rob roberge's blog

A friend of mine (no slouch of a writer himself...who has asked to remain nameless as he reads this goofy blog at work while he's supposed to be doing something far less important), writes:

"Hey Rob, you've always had an eye on the absurd in our culture. So I'm on the commuter train going home the other night, trying to forget the day I've had and enjoying my free Boston Herald (paper's dying so they give it out free at South Station in the afternoons). Anyway, in the Friday entertainment pullout, next to the ads for the Connecticut casinos, there's an ad for a dinner theatre appearance featuring "the original Madame," promising "no one is safe from her bawdy barbs."

"Now, if you'll think back to when we were kids, on Hollywood Squares and a bunch of other shows, "Madame" as accompanied by her puppetteer, Wayland Flowers, who died of AIDS around 1984 or so. So, the Arlington Regent Theatre is asking people to shell out $35 (hey, includes dinner) for a chance to be insulted by an aged puppet who is being manipulated by some unknown ventriloquist. I mean, okay, so even if we could VERIFY it's the ORIGINAL Madame, she's a.....puppet, right?

"It's like those world of wheels ads every January that promise a chance to meet "The Lost in Space Robot...IN PERSON.""