Insert Monkey Joke Here

Rather than come up with a lame joke for a title, I'll let you hear the following story and create your own joke at my expense.

Yesterday, Brianne and I went down to Canary Wharf in the south of London (think Toronto Harbourfront for a visual) for a catering gig. It was a whiskey and cheese tasting, which we had trained for a couple of weeks ago, giving away samples of Ardbeg 10-year-old Scotch Whiskey with a selection of cheeses. A very tasty experience.

Brianne was set up in a little community square with bottles and cheeseboards, while I . . . was two blocks away at the Tube station, standing for two and a half hours holding a sign to indicate (primarily to invited members of the press) just exactly where the tasting was.

That's not the best bit.

The best bit is that for the last twenty minutes of this . . . THEY PUT ME IN A GORILLA SUIT.

I am NOT joking.

Part of their marketing involved the phrase "untamed spirit" and a promotional van called The Beastie with a chain motif on it. So I put on a rubber and fur gorilla costume, held the sign a little longer, and then took a bunch of promotional photos holding the sign, pretending to drive The Beastie, and even holding a bottle of whiskey like Fay Wray and pretending to climb a building. There was absolutley NO forewarning to all this, by the way.

Brianne was in tears, she was laughing so hard. I played it to the hilt, recalling animal mimicry exercises I did at Randolph (any of my de Sade castmates remember that one?), and gave them a very creative and original spokesmodel for practically no charge.

I say practically because, for being such a good sport, they gave me a bottle of whiskey as a bonus. I sent it home with my uncle Bill as a gift to my father.

So, scroll back up to the title of this entry and put in any monkey joke you like.