They fled to the Netherlands in 1938 before the outbreak of World War II, where he went to grade-school with Anne Frank,[3] who was in his sister's class.

[4] In 1943, Lassally and his mother and sister were interned at the Westerbork Nazi concentration camp and then Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.

[5] Lassally worked on radio shows including Monitor, Nightline and The Nation's Future.

Auditions were held on the air over several months and Lassally recommended Craig Ferguson, persuading CBS and Letterman of the comedian's potential.

[citation needed] As a longtime producer and confidant of successful talk show personalities, Lassally has been referred to as "the host whisperer.