Holy Fool!

On Tuesday April 1st (April Fool's Day), I helped to continue a tradition begun at Walker Church ten years ago by my friend Mary Parker. At that time, she thought it would be neat to have a variety show featuring all kinds of fun and frolic on April Fool's Day. This year I co-hosted the event for the second time along with fellow Walkerite Bonita Blumenauer. While I introduced the various acts, Bonita supervised the Silly Walks department in which several members from the audience volunteered to do the wackiest walk routines they could come up with.

I began the show with a funny song about a house infested with mice. After that, I introduced the various performers. Included were funny songs, skits, and stories of all kinds. I think that one of the funniest performances of the night was a classical gavotte played by a woman (Alice Browne) with the pseudonym of Robbie Kohlrabi. She had the audience in stitches every time she interrupted her serious cello piece with a series of strategically timed farts.

Winning first prize in the costume department was definitely our minister, David Wheeler, who was dressed in a fancy Scottish kilt. He told a number of Scottish jokes and stories, including the one about the inebriated Scotsman who won first prize for what he wore under his kilt. There were a number of humorous skits, including one called A Walker CPR lesson in which three people all vied to resuscitate each other to the frantic refrain of "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Staying Alive! Staying Alive!" Another costume standout was worn by Carla Irwin who was dressed all in green while singing It's not easy being green, and putting her Kermit the frog puppet through his paces. Sally Kuehn showed us how to spell C-H-I-C-K-E-N, and

sang the praises of a honey bun from the Broadway musical South Pacific.

Another hilarious sketch that tickled the collective funny bone was enacted by David West and Mary Parker. They cuddled up next to each other to sing a romantic ballad called Two Sleepy People. While they were singing, Bonita and I acted as their arms and hands which ended up doing all kinds of hilarious mischief. Emily Peabody shared her girlhood fantasy of being beautiful, and told us a tall tale involving a tooth fairy and an ugly duckling. In the course of the evening, we also had a surprise guest (Dick Danaher) who regaled us with Izzy's heartfelt rendition of Over the Rainbow on his ukulele. For the final skit, I tried to learn how to dance the waltz from Nancy Gehrenbeck-Miller to the accompaniment of The Blueskirt Waltz. However, things quickly got out of hand, with both of us ending up on the floor frantically waving our arms and legs. The evening ended on a high note as Bonita led us all in The Hokey Pokey.

I think that everybody had a good time, filled with lots of laughs and high spirits. Fortunately, nobody got hurt as we ended the evening with plenty of time to spare. I hope we can do it all again next year!