George Carlin said he only believed in worshiping something tangible that gave him proven results, so he had begun worshiping Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci was great in Goodfellas and in Lethal Weapon 2 when he said, "They always fuck you at the drive thru," but what has he done since?

Well, I propose we switch to a new totem, Hugh Laurie of FOX's House.

I watched House early on, but I'm not much for fictional TV shows, plus it just made me start thinking about illnesses I might contract someday. However I was very impressed with Laurie when I saw him on The Tonight Show. Some actors have charisma as their characters, but when they have to rely on being themselves they just lose "it," and you realize they're just the product of writers. Not so with Hugh Laurie. This guy is honestly off-the-cuff funny and interesting, and add to that, multi-talented.

He was on The Tonight Show again last Friday, and was again quick-witted with good stories to tell. He then did a song with a band he's created to play charity events called Band from TV. I didn't expect much, but amazingly he can play piano like hell, and sings*! So I went to You Tube and found further evidence that Hugh Laurie is possibly from another world.

Hugh Laurie plays slide guitar.

Hugh Laurie plays harmonica.

And according to Wikipedia he was also a champion oarsman as a young man back home in England.

Oh, yes, and he has a published novel.

So color me impressed. If I'm going to bow to a mere mortal, it may as well be Hugh Laurie.

As a bonus, here's his audition for House.

* There are better clips of his piano playing on You Tube that are really astounding.