Neil Strauss

  TONIGHT So sorry to say, that NEIL’S Book signing is cancelled in Glasgow.  Some of you have been posting this on other boards, so thanks very much for your understanding, and your help. Cheers, 99

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There’s lots to tell you, so I’m going to make it quick. 

First off, news about Emergency is starting to leak everywhere
online, and I wanted you all to get a taste of it first. So I basically took the typeset pages I read for my last edit of the book and put together a few chapters for you, so you can get an idea of what the book I’ve been working on in secret for the last three years is all about. Note that because this is the advance version, there’s a design error in the “contract.” This glitch will not appear in the final book.  So think of this as the limited-edition rough draft. You can get your free chapters at the link below:

http://neilstrauss.com/EmergencyAdvance.pdf   (Note: right click on the link to download)

Next, I promised you all a book release party and signing. I’m really looking forward to this, because I just booked it today at my favorite new lounge in Los Angeles. It’s going to start at 7 p.m. sharp on perhaps the most appropriate day for a book like this: Friday the 13th of March. I’ll do a talk and reading, followed by an open Q&A and a signing.  (Book Soup will be there with copies of Emergency as well as hopefully the other books). And those who are there will be brought to a special, secret after-party nearby. Oh, and I’ll also be bringing a live wolf. Just to keep things exciting. Make sure you get there early, in case it gets full. And it’s a good spot to bring a friend, a date, a wing, a relative, or your own personal goon. Cost of entry: free, as a thank-you for supporting the book. Here are the details:

Friday, March 13th at 7:00 PM
H.Wood Club in the Hollywood and Highland Complex
1738 N. Orange Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028

(It’s one of those “cool” clubs without a sign. Note that the entrance is on Orange, just north of Hollywood. Walk up the stairs outside, then immediately enter the club through the door on your right and proceed upstairs to the second floor.) For those of you who aren’t in Los Angeles, here’s the information for the rest of the book readings, signings, gladhanding, and Q&A sessions.

NEW YORK   
Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM
BARNES & NOBLE in Tribeca
97 Warren Street
New York, NY 10007
212-587-5389

WASHINGTON, DC   
Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC
1801 K Street, NW
Washington DC 20006
202-466-4999

LOS ANGELES
Friday, March 13th at 7:00 PM
(See details for H.Wood above. For more information, try Book Soup, which is taking care of the “book signing” portion of the evening: 310-659-3110.)

CHICAGO
Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 7:00 PM 
BORDERS BOOKS AND MUSIC
830 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-573-0564

SAN FRANCISCO
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 7:00 PM
BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC
233 Winston Drive
San Francisco CA 94132       
415-731-0665

SAN DIEGO
Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 7:00 PM
BARNES & NOBLE
10775 Westview Parkway
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 684-3166

THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ALL POINTS BEYOND
Dates Coming Soon… Obviously, not all of you are living some place where you can make it to these events. So I have something special planned for you as well, as mentioned in an earlier email.  Things are so busy right now, but I will get back to you within the next week with details about a special event and experience for SOME of you (there will probably have to be a capacity to make this idea feasible). And I’ll also send you that video I promised in the last email.  It’ll make more sense in the context of the advance chapters you’re about to read anyway.

Racing The Clock,
Neil

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Ever since our successful book-cover vote-a-thon here a few weeks back, I’ve received a byte load of emails asking what the next book, Emergency, is actually about. 

Especially since there’s been a lot of misinformation about it online. 

So I thought, before the press starts coming out, I should let you guys in on it first. Especially since, even though the book won’t bereleased for another month, a small story in it has already leakedout, and will probably end up in the gossip columns soon. You may find it interesting, because it’s about what happened after the scene in The Game when Britney Spears exchanged phone numbers with me. 

After The Game came out, she surprisingly got in touch and invited me to her house. It was a pretty surreal and moving experience. 

But, though the full story is in Emergency, that’s not what the book is about. 

You may recall that, in The Game and in his own writing, Mystery often says that the primary purpose of life is to survive and the secondary purpose is to replicate. 

So if The Game is about the secondary purpose of life, then Emergency is about the primary purpose. 

Rather than telling you the extremes I went to in order to master the primary purpose of life, I’m going to check with my publisher and see if I can get permission to send you a chapter. 

But beyond that, if you’ve been on this VIP list for a while, you probably know that I like to do things differently and keep things more personal, especially for longtime readers. 

To that end, I’ve been thinking of something special to do for the book launch in early March that will involve all of you. I’m going to do one thing locally - at probably the coolest new venue in LA if they’ll let me bring wild animals there. I’ll also let you know the book tour dates and locations. 

In addition, for those in other cities and countries, I’m going to try something we’ve never done before on this list that will enable us toget to know each other a lot better. 

I realize this may seem vague, but I want to make sure I have all the details worked out. And right now, I’m far away from home. I’m actually in my new home country, which you’ll read about in Emergency too. I’ve spent three years working on this whole project and transformation in total secrecy, so I’m excited to finally let the cat out of the bag. 

More To Come,

Neil 

P.S. On another subject, you may remember the email last month about the Game being vilified on recent television sitcoms and dramas. Well, seems like yet another show has joined the fray. At least, according to your emails because, I must confess, I am not a regular viewer of the new Beverly Hills 90210. But evidently, this week’s episode had a scene featuring a pickup manual called The Credo and a discussion of every television writer’s favorite subject, the neg. It’s supposedly even described as “a disgusting, insulting book.” Hmm…

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First of all, I wanted to let you know that I’m back and safe. I

had to spend a few days in the cold with nothing but leaves to

eat, but all worked out okay in the end. It’s not the first time

I’ve done this. You’ll be able to read about the first time in the

new book.

I’m supposedly getting a final release date from the publisher

(as well as permission to tell you all about it) shortly.

Anyway, I’m writing because…I officially don’t get it:

In the last week, two more prime-time scripted television shows

ripped off The Game and Mystery’s techniques.

And of course perverted the message of the whole thing.

For those who haven’t been keeping score, last year, CSI Miami

aired an episode about pickup artists with rival workshops, an

undercover reporter infiltrating them, and murderous results.

Then there was Twins (the Sara Gilbert show), in which Gilbert’s

nerdy high school friend returns transformed after having

written a book about picking up women using techniques like negs.

And on a recent Ugly Betty episode, she interviews the writer of a

book called Tap That: How to Score With Hot Bitches, which

advocates the A.S.S. approach to meeting women (Approach, Subdue,

Score).

TV writers seem especially fond of using use pua jargon like neg

and peacocking, which one of us should probably get the

English dictionary to include by following these steps:

http://www.oed.com/readers/research.html

Anyway, I thought TV writers had their fill of The Game after

these shows.

But then, the other week, on Big Bang Theory, one of the nerds,

Howard, decides to try peacocking and negs, and strikes out

miserably.

And then last week, on Criminal Minds, investigators chase after

a man who’s taken a pickup workshop with a Mystery clone named

Raven, and is now seducing and murdering innocent clubgoing women.

Do you sense a theme here?

It’s that the game is for creeps, losers, and killers.

And this kinda pisses me off.

Why?

Because it shames men out of seeking help for their issues. Help

that could bring them out out of their social shells. Help

that could make them much happier with themselves. Help that

will, for most of them, lead at some point to marriage and

children - and, in the meantime, lead to new experiences and

friendships, not to mention some fun, consensual late nights.

The truth is, from the thousands upon thousands of successful

AND botched pickups I’ve witnessed: The game poses a far greater

threat to the guy than to the girl. And not one TV show has

captured this

The real victims of the game are the guys who get so into it,

they lose themselves. They lose the things that are special

about them as individuals, they lose their direction in life,

they lose their ability to relate normally to people.

And that is a minority of guys. Most are smart enough to get it,

and blossom into amazingly cool, fun, successful guys.

When it comes to violence in society, which these shows love to

attribute to PUAs as an exciting plot twist, if you read the news,

some of the most shocking crimes in society have been caused by

men who have pent-up sexual desires but have either been rejected

or just have no way to attain them. So they grow dark and bitter

and hateful, and eventually lash out. Other instances of violence

(like school shootings and suicides) have been caused by people

who felt like social outcasts. And other instances (like domestic

abuse) stem from an attempt to take control over the victim.

(Of course, some people are just crazy, fucked-up sociopaths.)

The point is: when taught and learned correctly, the game

socializes men.

And the more socialized people we have in this world, the less

anti-social behavior we’ll see.

If fewer people feel powerless around and invalidated by others,

than fewer people will resort to trying to get what they believe

to be the upper hand through violence

So, rather than leading to more violence in the world, the game

is at least a step toward leading guys to seek help with

their issues and pointing to other attainable solutions.

Because the game is not about wearing a funny hat and insulting

women.

It’s about becoming your best self and making the best possible

first impression you can. It’s about understanding the rules

that people use to make social and sexual and professional

choices and alliances, and working effectively within that system.

It’s about attracting others by learning to master yourself, rather

than trying to control them. And it’s also about having fun when

you go out, rather than cowering timidly in the corner.

Though the seduction community has its faults and shortcomings, I

often think about what my life would have been like if I never

discovered it. And I would have died having missed out on so much

of life, because I was so scared and timid and uncomfortable and

mute around women and strangers.

And what worries me about these shows is that, psychologically,

they make guys who feel socially ostracized feel even MORE

ostracized and ashamed for trying to do something to change it.

So, in conclusion, we’re all going to have to band together and

change the tide on this in television dramas and sitcoms. (Thanks

to VH1, at least this is getting a better depiction on the reality

show front.) Maybe we can make a show about a crime-solving team

of pickup artists, who use their social skills to make connections

and get information from people.

Or maybe not.

But at least we can all do our part in encouraging anyone - male or

female - to take whatever positive steps are necessary towards

becoming a better, more attractive, more successful person who’s

fully and fearlessly engaged in life.

Thanks for listening,

Neil

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It’s been a while since you heard from me. That’s because I’ve been
holed up for the last couple months finishing the new book.
Tomorrow, I’m doing one last research project for it - probably the
most dangerous one. (People have actually died doing this.) Then
I’m finally done!

I’ll email you next week to confirm I made it through the
experience. I actually have a special email planned for you all
then with answers to some of the questions I’m asked most
frequently.

I’m not sure if you’ve been watching the second season of the
VH1 show The Pick Up Artist. But if you have, we’ve been having
viewing parties with the cast every Sunday night at my house. It’s
been a blast.

And some of the Stylelife boys have been filming it, and
putting together short party videos. So I thought I’d share them
with you, for a little behind-the-scenes peek. If you’ve been
following the show, it’s a good way to see how the guys react to
everything from getting kicked off to their newfound fame.
Here’s a link to my favorite video, which is from last week’s
party:

http://pickuplabs.com/blog/?p=124

If you look around the blog afterward, there are videos from
the previous shindigs. The one from this week’s party will be up on
the website at some point in the next twenty-four hours.

Anyway, enjoy, and I’ll check in with you all next week.

Best,
Neil

P.S. A number of people asked me about the mix tape I played at our
last seminar to get the guys in a good state for going out. I put
it all online for you. The seminar was about six months ago, so
it’s already a little dated, but you can find it here. The first
song on CD1 is a particularly appropriate going-out anthem for
some of you:

http://www.imeem.com/people/L6LO-5e

Disclaimer: You do have to register for the website to hear the
music, but there is no charge. Because so many mailing lists these
days are solely about marketing, I probably need to state that I
have nothing to do with the website above and don’t know the people
who run it etc.

P.P.S. The book club is going great. Thanks to you all for the
suggestion to tackle Atlas Shrugged.

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In the spirit of the times, I wanted to share with you all the
most pretentiously titled email I’ve ever written to you. A few of
you may have seen a draft of it on my website-in-progress.

What I enjoy about this list is that it’s a way for me to speak
directly to you. It’s something I’ve never gotten to do before.
Because whether writing for Rolling Stone or completing a book,
I’ve always been forced to cleave closely to a defined structure
and to carefully iron every idea, paragraph, phrase, word.

The following has no structure.

It has not been ironed.

You’ve been warned…
———————————————–
THE MEANING OF LIFE AND THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS
———————————————–

When I was in high school, I had a teacher who gave us a reading
list of the best works of literature in the world. Number one on
that list was the Bible. So during summer break, I decided to read
the good book as literature. And one small section really struck me
at the time: The Book Of Ecclesiastes.

It is the famous book in the Bible that begins “vanity of vanities,
all is vanity,” something that should be posted over the
entranceway to all L.A. clubs. It’s been heavily quoted in timeless
songs, such as “Turn Turn Turn.”

And it’s basic philosophy is this, at least in my interpretation:

Work hard at your life and yourself. Be a good person, and enjoy
everything there is under the sun. The author writes: “I searched
in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my
heart with wisdom…I made my works great, I built myself houses… I
became great and excelled.”

But, in his old age, he surveys his labors: “I looked on all the
works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had
toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.”

No, this is not a sermon. Keep reading. Neither is this a Buddhist
message about renouncing the material world. Because, in the end,
the speaker in the Book of Ecclesiastes decides: “Eat your bread
with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart… Let your garments
always be white and let your head lack no oil… Live joyfully with
the wife whom you love…Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with
all your might, for there is no work or device or wisdom in the
grave where you are going.”

So what God is saying here is get drunk. It’s totally cool. Just
clean up afterward.

Actually, the message is this (in my crude non-scholarly analysis):
Find a life to live, find a woman to love, find a place to work–and
live to your fullest, love to your greatest capacity, work your
hardest, and be a good person. Then die knowing nothing will have
really made a difference in the overall scheme of things.

This may not necessarily be my belief, or yours, but here’s the
takeaway: if all is vanity, then stop making yourself miserable -
just keep busy and be happy.

That, of course, leaves the question: What should we be doing with
this time, and how do we stay happy?

So let’s leave the Bible and return to the present age.

First of all, don’t expect to be happy all the time. If you’ve ever
had a pet, you’ll notice that the pet doesn’t complain when it’s
hurt or in pain. The human animal is the only one that says, “Why
me?” — as if it is our birthright to be happy all the time.

Sometimes we’re sad or angry or depressed. But if rather than
fighting against it, like it’s wrong and some kind of disorder, you
just relax into the emotion and ride it through until it’s over, it
doesn’t have to be a gut-wrenching experience. It’s good to
experience these extreme emotions: it let’s you know you’re alive
and feeling.

Of course, we’d all like to stay positive and happy and content as
much as possible. It’s especially useful to be in this state when
interacting socially, because it’s the best way to attract other
people to you.

So how does one stay in this state?

My secret: Balance.

Even if you love your work, you can’t spend the entirety of every
day working. You can’t spend it partying or sarging either, as fun
as that may be. However, you’ll find that if each day, you
productively do something in each of the following areas, your mood
and confidence and charisma and happiness and inner game will
skyrocket:

1.    Work

2.    Physical (exercise, running, swimming, a sport)

3.    Social (and, yes, that can include Rules Of The Game
missions)

4.    Creativity or Education (whether it’s writing, making music,
cooking, programming, taking classes, or learning another language)

5.    Relaxation, whether it’s reading a book or watching TV or
playing Wii Tennis or staring at the wall and contemplating life or
lying in the sun and thinking about nothing.

So, your mission over the holidays:

Make a list of the specific things that make you happy and balanced
in each of these categories, and then make an effort to comfortably
fit them all into your schedule at least five days a week. Most of
these areas don’t need to take more than half an hour each day. And
chances are you’re doing at least two of them a day anyway.

If you find that days are passing by and you’re not exercising or
socializing, for example, you may need to actually write out a
daily schedule for yourself and then stick to it.

And, finally, if you’re one of those people who says they have no
time, chances are that the problem may not be time but time
management. Start keeping track of exactly what you do each day and
for how long. Actually write it down on a sheet of paper: how much
time you spend eating breakfast, how much time you spend checking
emails, what you’re doing with your time at work. Then see where
the inefficiencies are and eliminate them.

And then, of course, die. It’s all vanity anyway. But it’s fun, you
get one chance, and you might as well start making the most of it
right now, before it’s too late.

Yours,
Neil Strauss

P.S. I promised you all in the last email that I’d find something
special for you all to launch the Rules Of The Game two-book set
when it comes out next month. Well, I think I found something. It
bends the rules of what my publisher will allow, so I’ve been
negotiating with them since. I should have a confirmation and
announcement for you next week, if everything works out.
P.P.S. I also have a few other surprises in store for you over the
holidays: including visual evidence proving that everything you’ve
been taught about dating is wrong.  It’s frigging hilarious and
definitely counter-intuitive. So stay on the lookout…

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I wanted to share some thoughts on an
experience I recently had.

I received a call from two producers on the Dr.
Phil show. They wanted me to come on and
discuss The Game and the community with
Dr. Phil.

However, the more I talked to them, the
more it seemed like a set-up. So I declined.
Instead, they got two of the people in The
Game to participate.

And they did a few sneaky things, according to
those who were on the show:

1. They filmed some guys sarging, but planted
women with secret cameras in the club.

2. They didn’t tell one of the PUAs that another
guru was going to be on the show, then they
encouraged the guru to be adversarial. The
result was a PUA slugfest that sounded like a bad
day at Project Hollywood.

3. They brought out a woman at the end of the
show who’d been hurt by a man who was NOT in
the community to confront these guys.

The working title of the segment: WOMEN, BEWARE!

This information just broke my heart. It really infuriates
me.

When I wrote The Game and went on to do the press, I
told myself that I would neither DEFEND nor ATTACK the
seduction community. I’d simply present the truth as it was,
the good and the bad.

However, the more interviews I did, the more I realized I
was going to have to defend something: The right of guys
to learn this.

Anyone who’s ever seen the front page of Cosmopolitan
or Sex in the City knows that self-help, sexual improvement,
dating advice, and attraction skills is an accepted rite of
passage for women.

There is no equivalent for men: We are simply shown images
of women we are supposed to desire in the pages of Maxim
and Playboy, then not told what to do about it.

People get tutored for everything else in life. If you can’t do
math, you get a tutor. Sex in the City was women getting tutored
in what to do with different types of men. I think the coolest thing
someone could do is recognize their weakness and work to
improve it.

When guys ask me questions, it’s usually not about what to do
to trick a woman into bed — it’s about how to get over heart-
break, whether Alexander Technique will improve their posture,
whether improv classes will make them more spontaneous,
what to do about “this one special girl,” how to dress, and so on.

Though some of the “gurus” may have their issues, 99.9 percent
of the guys I met learning this are the NICE GUYS. They are the
guys women always say they are looking for, yet at the same
time are never attracted to.

Usually, the true assholes, jerks, and misogynists are too
cocky and arrogant to even consider that they might need
to “learn” how to interact with women.

So anyone who’s going to get on a bully pulpit and demonize
men for trying to improve themselves is not a friend of mine.

And any pundit who’s going to criticize men for manipulation
when that’s exactly what their show producers regularly do to
their guests is not a friend of mine.

The community may have its problems — especially for those
who get sucked too deeply into it, as I did — but there’s nothing
wrong with learning social skills, if you’re learning from the
RIGHT teachers.

The real victims in my experience were not women. The
victims I witnessed, the people I saw hurt by the game, were
only men.  Because the game is a forking path: there’s a light
side and a dark side, and some get lost in the dark side and
lose themselves — in addition to creeping out the very women
they’re trying to attract.

As a writer, I understand the temptation members of the
media feel to create an obvious sensationalism piece. But
it’s far better to do the research and find the REALITY of a
situation — and it makes a better story. Because the reality
is often never obvious. Sometimes it’s the last thing you’d
ever expect. That’s what most of my books are about.

I realize this email is sort of a rant, and perhaps I’m
even preaching to the converted, but I had to get it
off my chest. There are some 42,000 of you on this
list. Some of you are in positions of influence or
respect — whether on campus, in the media, at home,
at work, or in a community.

Let’s do our best to counter small-mindedness and social
pressure designed to hold US back because of someone
ELSE’S fear wherever we hear it. Whether it’s about learning
the game, a personal attack against you, or something else
you care about, don’t take the bait and get defensive. All you
have to do is speak the truth. It’s the best weapon you have,
and so sharp that no one can ever bend it if you wield it
properly — without fear or insecurity.

And that’s one to grow on,
Neil

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A lot of people have emailed because they’ve read online about a
lost chapter of The Game floating around the Internet.

Rather than email it to each person individually, I’ve posted it on
my website for you. Think of it as a special thank-you for signing
up for the VIP list.

The lost chapter, a short one originally written for Step IV of the
book, features a pickup artist whose profile had to be cut from The
Game for space. The guy’s a sexual demon with a pocket protector.

For fun, I added an early cover for The Game and a second unpublished
chapter on speed-seducer Ross Jeffries for you, and zipped it into
a pdf. You can download it at the following link. (Note that on some
computers, you may need to right-click this link to download the pdf):

http://www.neilstrauss.com/lostchapters.pdf

Enjoy,
Neil

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Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:38 PM

I have to be brief, because I have less than thirty days left to
turn in my new book. The publisher told me that some of you have
already placed advance orders for it, which is an amazing leap of
faith, considering that you don’t even know what it’s about yet

That said, you will be the first to know. If possible, I will show
you, instead of telling you.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that, after reading the lists of
all your favorite non-fiction books of the last century, I’ve
selected the most popular and made it the next selection for our
VIP List Book Club. Oddly - and you all must be psychic - many of
the people I spent time with for the new book also listed this
novel as one of their favorites: the gargantuan Atlas Shrugged by
Ayn Rand.

We start the journey this Monday, at 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and will
continue every week after until we’ve read the last didactic page.
If you are an Ayn Rand expert, we’d love you to get on the first
call to provide an introduction to her work and philosophy. And
obviously you’re all welcome to read with us.

So if you’re interested in reading the book together, send an email
to me at (sorry list is currently closed) but sign up at www.neilstrauss.com to get info on the next book club reading.
As soon as I meet my deadline for this book, I have some hopefully
useful hard-earned game and life advice to send your way. So thanks
for being patient.

Hope all’s well with you. And, to answer some of your questions in
advance: let her go - if she was the one, she wouldn’t be making
you feel like this right now.

Yours In Stuff,
Neil

P.S. For some crazy, mysterious reason known only to those at
Google, my own homepage, www.neilstrauss.com, has dropped from the
first page of the results for searches of my name to like the
hundredth page.

So if you’re inclined to help out with some “inbound links,” as
they call them in the biz, here’s the code to put up on your blog,
your website, or the front door of your house:

<a href=”http://www.neilstrauss.com/“>Neil Strauss - New York Times
best-selling author of The Game and The Dirt</a>

Thanks to Matt and Tim at SureSite Design for the code. Thanks to
you for knowing what to do with it. Feel free to substitute
something funnier or more interesting to describe the link.

P.P.S. Quote of the day:

“If a man will begin with certainty, he shall end in doubts; but
if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in
certainties.”

-Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 1605

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Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 
I’m writing because, today, I lost a good friend, Larry Harmon.
Larry passed away this morning at the age of 83. 

Larry was best known for having portrayed Bozo the Clown for 50
years, while franchising the character across the globe. We had
planned to publish a book on his life, The World According to Bozo,
to kick off a publishing company I recently started with two other
authors and Rolling Stone writers.
 
Like millions of other children, I’d grown up with Bozo the Clown.
Since his first appearance on TV in 1949, and for every decade
afterward, he has held a virtual media monopoly on clowndom.
Practically every famous clown since, from Ronald McDonald to
Krusty the Clown, would not exist without him. 

When I first sat down with Larry Harmon to talk about his book, I
expected to hear a tale of hardship and decadence. I thought this
would be a book about the frown behind the smile.

But I was wrong. Because Larry was Bozo. And Bozo was Larry.
There was not a frown behind the smile, but simply another smile.

For three hours over dinner, Larry regaled me with stories of
speaking with John F. Kennedy weeks before his assassination; of
running for president himself, during which two assassination
attempts were made on his life; of choreographing a dance routine
with Fred Astaire; of training for space flights at NASA; of
decorating Clark Gable’s house; of searching for the cannibals of
New Guinea who allegedly consumed Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller’s son; and even more incredible tales.

Just when I began to believe he was making some of these stories
up,Larry pulled out photographic evidence. And, sure enough, there
was Bozo in full clown makeup in New Guinea with a tribe of cannibals.

But what struck me about Larry wasn’t just the stories. It was who
he was as a human being.
 
As he spoke, Larry’s face was red with excitement, his energy
boundless, his smile unceasing, his patience superhuman, his
perspective on life bright and sunny. I’d never met a happier,
more energetic, more enthusiastic 83-year old. On my birthday,
he left a greeting on my answering machine in his Bozo voice,
because he knew it would thrill me. And this wasn’t unusual for
him: anyone who recognized him - and anyone who didn’t - was
treated to a full Bozo show. The waitresses stopped at our table
constantly that first night just to hear his stories, which Larry,
wearing a plastic Bozo watch, was only too happy to tell
again. 

As long as he was making someone smile, Larry was happy. And
I told myself, when I grow up, I want to be just like Bozo.
 
Why? Because if, like Larry, you always see the best in yourself,
the best in others, and the best in the world around you, you will
not only be much happier than those who hold the opposite view,
but you will radiate a warmth and charisma that will preserve your
youth and attract others more effectively than the priciest plastic
surgery. In Larry’s own words, the best way to live is to ‘just keep
laughing.’

Some believe fresh air, exercise, and a balanced diet is the
secret to a longer, healthier, happier life. Others believe in
botox and face lifts. I believe in Bozo.

Larry Harmon, thank you for making this world a better place.

‘As long as there’s sex, there are going to be kids. As long as
there are kids there’s going to be a world. As long as there’s a
world, there’s going to be a Bozo.’
 -Larry Harmon, 2008

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