Tim and Tom and Jay

They were having a meet-the-author session at a Borders store in Sherman Oaks, Calif., over the weekend when suddenly a celebrity roast broke out.
“I met Tom in Boston in 1969,” a voice shouted from the back of the room. “He was talking then and he’s talking now. I could hear him out in the parking lot.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce an old friend,” Tom said with a laugh. “Come on up here, Jay. Jay Leno, everyone.”
Carrying a travel bag containing the outfit he would wear during his stand-up routine in Las Vegas that evening, Leno grabbed the microphone and soon a sedate book discussion and signing became anything but.
“Don’t you ever get a chance to say anything, Tim” Leno told Tim. “I thought that was a cardboard cutout of you up here.”
Leno picked up a copy of the book and did a double-take—“Hey, what’s this?—when he saw David Letterman’s warm endorsement on the back cover.
"Dave bought two," Dreesen said.
"Then loan me 50 bucks," Leno replied as he handed Tom his book to sign. Then he turned to Tim and said, "Do you want to take advantage of this opportunity to say something?”
Laughing hard, Tim told how he and Tom first ran into Leno in the 1970s when Tim and Tom were working at the Boston Playboy Club. “He was wearing a three-piece suit and smoking a pipe and wearing a deerstalker cap and I thought, ‘Sherlock Holmes?’” Tim said. “Later, we were both offered a job at a place run by the mob in Washington. I took it and he didn’t. Tom was touring with Sammy Davis then and there I was working at a topless joint near the Pentagon.”
“I was so jealous,” Tom said.
At that moment, Tom saw Joe Mantegna, the celebrated actor and a long-time friend from Chicago who is now starring on television in “Criminal Minds,” in the crowd and invited him to say a few words, too.
“It’s a pleasure to be here with two old friends,” Mantegna said.
“They are old,” Leno said.
“But it’s great to see that they made it all the way to Sherman Oaks,” Mantegna said.
“This is the largest crowd Tim and Tom ever played before,” Leno said. “OK, I’ve got to go now. I’m at the Mirage tonight and you guys are here.”
Leno left the room to laughter and applause and then it was Gary Owens’ turn to take an impromptu turn.
“People don’t know what wonderful charity work Tim and Tom do,” said the veteran actor and radio personality who played the announcer on “Laugh-In.” “They raise money for the poverty-stricken people of Beverly Hills. The ones who live on Skid Drive.”
Steve Landesberg, who gained fame for his dead-on characterization of detective Arthur P. Dietrich on “Barney Miller,” also swapped stories with Tim and Tom as they signed books for members of the enthusiastic crowd. So did comedian Brad Sanders; John Romeo, who has been one of Leno’s writers for more than 15 years; his wife, Regina Ackerman, a production coordinator for “The Tonight Show,” and John Rappaport who was the supervising producer and head writer for “M*A*S*H” during the last four years of its run.
And thus ended a busy week in Los Angeles during which they taped “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “The Bonnie Hunt Show” and appeared in a wild and wacky discussion on Jamie Foxx’ X-rated “Foxxhole” on Sirius Radio. Next up is Norfolk next weekend where Tim and Tom will appear at Tim’s alma mater, Norfolk State University, on Thursday, Oct. 16, and Washington on Saturday where they will be on the dais at the National Italian-American Foundation banquet, which Tom will emcee. Leonardo DiCaprio and Gina Lollobrigida are among the honored guests, and Barack Obama and John McCain are expected as well. Wonder if they’ve read any good books lately?