"Boy, if we ever hit number one, we'd love to be on the Joe Franklin Show!" That's what J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf quipped to the host of TV's longest running talk show, on the night he and his bandmates hijacked Franklin's late-night program. Was the jive-talking rocker being straight, or was he merely mocking the institution that was Joe Franklin? There was no doubt in my mind that Peter "Woofa Goofa" Wolf was dead-on serious. I mean, who wouldn't want to join the ranks of the top-tier celebrities who once graced Joe Franklin's couch? From 1950 through his last show on August 6, 1993, he hosted 21,425th episodes, interviewing legends like Cary Grant, John Wayne, Muhammad Ali, Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, Elvis, John and Yoko, Andy Warhol, and five U.S presidents. Joe was one of the people who helped fuel my knowledge and love of performers - big or small, A-list or D-list - who hailed from an entertainment era that's long gone. Here's my tribute to the talk show king, who died on January 24, 2015, at age 88.