Dying to do Letterman Raises $8000 For Team Lucy

Part of our goal with this movie has always been to give back where we can. So you can imagine how moved we were when we received this video from Team Lucy, and small group supporting a young girl with leukemia, about our Kickstarter Indie Oscar® Campaign:

Needless to say, we wanted to give back. So, as MSNBC reported, we put up a small screening in Lucy’s home town in hopes of raising some money for Lucy and her family.

We raised $8000!

Team Lucy sent us this wonderful note we just had to share:

Congrats to Team Lucy, and we’re so proud to have been such a big part of your big night!

An Academy Award Story: It’s not how much time you have…

So excited to share this story.

I’ve made a lot of good friends in comedy. And heard a lot of cancer stories since starting my Dying to do Letterman project six plus years ago. Those two facets collided last week when my good friend Howard Cooperstein, who I met at an open mic in San Francisco 10 years ago, told me he was visiting L.A. to help his sister care for her husband.

Howard shared the story of his brother-in-law, Jim, who has been fighting brain cancer since 2008. Between the cancer, the radiation, and chemo, Jim sways from being unaware and completely without his facilities and needing constant attention, to brief flashes of his former self. Unfortunately, recently Jim has been more and more in the unaware state. That is why my friend Howard came to help his sister care for him.

Amidst this, something amazing took place. Something that showed a lot of life in the face of death. It blew me away and right away I asked Howard and his sister if I could share it here and they agreed.

Jim’s Story

Jim was living an incredibly successful life when he was diagnosed in 2008. His full name is Jim Rodnunsky and he is the inventor of the “Cable-Cam.” The cable camera is that camera you see flying around at football and basketball games, giving you those amazing shots. As you can imagine it’s revolutionized moviemaking as well.

And that’s where this story gets so inspiring. Howard told me that Jim was attending an early session of the Academy Awards but he wasn’t sure how that’d all turn out. The next day Howard e-mailed me the following:

“Thought you guys would want to see this.  
 
I’m so  happy for and proud of my Brother in Law, James.  He can’t remember what happened 2 seconds ago.  Is in an absolute state of confusion and delusion.  I didn’t think he was going to be able to even go to the awards or if it did he’d have to remain at his table, but he pulled it together for this award and was able to give an acceptance speech.   His children were watching seeing him get this honor.
 
That’s Marisa Tomei presenting.”

Jim takes the stage at around the 1:50 mark and unbelievably steps up to the mic at 4:50 or so to speak. I know this is the age of 2 minute videos but this one will make your day (and more) if you watch the entire thing.

This just proves it again. It’s not how much time you have…it’s what you do with it.

Congrats, Jim.
-S

Make A Wish

Wishes Coming True

I think everyone knows about all the great work the Make-A-Wish Foundation does for kids diagnosed with cancer. But there is a similar, wider reaching, unfounded group that does similar work for anyone who finds themselves in tough times. It’s called humanity.

People Can Be Very Giving

When I decided to dedicate whatever time I had left to getting on Letterman, my first step was sharing that dream. At first I told friends and family. Then anyone who would listen. I can’t tell you how many people came out of the woodwork to lend a hand. Some put me in touch with the right people, others helped me hone my act, and others contacted The Late Show to tell them they thought I was good enough.

Incredibly, I didn’t know a lot of these people that were helping me.

Just by putting my dream out there, by not keeping it to myself anymore, I took leaps and bounds towards it. It was a great lesson in humanity: People want to help. As soon as you let people know how they can help, they do.

Put It Out There

I got an e-mail this week from a fan-friend Damien who has had an awful couple years. He’s facing foreclosure and mounting medical bills. Like most of us, Damien’s great at helping, but terrible at asking for help. He wrote me:

“We’ve been donating, volunteering and fund raising for charities for over 20 years… never, in that time, thinking that we would need help ourselves.”

When things got really bad, and Damien didn’t know where to turn he agreed to take part in this newspaper article about high foreclosure rates and families losing their homes.

By sharing his story, Damien let others know how to help.

“We humbled ourselves and asked strangers for help. Well, we got help. We got a lot of help for us and for hundreds of other people, too.”

The World’s Not All Bad

It’s easy to look around and point out all the things wrong with the world. But if you look closer, you can see all the things that are right. Some great things happen when you’re not afraid to share your dreams with others.

So if you need some help, ask for it. If you have a dream, shout it. And if you have a Wish? Make it!

Touching Story of Beating the Odds

As crazy as it might sound…

I’m not happy I got diagnosed with cancer. But I will admit that the perspective I now have is a welcome one.

I’m not going to tell you I live everyday like it’s my last. I don’t. If I did, I’d probably be flat broke, 400lbs, and in jail (I have a crazy last day planned). But I do appreciate how important any time I have is.

Another bonus is hearing incredible stories of other people who were diagnosed with cancer. How they responded. How they lived from that point on. Or hearing stories from people who were close to someone who got diagnosed. Unfortunately, unlike the Kevin Bacon game, only one degree of separation is needed for most people to get to someone they know who had/has cancer.

A lot of people hear about me…

my story, or the film and send me their experiences with cancer. It’s bittersweet. There’s something comforting in knowing I’m not alone. But It’s sad to know how much company there is.

This week a comic I worked with when I started comedy, Kat Simmons, sent me an e-mail:

Hey Steve,

So sorry to hear about your health, but so happy you are spinning it into gold, and manifesting your dream.

Steve, cancer has been all around me for the last few years. It took my Mom two years ago this month. Often times I feel like one of those ducks that get shot at in that carnival game. I had a boyfriend with stage four pancreatic cancer, they gave him 3-6 months, That was over three years ago.

He took the opposite route that the docs told him too…They say he is now cancer free. We learned some really valuable things along the way, and a site we lived on was called curezone.com, where thousands of like minded people support and educate people.

I look forward to following your story, and the clip was awesome.

Best to you and your dreams and health.

Kat

I love hearing these stories…

and I’m going to try to share as many as possible here on the Dying to do Letterman film site. The stories, the information, the resources. Whatever I can share with others who find themsleves or their loved ones in similar circumstances I’m going to showcase.

I hope it helps or comforts someone else as much as it has me.

Thanks Kat and everyone else,

Steve

Do you have a story to share about you or someone you know? Leave us a note in the comments, and we’ll interview you for a post here at the site.

Live Your Dreams, For Pete’s Sake!

Actor Pete Postlethwaite Never Stopped Living His Dream

“It’s not how much time you have, it’s what you do with it.”

That became my motto after I got diagnosed with cancer in 2005. And no one seems to encompass that outlook more than actor Pete Postlethwaite.

That name not sound familiar? Take a look at his photo and I predict the next thing out of your mouth will be “Oh, I know that guy. He’s incredible!”

Postlethwaite is instantly recognizable for dozens of scene stealing roles. I first noticed him as Daniel Day Lewis’ dad in In the Name of the Father
and quickly after as Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects
(BTW: I secretly believe Kobayashi IS Kaiser Soze, making his role even more impressive).

Pete Fought the Good Fight

If you haven’t heard, this incredible actor passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. Spielberg once called him “probably the best actor in the world.” Obviously he will be missed. But in addition to losing an incredible talent, we’ve also lost an incredible spirit.

As I mentioned, Postlethwaite was battling cancer for some time. But all throughout his treatments and sickness he continued to work. In fact, the last two years of his life were some of his most productive and high-profile. In 2010, what would be the last full year of his life, he starred in “Clash of the Titans,” “Inception” and “The Town.”

He Never Stopped Living His Dream

Amazing. During what had to be some of the toughest times of his life, facing his mortality, he put out some of his best work. I never met Pete or spotted him in a store in Los Angeles. But I feel like I know a little bit about him because he seems to have lived his life not worrying about how much time he had, but rather, what he was doing with it.

We should all learn this lesson. For Pete’s sake.

Thanks For Staring

The famous Steve Landesberg Stare

Did you know Al Pacino tried stand-up comedy? So did Kevin Spacey and Craig T. Nelson. I’m sure the list of famous people who have tried stand-up comedy would go on forever. The truth is most comedians don’t get famous until they do something besides stand-up. Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld became household names from TV and movies, not comedy clubs.

One of my dad’s favorite sitcoms was “Barney Miller”and I remember watching it with him all the time. He liked it so much that some of his friends called him “Wojo” after the Polish character on the show. I didn’t get most of the jokes because I was pretty young. One character was named “Fish” and I thought that was funny.

But there was another character on the show called “Dietrich” that could crack me up with his looks. Most actors would make goofy faces to get a laugh, but somehow this guy could get a laugh by making no face whatsoever. I was too young to know that was called “deadpan,” but I knew this guy was great at it. That actor’s name was Steve Landesberg.

Soon after I started comedy I learned that Steve Landesberg had been a great stand-up comedian. All the older comedians had stories about him and how he was a “comic’s comic.” That’s the ultimate compliment. If you can impress other comics—you must be great.

Yesterday, Steve Landesberg died from a long bout with cancer. But he left a big imprint on comics, audiences, and TV viewers. It’s one of the cool things about life: sometimes a blank stare can cause everyone else to smile.