Ben Stein -- formerly a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, more recently a game show host and actor, and still a columnist on matters political and economic -- gave a speech at my school, the Rochester Institute of Technology, today. Very interesting stuff.. he told a few jokes, then talked about \"How to Ruin Your Life\" -- based on his book, of course. Among the bits of advice: don't save any money, stop and smell the roses, don't study anything other than what happened on \"The Simpsons\" last night, and be sure to do drugs as often as possible. He added, \"I gave that last bit of advice to my friend Rush Limbaugh... and look how well he did!\" He talked a little about Win Ben Stein's Money as well, noting that to this day, some people still think the show's entire budget came out of his own pocket.
Oddly, Stein didn't talk much about politics (save for one Clinton joke) until the Q&A period. I asked him about the California recall (he's glad to have a Republican governor but wishes it had been his choice, McClintock), and some idiot asked him \"how we could smell the roses if Governor Bush's environmental policy will kill them all, and I call him Governor because he wasn't elected.\" Stein told the idiot that President Bush -- he was sure to emphasize PRESIDENT -- was in fact elected, to which the idiot responded, \"No, he was appointed by his dad's friends on the Supreme Court.\" Most of the audience booed and told him to shut up (the only time anyone booed at all during the entire event). Stein refused to get into an argument \"with someone who doesn't want to know the truth,\" then proceeded to agree in part with the idiot because Stein also thinks Bush's environmental policies leave something to be desired. Of course, the idiot got even more upset when Stein pointed out that the USA is nowhere near the worst offender when it comes to pollution... and the idiot had no choice but to agree that countries in Africa and Asia are by far the worst. Keep in mind, RIT's student population tends to lean *very* liberal... so the audience's reaction shocked me, especially since not long before that exchange, Stein had talked about his pro-life views and maybe ten people applauded. (And by the way, I call the guy an idiot not because he was a liberal, but because he clearly went to pick a fight... as the Limbaugh line and a few other comments showed during the presentation, Stein may be a Republican, but he's willing to go after either party when he thinks he can get a laugh.)
Afterward Stein met with members of the audience... I didn't get to take a picture with him but he signed my ticket stub and shook my hand. Even that almost didn't happen; he was walking away until I asked him if he didn't have one more moment for a diehard Republican and game show fan. :-)
Later in the day, Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie of Whose Line Is It Anyway? gave a performance which I also attended. Mostly standard stuff, with a few RIT-specific jokes thrown in here and there. I didn't get to meet either of them, but the performance was hilarious -- and they made as much use of the audience as they could. And no, Brad didn't talk about his days on The Dating Game. :-D
- David
