One of the great things about the Internet is that it brings people together. For years, I was aware of a fine TV writer named Mark Rothman. He worked on a number of successful shows, including The Odd Couple, Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. Once in a while, someone even got us confused because, as we all know, all comedy writers named Mark might as well be the same person. We had many mutual friends but we'd never met.
We met over the Internet…and earlier this year when he started a blog, I recommended you visit it. He's a funny guy and he tells a good story. Many of you have written to thank me for sending you his way.
This afternoon, we finally met in person…over lunch at Nate 'n Al's deli in Beverly Hills. This is more or less the natural habitat of two Jewish comedy writers. He had the chicken liver plate and he squished his carrots into the mashed potatoes. I had a half a corned beef sandwich on rye and a cup of chicken noodle soup, and then I got a "to go" order which I took to my mother. I figured you'd all want this information.
We swapped stories and discovered that we knew even more of the same people than we'd previously thought. I had a great time and it reminded me to mention the following here: If you aren't going to Mark Rothman's blog, you're missing a lot of great show biz anecdotes and observations.