My husband is 40 and he still giggles when I tell him I'm watching the Dick Van Dyke Show.
That's a really interesting story. I've never heard of this before. He seemed like a really nice guy. It's a shame his name was something others could make fun of him for. It's good he saw the good side of the fame he got from Letterman teasing him about his name. He could have easily felt embarrassed but he was super nice about it all.
He understood that they weren't teasing him. Good friends pick on each other, especially guys. I think everyone else wanted a piece of that connection, reacted naturally, but those who know everything tried to take that away and make it something it wasn't. It wasn't the people laughing with him that made it ugly. It was those jerks and their opinions.. acting like they're protecting something.
I'm glad you picked up on the list of other Dicks. Those names are just as humorous as Dick Assman. Who's laughing at them? Did they have the courage Dick Assman did? I don't know.