On a more serious note: why are most stand-up comics such good dramatic actors? Or am I seeing things? Yeah, I know, the question isn't all that specific so for those who want to nitpick, I'm not talking about Pauly Shore. I'm not necessarily talking about Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey or (dare I say it?) Whoopi Goldberg (though feel free to use them to back up my point). I'm talking about people like Lewis Black who turned in an excellent cameo on "Homicide" in scenes with another pretty damn good comic-turned-actor Richard Belzer.

So, provided you accept the premise (if not, this is a very short conversation)... Please Explain: why do stand-up comics make such good dramatic actors? Is it because the best stand-up comics deal with dark material that is easily transferrable to a dramatic character? That's my theory.

This is why I think most of the recent great sitcoms featured standup comics in major roles. Give a Larry David or a Gary Shandling some autonomy in producing a show, as Chris Albrecht did at HBO and you get brilliant shows like Curb or Larry Sanders. Of course, I'm biased.

Thanks for the order. I will send it out Monday.

Shakespeare would've been a helluva stand-up.