I was with John in the audience that night when Late Night with David Letterman was taped in San Francisco. The whole story is extra-rich with nuance, texture, and details, but my one-line summary captures some of John's finer essences: He's the only guy I've ever known who could pay $250--when (1996) that was a tidy sum--for a free ticket--he bought a pair of tickets for us from a Craigslist ad--and *profit* from the deal. You see, as The Shower Guy, John did enough on-camera "work" to earn a union scale paycheck for the effort. I can't remember the amount precisely, but the check was for over $600. And he got a plush bath robe (presumably Letterman's or a duplicate), two towels, I believe a wash cloth, some flip-flops, and he pilfered a show script on his way out.
John most definitely engineered himself to maximize the probability that Letterman would notice and talk to him, but providence played a part as well. As we were being seated, almost all of the first rows in the center section were filled, and if we had dutifully followed the line of people, we would have been seated way in the back of the stage-left section, an area that would be far from Letterman and very much in the dark during the show.
There were, however, two single seats on the isle in rows two and three; I realized it was imperative that John take one of those seats, so I asked the usher if we could sit there. He shrugged his shoulders, looked at John for a moment (I realized this later), and said "sure." In life, sometimes you have to work hard to get lucky.
We would not sit together, which made me unhappy because John and I would not be able to commiserate during the show (we were both big Letterman fans). As it turned out, it didn't matter: John was backstage after Letterman's monologue anyway. :)
John never lost the best parts of childish curiosity and had a sense of polite mischief all his own. Once, after an evening meal at The Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop, he asked the attendees, "Can I have a show of hands please. Who had the chicken? Okay, who had the beef? And, finally, who had the pork? Okay, thanks." Of course, about a third of the group responded to each choice despite the fact that we all had the same meal. After about ten seconds, the group understood the it had been duped and the point of the prank.
I saw him a few weeks and spoke to him a couple of days before his passing, and even in his final days, he continued to find humor in and express amazement at the ways of the world. I worked closely with John off and on for over ten years, and I feel fortunate to have experienced and benefitted from his unique, special, and gentle genius.
