Greg Burmeister Paged For Letterman and Once Slept On A Pile Of Late Show Crew Jackets

hey this is Gabe ablon and you're watching the Letterman podcast welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum all right we got another page on the show here a few weeks ago we had uh Eric Schmidt on and um and and today we have another page who sered around the time not with ER with Eric but just after uh Greg Burmeister U and Greg and I we get along very very very well just like with Eric he's actually Eric's co-host for the podcast talking Schmidt and um you know i' I've listened to a bunch of those episodes obviously since Eric's been on and and and it's it's it's a great show listening to these guys just go back and forth is awesome Greg is uh like myself like Eric and a few of the other guests that we've had on uh just loves music and so we go down that path a little bit and talk about his time as being a pig uh for Letterman how he got the gig um you know and then all of the things around that stories from what he had the gig including his first day when uh a a very um uh my granddaughter when she has to go to the bathroom really bad she says I'm busting his first day on the job Ryan Reynolds comes running down the stairs busting looking for the bathroom that was his first day on the job and um realizing that that was going to be one of the most special years of his life being a pagee at Late Show with David Letterman and after that stayed in television for a while worked for a few Productions notably one of them being the Celebrity Apprentice which is pretty interesting talking to him about that uh just a lot of fun talking to I love talking to the pages because you know they've got the um the Everyman perspective but also from the inside and I love some of the stories that these Pages have and uh just yeah really really cool getting to know and hearing the stories uh from Greg berme I hope you enjoy it uh Greg you know what I I'm am so excited that um that Eric connected us um you know last a few weeks ago Eric came on the show and then he talked about the podcast that he's on talking Schmidt and uh and I've gotten to know I feel like I've gotten to know you a little little bit uh in listening to those episodes and then and you know and then Eric and I going back and forth saying oh yeah Greg would love to be on the show too welcome to the Letterman podcast my friend yeah thank you so much I'm excited yeah when Eric first told me he was doing this I was I was excited for him but also I I was like yeah I mean I would love to do that too let's uh let's talk I always love talking all things Letterman oh man I you know what and and I want to get you all it's like uh you're like you're like you're almost like little Pokemon to me now I want to get everybody who worked for the production uh in some fashion or another at some point I uh I also love talking Letterman um you know hence the name of the show and and just yeah it's just it's so much fun it's the gift that keeps on giving and even like today a new Letterman video drops of you know the barber game show the stuff they're doing on YouTube I I mean um I it's so great to see that they're still doing stuff there's an announcement that was made that Paul and the band are going to be playing at The Tonight Show for all of uh the next week as as as uh uh um The Roots are going to be doing stuff for the SNL 50 thing and so just it's just the gift that keeps on giving um all these years later you're still a letterman fan yeah yeah he was always my favorite and that's so cool about Paul in the band I didn't even know that isn't that great yeah that's great so excellent yeah it's amazing but yeah I like even when I was a kid I would watch Letterman every night like Letterman and Conan were my two favorite shows and yeah to be able to work on it back in like 2011 2012 was just incredible and I still love it I like I still watch like old YouTube clips and just when I'm bored and it's it's the best absolutely uh don Gill's channel is phenomenal and and and the Letterman channel of course is rapidly um you know building its Library as well so great to be a it's such a good time to still be a letterman fan and watch what they're doing these days um you know you alluded to growing up being a fan uh many folks who ended up going to work at some that the production at some form or another uh were where did you grow up um so I grew up in a small town in Southeastern Minnesota it's uh Austin Minnesota and okay the other Austin yeah whenever I tell people that I have to specify Austin Minnesota because I uh I've made the mistake of just saying Austin and that's people either get Texas or Boston yeah yeah yeah so Austin Minnesota and then when I turned 18 I moved up to Minneapolis and lived there for nine years before moving to New York is this that stereotypical um you know grew up in in in in the small town and then went to the big Minneapolis must have been the big city it sounds like uh and lots of Adventures and things like that and then to New York from there is that is that kind of the flavor of that exactly yep exactly it was Austin was just too small for me so I I went to Minneapolis thinking that was the big city and I played uh played a lot of rock and roll shows in Minneapolis and then um yeah after being there for nine years it just it was no longer big enough so I I bought a oneway flight to New York um and uh for talking Schmidt I love I love the intros to talking Schmidt because you know it's it's it's a little guitar lick from something it's either the Jurassic Park theme or or or you know other other little little you know little two or three second blurb of something um I love that so you're still obviously playing what are some of the bands that uh that influenced you wanting to be a musician oh man um yeah there's so many um I like when I was in high school I started playing guitar when I was 15 uh I wish I would have started earlier but I I was big into hair metal y yeah a lot of poison Cinderella that kind of stuff yeah oh totally yeah and yeah huge Botley crew fan I've got got their book the dirt and yeah so I loved hair metal um also all the classics like stones Zeppelin but yeah and then the first like real band I played in was in Minneapolis it was called cu the doves cu the do yeah CU like Q oh yeah here they come y yeah there they are and yeah we were kind of like a we were into the the screamo scene kind of you know like mixture of singing and screaming uh like it was pretty heavy but still melodic U lot lot of effects on the guitars a lot of delay and yeah that was so much fun we to did like a a big East Coast tour where we we played I think it was four 14 different cities in 15 days you know classic uh early 20s kids sleeping in the back of the van y just partying every night um and yeah that was that was so much fun and we got to play with some some pretty big uh bands in that in that scene yeah like yeah we we did the taste of chaos show in Milwaukee back in 2007 which was um I don't know if you listen to much of that kind of music but oh cool yeah like seos census fail 30 Seconds to Mars of course yeah so like we opened for them and played with circus survive and a bunch of bunch of those kinds of bands so it was a it was a fun time in a way um a little bit ahead of your time like you think about some of these festivals and things that that that like that that exist now that uh you know you could that that that would be uh a venue for you to play on uh throughout the summer there's all sorts of festivals that have that kind of stuff now isn't there yeah definitely I actually I think it was in 2019 I went uh I cruised down to Atlantic City and went to the 25th anniversary of Warp Tour yep I saw all the you know Taking Back Sunday um like Blink 182 headlined y yeah I I still love those shows absolutely oh that's very very cool okay so is the band what took you to New York did you think okay we're we're established here and now we're moving to New York or was it the job or how did that happen um it was actually so the band was kind of the Catalyst but not but I was the only one like our band had broken up and I started managing some bands just you know booking shows because I knew all the venue owners in Minneapolis yeah and then um one of my favorite local bands they were called small towns burn a little slower um to very emo and they uh they shared a yeah they shared a rehearsal space with Motion City sound track who was kind of the bigger local band but two of those guys had moved to New York um about a year or two before I did and they started this psychedelic rock band called Galaxy queens and they they needed yeah I love that name they uh they needed a basist and even though I like yeah I never really played much base it's it's fairly easy to figure out rock and roll Bas if you're good at the guitar yep um so yeah I was just kind of getting bored in in Minnesota and I packed up a suitcase and grabbed my bass guitar and took a one-way flight to New York wow and how old were you at this point um I was 27 okay so 27 so you said live live some life you would T around with the bands and things like that so it's not like you weren't used to uh some of these things this uncertainty of of of life that that can that that that LIF can bring um was New York what you thought it was or did it did it take your expectations and then stretch them a little bit yeah it was honestly about what I what I expected you I knew it was I knew it was the the big city it was like Minneapolis on steroids Y and um I I had visited a few times so I kind of knew what to expect um but yeah it was wild like I moved out here with no money no job lined up didn't even have a place to stay I my drummer's couch until I found a tiny rat infested apartment in bed um what like it's like uh Minneapolis on steroids I think a lot of folks feel that way with the big city that they grow up near M's Vancouver um you know I would go to Vancouver all the time for concerts and things like that Seattle as well uh but Vancouver you know more so and um you know the first time I went to New York I was just and and I mean New York's always had that pull I don't know if it had it for you or not it was like a magnet growing up I just always dreamt of going out there and hanging out and and and being a part of just being a part of it you know you watch Saturday Night Live and you just um I think that's one thing that that show nailed really really well the idea of the party that's happening um on Saturday night and of course Letterman of course Letterman did the same thing and it just it would pull me towards it and I got there the very first time I got there uh 03 I think it was um was the first time I went to New York and I thought I said the exact same phrase this is like Vancouver except steroids and I think a lot of people feel the same way you know yes we have a music scene yes we have some of this cool things or whatever but New York has it and then has it and then has it and has it again and it's every bit it's every bit in in when I would see it and I don't know if it's still like this or not but it was every bit the artist Paradise I would hope it would be um and it's such a cool spot you still you still you're still there you still you still feel it yep yep I've been here uh almost 14 years now and I I still love it just as much as you know the day I I moved if not more but yeah it's so cool especially playing in just a small local band uh you start playing at these little clubs and you know venues that hold maybe 50 people but then you hear the history of it you know it's like oh this is where the Ramones you know played back in you know whatever 80s and like yeah you know one time uh like Lady Gaga used to play this piano in front of 10 people and yeah so much just cool history as opposed to you know playing small bars in Minnesota yeah that have you know you know been around for been around for a decade or whatever you know the history like like I went and saw um will Lee and Paul and and and and a few other people play at The Bitter End uh a couple years ago and it's like you feel these rooms have energy there's an energy that has that has that has stayed and and and permeated the the the wall space um and and you just it feels like there's just an energy in there that is almost Indescribable I'm having a hard time articulating it right now but it sure is wonderful when the Alchemy of music just starts to to mix with that energy and and being in the audience it it's it's it's truly a unique experience I find yeah it really is yeah just knowing how many Legends have been in those small rooms is amazing absolutely so okay so you're you're you're playing these bands you're trying to get established in New York um at what point does Letterman come into it um so it it's it's pretty wild I so you know as I mentioned I I had no job lined up uh and I I always wanted to work in TV because back in Minnesota I used to make weird videos with my friends like uh Tim Hecker Style videos that a lot of people just didn't understand because they really didn't make any sense they're just very weird but I always wanted to have like a real TV job and so that was kind of in the back of my head when I moved to New York even though music was the primary reason I came yeah but um so uh my friend Mike Leech who I met through my bandmates yeah uh was at one of our practices like a few weeks after I moved to New York and I was telling him that my my goal is to find a job in TV and at this point I didn't care what it was I just wanted any TV job and you put the door yep exactly and Mike told me he was like yeah I uh I work at The Late Show with David Letterman and they're always looking for pages so he's like let send me your resume and I'll pass it along to you know like the pagee boss and he did Janice probably right um it it was I think he sent it to Jennifer oh did yes okay an audience so who is our direct boss but then then eventually I'm sure she had to get it to Janice yeah yeah yeah yeah yep and so yeah it was great within a few days I got an Emil Emil and they asked me to come in and do an interview and it just it worked out all of a sudden I was new to New York and just working at Letterman and how long what's the time frame new to New York then working for is probably I'd say a month maybe a little more five weeks and there are some who tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and you just kind of all right and just kind of glided right into that spot um just it was hilarious I was just in practice and I was like hey Mike give me a job at Letterman he was like okay oh man that is so great um one of the things that has come up on this show many times um and and this is this is for folks who were you know an intern or a page all the way up to people who were like you know there for uh you know decades is is the idea that um you could be a fan of the show but you kind of had to be a little bit more subdued but if there's anybody who actually could be a fan of the show and they could let their freak frag uh flag fly would be the folks in audience coordination because you have to have that high energy it's kind of that up with people kind of a kind of an energy um when you got to the inel theater like was there was there that excitement that lived in you like were you were you like oh my God I can't believe this is happening kind of a thing or is this okay this will get me into TV like like did you feel some of that energy yeah absolutely it was crazy I remember on my first day they actually before my first day they gave me a tour of the whole theater yeah you know like downstairs the you know they even showed me backstage and I I just kept having flashbacks of watching the show as a kid and like I couldn't believe I was actually there and I've I've never been one to get Star Struck or you know have my mind blown very easily but yeah just like being in there when it was dark and there was nobody else around like it it was it was wild well it's funny you talk about the um you talk about the energy of of of these venues and and the edivan theater certainly has it I remember it the first time I saw Letterman I remember it you know uh the last time that I saw Letterman but then also like I I've been there to see coar and and and and um and for Rupert's retirement they did it in the in the love like that place has that same Echoes of of of of energy that we're talking about you go in there and you feel something there's it's an intangible thing and talking to f like Eric and whatnot they it doesn't go away it just it continually feels that way uh it feels like that's a an affirmative for you too yeah absolutely even these days I walk by you know the Ed Sullivan Theater all the time and yeah I'll just look over and be like oh man what a legendary place oh I love hearing that um and a lot of us who uh live vicariously through these stories love that as well you know you you were present it meant something to you and it still does to this day uh very very cool um so you did your your interview was that just like a standard job interview no problem or were there uh uh you know Oddities like right there going oh okay yeah this isn't just a normal job yeah it was um yeah the interview itself was really quick uh and I I'm pretty sure it was because I was friends with Mike yeah and and and Jen really liked Mike and she was just like yeah you're good I just have to ask you a few questions you know as a formality and uh yeah she she was very nice and um yeah I I I think they just liked my natural positivity and they were like yeah this guy's going to be be good for hyping up the audience and uh get getting everyone ready for the show and yeah it was it was pretty pretty smooth oh that's excellent so um what was your first job as you uh as you got in there because because the is the the the Letterman page is a little bit different than a CBS P it's a lot different than a CBS page it's very removed from everything and um different stations I guess it's safe to say they had different stations that you would do do you remember what your first station was that you you did yeah so my very first day I was uh they stuck me on the platform I don't know if you the pl the the classic platform it's uh it's at the bottom of the stairs and basically your entire job is to stand there and when audience members walk down the stairs looking for the bathroom you point down the hallway and say bathrooms that way yeah trading Wheels Kate yeah exactly and you just wanted to make sure they didn't go down the other hallway which went to the the green rooms and yeah where the the talent was so you just your your entire job was just stand there for a few hours and make sure people only went to the bathroom and then got back up to the the theater but my that that day my very first day I saw this guy frantically scurrying down the the stairs and I wasn't really paying attention I think I was just on my phone because there's not a whole lot to do down on the platform Y and like out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy just running down the stairs he's like hey man you know where the bathroom is and I looked up and it was Ryan Reynolds what I was like Van Wilder yeah exact yes there you go because we're in 2011 right yeah yeah exactly 2011 aren't you the guy from two guys a girl in a pizza place aren't you aren't you you know Van Wilder that's a better um why why was he up there yeah yeah I had no like I didn't even realize this at the time but it was it was extra weird because the you know the celebrities never came down those those main circuit like they they would go in the side door backstage and just be back there the whole time so I don't know what he was doing out there but he just he really had to pee and stupid question he was a guest on that night's show there right he wasn't supporting somebody else he was okay that is hilarious that that happened first day first day and so immediately I yeah I just thought to myself I already love this job this um at that point there are they already kind of um indoctrinating you with the with all of the because there's a lot of stuff you got to keep in your head um as you're doing this is did you get like it's not a workbook like a binder with the script and all that kind of stuff for the audience coordination do you get a binder with that stuff and um yeah yeah there's there is you're right there's a lot of information there's the you know the list of of the do not book people the the dnbs um there yeah the script for the speech that we had to give is it was pretty lengthy um oh yeah yeah so that that took a while I mean you know you can tweak it to make it your own but it's there's a a lot of lot of information you have to pump out to the audience within about five minutes or so so it was yeah it it was honestly a bit overwhelming at first but they were like you're fine you know it always takes some time you'll you'll get the hang of it but it was uh yeah once you kind of got into the groove it was it was so much fun uh I don't mean to put you on the spot here but I feel like you're one of the people that I could put on the spot and I haven't done it yet do you remember the speech like is it still there like do you a lot of people dream about the show and they have little fragments that they cannot get out of their head do you remember any part of the speech you know I really don't I just I remember opening it with late uh yeah Late Show audience how you doing uh and I remember the the cell phone part we had to tell people to turn off their cell phones and the the line every single page said was silent or vibrate will not cut it y turn off your phone y because we didn't even want the the vibration noise or yeah we didn't want people looking at their phones if they felt a notification so it turned completely power it down um yeah other than that I I really don't remember a whole lot like we had to tell people not to make the woo sound because that was one of Dave's biggest pet peeves he wanted people to clap and laugh but no no wooing so we had to we had to specifically tell the audience several times like whatever you do do not make the woo noise or you will be kicked out yep um I I'll tell you this visiting the show uh I visited it uh in in 2015 a month before the Run ended and it was back in 0304 um in that time uh one thing that I do remember both times I was on the gold list both times um and uh the um the coordinators were very specific about if you get called on on the Q&A uh what Dave likes to hear what he doesn't like to like kind of good questions versus not good questions for Dave um that was always something that I thought was was was funny because I always like to think around corners whenever I watched the show I watched the show don't get me wrong but I was very very very excited to watch what the segment producers were doing and and and and the different you know the workings of the show I love the full production absolutely and because I think I think part of it was because um they that show bred us or at least a certain part of the audience to look at everybody on the show as characters on the show I think that that's probably part of the secret sauce as to why that that that line of thinking was there but with with you guys and gals um talking about the Q&A part that immediately I think to myself oh there must be some memorable questions or memories that have happened from that Q&A that have caused them to put that disclaimer into the speech true true it's a yeah you the like the I know another reason they did is the last thing you want to do is you know make Dave mad right before a taping it's like you yeah you do not W to you do not want to piss off Dave yeah then the then the entire staff is going to hear about it so well and that's you know and that's everybody that's you know whether it's John Moran the guy handing on the microphone whether it's you know the the the you know whoever's doing warm-up whether it's Eddie or Allen I guess it still would have been Eddie back when you were there right it still it was Eddie yeah um you know if it's uh you know whoever it is a camera's out of place or whatever the last thing you want to do is is is is stick your head out or your foot out while somebody is running you know 40 miles an hour getting ready to to burst through a wall which is what Dave would do um so so that that that makes a lot of sense okay so you were there for 2011 2012 yep exactly okay was Eric there when you were he that's where you met right um so Eric was actually there before me yeah uh I think it was the year before me but we met each other through mutual Pages because there were people that overlapped that uh like when he when he left some of the people that were just starting were still there when I started so we uh so we would hang out outside of work and that's how I met him that's fantastic like I love that there's still this you know the idea of oh that's the Page Bar over there because they got the cheap beers versus you know going to McGee and you know where where it starts exactly um and that and then that that Brotherhood Sisterhood that camaraderie still exists to this day um there's a whole bunch of you that I want to have on the show and talk about this because because it just it's again endlessly fascinating to me I don't know what's wrong with me um but okay so a music guy Eric and I certainly got into this when he was on um I mean one of the highlights for you had to be how much music you got to see while you were there am I am I am I right like is it that that must have been one of the the huge highlights for you yeah absolutely that was that was one of my favorite Parts about working there is just seeing all these huge bands you know right up close from a few feet away like when I was in high school Incubus was one of my favorite bands and I even in high school art class I made a 10x10 foot scale drawing of the their science album cover and like I was obsessed with Incubus and I got to see them do a live on Letterman performance just you know right up front and it it just blew my mind because I had never even seen them live and so so the first time I saw one of my favorite bands was at the Ed Sullivan Theater like so close the live on Letterman again there's a lot of vicariousness I feel um with with this whole whole thing and and always have live on Letterman is right on one of the very very tippy top of of of that those performances um so cool because you're in the best environment for sound it's it's again that historic value that we talk about the juice that it's let it's Letterman stage um and and and and just wishing that I could somehow be a part of that Eric told me the list of bands that he saw uh in that venue the live on Letterman venue um you know these special concerts what an unbelievable thing to be able to see one of your favorite bands do that that is fantastic yeah it's so cool and like the best part is even after we stopped working there the security guards loved us so they would just get us in there were you know for the ne the following year to I if there was a band that I wanted to see and you know I would just show up and you know Vinnie or Mikey or someone would pull us right in like my my roommate at the time was a DieHard fish fan like big very big fish head and you know he went he went and saw fish every time I Played Madison store Garden and I found out fish was doing a live on Letterman and he actually he he found out about it and told me he's like dude is there any way you could get me into the fish live on Letterman I was like yeah definitely let's let's just go we'll show up to the side door which we did and like that whole the sidewalk on 53rd Street by the stage door was just packed with you know tie-dye t-shirts and all these fish fans and we we were kind of like trying to get through the crowd and get up to the door and Vinnie poked his head out and saw me like in the back of this crowd of you know the all the fans were just waiting for the the show to end so in h that they could see Trey or Mike like leaving the theater but Vinnie just started screaming at people to like he parted the Red Sea of fans and just pointed at me and he was like everybody let this guy through oh my and we just like walked like right in the side door and he he got us in there and I think it was the best day of my roommate's life fish do a live on Letterman that is a fantastic story I talked you know what when Paul was on the show I talk to him about fish because Letterman has that kind of a um It's that kind of a cult following and we brought up the idea you know about fish and how they have that same they have that same following after all this time they just have these these fans that are so so committed um yeah they will go to Every they're they're like the dead heads who you they'll follow them on tour and go to every single stop it's wild oh that is very cool that you saw fish any other do you have a recollection of any other bands you got to see in that that venue um yeah I I saw oh I saw Queens of the Stone Age which was incredible absolutely like love Josh huh that guy's a beast like I never realized how tall he was physical presence yeah definitely I'm a huge n9h Nails fan and and uh he and Trent resar are pretty good fan and Trent not so much Trent is a very imposing musician and when he's on stage he's like a howling beast but not not a tall guy and when he stands beside him it's just very F yeah he's he's gigantic yeah they're pretty pretty different U but yeah also a 9inch Nails fan are you yeah I I just saw that they were they're playing in Brooklyn uh coming up they just announced the tickets so I got my tickets for the Vancouver show already nice I'm so excited um I've met Trent a couple of times and I'm hoping I'm hoping I can get a chance to to to meet him one more time and and and do do this last one my favorite n- in na uh story uh I watched uh 9 Inch Nails do an entire show then David Bowie comes and walks on stage and does three songs with 9inch nails they leave and Trent stays on stage and Trent does a version of hurt with David's band and then David Bowie played an entire show that was one of my favorite concert experiences that's amazing because I've seen I've seen a YouTube video of Bowie singing hurt with it was that was from that tour yeah way yeah I've watched that video so many times yeah it's it's so good and and I mean you know the audience is just we don't know what to do cuz he had just come off his self-destruct tour and and it it looked like they were just going to take a break and then David Boe asked them to go on tour and they're like okay let's do it and they go back on tour again and the audience that was there to watch it were we did not know what to make of it but then Bowie would come out on stage if at the same tour if you want to see a u a fantastic rendition of bowi song scary monsters look for that on YouTube it's 9inch Nails playing scary monsters with Bowie singing it that's basically the song that ended 9inch nails's part and then Bowie's Band came out and then they did hurt so anyway yeah so that's so I'm so jealous you got to see that I have a vinyl bootleg of it um I'm very very very excited about that uh I don't know if you knew this or not this is one of those things I want to uh I want to talk to Sheila Rogers very badly she's like she's in my top five cu the music is such a big part of my uh Letterman experience um yeah I I always I always wanted uh Sheila Rogers job that was like my dream job I was always trying to make small talk with her and just trying to like get on her good side yeah oh it's incredible and her hair by the way best hair in uh in show booking business anyway for sure if not all of show business but I remember back in 90 it was it was it was right around Woodstock so 9394 somewhere there uh Dave had become fixated on 9 Nails I think it was after the Woodstock performance performance and Dave kept saying hey we're going to get the 9in nails on we're going to get 9in nails on the show and they never got them and I always wanted to talk to Sheila about that and ask how hard she tried to make that happen yeah that would be amazing musical moments though like where Dave gets excited with these with these bands things like that um any memories uh that that that you have from actual Pro like you saw the live on Letterman stuff but stuff Dave interacting with bands anything like that that you uh come to mind yeah I am uh I'm actually blanking on which band it was but there was one one show one Taping that I was working at where uh the band you know they played at the end of the show and Dave walked over you know he always shakes their hand and says good night everybody but he just looked at the band and he was like that was so good you guys want to play it again and they just played the same song it was the heavy that if if it was The Heavy How You Like Me Now that might be that moment but Eric was at that moment too though so it might not be it might have been another one yeah could have but when Dave yeah it was so fun when Dave would get tickled with uh with a band or really really enjoy something that they were doing yeah you you could see him off to on the side of the stage watching and like yeah there were definitely times where he'd be his face would just be lit up and he would you know be talking to Bill sha or whoever he was standing next to and like you could tell he was just loving it absolutely um what are some other uh uh uh what are some other memories I I I'm certain that you would have two or three kind of go-to sto stories like like and and probably over the years as as uh you know time it's almost 10 years since since late show uh you know uh changed from from from from Dave to Stephen um but I'm certain that if folks back home or whatever you say oh yeah I worked for Letterman um You probably have two or three go-to stories that you would tell I I assume I'm assuming this this seems to be what most of the folks seem to have are you are you included in that list abely yeah definitely definitely what are the ones you would tell yeah one one of my favorite ones was I was I got stationed um up in the corn like the front corner of the audience so uh you know right before like as the audience was coming in my job was to just kind of clap while Paul and the band were playing and kind of get everyone in the groove and then I just I would stand there for the whole taping and right when it ended I would just you know try to make force everyone out be like show's over gota leave Y and so one one day as everyone was leaving this guy like started walking towards me which uh you know you're not supposed to do everyone's supposed to go that way and this guy had a hoodie on and I was almost kind of terrified like there's just this man with a hood up like covering his face walking like directly at me towards the stage and I was like sir you got to go show's over and he pulled up his hood and it was Woody Harald son what I was like yeah like I didn't even know what to say I was just like uh hello and he was like Hey man uh my friends just played in the the band and they don't know I'm here but I I I was in town I came to the taping I was wondering if I could pop backstage and surprise them and so I just called over one of the security guys and I was like hey Woody harelson wants to say hi to the and they were like all right cool come with me oh that's fantastic yeah it was wild the security guys like you brought up Mike and Vinnie um we brought that up with with with Eric a few weeks ago too they were part of my experience there that's how I got behind the desk because of those two guys oh um and uh my picture behind the desk and and and and they were just awesome awesome guys very stereotypical New Yorkers uh through and through but completely different from each other they were just great great great guys um any you know you know Bill dece uh Mike Vinnie any that security crew they were they were great they were shown on camera many many many times any security stories did you have to uh subdue somebody from the audience anybody ever give you trouble while you were there um nobody really gave me trouble but I it was always funny watching those guys kick people out like I I I saw someone on their phone and I told Richie he was you pretty pretty big uh pretty pretty tough guy you know former former cop they all were yep yep yeah and I uh yeah I just I was just like hey Richie that guy's on his phone you want me to go say something to him he's just like I got it and he just walked over like right in the guy's face and just pointed at him and went like this and like Richie's pretty terrifying yeah and and like I was you could tell he was like oh put it away and he was just like nope and just like like pulled him out and like kind of not not very gently shoved him out the door and just uh yeah they did not put up with any cell phone usage or wooing no but yeah I just yeah know I really enjoyed watching people get kicked out uh people genuinely clueless like oh oh I'm sorry like like like not like what are you doing what are you it's that entitled kind of a thing not really realizing that it was actually going to Happ and they were going to get kicked out yeah like there are no second chances like if if we see you on your phone you're out like it's it's funny especially in the lower I don't know if it was the B if the balcony had different rules than the than down below but like I we've had David Kay on the show and and I mean the the audience it was taken so seriously like like I I I cannot emphasize enough if if people who are listening or watching uh this show um first off what's wrong with you second if you've seen like Co bear or Kimmel or some of these places now uh and you go in it is a very relaxed atmosphere compared to late show it was what you guys did it was a well-oiled machine um it was and and they took the audience very very seriously yeah it was and everything was so you know fine-tuned and coordinated from from the time you get booked like until you show up and wait in line and actually get your ticket and like the way we you because we we had 470 people every day that we had to get in within you know 10 minutes and so like telling people every single person exactly where to go you know when to clap when to sit down when to leave like yeah it was it's it's almost its own production in and of itself yeah absolutely absolutely and and and like you say fine tune by that point uh there's the Woody story any other ones that you uh that that are go-tos for you that you like to tell people about um I I do have one that I always tell people and it actually has nothing to do with any guests or Dave or anything yeah but there there were a few times where we we went to like Barcelona bar or three monkeys after a taping and we were there way too late and I didn't want to go back to Brooklyn so I just went back to the Edan theater and slept on the floor there just woke up and got back to work where in the in the theater itself in the foyer where uh so we the pages had this little locker room there's like a a guys and a girl's locker room where we'd go yeah we could keep our stuff during the day because we had to wear these polo shirts or in the winter we had these sweaters uh with the little The Late Show logo on them and there were we also have the the jackets cuz you know it's really cold in the theater yep and so I I actually have my jacket here um and so we would so all the pages had these jackets these actual letterman jackets Y and so the few times I slept there I piled a bunch of these on the floor and made a little bed oh that's F that's fantastic it's actually kind of comfortable I love that story so much for a variety of reasons uh number one that's just Charming it's Charming that you would just okay yeah just had a few too many go back to the edivan theater but then the idea that you would pile up a bunch of Late Show jackets these items these garments that there are many fans myself included when I the night I talked to Dave and during the Q&A I asked him about a jacket like like we all like there the people who who become uh enthusiasts at this level all want a jacket and the idea that you piled a bunch of them up so you could use them as a bed just dirty floor fantastic did you have a were there a lot of those things kick because every and it seemed like every time a guest asked or every once in a while somebody from the audience asked you know they always came up with one were there lots of them hanging around um I I'm not sure where they kept them like I I really didn't see that many EX like every all the employees had them just because it was so cold in the in the theater yeah um but and actually we had to give them back when we when we left the show it was like property of the show but the one I have now is the one that Dave gave us for Christmas the Christmas gift yeah yeah yeah oh that's crazy yeah and it's mine has a little uh they were different each year number 11 yep yep 11 for 2011 oh that's great and you in the staff photo yep yep I I still have my staff photo framed that's fantastic oh that's fantastic I love I love hearing that um other highlights from the show other uh you know the the the as were um you know okay so what what what caused you to leave but like what were some of the highlights obviously you know it's not people have talked about it's not exactly a career job in that regard there are some people of course like Mike who who who who start there and many and others as well who started as interns that have moved up and moved up into different departments was that ever something that you wanted to do or um were other parts of Television calling you and um that was that was where you sent your uh your direction uh yeah I actually you know when when I first got the job they told me it was only a year long and so you know I figured all right this will be a fun year and then I'll go find something else but as I worked there all I wanted to do is stay at that show so you know I was I was looking at the the the job postings every day like I was talking to as many people as I could like I really wanted to stay and uh I wasn't able to find anything but shortly after probably like a few months after I left and I did stay the full year a lot of pages will you know find a a full-time job you know and just kind of B that's why there's turnover in that department and if you get lucky you can kind of get placed in there yeah exactly yep yep yep so yeah I stayed the full year and then I left because they they they gave me the boot they were like you've been here too long uh but yeah a few months later I did see an opening uh and I I I think it was like the mail room or something wasn't wasn't too glamorous but I just wanted to stay at that show um and so I I emailed Janice yep I was like hey Janice uh anyway I could interview for this and like yeah she's the nicest person in the world she amazing yeah and she she definitely like took my resume and you know showed it to whoever was in charge of that department and I I didn't get the job but I did uh I I met so many people that you know that I still talk talk to today and I I did go on to work on quite a few other shows like that that year in 20 the fall of 2012 yeah which was so I left in April or May um and then September of 2012 I got a a clearance job on season 13 of Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump a clearance job yeah so let's talk about that what's a clearance job and how does it work on that show uh basically my like I think like most reality shows have a clearance Department yeah uh you basically have to make sure everyone that appears on camera signs a release form yeah so if we're out in public you know shooting a scene and one of the cast members decides to talk to just a random person walking by well you know we'll let them film it do their thing and then after the camera is cut we have to chase that person down and con Vin them to sign this form so we can legally show their face on TV on I've talked to people who did it for for for for Letterman and and it was it's okay not exactly the easiest job sometimes and I mean and The Apprentice itself and I mean obviously you know um Donald Trump not as back then not nearly as polarizing as he is now however still also back then it still is Donald Trump um must have been a very interesting interesting uh scenario doing that yeah yeah it was it was really funny and the the season I worked on had a great cast we had we had Dennis Rodman and Lil John my favorite was Gary Bucy it was uh yeah it was quite the cast of characters I Donald Trump in there did you have a lot of people who did almost safe to say that most of the people would sign the release no problem or was it 50/50 or you know did you ever run into to to people who wouldn't yeah uh I I would say you know at least 90% of people were willing to do it because they they wanted to be on TV yeah uh but we did have a few people who refused and so in that case I guess we just you know they either didn't use that that specific piece of the show or they would blur out their face or something but most of the time people were just you know it was like tourists who were really excited to see themselves on NBC yeah absolutely okay so you work for cele um any okay so I gotta I always G to ask of course any encounters with Dave but let's go let's let's do the other D any encounters with Dawn ah you know I I never actually talked to the guy y there's one day where he just he walked by me and said and just kind of like glanced over and said hey how you doing but that was it yeah um that must have been a very interesting production to be on yeah very very interesting what else uh what else did you uh your forray into TV what else did you do um I worked on a a Food Network show I did a couple dayplay jobs like one of the more interesting ones was uh right after the hurricane wiped out the Jersey Shore yep did a I did a thing at MTV at the Viacom building it was a a was it a ton or a a thing where people call in and not a ton but a fundraiser like a fund yeah like a fundraiser and so the entire Jersey Shore cast was there taking phone calls and trying it was called restore the shore they're raising money to to clean up the Jersey Shore after the hurri after Hurricane Sandy and so yeah I got to meet the whole Jersey Shore cast which was uh they they were much more calm than I would have expected them to be like they were all actually just really nice like pretty pretty normal people until the red light goes on and then they turn it up to 11 EXA exactly that reminds me of my boy Rick sheckman Shey dressed as Snookie we can look up that clip that's that's great uh just made me think about that Missy Rick um so any Dave encounters while you were there I mean like obviously there's the post where you could see Dave running up and down the stairs and and and getting ready and things like that there's obviously that so you would have seen that a few times I assume yeah actually that was the that was the the fun part of being on down on that platform where I I saw Ryan Reynolds because yeah right before the show Dave would Sprint down that hallway and he'd go and like usually he would look over and just be like you know how you doing good afternoon and so yeah you did get to very briefly for about one second see him if you were down on the platform yep uh yeah or he would say hey little buddy or something but uh and then at the Christmas party I just very briefly said hi to him he was just kind of walking around you know just saying saying a quick hi making his presence known but never actually got to have a a real conversation no no and and and again most you know most would say that that is you know you got more than some of the writers who wrote there for a long time God seeing him that way you know it's just um it's funny it's it's it's a family and it's a collection of people who you know work together every day but there is very much uh uh um um and I think it gets overblown sometimes like don't make eye contact and all of that kind of stuff it wasn't like that but it was just you know what this it's the time that's so important time is really really precious what you guys did every single night the Breakneck speed uh you know in two shows on Thursday like it just it's it's so much that you don't have time to kind of sit down and have conversations when it comes to it's it's there's a lot of stuff to get done yeah yeah exactly it's uh yeah it was it was wild um oh I just thought of another funny story um when one time we were it was like probably like 30 minutes before the show we're getting the audience all situated ready to do the the speech and Conan O'Brien walked by outside just strolling down the sidewalk and he looked over and he said hi to Dave for me oh my God and we all kind of did a double take we're like was that Conan oh that's fantastic it was so cool and then just uh in 2013 like a year and a half ago yep I I was walking by the NBC Studios by Rockefeller Center just going I think I was watching some football with some friends at a bar and I was walking to the subway to come back home and I walked right by Conan just standing on the sidewalk looking at his phone and he was standing next to one other guy and they were both on their phones but I I again I did a double take I was like that's definitely Conan so I turned around and went back and asked him if he'd take a picture with me and he he was so nice he was like yeah man let's do it and I I I I brought that up I was like remember uh like obviously he doesn't remember I remember back in 2012 when you told us to say hi to Dave I I I never got the chance to do that and this is a year and a half ago like 2023 you saw Conan and you brought it up to him I would have too I totally would have too had to that's Fant and he had no memory of the moment no he just kind of laughed and that's so great oh that's fantastic you got a chance to meet Conan too that's that's that's very very cool um Bittersweet leaving the place though I can imagine that must have been uh you know so much so that you tried to tried to get back on again you know that kind of a thing um man I just uh I it's so funny you know you were there for a year and yet there are a lot of people out there who are like who would give anything to trade places with you and see some of these things and whatnot it feels like you know that and you're incredibly you know the great I can feel the gratefulness through the through the camera here that that you just loved it so much definitely and it's and even that one year seemed like so much longer I I feel like I worked there for three four years cuz there's so much packed into every day yeah see all these stars and amazing bands every day like it's yeah it's doesn't even seem like it was only a year any other uh specific moments from the show uh guests who might have been there moments that happened on stage that that that you got to witness eyewitness that that are still you know they've solidified in the cement anything there that uh um there was one time uh Justin Bieber was there and I was working in the balcony so I was like way up in the the top left corner of the theater and I could barely hear like the actual show because there are so many girls outside screaming oh you're kidding yeah all so many fans like just you know the entire taping they were out there just because they knew Justin Bieber was on the other side of that wall and they wouldn't stop screaming the whole show even though they couldn't anything they didn't know they just felt his presence on the stage and just just waiting for him to come outside and then he tried uh uh that was I guess around that time he was trying to become a rapper or he did a I don't know like Freestyle or something and da Dave kind of put him on the spot and was like let's hear something it was just awful I don't know if this is the same one or not but there was one of of of Bieber's later appearances you know in the in the in the later the the Twilight years of Late Show when when Justin came on and he had just gotten a tattoo on his forearm and Dave gave him a snake bite like he totally went in there and grabbed it and started Twisted I remember watching it home cheering it was just so funny to see to see do that um that is that's crazy that you you were there for for for one of those moments that's yeah that's that's very very very cool um what do you oh go ahead go ahead oh yeah I was just gonna say I also always loved when Regis filin would come on because he was like half the time I don't think it was even planned like re just show up and like do a quick bit with Dave and then leave and you know he would he would walk through the the lobby and like Regis was just the sweetest guy he would say hi to everyone and like yeah it was so much fun just randomly seeing re just pop in yeah well those of us again who love the show the idea that that that you have that that in your memory banks again another one of those very um you know uh I keep using the word vicarious probably because I just am so silly I don't have enough vocabulary but but but again that that's that's what we all wanted to be a part of you know we all wanted to you know to have a beer with Pat farmer or to to see reg just kicking around the halls or or or or whatever it is and and you got a chance to see that and uh and and be a part of that um did you ever have the aspirations to be in front of the camera like listening to you and Eric um you're so natural talking going back and forth with him on on on on the show uh clearly you've got the performer in you with the with you know the music musical uh ability as well um is this something like do you enjoy podcasting do you enjoy doing this yeah it's so much fun I I love podcasting I love uh playing like I play at the comedy the monthly comedy show that Eric produces um so the live snakes yep live snakes so I I play I'm kind of the Paul schaer of that show I sh off to the de side and play guitar riffs as each comedian is walking up to the stage yeah yeah and I I've always loved the camera like um I've Eric and I also have done a few things on the Manhattan Public Access Channel we uh we we did this one show this is Eric's idea it's it was called Beatboxing with Greg and it was a like a purpose really cheesy talk show setup uh where I would just sit there with a guest and I it was a 30 minute show and I would say welcome to Beatboxing with Greg i'm Greg let's get started and I I just beatboxed for 30 minutes straight and that was the show that is not easy to do no my mouth was so dry how many episodes of That did you shoot uh we did a couple of them we actually my God we did one in Time Square uh where I would walk up to tourists and pretend I was going to interview him and then I would just start beatboxing for as long as they put up with it just until they walked away oh that see and again that's very much a letterman esque type yeah type bit that is oh that is really funny are you do you have some game beatboxing or is it is that part of the thing like are you good at it no I'm I'm actually not which which made it even more ridiculous fantastic for a half hour like i' I've been part of local television uh in my in my neck of the woods as well you know Public Access type stuff and 30 minutes is a long time like yeah that is a that is a long time to Phil what a phenomenal gag that is that's like again Andy Kaufman ask oh definitely definitely performance art and I get that vibe from Eric too I get I get that vibe from him for sure that he likes that uh that performance art aspect of of these things too a little bit off little bit off the beaten path right yep exactly exactly just so yeah I like doing things you know other than just stand up comedy or playing music just things you know a little more out of the box uh that being said it sounds like you guys got a pretty good gig going with live snakes it sounds like it's going well you're getting lots of uh people come out to the shows you got lots of performers who who who come on there and that's uh which part is it Con no it's not Connecticut you guys are in um what part of New York it's in um it's in Williamsburg in Williamsburg that's right that's in Williamsburg New York that's where you guys do it okay that's cool and talking Schmidt you guys uh you and Eric for for the most part weekly yeah yep we've been uh yeah we've been doing it for about three and a half years now we started the summer of 2021 yep so yeah we've been pumping out a new episode every Thursday and it's a lot a lot of what's your preparation it's like you guys get together it's it's it's two friends catching up is is is really what it comes down to and do you have like you know for example okay you went to the DMV all right that's something we'll talk about like do you do are you always going in there saying okay I got three things that I'm going to bring up and go from there or do you just kind of let loose yeah it's uh we we have like a a rough outline usually we'll just you know like the day of we'll just text each other you know see if any we have any weird New York stories that happened to us over the past week or if there's anything that sticks out in the news like we'll uh jot a few things down and just kind of you know have a rough outline and that but for the most part it's just uh just kind of off the cuff oh it's very it's very good stuff I love it a lot um I I have a couple of I have a couple of things that uh um one of the things that I've been told is that uh you've you've got into a lot of concerts for free you have figured out ways to get into concerts for free yes can you tell me how to do it because concerts are one of my favorite things in the world how do you what's do you have a secret or are you are you willing to share it with me how how has that happened that you've gotten into and what are some of the Highlight concerts that we're talking about here um so yeah it's it's a little different depending on the show and the venue yeah um I used to when I lived in Minneapolis I went to to Warp Tour her every summer to see all my my pop punk bands y y and I I had a few different schemes with that one one time I I brought a a really cheap empty guitar case which I I didn't care if I lost it and I have friends who have done this exact yes okay keep going yep Y and you just walk in the the band entrance with a a guitar case and nobody asks questions there's another time I I didn't have a guitar case with me so I just I still walked in the band entrance and just pretended I was on my phone and that I was just very angry and I had somewhere to be and no I just I just marched in there and I was like I I know we I know we start in 15 minutes I I'll be I'm on my way in right now just pretending that I was in a band and nobody nobody asked questions and there's a my my favorite one was uh this would have been I want to say like 2015 or so probably about 10 years ago yep Outcast was playing a private show I think it it was a some kind of marketing like industry event and I I really wanted to go but not only was it sold out like you couldn't even get tickets because it was private event private event yeah and I was I figured I'm just gonna go uh work my magic see if I can sneak into this thing and so I showed up and I I I just beelined for the first person I saw that was holding a clipboard and had a little headset on and I I found the busiest person I wanted to make sure they were flustered yeah so there were a bunch of people trying to give them their name and they were flipping through pages trying to Mark these people off off the list and they told me I wasn't on the list and I gave them my real name yeah because you know that that that wasn't my I wasn't trying to like actually be on the list I was just trying to distract them so as they were like trying to find my name and there were other people crowded around trying to get in I just snuck right behind and through the door and I I got into the show which was cool enough but then I made my way up to this side of the stage like right in right in front and off to the side and just started making small talk with some guy who you know assumed I was supposed to be there Y and he was part of Big Boy's Entourage oh my God so I just I hung out with him the whole show and then right when it ended and every was leaving you know I became friends with this guy over the course of an hour or so he he was like hey man you want to you want to pop backstage sure of course I do went back there and I didn't meet Andre 3000 but big boy is back there hanging out and so I went from not even you know I wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place to just hanging out in the green room with Outcast you and I are brothers from another mother I have I have many many stories that are exactly along that vein and uh I just I love it so much um my my my my best friend Mike he has a phrase for me as to as to how we do this we I I one of the bands that another band that is like on our very very very tippy top list is Faith No More I'm a huge Faith No More fan oh and yeah and uh and so the last time we saw them uh in 2015 um I did the exact same thing and uh the security guy who I was having the interaction with convincing that we were supposed to be back and hanging with the band um he goes well what are you guys doing I said this is what we do and so my friend Mike that's exactly what he said I every time something like this happens with us he's like this is what we do and that's just the you just you just good it's it's it's so much fun um and I know that it came from Letterman it came from letter i that attitude came from Letterman the idea of being somewhere where you're not supposed to be that Spirit of that a little bit of Mischief but no malice whatsoever as long as you're just confident and you act act like you're supposed to be there yes that's that because yeah yeah I I think most security guards can weed out people who you know are looking over their shoulder and they're they know they're not supposed to be there but yeah if you just act like you're you're supposed to be there A lot of times they don't even ask questions yeah and it's it's it's funny like bringing it back to the Letterman the whole Letterman of it all I know that that that that Spirit was put into me because of that show and it's like part of the reason I I think part of the reason that I host this show is a little bit of that like like okay what like nobody's doing it why not yeah of course I'm supposed to be here and then of course shie helped with that and all that but but still like like why not right you only live once and and what's the worst that can happen you get turned away I've gotten turned away but more often than not I've not gotten turned away and it's led to some sort of story um that that you know and we're talking about it to this day so oh that's so cool I I I very rarely meet other people like you who who do these things so that's amazing the other one who does that too is is a guy by the name of Mark malov he he was the host of the the Carson podc podcast uh he's the host of inside late night and and and he is the same thing he has he has gotten his way into so many amazing situations because of just that Spirit of again Mischief No Malice and let's just see how far I can get and it you'd be surprised how far you can get if you just put a little bit of willpower and thought and and and confidence like you said into it you act like you're supposed to be there and and that's I'm hoping that that in four or five months here eight months I guess it is now I think about it wish it was sooner um I'll have a story about Trent resner again because I've I've met him three times already using this exact same kind of formula I'm I'm pretty certain I'm gonna meet him again and it's it's all through this it's not through being connected it's just the the will and the the Happy Spirit to do so so yeah believe that it's going to happen I actually I I had another really funny one where I I didn't even need to talk to any security guards I it was when I was in Minneapolis the Foo Fighters were playing at the XL Energy Center yeah and I I I don't think it was sold out but I was very broke back then yeah and so I just I showed up with you know with my no no real plan other than I'm gonna walk in and you know be confident yep but the all of the main entrances were pretty uh pretty wellu guarded yeah so I just started walking around the stadium and I found an open loading dock and just I had no idea where it led to and I just wandered back into this dark alley and there was a semi- TR like unloading some stuff and I pretended was on my phone again yeah and just kind of found a staircase that I walked up and I you know a door that was up probably three or four stairwells was open and I walked in that door and again it was just like this empty hallway and I was looking around I was like I have no idea if I'm even in the Exel Center and then some guy opens a door and he's like whatat are you doing and I was like oh I was looking for the bathroom and he was like oh it's it's not down here let me show you where it is and he brought me in to the arena yep and then I was just in the Foo Fighters show now you're in and that's it and it's Fu Fighters one of Dave's favorite bands uh which is exactly yeah I love that they played the that final show yeah I got the uh um um I I my goal is to get them all on the show and I've got a I've got a a thing that we're going to start at some point this year hopefully if I've got enough RAM that I can uh allocate towards doing it which food will be first my goal is to have them all because I mean they all have so many experiences there I mean they did two top 10 lists they've been on the show never mind the very last uh you know we're 10 years we're getting close to 10 years from the from that that magical night where they did that amazing Montage to live music which is just so good montage gave me chills absolutely absolutely we're going to be giving that Montage some love uh over the next coming months here as we as we approach um you know May 20th which is which is the 10 year anniversary of that uh but yeah the food Fighters are are absolutely they're they are connected to the show in so many ways I've seen them live a bunch of times um and and and I mean I yeah to me they all are and and many other bands too would attach but none probably bigger than the Foo Fighters um as as as oh go ahead yes please this I I can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier as we were talking about the Foo Fighters there was the day they played on the show when I was working there uh there was another live on Letterman I saw and right after the right after they played Dave Gro walked down like most of the audience had left yeah Dave hopped off the stage and I tried to take a selfie with him and I'll have to send it to you oh please do oh I think we just found what your thumbnail for the episode's going to be please send me that thumbnail perfect perfect yeah I call it my failed Dave girl selfie I was like Dave can I get a picture quick and he leaned in and you know this was 2011 or 2012 and cell phone cameras weren't that great no right as I was about to take the picture somebody called his name they're like Dave and he looked over and so it's just me with this huge grin on my face because I'm so excited and the side of Dave girl's face and and he just walked away awesome so great that's going to be the thumbnail of this episode please send it to me right after um oh it's been so much fun having you here Greg and I mean Eric and I have been talking and stuff I'm gonna the next time I'm in New York I'm gonna I'm gonna come out and see a show first and foremost one of your guys' show and I want to hang out and uh and and have a oh where did Chowder come from I don't know why he calls it chowder uh when it comes I'm gonna I'm gonna have some chowder with you guys I think that would be a lot of fun couple beers couple Chows couple Chows it really doesn't mean anything so Eric just said it and then we went with it oh yeah no and and and and your your show the talking Schmidt has so many of those little things in it that after two or three episodes you're like okay and you're you're becoming part of it right you're hearing from it so so I definitely want to hang out with you guys um I I'm gonna finish the show here with with you today unless you think of anything else that you want to talk about but but here's uh we have one sponsor at the Letterman podcast and one sponsor only and that is uh it was rert G and the hello Deli well now Rupert's of course sold the deli H but hello Dash Deli still exists he's still got the site he's still selling official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise that was a gift that Dave gave to him on the way out was that he could still sell the shirts and the mugs and all that stuff um and we love Rupert very very much he's a good friend of the show obviously so please go to Hello delli also they've got hello dell.com I should say also the uh the official Letterman channel has some merch as well you can get Barber gain show t-shirts which is so great I'm going to get one and I'll wear it on on this show from time to time um but any rert stories of any sort like I mean again people who they they work for the Ed San theater they're work oh my God and then they get to see rert every day or and whatnot the calming force that that person who was the he was the psychologist he was the counselor he was the friend he was the son he was the brother whatever it was for that production he was very much a family member of that of that production any rert stories or hello Deli stories um yeah I I don't have any like any any wild stories but yeah I just remember going into the hello Deli and he like he's just so he's just such a nice downto toe guy like he's yeah he's so calm like you know like I would get excited to see him I'd be like rert and he's just like hey how you doing just like very lowkey guy yep but yeah he's just the nicest guy and I I mean I would pop in there just to say hi to him like I I don't even know if I ever bought anything from the the deli like hey rert yeah he and may are incredible people um Greg thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come on the Letterman podcast I appreciate it very very much and uh I'll say our goodbye privately but thank you so much for coming on the show today yeah thanks so much for having me this is a lot of fun oh good okay well I'll do a quick outro and then we'll uh we'll take it from there that you know what I'll just do it right here this is why we do the show uh we love celebrating what we call the greatest body of broadcast work in history that of David Letterman and Company uh this is the show where the company is just as important as the star um I just love going down memory lane talking about this stuff so uh this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants