induscrypt/blogs

From the page: "�oeHey, Dick, I�ll never forget the look on your face when that guy died on your show.”

I�d say I still get this about 20 times a year, a high number considering that the event referred to happened in 1971.

I�m never sure exactly how to answer. Let�s call the speaker Don. Usually it goes on:

Don: I�ll never forget that.

D.C.: Ah, you were in the audience?

Don: No, I saw it.

D.C. (uneasy): Well, you see that show never aired.

Don: C�mon, you�re kiddin� me.

D.C.: It�s true. And you�re just one of a lot of people who are so sure that they saw it that they could pass a polygraph test.

Don: How did I see it then?

D.C.: I hate to spoil your fun, but the only way you might have seen it is if you knew a couple of ABC engineers who ran off a copy that night to take home to spook their wives and girlfriends.

Don (with an expression that says, �oeWhy are you pretending I didn�t see it?”): But I just know I saw it.

D.C. (now trying to comfort poor Don who has had a cherished memory threatened): Maybe I described it so vividly the next night that you thought you actually saw it … and it was in all the papers and on the late news shows.

Don (baffled) : Geez, I swear….

D.C.: See, Don we taped so close to air time that they had to quickly put on a rerun. The family hadn�t been notified or anything.

Don (noticeably crestfallen, not seeing): I see.

As I bid Don goodbye, it�s clear that he is convinced I�m crazy. I mentally recite my favorite two-line rhyme:

A man convinced against his will,
Is of the same opinion still.


When I�m doing an appearance somewhere and taking questions from the audience, I can always count on: �oeTell about the guy who died on your show!” I generally say, �oeI will, and I promise you that in a few moments you will be laughing.” (That gets a laugh.) I go on: �oeFirst, who would be the logical person to drop dead on a television show? A health expert.” (Laugh.) I go on to explain that he was Jerome I. Rodale, the publisher of (among other things) Today�s Health Magazine. (Laugh.) The irony gets thicker.

He�d been on the cover of The New York Times Magazine that Sunday, and we needed one more guest. He was a slight man, and looked like Leon Trotsky with the little goatee."