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I Eat Standing Up

Caution, this column describes the odd habits of our brilliant cartoonist, Randy Enos.

Email Randy Enos Visit Randy’s archive –Daryl


(The guy) double wraps (the steak) in aluminum foil. The guy then takes it and places it on the block where the carburetor is in his car and drives to his game. When he gets there, his steak is perfectly done on both sides and ready to eat.

I eat lunch and sometimes breakfast standing up. I blame it on my father’s influence, He had a habit of doing that. My wife, Leann always says, “Sit down and eat!” I always reply, “I can’t ’cause it’s in the book!” You see, back in 1980, an art director of mine, Judy Reiser wrote a book called “And I Thought I Was Crazy”.

I illustrated it for her. It’s a compilation of the crazy quirks and idiosyncrasies that people have. Along with a lot of other people, my wife and I contributed a few quirks of our own. So, now that my habit of standing while eating has been enshrined in book form, on the printed page, out there for the world to read –and believe; I feel it’s my responsibility to back it up by continuing in my tradition, hence, “I can’t because it’s in the book”. Of course, my wife has heard my reply so many times that she now says, “Will you please sit down and eat … I know … it’s in the book.”  Or, she says, “I don’t care if it’s in the book!”

We’ve been married for 63 years and she’s starting to get on my nerves!

… another guy who wears a broad brimmed hat every day and it’s the first thing he puts on in the morning thereby causing him to put all his other clothes on around and over it

Some of the stories in Judy’s book are pretty weird like the guy who goes to a card game every Monday night and doesn’t have time to cook or eat out so he has an arrangement with a deli owner who holds a porterhouse steak for him, which he double wraps in aluminum foil.

… a fellow who always irons his paper money because he can’t stand to have wrinkled bills in his wallet.

The guy then takes it and places it on the block where the carburetor is in his car and drives to his game. When he gets there, his steak is perfectly done on both sides and ready to eat.

Other snippets in the book tell about a fellow who always irons his paper money because he can’t stand to have wrinkled bills in his wallet. And another guy who wears a broad brimmed hat every day and it’s the first thing he puts on in the morning thereby causing him to put all his other clothes on around and over it, There’s a woman who always washes, sets and dries her hair at home before going to the hairdresser so she’ll look her best at all times. A 32 yr. old nurse that has never eaten an olive, tasted beer or oysters or snails. She says she has a “closed palate” –she’s not adventurous about food.

My wife’s contributions to the book were as follows: When eating out with friends, she always has to taste their food selections before even eating any of her own.

She always gets her hip out of whack sitting in a theater seat, so upon rising to leave at the end of a show, she’ll pause in the aisle and bend forward throwing one leg straight out behind her. Then, it’s my turn to say, “Do you know that you came within inches of kicking that guy in the face behind you?” Another of her quirks is that when going up or down steps, she finds herself uncontrollably counting them.

My other quirk, beside the standing while eating thing, is that whenever (I know this sounds made up but it is the honest truth) WHENEVER I eat a Bavarian cream puff, after the first bite,  I always say, ” Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmm San Antone!” I have no idea where this comes from. I don’t know why “San Antone”. I have no control over it. I’ve tried many times to not say it, but I can’t not say it. Uncontrollable.

It is physically impossible for me not to say it. Calling Dr. Freud!

When eating out with friends, (my wife) always has to taste their food selections before even eating any of her own.
Thank goodness Randy stands to eat.

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Read many more of Randy’s cartooning memories:

The Funniest Cartoon I’ve Ever Seen

The Beatles had a Few Good Tunes

Andy Warhol Meets King Kong

Jacques and the Cowboy

The Gray Lady (The New York Times)

The BIG Eye

Historic Max’s

The Real Moby Dick

The Norman Conquests

Man’s Achievements in an Ever Expanding Universe

How to Murder Your Wife

I Yam What I Yam

The Smallest Cartoon Characters in the World

Chicken Gutz

Brought to You in Living Black and White

The Hooker and the Rabbit

Art School Days in the Whorehouse

The Card Trick that Caused a Divorce

The Mysterious Mr. Quist

Monty Python Comes to Town

Riding the Rails

The Pyramid of Success

The Day I Chased the Bus

The Other Ol’ Blue Eyes

8th Grade and Harold von Schmidt

Rembrandt of the Skies

The Funniest Man I’ve Ever Known

Read “I’m Your Bunny, Wanda –Part One”

Read “I’m Your Bunny, Wanda –Part Two”

Famous Artists Visit the Famous Artists School

Randy Remembers Tomi Ungerer

Randy’s Overnight Parade

The Bullpen

Famous Artists Schools

Dik Browne: Hot Golfer

Randy and the National Lampoon

Randy’s Only Great Idea

A Brief Visit to Outer Space

Enos, Love and Westport

Randy Remembers the NCS