Bruce Jay Friedman.

Bruce Jay Friedman--the Philip Roth no one has heard of--has a new book out. It was glowingly reviewed in Monday's "Times." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/books/lucky-bruce-a-memoir-by-bruce-jay-friedman-review.html?hpw

Here are two selections from the review that made me laugh. And laughter, at the end of it all, is all we have.

"Mr. Friedman sold one of the first stories he wrote to The New Yorker. A letter he received from the magazine read, “All of us here are delighted with your story and we would like to publish it in the magazine.” Mr. Friedman’s response was, he writes, “All of us here in the Bronx are delighted that all of you there at The New Yorker are pleased with my story.”

Richard Pryor with whom Friedman was friends, "asked Mr. Friedman if he wanted to get high. The author responded by explaining why, as he put it, “there were no (or very few) Jewish junkies.” The three reasons: “Jews need eight hours of sleep”; “They must have fresh orange juice in the morning”; “They have to read the entire N.Y. Times.”