MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And now a correction. Yesterday we brought you the scene of a crowd in Los Angeles, watching the U.S.-Germany World Cup match and our story included this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI, BYLINE: What's your name?
PHIL STARK: Phil - Phil Stark.
MERAJI: And who are you rooting for?
STARK: The United States of America. You know what country you're in, right?
MERAJI: I'm at Hyperion Public, in LA's Silver Lake neighborhood, so the bar is packed with want-to-be comedians like that dude.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Want-to-be comedians like that dude. That identification prompted Phil Stark to write in.
BLOCK: He wrote (reading) I was dismayed to hear that I was described as an amateur comedian. Let the record show - I am a professional comedian and member in good standing of the Writers Guild of America.
CORNISH: He ended his letter by saying (reading) also in the segment, I was described as being a dude. That description is correct.
BLOCK: So to prove that he is indeed professionally funny, we invited Mr. Stark to tell us something amusing.
STARK: So my son Jacob is seven years old. He just lost a tooth, about his third one. He wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and put it under the pillow. The next morning he comes into our room and says the tooth fairy didn't come. And we realized we forgot. And I'm a little nervous here because this leads into the discussion of the tooth fairy doesn't exist and this is our son's childhood coming to an end. Then I read the note, it said dear tooth fairy, I lost this tooth. Please leave me $50. So I say Jacob, clearly the tooth fairy came, read your note, decided that was way too much money and left. He rewrites it. I go back in the middle of the night - into his room that night. I reach under the pillow. I pull out the note - it says dear tooth fairy, please leave me $40. So I write nice try kid and I leave him five bucks.
(LAUGHTER)
BLOCK: What do you think, Audie? Amateur? Professional comedian?
CORNISH: That is a professional comedian.
BLOCK: If we've ever heard one. And by the way, it turns out that guy is the brain behind the screenplay for that movie masterpiece "Dude, Where's My Car?"
CORNISH: Phil Stark, professional dude and comedian. We regret the error. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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