Everyone out here talks about "synergy" and "vertical integration," but you seldom meet a walking, talking example.

Not that anyone here actually met Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser in person on Monday. Kornheiser, who's said to have a problem with flying, appeared before reporters via satellite, displayed on two giant screens looming above the actors who will portray him and his family in a CBS sitcom this fall.

Kornheiser, no doubt already the envy of many in the room, thanks to his Post gig and ESPN show ("Pardon the Interruption"), is about to be played on CBS by Jason Alexander in "Listen Up," a series based on a book of lifestyle columns the sportswriter wrote for the Post's Style section.

So he's getting paid by the Post, by Disney (which owns ESPN) and by Viacom (which owns CBS). For a guy who's reluctant to fly, he certainly knows how to network.

Asked by one reporter how often he intends to mention "Listen Up" on "PTI" this season, he replied: "Gee, does the phrase 'every chance I get' mean anything to you?"

Though producers were careful to stress that the show Jason Alexander's character does with a character played by Malcolm Jamal-Warner is in no way based on "Pardon the Interruption" -- a fiction that pretty much fell apart when Kornheiser revealed that his Post colleague and "PTI" partner, Michael Wilbon, used to be nicknamed "Theo" after Jamal-Warner's "Cosby Show" character -- that seemed to be mostly legalese.

Kornheiser doesn't seem to sweat stuff like that, preferring to revel in his good fortune.

"Wilbon and I have already dropped [a reference to the sitcom] in three or four times, and I've written...a couple of columns about it in the Washington Post. It's just unbelievable that I could write columns early on, then put them in a book and get more money, and now write about a show based on those columns and get even more money. I feel it's working out for me. How about you?"