We're losing our funny people too rapidly. The above pic is of a hilarious man named Lou Jacobi who you may remember from Woody Allen's movie of Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask. Mr. Allen used to — and may still for all I know — cite Jacobi as the perfect comic actor…the guy who'd get every single laugh it was possible to get in a scene…and then some. Neil Simon felt much the same way about him. The general public may not have known the name of Lou Jacobi but among folks who create comedy for a living, he was very well respected.
I don't have any great stories about the man, I'm afraid. I met him once on the phone and once on the set of The Dean Martin Show, where he was a regular for a couple of years. He spent much of this time on that series annoyed that he didn't get to rehearse with Dean. That was a point of annoyance with many actors who worked that show, especially stage-trained actors…and that's what Jacobi was, scoring his greatest successes on or around Broadway. But his co-workers didn't mind too much when Lou was riled because Lou was very funny when he was riled. He was very funny when he wasn't riled, too. He just left us at the age of 95 and I'll bet he was funny right up until the second he died…and then some.