Here are the last bunch of people I’d like to meet, or would have liked to meet.

Les Paul. What is Les Paul famous for? If you said a particular model of Gibson guitar, you’d be right -- but only partly right. Les Paul was an innovator in “sound on sound” recording (among numerous other effects and techniques) at a time in music history when other recordings were made with all the musicians playing simultaneously. Working in Edison-like fashion, Paul opened the door to a new universe of sound possibilities using his own amplifiers, recorders, reverb boxes, and whatever else he thought could get him to the sounds he was after. Recently, he agreed to donate the original equipment from those long ago sessions to the Smithsonian, and I can’t think of a more appropriate place for it.

Paul had plenty of time to think about his innovative recording techniques while in a hospital bed after a terrible car accident near Davenport, Oklahoma in 1948. At first, doctors weren’t sure he would even survive, and then they told him he may lose his right arm. That little nugget of news got him to thinking about building a special type of guitar playable with just one hand. Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary. The right arm was saved, but had to be fixed at the elbow at a permanent angle so that he could still use it for playing.

As a high school kid, I, like a lot of other young fellows, coveted the Les Paul solid body, and eventually got my hands on a cheap, trashy foreign-made copy that fell apart under the weight of my abuse. Then, around 1980, I bought myself the real McCoy, and cared for it meticulously once I saw what all the fuss was about.

Today, at about 93 years of age, the unstoppable Les Paul continues to gig on Mondays at the Iridium in New York City.

Philippe Petit. In August of 1974, this acrobatic Frenchman wrote the final chapter of a plan that he had hatched in a Paris dentist’s office six years earlier. With a little help from his friends, Petit got by security, and made his way to the rooftop of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. In half a dozen years, he had learned all he could about the towers, and even masqueraded as a reporter to interview a Port Authority official about the buildings. After a covert evening of setting up, the nimble Petit stepped out onto a 1” diameter cable stretched 130 feet between the buildings and literally danced out into the morning air a quarter mile from the streets below. I’ve often wondered what Petit tells his financial adviser in response to the question, “How would you describe your tolerance for risk?”

Walter E. Williams and Thomas Sowell. Reading these two fellows’ columns every week is like working toward an advanced degree in economics and common sense.

Groucho Marx. Hooray for Captain Spaulding!

Bobby Orr. Singlehandedly, Bobby Orr revolutionized the role of defensemen in the National Hockey League, and then, for good measure, won a couple of scoring championships to show forwards what they could be doing better, too. He earned eight consecutive Norris Trophies as best defenseman, scored not one, but two Stanley Cup winning goals, and never, ever, hid behind a Dave Semenko-type enforcer when it was time to drop the gloves.

He rekindled the flame in a sport that soon exploded in popularity in the Northeast, and he wasn’t brash about his accomplishments, either. In the moments after most of his incredible feats, he would simply look down at the ice and coast to the bench, never seeking to make a show of further embarrassing an opponent with shameful displays of trash talk or sophomoric celebratory dances.

After an injury-shortened career, Orr left the ice having played the game better than it ever was, and ever will be played. To paraphrase old time Boston Bruin Milt Schmidt, if there’s ever going to be someone better than Bobby Orr, I hope the good Lord keeps me on this Earth long enough to see him.

Mel Blanc. “What’s up, Doc?”

Frank Caliendo.  (Worker bees put your sound down pre-clicking.) Meeting Frank Caliendo would be like meeting a small army of other celebs all at once. I could cross off William Shatner, John Madden, Jack Nicholson, Pat Summerall, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Charles Barkley, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dr. Phil, John Malkovich, Jay Leno, Donald Trump, Adam Sandler, Andy Rooney, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, all of the Seinfeld characters, James Lipton, Dick Cheney, Tony Soprano, Sean Connery, Al Michaels, Austin Powers, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw, and even Yoda. You could pick a Top Ten of your own just by meeting Frank once!