Goodnight, Rodney

      Alas, in a sign of long-needed respect: Mr Dangerfield has died at age 82.   Always the Everyman mischief-maker, the lovable mess and glutton, Rodney -- for all of his turkeys, for all of his jokes that became as tired as a hooker on $2.50 Tuesdays -- will be missed.   Go out and rent Back To School or Easy Money or even Caddyshack in remembrance; maybe even check out his surprisingly chilling performance in Natural Born Killers.   You have to love the spirit that could remark, after brain surgery, that people "should ask [him] about things [he's] familiar with, like drugs and prostitution." This blog doffs its hat-- yes, in respect.

      And in the words of Van Morrison, after performing "Have I Told You Lately" at a concert some time after Rod Stewart had taken to butchering the song for the Top Ten charts: "And thank you, Rodney. You've made a happy man very old."