The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, Jack Benny (1973)

Source:The New Democrat. 

As far as fame, I would think someone who would have to be a complete narcissist to not be able to live well without fame. And perhaps narcissist is too polite. Maybe I don’t know jackass or asshole would be more appropriate. I mean if I was in Hollywood, I would probably enjoy the work, assuming I was good at it, (not a safe assumption) but I would probably go crazy without some downtime. Without the ability to get out of the city and just collect my thoughts and regroup for a couple of weeks, without someone recognizing me. But this is speaking as someone who is not famous, so I perhaps I would feel differently otherwise.

Shopaholics, that that’s the ticket for wealthy man. Marry a women who loves to spend other people’s money, especially when they aren’t paying the bills. But what a man does with his wife is his own business and Jack I guess could afford an expensive, high-end wife. Who would perhaps consider it an insult to only be able to shop in Cleveland. And must be able to shop in Paris or Rome, again with someone else’s money, in order to feel loved. But again Jack’s wife and their marriage is their business.

Jack Benny’s best line was the Mark Twain quote about aging. And I’m going to paraphrase here. But he said that if you don’t mind aging, it doesn’t matter. Which means to me that aging like almost everything else has its positives and negatives. The better you age, the better you live. You age and live well by taking care of yourself. You don’t do those things and live may be hell for you and that is when you’re sober. And you’ll become old real fast.