SKYLAND — Meetings of the Asheville Tea Party usually are serious affairs, but the featured speaker, comedian Eric Golub, had the 40 or so people in stitches of laughter with his rapid-fire jokes on May 29 at the Skyland Fire Department.

In addition to tea party regulars, several members of the newly formed Conservative Jewish Alliance were in attendance — as was an unidentified-but-frequent female participant in liberal-progressive protests in downtown Asheville. She was wearing a baseball cap with FBI stenciled on the front of it. She departed soon after the meeting.

ATP Chair Jane Bilello introduced Golub as Brooklyn-born, Long Island-raised, Jewish and politically conservative. She also noted that he has lived in Los Angeles since 1990.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Judaism and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a former stockbroker.

He also is a well-known blogger, aka the Tygrrr Express, and “has been “inflicting” his views on his readers” since March 11, 2007, Bilello said with a smile. His site won the Bloggers Choice Awards for Most Passionate Fan Base in 2007.

Bilello also quipped that, “after years of dating liberals, he’s finally seen the light and only dates Republican Jewish women” now, triggering much laughter from the attendees. 

Eric Golub, aka the Tygrrrr Express, kept the crowd laughing on May 29 in Skyland.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia describes Golub as “politically neo-conservative” and that he calls himself the “pre-eminent politically neo-conservative comedian.” 

Golub also is author of a trilogy of books, which he offered for sale after the program, including “Ideological Bigotry,” “Ideological Violence” and “Ideological Idiocy.”

As he noted during his performance, he was caught up in a controversy for making a joke that compared liberals to “special-needs children” at the tea party-affiliated “Restoring America” rally in Indianola, Iowa, before Sarah Palin spoke on Sept. 3, 2011.

Palin has a son who was born with Down Syndrome. Golub, who defended his comment in Skyland, has reportedly made the same assertion at other conservative events.

Golub began his comedy routine by asserting, “The good news in North Carolina is (Gov.) Beverly Perdue is stepping down ... The bad news is, she’s probably going to be the coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.”

Noting that North Carolina is in the Bible Belt, he told of a Jewish friend getting lost in Charlotte — and finally seeking help from a Baptist church.

The Baptists asked his friend lots of questions about where he was headed, eventually irking the Jewish man and his passengers when they kept referring to “Billy Graham.”

Golub said his friend complained that “you’re jamming religion down our throats” — until the minister said, “You’re not from around here ... Billy Graham (Parkway) is the name of the highway for you to take to your destination.” The crowd laughed heartily at the story.

More seriously, Golub said, “Now I’m here because our freedoms are under assault ... I live in L.A., which is a basket case, so it’s a pleasure to be among the Bible-thumping, flag-waving, gun-toting people” of North Carolina.

He reiterated, “I’m here because our freedoms are under assault and it starts at the top.”

Referring to President Barack Obama, Golub said that his opposition to the president is “not personal.”

The comedian even said he could say some positives about Obama, including “he’s a good husband ... and an excellent father.”

Further, Golub asserted, “It’s not that he’s light-skinned or dark-skinned — it’s them (the liberals) being thin-skinned.” 

He then offered what he termed a “compromise” on the issue of gun control, stating, “by having the liberals give their guns to us. Then we’ll have all the guns.”

On the matter of conservative candidates speaking out on “social issues,” Golub said less is more.

“People say you can even make fun of Barack Obama ... He’s so cool, so collected” and that he is similar in that way to actor Will Smith.

To the contrary, I say: ‘Yes, we can!’” make fun of the president. For instance, Golub said Obama’s head is so disproportionate (with his ears protruding), they should rename him Air Force One ... With ears that biog, he should be able to listen,” but he does not.

As for the presidential race, the comedian said, “I’d rather see the second coming of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher,” with solid conservatives, such as Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann, but those are not the option.

On a lighter note, Golub said, “I’ve been driving all the way from Eastern North Carolina today — and I’ve got on thing to say ... Never use a Palestinian GPS” — global positioning system.

“It took me to a Jewish cemetery, where it said, ‘You’ve now reached your final destination ... I got so mad, I threw it out the window — and it exploded.”

Switching gears, Golub asked, “Why do they (the liberals) go after people like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann? I don’t agree with them on everything. Being from California, I can’t stand their views on traditional marriage.”

He then spoke the names of several married and highly attractive women and lamented that “they’re each married to someone else — and not to me.”

Golub called Vice President Joe Biden “the Barney Fife of the administration.”

“The left should love Sarah Palin ... She has a beautiful special-needs child ... because the left is an entire ideology of special-needs children,” with an attitude of “I’m entitled. Give me.”

Regarding his aforementioned joke, Golub noted that “a 22-year-old CNN reporter lied and said I went after special-needs children. Liberals are nothing like special-needs children. Special-needs children have value.”

To his critics, Golub said, “I have a military record — I did two tours of duty at New York public schools.”

Regarding the economic problems in Detroit, he said, “Let’s surrender and admit defeat and pull our troops out of Detroit-  — and send them” to the Middle East, “were we have a chance of winning.”

“The George Bush movie, the real one, was called ‘Batman.’ You know who the Joker was?”

On a serious note, Golub said, “I always respected George W. Bush and Gen. (David) Petraeus. However, he urged Patraeus to “stop being like George W. Bush — stop being so polite” the next time he tesitfies before Congress. “They (liberals) hate you. Stop being so polite.”

“Why am I a conservative?” he asked, rhetorically.

“Because I’m the son of a Holocaust survivor,” Golub said.

In speaking of his father, he said one time he told him that social studies class was too hard. “Did the teacher try to shoot you?” his father inquired. “No,” Golub said. His father then sent him to his room without supper.

One time, the comedian noted, “My Dad said we need to secure the border.” 

“I said, ‘What have the Cubans ever done to you?’”

“He said, ‘I’m talking about the northern borders — keeping the New Yorkers out of Florida.’”

With a grin, Golub said his father had a dream of commanding the cadets from The Citadel as the guarded Florida’s northern border from migrating yankees.

He said North Carolina “has a very large LDS population,” in a reference to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more succinctly called the Mormons.

The Democrats will be slamming the Mormons, of which presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a member.

“I told (black conservative) Herman Cain that we’re not read for you yet” as president. “I’m so proud that we finally have put bigotry aside and elected a Vulcan” — a reference to Obama’s ears.

He concluded his presentation by saying, as conservatives, “we are right. The left is wrong.” He noted that his own philosophy is to “live, love, laugh, win.”

At that point, Golub said, “I want to open it up to questions. It’s always better” than a long comedy routine.