Leslie Moonves and wife Julie Chen	Elie Wiesel and wife Marion
Freddie Roman and Dionne Warwick	Paul Shaffer and Ben Vereen
Robert Klein and Freddie Roman	Tom Jones and Lucie Arnaz
Freddie Roman and Norm Crosby	Joe Zappala and Tom Jones

FRIARS FOUNDATION
CBS Honcho Relieved That
The Friars Didn’t Roast Him

Story by Nina Boxer
Photos by Tim Boxer

L

ESLIE MOONVES had no fear of being the butt of barbs from the Friars last month at Cipriani 42^nd St. But as this was no roast, the CBS president and CEO gladly joined Tom Jones and Natalie Cole as honorees at the Friars Foundation Applause Award Gala where some 500 Friars and fans cheered.

The comedians and singers who performed for Moonves were duly respectful. Dionne Warwick, Lucie Arnaz, and Ben Vereen performed. Natalie Cole would have sung too, but she was home recovering from a liver transplant.

Robert Klein talked about his fourth colonoscopy. Norm Crosby said he went to the bank to check his balance and the clerk pushed him.

Another Crosby nugget. A woman sues for divorce because her husband hasn’t spoken in five years. "Why not?" the judge asks. "I didn’t want to interrupt her," the husband says.

Freddie Roman thanked Moonves for putting his son’s show on the air. Freddie’s son, Alan Kirschenbaum, executive produced Yes, Dear, which just ended a four-year run.

In presenting Moonves with his award, Elie Wiesel seized the moment to lecture the network honcho on something to worry about.

"I would be afraid to be in your place of power," the Nobel laureate said. "I’d worry how my words would be interpreted, or misinterpreted. Do you worry?"

True story from Lucie Arnaz. She and Laurence Luckinbill had trouble with cable at their home in Weston, Conn. The repairman was working on the TV set when he noticed a picture on the wall.

"That looks like Lucille Ball," he said.

"That’s my mother," Lucie said.

"Amazing! You mother looks like Lucille Ball?"

Moonves, a New Yorker whose family Munweis came from Ukraine and is a great-nephew of David Ben-Gurion, may not have been worried but he said he was humbled.

"Television is not just entertainment," Wiesel added. "It’s a vehicle for information. It must be transmitted with sensitivity."

"This is not fair!" Moonves protested. "I’ve received a lot of awards but never from someone like Elie Wiesel."

What’s Elie Wiesel doing with the Friars anyway?

"I joined the Friars for the humor," he said. "I wondered what real humor is."

Stewie Stone, who emceed the awards gala, offered an example when he told about meeting the pope.

"How is Tom Jones?" the pope asked.

"How do you know Tom Jones?" Stewie said.

"I don’t but his name comes up in confession a lot."

Moonves said CBS and the Friars have had a long relationship, with such members as Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace. He mentioned that his wife, Julie Chen, the CBS Early Show anchor, expects her first baby in October. "Our child will be the first Jewish Chinese member of the Friars."