Hitchens, comic genious:

Christopher Hitchens arrives on stage at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Wales, wearing dark glasses and clutching a glass of wine, cigarettes and an ashtray. It's Late Night Hitch, an event billed as "Lenny Bruce meets P.G. Wodehouse", and a near-packed house is in to catch the combative political journalist in a startling new guise: that of stand-up comedian.

"So, it's a long day at the shrink," he begins. "This guy comes in, hasn't made an appointment, just stands there, panting. The shrink says, 'Can I help you?' More panting. Finally the guy says, 'I'm just a dog.' And the shrink says, 'Well, do you want to get on the couch?' And the guy says: [Pause] 'I'm not allowed on the fucking couch!'"

Chris also verbally slapped an idiotarian:

He's usually described as a leftwinger, but is currently at war with liberal opinion because of his support for US foreign policy since September 11. The roar of battle seems to have hyped him up somewhat. At the debate a few hours earlier, he lost his temper when someone asked about country band the Dixie Chicks and the flak they copped for criticising George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

"Each day they dig up dead bodies in personal death camps run by a Caligula dictator," Hitchens shouted, "and I'm being asked to worry about these fucking fat slags - do me a favour!" The debate broke up soon after.

Awesome