Lauren Bacall smiles as Joe E. Lewis (left) presents
Friars
cufflinks to hubby Humphrey Bogart as Phil Silvers and
Red Buttons look on approvingly |
Matt Lauer’s Upcoming
Roast
Recalls Bogey On The Griddle
HE
guest of honor at the 2008 Friars Club Roast will be Today
show co-anchor Matt Lauer. "From what I
understand," says Lauer, "you pad yourself, you take
medication, you sit there and you just kind of brace for the
worst."
So he’s
very much up to speed on what this event is all about.
The master
carver for the October 24 event at the New York Hilton will be Today
weather and features anchor Al Roker as roastmaster. Keep
your fingers crossed that his friends, Katie Couric and Meredith
Vieira, will want to be on hand for the laughs.
With Matt’s
Hollywood connection, having interviewed top movers and shakers in
tinsel town, the dais should resemble the red carpet of an Oscar
night. While Matt may not have a tough guy persona, he does have a
laid back, good-natured demeanor—much like a former roastee, Humphrey
Bogart.
Stephen Bogart shows off his dad’s cufflinks at
the
Friars Monastery in 2008 |
Ok, so sue
me for trying to make a tidy correlation between Matt and Bogey
since I also want to get in a fun word about the Friars Bogart
Roast in 1955. Recordings of these roasts are never sold to the
public but somehow this particular one is the most popular
bootlegged Friars event to make the rounds on eBay.
Red Buttons
was the roastmaster and I would love to quote him along with the
other comedians but I don’t want your screen fogging up.
Comedian Jan
Murray was honest: "I don’t know this man. We have
nothing in common. I mean, Kutsher’s Country Club, you never
worked, am I right? One thing I know, you never worked the
mountains. What kind of a name is Humphrey for a Jewish boy?"
Bogart’s
wife, Lauren Bacall, went where no woman had gone before—she
hung out backstage at the stag roast and was allowed on the dais
at the end of the proceedings.
"I have
nothing to say to you rat bastards except that finally, at long
last, I have four hundred men in a room and he’s got to be
here!"
Matt Lauer and Joy Behar at a Friars tribute to Al Roker
in 2000 |
Bogart was
presented with cufflinks. I had the pleasure of running into Bogey
and Bacall’s son Stephen at the Friars Monastery where he
just happened to bring along those very same cufflinks. Talk about
a bridge between generations.
Matt will be
presented with the Friars Roast Award—a crystal Friar with
orange flames at the bottom. Something tells me I won’t be
running into his son carrying it around in his pocket at the Club
one day.
|
Cover
