Robin

by Dave Itzkoff

The driver stopped the bus and told everyone to exit the vehicle. Robin, still an altruistic transplant from the West Coast, said he wanted to stay and help out, but the driver replied: “He’s dead, motherfucker, now get off! You can’t do shit for him, so take your raggedy California ass and get outta my bus!”

Comedy, Leno said, is an unusual discipline where “the affirmation of strangers is more important than that of friends or family members. No comic wants his friends or his family in the audience. They’re either going to laugh too hard or they’re not going to laugh at all. You want complete strangers. They’re the only ones that count.”