Springsteen interrupted himself here. "Aww, I'm forgetting the punchline!," he moaned, to as much laughter as a real punchline might have inspired. (He remembered eventually. For those interested: the man says, "That was wonderful, best I've ever had, and if I could just wish for one thing... I wish I had a flashlight." The woman replies: "Well, me too—you've been chewing on grass for the last 10 minutes.")

The other musical performer of the evening, Tony Bennett, didn't try to tell any jokes—he just sang a short, sweet set, including a rendition of "The Best is Yet to Come" directed at the injured soldiers sitting in the front three rows. After all, there were enough jokes: the event kicked off the New York Comedy Festival, and comedians Bill Burr, Joel McHale, and Jerry Seinfeld all delivered very funny sets. Stewart told some jokes too, of course, including the post-midterm-election observation that at this point, "It's not even like the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are playing checkers. It's like the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because they glued their balls to the inside of their leg."

As for Springsteen, after he told his joke, he shrugged and said it was the only one he could remember. Perhaps he should stick to rock and roll—after all, he does it so well that one fan in the audience bid $140,000 to own a signed guitar he used during his set. This sum was somehow still a drop in the bucket, though, taken in context of the night's total earnings: over $2.5 million to the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which also live-broadcast the show to several Army bases and Walter Reed Hospital.


TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOB WOODRUFF FOUNDATION, VISIT THE WEB SITE.