The Laughter Lives On at Art Buchwald's Memorial Service - washingtonpost.com
They sent "Artie" off with laughter, as was only fitting, given that humor had been Art Buchwald's great gift to this world. So when hundreds of family members and friends -- many of them public luminaries -- gathered at the Kennedy Center yesterday to commemorate his life, it was a ceremony filled as much with mirth as mourning.
"He provided so much material for everybody, and so much of it was timeless," said his son, Joel Buchwald, after the 90-minute service. With 10 eulogies and two video tributes, approximately 550 guests and a setting in the Eisenhower Theater, Buchwald's memorial may not have matched the fantasy one he humorously described in his last book -- Carnegie Hall, Harlem Boys Choir, "New York Symphony" -- but it was certainly an event.
Among the guests were John Glenn, Nancy Pelosi, Sam Donaldson, Andy Rooney, Eunice Shriver and a whole clan of Kennedys, Robert Novak, Bob Woodward . . . and that doesn't even include those who spoke. In addition to three members of his family (Joel and his sister Jennifer Buchwald, as well as Joel's wife, Tamara Buchwald), the longtime humorist was honored by Tom Brokaw, Mike Wallace, Ben Bradlee, Dave Barry, George Stevens Jr., Michael Newman (who was Buchwald's friend as well as his physician) and Ethel Kennedy, who brought down the house with rich anecdotes about her old friend.
They sent "Artie" off with laughter, as was only fitting, given that humor had been Art Buchwald's great gift to this world. So when hundreds of family members and friends -- many of them public luminaries -- gathered at the Kennedy Center yesterday to commemorate his life, it was a ceremony filled as much with mirth as mourning.
"He provided so much material for everybody, and so much of it was timeless," said his son, Joel Buchwald, after the 90-minute service. With 10 eulogies and two video tributes, approximately 550 guests and a setting in the Eisenhower Theater, Buchwald's memorial may not have matched the fantasy one he humorously described in his last book -- Carnegie Hall, Harlem Boys Choir, "New York Symphony" -- but it was certainly an event.
Among the guests were John Glenn, Nancy Pelosi, Sam Donaldson, Andy Rooney, Eunice Shriver and a whole clan of Kennedys, Robert Novak, Bob Woodward . . . and that doesn't even include those who spoke. In addition to three members of his family (Joel and his sister Jennifer Buchwald, as well as Joel's wife, Tamara Buchwald), the longtime humorist was honored by Tom Brokaw, Mike Wallace, Ben Bradlee, Dave Barry, George Stevens Jr., Michael Newman (who was Buchwald's friend as well as his physician) and Ethel Kennedy, who brought down the house with rich anecdotes about her old friend.
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