Jodi Borrello--a standup comedy star is born

It isn't fair to compare comics with other comics, I know, but sometimes it is helpful in describing their style. If you crossed the manic intensity of Robin Williams (back when he was funny) and the ability to do characters of a Margaret Cho or a Whoopi Goldberg, you would get something like Jodi Borrello, a Louisiana comic who has recently had a national breakthrough, and who deserves to make it to the bigtime. Borrello doesn't have a particular political or sociological agenda like Cho or Goldberg; rather, she is a racanteur supreme, and her major story right now is Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, playing to a Louisiana audience, as she did last night in the "Now I Can Vote" tour concert, had to be a wonderful experience for her. Her routine was rapid-fire, her wit sharp, and her final bit--about how she and her sister found enough medication to get them through the aftermath of the hurricane--was one of the most inspired pieces of standup comedy I've seen in a long, long time.

From the problems of evacuation ("The murder rate in Houston is up 23%; they're killing us--we've gotta come home!") to managing children and dogs when a hurricane comes--Borrello covered it all with side-splitting material. The tears ran down my face the entire evening. If she comes to your town, do not miss her.