Mr. Big Almost Gets Beat Up

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During a benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund, Robin Williams declared that Iraq was great for him as an alcoholic because there is no beer there. (At the same event, Bruce Springstein told a knock-knock joke, and Conan O'Brien said he'd pay cash for jokes since his writers were on strike.) Ellen DeGeneres crossed the picket line to tape a new episode of her show and was eviscerated by a former writer for doing so. Nicole Kidman suffered an ectopic pregnancy, not a miscarriage, with Tom Cruise. Jeffrey Epstein used to tell girls he could get them a record contract by bringing them into Tommy Mottola's office. Francis Ford Coppola doesn't think either Godfather or the sequel crack his top five best movies list. Peter Cook and some hair-accessory designer have been dating for the past three months. Rosie O'Donnell's negotiations with MSNBC fell apart in part because she's too talkative. Ted Turner and Court TV's Catherine Crier hung out upstate in Bedford.

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