Here's what I can tell you about Tom Dreesen, a very hard-working comedian who died yesterday at the age of 86: He was a very good guy. The obits all seem to think the most important thing he did was to open for Frank Sinatra for many, many years. That's not nothing but he would have had a pretty good career even without Ol' Blue Eyes.
Dreesen's act was solid and, like I said: He was hard-working. And ethical. And smart. When the infamous Comedy Store Strike happened in 1979, Tom sacrificed an awful lot of time and money as one of the leaders of the movement, even though he was — career-wise — past the stage where what they were fighting for would have benefited him personally. He made a lot of speeches and a lot of enemies and held a lot of hands and was ultimately a key player in ending what had turned into a very ugly battle.
I saw him perform a number of times and he always made the audience laugh. He also helped a lot of other comedians for no other reason than that he thought it was the right thing to do. I didn't know him well but, as I posted here some time ago…
Many moons ago, I wrote a sitcom pilot that was to star Tom. It was a deal he got as a kind of consolation prize when he was fired from the pilot of Hello, Larry. (Ron Liebman was fired before him. Tom replaced Ron and then McLean Stevenson replaced Tom.) Of all the projects I've done that never went the distance, I think the Tom Dreesen pilot is the one that disappointed me the most. It was a great idea for a show — mostly Tom's idea, by the way — and he would have been terrific in it.
(To give you an idea of what a great, smart guy Tom is: We had a recurring role in it that called for a crotchety old man. Tom suggested a fellow some of you may remember named Leonard Barr. Leonard is, like Irv Benson, kind of forgotten, even on the Internet. But he was very funny and when a network guy said to Tom, "You know, he'll steal the show from you," Tom replied, "Fine. I don't care who gets the laughs so long as it's a good show." I've worked with comedians who would slit a major artery before they'd say something like that.) Anyway, that show never made it to tape day due to a contract snag that had nothing to do with Tom or me.
I don't have much more to add except to note that being an Opening Act can be a thankless gig. No matter how good you are, almost no one's there to see you…and you're liable to be blamed if the headliner comes out and doesn't get the reception he thinks he deserves. Tom was really good at it and a fun guy to talk to. The Letterman people quickly assembled this collection of times Tom guested with Dave. It's pretty entertaining and I think you'll see how much affection and respect Dave had for Tom. Letterman was utterly incapable of acting like he liked a guest if he didn't. It's a half-hour but well worth your time…