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A career of seven decades of snappy, irreverent one-liners put Henry "Henny" Youngman at the top of most comedians' list of favorite showmen. Born in London, England, and moving to the United States when he was a baby, Youngman started his professional career as a printer in a small store. Naturally funny, he moonlighted in show business as the leader of a band called the "Swanee Syncopaters." One night, the regular comedian didn't show up, and Youngman, who had tickled crowds with his jokes between musical sets, was asked to fill in. Some time later, established comedian Milton Berle stumbled upon Youngman's store and saw his "Comedy Cards," a series of one-line gags that he had printed and were sold in his store. Berle liked what he read, and a lifelong friendship developed. Youngman, despite all the jokes about his wife, had a happy marriage that only ended when Sadie died in 1987. She supported him for years during the lean times, and he was always quick to let others know of his gratitude and devotion to her. Youngman's big break came when he was booked on the popular Kate Smith radio show in 1937. Never really making it in films, his nightclub career soared. His trademark, rapid-fire one-liners, with violin in hand, put him in a league of his own. In the 1960s, he enjoyed renewed popularity after appearances on the hip Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967). Youngman wrote a number of books comprised of his short jokes. The comedic legend died in 1998 at the age of 92 of complications from the flu.

Crowned as leading the new breed of modern comedians by Time magazine in 1960, Mort Sahl is the first entertainer ever to appear on its cover. Before comedy clubs existed, Sahl began performing at the hungry i music club in San Francisco in the early 1950s. He differed from other comedians, appearing in casual clothing rather than a suit, skewering popular politicians such as Eisenhower, Joe McCarthy and JFK. Sahl's approach is energetic, tangential, and deep and wide in both social and political scopes, inspiring Woody Allen, George Carlin and countless other comedians.

A 1955 performance with Dave Brubeck was recorded and released (without Sahl's permission), selling as Mort Sahl At Sunset, and recently recognized by the Library of Congress as the first stand-up comedy record album.

When JFK was assassinated in 1963, Sahl regularly targeted the government's official Warren Commission Report during his routines, resulting in the loss of much of Hollywood's support, while maintaining audience popularity with college tours and a best-selling book, Heartland.

Sahl is one of the longest, active, performing social satirists, spanning 60 years and 11 presidents.

At age 21, Tiger Woods became the youngest Masters champ and the first golfer since Jerry Pate in 1976 to win in the first major he played. In 1997, Woods took the lead at the Augusta golf classic and then put on a golf clinic never seen before. He fired a 3-under-par 69 and broke the tournament 72-hole record with an unbelievable 18-under 270. The 12-stroke margin of victory was the largest in Masters history. Woods was chosen as the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and ESPY Male Athlete of the Year in 1997. He was also one of the most accomplished amateur golfers in history, winning six USGA national championships, an NCAA title during his two years at Stanford University, and an unprecedented three consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships. He finished first on the PGA Tour five times in 1999. More importantly, Woods opened wide a door of society in becoming the first African American, as well as the first Asian American, to win a major. Woods was granted dual citizenship by the Thai government (his mother, Kultida, is of half Thai and one quarter Chinese, descent) in 1997 prior to playing in the Asian Honda Classic. Woods has captured the hearts and imaginations of even non-golf fans around the world. Affable and good looking, he became an international star and a prime endorser of golfing equipment and apparel. Born Eldrick Woods on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California, his distinctive nickname "Tiger" came from his father Earl's Green Beret army past. "Tiger" had been the moniker of a South Vietnamese officer who saved Earl's life on several occasions. As a child, Woods was one of junior golf's most accomplished players. He putted against Bob Hope on The Mike Douglas Show (1961) at the improbable age of 2, shot 48 for nine holes at age 3, and was featured in "Golf Digest" at age 5. Woods won several major youth titles in southern California. He won three straight U.S. Amateur titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 after winning three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He turned professional in the summer of 1996, and the game of golf hasn't been the same since. Sense of humor intact, Woods once observed, "Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps".

One the most successful entertainers of the Black vaudeville stage, also known as the Chitlin Circuit, was Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken in 1894. At the apex of her long career, she was earning $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Mabley focused on conventional topics such as family and others not normally covered by comedians of the era, white or Black, such as infidelity, poverty, welfare, and inebriation.

Billed as the Funniest Woman in the World, she adopted her original stage name from a boyfriend, Jackie Mabley, and began her career at 14. A teenage runaway, she joined the Negro troupe of Henry Bowman and Tim Moore and, in a short time, became a success. Quick-witted and quick-tongued, Mabley's unorthodox, self-assured routines as an outspoken grandma while wearing bag-lady clothes--old-fashioned print dresses and floppy hats--was a favorite with Black female audiences, particularly when she was lampooning the psychology of men. Her career spanned five decades, although white audiences did not know of her until the early 1960s. Mabley played Carnegie Hall in 1962. Mainstream TV appearances in the 1960s included variety appearances on shows hosted by Flip Wilson, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967), and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967). She was an inspiration for irreverent female comics of that era, including Phyllis Diller and, in her final years, Mabley poked fun at the president and other government officials.

Scott Adams, frustrated with the inanities of corporate America and its idiot bosses, created the comic strip "Dilbert" to lampoon all he considered repugnant-yet-funny in the workplace of cubicles. His title character Dilbert, the bespectacled MIT graduate with no mouth and flip-up tie, is part alter ego, part "every man." Dilbert was embraced by the comic-strip-reading public in 1989, and as of 2001, appeared through United Media's syndication efforts in an impressive 2,000 newspapers in 50-plus countries translated in 19 languages. Born on June 8, 1957, Adams was raised in Windham, New York, and as a youngster, he tried his hand at cartooning. He entered art contests with little success. He was chosen valedictorian of his high school class (he claimed it was because "the other 39 people in my class couldn't spell valedictorian"). From 1979 to 1986, he worked at a San Francisco bank in a variety of dead-end jobs (as a bank teller, he was held at gunpoint twice), then worked at Pacific Bell from 1986 to June 1995, mostly in various engineering groups. Inspired from Adams' idle doodlings during dull company meetings, nerdy Dilbert embodied many characteristics of his co-workers. Adams kept his day job at Pacific Bell for 8 years after the comic strip was launched, partly for financial security and partly for relevant material. He was finally asked to leave by a new boss because of "budget constraints." Adams' education was not in art or engineering; he earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, then earned an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. Adams is credited with being the first cartoonist to print his e-mail address in his comic strip and dilbert.com was the first syndicated comic strip to go online in 1995. As of 2001, it was the most widely read syndicated comic on the Internet. Adams has also successfully launched a full repertoire of Dilbert-emblazoned products from desk calendars to T-shirts; a Dilbert Web site; a short-lived animated TV show in 1999; and his own line of food products, including the "Dilberito," a frozen vegetarian burrito. Adams' many best-selling Dilbert books include "Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies"; "The Dilbert Future"; "I'm Not Anti-Business, I'm Anti-Idiot"; "Journey to Cubeville"; and "Random Acts of Management." Adams is an irreverent member of Mensa.

American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was a revolutionary artist of modern dance in the early 20th century. Born in Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1894, her family moved to California when she was 10. She was inspired at that early age to become a dancer when she saw Ruth St. Denis perform her exotic "Epytia" modern dance in 1914. After much study, Graham brought a different dynamics and interpretation to modern dance, one of sharp angles and natural motion. Graham's father was an "alienist," a term used at the turn of the century describe a physician who specialized in human psychology. Dr. Graham was interested in the way people used their bodies, and that interest was passed on to his eldest daughter. Martha frequently repeated her father's maxim of "Movement never lies." Her abstract approach to dance and her minimal use of costumes and set decorations was disconcerting to audiences accustomed to the lovely fluid movements of modern dance introduced earlier by the likes of Isadora Duncan (many critics accused Graham of making dance "ugly"). What Graham wanted to evoke with her style of dance was a heightened awareness of life. She eventually developed a strong following and won over the critics. Her dance themes were inspired by America's past, biblical stories, historical figures, classical mythology, primitive rituals, and surprisingly, psychoanalyst Carl Jung's writings, Emily Dickinson's poems, Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings, and Zen Buddhism. She danced with such a passion that her presence on stage was electrifying. Graham founded the Dance Repertory Theater in New York in 1930. She was the first dancer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship in 1932. From 1931 to 1935, Graham toured the United States in the production "Electra." She was fascinated by different cultures, and her interest in Native Americans of the southwest United States was first embodied in the production "Primitive Mysteries." In 1937, she danced for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. Her most famous dance, "Appalachian Spring," was first performed in 1944. Graham gave her last stage performance in 1968, at age 74. In all, she produced 181 original ballets. A year before her death in 1990, she choreographed, at age 95, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag"; the show featured costumes by Calvin Klein.

Future proponent for victims of injustice and tyranny during the years prior to the French Revolution, Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet on November 21, 1694 in Paris) was educated in Paris by the Jesuits. For a time he studied law, then decided to become a writer. Witty, thought-provoking and socially critical, his unique writings inspired France's common people but angered the royalty. In 1717 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months for ridiculing Duc d'Orléans. While in prison he rewrote his tragedy "Oedipe", which upon its publication brought the young author and philosopher enormous fame and ominous notoriety; in 1726 he was forced to go into exile in England. There he became fascinated with the plays of William Shakespeare, and while shocked by their "barbaric" nature (calling Shakespeare "a drunken savage"), he was deeply affected by their genius, energy and human drama. He felt that France had much to learn from England's literature. Three years later he returned to France, writing plays and poetry as well as historical and scientific treatises, his brilliant 1734 "Lettres philosophiques" was published. Scandal followed this work, which harshly criticized the religious and political institutions. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1734, and he fled, taking refuge at Cirey in Champagne in the home of Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet, the 28-year-old wife of the Marquis Florent du Châtelet. Here he began his professional liaison with the young, intelligent woman. Gabrielle worked with him on many philosophical and scientific topics. Her one major work was a translation of Isaac Newton's "Principia." Voltaire lived with her in the château he had renovated at his own expense. After 15 years as his guide and supporter, tragedy struck when Gabrielle died in childbirth on September 10, 1749. The baby was the presumed child of her lover, poet Jean-François de Saint-Lambert. Her husband, Voltaire, and Saint-Lambert were present at her death bed. Voltaire was overwhelmed with grief, often waking in the middle of the night calling her name. He eventually regained favor at the French court and was appointed its royal historiographer.

In 1755 he was living near Geneva, Switzerland, and wrote his most famous work, the satirical "Candide," in 1759. He later produced many anti-religious writings and his 1764 "Dictionnaire philosophique." His fame became worldwide. He was called "Innkeeper of Europe," and he entertained chic philosophers of the day and such literary figures as James Boswell, Giovanni Casanova and Edward Gibbon. Always impassioned about injustice, he took a keen interest in the case of Jean Calas, whose innocence he helped to establish. In 1761 Calas was accused, on trivial evidence, of murdering his eldest son to prevent him becoming a Roman Catholic. Calas was found guilty and executed by being broken on the wheel. Voltaire, in his late 60s by this time, spearheaded a fervent campaign, resulting in a revision of the trial. It was determined that the son had committed suicide, and the Parisian parliament declared Calas innocent in 1765. Voltaire finally returned to Paris in 1778, 28 years after leaving. He had become a beloved national celebrity, and it's believed that the frenzied excitement of such adoration from the French people aggravated his precarious health, reportedly, more than 300 people called on him the day after his arrival. He died a painful death on May 30 of uremia, only a few months after his celebrated arrival, at age 83. His nephew, the Abbé Mignot, had his body, clothed as it was the day he died, quickly transported to the Abbey of Scellières, where Voltaire was given a Christian burial; the prohibition of such a burial came after the ceremony. Because of his lifelong criticism of the church, Voltaire was denied burial in church ground. He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. His heart was removed from his body, and now lays in the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris. His brain was also removed, but after a series of moves during the next hundred years, it disappeared following an auction. Voltaire's remains were moved to the Panthéon in Paris during the Revolution in July 1791. In 1814, a group of right-wing religious "ultras" stole Voltaire's remains from his enormous sarcophagus and dumped them in a garbage heap. The theft went undetected for about 50 years.

Intelligent and handsome, Richard Evelyn Byrd was born in 1888, the son of an influential Virginia lawyer. He entered the United States Naval Academy at age 20 and was commissioned in 1912. Interested in polar exploration as a boy, he was appointed navigator for the proposed transpolar flight of the Navy's dirigible "Shenandoah" from Alaska to Spitzbergen in 1924. When the flight was canceled by Pres. Coolidge, Byrd began to organize his own Navy flight expedition to the Arctic. He ultimately joined forces with the MacMillan Expedition to northwest Greenland, which was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, in 1925. He completed the first flights over Ellsmere Island and the interior of Greenland. Byrd was a gifted aviator and an explorer at heart. His first Antarctic expedition (1928-30) established the Little America base; Byrd, with Bernt Balchen, made that first historic flight over the South Pole (Nov. 28-9, 1929). Igloo was the spunky fox terrier who became famous when he accompanied Byrd on his first Antarctic expedition. The little dog, formerly a stray, accompanied his master on the trip to the Arctic as well. When the beloved Igloo, nicknamed "Iggy" by Byrd, died in 1931, children from all over the world sent letters of condolence.

Byrd made four more expeditions to Antarctica for exploration and mapping. He became an international hero, and during his lifetime received numerous awards: 22 citations and special commendations, 9 of which were for bravery and 2 for extraordinary heroism in saving the lives of others. Other medals included the Congressional Medal of Honor, Congressional Life Saving Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Flying Cross, and Navy Cross. His explorations accounted for the discovery of hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory which were claimed for the United States. He published several accounts of his experiences, which were avidly read by an adoring public.

Emily Dickinson, a shy, unassuming, educated woman, was a poet of extraordinary talent. During her lifetime, only seven of her poems were published, although upon her death, she had written an amazing 2,000 poems. Many of these were not finished. Her grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, was one of the founders of Amherst College, and her father served as the lawyer and treasurer for the institution. Her father was a politician, and served in powerful positions on the General Court of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. She suffered from persistent eye problems for most of her life. After the late 1860s, Dickinson never left the boundaries of her family's property in Massachusetts, and prior to that, had traveled seldom. Living a life of seclusion, she daydreamed and read, and thankfully, wrote some of the most inspiring, creative poems of her generation. For inspiration and reference, she often drew from the Bible, classical mythology, and Shakespeare. The year preceding her death she was bedridden. Dickinson died at age 55 in her family's home where she had lived her entire life.

Multi-talented comic/writer/producer, Jeff Valdez knew show business was his calling. Born in Pueblo, Colorado, in a large Hispanic family, he wanted to see Latinos represented in television beyond subservient or demeaning caricature portrayals. Following several years as a stand-up comic, he actively changed the face of TV. Blocked by much opposition, his relentless efforts ultimately culminated in Sí TV. As co-founder and executive producer of the Latino-themed cable network, Valdez brought English-language programs to television that appealed to Latino audiences and had cross-over appeal. As of 2000, Sí TV's Talent Advisory Board was composed of such luminary figures in the entertainment industry as Cheech Marin, Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo, Erik Estrada, Maria Conchita Alonso, Roseanne, Geraldo Rivera, Daisy Fuentes, Mario Lopez, and Carlos Mencia. Valdez was listed in the "Los Angeles Times 36 Faces To Watch in 97" and "100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business." He received a 1998 Hispanic Achievement Award in the Entertainment category by "Hispanic Magazine" for his positive impact on the Hispanic community. Valdez also received the 1998 ALMA Award for pioneering bilingual programming that portrayed positive images of contemporary Hispanics in the United States.

A man of seemingly inexhaustible talents, Stephen Butler Leacock (born December 30, 1869) easily juggled being a humorist, essayist, teacher, political economist, lecturer, and historian. He received many awards and honorary degrees, among them the Lorne Pierce Medal; the Leacock Medal for Humour was established in his honor and has been awarded annually since 1947 to the best humorous book by a Canadian author. At the height of his career from 1915 through 1925, Leacock was undeniably the English-speaking world's best-known humorist. His parents, Peter Leacock and Agnes Emma Butler, had been secretly married; Agnes was three years older than her new husband. When Leacock was about 7, his large family (ultimately ten brothers and sisters) moved to Canada and settled on a 100-acre farm. Despite living a hard life on the farm, and having a charming but shiftless alcoholic father, Leacock was fortunate in that his mother believed strongly in a good education. With her devoted support and guidance, he did well in school, and graduated in 1887 as Head Boy from Upper Canada College. He received a B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1891. During this time, he wrote humorous articles for magazines for extra income. In 1900, he married Beatrix Hamilton, daughter of a well-to-do Toronto businessman. Her death from breast cancer in 1925 grieved him greatly, but he kept his anguish private, and spearheaded fundraisers to aid cancer research. Among his professional accomplishments, Leacock was appointed to full professor at McGill University in 1908. He was also appointed William Dow Professor of Political Economy and chair of the Department of Economics and Political Science, a position he held for 30 years until his forced retirement at age 65. Leacock's prolific written observations--sharp, funny, and timely--were critically applauded and loved by the public. He published what many consider his literary masterpiece, "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town," in 1912. Leacock wrote two excellent biographies: "Mark Twain," published in 1932, and "Charles Dickens, His Life and Work," in 1933. In 1935, he published "Humour: Its Theory and Technique." He died of throat cancer in 1944, leaving his autobiography, "The Boy I Left Behind Me," unfinished. It was published in 1946. But death did not sweep him from Canada's cherished memory. To mark the 100th anniversary of Leacock's birth, the government of Canada issued a six-cent stamp in his honor in 1969. Leacock's former homes were declared historic sites, more awards were heaped upon him posthumously, and in 1970, a mountain in the Yukon's Saint Elias range was named after him.

American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and literary critic, Mark Van Doren was born on June 13, 1894. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1914, and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1920. He was the brother of Carl Clinton Van Doren (1885-1950), a noted historian and author. Van Doren was a brilliant and dedicated English teacher at Columbia for 39 years. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick monitored his classes at Columbia. He served on the staff of "The Nation" intermittently during the 1920s and 1930s. His many published works included a collaboration with brother Carl on "American and British Literature since 1890" (1939), the play "The Last Days of Lincoln," critical studies, collections of poems, stories, and the memoirs of his wife, Dorothy Graffe Van Doren. The Toronto-based band Our Lady Peace, formed in 1992, took its name from one of Van Doren's poems. Mark Van Doren was awarded the coveted literary prize for his 1940 "Collected Poems." Van Doren was interred at Cornwall Hollow Cemetery in Connecticut in 1972.

C. Wright Mills was a radical, controversial intellectual and social scientist in America in the 1950s. He taught at Wisconsin and Maryland universities, and was a professor at Columbia from 1946 until his death in 1962. His most famous books included "The New Men of Power: America's Labor Leaders" (1948), "White Collar: The American Middle Classes" (1951), and "The Sociological Imagination" (1959); and his best-known and most controversial work was "The Power Elite" (1956). His writings inspired a large audience, and he had an important influence on the American New Left, although he was criticized by his academic colleagues. Mills married three times, and had one child with each wife. Two daughters of Mills's published a book of his collected letters in 2000.