A Guy Walks Into A Roast...

My LORD do I have some funny friends.

The temple's Brotherhood put on a Friars' Club-style roast for our outgoing music director, Bryan Zive on Saturday. Granted, Bzive is an easy target but some people just went above and beyond on their comic generosity.

Because my hilarious friend Mel hates public speaking, I was given the opportunity to do some shtick. Ironically, a line that I almost eliminated from the remarks ("This dais is a who's who of who cares...") got the biggest laugh of my set. Go figure.

My friend Shannon, though. Whoo! He absolutely killed. I mean killed in a way that he could seriously write jokes for a living. We are both what I would call "conversationally funny," but Shan just kicks it up a notch. I have real respect for people who can be gut-bustingly (yes, it IS a word...now) funny, especially on the fly. By the time he was finished with his 5 or so minutes of remarks, my face and tummy actually hurt from laughing so hard.

Funny friend Mel's hubby Jason was astonishingly hilarious. Astonishing because he is such a nice guy that you just don;t see it coming (Maybe Mel did and that's why she married him. You know, other than he is just a nice guy). There were other Roasters, too, who just made the audience roar. And I don't think I am exaggerating there. There were times when the amount of laughter in the room HAD to have been coming from more than just the 60 people in attendance. I think we all needed a good laugh.

And it was great of Bryan to provide so many good laughs. As I mentioned, he is an easy target. A 27-year-old music director in a position of some power at a fairly large congregation. His ego was a big topic of the roast. But he did, to his immense credit, take it all in stride. He laughed, he made witty rebuttals, and I think we're all friends after the fact (at least I hope we are).

I just could not let the day pass without a shout out to all the funny people out there who share their shtick with the world. Laughter really IS the best medicine. I am so thankful to have so many General Practitioners in my life!