One of the more casually terrifying things a person can experience in their everyday life is to sing in front of a group of strangers. It's a uniquely vulnerable position to be put in, and it frankly surprises me how many people are willing to expose that side of themselves in public.

I speak of karaoke, and the importance of booze, of course, cannot be discounted for its invaluable role in the karaoke's existence.

If you find yourself with a hankering to toss a few back and croon to some classics in a room full of similarly inebriated closet-singers, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better karaoke spot in Tacoma than Puget Sound Pizza.

Featuring karaoke three nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 9 p.m. and going until last call, the real appeal of Puget Sound Pizza's karaoke is its inimitable host, the Reverend Colin. A tall, bearded man who always sports a utilikilt, Rev. Colin possesses a wealth of oddball musical knowledge and a disarming ease for calling everyone "baby." Having hosted karaoke for a little more than 12 years, Rev. Colin conducts karaoke with a sure hand and a sense of fairness with who gets to sing and how often; he once told me that he prides himself on not accepting bribes from people to be moved to the top of the singing rotation.

Needless to say, even with the presence of abundant libations, it can be quite intimidating to get up there and sing for the first time.

"I encounter (this nervousness) all the time," says Rev. Colin. "I just say, 'Hey, the way I look at it, it's just about having fun. Get up there, have a good time, and don't worry about what anyone else thinks about you.'"

The first time I sang karaoke - which, coincidentally, was at Puget Sound Pizza - my partner turned out not to know his half of our duet. I ended up singing both parts of Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," in a performance that must have looked very much like panic, and surely sounded even crazier. It was rough. But I didn't let that stop me from returning to the microphone. In the end, karaoke is as much about catharsis and letting off a healthy dose of steam as it is about singing.

"We do have a fair number of songs at Puget Sound Pizza that I'm pretty certain you're not going to find anywhere else in town," says Rev. Colin. "More oddball stuff."

Pro tip: if you're looking through the list of songs at Puget Sound Pizza and you don't see the one you want, ask Rev. Colin if he has it in his "secret stash." He always has a little bit set aside for the people who really want it.

[Puget Sound Pizza, karaoke Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 9 p.m. to close, 317 S. Seventh St., Tacoma, 253.383.4777]