Laughs, courage, and Judy Tenuta!

Yes! That's Bev and me on either side of Judy Tenuta! JUDY TENUTA! I have watched Judy on TV specials and listened to her CDs for years and I have always totally adored her. And I saw her in PERSON! Aaaahhhhh.

Just a word first about the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club. Great place! An easy drive and just off a major freeway, light on the wallet, friendly staff, and great shows. Thanks to Randy Lubas, one of the owners, for getting us a good seat, giving a funny warm-up act, and asking us after the show if we had a good time. Check it out...http://www.venturaharborcomedyclub.com/index.html

So Judy is a comedian and is very funny, but not in a usual way. She's calls herself a Love Goddess, calls lesbians "lesbiterians." She'll invite a man to the stage, make total fun of him and tell him to get on his knees to worship him and he will! She'll say sometime totally unbelievable, like she was invited to the Presidential inauguration and then say "it could happen!!!" and we fall off our seats in hysteria. Without a pause, she'll say something R-rated, apologize to a section of the audience she deems "Christians," ask all the men in the audience to admit it's true that they always want to see two women together, then tell the crowd that it's also true that we women want to see two men together, "one to clean and one to cook" and everyone will roar in laughter. But it's not just the words. She dresses outrageously in feathers and an accordian, talks and yells in a high pitched squeal, says many of her words in a long giggly trill, calls herself saaaaasy and we never stop cracking up. I adore her, I really do.

As she was performing, when I wasn't totally screaming with laughter, I had a moment when I thought about what is it about Judy that makes me feel so drawn to her? I had a light-bulb moment when I realized that it's the irreverence, that she is so very far from the norm, from her voice to her appearance to her language and to her actions, that she has helped me to be more outrageous myself. I've always thought of myself as being somewhere outside the "norm," that I have never wanted to be part of the "in" crowd, that I have a rebellious and silly side of me that always wanted to forge its own path. And Judy, with her unconventional humor and appearance, has unknowingly given me permission to be myself, to make unpopular or scary choices with the confidence that the end result might be bad or unwanted, but the journey is worth it anyway. So, even though you never knew I existed until tonight and probably you'll never think of me again, you've really given me courage. And lots and lots and lots of belly laughs. Thanks, Judy!