My Bill Gates Encounter
Louie Anderson
When I worked for comedian Louie Anderson, I once traveled with him to Seattle where he was scheduled to do a brief show at a wedding reception. It was the wedding of one of the big shots at Microsoft. I think Louie thought is was a corporate event for Microsoft when he agreed to do the show. If he had known it was a wedding, I’m pretty sure he would have declined. The last thing Louie wanted was to be thought of as the wedding comedian (similar to the “wedding singer”).
Bill Gates
I don’t remember too much about the show, other than one joke Louie told because Bill Gates was in attendance. Noting that Bill was there, Louie asked the bride and groom what Bill got them as a wedding gift… “A billion slice toaster?”
What does a billionaire buy a friend as a wedding gift? We didn’t have any billionaires come to our wedding, but Elisabeth and I did get a lot of Pyrex. The gift of champions. It was certainly not flashy, but has been very handy, and most of it has lasted for our 17 years of marriage. If only people made their marriages as durable as Pyrex. I think more marriages would survive.
