I recently had the privilege to see Larry King live at the San Diego Jewish Book Festival and am still awash in excitement from all the great stories he recounted for the packed house -- so many that I probably can't remember them all (Ironically, this is the same thing King said he experienced after his recent memoirs were published -- so much so that says his follow-up will be entitled "What I Left Out").

The event began with an impressive introduction that touched on some career highlights, spanning some 52 years in broadcasting; 40,000 interviews (including every president since Ford); confirmation of honorary degrees, Emmy and Peabody awards; Hall of Fame inductions and Cable Ace awards. After listening to the rattling off of about a page of lifetime achievements, King interrupted and quipped, "You're not going to read all that, are you? They know who I am!"

At that point the he was presented with a wonderful welcome gesture: a set of suspenders (he actually was not wearing his own at the time). He looked at them and commented that he could tell they were on sale since they came from Macy's to which the presenter chuckled and acquiesced.

Larry then launched into a quick story about his trademark suspenders: He'd never worn them in all his years until the late '80s. One day his ex-wife suggested he might look good in them. He decided to try them and a few women called in and liked the look, which is all the encouragement he needed. The rest of course, is history.

The Book Festival engagement was moderated by former network reporter, Gina Lew, who now teaches Media Writing at the University of San Diego. It was a rare treat to see King on the receiving end of the questions for once. Interestingly, he mentioned that when he conducts interviews, he says normally asks very simple questions -- a sentence or two at most. Fortunately, that same practice was adhered to with him as the interviewee, which allowed us to hear more from the man himself.

Born Larry Zeiger, King spoke of his early days, growing up in Brooklyn and the early nickname he was given "Zeke the Greek the Mouthpiece" because he was always talking. At the age of 23, he went to live with his uncle in Miami Beach, where he landed his first big break in radio. He recalls the general manager asking him minutes before he was to debut on the air "What name are you going to use?".

"You can't use Larry Zeiger," he was told. "It's too ethnic." So from that day forward, Larry King the icon was born, perhaps as a prophecy of the triumphant reign that would follow over the next several decades. Early in the presentation, King spoke of when he had his heart attack in 1987 and how he'd smoked for 30 years up until then. He said he smoked in the bathtub, the shower, on the air.

In the old days, people smoked on TV all the time as well in planes, restaurants and various other places. He learned from Johnny Carson how to keep the cigarette lit below the interviewer's desk and direct the smoke away from the camera, so as not to have to light again during the commercial. Larry even smoked on his way to the hospital the night of his heart attack. At the time he was doing his radio and TV show and C. Everett Koop had been his guest on the TV show. After the show, the surgeon general said he didn't think Larry looked well and recommended he see his doctor. He then went on to do his radio show afterwards and had a similar reaction.

After the show he began feeling pain in his shoulder and ended up going to the hospital in DC, where he was living at the time. They put him in the same area where Reagan had been not long before. The doctor said he wanted to keep him there until his pain returned since he felt better by then. They had first suspected it was gallstones, but were later thinking it was something more serious.

Sure enough when the pain returned, they took his blood pressure and the next thing he knew alarms and lights began flashing. He was told he was having a heart attack. He asked if he was going to die and was told they didn't know.

Fortunately, he survived and hasn't smoked since. A few years later, he had another close call when he had quintuple-bypass surgery. He decided to have it done in NY since he said he was born there and wanted to die there.

It was a rainy, blustery day in late November. When he arrived at the hospital, then Governor Cuomo was there to greet him. He was ushered into a private elevator up to the 15th floor to a private room with a breathtaking view of the East River and a décor to rival any luxury hotel in Manhattan. The only thing that revealed it was a hospital was the bed.

They told him that the Shah had stayed in that room, which didn't exactly lift his spirits given the Shah's later demise. Larry asked if he could be moved to a ward on another floor he'd happily share with 38 other people. Fortunately, the operation was a success and the King legacy continued.