Jonathan Winters, Philosopher

I once, many years ago, was watching the great Jonathan Winters sitting on the Tonight Show couch riffing on something I don't remember when he stopped in mid-sentence, turned to Johnny Carson and said, "This's scary, I'm startin' to believe m'own stuff."

Winters, one of my comedy heroes, startled me with that heavy chunk of wisdom - and I've recalled it many a time when I started to believe my own stuff. I've also related this story to friends, family (and students) who I suspected were ramping up to believe theirs, too.

Bottom line (literally): if I knew somebody at Modernista, I'd make a call this morning and tell them all about Jonathan Winters and how he helped keep me in the realm of the real all these years.