Eugene Celebration 2003
W ha t a Ri o t!
Using laughter to change the world
By Aria Seligmann
M
ove over, Dennis and
Howard. There’s a new pres-
idential candidate coming to
town and he’s got my vote.
He’s Swami Beyondananda
(Steve Bhaerman) and he’s running for
“precedent” for the Right-to-Laugh Party.
Like Kucinich and Dean, you can find out
more about the Swami from his musings on
his home, er, “om” page (www.wakeu-
plaughing.com). You can read his daily
“laughsatives,” created to relieve those suf-
fering from irregular hilarity and consider
his cures for “electile dysfunction.”
But don’t for a minute think that
Beyondananda’s humor is fluff. This dude’s
hot. Read his reflections on how a band of
Serbian kids used playfulness and nonvio-
lence to slowly turn up the heat from a
steady simmer to a roiling boil that finally
melted Milosevic. He encourages us to do
the same with our own unpopular leader, to
lightheartedly yet relentlessly go after the
truth.
The Swami created the “No-Bull Prize
for Truth-Telling” and recently presented it
to Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WVa), for speaking
out so eloquently against the Iraq War.
U N
S O LO
Instead of celebrating Columbus
Day, he proposes a new holiday
for conscious Americans:
Columbo’s Day, named after
the head-scratching TV detec-
tive who chronically wondered,
“What’s wrong with this pic-
ture?”
As citizens, he says, we must
begin looking for clues to unearth
the answers. When I asked
him what
Constitutional
amendment he
would propose
that would alter
the course of
everything, the
Swami replied,
“To make sure
those with the most money don’t get to con-
trol the campaigns. To allow the citizens to
strip search the government, not the other
way around. Now, the government plays
‘I’ve Got a Secret’ and the citizens play ‘To
Tell the Truth.’”
Some game. Doesn’t seem too funny,
does it? But the Swami says even though
sometimes it’s hard to see beyond anger
or pain to find the humor that under-
lies all-there-is, there are tricks to
recapturing one’s sense of humor.
“Imagine it’s 25 years in the
future, because they say comedy
is tragedy in retrospect, and find
something funny about the pres-
ent situation,” he says.
“I suffered from humoroids the
week of the bombing of Iraq and had to do
a comedy show. The most important thing I
could do was allow myself to be funny, to
find things not related to the exact situation,
to get a humorous perspective. In order for
me to be effective in the political realm,” he
points out, “I have to remember my primary
mission is to allow laughter.”
The next step in using laughter to heal —
first yourself, then your world — he says, is
to “bring a spiritual perspective to it. Love is
stronger than fear,” and he adds, “When peo-
ple laugh, they find each other.” 5
Swami Beyondananda performs at 4:30 pm Sunday,
Sept. 21 on the Comedy Stage, Hult Center Soreng
Theatre. Free with admission button. Meet him at
The Strand (8th and Charnelton) at 6pm Saturday
with Slug Queen Radia.
But don’t for a minute think that
Beyondananda’s humor is fluff.
This dude’s hot. Read his
reflections on how a band of
Serbian kids used playfulness
and nonviolence to
slowly turn up the heat
from a steady simmer
to a roiling boil that
finally melted Milosevic.
Swami Beyondananda performs
on the Comedy Stage Sunday.
p u e b l o
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Which is precisely why Widmer Hefeweizen is.
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Eugene Celebration 2003 3