Lotus holds its annual Lotusphere user conference every year at Disney World in Orlando, and my friend Tony would regularly come down. Tony and I have been friends since we met in college, and it was always nice to see somebody from home. So, we dust off our annual Disney passes and meet him over there for a couple of hours.
Eventually, my company adopted Lotus products in sufficient quantity so that they started sending some of us to Lotusphere. I was one of the lucky few, along with my other friend Eric.
Like me, Eric is one of those guys that loves to go for the laugh. What’s interesting about Eric, though, is an encyclopedic knowledge of funny combined with an uncanny ability to mimic voices. When King of the Hill debuted on Fox, the next morning Eric was already doing a better Boomhauer than Boomhauer.
Being a tad younger than me also meant that we were exposed to many of the same comedic influences and interests like Warner Brothers cartoons, Robin Williams, and the Simpsons. Eric can do the voices of most Simpsons regulars, and many of the guest stars like Kelsey Grammar and Rodney Dangerfield.
So Eric and I and some coworkers head out to Lotusphere, and we meet up with Tony at an ice cream place in Disney.
It’s always a bit awkward when friends from different social groups meet for the first time. You like hanging with both, but you never know how they’ll get along. You hope they have something in common besides being friends with you…
We get some refreshments and start the awkward dance that is meeting new people. The conference is one thing we have in common, and pass a few comments about that. As is his way, Eric makes a few jokes. One of them is a Rodney joke.
Eric makes another Rodney joke.
What Eric doesn’t know is that Tony is a HUUUUUGE Rodney fan. He doesn’t do voices, but he can do Rodney. And his memory is pretty good, too.
So, as they say, once is a courtesy, twice is a dare.
Tony fires off a Rodney joke. Then another.
Then another.
And another.
After 30 seconds I start groaning, because I know what’s coming and they don’t.
After five minutes Eric admits defeat.
After ten minutes, we’re laughing so hard we couldn’t eat our ice cream.
A lifetime’s supply of Rodneyisms came pouring out of Tony, and the laughter rang that day.
And there I was worrying that everyone wouldn’t get along.
I remember that! I can’t remember all of the jokes I told, but I remember this happening!
I also remember poor Tom laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe.
Rudy has told a few Tony stories over the years. I think some of them have to do with phonics and the 6th and 7th letters of the alphabet…
Ah, F’en Tony. That was a different Tony, for sure.