The Tonight Show With David Letterman?

hi this is Chris Harris and you are watching the Letterman podcast welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chism all right so the entire episode is not about what if David Letterman hosted The Tonight Show okay that's the thumbnail we used and and and it's based on uh this this the show was I knew between Christmas and New Year's there was going to be um a show that was going to be a community show it happened organically Darren Cox and Rob Kates who by the way have never been on a show together Darren Cox uh episode one guest here the Letterman podcast host uh co-host of the irritable dad syndrome podcast works for antenna TV has for a long time loves this stuff um you know as much as any of us do uh love Darren very very much and Rob Kates who runs uh he's the administrator of of of a bunch of different Facebook groups including the David Letterman fans face Facebook group also uh member of our community the lean podcast Community they've never been on a show together and I thought it was really interesting um there was a post in um site about a week ago and somebody posted the picture that we used as the thumbnail here it was it was it was kind of a what if David Letterman hosted The Tonight Show back in the day what if he would have gotten the show and and people were throwing on different ideas and and whatnot out there and uh it's funny I I thought about it I interacted a little bit with it and and so did a few others and and but then David Letterman helped induct um The Grateful Dead at the Kennedy Center Awards uh in the past couple weeks here and the first joke that he made like I we're gonna kind of let it pass and actually Darren even made a comment about this it's like oh okay yeah people talking about the idea of Dave hosting the Tonight Show it's so many years later when are we going to stop about you know the talking about Dave not getting the Tonight Show but one of the first things that he said at the Kennedy Center Honors was talking about how he dreamt about hosting the Tonight Show Dave's still making punchlines about it and so we started communicating about it say Oh Let's do an episode and so that's all we talk about we do talk about this uh a little bit we talk about the fast the Samsung Letterman channel on uh the SAT Letterman Samsung fast channel uh and a few other things and it's just you know three friends catching up talking about all things late night Letterman all of that kind of stuff uh between Christmas and New Year is kind of reflecting a little bit and uh you get to be a fly on the wall you know not a fly on the wall the way Dana carvy James David Spade do it uh clearly but we're excited that you're here um please enjoy the last episode of the Letterman podcast in 2024 hey boys top of the season to you it's great to it's great to see both of you yeah you too definitely it's good to see you guys and uh me and Darren are representing Rob's a little bit off check it out right there oh there's that one you got the hoodie see Darren you put on on uh Facebook that you got the beanie you got the the Letterman beanie I did and I I cannot recommend it enough it is snug it's uh cuz I mean I don't think I have a fat head but it's snug it's it's very wellmade it's not they didn't just grab some beanie at JC Pennies and slap a logo on it and I'm not getting paid to endorse their product but it is a solid it's a comfortable damn beanie and I love it I got the hoodie and then um uh my between my mom and my wife I got the hoodie a t-shirt like the one you're wearing yeah got this guy right here there it is yes I got that yeah the hoodie is stupid comfortable and soft oh there we go yeah thing is on on the worldwide pants site I mean you can get a a Barbara gain show apparel and they even have late night apparel but I wanted to mention you I'm sure you guys notice this the late night shirts it it just says late night it does not say with David Letterman so I don't know if that's a copyright issue or what let me show you something that I have and uh and I've never mentioned this before on this podcast but I have you're hold not on us you're whole note on us I wish I could still fit in it but I have had that probably since I was 15 or 16 so a long time did you get that at the NBC store like back in the day when you went and saw the show I was in I was in Houston and it was on sale at a mall and I I think it was an NBC store or something like that but I bought it when I was in Houston Texas forever ago wow yeah yeah so yeah again I wish I could fit in it but I alas Daddy's got I don't have one of those shirts but I do have the Hat the late night David Letterman hat and this was bought for me when I was in college so we're looking at probably 1988 1989 my college roommate from Michigan State University go Spartans he he picked this up for me in New York when he saw a taping of Dave at a Rockefeller Center so from the actual original original show from the the scene of the crime uh I don't have any of that stuff the only hang on one second okay I'm sorry we're talking about hats so I've got my blue Late Show hat this is my OG Late Show David letter that I have wore until honest to God it has turned gray I mean I have just beaten this down this is this is sweat stained and it's been in pools and oceans and I don't know how many different states uh this this son of a has been to but I wore this thing just out and then liby felt bad and she bought me this new one because I kept wearing this everywhere she's like we've got to get you a new hat so no no no Libby did not feel bad Libby felt embarrassed that's what was going on there you know you say potato right actually I was like I felt bad that I got M sweat stained so I I did I got a new one this one never gets this one I like basically wear around the house I still wear this to the pool to the beach was that Navy at one time these used to look exactly alike wow wow yeah I figured it was just like a khaki hat but it's not no Kathy is it what's the quote on the back of that one it says um um worldwide pants Incorporated just worldwide pants Incorporated yeah the uh the back of these guys here and you won't be able to hear me when I come around but it's got the genius quote right cool is that on the hoodie as well uh you tell me is it no nothing on the hoodie I didn't that's I didn't think so nothing on the hoodie no yeah um man you guys have have got me down uh when it comes to late night stuff I think the only late night stuff I have is I've got one of the softball t-shirts that Steve O'Donnell gave me so it says late night Athletics on it they used to wear that playing softball he gave me that and then I've got oh well okay I've got Ed Hall's original Late Night with David Letterman jacket I've got that so that's that's that's but uh yeah the but that's all you've got my I mean all you know all I have is Ed Hall's jacket something Donald yeah and you've got what like 10 lman jackets something like that oh no I have eight um okay no Rob don't be don't be stupid it's not 10 eight oh yeah he's not double diges he's not a freak I didn't mean to do it like that I just meant I don't have the t-shirt is all I'm saying I just don't have the original Late Night with they Letterman t-shirt uh how was your Christmas guys other than getting oh and and okay yes Barber gains like we'll do a commercial here for the uh the worldwide Pants Store uh they they made fun of it a little bit they actually shot a video talking about it uh Dave was poking fun saying the merchandise isn't going at all which makes me think that it probably is selling um sure it is is yeah I mean I'm grateful that they uh I'm sure grateful they pulled the trigger on it but um and it's different stuff than what rert has I like that too I probably will get a late show uh I really like how concise The Late Show t-shirt is on there and I'll probably get a Barbera G's one as well and I I should I should send her an email and ask her but I mean the fact that Dave comes on and they are literally building the idea of the Barbara gains show m is hilarious to me I love it so much that they're they're they're they're going all in with the Barbara Kan show uh yeah um you know I love I swear I love when Barbara's not there yeah sping in and uh and then when she comes back he says I'm sorry that you were sick and she's like oh I wasn't sick like I just wasn't here it's so great say she was on assignment that was one of those days where I could give a crap I wish um was awesome on that thing I I really wish that um Dawn Giller was in a position that he could do and I mean I don't even know how long it would be like I mean my gosh the Tony Mendes compilation was was I mean I don't know if that would be longer or not but I mean imagine if they did a Barbara gains compilation like all the times like I just love the evolution right yeah from back when she was you know behind the set screaming um screaming back and forth with Dave all the way up to the idea that she's executive producing she's behind the podium and now she's actually in front of the camera well she's the she was the woman who challenged that expert typewriters typewriter is typewriter typist typist thank you typ writer yes that was Barbara that was awesome well and she's been with Dave since the morning show I think Morning Show yeah yeah and Biff yeah there Jerry Mulligan I believe Jerry Mulligan was there I believe Jerry Mulligan was was writing jokes for Dave when he was doing his Tonight Show spots okay oh that's right so I think he even uh proceeded but but he didn't go right to the end of I mean he did go right to the end because they kept bringing him back and they kept doing stuff with him but he officially come yeah sure well yeah yeah yeah but I mean he went right to the I was going to say that went right to the end of Lake show but he retired from from L show um Barbara didn't Barbara Barbara I think she is probably the one that made the longest um yeah it's it's it's quite it's worth looking into but I think you're right it's quite remarkable and then when you include after Late Show I mean you know Dave's doing stuff with Barbara still it's it's it's so great to see and I just I yeah it's it's so much fun for those obviously if you're listening or watching this show you watch the Letterman YouTube channel but if there's anybody there who doesn't know what we're talking about please go and watch the YouTube Letterman the Letterman YouTube channel it is it is fantastic and there's Barbara Kane's show merchandise um on this thing so it's it's it's good Rob how was your uh Christmas it was good it was just fine yeah yeah it it was pretty cool we uh yeah my discovered some of my in-laws are really into TV stuff like I like I am so we talked quite a bit about Johnny and Dave and Conan and sday Night Live and all that stuff so we had some good TV conversations which is always nice oh that's going to be fun I I was thinking about you uh because there's an article that both you and I love and the writer of that article I'm recording with him on Mondays name is Andrew bus he's he uh he wrote the Vanity Fair oral history piece on on Conan um he's coming on the show and I know that that was one that you you liked a lot and by the way let's start the show here and I mean not that anybody uh it's of not but we're talking about Conan here um you know just send our love out to Conan O'Brien right now and uh man what a what a what what a thing he'd had to go through onew punch that he had to go through a few weeks ago losing his parents so we just want to set I haven't experience that firsthand but I've got a really good friend whose mother died and then uh the day after her mother's funeral her father passed away and we're like oh my God I mean it was just it was horrible it was really really horrible and I know Weird Al's parents they both died at the same time yeah and then I was thinking um oh uh Carrie Fischer's mom died the day after she did the day after so I mean it's it's it's rare that this type of thing happens but I can't imagine what Conan you is going through losing them both so close together yeah both of them week both of them were in their 90s I mean his dad was a doctor his mom was a lawyer obviously they put a huge emphasis on education and learning in their family and hence Conan ends up going to Harvard so it's uh yeah it's it's just really heartbreak hear about that yeah and he talked about them a lot like I mean you know um on the show but on his podcast certainly he he he talked about his parents a lot and uh um you know the whole family situation that I I I love when Conan talks about you know his situation growing up and of course he you know inflates everything and whatnot it just um it's such a you know and I and I I just wonder if it'll it'll be different um have you guys watched the show uh somebody for you Phil you have Phil Rosen either you watch yeah I've seen Clips yeah okay so so so I mean I hope I'm not spoiling anything it's Seven Seasons or whatever but at the beginning of the show you know um um you know he would go Phil rosenal would go to an exotic location eat a bunch of food and at the end of the episode he would talk to his parents over over Skype and that was part of the show his brother's a producer on the show and and and you know they had a lot of fun with that and then throughout the course of the Run both of his parents passed away and it's just interesting hearing and seeing Phil's persp perspective you know before and after and how that goes and and I mean I feel like Conan is going to uh have similar have a similar sort of response where there will be tributes and things like that um every now and then uh towards towards his parents so we just want to send love out to Conan and and uh um man what a blow that is um and over the holidays as well it's just it's it's it's a hard thing to hear so show this this past Monday I mean Conan usually puts out a con O'Brien needs a friend on Mondays and he was not on there so Sona and and Matt they they kind of did a uh they did the show on their own but and they referenced the fact that yeah both of Conan's parents had passed away yeah it was a clip a clip show right they did a clip show yeah yeah I uh I let we'll pivot a little bit this is something that I wish Letterman would have done I actually um John Moran who was on our show I don't know I want to say a couple of months ago he sent me a piece of footage and it's a piece of footage of him but it's during rehearsal and um you know Conan used to do this on his TBS show and it was my favorite show that Conan would do was um you know I Lov Conan without when when Conan would would not it wasn't called Conan Without Borders back then I don't think it was uh whatever the travel oh maybe it was was it Conan Without Borders on the TBS show when he would go different places I think so I don't remember okay so he would travel around you you actually never watched Conan Darren oh no no I've watched tons of Conan oh okay okay so he would go to ing around but that was one of the different types of show he would do on the TBS show but the other one was when they would put a compilation together of rehearsal footage stuff it was just stuff left on the cut but it was just really really funny stuff that happened during rehearsal and and um John Moran sent me a video uh not too long ago and I'll see if I can I'll see if I can throw it on here somehow it's on he sent to me on Facebook I don't know how I could rip it off there but I'll give you the the Cole's notes of it it's um it was a the idea was John Moran they would put him in bits sometimes so they had him sitting with the band and so Matt Roberts is behind Letterman's desk they're doing the rehearsal and uh and and Matt's going hey Paul you got somebody sitting in with the band today and shot over to Paul and the whole band was there and there was John Moran who looks you know he's got the gray distinguished hair kind of a thing and he looks like they had him dressed up in a suit and they said uh he's the executive of and I forget the name of the stool company but it's the SP they sponsor the band stools that they all sit on and so all night he was just going to be sitting in the band sitting with the band sitting on the stool and that was that was the joke and it was the whole thing was it was Matt Roberts cutting over and uh and and and uh you know that was where the the joke was it was funny in the rehearsal part but it just made me think about how much footage might exist from the rehearsals of Late Show what might be out there and I just it makes me wonder about that and it just anyway yeah yeah I know to get your hands on a lot of that stuff that was on The Cutting Room floor it would be be amazing oh yeah yeah you uh always record uh bleeding up and then you know when we do our show we do five or 10 minutes after we say good night to everybody and a lot of it we throw away some of it's a gym like my god there have been times that uh we're like holy crap I didn't even think about that and then it just it's brilliant the able dad syndrome how many episodes are you into it now you're 20 over now 238 238 how many of them are good okay let me see five of them five of them have been reruns so uh no we tell people the first like the first 25 we put in the vault right and that was mainly because for the longest time we had one microphone we sat in between um we didn't know what we were doing we still we kind of know what we're doing now um but it took us a while to get into our flow and to really develop the the format of the show and and how it you know sounds today so uh I'm proud of it's honestly there's if you'd ask me if there's any ones that you wouldn't listen to I would give you a few but more than that more than not uh we're proud of all of them yeah oh no they're fantastic we did one we did one called the Halloween episode and I think it's our lowest downloaded and all Mike and I did was we went through our top 10 favorite Halloween movies and there was a lot of us going oh yeah yeah I haven't seen that one really no I haven't seen that one oh did you see this one no I didn't see that one either oh huh you say it was scary oh yeah huh did you see The Shining yeah I saw yeah I saw that one oh okay it was sounds riveting it was it's in the vault Rob for a reason we put it in the VA oh you vaulted that one too we vaulted that one yeah he sent it down to the Museum of broadcasting right that's right I think Dave used to say something like that sh it on down we put in a box um this is interesting I I I had uh I had forgotten this point or or or or hadn't paid attention perhaps um you two haven't been on a show together no this is the first time you two are together okay I love these Community shows and I've had a few people who have commented on the community shows and saying that we should uh we should lean into that a little bit more and and and so we're going to this next year I mean um uh I think that's that's great but yeah having you two on here and it's interesting again interesting Alchemy uh both of you also uh uh professional background in television yes definitely you know we've talked about that a lot that uh that going on uh going on 31 years 31 years for you and Rob you're around that too aren't you uh 30 actually next year is going to be 35 years for me yeah in total yep 35 years just a mainly production and master control yeah there are no prizes okay yeah okay yeah Jes I've been in 35 years now you what though it t you know what it takes some stamina to stay in the television business well yeah really does you gotta put up with a lot of yeah you're work I mean when we started everything was on tape I'm sure you remember I mean we we would load the tapes for the for the programs and all the commercials and the PSAs and the promos were all on tapes and we had you know Master Control we would load in the tape set it up to bars and tone and make sure it was cute and have our 2C pre-roll and we had a big automation machine that they had the robotic arm would grab the tapes and different tapes would have different commercials and PSAs and promos and I tell the young people that they just cannot believe it but and now I mean everything's computerize everything's on a server now but we used to have physical tapes for everything yeah do you remember when they left oh I I don't I don't know I mean just little by little we got more and more automation well in production too I mean so much of that is automated like where I work we don't have any camera operators our cameras are automated we don't have anyone as the camera operator yeah yeah no one's sitting at the audio board I mean all of that is just it's done through the automation so yeah no camera operators no audio person no floor director it's just so much of it is automated yeah so Rob you're talking about all the tapes so we had I don't know at any given time you'd have on our wall at WJ I think 500 commercials or something each on one each on one five minute tape okay and each tape would have a barcode on it and then we had the machine and I can't remember how many commercials you could put in it I want to say 40 but it may have been more so there's F 40 tapes in this uh player and when a light would start flashing that means that a spot was missing and youd put the tape in the machine and you would whatever so every morning we would do the morning show the the morning news and after it was over with and we would all be sitting there and catching our breath uh this is when Jack Dempsey general manager of the station would walk through and we he'd walk through we were sitting there doing nothing right yeah and like I'm like guys every day Jack walks in and we're sitting here on our butts and so one day I got up and I went over to the wall and I grabbed like 12 tapes and I had them in my arms and when Jack comes around the door I start putting these tapes back on the wall I'm like oh hey Jack how's it going morning Darren and he walked on through and then I'm like then I put the rest of the tapes away your boss's name was Jack Dempsey Jack Dempsey yeah did he change his name when he got the promotion that he's gonna be the boss now I'm Jack Dempsey that now like is that nope that was always his name yeah good guy Jack hired me twice he was fair and always good always good to me very good guy and especially you know some you know bonehead like me who you know very often well mystery hand just came wow that was there she is oh we have a special guest guys look who's here hey what's your name aara aara is this your first time on the Letterman podcast no it's not you were on before what we just Chris it's not your first time sorry my granddaughter's here say hi to Rob hi hello and say hi to Darren hi okay hey kiddo you looking at the screen that's where you're looking okay I've heard that she's the best granddaughter ever that's what I've heard yeah did you have a good Christmas what did you get for Christmas a new room a new room did you get a room at mean PA's house yeah do you love it wow yes thank you and what did you bring for me do you know what I got for Christmas I got an old pack of cigarettes an old pack of cigarettes does that sound like a good Christmas present okay a line from The Breakfast Club I think you're very kind they were filtered oh they're unfiltered that's good she brought me an Arnold Palmer boys nice half and half thank you so much for doing this I appreciate it can you say hi welcome to the Letterman podcast I don't I'm too shy you're too shy to say welcome to the Letterman podcast welome to the V podcast there you go all right wave okay bye Laura sorry about that boys how was fun was that bye sweetie oh there we go Alara has you know what Alara actually did appear on an episode of the lman podcast she she came on when uh my first appearance with Steve Young back when we were against the Black Wall of Death uh at the very beginning and um I call it the Black Wall of Death because that was our first backdrop and the show is absolutely death and Darren you were there early on no it Steve Young And so I'm recording and suddenly Alara comes down and she just comes wanders over to me and Steve Young's like oh who are you and G did a little did a little Cameo with Steve Young uh anyway sorry about that boys no time no apology necessary this is a you know as I said in the intro this is a like us getting together over the holidays just kind of shooting the bull uh but we did have a reason with that that kind of predicated this I'm going to share the screen right now so Rob your Facebook group which by the way is still growing like the David Letterman fans Facebook group is still growing all the time yeah it's doing really well I think we're we're 9,000 headed towards 10,000 members yeah it's it's doing well yeah and uh and as that's happening you know every once in a while a post comes up where there's quite a bit of interaction with it and people going back and forth somebody posted this the other day and uh can you guys see that yeah there it is somebody posted this The Tonight Show with David Letterman the the idea of the path not taken what would have happened M if David Letterman Got The Tonight Show and a whole bunch of people who clearly are in my opinion a new generation of folks um who maybe didn't you know weren't the age that we were when it all happened people kind of talking about it viewing it from a historical standpoint started um ruminating and and and pontificating as to what might have happened had Dave gotten the show there was a whole bunch of perspectives that I I really wasn't ready for I kind of take for granted the fact that many of the people I talk about this to are really far down the rabbit hole on you know what happened and and and have read The Late Shift you know many many numbers of times and things like that a lot of people don't a lot of these people who were responding to this came at it from a fresh fresh perspective I was very surprised as to some of the uh responses to it yeah yeah it was um I don't know I mean you know I was uh we were all alive when it happened uh we were all safe to say fans of him moving to CBS I worked at the CBS station when he came there so my very first day in television I was walking through and they were taking me on a tour over the place my first day and Dave was doing the uh the feed to the satellite Affiliates uh on W KRC Cincinnati you know and he would just you know and and he did that all day long and you could tell by like by the 30th station he was getting sick of it just you know but I wanted to stand there and watch the feed with him you know doing all that and I'm like oh my God I cannot believe I'm starting in TV when he moved over to CBS but no the thing is Dave has said and I think we've all heard when he said that that if he had the job it would have been this the same show it would have been the Late Show with David Letterman I don't I I don't believe it would have been any different I mean you know he pissed off uh the execs at CBS almost as much as he did at NBC so I mean like on his final night he said that Les moonvest was very very patient with him with a what how do with an underline with an exclamation point or however he described it so I mean I I don't think it would have been any different now would someone have moved over to CBS and challenged The Tonight Show like Dave did with the Late Show I mean probably and I don't know who that would have been but I don't know yeah it probably would have been the same show you're right if he would have taken over The Tonight Show uh one of the main things and I I think Mike brought this up in in the Facebook group okay would if they've got The Tonight Show would he be in Burbank or would he do it from New York you know would maybe he would want to move it back to New York like Jimmy Fallon did and I mean that was uh that was a big part of the show The Very you know Dave show was very New York Centric and it's like New York was kind of like one of the characters in it and you know he had rert and Mujer and sjel and all that he'd be shooting the stuff out on the streets and so yeah you've got to wonder would it be based out of New York or Burbank and I maybe he could shoot stuff in Burbank but it would just be on on the lot there on the NBC lot so it wouldn't have the same character as shooting in Manhattan yeah I don't know about that I mean you know he went driving around Los angales as he would call it with um with zaja yeah fil filled the convertible up with tacos that's right drinking Mountain Dew so I mean I think he could have taken his his talent to any City in this country or I mean hell the stuff that he did in London so I mean the man on the streets would have worked anywhere because it was Dave and Dave riters I don't think it would have been any different yeah yeah so so um there's a couple things to unpack there when it comes to so Ironically in many respects uh one could argue that CBS started this whole thing when they reached out to Jay Leno back in the day and they were gonna they were gonna make a deal with they wanted to make a deal with Jay Leno one of the executives had had given Jay a a very rare motorcycle they wanted to sign Jay Leno to a deal and Jay's manager at the time Helen kushnick then went to the NBC brass putting pressure on them saying do you want to lose Jay do you want to lose Jay almost in a way where uh potentially he would at some point compete with The Tonight Show um I don't know if that's necessarily Johnny or or or not but the the whole goal of that was to get leverage to give Jay the um basically the the the the sign seal delivered deal that he would be Johnny Carson's successor and it was CBS that that that predicated that deal that that that started that deal and and if it wasn't for um you know the idea of CBS building an 11:30 show that was going to compete you know that wasn't you know no offense I'm sure Pat Z Jack tried to compete but um to build you know someone I mean I'm just saying I I I you know I'm sorry I I heard he was there for I heard he was at the studio for a few hours a day every day Pat busting his butt to try and no I he had a guest host after like six months or something right didn't he how long was he on before he had a guest host I remember I was a kid I'm like really you've already got guest hosts okay whatever yeah I mean sorry I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing at pad say Jack let's and we all should um unfortunately nobody did during the show when it was on but anyway so yeah so it was really at the end of the day it was it was CBS that kind of started the whole thing inadvertently certainly never being able to predict that they would land David Letterman but um but yeah it was it was uh and then and then you know as as these things started to happen the snowball started going down the hill I noticed people on that um uh uh on the uh the post on on the Letterman fans David Letterman fans Facebook page uh you know talking about the idea that that Dave was you know Johnny's um uh preference for replacement well that wasn't public at the time you know and I thought that was very interesting as well Johnny was never asked who he thought should replace him he was he has never asked away in as too was true with David Letterman Dave wasn't asked who who should replace him as well and I thought that was an interesting so that got me thinking has there ever been a time where a host has said who should replace them I don't know if I I don't know if I you know that might be a malov or um a question for uh for Bill Carter but I don't know if any host has ever been asked to weigh in on who would replace them didn't John Stewart have some kind of deal with The Daily Show after he left or was he still a producer of The Daily Show after he stopped hosting it uh I believe I believe his name was always in the credits as it has been for for Co bear as well um even on Late Show JN Stewart's names are there I don't know how yeah uh I I don't know about the day-to-day or decisions like that if he if he weighs in on things like that that that certainly could be a possibility right but uh but yeah it's it's it's interesting the idea of you know here's the person that has done this show for x amount of time however long it was and now they're they're going to be you know going off into the sunset for one reason or another who would they like to see do it but it doesn't seem it seems like the network and and it feels like this is the whole thing where you talk about how it's going to be the same show I don't know when when the network was GNA get control of The Tonight Show back and certainly one of the reasons why I think they wanted to keep J Jay over Dave who was clearly over with the audience in such a massive massive massive way such a huge star they knew that but the idea of having somebody who would allow the network to control the show because you got to remember Johnny Carson owned that show and he owned it for for I believe well over a decade um and and and and and now NBC was going to be getting control of that show back and this was during the time where these shows literally made the networks hundreds of millions of dollars oh yeah um you know very inexpensive to produce um you know in contrast to other uh even weekly shows that would only have 20 episodes a year these these these late night shows you know minuscule from a budget perspective compared to some of these other shows um and suddenly they're going to be getting control back do they want a host who's going to be difficult or do they want to host it's going to be easy I think that's one of the reasons why NBC picked him if Dave would have gotten The Tonight Show um you know it certainly would have been a very different position because of the awe he had for the show the fact that he would be moving into Johnny Carson's uh you know chair so to speak um the person that I talk to um before we did the show all but confirmed to me that if they got The Tonight Show um they probably would have moved it to Burbank and just to hear what you were saying Darren like okay it would have been the same show but man I don't know like right because I mean going out on the street in New York was so easy for Dave even in 30 Rock you know but then you look at the Ed Sullivan Theater and I mean how how much that show became a uh you know a character how much that City I should say became a character in the show it would have been very interesting to see uh a Tonight Show with David Letterman you know without that without that device that they used for so long I'm certain that they had enough creativity they would have created something else but I don't think it would have been the same show I mean yeah you're right with the yeah with the location it would have changed things but I I don't think the day-to-day the monologue the format the I mean I don't even know that the selection of guests would have changed because I mean but yeah well and yeah as you alluded to also Mike I mean that with with Letterman he would yeah the the control of The Tonight Show was going back to NBC so with CBS so much of the magic of that deal was worldwide pants and he had ownership at The Late Show he had ownership at the late show and then worldwide pants created Everybody Loves Raymond and and some other shows and and also uh as we've said before I mean Letterman turned out fine Leno turned out fine I mean both of them are worth in the neighborhood of $400 million so I don't think we need to cry too much for Letterman or for Leno and they turned out fine and and but with the Late Late Show look at that too look at what came out of that you you had Tom Snider and yes he he was a known quantity to begin with because of the tomorrow show but then um I mean with with Craig Ferguson and and with uh with Craig kilborne and Craig kilborne I mean he came out of ESPN he came out of The Daily Show and then really I mean to get on CBS and The Late Late Show that was a big break for him and uh yeah as I mentioned yeah Craig Ferguson and James Cordon so you have to put that into the mix too look at the the late show and also the Late Late Show and just that whole commodity there and the just like the yeah he had the ownership of that just like Johnny got with his 1980 contract got control of The Tonight Show and then also control of Late Night with David Letterman and you know both of them Carson Productions and worldwide pants they had hits they had some misses too I mean not everything that worldwide pants did was Everybody Loves Raymond and with Johnny he he had some hits he with Carson production they they produced Big Chill which was a big hit movie uh they produced amen with Sherman Hemley uh they did I didn't know that that was a Carson production yeah that was a big hit for Carson Productions yeah um TV's bloopers and practical jokes that was Ed McMahon and uh and Dick Clark I mean and the two of them knew each other decades from way back in Philadelphia yeah back in PH that was a Carson production so that that was a big hit but but yeah Carson production had a had a lot of misses too they they were not all gold but just like with with Worldwide pants a little known fact about TV's bloopers and practical jokes you you know who used to write for them Steve Wier really our friend Steve Wier that's right yeah and uh Steve and I are gonna do a an episode here coming up um we're gonna we're going to do the definitive uh I don't know if it's the definitive it probably is though it's the only time that there's ever been either a commentary or about King of the Z's we got a really nice print of King of the Z's which is uh the student film that Calbert DeForest or Larry Bud Melman was uh discovered in and and he and I are going to go and do a I don't know if we're going to do a commentary over it or if we're just going to do uh an intro and then watch it and then um talk about it afterwards on on the Letterman podcast we're going to be doing that soon so so keep looking up for that oh look at that a friend of mine gave me this years ago that's fantastic that fantastic that you would just have it there too what is is that a newspaper no it's a um it's like a poster that you would put outside of a bar or nightclub that would have u u acts come you know little bands and stuff it's probably one of those that you'd see stapled to the uh to a light post I don't know if Cal De Forest what what his F how much family he has uh surviving and what not but I it certainly uh lights my heart up to think about the idea that somewhere there might be one of Calvert's descendants who would who would be looking and seeing that even in 2024 almost 2025 somebody would suddenly random on a podcast hold up a poster that they just happen to have there of calber like you talk about a guy who who who just ended moving more and more more I watched his appearance on Tom Snyder the other day you know just the idea that this guy um you know and and I mean you know it Delights Steve Wier to no end of course that that that Calbert um you know went as far as he did I just I love that so much I love that The Offspring got him to show up on the uh come out and play album that's something everybody will love or something like that I'm like but Melman just yeah good times man yeah he was a character all right but the idea of of of Dave doing The Tonight Show you know and and one of the things I've I've watched a few of uh you know Dave's version of uh of The Tonight Show when he would guess Hast for Johnny Carson I've got a bunch of those and I was I was going through those not too long ago and and and the thing about it was very interesting watching Dave do The Tonight Show because he would come in and and and and Doc would be there with him and and it was a it was a different Dynamic than it was with Johnny and he certainly did not look comfortable doing it like he look don't get me wrong it was entertaining it was still Dave it was all these things but you could certainly feel the weight that he was carrying uh in doing that my God he had to been nervous as hell to be doing that you know and then he would leave that and then go to the to The Comedy Store and tell all his bonehead friends there you know it's like I just left the Tonight Show he'd usually get back on the picket line or whatever that's what I was reading about you know but that was like around the same time so he was you know doing it for himself and then gaining exposure for all of that but I mean yeah I mean my Lord I would be nervous hell guest hosting the tonight's show yeah it was interesting pin hitting for Johnny Carson holy cow and I mean I was thinking also Johnny and Dave both they had part of their career in LA and part of their career in New York and I was looking up tonight I mean Letterman did uh people may not know this but he was the regular on the back in the 70s all of these celebrities had their own variety shows the Starland Vocal Band that did Afternoon Delight Letterman was a regular on that show and so was his buddy Jeff Alman yeah yes so I was checking that out information about that this afternoon so that's going way back of course he did the Mary Tyler Moore variety show I mean he did a a game show pilot in LA and then he had his New York period of his career and was was it no Wise Guys or I can't remember the hell was the name of that show I don't know but it's on YouTube yeah it is it Michael mcken was one of the uh celebrity guests on it right it looked like Family Feud yeah um yeah God I mean he did Mor and Mindy had a small role in that because he knew Robin Williams and he Dave acknowledged he was not much of an actor but he did it he had a small role he he tried out for airplane I mean imagine if airplane was starring David Letterman instead of Robert Hayes just imagine that yeah uh yeah it's it's um I keep I I love think about Dave hosting the Tonight Show like I I do I I I I love thinking about that idea because it was it clearly was meant to happen the way that it did it's so funny you don't know what history's been being written in the present tense but but it's so funny how these icons um have carved their own legacy and they're all different Conan doing the same thing you know Conan you know leaving the Late Night moving over to podcasting having you know jumped two networks you know Conan you know Conan um you know as well moving the way that he did and it's just it's it's it's very very interesting the idea how still it goes back to what if Dave would have gotten The Tonight Show and and and so many years later people are still kind of going through that um Dave Letterman gets The Tonight Show you don't see a Samsung fast Channel dedicated to him you just don't see it you know and and and that's what I'm wondering about have NBC Universal am I just daed has NBC Universal started utilizing the 30-year run that that that that Jay Leno had on The Tonight Show do they utilize that that that footage at all don't think so isn't that interesting I just I I find that odd yeah you know first off Jay Leno doesn't have a Don Giller that we know of no um you know I just I I it's funny how you know you've got these two guys they came up together they both got shows at 11:30 basically at the same time I within a within a year and a half of each other um you know we on um you know essentially the same length Dave Dave Dave did outstretch Jay by a little bit there but for the most part you know at the same time and it's just so interesting how different the shows are I mean a big part of it of course is worldwide pants owning um you know the the footage they own the show but at the same time NBC same deal they got they got their own streaming Network they got peacock but the archives of The Tonight Show aren't there are they no but uh yeah Saturday Night Live is I mean you can go back to 1975 season of Saturday Night Live yeah they have all those on there but I yeah I'm not sure how the copyright stuff works because also if you go on worldwide pants site yes they have all the apparel and they have a late night shirt but it does not say Late Night with David Letterman yeah so I maybe but technically that was a Carson production though when he was at at NBC so maybe that plays into it I mean just like with if you watch antenna TV and you're watching Johnny Carson on there it's not the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on antena TV they just call it Johnny Carson just Johnny Carson because it's it's a copyright issue that's right and it's it's maddening to tell you the truth I mean they they strip all the music out of it for ant not just antenna TV I mean it also airs on Pluto TV I mean there's Clips on uh you know Amazon but the streaming services they strip all the music out of it you're not going to see a musical guest on there they put in this generic music when the guests come out and when they're coming back from the breaks and man that it's disappointing because I mean Doc and the band were a huge part of that show and and just like with Dave I mean it you think about The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson how pivotal that was to the genre of jazz just like with Letterman I mean look at Letterman with classic rock and contemporary Rock and how much Paul did and and Dave did to promote class classic rock and contemporary Rock and and look at how many people discovered these great bands and great performers through Letterman show I mean I didn't know anything about Warren Zeon until David Letterman started talking about him I knew very little about Foo Fighters and you can f in a lot of these different vintage trouble if people have never watched Vintage Trouble on Letterman you have to go to YouTube put in David lman Vintage Trouble as Dave said they they blew the roof off the dump they were in incred band I mean so much Charisma you got to check out Vintage Trouble well I mean you know uh when St Paul and the Broken Bones were on I was like holy crap that was one of those you know I had it on VHS I rewound it watched it rewound it watched it I don't know how many times I watched them do that performance bought the CD and uh just over the summer you like a month or two ago I was in uh Texas at the state fair and they were performing for free and I saw them and it was amazing and I wouldn't have gone to it hadn't been for Dave you know and uh yeah I know mik has talked about that group called The Heavy the heavy was great on there oh I love the heavy to this day they just released another uh another uh batch of music not too long ago and I mean I wouldn't have known about them if it wasn't for if it wasn't for Letterman and they're one of my favorite bands of this day um yeah I mean watching Dave break bands and break Comedians and things like that was was was so good um do either of you have Samsung have you been watching the fast at all like I don't have peacock up here in Canada and I don't have uh I don't have a Sams TV so I haven't been watching it ironically my parents have um are they doing the same thing like do you hear Paul and the band playing at all or is it all is all the music stripped out on the same way it is for Carson it's um uh the the few times I've watched it um they were doing like a best of Oprah Winfrey and it was uh clip segments and then I saw some of the best of Jim Carrey and then I saw some of the best of um um rert on the street doing that and then there's one other and it's a they compile like five 10 minutes worth of clips and play them and so no it's like they don't go to you know they don't go to Paul and they don't come in and out of commercial breaks and they haven't been doing you know entire episodes yeah mus think they would yeah there's the issue with the music rights just like with Carson and and I don't know how it works on on YouTube though because like if you watch these Carson Clips on the official Carson YouTube channel they will have musical acts on there and you do hear Doc in the band and stuff so I don't know if they pay less for YouTube rights musical rights or I don't know how that works yeah I don't know how they get around that because it's different it's not over air it's U it's yeah it's I don't know how they get around it it's the ones and zeros yeah I I I mean I know there's a lot more flexibility with YouTube like for example like up here in Canada um I had a I was able to you know for whatever reason one of our our cable providers they wanted to do some local access stuff and so they took I think it's 30 of our Letterman podcast episodes and they've put them up on on on on streaming so through the cable system you can actually find it and you can actually uh watch it there but I can't do another season the reason I can't do another season is I won't change my set so now be this wasn't the case earlier like you know a couple years ago or a year and a half ago when we when we when when they took the 30 episodes um they they said my set was fine but now they're saying well if we're going to do that again you have to have separate episodes with a separate set there are certain things on your set that are that are copyright and we can't show them on broadcast television and what we are is considered broadcast television so that might be part of it as well have you looked at them and said do you know who I am I'm Mike for Chism I'm not changing my set if you want the show you get the show if not I'm calling somebody else I don't know if there's a human on the planet that I could say those words to and it would work in the way that you're describing I don't think that that is uh something that that could happen irritable dance syndrome used to be on cable access did it really yeah we were on for I don't know 10 12 weeks or something like that and uh never I I mean we were can't remember what time we were on but we were in between like squirrels meeting in a cage and and some guy who likes to collect hammers you know and um I was talking to Mike about it I'm like I don't think anybody is seeing this and we uh we would put so much time into the video portion of it as you know we do it's because irritable dancing was strictly a well not strictly mainly an audio podcast yeah but we have a lot of videos uh on our socials and stuff like that so but it was just it was just too much work for two uh little people to see it so we we finally just pulled the plug on and they asked us again if we'd want to you know if you want to reup we want to throw it back on there again but I'm like I'm not changing my set yeah well that's yeah that's just it like you know part of the part of the thing here is is putting up these things that were official and I can't even imagine what's in your set that's copyright that they can't show that's it's it's literally okay so back there the Emy the Emy folder there's no way they would show the Emmy image for sure um even though this book here the CB The Late Show the um the yearbook as Rupert calls it yeah um the CBS logo is in the in the top corner there so even though it's not an official book that was ever released there's a copywritten logo you know there's part of the the Rolling Stone um they probably even though I could get permission from Mark Caren they probably wouldn't want you know his book Rupert's mug I mean I mean you name it um I got to ask you about the would you when you had irritable D syndrome on uh on on cable access though I'm super curious about that because your show like I can see why you'd say it is mostly an audio show because the way you produce that that's you let's give the shout out to you if anybody here has listened uh to an episode of the of the irritable dad syndrome Darren's the guy that puts all of the things together the fake commercials the sound effects all of the um you know the the the world of the IR irritable dad syndrome is a very produced world did you have to do anything extra to get the cable access version of the show done like were they different shows or were you able to make them what yeah they were different shows um they were totally different shows because uh we would have to we would still we still bleeped out or or censored out our our language and we didn't have to on we don't we actually don't have to on our audio version but we think it's funny when it's censored out so anytime there's you hear a bang or a quack or something that's yeah I think it's funny it is so but we would still have to do that but on the video version it had to be exactly uh an hour yep and some of our shows are 108 some of them are 45 right and for the for the for that version of the show we didn't have room to put put in the commercials with Dave L right right right I got that really bothered me because he is an integral part of the podcast people love listening to the commercials that Dave L reads he's our announcer and he's fantastic he's a long friend of mine and I was like it really bugs me that we're not having Dave and the and the stupid commercials that I write in there was he sponsored by wers Alby foot long hot dogs okay they've been our official sponsor for almost two years now it's not a product it's and I wrote that because of crystal clear party ice I was like I want a product just like Crystal Clear party ice to sponsor our show and it's wampers all be foot long hot dogs and the their slogan is uh get a ruler and measure it yourself if it's not a foot long they'll give you your money back guaranteed right and I have a neighbor who listens to the show he went to the local grocery store looking for wampers oh he he was asking the guy in the meat department do you have any wampers the guy didn't have a clue what advertising works that's proof yeah that's right that's right advertising works yeah it Bugg me it bugged me because I couldn't put Dave in our uh in the version that ran on cable access and it's a huge part of our show um you know what to Pivot just a little bit to bring it back to the barbar gain show I've had people asking me about the peanut butter that they uh what was the peanut butter that they were advertising on The barbar Kane Show as a sponsor the name of that peanut butter somebody was saying to me I've been looking all over for it I can't find it at all do you do you have an in for this peanut butter and I immediately when I watched the barber game show when they they brought up the peanut butter I thought oh this is funny they're they're incorporating gag products into this again I immediately thought it was a gag product I didn't think it was real and the guy was persistent he's like no I'm certain it's it's a real product and I I bet you it's great I'm like all right I don't know I don't know if that's but one of these days I'm going to be out and wi win irritable dad syndrome when it just takes off okay one of these days I'm G to be walking down the street I'm GNA see somebody wearing a wampers allby foot long hot dog t-shirt and I'm gonna know that that's a fan that's what happened to um I don't know if Steve talked about this on the podcast or not not he might have when we were at at dinner that night Darren I don't know if you know this or not but like the the um Steve Wier and and and Carl tman actually appeared on Letterman like in the first year of Late Night with David Letterman and they would show um f uh footage from something called Vespucci films and that's what uh uh King of the Z's the the the the student film that they did with with Calbert it was about vuchi films and and and they would um so so anyway they they they were it was all a gag all of it was there was nothing that was real about it but they they they recorded it and they presented it like it was all straight ahead uh documentary right similar to you know what would become you know it's it's common place today spinal tap kind of did it and and Albert Brooks did it and and and what not but that's what they that's what they did well years later somebody and I believe I was was it the Aspen film festival or or or was I forget which one it was it wasn't Aspen it was one of the other ones but suddenly Steve caught wind of the fact that there were Vespucci Studios shirts and merchandise and whatnot and he and Carl weren't getting a piece of it it was just fans who had decided to it become this thing it become this cult thing and we're going to talk about that when we do the king of the Z's thing um isn't it funny when people will take products I think about The Simpsons and and I think about uh Mr Sparkle uh you know that yeah um by the way written by donck KY a former Letterman writer uh and headwriter for that matter that that Mr Sparkle that was his um and and different little products that are in some of these shows that people will then take in bootleg and create merchandise for won't it be fun when someone does that for something from the irritable dad syndrome podcast it would that'd be great yeah um okay so you both have Samsung you both have watched some of the uh the the the the Letterman fast channel it's great it's awesome being because you know for the past 10 years and Rob I promise I'll let you speak here God Darren shut up no no it's great because for years now you know we've been watching Clips on on YouTube on our laptops or Y on our whatever but now we can watch it on our on our big screen TVs again it's great take away Rob yeah it is it is cool it's great to see it I well and yeah when I saw these articles about fast Channel I didn't know what that meant I I'll tell the truth I thought that fast was maybe tied in to lman auto racing or something like that but no but it's it's not but uh yeah i' I've watched a bit I haven't watched as much as I would like but um yeah and I know that uh Conan has his own channel on there too there's a 247 Conan Channel that's also available through Samsung TV so uh um but you you do have to they have commercials now and then so yeah you're seeing through commercial breaks but uh but yeah and Conan has been up there for maybe a year or two yeah is is is it TBS Conan is it is it it's TB it's just TBS Conan it's not it's not NBC Late Night with Conan and and well another thing I was going to mention you know you talk about the 11:35 shows and they get all the glory but you look at these the history of the 12:35 a.m shows and what Letterman did and what Conan did in that time slot and yes it would be it would be great if Letterman would have gotten The Tonight Show and all that but it is an 11:35 show and you have to there are I think there's more restrictions with those and you can be a little bit more crazy if you're at 12:35 a.m.

and some of the most groundbreaking stuff that was done by Conan and Letterman was at 1235 so that's I think that's another thing to consider but of course you know people they want to move up they want to get to 11:35 slot and it's more money and all kinds of different things like that and so a lot of people don't want to stay at 12 35 but there is a lot more freedom I think and so there are some advantages to that my God can you imagine if Craig Ferguson had been had been moved to 11:30 yeah I don't think no way no way he would not want to be more more mainstream no now the whole thing of them letting us do what we want um I think Ferguson's probably the uh you know the the ring leader of that concept the idea that he could do whatever he wanted nobody cared nobody was looking at what they were doing and Ferguson had the extra layer of protection because CBS you know even if they were looking it was a worldwide pants show and worldwide pants own that hour so they could you know as long as as long as the the pants brass was pants brass yeah as long as they were happy uh you know that's really all that mattered by that point you know as long as Peter Lali uh was was happy with what was going on there that was that was good enough for them whereas it's not the same although that being said I was just listening to uh you know a real podcast inside Late Night with Mark malov man my my word I'm so happy for him him doing a podcast again I I'm so happy about that and uh they had a writer and I'm trying to remember was it Ryman I don't think it was Ryman it was they had a writer who who had written for Fallon on both incarnations uh with when he hosted late night and when he hosted The Tonight Show and he talked about how different he's like oh yeah that joke could have gotten away at 12:35 it wouldn't get away at 11:35 same host you know and it's it's it's it's a completely one hour is a completely different world it's a completely different ball game it is and um you know to that point you can certainly see why back in the day NBC was wondering about Dave because that show you know wouldn't play and even though they did get a chance to do what they wanted to do at CBS The Grand Theater and all of that stuff it is a very very different show Late Show was a very different show than late night was it just it just and that was Dave still being able to do whatever he wanted to do because he walked over to CBS and didn't have the constraints that he would have had if he would have gotten The Tonight Show and NBC would have gotten control back I can only imagine the micromanaging that would have happened with Dave if that were the case yeah Dave would not be good with the micromanaging and I I'm sure yeah Johnny wanted him to take over but in the end it boiled down to the top brass at NBC and the executive frankly they I don't think they like being called pin heads and they they did not like the thing with uh you know Dave showing up at at the GE headquarters with the fruit basket and talking about the GE handshake and uh Warren Littlefield and the rest they didn't really like that and they saw Leno as more of a team player uh kiss up if you want to put it that way but but yeah Leno would do absolutely whatever they wanted to do and but people love Letterman because he is sarcastic and he does he thumbs his nose at Show Business Letterman thumbs his nose at management and all of that and he's he's kind of a rebel and he's on the on the outside looking in and all that kind of stuff so that's why people love Dave and and people can say well Leno had better ratings or whatever well yeah but still Letterman Letterman show is really memorable what Letterman did on late night and on Late Show I think it's much more memorable and it's gonna stand the test of time much more than Jay Leno's Tonight Show and I think Letterman is always going to be he's gonna be in the category of Steve Allen and Jack par and Johnny Carson for decades to come and I I don't think we can say the same about Jay Leno well yeah so many people have said that that Letterman broke broke the mold or not so much broke the mold but I mean Letterman show was very unique absolutely and sure yes he was sarcastic and and uh but over time I mean you saw how much he matured and uh and evolved into a gifted uh interview e right or interviewer interviewer me words yeah he evolved so much after he went to CBS was in that different he got in that different time slot and had I wouldn't say he had a higher caliber of guests of guests but I mean he did have you know my God that's when like Al Gore would you think Al Gore would have went on Late Night with David Letterman yeah he went on late show and then people started taking him seriously when he was in that and so he had to be more serious and he learned how to really do an interview and now now that he's on you know my next guest needs no introduction good Lord the interviews he does on that I mean oh fascinating you're outstanding really really really in depth you know and people look at the late night years and they think of the nor McDonald hey you got any gum you know that style and God what's Wild is like you look at a really old interview with Dave and he would inter interrupt the guests a lot yeah he was entertaining he was giving the audience something that they enjoyed but you know that's why Sher thought he was an yep so can I say that on this sure yeah I mean nobody's watching go ahead you say whatever you like oh yeah my next guest is so great even if you don't care about the guest if you're not a huge Miley Cyrus fan and I'm not but I'm gonna watch it because of David lman and he makes it interesting even he makes the guest interesting and and that's another thing too I mean Dave didn't get the franchise of The Tonight Show but do we tune in to The Tonight Show or do we tune in to see David Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon or does the franchise matter that much because to me it's all about David lutterman yeah that's that's who I want to see it's basically B Carter edit it's basically how Carter finished uh The Late Shift was you know that Johnny took the franchise with him that that that it wasn't it wasn't The Tonight Show it was Johnny Carson and and and uh you know that that that kind of brought it up for grabs at that point I asked you about peacock earlier because we don't have it up here in Canada Canada it's it's it's uh the rights are are completely different up here so we don't I don't have peacock I can see some of the shows on peacock through some you know deals that NBC Universal has made with Canadian networks and things like that so I've seen you know St Dennis medical and some of these other ones that are that that are um oh no ST Dennis is on uh is on um what's the uh what's the one with Steph Curry that's not an NBC right the I have no idea I don't know I don't know oh there's a step really um there's a show with step basketball player Steph Curry uh oh now I got to think about what it's I think it's on peacock only okay um anyway so I don't get I don't I don't have the service here the streaming service of of peacock but one would think that NBC would somehow find a way to highlight The Tonight Show on that is that not like a natural like to me that's like their franchise show that has gone on longer Saturday Night Live by a long shot it has like it has stood the test of time at The Tonight Show with NBC so long one would think on peacock they would have a you know some sort of like a Best of You Know type type situation with the with the Tonight Show but they don't have anything like that it it it well they do they do have some some Carson shows on there and I think that they do have some some of the Fallon Tonight shows on there but on peacock okay yeah on peacock yeah but and and yeah like we talked about before the the music is going to be stripped just like with Saturday Night Live yes they have Saturday Night Live episodes going back to 1975 but they have no musical guests and they don't have the the music coming back from commercials and things like that and some some of the various skits from SNL have been taken out too I don't know why but not all of the skits are on peacock but peacock even has they I got excited when I heard that they had some dick CIT shows on there but there's there's very few of them I mean maybe like six or eight dick cabat shows which was was really disappointing because I I really I mean his ABC show that cavat did was just outstanding but yeah there's just a handful of Dick cavat shows on peacock and I don't know why there are so few of them on there yeah super interesting by the way the Steph Curry show is called Mr throwback and it's on peacock but up here in Canada we've get it on one of our one of our networks um and just like a lot of the other peacock stuff yeah it's very very very interesting so the fact but it's it's funny to though how the fast channel the Letterman fast channel from everything I've heard about it um again like you mentioned it earlier one of you I think Darren did it's it's it's like conventional TV again it's like the old has become new again because you're watching there is no recording you don't know what's going to happen and there's commercials for it on it yes is it just 30 second commercials One commercial 10 are they like YouTube commercial what it like it's like a traditional two-minute break yeah but it's not complete episodes It's just these various Clips so it it's not completely like yeah what's old is new again it's it's not the whole show yeah you don't tune in and see the the opening sequence and the mon all that they have this transition where you see a lot of the uh the new Dave uh phase over blue really yeah and it's it's Paul's uh Paul's intro and uh Letterman TV flies in and then a bunch of Dave faces flies across the screen and then it zigzags and it cuts to something else and then uh I don't know whether it's a filler or just a transition before they load up another uh another five or 10 minute uh clip package but you know so it's like yeah you got time it's like you know I don't know if a kid these kids today remember watching traditional TV because we were explaining it to our kids you know you had to wait till the you know to the commercial came on to go to the bathroom you couldn't pause it if you missed an episode you missed it yeah you know you had to wait till you know summer to hope that they you know reran it I me you're constantly checking TV Guide to see if you know if the if it's going to be back on or whatever and they would run episodes two three times so but the world of streaming is just amazing and we're trying to get our kids to wrap around what it's what it's like now to watch anything you want anytime you want right there and my God we did not have that luxury but watching Letterman now you're right it's like you don't know what clip is coming up next and then when a commercial comes on yeah you go get get a soda go to the bathroom or check and make sure the doors locked I don't know what you do but yeah it's well now really I me the only appointment television is sports if you're big fan of the Detroit Lions you're going to tune in at 4:30 or whatever and yeah you're going to watch it at that time so that's that Sports it's it's like appointment television but no with other shows you don't really have that well that or local news CU When I worked at the the NBC affiliate here in Cincinnati you know that's the first thing that they would sell they would sell local news hard because you know people didn't record it and uh but I'm I'm afraid that's going away I don't know if it is or not but I know yeah I mean and that's the money maker yeah you you can pack it full of local commercials so that they definitely promote the local news and they so much these days is going over to the websites too they they promote the websites a lot on these local stations yeah we just lost our uh our our CBC affiliate uh local news it's uh you know since I was since I was born we had a television studio and we had local news like all the way I'm 48 now and we just lost it it's it's being broadcast out of Vancouver now our um our local news now it seems like it is it is certainly uh up here anyway it seems like it's certainly moving into into that and and um you know it's interesting there's a couple things about the fast that that it's combining a few things the idea of this old school mentality I'm super curious if all of these clips it it feels like all of these clips are not available on YouTube like it feels like there's a whole bunch of worldwide pants stuff now that is happening that hasn't been represented on YouTube at this point with the Letterman YouTube channel so that's interesting to me um that there might be clips that the only way you can see those clips is on The Fast and you can't really record them unless you have like you know the average person you can't just go and buy something that um you know you can hook your computer up like i' I've got you've got uh you know stream yard and some of the OBS things that you can hook up to your to these systems here and you can you know record you know uh terabytes worth of of data that way but it's it's not the easiest thing in the world to just hit record on the way that we were were used to so it's interesting that these some of these clips might not have been seen forever they might not have made one of Don Gill's um you know compilations they may not have gone onto the YouTube uh the Letterman YouTube channel at this point and and you got to you see it no real way to record it and it's gone and unless you want to wait till the loop comes back around again you're not going to see it again if you came in the room at the the wrong time oh what was that oh too bad so sad and that is like what it was when we were kids before we got VCRs I think that's very interesting that that's part of this that reminds me when I was when I was much younger and uh lived at home and I would be out if I was spending night at a friend's house or whatever I was doing visiting my dad something there were times where I had forgotten to program the VCR to record Dave and I would call my mom like can you record Dave for me and you could hear the Blank Stare on her face over the phone of uh time record I try to explain to her how to program the VCR and she said I I'll I'll probably be up I'll record it for you so what would she do is she would put the tape in and start recording like at 8 o'clock yeah and you have three and a half hours to fast for through and but you know what she's still recorded da so there you go so you got it there you go back in the day remember like like it was such a Highwire act um and and it was I recorded uh you know snls before I was you know of age to to be able to be allowed to watch them Saturday night's Main Event um and and and Letterman and I mean you know what if there was even a blip in the power a power outage for even just a half a second oh that was all gone because all you got was the flashing 12 then at that point yeah on on the VCR and it's so interesting that that we have seen this In Our Lifetime uh the other thing about the fast Channel that's very interesting to me that like you said the best of Jim Carrey things like that one of the things that I loved about watching you know Dave goes off the air in 2015 it's almost been 10 years how crazy is that right and and and at that point that's when Don Gill's Channel started really really expanding and what I love that Don did in most many if not most of his compilations were he did them in chronological order so if it was Julie Roberts one you literally got to see you know Julie Robert's first appearance yes Dave is an interviewer at that skill set at that level that experience level moving all the way up to the very end you know and everything in between and you saw the evolutions yeah and to me it created one of the reasons why I gravitated to it so much and I would take the effort to take it from the computer to watch it on the screen like it was back in the day you know it was it was harder to do that 10 years ago ago than it is than it is now and and and and I I loved that it was a new way to watch Dave because now you're watching yes you're watching the jokes and the things that happened then in the cultural references but then you're also watching the evolution of both he and whoever the guest was the Charles Groen compilation is a fantastic example of that um and you watch you know both these things changing and that's an element that they are putting into the fast um it's it's not the whole thing the way that Don would do it where he's a completionist and he would have the whole thing but but that's an element that they are putting in the best of Jin Cary you're seeing Dave and Jim you know evolving from his first visit before Dave was wearing glasses things like that all the way up to the last one where right uh you know both men are older and and and you know well maybe maybe not wiser but certainly more experienced it's debatable if car's wi yeah yeah he was final episode too Jim Curry was involved in that Monument top 10 on the final episode in 2015 that was incredible as you guys remember yeah just to see like Dave and Dave want to make sure it was the creme de La Creme all of his very favorite guests involved in that top 10 Julia L dfus and you know Dave I always thought you were a bit of an overactor with his hair and the weird walk backwards yeah yeah yeah yeah uh I I think we've said it on this show I'm sure I've I've said it before interesting Jim krey on the very last Late Show with David Letterman and he was the guest on the very last Larry Sanders show yeah that's right interesting yeah that's right yeah which is a long long long time ago but yeah um I thought that was I thought that was an interesting footnote I just well yeah anybody with any interest in late night TV has to check out Larry Sanders show yeah that is the ultimate show for a late night fan to watch it was so you know I loved Gary Shandling everything about Gary Shandling and I loved when he was guest hosting for Johnny and I remember he was so effortlessly great at doing that at least he appeared effortless e words me he appeared effortless in doing that and I remember you know when Johnny was leaving and uh I didn't really think that you know I I didn't know what I know now about Dave and being potential or whatever and I thought Gary would have been great yeah taking over the Tonight Show well I think he was in the conversation but he wanted to do Larry Sanders yeah yeah I mean you talk about Legacy and and and how these people that we love so much they've all blazed their own trail like really at the end of the day the ones that that we find iconic and many of us you know uh again it's not a slight against J like I I have people who criticize me sometimes about slighting J I don't think I attack Jay really at all I'm just very team Dave um agree you know I you know I definitely don't want to be disrespectful he's you know I God if there was if there was one gripe about Jay it's the fact that we never got to see him and Dave go at it again after 19 you know right after 19 you know 91 or whatever that last appearance was that's I loved watching he and Dave and Jay together and interacting back and forth with each other I love that I mean you know you can't deny that Jay works hard oh yeah I mean yeah nobody's gonna call him lazy nobody no he's a a phenomenal joke teller and joke joke maker and and he was you know clearly but I take a look at the ones that I love and a lot of the I want to say critics and writers and people who just I mean maybe it's an echo chamber and this is just who are all around me in my life or whatever but if you look at them they all had very um unique runs Johnny's run was extremely uh you know it was it was very it was its own dick cavitts was its own run it was very very different than Johnny and it was different Conan Letterman Gary shanding is another one Gary shanding you know the idea yes he could do he's one of the guys who could do this you know Seinfeld talks about the idea of the guys that do this job and and and and you know watches them you know the way that they tick um the line from Larry Sanders was it was rip torn's line you know the talk show host you know he's part man part desk you know it's a very unique person that can do this and the ones that I love like Gary shandling's run yes he's one of those animals that could do it but he decided not to do it instead he was going to make one of the smartest uh most groundbreaking shows on television with the Larry Sanders show that kind of you know took it apart deconstructed it in a different way and did the behind the scenes stuff as well and made it entertaining that way you know his run unique Tom Snider's run unique yes yeah so instead of doing what so many other people had done before yeah with hosting a talk show he did something just ridiculously unique on H with Larry Sanders nobody had created a show like that before so yeah you got to applaud him for that you know so did Dave when he when he created the only franchise ever this is some of the people on that on that on that thread again I just and I don't really I don't really chime in too much on some of these things but again Jay being number one they missed the point they missed the point there had never been a franchise ever that competed with The Tonight Show it didn't ever happen it had never happened before and Dave who revered the show was the guy that created that and I that's the part that some of these people don't they just they they they miss that they miss that part and that's part of Dave's unique Legacy in it in the fact that he left he didn't just take the keys yeah and then hand the keys off to somebody else you know neither did Conan although Conan was going to be slated to do that in my opinion Serendipity created something much better Team Coco happened because he lost the show because he lost the Tonight Show and now Conan's got this crazy unique uh Legacy that is wonderful and I mean I know Rob I don't know Darren if you listen to very much of Conan's podcast I know Rob and I both do and I mean they're fantastic they're so good and again would not have happened if he had kept The Tonight Show it just wouldn't have happened well Conan does this great if you go on YouTube he did the commencement speech at Dartmouth in um 2011 or 10 or something like that hysterical I mean he's killing he is just killing he is hysterically funny the whole entire thing and he his pacing was insane because he gradually would be less funny and then more serious and he closed with you know talking about how Johnny Carson wanted to be Jack Benny right and when he realized that he could be Jack Benny he became Johnny Carson right and he created The Tonight Show David Letterman wanted to be Johnny Carson when he was able to he did the same thing for himself just like Conan wanted to be Letterman and then created his own thing so he was his lesson was don't be afraid to fail because you know out out of the failures come these great successes and you won't know it at the time right and I'm like oh my God Conan that was the most amazing commencement address I'd ever seen out of from from Conan right and was not expecting it but it's insane so yeah I think with with Leno personally I mean I I really enjoyed Leno's CNBC show Jay Leno's Garage yeah that was because I I think that that's really his passion I mean his passion is classic cars and classic motorcycles and and he can be on that show yeah yeah yeah the denim shirts yeah sure so I mean yeah he could get the com comics on there and but that was really his passion I think was was the classic cars much more than just doing a traditional late night show so you got to give him credit for stepping outside the box and doing that show for CNBC and so uh but I mean but he knew that late night was a road where you could do really well financially and people talked about talked about how legendary Leno's work ethic is and and he would just he would Bank his uh Tonight Show money and go out on the road and uh use that money and uh so heard that he never SP any of it yeah yeah I hear it's all in his foundation now yeah it's by the way you talk about apparel Johnny Carson had his Johnny karts Carson suit line Letterman obviously you know amazing apparel right here available at the worldwide Pants Store and at rer G's hello hellodd deli.com how the hell doesn't Jay Leno have some sort of a deal with a denim shirt company how is there not you think he would they called the Canadian tuxedo you know with the shirt and the pants all denim yeah that guy would be yeah that guy would be up here uh you know doing his thing at the bay the the the Jay Leno denim collection available exclusively at the bay here in Canada that would be amazing um you know what talking about Letterman uh and and and uh fail talk about failure um somebody put it up on one of our Facebook groups I forget if it was yours or ours uh Rob but they put up um somebody recently asked John they asked John Stewart a question uh at one of the warm-up Parts oh Darren just disappeared hopefully he comes back um at uh at one of the um uh Daily Show warm-ups or it was afterwards with the the audience got to do a Q&A and they asked John Stewart about uh if he had gotten any good advice what's the best advice you've ever gotten and then John Stewart pulled out a thing from David Letterman and it was during um he was talking about how Dave was a guest on his on John Stewart's very last uh John Stewart show and Dave said to him he said hey this is before the daily way before The Daily Show you know John Stewart had a had a show that didn't uh it didn't pick up on syndication the way that they that they wanted and so it got cancelled and Dave said to him don't mistake cancellation for failure and and you go back and you think about how you know Dave had the Morning Show canceled and don't get me wrong those you when he talks about it now you could still feel the emotion there but at the same time you know the perspective though looking back going okay you know if Conan didn't lose The Tonight Show if Dave didn't have his Morning Show canceled if one of these things uh didn't happen they wouldn't be they wouldn't have this Legacy that we're talking about here to this day and Darren's coming back now um and and I think that that's a very very important point that you know sometimes people do mistake you know you know a a bump in the road for failure when really that bump is the thing that's necessary to kind of give you the trajectory to go to that next that next level sure yeah even with Johnny Carson people may think well Johnny was always rich and famous you know Johnny really didn't have problems he didn't have to pay his dues Johnny had a lot of failures he had a show called earn your vacation that was a flop he had the Johnny Carson show that was in Prime Time on CBS that was not successful so he uh he had a show called Carson seller which was local on an LA local affiliate and so that did not set the world on fire but yeah as you said people pay their dues and those quote unquote failures can pave the way to big successes too yeah absolutely um guys I'm really really grateful that we could take some time here during the holidays to to to just get together and to talk and to and to do this um I uh I appreciate both of you and your friendship and the support that you've given this show uh we're two and a half years we're you know in four months this this Show's going to be three years old and uh both of you were there right at the very very start and and and for whatever reason uh probably politeness uh encouraging me to do this encouraging um this to happen I just want to say thank you guys for being part of the ride here and and I want to do more of these Community shows I've got a few of the Letterman staffers who are game for it and and uh I just want to say like you guys were the ogs you were there right from the start um you know I think 2025 could be a pretty cool year for the Letterman podcast and and both of you are a part of that I just want to say thank you both for for for for believing in this thing right from the beginning or at least putting up with it well you're welcome and uh yeah I'm proud of everything that you've accomplished uh I've said it before you know when you started this I thought it was going to be a podcast with letter fans yeah um I really didn't think I had no idea you going to get the caliber of people that you've gotten on your show so damn yeah it's it's insane so yeah congratulations and you've done a great job with it yeah it's impressive some of the guests I mean my I think my favorites have been Paul and the other people from the band I mean the band members have just absolutely been fascinating I mean Paul and Anton and Felicia's episode was outstanding and uh will Lee being on a couple times oh man just really really interesting shows I I know Darren was show number one I think I was show number five or four or something like that so yeah we we were on the ground floor and I I'm picky about podcasts I listen to I've talked about my love for the the Carson podcast I listened to every single episode of the Carson podcast and just loved it but it's been the same with Letterman podcast I haven't missed a single episode and I I love it I love the we brought up Conan's podcast Y which I think is outstanding the Saturday Night Live one that Dana Carvey and David Spade do is really good but oh my God fly on the wall is a great podcast great yeah so I I'm Discerning as far as what I listen to yeah fly on the wall and they have Superfly on Fridays which sometimes tackle some really serious subjects but but that all of those are really good podcasts yeah uh well I appreciate this very very much and uh and like I said um we're stumbling forward and so for those who have who have put up with this show uh thank you for that and believe it or not uh we are trying to get better at them and hopefully that will uh that will be apparent sooner than later but really at the end of the day um I just I love both of you and and I hope that uh you know this this end to 2024 here is the last few days kind of trickle away uh I just want to say thank you for being in my life and and I can't wait for uh what 2025 has uh in store for all of us and C certainly you guys are a part of the Letterman podcast family as is the entire audience hey jump in on the Facebook group become part of the family um you know the whole thing about this is community irritable dad syndrome you guys are building a community Rob you've got multiple communities that have been built with the the uh the Facebook groups that you uh moderate with all the different genres from Comedy to you know the rat packs andat and those guys Carson and Letterman of course and um I just want to say thanks so much for for for doing this this is this is uh the internet really um all the three of us can remember life before the internet you know that doesn't that doesn't even like I look at like my youngest and and doesn't even understand what what life before the internet might have even looked like can't even fathom it right can't even fathom it and one of the things that I think it did more than anything is uh it brought people who have common interests together and and um it's still doing that to this day it's what it did at the very very beginning in its infant during its infancy and it's still does it today it just does it in better ways instead of just going uh texting back and forth with each other and then eventually the email and all this sort of stuff now we're getting to do it on a video uh visual way and and and bringing in people who are part of this like I I want to have a community show with Will Lee one day and and I mean you'll both be invited to that I mean I know you both love the music of it and will I mean you know we have will at will whenever we want him we can kind of have him as long as he's not uh you know too too busy and and and isn't that what the best part of the internet is is being able to connect and that's when used when used properly the internet can be fantastic it can be amazing I have a friend who he said he had to get off of Facebook because it was just too volatile and I'm like dude you were starting all the arguments you're using it wrong you were constantly jumping in there and starting like so as I was about to say that's the great thing about the internet when used properly you can become uh and make you can make lifelong friends like this yeah it can be very very volatile if you're getting into politics too much especially with uh this election that we just had yeah it's extremely volatile and people really get passionate about stuff but yeah I I agree with what you just said Mike it is great to just find people who are really passionate about this stuff and I know not everybody wants to take a deep deep dive into David Letterman or Johnny Carson or dick Cavit or Tom Snider not everybody does but if you can find other people who really like that stuff and who do want to really be analytical about it and who are just really passionate about it it's great it's great to run across people like that and and uh you've said Mike hey you're you're we're like uh brothers from another mother so I I think that's very true oh very much so and and and both of you guys I think one of the commonalities that I appreciate about both you guys is is like Rob with your with with the sites that you manage you make sure there's not a lot of negativity on there like you you you manage it that way and and for the most part I believe that you don't because you managed it so well at the beginning you don't have to do that very much now because the tone the culture that is set in these groups that you have again thousands upon thousands of members and pretty much everybody's nice to each other for the most part and it's just a way of setting the standard to do that and you know this show again I mean we're we're a celebration right we we don't talk about the dirt we don't go into the the cedy stuff because we want to just celebrate the good stuff and I think that that just makes life a lot better so thank you both very very very much for being here um obviously if you want Letterman merchandise go to the worldwide Pants Store go to the worldwide Pants Store or go to hellodd deli.com Rupert G still has stuff that the OG rert G still has stuff there as well um you know what this is the last Letterman podcast of 2024 and I couldn't think of uh two better guys to celebrate it with thank you guys very much this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike ch coincidentally I am Mike Chism thank you and good night night boys say good night you you can say good night good night yeah I thought you yeah good night bye overcoat and Underpants