eature film.  And a guy way up at the top of the audience stood up by himself, and he hollered out,  That's all right, Frank! It's all right because we love you!' And he started to applaud. And the guy next to him started to applaud, and then hundreds of people started to applaud and then thousands. And pretty soon, the whole arena was cheering and cheering. 

And with that, the Chairman of the Board got wind in his sails. Game on. The legendary entertainment launched into the next number,  Mack the Knife,  and  he absolutely drilled that song. He hit every nuance and every lyric. It was like he was 19 years old again.  Sinatra died May 14, 1998, aged 82. Dreesen served as a pall bearer and spoke at Sinatra's funeral, and for years kept the flame burning by hosting the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational Black Tie Gala.

Dreesen also addressed the elephant that still lingers in the room - was Sinatra in the mob?  The interesting thing about Frank Sinatra,  he says in an interview, posted on his YouTube channel,  aside from his enormous talent as an actor, aside from his enormous talent as a singer, aside from all these things, he had that mystique. Was he in the mob? Was he connected to the mob? They're constantly showing pictures of him with the mob. Did he know those guys?  Well, of course he met them, Dreesen goes on to say, paraphrasing Sinatra. But he didn't know them.

Dreesen is also remembered for the more serious side of his work. He advocated for fellow stand-up comics to get remunerated at The Comedy Store and formed a trailblazing interracial act with Tim Reid.

 Tom was the first comedian I met at Comedy Store in 1975,  former Late Night host David Letterman remarked in a social post.  We became friends immediately. He had wisdom and endless stories. Everyone admired him, looked up to him and wondered if he ever stopped talking. He never did, he never will. We love him for that. We'll miss the stories. God bless you Tom.