I always hated those classic kid movies like Old Yeller or The Yearling where the beloved pet dies. What would be so wrong with having those damn kids learn their lessons about mortality from watching Grandpa kick? Then at least the dog would be around to comfort them.

She wrote about the relationship several years later in essays in the book Cool Calm and Contentious though Merrill Markoe gave him the psuedonym "Bobby". In 1980 Markoe was the original head writer for The David Letterman Show a short-lived live NBC morning show whose writing team was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award. She appears in episode 2 of Friends as Marsha the irritable museum curator and can be seen in the movie EDTV as a panelist as well as in the cast of The Aristocrats.