Bobby Fischer Complains About Lack of Hooch in Prison

As indicated by this report, there is serious comedy in real life.

Chess maestro Bobby Fischer has cited a lack of alcohol as one of the factors making him ill behind bars at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

"I can't get any alcohol in here, which I think is also bad for my health. I say that quite seriously. I think alcohol in moderation is very good for your body. Alcohol in moderation is very good for your health. It has a cleansing effect on your body, an antiseptic effect. It has many benefits. It's good for your heart and so on," Fischer told Radio DZRH in the Philippines in the second of two separate interviews given on New Year's Eve and Jan. 17 and listed on the Internet overnight. "They don't allow alcohol, but they allow cigarettes. And they give the people cigarettes, tax-free. So the people are smoking like chimneys in here."

Fischer yammers on in the article with complaints about such things as, the air conditioning, President Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a nuclear facility adjacent to the prison, and the United States. Interestingly, he desires to become a citizen of Iceland and it appears that he may be approved by a parliamentary panel.

Nevertheless, his whining about lack of booze in the slammer has to qualify as today's hoot.