Merv Griffin, dead at 82. If I were an editorial cartoonist for a medium-sized midwestern paper, I would be taking to my drafting table, and coming up with some conversation between St. Peter and Mr. Griffin, in which his heirs lose their inheritance when Griffin fails to respond to St. Peter in the form of a question. But sadly, I lack the quick wit to come up with the snappy dialogue such a cartoon hinges upon.