Blog: Laughing Liberally

At the recent Yearly Kos convention, Laughing Liberally comedians reprised their role from last year opening for the keynote speakers. But the best moment for Laughing Liberally's comedians was at the Barack Obama breakout session after the candidate forum, when Baratunde was called on to ask a question (about coal; Baratunde was disappointed by the answer), introduced himself and his Laughing Liberally affiliation to huge cheers and applause from the room, and afterward, met the Senator, who said, "Apparently, you’re somebody I need to know."

I wish I'd taken this picture. I especially love the person taking the same picture with their cameraphone at the bottom of the frame.

Working Assets commissioned some people affiliated with Laughing Liberally and The Tank to make a comedic video about political corruption. We brought the hilarious Bush impersonator James Adomian to New York City.

It seems President Bush is on a personal mission of sorts, to understand why his good friends keep getting sent to jail. You'll have to wait to see the final video, but along the way he stopped at Congressman Charlie Rangel's district office and interviews the (real) Congressman.

James has an amazing ability not only to act and sound and speak like George W. Bush, but to do it unscripted - making up Bushisms on the spot and relevant to any subject. Rangel was almost as funny as James, and biting - at one point he says "while you're over there in California visiting Randy Duke Cunningham in jail, you might want to make a reservation for some space for yourself." He's clearly very eager for the possibility of retaking the majority in the House and getting himself on one of those panels that will be sending subpoenas up Pennsylvania Avenue.

After the interview, President Bush toured Harlem, meeting some of the locals (people Bush isn't very accustomed to talking to), seeing the Apollo Theatre ("that's where the space program got started") and buying a giro from a street vendor ("you're doing a heckuva job, vendy").

I've returned from a week and a half long trip to the West Coast, including Jamie's bachelor party, a Laughing Liberally show at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles attended by over 1,000 people, and the four-day Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. The convention featured many guests from the political world including Senators Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid, Howard Dean, recent authors including Ambassador Joe Wilson, Professor George Lakoff and Air America host Sam Seder, likely Presidential candidates Wes Clark and Mark Warner (the latter who threw a lavish party at the top of the Stratosphere hotel), many netroots candidates, top bloggers from Daily Kos, MyDD, Firedoglake and many others, and a crowd of over 800 blog readers of all ages.

Laughing Liberally comedians performed at all four plenary sessions, featuring Baratunde Thurston, Katie Halper, Lee Camp, and a new member of Laughing Liberally's team, Bush impersonator James Adomian. Drinking Liberally organized a laid-back happy hour after the conference program on Friday and a raucous afterparty in our suite (as big as a typical Manhattan two-bedroom apartment) Saturday evening. Everyone left energized, socialized, and contact-ized.

There's hardly been a chance to rest. After Friday's super successful Laughing Liberally show and a screening I hosted of Baghdad ER Sunday, this week rolled around and continued the hectic schedule.

Monday, Leigh and Wendy continued their streak of fabulously successful Screening Liberally events with a screening of Murderball, a documentary about quadriplegics (with limited use of hands as well as legs) and the U.S. Quad Rugby Paralympic team, with special guest Keith Cavill, who is in the film.

Rounding out the week: Tuesday, a party at the home of Peter, Paul, and Mary's Peter Yarrow for the League of Young Voters, followed by Drinking Liberally's third anniversary party on Thursday. It's been three years since a group of progressives started gathering to build social capital and make politics fun, and now, with 144 chapters including Alaska and Hawaii, a comedy show, movie screenings, and more, we'll keep spreading democracy one pint, laugh, reel, book, blog, and voter at a time.

Late last week, Drinking Liberally reached its 100th chapter with York, Pennsylvania - and then moments later its 101st with Jackson, Mississippi - just in time for Drinking Liberally city leaders from Huntsville to Louisville to Brooklyn to gather in New York City for our first annual national conference. We built stronger bonds over late night pitchers at Rudy's and early morning discussions with local elected officials.

It was also a weekend full of special guests, just a few of the many great people in the national and local political establishments who have seen the value of social gatherings bringing progressives together. National bloggers and political organizers Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers of MyDD, Duncan Black of Atrios, and Peter Daou of the Daou Report joined us for a panel on the Emerging Liberal Infrastructure, then stuck around for a little take-out dinner.

That evening, we held a hurricane relief concert featuring the band Second Movement, Laughing Liberally comedians Katie Halper and Negin Farsad, and the great liberal laughmaster, Al Franken, who started off by discussing the importance of social capital and Robert Putnam, and ended by listing the warning signs of alcoholism. Number one was drinking alone - but "you don't drink alone, you drink together, so that's all right." Number three: "you're the President." And a little later in the evening, New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman and soon-to-be-Borough President Scott Stringer came in together, both looking sharp in their dark suits like they'd just come from a night of dancing.

Rounding out the gang of elected friends, City Councilmember Gale Brewer and State Assemblyman Dick Gottfried joined us bright and early the next morning for a stimulating roundtable discussion. All in all, it was a packed weekend, a fitting capstone to a packed year and another one to come.

It's been another action-packed few days, taking place almost entirely between The Tank and Rudy's:

Wednesday, a rally with the Alliance for Quality Education with Laughing Liberally comedian Katie Halper, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, and actress Cynthia Nixon, who is a very sweet person, put on the Drinking Liberally button I presented her, and then stayed around to talk to people after the event.

Thursday, Drinking Liberally featuring special appearances by Congressman and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who stopped by and made a few brief remarks, and City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Gifford Miller, who went one better by staying around for almost an hour, drinking, eating Rudy's free hot dogs, and impressing many attendees.

And on Friday the Thirteenth, the final 42nd Street performance of ImproVision, and Brian Rosenthal's 27th birthday.

I need nearly a whole day off just to edit the photos!

Batman made an appearance at Drinking Liberally last Thursday, Cambridge Drinking Liberally co-host and stand-up comedian Baratunde Thurston came to New York to join Lizz Winstead and Marga Gomez as special guests at this month's Laughing Liberally, and I went to a couple more parties this Mother's Day weekend.

One of the newest Cosmopolity programs is Laughing Liberally, a monthly show featuring the best up-and-coming liberal comics. The Jon Stewarts and Al Frankens of tomorrow start here. This plus two consecutive nights at Rudy's sandwiching the show in today's photographic installment.