Laughter is the best medicine

In these days of depressing news, ultra-high stress levels, and ever-rising prices for food and gas and everything else, I've found I have a need to laugh more than I used to. I've never been too big on stand-up comedians, though, until now. I have found one that reigns supreme in my mind. He's British, a VERY fast talker, and a VERY fast thinker. Probably one of the most intelligent people I've ever seen. You can tell half of his shows are just made up as he goes. He's a little Robin Williams like, but not so schizophrenic and MUCH funnier.

His name is Eddie Izzard. Here's his rather colorful website. Did I mention he's a transvestite? It just adds to his overall charm, in my opinion. He's also acted in some movies, including Oceans 12 (he was the rather colorful inventor). We're waiting for him to do a show in Dallas, but I think he may be afraid to tour in the Bible belt. With good reason, I might add.

I guess all stand-ups have a talent for taking the mundane and pointing out the humor and ridiculousness of it all. Eddie has a penchant for history. His skits have included subjects like why Hannibal chose elephants to invade the Romans - basically because the supply shop was out of snowshoes or skis; the conversation God had with all the different animals on methods of procreation - almost all of them were assigned "doggie-style", except the poor salmon, who had to swim upstream for miles and jump up waterfalls to multiply; and one of my favorites, a summing up of all the letters Paul wrote to the Corinthians, with the Corinthians basically wondering who in town started writing this busybody in the first place. Everytime we have a reading in Mass from Paul's letter to the Corinthians, Jav and I have to concentrate to keep from cracking up.

He's not just intelligent, though, he's silly and laughs at himself too. So you never feel like you're watching a high-brow know-it-all. The man just makes me laugh - really, really hard. Everybody needs a good belly laugh, especially these days. I always feel loads better afterwards.