# If you could invite anybody to your dinner party **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745 "2002-07-19T02:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/1 "2002-07-19T02:45:14Z")
Anybody, living or dead or fictional…who would you invite? ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/2 "2002-07-19T03:18:18Z")
Jesus, Bill Clinton, Dennis Rodman, Rudy Giuliani, JFK, David Letterman, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Janet Reno, John Summers, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Gandhi, Pete Townsend, Roger Daltrey, all of the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, The Wilson Sisters, Howard Cosell, Muhammad Ali, Cesar Chavez, C.S. Lewis, Gary Larson, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Pryor, Mike Meyers, '70-79 Pittsburgh Pirates, John Belushi, John Meynard Keynes, my dad, Oprah, Rosie O’Donnell, Pam Anderson, Abe Lincoln, Gilda Radner, Dr. Seuss, Norman Schwarzkopf, Don Felder, Randy Meisner, Joe Walsh, Glen Frey, Jackson Brown, Stevie Wonder, friends and family, am I forgetting someone? ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/3 "2002-07-19T03:30:03Z")
I’m going to narrow that question down to “Who would you invite from the SDMB to dinner - living _or_ dead?” So, let’s see… If I were only allowed one person I would say right now I’d like to meet **glee** in person. I’m sure I could come up with some nice big, yummy dinner if anyone else would like to join us though. Say… **gobear, Cervaise, manhattan, Esprix, imthjckaz, Czarcasm, and Polycarp** , just to name a few. Oh, what conversations we would have! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/4 "2002-07-19T03:35:29Z")
Abe Lincoln, JFK, John Wooden, Bob Costas, Martin Luther King Jr., Harrison Ford, Rick Pitino, Nolan Ryan, Tiger Woods, Carol King, Oprah Winfrey, Ann Richards, Barbar Bush, Pat Summit, and friends. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/5 "2002-07-19T03:37:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dreamer \* > \*\*I’m going to narrow that question down to “Who would you invite from the SDMB to dinner - living _or_ dead?” So, let’s see… > > \*\* I dunno…maybe Unca Cecil? ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/6 "2002-07-19T04:09:27Z")
Guinastasia, Mademoiselle, Octavia Bunion-Smythe Esq. I’m shy, and prefer to have good friends around- they’re my only good-friends-that-I’ve-never-met. I’d like to meet them. There’re lots of others I’d enjoy _listening_ to, at a restaurant or something… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/7 "2002-07-19T05:20:21Z")
Natalie Wood. Sorry, nobody else is invited. I wouldn’t want this to be a group experience. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/8 "2002-07-19T13:52:59Z")
Hmmm . . . I think six is a nice number for a dinner party. And I don’t think politics or religion is a matter for dinner-table discussion, which lets out presidents and gods (though Abraham Lincoln and Zeus _would_ have been fun!). I think I will go woth: • Dorothy Parker • Robert Benchley • Oscar Wilde • Charles Dickens • Madame de Staël • and myself, of course, as hostess. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/9 "2002-07-19T14:59:27Z")
I posed this question to my accupuncturist once. (I give her a question such as this after each needling.) I wouldn’t have a dinner party, but would like to dine separately with: - James Earl Jones (just to hear him talk) - the Dali Lama (just to listen to him talk) ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/10 "2002-07-19T15:01:36Z")
Of course, on the invitation, I’d write “His Holiness, the 14[sup]th[/sup] Dalai Lama” (Even though “Dali” seems to be accepted.) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/11 "2002-07-19T15:20:44Z")
Judy Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/12 "2002-07-19T15:38:53Z")
**Rue DeDay** - because if he’s as funny in person as he is when he writes, he’d liven any gathering. And if not, he could do the dishes. Also, Richard Feynman, Red Skelton, Harpo Marx, John and Abigail Adams, and one more person who shall remain unnamed, but he has amazing eyes and my twisted sense of humor. I’d probably let my husband come, too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/13 "2002-07-19T15:51:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > \*\*one more person who shall remain unnamed, but he has amazing eyes and my twisted sense of humor. \*\* Marty Feldman? I’d invite **Escoffier, Irma S. Rombauer, Edouard de Pomiane, James Beard** , and **Craig Clairbourne** , and make _them_ cook the dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/14 "2002-07-19T16:01:41Z")
Well, it would have to be better than my last party. I invited Ambrose Bierce, Judge Crater, Amelia Earhart, and Jimmy Hoffa. I even set up a kiddie table for the Lindbergh Baby and Little Charley Ross. There were a _lot_ of leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/15 "2002-07-19T18:31:41Z")
sick! sick! sick! (but dern funny!) Maybe Amelia was bring them all in. Jimmy was late 'cause he was at a Giants game. I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/16 "2002-07-19T22:40:35Z")
Gandhi Emperor Hirohito Stalin Hitler JFK Mother Teresa Albert Einstein Stanley Kubrick J.D Salinger Roosevelt (both of them) Larry Flynt I’d imagine that it would be quite a dinner party ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/17 "2002-07-19T22:49:55Z")
Remember to slip Hirohito, Stalin, Hitler, Larry Flynt and Mother Teresa the _bad_ shrimp . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/18 "2002-07-20T02:21:55Z")
Hmm…We’re allowed dead people, AND fictional people? Abdul Al-Hazred Ghengis Khan Dr. Anton Phibes Imhotep (The real one, AND the fictional one, howbout?) Cobra Commander Victor Frankenstein Sergei Korolev Ada Byron Albert Speer Top THAT! Ranchoth (…Might have to seat Phibes and Cobra Commander at a separate table, though. Due to the need for…“Special eating arrangements”) ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/19 "2002-07-20T02:48:02Z")
Frank Zappa, Roger Waters, Stephen King, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Gilda Radner, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, John Belushi, Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, George Harrison, Ray Bradbury, Tina Fey, Mike Meyers, and George Carlin. In addition to Barrett and Hyphen from the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745/20 "2002-07-20T02:54:01Z")
Owen Wilson. Candlelit dinner for two. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-invite-anybody-to-your-dinner-party/119745.md?page=2)