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AC: Who from Dead & Co have you been in touch with the most through all of this?
JM: There’s a Dead & Co group chat where everybody really looks after each other. And there’s a lot of levity in it, which is really nice. But everybody is making sure that everybody is okay. And it’s just really nice to have that brotherhood on even just a group text and send picture of ourselves—
This is a photograph of me playing at Howard Stern’s birthday party.
AC: It was his 60th.
JM: This is me playing Like a Rolling Stone at Howard’s birthday party. Now I still haven’t met Howard. But the most important part is that Howard sent me a thank you note. And to this day it’s still my favorite—it’s my favorite correspondence I’ve ever got in my life. Do you think he would be okay if I read his thank you note?
AC: Yes.
JM: Okay. It’s from Howard Stern:
John, thank you so much for being at the birthday show. It really meant so much to me having you there. Your performance was incredible and truly set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Now this is the part that I love:
I loved it, and most of all, the fans loved it.
I think that's the best thing I've ever read. "Most of all the fans loved it." There's no sugar-coating there. It's very honest.
AC: Yes. No, he's saying, no, he's saying, "most of all, my fans loved it." Or did he saying, "most of my fans loved it?"
JM: No he said most of all the fans loved it. Which to me means, not everyone loved it. But a large majority of people enjoyed what you did.
AC: I love it.
JM: The honesty in this letter is one of my favorite things. Because it's true. Most people would write, "everybody loved it!" And I'd go, but did they? And he says, "most everybody loved it," and that's a compliment I can believe.
AC: I think what he meant to say: "most of all," comma, "my fans loved it." That's what I think.
JM: Oooh.
AC: That's what I think.
JM: You're totally—you're totally right, Andy! But by the way, this just goes to show you the importance of the comma! Because if Howard would have written, "most of all," comma, "the fans loved it," I would have been like, oh that's great! I'm telling you, for—I don't know, six years—I have gone on thinking that Howard Stern wrote me that most of all the fans loved it, and I just adored that. Oh, that's funny.
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