Daisey, Meet Crazy.

S.P. just sent me this article at the Gothamist containing a YouTube video from a recent Mike Daisey monologue at the American Rep. Mike's...well, not really a friend, I don't know him that well and doubt he'd be able to pick me out of a line-up. But we have mutual friends (like Cory Nealy, the Evil Cory) and used to work in the same theatrical circles. I was on Mike's mailing list back in September 2001, and got back in touch with him for a while when he was emailing folks in real time about his experiences in NYC the day the towers fell. The guy's a brilliant monologist (monologuist? monologian?) and his shows are like watching a really energetic Spalding Gray who's, you know, my age. He got a lot of press for his one-man show based on his experiences working at Amazon.com, 21 Dog Years.

This is all preamble to yet another video link. Mike was recently performing his new show Invincible Summer when a strange, bizarre, and freaky event occured. Seems some self-proclaimed Christians (denominational loyalties as yet unknown--yes, I'm know there are Christians who aren't intolerant idiots, but the intolerant idiots happen to be awfully loud these days) bought up a grundle of tickets for the sole purpose of walking out en masse in the middle of the performance, and in the process destroyed Mike's original notes for his show (he works off of those notes instead of a script, as he points out). And rather than show the courage of their convictions, they appear to have all squirreled their way out of the theatre after bravely storming a lone, seated man onstage and physically attacking his work. What would Jesus do? According to these courageous souls, Jesus would pour water on your notes without even the common courtesy of turning it into wine.

Those alleged Christians are quite lucky, I think, that Mike Daisey is such a class act. Just watch (and be aware some of the monologue leading into the March of the Living Idiots contains language that's probably NSFW, unless you work for Paris Hilton).