Soupy Sales goes to that great cream pie in the sky

Let's pause to remember comedian Soupy Sales, who died a few days ago at age 83.

Soupy is the guy who made getting hit in the face with a pie popular. He also famously got suspended from his TV job for two weeks in 1965 for suggesting that children go into their parents' wallets and send him "the funny pieces of green paper" they'd find inside. They did. See the clip, above.

It was just today that I remembered that I'd actually met Sales a couple of times in the early 90s.

The first was when I was on a tour of NBC at Rockefeller Plaza in New York; Sales was working there as a radio DJ, and he and Don Pardo - the voice of Saturday Night Live - were among the only two celebrities on the tour who gave us the time of day (OK, Tom Brokaw did say hello, but he kept moving).

The second time was when I worked on Late Night with Conan O'Brien; I picked up the phone and it was Soupy Sales himself: "Soupy Sales for Conan O'Brien!"

"Sure thing, Soupy," I said, without so much as a clue about how to transfer a call. I always felt bad about hanging up on the guy, and now I feel even worse.

Out of respect for Soupy, please go into your parents' wallets right now, kids, and send me the funny pieces of green paper you find inside. You won't regret it!