Unfathomable! Dead? How can somebody so alive be dead? Is it possible that a person who couldn’t remain seated in a chair for more than a minute at a time during talk show appearances stays so still now? Who can imagine this 500-miles-per-hour talking train to be completely silent?
Yet, I understand: The mud at the bottom of the depression well must be too thick to move and no scream can reach the surface. There is only unbearable pain. I am terrified imagining the emotional sufferings that led to this. But it’s hard to believe – he made so many people happy! Steven Spielberg kept his number on speed dial during filming of Schindler’s List – he would put him on speakerphone, so that he could cheer up the cast and crew with his endless jokes and impersonations. Amazingly, his dramatic gifts were equal to his comedic talents. At the end, none of it mattered – a good lesson to the vast majority of people who believe that popularity is the ultimate end game.
And now he is gone, leaving behind 102 acting jobs that drew $5.2 billion back into the entertainment industry; $50 million raised through Comedy Relief; endless hours of improvisational material that simply couldn’t fit into his movies and TV shows (16 hours for Aladdin alone); #13 rank on Comedy Central’s list of “100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time”; a speed of 15 impressions under a minute; 64 awards and nominations; 3 wives and 3 children…
Everyone’s favorite Genie, gay impresario, cross-dressing housekeeper, Popeye, war-time disc jockey, and alien; a literature teacher and a psychiatrist we wished we met; the best player of the most dangerous game that can eat you alive – I hope he is at peace now. Maybe now he can be this happy all the time:
The Frustrated CFO 