Kathleen Madigan

Short, Irish, Catholic (duh), and funny as hell. I was surprised when I saw Kathleen Madigan on Last Comic Standing, thinking she was too famous for a reality competition. I've seen her on Comedy Central and she is a regular on XM's Laugh USA.

I'll be honest: at first, I didn't like her much. Can't place why, exactly. Maybe she was too irreverent ("I'm Catholic, so I don't read the Bible."). Maybe it was her voice. Maybe it was the way she talked about Mexicans.

But she's right-- the priest isn't married, so the least he can do is give the rest of us a book report once a week! And she's from the Midwest-- I couldn't make it through the first half-hour of Fargo, and by comparison her accent isn't so bad. And really-- she's actually pointing out how silly we are as a country about the "dreaded mexicans" who take our jobs and whatnot.

Isn't that the point-- that we learn how to laugh at how serious we're being? That we take issues that divide us, and unite over the abject stupidity of it all? It is possible to take issues seriously, but then take a moment to step back and take it not-so-seriously. The people who can't do that (and I know these people, and so do you) are very hard to be around.

Now that I am thinking of this upcoming holiday, filled with family, traditions, and the occasional drama, perhaps it is best to enter the situation focusing on what makes others laugh. The fact that they can at all is the best starting point. (Oh, and the New York radio station Q104.3 still plays "Alice's Restaurant" at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Tune in, stream live, or find it elsewhere for download. It is well worth the listen, and a tradition that should go on ad infinitum.)

Craptacular blog attendance

On the fact that I stopped writing...

I never thought I would have to wait this long in life to have a shitty year. Lost one job, spent countless hours looking for a new one, only to be disappointed at nearly every turn while at the new one. Met some awesome people along the way, but the crap economy forced me into redundancy. So it's been several months with no job-- still looking though. Finding ways to laugh has helped. Being the accidental Stay-at-Home Mom has helped. The humor streaming live from my childrens' mouths is probably the hottest ticket around.

Lost a dear family member this year. That's been rough. But my aunt (most credited with making our dearly departed's last months happy) has been a help to us all.

My experience with stand-up comedy these days is courtesy of XM Radio's Laugh USA (channel 151). Having kiddies in the car most of the time means that I am thankful the comedy is rather clean. There are some classics (Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, and even the occasional Henny Youngman) as well as a lot of great modern comedians (Kathleen Madigan, Dane Cook, and Gabriel Iglesias). If I can find a good, local (cheap) comedy show, I'd be thrilled to attend.

And I got myself a Twitter account. Not sure why. But in a roundabout way, it got me back here. So I guess that's all good.