RIP LBM

Date: March 22, 2007
Time: 21:30
Place: Right near the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project

Poor old Larry "Bud" Melman from the David Letterman Show died yesterday. His real name was Calvin DeForrest. He used that on his occasional appearances on the CBs show because I believe NBC had a copyright on the L"B"M name. It didn't matter. The dyspeptic little lisping character with the odd stilted phrasing needed no name.

My two favorite Larry Bud Melman bits were:

Job Interview Do's and Don't's - Don't insult photographs on the interviewer's desk "What a hideous (sibilants + LBM = comedy gold) looking family. Yuck. Do you mind turning that around?" Don't cry and plead - On cue, Larry starts sobbing and begging

Larry goes to London - after a vacation to England, Letterman asks him to compare the theater in London with the theater in NY - "Of course the theater in London is fabulous, David, but what could compare to the theater in NY? The heavy curtains, your own private booth, and as many choices as you have quarters, and all around the felicitous aroma of men enjoying themselves!"

That joke may be aging since the advent of the Disney-fied Times Square, but LBM will stay with me always.