Stand-up comic Auggie Smith set to play the Panida

By Reader Staff

The Panida Theater is finishing its run of stand-up comedy with Phillip Kopczynski Presents Comedy Avalanche featuring Auggie Smith on Saturday, March 11.

Smith is no stranger to the stage, being a 30-year veteran of stages the world over. Born in Santa Rosa, Calif.; raised in Billings, Mont.; and now a resident of L.A., Smith has been a radio regular on the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Show, seen on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham in 2006, appeared on Last Comic Standing in 2007 and even won accolades as the Club Comic of the Year at the Aspen Comedy Festival.

As if that’s not prestigious enough, Smith also won both the Seattle and San Francisco International Comedy Competitions in 2010 — the only comedian so far to do so, and joining such illustrious comic company as Mitch Hedberg, Dana Carvey and Sinbad, all of whom have won one or the other of the competitions. (As Smith’s online bio points out, Robin Williams, Ellen Degeneres and Dane Cook all took second place in San Francisco).

For a taste of Smith’s high-energy delivery, check out the trailer to his Dry Bar Comedy show “Auggie Smith: Old Dad,” in which riffs “on the subjects of child leashes, poison control or wedding vows,” with the club promising that “Auggie will singe your eyebrows with red-hot truth.”

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at panida.org/event/ auggie-smith. The PG-13 show will begin at 8 p.m. with doors opening one hour prior.

The Panida is located at 300 N.First Ave. in downtown Sandpoint. An opener has yet to be scheduled.

The number of absentee ballots cast in the Idaho 2022 general election, representing 21% of the nearly 600,000 total ballots cast. If HB 259 is passed into law, only a county clerk, election official, officer or employee of the state authorized by law would be able to distribute absentee ballot application forms. Jason Lehosit, the deputy policy director for the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, said Idaho’s existing system already succeeds at balancing access and security. “This legislation gives more control to government and adds unneeded red tape and regulation to a process which has already been working,” Lehosit told legislators.

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The percentage of American motorists who are nervous about the use of self-driving cars, an increase from the 55% who said the same last year. Only 23% of motorists said they trust self-driving vehicles, a decrease of 30%.

41.7

The number of feet of snow that has fallen since October at the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Pass — more than any snow year since 1970, and second only to the record of 66.7 feet in 1952. The state’s snowpack on Feb. 28 was 186% of normal to date.

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist

I just made a quick trip to Cork, to see a friend in failing health, and spent a couple of extra days in West Cork before heading back to Dublin for my flight home. During my time in Cork, I was only allowed time with my friend for an hour in the morning and another in early evening; so, when I wasn’t in the hospital, I was left with long quiet days to wander around the city on my own.

A favorite haunt of mine in Cork is the centuries-old English Market, off the South Mall. Normally I am with one friend or another who’s on a tight schedule, only making a quick stop for fresh fish or hand-cut beef steaks. But this time I was on my own to peruse every nook, cranny and stall of the 400-year-old structure. I was there every morning and lingered each afternoon until closing.

I watched multi-generational shopkeepers in sturdy aprons and tall Wellington’s hauling product back and forth, all day long, as they set up or tore down their stalls, every day except Sunday. Most stalls are devoted to only one product type, such as eggs, chicken, pork, beef, produce and, of course, fish and seafood arriving fresh every day. The fish and seafood always interests me the most, and the choices were endless: blue shell mussels from the sea-waters of Bantry Bay, velvet and brown crabs from Castletownbere, and wild Atlantic salmon from Ballycotton.

There’s a booth devoted entirely to artisan sausages,