Eddie B.’s Teachers Only Comedy Show

I’m a big fan of Steve Hartman‘s human interest stories that air on the end of CBS News.  These days, the state of the country, the state of the world is often too scary and disturbing to listen to.  But at the end of Friday’s broadcast, Steve Hartman’s “On the Road…” series helps balance the hopeless feeling elicited by staying woke with the reminder that the country is full of wonderful ordinary people who do extraordinary things.  One of those people: Eddie B., a teacher turned comedian.

I was so excited to join with one of my best teacher friends see him in Englewood, New Jersey on Day one of my Spring Break.  The auditorium was filled with teachers, the jokes–a peek into the crazy daily life of a teacher… because being a teacher, the many joys and the many pains, can never be understood by a non-teacher.  And there is no harder or more important work.

Eddie B. knows the language of teaching (“Rigor,” “Differentiation,” and “Modification” now all have different connotations within the dirty talking of a sex act), he knows the frustrations (the teacher who raises her hand with a question just as the staff meeting was about to wrap up, the ‘gotcha’ observations), he knows the characters (The janitor with the bum hip and the tremendous set of keys, the smug Coaches who stomp around the halls like royalty) and he knows the kids, endless pools of comedic inspiration.

We cackled the entire duration of his routine within the collective appreciation and support of other teachers.  Because we are all crazy… but it felt less so together, watching Eddie B.