What do we want? Sanity! When do we want it? Yesterday! Or, you know, when you get a sec.

I had been looking forward to this past weekend for more than a month, ever since my friend, Jan, booked her plane ticket to D.C. for the 2010 NSATC reunion.

And then, a certain Mr. Stewart and another certain Mr. Colbert, announced their plans for a rally to restore sanity and a march to keep fear alive, which just so happened to be the same weekend as the Jan Plan.

The result? Four Carolina girls and a whole lot of sanity and/or fear.

It has been more than a year since my last mass event on the mall, and while I can't say I've missed being squashed together with thousands of strangers, standing up for far too long, completely exposed to the elements, it was definitely worth it. And at least this time, the temperature hovered well above freezing.

Highlights:
1. All the signs! It's inevitable that a rally sponsored by two of America's most brilliant comedians would have the most intelligent, witty, and sarcastic signs. DCist has a good collection. One of my favorites:

2. The Peace Crazy Love Train medley. Yousef (nee Cat Stevens) vs. Ozzy Osbourne vs. The O Jays. Unbelievable.

3. Stephen's Chilean miner entrance and the crowd chanting Chi-Chi-Le-Le.

4. Jon's keynote address on the end. His show is the sole reason I made it through the Bush years alive and he continues to inspire me with his insightful and hilarious commentary. He made some excellent points without  mocking those he disagrees or taking himself too seriously. Well done, Mr. Stewart.

5. Experiencing it all with these lovely ladies:

Lowlight:

1. The tease that Stephen was going to give one of his fear medals to Anderson Cooper, only to end up giving it to his tight dark shirt instead. Not cool, Stephen, not cool. It took awhile for my heart to start beating again after I thought I was going to be within three blocks of Mr. Cooper.

In closing...
My political beliefs are no secret. And while this was not a traditional political rally, it was still nice to be around so many people who are thinking the same thing as me. And not necessarily about healthcare or gay marriage or abortion. But more along the lines that fear, bitter rhetoric, empty promises, and mindless posturing aren't the answer. That things aren't perfect but that our President isn't Hitler. That if we all just took a minute to chill the fuck out and try to act sane for like a millisecond, we can do great things.

I may not agree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. But if you could not be completely crazy and irrational when you do it, it would make that whole death thing a lot more tolerable.

Hoping that this weekend was the first step in a lot of steps of sanity, on the left and right.

"It's exciting to find your way anywhere in DC. Why would you have four H streets?" (Jon Stewart)

Last Saturday night I crossed half an item off my Bucket List: I saw Jon Stewart perform live. (The full item is to see a taping of The Daily Show.)

I have been watching his show since high school and have now hung on his every wonderfully sarcastic word for nearly ten years. His show is what got me through the Bush years. (That, and my acquired talent of throwing things at the television.) And now, though things have changed, it's still my favorite way to end the day and still the best prevention against object-throwing. (Yes, I still throw things, but a lot less often now.)

I just really can't say enough about how much I admire what he does or how intelligent and on-the-spot I find his satire to be. It was hyper-political, sarcastic, funny, and biting. Just the way it should be.

A few favorite jokes, that I could remember:
On birthers:
"What is wrong with people?...We as a society can no longer agree on what reality is."

On gay marriage, courtesy of Politico article:
"What is our problem? It has nothing to do with anybody. 'Because that would force us to accept them.' Yeah, you wanna know what? Go fuck yourself. Too bad! 'But we have to hear both sides of view.' No you don't. They're not equal. One's wrong."

On Socialist accusations:
"It's the same shit as before. It's not tyranny, you're just in the minority."

On Catholicism vs. Judaism:
"You have Lent, we have Yom Kippur. You have 40 days, we have one. You're still shopping retail!" (paraphrased)

It truly was an amazing night and well worth the wait. I know I'm leaving out tons of good stuff but each minute was better than the last so it's hard to recall it all.

Even though we weren't supposed to take pictures, I did manage to take this gem with my phone at the end. It's him, trust me.


Local media coverage:
Politico: Mr. Stewart comes to Washington
GW Hatchet: Jon Stewart caters to Colonial crowd

Picture Dump: Demetri Martin

Ok, not using the Flickr for everything. Few pics from Demetri Martin at the Warner Theatre from a few weeks ago. Had never been inside this one and was surprised at how pretty it was. Hope to be back at the end of May to see Rent.

Stage:
Trying to get a picture of the chandeliers:
Woodworking and other details:
Man of the hour:
The majority of his material was new, but he also took suggestions from the audience and did a lot of jokes from his Comedy Central special and his cd, both of which I own. The special is where I first heard of him. The only other real comedy show I've been to was Lewis Black, twice in college, and they are quite different in their delivery and style, but both still very good. Love smart comedy, love love it.