"He was a mess," she later recalled. "No future, no dough, no potential. When we first started seeing each other, I literally sat down with a girlfriend, and on a paper place mat I wrote 'Pro' and 'Con.' The 'Con' list had fifteen, twenty things on it. He had this disgusting apartment. He had a cup and a spoon. He was this comedian who'd walk off stages if everybody wasn't paying attention. He refused to travel, refused to go anywhere. He never did anything to try to be successful, not for one second. He just pursued his craft."

And on the other side of the mat? "The 'Pro' list had one thing on it," Laurie recalled. "He's funny."

[They were married in 1993.]