Here are two tales of Rizzo’s wit from retired TV reporter Mike Strug.
When Rizzo was mayor he was hospitalized briefly to have hemorrhoids removed. Always willing to meet with reporters that he liked, Strug and his cameraman had no difficulty visiting his room at the hospital .
Rizzo cracked-up Strug and a couple of other visitors saying: ‘Now I am what my enemies have always said I was – the PERFECT ASSHOLE'.
Another time Strug was chatting with Rizzo on the street while the then Police Commission smoked a cigarette. A newspaper reporter came up to Rizzo and said “Frank, you’ve got to stop smoking. I just got out of the hospital and I quit. You gotta stop.”
Rizzo didn’t hesitate a second, says Strug. The commissioner said, “Well, Joe (or whatever his name was) I knew a guy who didn’t smoke. He didn’t drink. Didn’t fool around with women. And he got hit in the ass by a 47 trolley.” Strug says he has often used the same joke.
As a final example of the Rizzo’s humor, we repeat an earlier post from this blog. It’s a memory of advertising man Elliot Curson. He recalled Rizzo declaring that he was so popular that when he walked into a funeral home, “Everyone stood up but the corpse.”