Nora Ephron gets the last laugh—planned her own Memorial!

The writer who made us blush in When Harry Met Sally; made us sob in Sleepless in Seattle; made online dating not seem creepy in You’ve Got Mail; and somehow made cooking look fun in Julie & Julia, has died. But, not before writing one last comedy…HER OWN MEMORIAL!

In a folder titled ‘Exit‘ Nora Ephron left specific instructions for her memorial service; including who would speak, in what order and for how long. Smart lady! The last thing Nora needed was Rosie O’Donnell (on her list) hogging up all the time!  Especially, since she demanded that the entire thing was to take 47 minutes.

She didn’t go so far as to tell the speakers what to say about her, but she did make one thing perfectly clear…IT BETTER BE FUNNY!

Being the ‘foodie’ that she was—Nora’s 800 guests were greeted with a program guide that included one of her favorite recipes. They were greeted after the service with pink champagne, her favorite. Among the many stars who attended the service were Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Barbara Walters, Martha Stewart, Larry David, Steven Spielberg and Bette Midler.

Nora passed away on June 26 due to complications from leukemia. Only her husband and adult children knew the extent of her illness. To honor Nora’s wishes, we have compiled some of the funniest lines from her carefully selected speakers (most of which reference her own words):

Nora’s son Max spoke about her resistance to having Thanksgiving dinner early in the day. “We always had it at 7, like civilized people,” he said.

Nora’s assistant of 14 years, J.J. Sacha began his speech with a familiar phrase to many guests at the service, “Nora Ephron’s office.”

Martin Short mentioned funny lines that Nora would drop into conversations, like, “Hazelnuts are what’s wrong with Europe.”