# Trying To Remember The Name Of A Chicago(?) Essayist/Humorist, c. 1980 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 7, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558 "2022-07-07T13:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/1 "2022-07-07T13:43:46Z")
Some friends and I were talking about authors we’ve read, and the name David Sedaris came up. That reminded me of another essayist who was big a couple of decades before Sedaris. He, like Sedaris, was an essayist who wrote sometimes-humorous, usually-heartfelt essays about mundane topics; like Sedaris but without the snark. I’m pretty sure he was a columnist for a Chicago paper, perhaps the _Sun-Times_, but he also authored several books, compilations of his essays. I imagine the bulk of his output would have been in the 70s and 80s. The only name we could come up with was Mike Royko, but I’m not convinced he’s the guy. The guy I’m thinking of had a much more mundane name, like Bob Green or something. Is this ringing a bell for anyone? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/2 "2022-07-07T13:48:09Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The guy I’m thinking of had a much more mundane name, like Bob Green or something. Could well have been Bob Greene. He was a columnist for the Tribune from the late '70s, until being dismissed in 2002, when it came out that he had a sexual relationship with a high school student, who had worked with Greene on one of her school projects. Greene wrote several books, in addition to his Tribune columns, and what you describe sounds like his writing style. > **[Bob Greene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Greene)** > > Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the Chicago Tribune newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice Cooper, and U.S. presidents. His book Hang Time: Days and Dreams with Michael Jordan became a bestseller. > Originally from Bexley, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus), Greene attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and became a reporter and feature wri... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/3 "2022-07-07T13:48:40Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/4 "2022-07-07T13:51:48Z")
Thank you, it was Greene. I was just spelling his name wrong when I did a Google search. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/5 "2022-07-07T13:54:27Z")
Funny. I got it right from the subject before opening the thread. He was a pretty big name around here and I think he had national attention, as well. I even have a book of his sitting on the piano right now. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/6 "2022-07-07T13:57:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > He was a pretty big name around here and I think he had national attention, as well. He did. He used to appear on David Letterman’s show regularly, and his Wikipedia entry says that he had a commentary slot on ABC’s _Nightline_ for a time. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/7 "2022-07-07T14:25:23Z")
In the 1980s, his column was syndicated in a lot of midwestern newspapers; the St. Louis P-D and Indianapolis Star, IIRC. As such, he was an influencer before the term was coined. Because of him, there was briefly a run on Canfield’s Chocolate Soda (bleechh), he was partially responsible for the early popularity of Vanna White, and I believe he was entirely responsible for the “Elvis is Alive” phenomena. Seriously: a woman wrote to him and included a muffled cassette recording, supposedly of Elvis’s voice, and he went into detail about it. His tone was “Jeez, what a whack-job,” but then other people wrote in, supporting her story, and he printed **those** letters! This was in 1987, again IIRC, but if you can prove an earlier account of someone claiming that Elvis was alive, and from a source other than Greene, please do share. And then there was that bag-boy saga. My mom was hooked on that, and laughed herself sick, but I (like a lot of people) always stopped reading at “An envelope has been delivered to my office…” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-remember-the-name-of-a-chicago-essayist-humorist-c-1980/967558/8 "2022-07-07T15:23:52Z")
I’ve not heard of him before, but this column from the Chicago Reader isn’t very flattering about Bob Greene: > **[The Reader helped you survive Bob Greene, and it will help you survive the...](https://chicagoreader.com/blogs/the-reader-helped-you-survive-bob-greene-and-it-will-help-you-survive-the-super-blue-blood-moon/)** > > In "Bobwatch," for two glorious years, "Ed Gold" read the Tribune columnist so you didn't have to.