Reading Miller's obit brought it all back to me. There was to be a public memorial the following Sunday at the Laugh Factory, where Miller had performed regularly up until a few months before his death. I went out of curiosity, to see if Miller's cohorts from the old days would show up—Leno, Letterman, Richard Lewis, Robin Williams and dozens more who had helped turn Los Angeles in the late 1970s into a comedy version of Paris in the 1920s. As it turned out, most of them did, including a few who had crossed the picket line during the strike. The memorial quickly turned into a Class of '79 reunion as it dawned on everyone that they hadn't been in the same room together since a similar memorial for Lubetkin a quarter of a century before. One by one the stories started pouring out, both heartbreaking and hilarious. And I came away knowing that I had to write this book."