As we accrue more evidence of this joke-of-a-governor’s detest for civil liberties, I’m reminded to wonder: How did he ever manage to live down his mini Patriot Act of 2004?

The 18-page bill included language from ill-considered laws dating back to World War I — a time of public hysteria, when American rights came under assault. The Carcieri bill would have made it illegal to: display foreign flags in a way that suggests other countries are superior to the United States; “speak, utter or print” statements supporting anarchy; or speak in favor of overthrowing the government. It would also have allowed businesses and government to keep secret from the public whether they were complying with safety laws.

Frank Santos, the R-Rated Hypnotist, is dead.

Santos was working at Big G Supermarkets and saw a hypnotist perform at a company party, Michael Janusonis reported in a story about the entertainer in 1990. Santos took classes in hypnotism, opened a hypnosis center in Cumberland and put together an act, which quickly packed rooms.

“We all started doing comedy at the old Periwinkle’s at the old Arcade,” comedian Charlie Hall said Tuesday. Although Santos had a following that jammed the club, “the genius of Frank was that he knew that he wasn’t the star of the show.” Audiences loved seeing their friends on stage, singing as if they were Madonna or Mick Jagger. “He got people to laugh at themselves,” Hall said.

Last year on a sweltering August day I was handed a small envelope containing two tickets to see David Sedaris. It was a birthday gift from my mother. I looked at her and said, “This is eight months away!”. In my mind eight months away meant a lifetime. I could ride a motorcycle across the country (I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle); I could be in Maine writing the great American novel surrounded only by an expansive pine tree forest. How dare she predict such a predictable future? I felt gypped.

So I have great seats for David Sedaris’ reading at PPAC on April 6th. It starts at 8pm and as far as I can tell from the website they still have tickets. It will be great. David Sedaris on Letterman

Monday, April 6, tickets $33 - $60.50

[editor's note: cool mom]

Laugh out loud as you and your friends play improv comedy games with ‘Bring Your Own Improv’. BYOI’s unique audience-participation show gets you up on stage and makes you the star. No experience necessary.You must be at least 18 years old.

$5, Wednesdays at 9pm, Fridays at 11pm, The Spot, 286 Thayer Street.

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This ad’s been out on the internet for a while, and is now wrapped up in the back-and-forth over the stimulus package with with Congressman Eric Cantor:

We find it pretty charming, but suppose Cantor’s intentions weren’t benevolent.  It’s hurt him, and helped the union, either which way.  Go AFSCME!

Things to do today — buy a calendar.  Things to look forward to in the new year — the new season of Flight of the Conchords starts January 18th, 10pm on HBO.

I know you’ll all be partying tomorrow night, so I’m getting this out of the way now.

It’s my favorite video of the week of things we’ll miss and things we *really* won’t miss from 2008. It’s set to the song “New Lang Syne (Thank God It’s Over)” by Jim’s Big Ego and was created by a group that stirred some controversy a few years ago with a Bush/Cheney montage set to JBE’s song “Asshole” (at least when a teacher showed it to his classroom of what I think were maybe 8th graders).

Tonight is the premiere of A Colbert Christmas:The Greatest Gift of All! — obviously a spoof of the genre.  The gold standard in this category is, of course, Pee Wee’s Christmas Special. Judging from the mixed review in The New York Times, this new entry will not knock Pee Wee out of first place. Alessandra Stanley writes,

Mr. Colbert is delightful, a few of the song parodies are clever, but over all, the show is too long and more than a little strained, much like the holiday specials it mocks. Elvis Costello is one of the guests and he is misused, forced into silly mock-skits that are no funnier than the cloying fluff they parody.

But she goes on to say that the two perform a duet at the end that is “quite wonderful”. (Photo:Kristopher Long)

10pm, Comedy Central, with Toby Keith, John Legend, Willie Nelson, and (attention Eric) Feist

B.J. Novak, best known as Ryan the Temp, brings his stand-up act to Providence College tonight. He has written some of the best episodes of ‘The Office’ including my all-time favorite so far, ‘Diversity Day’.

Friday, 9pm, $15, Peterson Recreation Center, River Avenue, 865-2493

In the grand tradition of clever people with far too much time on their hands…

While Famous Old Jews for Obama (or FOJO) is pretty funny, this actually takes the cake. HEHHH?!?

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Who is P.T. Snuggles?

If you answered “a funny but makes-you-feel-uncomfortable fictional presidential candidate created by local artists In House Freestyle,” then you probably already went to the website, in which case you probably also marveled at the blatant, hilarious recycling of the Obama Hope graphic in the shape of Sgt Snuggles’ glasses.

In this presidential campaign announcement, Sgt Snuggles explains how he’ll win the fall election, and pay for his army of federally funded circus clowns.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCQqZWbd93E&e]

After the jump, check out Snuggles interviewing hip-hop legend KRS-One: more »

Miller, who famously testified on behalf of the textbook he wrote after Georgia tried to slap an “Evolution is a Theory” bumper sticker on all of their biology primers, and in the landmark Dover, PA case, is a big macher on College Hill.

As if the current election wasn’t hilarious enough, (sigh) Saturday Night Live has finally launched a website dedicated to Election Shitfire 2008, and hopefully will maintain it long after our new national nightmare is finally over. For now, the site features a few choice clips from election-themed Weekend Update segments, including of course the now-classic Tracy Morgan “Bitch Is The New Black” rant, as well as kind-of funny factoids about the candidates, such as things that McCain favors: “5-dollar birthday checks to grandson, Wheel of Fortune.” The site also has great clips from the late 70’s like Chevy Chase’s timeless Gerald Ford impression. It isn’t a knockout yet, but it’s better than this bullshit.