The Guide to Laughing

When Nicola asked me to go to some comedy thing at the Bowery Poetry Club, of course I said yes.

When I showed up and saw "The Guide to Laughing at Family" on the sign outside, I was slightly skeptical, but still open-minded.

When we went inside and picked up the GTL book, it seemed very chicken-soup-for-the-soul-ish, and I was kinda weirded out. I asked Nicola if this was the kind of show that was designed to change my life -- she said she wasn't sure.

When author/announcer Sean Gold of the GTL Institute took the stage and outlined the show for us -- a children's book reading, a poet and a Christian Rock band called God's Pottery, I was like get me out of here.

Well, trepidation aside, the show was great. Sean Gold's readings from the book were funny and poignant without being sappy. The children's book was called The Boy Who Cried Fabulous and it was great. Poet Hal Sirowitz was an absolute riot, reciting poems from his book Mother Said, which touched on themes like looking at his penis with a magnifying glass and being forced to dress up like a donut for Halloween.

The best part, though, was the band. God's Pottery. Two very Aryan-looking boys, one with an acoustic guitar and one with two tiny sections of a xylophone. They sang a song about premarital sex entitled When the Ring Goes On, the Pants Come Down, one called Jesus I Need a Drink and one I can't remember about women of divorce. I was laughing so hard I was crying. And I think I want to marry xylophone guy. Unfortunately, I can't find any info about them online.

An aside -- my old boss was there. Turns out he's friends with the author. It was really creepy talking to him -- kind of like running into an ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend. Or something.