Laughter is definitely the best medicine, and I needed it. I have been in a difficult headspace for a while now. I have no reason to be unhappy; I have a great life, a job I love, dogs, and a husband who loves me very much and is truly my best friend. All that said, I have been letting the current insanity of the United States into my head way too much. It is not hard to let that happen, as I consume too much social media and news. I turned the cable news channels off years ago because I recognized how much stress and agitation they added to my life. I still let it in—it’s hard not to; it’s part of our daily lives, unfortunately. When the current President of the United States, whom I call the parasite, was elected again in November of 2024, I was both revolted and horrified that a once-great nation could stoop so low (again) as to return this criminal con man back to the height of power. My husband and I were engaged at the time, and we agreed that if the parasite won the election, we would get married before he was inaugurated because we were afraid gay marriage could be outlawed. We got married on November 24th in Atlanta and again in Toronto, Ontario on December 7th for good measure. We wanted to have a Canadian marriage license as well because we felt we might need it. We also discussed moving out of the US completely, to Toronto or some other city in Canada.
Flash forward to the end of August 2026—things are much worse, and we are in active preparations to move out of the US to Spain. We are fortunate that my husband’s employer has a manufacturing site in Spain, and they are working to help us relocate there. They also have a facility in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is where I am writing this post. My husband had to come for a week of meetings, and I tagged along doing some work, writing, and taking a break. This trip coincidentally overlapped with the end of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and thanks to my social media habit, I found a show at the very end of the festival that I had been wanting to see for a long time: Liberace & Liza: A Tribute.
I knew vaguely what to expect, having followed “Liberace & Liza” on social media for a while, but I was not prepared for the full experience. Being a gay man, these are two icons that I am probably hardwired into loving, and as I posted on social media last night: “Liberace and Liza. Honestly I may need poppers to take all this in.” If you do not know what poppers are, I will let you research that on your own.
It was everything I was expecting and more. I laughed until I had tears running down my face. My husband loved it as well, and seeing him enjoying it so much and having such fun warmed my heart. The two performers, David Saffert and Jillian Snow, are not only comedians with great timing but both musical powerhouses. David Saffert played the piano so much like Liberace that I thought he was doing the lip-syncing equivalent of piano playing, but no—he was actually playing. It was incredible to watch. Jillian Snow as Liza was just delightful: beautiful, a great voice, great moves, and comedy gold. It was 60 minutes of pure spectacle and fun. They did many of the Liza standards like “Cabaret,” “New York, New York,” and a tribute to Liza’s mom, Judy Garland, with a great rendition of “Over the Rainbow.” David Saffert played a medley from the opera Carmen with all of the flourishes and flair you would expect from Liberace. Then they moved into more contemporary covers, like a kazoo-assisted version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” a great imitation of “Shallow” by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, and their encore of “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan. The whole audience was singing along to the chorus of “Pink Pony Club” at the end. The entire performance was pure joy.
As I sat there, with tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard, I kept thinking how normal it all felt. Normal to just be in the moment with my husband, enjoying the talents of two people who obviously love their craft; normal to be in a country without leaders who are acting like craven lunatics; normal without worrying that my Mexican-born, gay US citizen husband is going to be snatched up just for looking Mexican. Just a feeling of normalcy—enjoying the moment, everything as it should be. Joy and laughter are a good tonic in troubling times, and that is what I need—and it is what Liberace and Liza: A Tribute delivered.
I have never had the opportunity to see Liberace or Liza live, but I have to think they both would have been honored and enjoyed this spectacle as much as I did. Liberace died of AIDS during the early years of the pandemic in 1987, the same year I graduated high school. I remember my grandmother loving his piano playing but also referring to him in derogatory terms as a homosexual. As a closeted, completely confused gay teenager, I felt some connection to him. I did not know what gay icons were or how they become so ingrained into the LGBT community, but Liberace certainly is one now. I have been fascinated by his story for some time, and the great HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra, with Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Dan Aykroyd and Rob Lowe is a great place to start if you want to know more about him. Liza is still with us but in declining health. She is the original Friend of Dorothy, being the daughter of the actual Dorothy, Judy Garland. Liza is a cultural icon, and her gay icon status cannot be disputed. Her movies, concerts, and theater performances are part of American culture.
After a completely terrible week of losing the icons Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, as well as watching the idiotic slob in the White House continue to crap all over our allies, Canada and the United Kingdom, it was great to be out of the country and feeling normal again. Thanks to Liberace (David Saffert) and Liza (Jillian Snow) for giving me some joy and laughter, reminding me how normal feels, and making me feel a whole lot better.
Please follow them on social media and look for performance dates on their website:
https://liberaceandliza.com
IG: @liberaceandliza
If you have the opportunity to see it, please go. You will not regret it.
TL