He was one of my major influencers as a kid - I'm sure he
   influenced my interest it it tremendously. My guy-figures
   growing up:
   George Carlin, Carl Sagan, Joseph Campbell and likely a few
   others. But these guys were stand-outs for me. Today's kids have
   Chris Rock, Neil Degrasse Tyson and... well, I don't know their
   equivalent to Joseph Campbell, so they're in pretty good hands.
   Chris is definitely of the George Carlin ethos and Tyson
   Sagan... although sometimes i want Tyson to brush up on history
   a bit. Ok, a lot.

   Then again, in retrospect, Sagan wasn't that great on history
   either. *sigh* is-what-it-is.