The wife and I saw Glenn Beck live last night. It was the first show of his summer comedy tour, and it sold out in less than a week.

The guy was awesome live. Same Glenn from TV and radio, but at mach 5 and without the Viagra and Gold commercials.  The expansive stage allows him freedom that the camera does not. He went out on a limb, selecting three people from the audience to illustrate the Freedom -vs- Tyranny continuum. The sweet spot was a cute young blond gal. Coincidence? Hmmm…

He started off with a hilarious inside scoop on the whole “The View/Train” incident. Most interesting, looks like he and Whoopie Goldberg may be collaborating on a project in the near future.

People are fed up with too much government and too many bailouts, and he worked off of that, putting it in historical context by coming out for the second part of the show dressed as a founding father. This was the less funny-more thoughtful part of the show, but it was actually more entertaining.

Part Thomas Paine, part William Jennings Bryan, Glenn plucked every populist chord on the scale of American Democracy, poking lots of fun at those who don’t get it. He also warned us to beware of the GOP hijacking the tea parties for their own narrow political purposes. The biggest applause lines were when he damned both the Democrats and Republicans as abusive members of the same out of touch political class.

Glenn provided us an entertaining, thoughtful evening. I recommend you go see this show at a movie theater near you.