Who's more awesome than Plato's Republic? Zane Lamprey!

...and I don't use that compliment lightly, you guys.

So last week, my buddy Tyler Groover over at Two Groove turned me onto Zane Lamprey, and was all, "hey, this guy's coming to Austin, would you mind giving his party a shout-out on your blog?" And I was all, "for you dollface, anything." And then, I shut my laptop and tortured my cat for half an hour.

But recently, I took some time to actually investigate just who this Zane Lamprey character was. And I am pleased to report that he is kind of great! And he is coming to Austin (La Zona Rosa) for a show on Friday, called "Drinking Made Easy."

So Zane Lamprey was originally a comedian, and while he is indeed humorous, he is also now quite educational. But what does he teach? you ask. Alcohol, friends. He teaches us about alcohol.

His television show, Three Sheets, is kind of like Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel, where he travels the world sampling different alcohol beverages and customs. It gained a cult following on the (now defunct) MOJO HD Network, then the Fine Living Network (that name makes me teehee), and just recently, scored a month run on...the Travel Channel.

But! The Travel Channel is trying to decide whether they should pick it up for real or not. In the meantime, Zane Lamprey isn't just sitting on his oft-intoxicated laurels. He's taking his show on the road baby, and makes a stop in Austin, both for the afore-mentioned gig at La Zona Rosa, and for a new television project.  It's part of a 24-city show series he's doing for HDNet, the media company of Dallas Mavericks' owner (and my favorite goober) Mark Cuban.

From Zane's blog:

"I had already planned to travel the country doing my "Drinking Made Easy" stand-up, so, I thought, why not learn about the drinking customs of our fine country in the process. So, I called Mark Cuban, who owns HDNet, and who was a fan of Three Sheets, and pitched him the idea. He loved it. I loved that he loved it. So, we're doing it.

We are shooting 24 episodes of DRINKING MADE EASY for HDNet to premier on Thursdays in September. We will explore the drinking customs in cities across the US. I'll be joined by my trusty correspondents, Steve McKenna, Marc Ryan, and a furry friend of mine. It's going to be an amazing show!"

Anyway, because we here in Austin are experiencing a cocktail rennaissance ourselves, thanks to drink-wielders like David Allan at Tipsy Texan, Bill Norris at FINO and other folks who treat the cocktail like a proper culinary item and not simply a shot vehicle, I think I'm going to support this and check out Zane's gig on Friday. Because this is a show I would totally watch!

I also believe Zane will find quite the alcohol education here in Austin while he is filming his series, especially if he decides to read Austinist's Informed Drinker column! (wink wink).

Show details (and tickets) here.