When I was in LA...

...last October, I went to the Bill Maher Show. I'm not a fan but I was in LA and the tickets were free. The day I showed up, John Edwards was there with a small group of supporters in Edwards for President t-shirts.

As we were lead into the studio, the t-shirt people were seated in the front row so that the audience looked as though they were all Edwards supporters.

Once we were seated, we were "entertained" by the audience warm-up dude who made sure to give us all a lesson in how to applaud. You might think that applause is a natural thing, but you'd be wrong. We were taught how to "laugh at something we think is funny, pause and start to applaud as we suddenly realize what a genius statement had just been uttered".

When Maher came out, he chatted briefly and wondered aloud if there were any "ringers" in the audience. I wanted to jump up and shout, "I'm a ringer!" But alas, I have a bit of class at times. So, I politely sat there and smiled like a lady would. So Maher assumed that the audience all liked him.

But like me, a lot of them were there because the tickets were free and The Price is Right has a long, long line.