The Sidewalks of New York

They ran out of books at the Borders in the Loop before Tim and Tom even set foot in the place. They got a standing ovation at the Borders in Beverly on the South Side later that night. They signed and signed and signed at the Barnes and Noble in Naperville. They gave interviews by the dozen, were stopped on the street by fans and asked to pose for pictures up and down Michigan Avenue.

Tim walked out of a Starbucks one morning and looked down at his coffee cup. “I loved you in ‘Sister, Sister,’ the young woman behind the counter had written around the top of the cup.

So is it any wonder that Tim and Tom were a little reluctant to leave Chicago? But duty and David Letterman called, so here they are in the Big Apple where they’ll be on their old buddy’s show Tuesday night and give many other interviews as well as sign books at the Barnes and Noble in Lake Grove, Long Island on Wednesday, and the Barnes and Noble at Lincoln Center on Thursday.

But they still can’t get their reception in Chicago out of their minds. These were their first appearances together since their days as Tim and Tom and while they are no longer doing any of their old routines, they are working with each other as smoothly as ever.

“We really were the first black and white comedy team, you know,” Tim will say.

“Well, at least until McCain and Obama came along,” Tom will answer.

There have been some delightful surprises along the way, too. Vicky Serufka, the 13-year-old girl who attended one of the drug-education programs Tim and Tom put on in schools as members of the Jaycees in Harvey, Illinois, was in the crowd in Beverly and there were hugs all around. It was Vicky who first planted the idea of show business in their minds when, after the program in her elementary school, she said, “You guys are so funny. You ought to be comedians.”

And Tannmy Ruppel, who started the first Tom Dreesen fan club after Tim and Tom split up was in the crowd, too. “I once read a letter Tammy sent me on the Johnny Carson show, ” Tom says. "She wrote that things started slow with the fan club, but they were really going good now. They were up to six members, including my sister Margie."

But while their days in comedy and their solo careers fascinated the members of the audience, Tim and Tom were also delighted to see that wasn’t the only thing people wanted them to talk about. Their presence also generated conversation about the huge topic of race in America.

“Our generation failed,” Tim told the crowd in Beverly about overcoming racial strife and stereotypes. “We jumped into the drug culture, the sexual revolution and so on. This generation is different. Race doesn’t matter to them. They’ll marry whoever they want, they’ll eat with whoever they want and they’ll hate whoever they want. They don’t care.”

Many members of the crowd shook their heads in agreement, happy to see Tim and Tom together again and still provoking audiences to laughter and to thought.