Fresh Air, Robert Schimmel, March 12, 2008

By: Terry Gross

Hear comedian Robert Schimmel and world-music critic Milo Miles on this edition of Fresh Air.

Robert Schimmel's new memoir is Cancer On $5 a Day (Chemo Not Included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life. While the circumstances of Schimmel's life are grim - he was diagnosed with cancer, went through chemotherapy, married and divorced the same woman three times, and lost a son to leukemia - he has managed to find the humor in it all. Schimmel was named one of Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Comics, has had his own stand-up specials on HBO and Showtime, and he has appeared regularly on The Howard Stern Show and Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Then, Milo Miles reviews The Mande Variations, the new CD from the African kora player Toumani Diabate. Diabate is from Mali and claims to descend from 54 generations of griots, which are traditional song-storytellers. [Broadcast Date: March 12, 2008]

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Excellent

Very interesting, sad and even humorous at times. I found it helpful in coming to grips with a family cancer diagnosis. I looked him up after listening and saw he died a couple years after this recording groom a car accident. Terrible to breast cancer and die from that.