Actually, I heard that Ike is Jerry Springer, or at least stands in for Jerry Springer when the latter is feeling sick. In fact, most of the raunchy, idiotic shows were done because Springer was sick and Ike insisted on having people fight. He’s the one who made talk tv so trashy.
And I hear he spends his days off watching Thundercats and Scooby-Doo.
Not only did he break up Dennis and Meg, he broke up Dennis and Carmen. And Sprint and WorldCom. And threatened to eat Lennox Lewises imaginary children
(If I had a picture of him, I’d Photoshop it over the face of the federal agent rescuing Elian.)
I’ve heard that he claims to be a big-shot NYC editor, but actually he works for Harlequin, specializing in Pirate Romances. He is in charge of approving the degree of décolletage appropriate for the covers of the paperbacks you see in your supermarket aisle, and the euphemisms allowed to describe the hero’s hot manhood pressing against the heroin’s thigh. He is the one responsible for maintaining the barrier that separates Harlequin from Penthouse Forum. In addition he does historical fact checking and prevents egregious errors such as an author writing about a duel between Captain Kidd and Jean Lafitte, with Jean Lafitte calling Captain Kidd a “nimrod” and referring to himself a “gnarly dude.”
It is the nature of his work that has driven him to excess drinking (in his defense I hasten to add that it would drive any man to drink.) Witness his expertise with various liqueurs in the “Get your cocktail from Ukulele Ike” thread. Sometimes one can see him shambling through the naked city at dawn, cursing at young lovers and throwing bottles at moonstruck teenagers on their first dates. Anytime he sees a valentine’s heart he starts shaking uncontrollably and several people are needed to restrain him. What was once a proud and erudite man is now an empty, broken shell.
One can see an example of his work at this page: How to write a Harlequin romance
After he completed these editorial guidelines he disappeared for seven days. He was finally found by his distraught colleagues hiding in a bar in Mexico, and screaming “they can’t make me come back!” Fortunately for him medical standards are not so strict over the border and a few doctors were found who were able to give him the appropriate medication to overcome his lunatic ravings, and he is now back at work.
Arnold, I know the REAL story. Ike doesn’t even edit Romance Novels—he would be delighted to move up to Romance Novels!
He is the guy standing outside the Knopf building in a cow suit with a chef’s hat, holding a big EAT AT BURGER HEAVEN sign. Since he’s in front of the Knopf building, he likes to think “he’s in publishing.”