# Who the hell is Andy Rooney? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962 "2001-08-12T23:56:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/21 "2001-08-13T19:37:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tedster \* > \*\*Still, it’s difficult to find sympathy for someone who found success on such a large scale who couldn’t deal… What a waste. \*\* Why is it so hard? You don’t know everything that led to his suicide. Perhaps he was suicidal for much of his life. It would seem to me that it would be quite easy to sympathize with someone who seemed to have so much, but still decided to take his own life. To have such problems and still want to end it all is an awful tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/22 "2001-08-13T21:46:19Z")
Really, I’m going to have to side with Andy on this one, even if I haven’t seen the offending editorial. I’m sorry, the guy had it made, totally. I know someone who has Kurtie’s picture up in their garage. (barf) Come on, he lost all his cool points when he blew his head off. The very least he could have done was have a little respect and go out in the woods or something where it wouldn’t be a gawdawful mess. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/23 "2001-08-13T22:11:41Z")
[Whiny voice] Did you ever notice how much Jerry Seinfeld sounds like Andy Rooney? [/Whiny voice] ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/24 "2001-08-13T22:23:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > > “How come they call it TAKING a dump, and not LEAVING a dump? I mean, after all, you’re not really TAKING it anywhere. Funk dat!” Yup, that’s it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/25 "2001-08-13T23:14:56Z")
“Didja ever notice if you stare real hard, you can see your fingernails grow? Didja ever notice if you don’t move for a long time, you start to gather dust? I hate that.” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/26 "2001-08-13T23:31:30Z")
Miller, is that from a MAD magazine spoof? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/27 "2001-08-13T23:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > > “How come they call it TAKING a dump, and not LEAVING a dump? I mean, after all, you’re not really TAKING it anywhere. Funk dat!” > > Guin, you rule. \*\* I know. And that is SO going in my sigline. ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/28 "2001-08-14T02:08:38Z")
After Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain committed suicide, Rooney did a “60 Minutes” piece in which he essentially mocked those who were feeling shock and remorse over his loss. I can’t remember his exact words, and I couldn’t find a transcript on a Google search, but he talked about some World War II hero or something who had just died of old age. And said, essentially, this guy mattered; Cobain didn’t. Since that day, I have not intentionally watched one of his segments. And, if I happen to come across it, I say, out loud, “Fuck you, Andy.” Every … single … time. Maybe that’s childish. But it makes me feel better. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/29 "2001-08-14T10:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Or are you calling him a tampon? \*\* Scary. There are some places even Andy Rooney shouldn’t go. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/30 "2001-08-14T15:16:25Z")
[Andy Rooney voice on] Did you every wonder why Andy Rooney isn’t more like Mickey Rooney? I sure do. I mean, their names are similar enough. Both of their first names have two syllables and end in with a “y”. Both of them coincidentally have the same last name. And both are obviously short old guys. What I don’t get is that one is an actor and the other is on news program, except he doesn’t really talk about news; he just gives his opinion. I wonder what would happen if Andy tried to act and Mickey tried to give his opinion. Personally I think Andy would be excellent reprising Mickey’s role in a remake of _Captains Courageous_. Or maybe in a sing-and-dance number with a digitally resurrected Judy Garland. I guess what I’m saying is that old guys are really just interchangeable because nobody really notices us anyway. If we were to secretly replace the grandfather you stuck in a nursing home with Claudia Schiffer in a grey wig, do you think the grandkids would notice the difference in the casket? I don’t. Because kids now-a-days are blind, deaf, and mute. They probably don’t even know who Mickey Rooney is. ---
**Author:** ![boomvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@boomvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boomvark)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/31 "2001-08-14T17:01:42Z")
Not to indulge in morbid nitpicking or anything, but [actually it was a 20 gauge.](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/kurt/kcevidence.shtml) I’ve never really understood why he did it, either. But I wasn’t there, and dissing a dead guy who never particularly offended me would probably be considered uncouth. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/32 "2001-08-14T17:38:01Z")
Since we’re pondering why Curt committed suicide, I’ll add my two cents that I just happened to pick up on the floor. To begin with, being under the influence of boatloads of heroin will certainly effect one’s mental reasoning. I doubt he was in his right mind when his mind left his skull. Outside of that obvious tidbit, I’d heard at the time that Curt had suffered for years a pretty brutal version of cluster migraines (Or somesuch thing). From what I remember hearing, he’d had this problem since childhood and tried everything he could think of to try and stop the pain. That might also explain the number of, and level of, drugs the guy was taking. Whatever the case may be, I too concur that it’s a cowardly way to go. I doubt anyones really making excuses for what he did. And all that aside, it still doesn’t make Andy Rooney any less of an asshole. \*Walter Cronkite. I must have been dreaming of heath coated Klondike bars when I typed up that previous post. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962/33 "2001-08-14T21:51:59Z")
I had also heard that Cobain suffered some kind of painul stomach ailment. I had seen Rooney’s piece on Cobain, and although I don’t remember specifics, I do remember being very angry at what he said. I’m glad others also felt the same way I did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is-andy-rooney/75962.md?page=1)