If you know someone in a sketch comedy troupe and show up to one of their performances early, you should be expected to end up being put to work. For me, that meant fulfilling my dream of being a ticket-taker. It turns out, I am not meant to be a ticket-taker, thus, another dream of mine vanishes in to the ether. I accidentally let some people in before they were supposed to be allowed and I was tearing tickets when I should have just been collecting them. Who knew that ticket-taking could be more stressful than working in HR.

I was at a performance of Highland Park Illinois' The Comic Thread. The troupe is based out of the suburb and comprised, mostly, of former Highland Park High School students. Earlier this year they ran into a bit of a problem with their annual performance at Highland Park's "FOCUS on the Arts." You can read my earlier writing about that by looking up my previous posts.

Essentially the FOCUS people were bending over backwards to bee too politically correct for any reasonable human being. In this particular case they were worried about offending the Amish, evidently. Yes, I know, that makes no sense as there are no Amish anywhere near Highland Park and never will be.

Anyway, The Comic Thread have managed to, like any good group looking for publicity, turn this into a bit of a boon. Articles have been written in various suburban publications about their rescinded invitations. Heck, the article I wrote about it here got more responses that almost anything else I have written.

It's tough to be funny in this day and age. Somewhere along the way the world lots its funny bone. My God, when you look back at the 1970s and the television shows that were so ground-breaking then would never get made today. "All in the Family" wouldn't last two weeks. "The Jeffersons" would probably be yanked after a few showings. No one in this day and age could say the hilarious things Paul Lynde said on "The Hollywood Squares." Apparently everyone wants to spare everyone else's feelings. I couldn't even use the term "backing the wrong horse" while talking about a rap star because some moron thought I was calling an African American a horse!

People, we need to learn to laugh at each other. I am a fat, white-bread, protestant ninny who is afraid of thunderstorms and spiders. If I can't laugh at myself with that kind of emotional resume in my pocket, I might as well pack it up right now and start sawing at my wrists with a knife right now. We have got to let people make fun of other people. Don Rickles just performed in Chicago recently and how he manages to continue to perform these days is beyond me.

The Comic Thread has managed to continue. Their latest production is called "Censored for your Protection" and it's hilarious. They manage to poke fun at "Peter Pan" and suggest there may be something sinister behind a story where a woman plays a young boy and, essentially, kidnaps a bunch of children. There's also a part during a sketch about how Avant Garde theater has ruined comedy where a cast member affects a stereotypical Asian accent. It is, quite honestly, hilarious. I am sure there are Asians who would be offended despite the fact that within the sketch the actors acknowledge the accent is offensive!

Comedy should be encouraged. No one should be placed in a glass house. No one should be put up on a pedestal. People need to laugh at themselves and learn to shut-up when people are making fun. As long as the making fun isn't truly malicious, like something the KKK would do, then I don't see the problem with it.

The people at The Comic Thread and probably other sketch comedy troupes are out there, on the front lines, keeping things going for the rest of us. I know I sleep better knowing they are out there, poking fun, keeping their eye on the rest of the us, and making fun of the ridiculousness of life. Life is stupid. Life is silly. Religion is silly. People who take religion too seriously are silly.

At the same time it is tough to be accepting of humor from people you hate. I hate Rush Limbaugh so much it's scary. Yet, he is being attacked for having a parody song played about Barrack Obama. Personally, I would have to say that a presidential candidate is an open target and there should be parodies targeted toward all of them. I happen to like Barrack and hate Limbaugh, but I would defend his right to make parody songs about any of the candidates.

It's hard to defend comedy. Thankfully, The Comic Thread manages to be funny without being offensive. They seamlessly transition from one sketch into another. The cast is all of four people and each of them play multiple characters. Each of them do it brilliantly. Each of them are hilarious. They convey so much just from their facial expressions and they manage to be funny without cracking themselves up during the show. This is something Jimmy Fallon should have learned during his time with "Saturday Night Live."

In short, I am urging those of you out there who are taking things way too seriously to go out and seek out a comedy troupe like The Comic Thread. They have a website at www.bitterjester.com/tct if you don't have one in your neck of the woods. Watch their comedy. Laugh. Laugh at yourself and the world around you.

If anyone were remotely intelligent in the entertainment field, and this is quite a stretch as so few are, The Comic Thread would be doing comedy specials on HBO or some other television network. Since this has yet to happen, they are kind of like a local treasure. I hope they are discovered and I hope I can still be their ticket-taker.

So, check out The Comic Thread. Lighten up. Learn to laugh. Stop being offended if someone picks on you. Sheesh.

Bryan W. Alaspa's novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.