The Al Smith Dinner is a prestigious stuffy annual charity event in New York City

that begins with everyone showing up in black tie and ends in raucous laughter of a raunchy

roast. It's letting your hair down and having fun.

It's in New York City.

It's a celebration of Catholics.

It's named in honor of Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic to run for president

is a Democrat nominee, I believe in 28. And if I remember correctly, I think the Democrat Convention that year was in Houston.

They hastily built a convention center with no roof because back then there wasn't any air travel and

and you know car travel was pretty early on.

So people across the country, Texas was still kind of the west and the south for where

most of America lived. So they wanted to capture this burgeoning new wealth of Texas in Houston.

So they wanted to get that money for the Democrat Party.

So they decide they're going to give the Democrat Convention to Houston because you've got some very, very powerful

Houstonians that are writing big checks, it's new oil money. So they agree, yes we're

going to have the Convention in Houston and they get to Houston in the middle of the summer, and they realize,

oh my goodness, this is hot as Hades.

We all didn't warn us about that.

And they didn't do that again for a very long time.

The event is hosted officially by the Archdiocese of New York.

It's typically held in October, and the U.S. presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican both show up.

That's the thing and they make fun of themselves and their opponent, but in a very good-natured fashion.

It would be De Klaise not to show up.

...