More On Richard Jeni

The messages of grief, support and tribute in the name of Richard Jeni that have come pouring in here (as well as to my office email and voicemail) have been steady and numerous.  Thanks to all for sharing.  I'm astonished by the response; it's the least that he deserves.  A few things to point out though:

1) Oy.  How inappropriate is the name of this blog considering...  Please don't let it affect any of your kind thoughts. (Thanks Defamer for pointing this out.)

2) For some reason, Rich's oft-edited entry on Wikipedia made some sort of conspiratorial connection between his tragic death and the charitable Christmas card he sent out.  For the record, it was a simple, heartfelt message that went:

In the spirit of the holiday season,
a contribution in your honor has been made
to the American Cancer Society
by Richard Jeni
It carries with it a wish for health,
happiness, and peace in the new year 

 3) Some people suggested that there must be more stories about Richard than the "contemplative" ones posted earlier.  I have dozens, but perhaps my favorite was the time in Melbourne when Richard, a notorious charmer, had scheduled two dates with two different girls at the same time. 

It was about 10:30 a.m., and the phone rang in my room.

"Noolmunn," Jeni cried state of panic, "I need your help.  Can you take out a girl on my behalf after the show tonight?"

"I'm married, Rich," I reminded him.

"I'm not asking you to sleep with her," he said.  "I need you to be 'The Beard'."

The "first date" was a woman he met on the plane coming over to Australia.  He had offered her tickets to his show.  The "other woman," my date, was one he met in town. 

So there I was, night of the show, "escorting" woman #2 to it as my date.  She was in on all this, and was waiting for the first woman to leave, ostensibly after Richard's on-stage performance.

'Twas not to be though, as she stuck around backstage and wanted to go out for dinner.  So out for dinner we went, the four of us...me, Rich and his two dates.  "Don't worry Noolmunn, you're off the hook, I'm picking up the tab for all of us," he whispered as we left the theatre.

So there we were, until 2:00 a.m., dining, drinking, laughing at one of the city's best restaurants...until the first date started to tire, was gentlemanly escorted to a cab by Rich.

As soon as the cab turned the corner, Rich grabbed "my date" by the arm, gave me a hug good-bye, and was off into the Melbourne late night, with that bug-eyed, ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face.

St. Peter, lock up your daughters.  Jeni's in town, and he's headlining.