No, the southwest

[sovay]

Shelley Berman has died. He was ninety-two, which is fair, but I am sorry because I grew up on Inside Shelley Berman (1959)—and Outside Shelley Berman (1959), for that matter, although I'm not convinced about The Edge of Shelley Berman (1960)—and if you skip to the 14:58 mark on this track you will hear the sketch with which I always associate him, the phone call to the department store. Outside of his record covers, I didn't know what he looked like for years, just that harassed voice on the telephone, calling from the southwest corner, onstage. "Maybe she tried on something and snapped out, I don't know how!" There are worse ways to be remembered.