He was the top television comedian, one of the most popular faces on the small screen back when everybody just watched TV.
But there was nothing funny about his alcoholism.
He could control an audience, he’d have them in stitches, but he could not control his own drinking.
One time, he showed up to do a set on The Tonight Show, drunk as a skunk.
The executive producer didn’t see the humor in that and banned him from the show.
It was just one more signpost on his way to the bottom.
And then he found his way to Alcoholics Anonymous, got the message, and started to rebuild his life.
One day he got a call from a cable TV program in Beverly Hills—would he like to appear?
When you were a famous comedian and now nobody wants you, you take whatever you can get.
So he drove to the studio thinking to himself, “I used to be on The Tonight Show. And now I’m doing cable in Beverly Hills.”
My, how the mighty have fallen.
He went to the set, and once he saw that red light, it didn’t matter whether the audience was 5 million or 500.
He killed.
Now, a lot of famous people live in Beverly Hills, including a lot of top people in the entertainment industry.
Among them, the executive producer of The Tonight Show—the same person who had banished the comedian years earlier for his drunkenness on stage.
The executive producer called the comedian.
“There’s something different about you,” he said. “I just saw you on Beverly Hills cable TV. Looks like you’ve stopped drinking.”
“I have,” the comedian admitted.
“Would you like to come back on the show?”
You might think the story is apocryphal, but the comedian was a member of my home group and I heard him tell this story many years ago, from the podium.
Every word is true.
Here’s the point: you might think you have drunk, used, or spent your way out of whatever success you built for yourself.
But there’s good news—if you do what you’re supposed to do in the program, whatever program you’re in, you may just have another shot.
And this time, it will be all the sweeter, because you will be aware of how close you were, back when you were drinking and using, to having permanently thrown it all away.
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Photo: Getty Images
