Also want to say (off the subject of hot dogs for a second) that Howard Mark's spoken word performance 'Scholar, Smuggler, Prisoner, Scribe' was a bit disappointing for these reasons: in the first half he spoke briefly but then read excerpts of his book direct from notes with a big projector and 'actors' doing scenes from prison in support - this did not work (ie, people werent laughing that much or whooping as they should be) and the projector (which featured some of those awful 'billboard' type pics like 'Nuns, they have tits' etc, was tacky, especially from a speaker as engaging as him), the crowd were in great spirits too before he came on, so it shoulda been better.
However, second half was just what i hoped for: a Q&A with the audience. I asked him 'Do you believe in God, and if not, have you ever had a God like moment smoking good weed?' and he answered that he didnt believe in a conventional God, but one within us, more of the Buddha side and that once when he was under profound stress being questioned he did feel a kind of force running through him, almost dictating, exactly the right answers.....he did win the audience over in the end, with his deadpan candour. I think he was having an off night though to be honest....met him later on and he was sound to everyone, if a little guarded. I asked him what kind of crazy munchies does he get on weed and he said 'Cheerios and milk'
. He's a legend but should improve the first part of his act. I think the audience felt that too (whenever he ad libbed they went crazy)