Lawrence, I am usually right with you on issues. But I have to say, I find your commentary on the announcement of this wedding to be distasteful and to an extent offensive. You are assuming already that this wedding will be an extravagant and expensive affair, failing to realize that Queen Elizabeth IS in fact a wise monarch who at her purchased her own wedding dress using ration cards that she saved up (not funds set aside for a royal wedding). You also seem to be forgetting the recent wedding of Chelsea Clinton, how much American media attention that got, how large it was, and how much tax payer money went to security for the event. Do not patronize the British people by pretending this same kind of attention isn't given to otherwise mundane events elsewhere in the world. The British people care about this wedding because the wife of Prince William will be the Queen in all but title, and a representative of the British people at home and abroad. You may think it absurd to have a monarchy in the 21st century, but you are not without your own follies and you ought to find something else to pick on.

The monarchy is not going anywhere, and in the opinion of this Brit it ought not go anywhere in the near future.

The US doesn't have Royals, so who fills that "hole?" Is Britain better or worse than the US in concentration of wealth? Under its form of constitutional monarchy, the UK takes much better care of the least among its citizens than we do. Maybe we can still learn from our parent country.

Um....let me get this straight. Tea Party loons, Christine O'Donnel, Sharon Angle, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Faux News, Glenn Beck, Rand Paul, Rush Limbaugh, etc., etc.,---not to mention entire hour long programs , like your own, covering these insufferable hillbillies and keeping their messages alive---and you're ridiculing the British??

Very entertaining show tonight. And since there's no where else to say it that I can find.... In internet & rock parlance: Sam Harris is GOD!!!

The British monarchy is part of British culture - not just pop culture, but historical, anthropological culture. We don't identify with that culture, but there are numerous cultures around the world that we don't identify with. I think it's unfair to call any true culture irrelevant.

Dude, chill!

I've had more synapses in one day than the number of words in your commentary. I vote straight Democratic and I care about the poor just as much as you do. However, your trash talk on the royal family only makes you more of a socialist pig and you wouldn't need it to hear it from Rush Limbaugh. This is world culture in progress and no one is going to die just because someone in the royal family decides to get married. This is why liberals cannot win elections because they say they are diverse in culture, but cannot let anyone, even royalty to choose their own paths. I do agree with the Republicans that sometimes, liberals can be wishy washy pigs.

I'm am disappointed in the change in tenor of your show. From reasoned and balanced to snide, catty, and judgmental! What's up with the need to put others down - all English folk because they are interested in the royals!? Are you looking to move to Fox or just need your old writers back?

I think you were a bit thick with the anti-monarchist sentiments, Lawrence. No, the family of the British Monarch don't draft legislation or form government policies, but they do have relevance besides wearing funny hats and wearing tiaras. William's father, Prince Charles, is a role model for socioethical consciousness and ecological issues. I wish some of our sociopolitical leaders and pundits in the US of A had his openness and intelligence. Sarah Palin is like the "tea party" queen, right? Does the Palinator fill a "hole" in the tea party's hearts?  

Lawrence, You were so determined to pour scorn on the royal family that you failed to point out their primary function, which is to serve as a very public warning about the dangers of in-breeding. I can think of a couple of states here in the U.S. which would benefit from something similar.

Larry leave the Brits alone..what nerve casting aspersions on the royal family for wasting taxpayer dollars...what do you think the USA is doing?

Uh-oh…Methinks a certain someone might be letting his Irish show a bit much for many people's liking…Ouch! (or should I say: Begorrah!)

Real Americans (which is to say, not you drunken, troublemaking Fenian lot) just love their former British overlords (no hard feelings about all that "shoot them when you see the whites of their eyes" stuff, mind you). It's hard not to feel some degree of sympathy and affection for the Old Empire upon-which-the-sun-never-set, after all, now that it has actually set, and we in fact are the ones currently mired down in places like The Middle East and Afghanistan, encharged with the thankless task of bringing democracy, proper etiquette, and big screen TVs to all the dark places of the earth.

And if we are required to sort of, like, you know, utterly decimate these places in the process…well, no-one ever said such things were easy. The going is just as tough for us new overlords as it was for the old ones, what? Best to keep a stiff upper lip, drink lots of sherry all hours of the day and night, and in certain unguarded moments, at least, allow oneself to get a touch sentimental and teary-eyed when the Old Mum gets on the Telly to blather away at some incomprehensible nonsense in her thoroughly preposterous accent. And one can't help but admire her vast array of hats, too, I daresay.
 
Uncouth Republican types like O'Donnell (and precisely how many people with the surname O'Donnell are employed by MSNBC, anyhow? It's like a bloody jobs program for the IRA, it is…) may demur and raise a stink about our beloved Royals and all the attention we shower upon them, but as one can safely surmise, that's just the Bushmills talking.

A word to the wise is sufficient, though: If you keep this up with this manner of beastly behaviour, Larry, old chap, the subjected peoples on both sides of the drink are going to have no choice but to refudiate you and to refudiate you soundly. Right!

Lawrence, you seem to have something of a toxic hangover from you days working in Washington. They've left you with a cynicism that contributed to your making some ugly and uncalled for comments about Kate Middleton and the royals. Maybe if you had someone as beautiful, loving, and intelligent as Kate Middleton in your life, you'd appreciate how you've damaged yourself and your own image much more than hers with your commentary.

i agree with lawrence. i couldn't care less.

I was really turned off by O'Donnell's apparent contempt for the British and this wedding.

The monarchy in England is its greatest tourist attraction with the changing of the guards, Buckingham Palace with a monarch in residence, etc. Also, unlike our monarchy "the POTUS", theirs has no power. Their actual political leader, the prime minister stands and takes questions from the people's rep. Something that needs to duplicated here.

Save your sneers for something that is deserving. Your attitude was extremely rude and offensive. Will give the show another chance but if the smarmy and superior attitude continue, just might have to give up on this program.

Another thought. The wedding will bring in millions of pounds more than it cost with the huge uptake in tourism for the event.

BTW, how dare we criticize the Brits for spending too much on a wedding. How many trillions is our deficit? As they say, it's the pot calling the kettle black.

Just remembered that Lawrence has Irish blood n him. So now the reason for the contempt falls into focus.

Lawrence, you aren't that cynical, are you? I could understand your scorn if you were discussing the famous British obsession with ladies' hats, but this is history in the making. You may think that royals are unnecessary in this day and age, but they serve a purpose and provide a sense of continuity that we colonists may not always understand. On the other hand, I thought it quite humorous that the Queen "tweeted" their comments about the upcoming nuptuals. It seems a bit cheesy for an institution so steeped in tradition.

What's sadder is your cynicism about the wedding itself. Who among us doesn't think a young couple, obviously in love and planning a future together, is not a happy occasion? If it's newsworthy for Hollywood types, it's certainly newsworthy for royals.

Your show is off to a great start, but I prefer to think of you as more even-handed than Keith (altho I love him). It's OK to have an opinion, but please be nice about it!

Lawrence, I really like your program and agree with most of your comments, however, as a British citizen I can honestly say that what is done in Britain is none of your business. We have thousands of years of history and tradition behind us, the Royal family is part of our culture and we are proud of that. The good they do for our country far out ways the money we give them.

Please do not ridicule the love we have for our Queen.