Originally published at: Jack Hanna, celebrated zookeeper and Letterman guest, retiring: dementia | Boing Boing
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My favorite Hanna segment is probably the time he brought a couple of horny armadillos and they started going at it on national television next to Letterman’s desk.
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Good name for a band.
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This is sad. Can we please stop making fun of old people forgetting stuff? Mostly recently on the last SNL.
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Jack Hanna + David Letterman = Comedy Gold.
They don’t make TV like that anymore.
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He was the only regular guest who could genuinely discomfit Letterman. I’m truly sorry he and his family have to deal with this wretched and cruel disease. I’m sure that keeping him exposed and connected to all those lovely, non-judgmental animals in his life will soften the blow a little.
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This is really sad. NBC may still be airing his show on Saturday mornings after Today. I’ve caught it on occasion, and it always brings back memories of those wild visits to Letterman’s show. 
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Aw man, that is sad to hear. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease 
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i heard this on NPR the other morning, and it made me sad. what a legend Jack Hanna is. his enthusiasm and seat-of-his-pants style combined with Letterman’s basic terror of every damn thing he brought on was always quality TV.
i don’t know, Sandra Bernhardt seemed to regularly keep Dave on edge, too. (whatever happened to her, anyway? she was hilarious)
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It has been a dark several days for the Columbus Zoo. First the fraud uncovered by the auditors from the current leadership team (minor, but certainly enough for a black eye; but they are already fired, one is paying it back, and it looks like criminal charges are incoming), and now this sad, sad news from the Hanna family. 
(Jack Hanna was the director of the Columbus Zoo for decades; and only stepped down from his ceremonial role last January. I really respect him; he really advanced what a zoo was and what the role of the zoo is. He is why Columbus has a world class zoo; and the attempt to keep up with him is why Toledo and Pittsburgh do too. 
)
Edit to make perfectly clear: Jack Hanna is in no way, shape, or form associated with the people who committed the fraud. None of the fraud is in any way connected to Jack Hanna.
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I hope that Letterman’s successor, Stephen Colbert, offers a few kind words to Mr. Hanna and his family on his show.
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I recently commented to my wife that I thought jack was aging in reverse. I thought he looked younger now then he did when I was a kid.
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Great Ball of Scales
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Mr Hanna had a childlike wonder and a quirky sense of humor that rubbed off on everyone watching. He’ll be missed.
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