Don't Fear the Reaper: 250 Anecdotes

This book contains 250 anecdotes, including these: 1) George Jessel was known as the Toastmaster of the United States because he spoke at so many dinners and gave so many elegies at funerals. He once observed a number of veterans at a dining room in a hotel. They had fought together, and some had been injured in battle, including a man who could no longer speak. At the table was an empty chair for one of their fellows who had been killed in battle. One by one they made a toast to their fallen comrade and drank. When it was his turn to make a toast, the veteran who could not speak stood up, raised a glass to the empty chair, then sat down, and all drank. Mr. Jessel says, “It was the most eloquent toast I’ve ever witnessed.” 2) When Sam Kinison died, lots of comedians showed up at his funeral and talked about him. Richard Belzer emceed, and Pauly Shore talked about how Sam used to be his babysitter. Comedian (and Sam’s best friend) Carl Labove had been with Sam when he died, and he spoke—but briefly, as he started to cry. Mr. Belzer helped him from the podium and led him to a chair, but suddenly Mr. Labove broke away from Mr. Belzer, ran back to the podium, and announced, “By the way, I’ll be at Iggy’s all week! Two shows Friday, three Saturday!” I’m sure that Sam would have loved it.