My short career as a joke-writer. Continue reading →
Like most people I greatly appreciated Robin Williams’ sense of humor. He reminded me of Babe Ruth, who, before Major League Baseball decided to allow black people and then steroids into its game, was the all-time leader in both strikeouts and home runs. All of the manic performances by Williams were bound to include a few swinging strikeouts, but you could also count on him to clear the bases at least once.
One of the two or three most startling moments of my life occurred in June of 2002, when the Bush Administration was making noises about invading Iraq. The Nation magazine of June 10 featured the following cover:
I immediately dashed off a very short letter to the editor:
Cartoon fans might appreciate a different caption on your June 10 cover: “Be vewy quiet. I’m hunting tewwowists.”
The letter, which was published in the July 15 issue, is still on the internet. You can view it here. I was, of course, pleased that they had decided to use it, but it was not a highlight of my life. I had previously had a few letters published in newspapers and magazines.
A few days after the issue arrived in my mailbox an employee of mine name Harry announced at the office that Robin Williams had stolen my joke. Harry had seen Robin Williams appear live on HBO in a live special. According to Harry he had quoted me verbatim without attributing the source.
We did not subscribe to HBO, and so there was no way to verify Harry’s account. A short time later we happened to be at a friend’s house at the same time that the Robin Williams special was being rebroadcast. I watched the entire show, and, sure enough, at one point he definitely said “Be vewy vewy quiet. I’m wooking for tewwowists.” You can read the script here. This is what Alexandra Petri wrote recently in the Washington Post about that show:
For me, the moment that I find myself returning to was his 2002 HBO stand-up special. As a high schooler enamored with comedy, I listened to it over and over again. There was such an immense playfulness and quickness to it. It’s hard to convey in words. It was so fully three-dimensional, so exuberant and so giddy in pursuit of every possible joke and gag and impression and face. He was fearless to the point of inviting parody.
Was I upset to hear my well-crafted lines so blatently plagiarized? Are you kidding? The great Robin Williams had stumbled across exactly one joke that I had written, and he considered it good enough to insert into his act. What an honor! Besides, he added a “vewy” and changed “hunting” to “wooking for.”
The red oval (in the center of the photo just to the right of the telephone pole) indicates a picnicking area, which contained three tables, one of which at that moment was being used by three people. If you can’t see the oval, click on the photo to enlarge it. Here is what the camera showed me when I zoomed in on that table:
This thing is awesome.