Sunday December 24th, 2006 - Chicago, IL Everybody has prejudices. I know I do. Does that mean it has to be a bad thing? I dont think so. Whats wrong with me wanting to have a lawyer whos Jewish? Sorry but if Im in a lawsuit and my lawyer is named Jablonski and my opponents is Finklestein I will try feverishly to settle out of court. Who wouldnt? I dont think thats anything negative. On the other hand, if I am getting work done on my car I think the last place Id go for a new transmission would be Morries Garage. Again, not negative. Its just a simple fact. The same holds true to other areas of life as well. If Im going to get some sushi, I want to see an Asian guy behind the sushi bar when I walk in. If I am going to hear some blues music I want to have the band and singer be black. If I see an Asian guy there Im leaving. If I go out to eat I want my waiter to be a gay guy. Period. NOBODY likes to admire the beauty of women more than I do but in a restaurant situation the gay waiter always has an edge. My drink is always full and my steak is how I like it and I even may get a show tune if I show up on the right day. Maybe nobody else will admit it but we all have prejudices. Thats why I can honestly say that when someone invites me over to have a family meal on Christmas Eve I want them to be Italian. They have the best food, hands down. Maybe a mixed marriage of German and Polish can come up with a nice meal but for top quality start to finish I go with an Italian family 100 times out of 100. They have it nailed down. Bill Gorgo was kind enough to invite me over to have Christmas dinner with his family and at first I wasnt sure if I wanted to go. He asked me last week and I was feeling really low and I just didnt want to be an imposition on anyone. Ive usually just laid low around this time of year so as not to spread my angst to others but after the positive weekend that I had doing shows and getting back on track mentally I decided to accept his kind offer. WOW am I glad I did. I had one of the best meals Ive ever had, and Ive had some very good ones. Bill is at home in the kitchen more than any other comic I know. Larry Reeb is very good but I think hed even admit he cant touch Bill with a pair of salad tongs. Bill is always cooking a new soup at our Chicago Style Standups meetings and one is even more delicious than the next. When he said he was cooking for Christmas I knew it would be a meal worth sampling. I am going to need an angioplasty before New Years Eve but I am still glad I came. From top to bottom it was a really fun time and a chance to relax a little. We had spaghetti and meatballs and fried calamari and shrimp and so many other good things I cant remember them all. They were all fresh and delicious and I couldnt eat any more and thought I was going to pass out. Then it was time for dessert. Ugh. I had to have a taste of all those treats like cheesecake and cream puffs and probably THE best piece of apple pie Ive ever had in my life. We sat around and had a very fun time and Bills mom kept saying It looks like nobody ate anything at all. Then she had the line of the night as she turned to Bill and asked What kind of a dago are you anyway? It cracked us all up. After so many brutal Christmases growing up back in Milwaukee it was a real treat to just hang out and have fun. Plus, I got to take a huge plate of it home to have tomorrow too. God bless Italy and all the good cooking that has come from there. It's the best there is.