Andy Rooney: Keep The Stuff Coming!

Andy Rooney Takes A Look At Some Of The Items Viewers Have Sent

(CBS)  This segment was first broadcast on May 11, 2008.

The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

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A lot of friendly people send me things. It's nice of them I guess, but most of it is junk that I don't want. I have my own junk I'd like to send to them.

A fan went to the trouble of getting my picture on a box of Wheaties. Isn't that just what everyone has always wanted? Their picture on a box of Wheaties? To tell you the truth, I prefer Corn Flakes or Shredded Wheat to Wheaties anyway, without my picture on the box.

There's a model of a SunBeam Tiger someone sent me because they know I have a real one. I've had it since 1966.

I did something about umbrellas a while back and I got a lot of special umbrellas in the mail. Umbrellas are fun. It's a good feeling to think they’re keeping you dry - even though they aren’t really very good when it rains.

A man named Richard Kostura doesn't like the way people tell time and he's built his own clock. This may be accurate but I'd I've a hard time strapping Mr. Kostura's clock to my wrist. I don't want to know what time it is that bad anyway.

I mentioned a restaurant in Miami called "Joe's Stone Crab" quite a while ago and they sent me two $100 meal tickets. I wonder if these are still good. I don't like Miami enough to fly down there to get two free dinners and it would be just my luck to get there and find that Joe’s was out of stone crabs that night.

Here's something I really like: the American flag drawn by the artist Jasper Johns. The American flag shouldn't be used as decoration, but this is a work of art. I don’t know what there is about it that makes it a real work of art but that's why Jasper Johns is an artist and I’m not. The flag was sent to me by Bruce Mlynski and he writes apologizing for not writing sooner and he suggests we have lunch sometime. Oh that's okay Bruce. I haven't spent a lot of time waiting for your letter. And by the way, I charge $47.50 to have lunch with anyone I never heard of.

Somebody sent me a book called "Twenty Things You Didn't Know About Everything." And there's another good book sent to me by my friend Joe Persico about Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

So keep the stuff coming. I wouldn't know what to talk about without it.

[AndyBedoian]

Hey Andy,
if you EVER want to sell your Tiger, just let me know. I've been looking for a nice one for years. I can take really good care of it for you, as I am a car guy. Hope you drop me a line sometime. --AndyB--

[rmowen08]

Andy - how ''bout a piece on a service to keep all the service people from taping stuff to my front door at home. Does my lawn look like it needs mowing? Do I really have paint peeling in the kitchen? How could they tell? Anyway, I thought of you immediately after thinking of the service to prevent services...don''t know why?

[jbkaufmann]

Ya don''t suppose your Wheaties fan was tryin'' to connect you to its advertising moniker "The Breakfast of Champions." ?? Well, I for one do!! For all of us who had to listen to the old commentarist Archibald MacLeish (sp.??) on CBS circa 1964 ff, Mr. Rooney is certainly a breath of fresh air. And remember pompous Eric Severeid who queried Gerald Ford about how many books per month Ford was able to consume? I, frankly, don''t want POTUS using his precious time surveying the Times'' Best Sellers lists. I prefer his time devoted to such mundane concerns as keeping us alive!! So, Mr. Rooney, please don''t begrudge your fans finding various and sundry ways of expressing their gratitude for your brand of common sense.

[ranger1948]

Andy
Seriously your saying you charge $47.50 to dine with someone you do not know is an insult. Here the person respected you and was being respectful to you and you disrespect them for no reason. I would have expected better of you.

[grammawhamma]

Andy did a segment almost like this about a year ago but that one was even ruder than this week. I can''t believe anyone would send him anything if they saw the first segment.

I also can''t believe posters are so stupid as to post their private info on here just to beg for a lousey gift certificate. Geeeeezz.

[dpgata18]

Hi Mr. Rooney. I''ve been a fan for many years. I was born & raised in Miami and was wondering...since you don''t like it down here enough to visit us, would you be willing to send a longtime fan those 2 gift certificates for Joe''s? It''s the best place in town for stonecrabs & why let them go to waste? Thanks.

[sjw1253]

Hi Andy...

I was surprised to read so many negative comments about your story on all of those things you get...

I am not too surprised and think it was great that you gave the plug to the people who sent you things...

I kind of liked the umbrella...

For those who tell you to hang it up and get ridiculously personal - talking about things like diapers... please don''t pay any attention to them...

I think they are more crumundeony (if that is a word)... than they say you are...

And regarding that lunch with you... Well ... I would be happy to pay the $47.50 to have lunch with you...

Heck... I''d even pay you $50 just to round it off...

I can''t imagine a more interesting lunch partner than someone who has seen as much as you have in your lifetime and would enjoy and savor that great privledge more than I would enjoy a lunch with any of the people who posted their insulting comments on this site.

Clearly those who say they were your fans and are no longer due to this story were not your fans to begin with as clearly they have no clue the value that you provide to the rest of us who truly do appreciate your last minute comments on 60 Minutes.

A true fan...
Sharon

No - I won''t post my private information as I am not so presumptive to think that you would actually take me up on my offer. (I do have a bit of reality added to my general common sense)

[rodgert-2009]

Why don''t you pass the torch you old ***

[ghwab1949]

Rooney is at least as funny as Jerry Seinfeld or that defunct TV show "Friends," neither of which seemed the slightest bit funny to me. (Maybe they weren''t supposed to be comedies.) Oh, and by the way Jon Stewart is a lot funnier live than on TV. His show and The Colbert Report are just stupid. Rooney is at least as funny on 60 Minutes as Stewart or Colbert are on their shows.

[METAUSTIN]

I agree with BMWX5a. Rooney needs a pink-slip big time! I watched this stupid monologue on Sunday and was particularly annoyed by his rudeness. When he said he would only dine with someone he didn''t know for $47.50, this ticked me off. Is that supposed to be funny? I wouldn''t pay a nickel to dine with this old ***. Andy, you were funny once, maybe back in the Stone Age, but now it''s time to say adieu. Andy and Mike ("backstabber to Dan Rather") Wallace should both resign... NOW!

[mbcsmith]

LOL...Andy Rooney..LOL...What a boob!

[bmwx5a]

Time to send this crumudgeon what he truly needs, a pink slip from CBS. What a bunch of sour grapes. Mr. Rooney, you should be grateful that you received anything at all, given your attitude. Fire up that Sunbeam Tiger of yours and head off into the sunset ASAP.

[messiahx4eve]

Mister Rooney, are you mixing tequila & oatmeal together again? Self medication is not good for you and you know it. I''m sure those Depends you wear right now feel good, snuggly and warm, perhaps even cozy but you still where them for a reason, along with the rubber pants. I think that CBS exploiting a senior citizen this way is rude, obnoxious, and in very poor taste.

[osiod9]

Only a moron would post their personal info here. Who dresses these dolts every morning?...geezuz, and like Rooney would ever send any of that stuff to anyone in the first place. I can see it now...Andy sends the gift certificates to Maria DeVito, she chokes on a stone crab and sues Andy''s pants off him. At least he could wrap those eyebrows around himself and keep warm.

[mlhcalif]

Gosh,
I always used to enjoy this little "nugget" of commentary at the end of the show. This comment about things people sent was not funny, not thoughtful and not kind. Whatever happened to "if you can''t say something nice, don''t say anything at all!"

[maryalt]

Dear Mr. Rooney, I saw your broadcast this evening about all the excess junk you have. If you don''t know what to do with everything you have, our church is holding a rummage sale Saturday, June 7, 2008. They are accepting all sorts of donated items. The church is Eden Lutheran Church, 2745 Brockton Ave., Riverside, CA 92506. Mary Altshuller

[mello_yello2]

Dear Mr. Rooney,

With the release of the new Get Smart movie w/Steve Carell this summer--and as someone who grew up with the original sitcom starring the late great Don Adams--your mention of you Sunbeam Tiger brought back childhood memories. As you may recall, during its first two years on te air, the show would always open up with Mr. Adams pulling up the headquartes of his "orginization", CONTROL, in a red Sunbeam Tiger

[jamestowncbs]

Do you like cussing on broadcasts?

[tmccue2-2009]

A LONGTIME ANDY DEVOTED FAN

Andy, How could you !! ?? Your comments about gifts....If I were to make some of the comments you made tonight about some of the gifts you have received over the years, I would probably be considered an UNGRATEFUL BOOB by some of my devoted fans whom look at gift giving as something that comes from the heart by the thought of GIVING not receiving. Did you ever consider before you made tonights comments that someone out there probably thought that they were giving you something that really meant something to them? I hope you never receive another gift from a Devoted fan again !!!
HOW RUDE !!! I am thinking about agreeing with Mr Rushlimpdrugs comments...When do you have plans to retire? GEEZLE ???

A long Time devoted Fan

[naln42]

Your response to the invitation to lunch by Bruce Mylinski was extremely rude and hurtful. If you can''t dine with us "peasants", it would have been more tactful to have not responded to the invitation al all.