, we've seen plenty of him (some might say too much) on free media for the past month and a half. For another, potential attendees have no idea what, exactly, the show would consist of. Sure, there are many fans of the man's acting, but if he's not delivering sitcom lines, what is Sheen going to do? Sing? Do standup? Perform dramatic monologues? Rant at the audience like he did in his Sheen's Korner videos? Does any of that seem worth spending any amount of money on?

The bigger question is why any media outlet accepted the story of the tour's immense success. TMZ's source is unspecified, other than possibly Sheen's Twitter feed (and we can all make our own judgments as to his truthfulness).

So far, Sheen has not responded to Wells's story — not even to call her a troll.