Last night, I got to see Eddie Izzard, one of the greatest stand-up comedians of our era. It was the "Stripped" tour. This guy has made me laugh for so long, I was very anxious to see him, and Gale was along for the ride. He also has a voice in the new "Narnia' flick, I believe.

The Venue: The Palace Theatre. I believe I say this every time I see a show there, But it is really a great place to see a show. I love everything about the joint, the layout, the architecture, even those big old urinals in the men's room.

The Tickets: Can't stress this enough, gotta get those presale codes, if available. The tickets were first row of the mezzanine, center left, on the aisle. Just behind those loges where I always wanted to sit. Terrific view.

The Crowd: This had potential to be ruined by those who fancy themselves as Izzard cultists. But the crowd was actually very respectful and not disruptive at all. For instance, he was going off about one of the ancient cultures saying, "and they formed a democracy..." when someone shouted, "Ciao!". Without missing a beat, Izzard said, "...where you could shout things like that."

Opening Act: No warmup act, because Eddie goes on for about two hours straight.

The Outfit: He had his "boy clothes" on this time. Black coat with tails, like a ringmaster, white shirt, jeans.

The Sound: I could hear him fine. Maybe missed a couple of words due to the frantic nature of his speech or accent.

The Stage: Had a nice backdrop depicting ancient times. You know, hieroglyphics and stuff.

The Comedy: I liked it very much. He got in a few anti-Bush jabs. He had his talking animal shtick down, focusing on giraffes and tigers. Of course, he mentioned badgers a lot. He still goes off on very funny tangents and then comes back with, "So, yeah..." to get back to the routine.

Jeff, Janine, Steve and Kenny were names he tossed out for characters, mostly animals. Lots of musings on religion and why he doesn't think there is a God. Some Noah (kind of a throwback there) and Moses shtick. Great stuff on the Stone Age. Obviously loves the iPhone and Mac products. Ancient Greeks and Romans got some play. Love for Wikipedia.

I laughed a lot and I'd like to see him get another comedy special out of it.

Meal of Links

From the department of: "If you thought gas prices were high". Now that it's almost summer, if I know I'm gonna be outside for a while, I need to wear some sunscreen. For years I have used Bain de Soleil Mega Tan with Self Tanner, SPF 4. I don't care that I've never been to St. Tropez. Anyhow, last year I didn't have to order any and have just a little bit left from late 2006. I usually get mine from Drugstore.com.

Today, I notice the low stock I have and decided to reorder. I go to Drugstore.com and they don't sell it anymore. WTF? Then I find out that Coppertone bought Bain de Soleil while I wasn't looking and apparently has discontinued many of those products. So, the search was on to perhaps find some online. Found a listing at Amazon.com and was ready to order a bunch, until I saw they were selling their last bottle for 195 dollars! Huh? No, I did not place an order. It must be "Gold, Jerry, Gold!"

Anheuser-Busch may get bought by some bloody Belgian bastards. But A-B may buy Modelo to make a bid less attractive.

Hey, there's another Mars landing. i had the NASA channel on yesterday afternoon, and apparently, there was a toilet crisis.

Keith Olbermann is mad about Hillary's RFK comments:



Exercise Yard

Jensen Lewis got sent to Buffalo today. That's not a disappointment to me, but this is another move that smacks of arrogance of Tribe management and why it's so frustrating, at times, to wonder what the hell they are doing there.

If you recall, Lewis' velocity was way down in spring training. But no, Indians management would not cop to it and even Lewis himself tried to say he never lets it rip fully in spring training, his velocity gets better as the season progresses. Well, what do we hear from Wedgie today? "We need the guy we saw last year." The velocity was between 85 and 88 mph with a 90 tossed in, while last year he could throw at 92 and 93. But I read this next line as another copout, because he probably got pressed about it. "But it's not just velocity. It's command." That smacks of we know more than you, silly people. See, it isn't just velocity. Ugh!

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10 Across: 1973 Grammy-winning jazz pianist (5 letters) Answer: Tatum