7/9-ONCE BOB ASKED AN IRANIAN WAITER ABOUT A COMIC CHARACTER FROM HIS FOLKLORE. THAT WAS THE END OF TABLE SERVICE AND THE BEGINNING OF A FLOOR SHOW!

Not all sermons get off the ground.  You've heard, "I was sorry I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet."  And it's easy to approve of that message, but it really doesn't do the job.  We've all met plenty of less fortunate people whose plight didn't cheer us up at all; in fact they can worsen our mood.  BOB RODRIGUEZ is different.  I dare you to be anything but lifted by the spirit of this happy, busy, curious, productive, ebullient folkloric researcher who chases jokes around the world and back through the ages, this professor, this traveler, this ballad-master, this singer of holiday carols of many religions in many languages -- WHO'S BEEN TOTALLY BLIND SINCE BIRTH.  Rodriguez visits with Sara and Barry this evening to bring cheer to a needy world.