We attended the first evening of Bumbershoot. Caught a few performances, including an ensemble of comedians. There were 3 comedians from New York, and one from LA. The three from New York were dreadful, and after some thinking I figured out why. They were provincial. New York breeds a strange strain of hicks, people whose polished Manhattan sophistication is marred by their belief that they live at the center of the universe. The jokes about 9/11 and the “Jewish conspiracy” left the room quiet, and the extended rant about how it is socially acceptable to talk to a strangers dog, but not a stranger made no sense in gregarious Seattle. (where I never get any reading done because strangers keep striking up conversations) Greg Behrendt from LA however was hilarious as a 40yr old hipster struggling with the fact that he was now “the creepy old guy” at the rock concert, who had his chain wallet confiscated by a security guard because, “You’re 38 dude.” Also touched on the difficulties of trying to introduce his 18 month old daughter to Black Sabbath. Babies unsurprisingly don’t like Black Sabbath but his heavy metal rendition of “Here is Thumbkin” brought down the house.

Finally tonight I had to re-learn a lesson I learned in college, it was a lesson I learned the hard way the first time, and thought I would never forget. Perhaps hope does spring eternal, but I’m sorry to report Eugene Mirman still isn’t funny.

And with the power of feester, another Friday Bumbershoot goer with some nice photos. (my, my those typepad blogs are attractive)

High on my list for today is the seminal Anu Garg of long running and greatly celebrated A.Word.A.Day in the flesh in The Magic of Words. Its always weird when email addresses get up and become 3-D flesh, and walk around. But fun.