That one-on-one touch

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2007 | by Peter Johnson

Tom Snyder's smoky voice -- thanks in part to his omnipresent cigarette -- was as legendary as his robust, infectious laugh. And the intimate, casual way he almost lounged on the set of his late-night interview show, starting on NBC in in the '70s and on CBS in the '90s, was so distinctive, Dan Ackroyd lampooned him in the early days of Saturday Night Live.

Snyder, 71, died Sunday in San Francisco from complications associated with leukemia.

"I used to tell him that if he sat in an audience of 500 people, I could tell where he was just by his laugh," said George Kresge, known as mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, who knew Snyder for 40 years and was a guest on many of his programs.

"When he was on the air, he made the camera disappear. It was just you...