Bob Eckstein's Blog, page 3

Robin Williams and Bookstores

(Each week I am trying to thank each contributor of my upcoming book.)When I first started working on my greatest bookstores project I started by making a list of my favorite people. This included everyone from close friends to the President, people who inspired me and who I admired and who I would plan to speak with, if possible.By this time, the beloved comedian, Robin Williams, passed away. At the same time, my best friend, Len Belzer, also committed suicide. I wrote humor with Len as well. Len knew all the great comedians from hosting his public radio humor show (like Seinfeld, Carlin, Hicks–Len's interview with Bill Hicks is legendary) and he knew Robin and from his brother, stand-up Richard Belzer (who most know as Detective Munch onLaw & Order). That week Richard lost his brother and we both lost one of our best friends. Through Len I became a comedy nerd and learned a lot as well as many life lessons outside of comedy. We played chess together, wrote jokes and helped each other struggle with our respective demons.One of the cartoons Len and I did together was not our joke but one given to us. Richard had gone to the hospital with his buddy to cheer up a mutual friend. That friend was Robin and it was he who said, "It's always about you," to their sick friend. I used that line again in reference to Len when I spoke to a tearful Friar's Club at Len's memorial. It did make Gilbert Gottfried laugh and afterwards Robert Klein kindly and eerily told me I killed.I'm sharing this story because today the cartoon is being published byNational Lampoon. They are no longer a print magazine but have an online presence. It was 25 years since I last wrote jokes for them when they started again and again I'm still proud that they use my work. Back in the day Richard Belzer was actually also writing for theLampoonas well as many soon-to-be household-name comedians like Gilbert (we would all cross paths again atSPY).So thank you Mr. Williams and thank you, Len for the laughs and friendship.

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day.It was a very good episode of Prairie Home Companionand one of the last hosted my Garrison Keillor. This Mother's Day special hada very funny song by Brad Paisley about selfies(I'm not normally a country fan but this was good) and I am glad he first stated before he sang, "Garrison Keillor is the Mark Twain of our time," because I agree.As my weekly feature of contributors to the book I've been thanking, this time it's the great story-teller Garrison Keillor. His writing and humor has been an inspiration to me for a long time. Garrison, it was a thrill to hang out with you and have you help me with my bookstores book by writing its Foreword. Have a great retirement but hope you never stop telling stories the way only you can.

Happy Independent Bookstore Day

Each week I've been thanking friends of my upcoming book and because today, Saturday April 30th, is Independent Bookstore Day I choose someone who has a new book out,New Yorkercartoonist Michael Maslin.Michael and I are friends but initially I was just a big fan. Before knowing him, I purchased the rights to a couple of his snowman cartoons for my first book. Later I became a cartoonist myself and had the opportunity for us to meet in person. The past couple of years Michael has helped my book, providing feedback and encouragement on the artwork and just being a sounding board in general. The process of being a cartoonist, with the high rate of rejection, can be very frustrating and sometimes Michael has provided me free psychiatric services.But at the same time Mr. Maslin was embarking on a huge book project of his own, the biography of the legendary Peter Arno, widely considered one of the greatestNew Yorkercartoonist ever. Titled,Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist, this book is beautifully produced and a great recommendation if you're able to make it out to support your local bookstore.Here is a feature from the Wall Street Journal to tell you more about this book.

Thank you to Friends and Contributors

Welcome to the first entry to my book diary.I just finished my upcoming book and wanted to take this time to thank everyone for their help. From recommending bookstores to actually providing stories or just supporting me in general on Facebook with kind words on the artwork, it all helped. I tried thanking everyone by name in the back of the book but I can’t thank everyone enough anyway.The project took a couple of years and it involved over a hundred stores. Many of you helped me in ways you can’t imagine and while it may seem on the surface I neglected your input, it’s just that in many cases I haven’t used your contribution yet. Half the stories and half the bookstores were cut from the first Volume due to size and hopefully there will be one day a second volume.