I Pissed Off a Monk Once...

I was reminded of this recently. A few years ago, I was hired to perform walk-around/close-up magic at a fund-raiser for a local Catholic prep school. It was an adults-only affair, and they really did it up. The theme was Cirque du Soleil so they had unicyclists in the parking lot, a mime greeting people at the door, a juggler, a large banquet/dance room, silent auction of some pricey wines, cigar bar, etc. etc. etc.

As part of the theme, I was dressed in a kind of sparkly unitard that came down to just below my knees with tights underneath.

At one point, I was actually doing a card trick for one of the priests, and a monk, dressed in full monk regalia - a black robe, came up in the middle to watch. I did a few tricks that all went over well with the priest - the monk wasn't really reacting that much so I thought maybe a little humor would draw him in.

So I looked at him with an appraising eye for a second then said, "Black is very chic, but (and I indicated how I was dressed) hemlines are higher this year."

Well, the priest laughed.