One of My Favorite Clowns

A legendary figure from my high-school days ... Larry "Bud" Melman, a giant from the glory days of David Letterman ... has passed on.

I don't know that I've ever laughed harder than when Melman, dressed as Roy Orbison, sang "Blue Bayou." He stood there, without fear, pretended to play a guitar, and sang. But it was the strangest thing, as if he'd never held a guitar before... he strummed the neck of the guitar and didn't know what to do with his other hand.