Bill Shortridge Created The Art For Buh-Weet-Sings And The Morning Show Bumpers And Got Nominated For An Emmy

I'm Steve Young you're watching the Letterman podcast I was welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum I uh am really excited to have Bill Shortridge on the show today I've been wanting him for a long long time he has been um such a great admirer and little cheerleader behind us like just he would throw little things at us of encouragement words right from the very beginning and I just appreciate Shortridge so much for uh for for for cheering us on and and being a supporter of the Letterman podcast uh Bill worked for the David Letterman show so uh an NBC artist uh graphics artist guy uh in from a very very different time no computers and we get into that we get into the process of of of the way that they would create some of the art but he worked for the David Letterman show and uh really exciting to talk about some of the things um that that that he experienced working for that show the transition over to late night and then he also worked for Saturday Night Live and did a lot of stuff with Saturday night Saturday Night Live including something iconic um something I always wished was on a T-shirt and that's that's Eddie Murphy's butwe sings he's the guy that designed the album for that and uh we talk about that almost immediately uh he sent us an amazing present uh here it is right here but you know what we'll let you see the we'll let you see the episode and you can see what he sent us to do with the Emmy Awards uh with the David Letterman show unbelievable that that that he would send this for us really appreciate him so so much um and without yeah let's just get to it without further Ado the Letterman podcast is proud to welcome for the first time Bill Shortridge um Bill I'm very very glad that we're finally finally doing this thank you very much for taking time to uh not just be part of the Letterman podcast but you've actually you know you've sent some stuff we're going to go through some things together got a present here that we're going to we're going to open together that I haven't seen yet I've only just just now before the uh miracles of Zoom technology turned on I've just dislodged it so I can get into it but uh it's been sitting here for a week and I've been wondering what it is Bill Shortridge thank you so much for taking time to come on the Letterman podcast well thanks for having me it's been great uh you know getting to know Mark Caren has been a lot of fun and uh and some of the other people that worked with you guys uh with you and PUK and and and Ed and and whatnot I just had uh donck carry on and donck told me to make sure that I give you his highest regards oh my God yeah yeah he uh you you and he ended up uh at NBC together and you ended up somewhere else together I want to get into that in a minute here but we're there's a lot of regard out there for you and the work that you guys did uh thank you so much for your contributions to this thing uh is it is it does it surprise you that people are still talking about this stuff all these years later you know I was watching um a Band of Brothers it reminds me of that you're talking to all the all the original guys that were out there you know in the firing line and it's it's that you know it's it's I when we were doing it it's just it was just damn fun you know and you knew it was cool but there were other things going on and um the focus was really on the work and uh then you had the parties and uh then you watch the show and at the time though it was just um you know it was a j o and um and you did the best work you can in as shortest amount of time yeah I uh let's let's get into what the j o in tailed um you were a graphics guy back in a time where Graphics were completely different art comp yeah art was complet it was a different animal entirely um let's talk a little and you worked for NB so let's talk a little bit about what you did for them when you got the gig and uh and what your job description was well be before NBC I was an illustrator and a graphics designer and um I was hired at NBC uh to do illustrations for this kind of um uh internal manual that covered like every Department I don't think it ever got printed I I don't I don't know what but it kept it gave me I mean I was there 18 hours a day working on this thing with this guy Bruce um can we say names it's okay sure absolutely Bruce uh Basset I believe was babbit or Basset I think it was Basset yeah and this guy would Lumber all the way up to the 16th floor or something and then I would be waiting for the changes and he would come down about three and a half hours later and give me these ridiculous changes but but it was there and it was right across the the from puk's office yep so um one night Saturday Night Live was starting and he said you want to do some work for this too I'm like yeah it'd be great you know and I forget what it was I don't I don't know what the first um project was but after that I just kind of made the transition and when that book went away um it was fullon SNL and then the morning show came and I was just at the right place at the right time really yeah okay we're going to get to the morning show we're going to get to early Saturday night live uh I do want to do a little bit of a spoiler here and start with something else that just when I realized this was you it absolutely blew me away um I don't know if you can see that now if the audience can see that but oh my you talk about iconic right there um you know obviously you've been doing the job for a while now because we've gone through an Incarnation where where the cast leaves and and and the next cast shows up the the the Lauren Michael less Saturday Night Live but Eddie Murphy shows up there and and buck wheat sings might be one of the most iconic Eddie Murphy uh sketches on SNL and like I growing up I remember wanting this on a t-shirt wishing that this existed on a t-shirt um this is you you did this yeah yeah and it's you know it's just a there's a process you get you get you go into the NBC archives yep and they've got every all kinds of photographs there so you bring it out and you put it on there was this um mural paper I think it was called where you can apply any kind of medium to it so those um we would send a photo out get the print back two size trim it or whatever we had to do and then you apply tints or or any kind of um type treatment or you know to make it look like a real album cover I mean I don't know how real that album cover looks but it it did the job you know didn't he hold it like didn't he actually I I don't know if he held it or if it it went to a shot I I should have watched the sketch darn it uh I just remember when he announces butt wheat sings when he announces it he either puts it up or it just moves over to The Graphic and immediate pop immediate pop from the audience like like just now at that point people wanted to buy it you know yeah exactly exactly um oh a nice little piece of business in that one he did uh wook and ponub uh I forget the second one and the third one it was Betty Davis eyes but instead of like the way that they did the gag was it was wook and ponub and then they they put in graphics underneath it a subtitle of of of of of uh looking for love the third one was Betty Davis eyes but the subtitle was just a bunch of question marks and it was just a genius I don't know who wrote that but that was a genius piece of business there um you know the first time the first time I met Eddie Murphy we PUK had to break us up because we he came down it w I didn't know who he was and I'm just working on a show it's like two o'clock Friday morning and I've got my my tunes on my boom box you know one of those boom boxes and I'm into the work trying to get it done and all of a sudden out of nowhere my boom box volume to 10 it was it was so jarring because you're in the mood and I turn around it's this guy it's Eddie Murphy but I don't know who this guy is so we started going back and forth and PUK heard us and came out and that's how I met Eddie Murphy yeah wow yeah we didn't talk much to each other that's really fun um was was that the first piece of business you you did with Eddie was that the first or or was there other stuff as well um well it was Mr Robinson's neighborhood you know it's we did all the I mean we did everything you know from from that period y so it's was Jean Dominion came in after Lauren Michaels and then it was um was it dick wasn't it everol himself everol dick everol yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and PUK and I went up to it's a terrible story but it was funny and we were dying but jean demenan calls PUK and I up she wanted to meet everybody on the so we go all the way up I think 18th floor or something and um we sit down and she starts talking to us cuz puk's been around for a while so he's kind of a legend and um she leans back in her chair in the chair goes back all you see from behind the desk are her two feet her heels yeah sticking up it was it's we had to go pick her up and here's your new showrunner right here huh yeah new show runner that's right yeah yeah that's a great story um so by this point you're well established you're to the groove you understand the the the hours and the lifestyle and all of that stuff let's go back uh to when you got there and and and to the to the to Saturday Night Live early on the morning show um you know working in the iconic 30 Rock I mean you go into 30 Rock now of course inside it's completely different uh you know once you get into the upper floors but you know the lobby uh the entrance way the building itself broadcast history did you have did you have any Pinch Me moments oh yeah plenty I mean you you realized the people who walk through those Halls I I mean to stand there during a taping and all of a sudden you realize this is Sophia Lauren walking three feet away from you or you know whoever it was you know Don King I'm looking at his hair with my eyeballs you know it's like it all this stuff was was happening around you when I met Bob Hope one night and um I went up to get an autograph uh for from him and um just as he was about to sign the doors open up he was going to walk on so it freaked him out and you could there's Giller must have it someplace but you could see me and um when I came out I was adamant I'm like I'm not I'm just going to get his autograph I'm have him sign this so I show him these photographs and I just stuck it in front of his face he grabbed me by the arm he goes come here we go into his dressing room and I realized it's me and Bob Hope yeah in a 6x9 room or however big that you know and he told me all about the suit that he was wearing in this this photograph from the 30s it was really cool I mean that that's the kind of yeah you sit there and you're like oh my God this this happened today you know yeah yeah it's well and and and to go back to early Letterman the one thing that I that fascinates me about early uh Letterman stuff and as early as the morning show you had this mix of of of these upstart uh we don't know what we're doing doing uh you know to to borrow a phrase not ready for prime time player type type mentality but then completely um you know played together with Showbiz royalty and people who had reverence for old show business was a part of old show business you got your Hal gurny Jack Rollins you got these these these these icons who were there and the mixture of the two to me is really really interesting yeah well it was it was just you know the dotted line of all these lives came together at this place and they're all incredibly talented people and everybody got along yeah I mean they were so nice you know I've worked at a lot of different show and man it's not that nice you know it's like a family so that's what was cool about that everybody just loved each other um would you say the might be a strong word but no no no there's a lot of that it's a family like we talk about it like it's a family uh I certainly do um and and and it certainly feels that way uh and and by the way everything that comes with a family comes along with that you know some bagage well yeah like brothers and sisters uh it ain't always Rosy you know um and and and uh and that certainly can be uh can be an app description for for the team that was there but there also was that blood is thicker than water loyalty that was there as well and and it was it was fascinating uh it's a fascinating group and all of the um the eras of the groups you know certain writers left at a certain time certain classes within the show and its Legacy it's fascinating to go through those layers you were there at the very very beginning yeah um do you remember the first writer I I did a a piece of art for was Andy breckman wow yeah he was the first one it was kind of a takeoff on Goofus and gallon yep and um I did I did a really accurate portrayal of you know they're all they wrote the bits you know yeah but da didn't think it worked so we got he wanted more of a comic book look and that's when Aran Schumer came on board right arand Schumer I forgot to add him to the to the to the team as well I mean and and and when it comes to comic books and all of that arand uh yeah that that's the perfect guy that's the perfect guy to add to that um okay so SNL early days of SNL was it was that one of the main things that you were working on and was it hard to get used to the lifestyle in the hours the lifestyle was already there you know I was staying up till 2: and you get up you know y as late as you can y but uh you know living in New York I'd get a phone call at 3: in the morning and say we're down at florant let's you know and you get up and go so the lifestyle was there yeah it's just um the schedule to make the work you know because you you'd have the read through I think it was Tuesday yep and then um PUK would come down and we'd do a game plan and then uh you start Wednesday it starts ramping up and now you you know think about it Wednesday Thursday Friday and then Saturday is just everybody's working with these pieces so they you watch rehearsal and um uh you see if it works and if it doesn't work you make a call to the studio or they call us or whatever it was but but it was tight four days to to do that I mean that wasn't even the biggest part you look at like Akira Yoshimura and um Keith Raywood and those guys what they did with sets yeah that's Monumental it's like building a city in four days every week absolutely well music music costumes the whole nine yards like just how everything would come together uh insane uh did you do a lot of Weekend Update stuff um yeah whatever the graphics were behind them yep I remember one I don't know why I remember this it was called Short Change in Sweden Switzerland and it was a really complex graphic that took the full day to do and back and forth and back and forth but um all that Graphics the over the shoulder Graphics stuff for the Talking Heads so we did all that stuff yeah wow even set pieces too if if they needed some kind of a a graphic for a wall you do it to scale and then they just have the painters translated to the wall wow that's uh cool yeah that that's some like again far out stuff and and leading technology for its time in television like like that's the thing you you you were at the cusp of all the Cutting Edge stuff for for a while you rode that that wave for a while um the I was at the graphics department when they got their first FA machine yeah so that's you know that was like really you can do that you know feeding like a zeros um so SNL uh was that the main thing that you did until the morning show came along yeah yeah so it kept and then the morning show there was also a guy named Frank aloys yep who uh did a lot of those bumpers as well that nobody talks about but that guy has been he was he was with NBC since the early 50s with my dad my dad was in NBC too and um uh he did a lot of these great illustrations for the bumpers U I'm sure Don can come up but you you see it's it's more of a a pen and ink and wash it's a different like I'm my style is kind of chunky yeah you know with the the those Graphics they were like big thick lines and and little Bolder and his were a little more finessed his drawings and so you can see the difference well and we'll get into that here I'm gonna I'm going to definitely show um some some some examples of of some of the things that you did uh but when the morning show came along um do you remember the early days when you know the the previous show or executive producer I guess you know they call them showrunners now but the executive producer that had come in and and and uh didn't have the vision the same vision that Dave and Merill had uh did you see much of that no no I was removed from that stuff so when you came in Barry sand was already kind of installed and yeah who who did you um who did you interact with you know in those early days uh was it with Barry directly or was it with uh some another staffer that was in charge of kind of your section your your part of the store no it's usually we Ed Hall was the liaison the basically aison he would come back he knew how both places worked he was really well-versed I mean he went out all the shoots and um so he would come in with the project or sometimes the writer would just come down whoever the writer was and just come Jerry used to come down um I mentioned Andy Sandy Frank and Joe topplin um yeah it was I mean my brain I can't think of every no no no it's all good so so but that no this gives a good indication though because a lot of the time working directly with the writers the writer saying hey we got an idea for a for a for a piece here and this is the graphic that we'll need for it like you're dealing directly with them not with like a headwriter type type type character yeah yeah it was unique yeah um Saturday Night Live the writers um came down once in a while yeah but not as often because I think a lot of people too were enamored with the whole Graphics thing yeah it's like this place makes magic you know look at that you know look at that thing over you know it's like all this all this artwork were was in various stages um being created as they would come down and and some would come down it'd be next thing you'd see a finished piece of artwork and it blew people away yeah it was F what was your what was your office like was there more than one person in there did you have a big drawing table in there as well uh was it a department where it was kind of uh workstations and you all kind of work together you had a giant table in the middle yep where you could do big pieces and all around that were the offices gotcha so you know you just go in and out but the office in my office I had the Frank Alo was in the office and they put us there because we were both working on that morning show so they kind of try to organize the human I gotcha yeah um the morning show showing up did that disrupt your schedule very very much because you had been on a Saturday Night Live kind of a a timetable that's the majority of your work suddenly the show that is live or essentially you know that's that's that's early morning now and uh and you're a part of it did that change your timetable very much yeah but I was usually after the show we were going out anyway right you know so I was just tired all the time you know but but I had a lot of fun you know you go down in the mud club or something you know it's I didn't go to all the Saturday Night Live parties I I had another Circle that I hung with right yeah but uh like and I mean I I think that there's so much fascination with New York at that time um you know it's so Whimsical to hear the idea that I think it was I think it was it was Acro and Belushi that had their own little little hole in the wall after after after party spot right you ever go there no you never went there okay heard about that was before my time that was yeah yeah there's a couple stories that I've heard but since they're hearsay okay probably shouldn't we'll we'll we'll tell them on the phone yeah um um okay how about a couple of the stories that uh that you feel comfortable telling from SNL After parties I mean they're they're legendary um I don't know were they less legendary after Lauren left or no they kept on trucking on that well they were legendary but you weren't there with I mean you were there with that you know that cast and I didn't know a lot of the cast they came in they're like all they were all new you know Y and um I mean even at the time Joe Piscopo was and Eddie Murphy like I said I didn't know who he was you know so you go to the Afterparty and you know oh he was the guy on TV just a little got it okay you know I didn't know his name I forget his name but I yeah was uh was it was there a lot of pressure at that point working for the show I think if you you uh stepped back a little bit there you would feel it but I don't remember feeling any pressure I mean once in a while you rush like there's that we saw that graphic with the steinbrener thing you know that was like a rushed graphic and it's it really doesn't work because everything is kind of the same tone yep the contrast isn't there you know for TV to pick it up and um so it was just that kind of thing it's like you gota we're going to tape in 20 minutes this thing has to be fixed you know just you're you're you're it's it's too fastpaced to have pressure you just gota that's right just keep going yeah yeah and then it get down we've had Carson on the show of course uh you know we've talked a lot about the bumpers on late night um obviously that was an evolution you know because I mean there were I would say that there were there were definitely humorous elements to late night's bumpers but the the morning show um you know a lot of the bumpers were Flatout jokes they were just a joke that would be that be thrown up there a one card joke a you know whatever you want to call it a one-frame joke um and and we're going to get into some of the ones that you did he but before we do I'm just curious do you remember the decision being made to insert jokes into the bumpers I mean you know famously with Johnny Johnny's bum bumpers would be whatever a graphic and then more to come when the morning show showed up it's like no no no no we're going to we're going to take that element and we're going to make it into something and spin it do you remember the decision to make that that made that well no they would just send the title of the bumper yeah down right so know your doorknobs I think was one and um they would just send that down and then I would come up with the visual I want to go through some of those right now if that's okay with you um I want to I want to show the audience and we'll uh for for the YouTube audience uh you're going to be able to see all these things that's my favorite popup book that popup book okay so that's a comedy piece right there that we're looking at D Duncan yeah uh yeah I'm a dancer yeah and uh anyway okay so like this is a bumper in between commercials here right so they they always had that you should know was a title we already we already had that set up right so you can stamp it was called hot press you would press it onto the board and then um they would just send down bus terminal lockers make great weekend guest rooms so then I come up with that visual so there it is you're your your job is to interpret the joke and then translate it visually and hopefully you can you can take the the words and make it uh even more humorous everybody's happy there that's for sure um you know great they make great guest rooms great yeah they are they're clearly great I love this one this one here is one that I remembered because it it had circulated around um it's just such so this you you see the the right side as you're looking at it you see his hair kind of is like a strange cut it's like just so that's where the camera would go in and crop and he would be coming off the screen or or off from the right y but that camera would prop that edge off of him and come into 3x4 and that's how that okay love that one uh go I gotta ask odonnell if he remembers who who who uh I know I guess odonnell wouldn't have been there at that point Jerry might only guy might oh Steve o'donell was there uh for the morning show Steve um I think he showed up early late night so Jerry Mulligan might be the only one who wrote that's yeah I think you're right it's such a funny turn of phrase like one of your aunts is your cousin's mother is such a a letterman turn of phrase like it's it's worded so well um and here's your handles again just a little strange well it's good to know this guy look at that guy he's eager he is that's the guy see that's what you're try okay what does a guy who would buy a burnt out light bulb look like yeah you know that's that's the that's what you got to solve right he's into it right he's a collector oh yeah he is into it he is he's been it's like a record if you go back it's like a it's like a record collector you know it's like finally after 40 years I found this record but you can see now the these are all the way we did this this is all cut out paper y so if you see his button that's a little piece of paper that's a his his collar his head that's just cut out and put on that black that background okay so let's let's go through the exact yeah so let's go through the exact process so the green board is is is there uh the helpful hint is a stamp right or a it's a it's it's something hot press called hot press hot press right okay same with the text down below as well yes okay and then what you draw you draw the uh the hand with the light bulb or or the guy with the fiber you draw that on a just a white piece of paper and then cut it out and put it over top and just put it all together like that just adhere it to the board yeah yeah you know yeah no such thing as Photoshop or or adobe there was no Adobe back then I don't know if they were around or not but Xerox barely was um so this kind of threw everybody uh they I didn't think it was was going to go but um it did just because it was guys like okay so that's my question yeah VY Boots Are Back In Style okay who makes the decision to make it guys is it is that you is that just going okay this will be fun that's I did that and I remember Jerry I think this was Jerry's wellan yeah yeah and um whoever the writer was came down and and looked at me and said are you kidding really and I said well I could do it again you know you I'll make I'll make them pretty women or something you know and uh it went he took it upstairs and it was fine Dave liked it so oh that's fantastic that is absolutely fantastic yeah um another helpful hint yeah there you go yeah yeah you know it's a good practice sure absolutely you want to make sure the ones that the it land on your food or or clean um okay and so now and then the next stuff is is is comedy pieces so I'll stop the share for now and then we can get into a couple of the comedy pieces that you did because those are like the pop-up book we showed we previewed that earlier um that's another piece entirely um how many of those bumpers do you think you did oh God I don't know you could probably figure it out by by the shows you know at four you know how many shows were there yeah it was it was was it six weeks worth four times you know some they used over and over again you know but uh that's I don't know I have no idea okay but but you did quite a few of them like that's just a smattering of there a ton of work that came out of that Graphics Department I'm telling you I can't I wish I saw it all lined up yeah oh that would be cool to have that the that kind of that Legacy shot in your mind of of seeing everything that would be really really cool everybody down there did amazing work you know yeah yep and you guys were you guys were recognized for that a bunch of times too right you guys were decorated well let's talk about some of the uh the recognition you guys got back then you've got a an envelope there that okay is perfect for that yeah is this good this is good timing yeah it should be a good time all right we were nominated twice oh okay so oh I got take that tissue off I'm going to I'm going holy smokes okay so you were nominated twice for Emmys right one was for the daytime and one was for the uh prime time for L and what's the uh what's the category best art Direction in a variety show yeah it says it in there you got you got all that stuff in your hand oh my god oh I got goosebumps right now okay this will be interesting let's see if YouTube lets us show the the Emmy statue at I think it'll be okay so it's a folder yeah with the Emmy statue in Gold there's some stuff in there too so it could slide out so the original telegram that we got uh for the morning show is on your desk right now oh we got go Western Union telegram is it there's a telegram right there mail mailgram mailgram mail Gam congratulations the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is pleased to advise you that you've been nominated for a 199 1980 1981 Daytime Emmy Award for the David Letterman show outstanding indiv individual achievement in are any area of creative technical uh crafts graphic design the winners will be announced during a special cocktail party the awards presentation on Tuesday May 19th at 6pm at the Copa Cabana yeah it was at the oh my God it was at the Copa tell me you went to that party so oh yeah we so we went to that um it was PUK and I and um we were up against you know I mean well we weren't up against everybody it was all daytime soap operas and game shows and you saw Susan Luchi you know and and I think the host of uh I like the host of the the prime time emmies I forget who they were but they're in there and you see you know it's just great to be in the Copa Cabana with this cast of characters it was so fun oh my God here's the uh are you yeah I kept it all yeah I don't know why people do is that the ticket the ticket the ticket for the uh for the Emmy right there so you can get in they don't know what I look like they might remember no problem oh my God and I can't thank you enough for this and then there's the uh there's oh you got to send it back invitation card I gotta send it back okay I'm kidding yeah that's right I would yeah I would oh my God this is amazing thank you so so so much I see that's the map so NBC flew us out to uh la for the prime time Emmys that was the map they they enclosed in the in the instructions yeah there you go there's there's what the app used to look like everybody no such thing as a as a GPS or a Garmin Garmin is even dating myself that is unbelievable and then the oh so this is the program from the Emmys right so the morning show is just me and PUK yeah but at at the prime time EMS it was me PUK and Arland Schumer so we went out there I think I sent you a picture of the three of us uh would you have emailed me that I think so okay I gotta I gotta see if I can find that one I'm gonna throw it up I'll throw it up right now for everybody else to see uh in the show but um that night we oh yeah look at that that's the bumper sticker for our car so we can park an Emmy Award nominee right there oh God oh my God this is incredible incredible and did you guys win for anything no in fact the the prime time Emmy so the guy comes to us we sit down we're at our our table and we were at a table with another Graphics uh guy from some documentary on submarines or something I don't know but um the Emmy people come over to me and PUK and Arland and they said could you come with us you know and they canceled our category they they just didn't we're not going to award this category because there's only there were only the two people n or the two teams nominated right were at our table there was nobody else like well why why you what you know so they they canceled it they didn't even um entertain that that category that's a bunch of that's what that is it was it's a bun so that night during the day we were running around and we hooked up uh somehow I forget I think it was PUK that hooked up with I go over I go get drinks and I go back to the lobby and there's PUK yucking it up with like eight motorcycle gang members and I thought it was odd and I sat down and we got along with these guys it was fun you know and so just before we went up to my room um I forget why but we went up to the room and um then I said well guys we got to go because I gotta I got to get ready you know to the event and um so they leave and I go to the um the award ceremony and I get back about 12:30 and my door has a piece of tape on the lock and I go in and all those eight guys are in my room sleeping and I'm trying to wake them up and I can't wake them up and or they're just ignoring me so I went down to the lobby and I was going to sleep there but they wouldn't let me and then um I think I woke PUK up and I ended up sleeping in his chair yeah but it was a fun trip it was um pretty cool that was my first trip to La too where did you grow up I grew up in the bowels of New Jersey yeah actually north central if you cut New Jersey in half right dead center the Garden State excellent yeah um did you uh and and and attended Fine Arts Fine Arts University I went to um uh a Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts that's where I studied illustration and then I would do courses at SBA and art students league and various um there were some groups that uh you know life drawing and that kind of thing so it was just but I hit the ground running before I was out of school I I scored my first gig in New York you wow yeah it was fun did uh did you and Merill connect because she obviously she went to art school as well that was where her her her uh and I love the stuff she's doing now I don't know if you've ever seen any of the stuff that she's doing now on her substack but lots of graphic novel type type stuff she's using illustration uh very very well um you know in a in in a in a graphic novel type type state but only like a Page worth you know you got a page here and like there there to uh to illustrate some of her amazing writing she's an unbelievable writer obviously obviously and um and so she is using a lot of that did you two ever connect over art I didn't know that yeah yeah I'm just finding out about it now that's where she came in for um yeah I that's I I was super curious about that by the way here's another thing teaches how to tie a bow tie the instructions to tying a bow tie uh which could have been done by you that could have been you could could easily been yeah a bumper yeah yeah that's right but that wasn't in the package I'm just sending it to you because I I think you can spruce up a little bit and so well oh I need oh God uh Steve Weiner yeah it tells me all the time I should I should do the you know I'm not so sure about the jacket with the T-shirt I'm not so sure about that Mike it looks good it look good um this is incredible thank you so much for this I I I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it and we're going to start uh oh and by the way let's talk about this here real quick as well um I love that I love artists and and and hanging out with them because of the quirks and and and the eccentricities and the the the things that inspire you never know what's going to inspire and what's going to make somebody go down a path and create something visual artists uh you know in particular do that so you gave me this just before Christmas and this was part of a a project that you did and I'm super curious uh about this postcard project can you talk a little bit about it I yeah I just uh I sent it out there just on Facebook and I said who wants a I'm going to do random portraits of Po postcards with random portraits on it who wants one yeah and I got 44 people uh saying that they wanted a postcard and three of them just for uh no reason um other than oh here's one that I can draw you know was like you and I think I did my friend Enid and um there was one more but I forget who it'll come to you yeah so three of us got got self-portraits and everybody else got uh a rando of some sort something that just came out of your head yeah uh and you did 40 42 of those you did 42 random ones or whatever it was 44 right okay so what what caused that um a postcard like this you know really really really good obviously uh you know I mean the amazing skill how long does this take you uh they're you know a few hours uh couple hours maybe maybe yeah some didn't some take longer than others it depends on my frame of mind you know what uh what what inspired it just to see how many people did you expect 40 some odd people to say I did a portrait of um I I I draw a lot you know sketchbooks and and I just did a portrait of somebody who I knew and I was really like I have lost my chops here what's what's you know it looked awful I'm like I have to practice again I gotta keep going yep and um so I just sent it out there I don't know I don't know how I thought of it or what but you just random it was great it was a great exercise and it was really neat and and on your Facebook there is a uh uh there's a really quick uh flutter going through the whole thing going through and uh and I really enjoyed that there was a couple that I thought looked like people one in particular I thought looked like David Bowie but I wasn't sure um didn't I'll do Bowie if you want but no no no I just I'm just that was that was one of the ones that I saw and I was like oh there there's some that that looks recognizable to me um who are some of the people that inspired you like like you know I I look at your stuff and I'm thinking okay I could see like they're being like like political cartoon type stuff like I could see you being a contemporary of someone like Bill Waton uh you know did the Calvin and Hobs and and things like that were there a lot of like like Shultz uh things like that that inspired you is that what you why you got into the game I go I go back to the you know the early part of the 20th century with um JC line decker and NC wyth and you know Howard pile and those guys but then you come back up and you got like Kobe Whitmore and um you know the more of the Norman Rock generation but you've got all these guys that that uh like 50s you know Saturday evening post you look at the Saturday evening post and every week there was a masterpiece on that magazine cover yep and those are the guys that I mean all the ads there were no photos there were no you know until the 60s came along but everything else was Illustrated yep and um so that's the stuff that really uh we used to go to when we were in school we used to uh take a trip and they still do this the illust trer Society in New York City I think it's 52nd Street I think but they would have two shows a year and um one was advertising one was editorial and you would go in and there's a Frank fretta right there on the wall or or you know any of these masterpieces you know Mark English or Bob Peak and and all these incredible artists um and that was in the 70s you know yep but uh so that's where um that's what really really inspired me but as far as TV my dad used to take us in when we were kids you know the graphics Department uh early on was down on 18th Street and they moved it up to I guess they did it in the mid 60s or um yeah I did I think the late 60s they moved it up to Rockefeller Center yeah but he would take me in all the time and I would see how this worked you know and then he takes us to the studio and I met Lamb Chop in person by the way that yeah and um Jimmy Dean there was a Jimmy Dean show Y and um he took us in and Ralph the like the first Muppet we met Ralph yeah and I somewhere I have a Ralph signature which should be good it should be worth it but but yeah that's so those those two angles of influence are what you know yeah ins ired me I I mean everything I I love what I do it's like an amazing thing to do you know I I look back at uh we we've had a few people on the show who who who have expressed this sentiment uh back then TV and production uh it kind of was for a lot of people a family business there's a lot of folks who are second and third generation and it's a c cameraman you know like or or or like in this case you're an artist or in the graphics Department the visual Department uh hosts for for goodness sakes I mean I mean you know it seems that there's a lot of folks who carried on the family the the family business the family tradition um you were you were just mesmerized by it watching your dad you just loved watching him go to work and seeing the things that he did well yeah but then he would like um like Charlie brro which was one he's one of the most he's the guy that developed Daredevil you know he he had all these um uh was it Marvel was D is marble absolutely yep so he was there and um he he did a portrait of my brother he didn't have time to do it for me but you go and you see these things and I watched uh this and maybe if you're not an artist you don't know the name but but most artists know who Charlie brro is and there I am sitting watching him do a portrait of my brother that's like Bernie Ritson or Frank fretta you know he's like he was right there and um uh that's the stuff that rubbed off on me and then you know it's like when I was in still in art school when my dad brought me in and I sat there with PUK and um uh I was just watching him how to do it you know and he's doing he's working on a tomorrow show so he goes well why don't you do a couple pieces so I did um my very first hold it I have it right here I was going to get him framed you want to see him yes are you so this is the these are the very first pieces I've done for television they're kind of Dusty I guess on and it's for Tom Snider's tomorrow show yeah so there's that I've got a protected there you go we got to take a picture of that and send it to anarie Snyder she will get a a huge kick out did you send it to her okay good send it to Annie I may that's fantastic at least I wanted to that's one y so this was in 1976 it was for the bicentennial and wow all right so that's all just cut out paper you know and the stars are hot pressed and tomorrow is hot pressed now back then you do a piece of art for something it gets used and then discarded you get as the artist just get to take it home has that changed over the years yeah when they shot it PUK gave it to me or he sent it home with my dad I think oh yeah that was pretty cool yeah that is really cool that you would have that still and and well it was just coincidence too cuz Sunny Hansen who was the the producer back then y he uh came down and Po's like hey this guy this introduced us he's like look what he did he goes well let's use him and they used them that's how it happened pretty cool oh super super super cool and the fact again the fact that you uh same with Carson too he's got so many of his bumpers and I'm so grateful that that is the case that the artist actually gets to hang on to it and it doesn't just become the property of the machine that you're feeding well there that's um yeah I don't know I'm really thrilled that markk was able to swing that because I remember Arland uh triy to take his art yeah and they gave him a hard time I don't know if he ever walked out with it or not but um they they gave him a hard time oh that is so um but I don't know it be interesting I should I should ask him because uh yeah he should have um did he such a good artist oh well arand absolutely absolutely um did humor enter your art immediately like was there always stuff that you would do that would be for you know that would be with a with a with a slice to it or a take on it a hot uh you know humorous take or is that something that that was the assignment and so you developed that skill yeah I've always done stuff when when I was younger you know I think that's what helped me fit in you know that I didn't take too much too seriously y it was just uh you liked the escue um did did you find the morning show strange um I was excited it was my first TV job yeah really I mean it's like that that other job they brought me in for was not a TV job it was a book you know Gutenberg Bible basically that guy but um uh I was it was so exciting to me you know and I think the first person I met on the show was Mar odonnell who was Dave assistant at the time and um and Darcy and uh yeah there just um did you know Barbara gains oh yeah yeah yeah I love those guys and Jude y yeah it's um Kathy vasapoli and uh um gez I can't yeah so many she she she married well oh yeah what's his name I know what's his name yeah that's right Bal guy yeah it's Paul schaer's wife we're talking about everybody yeah should get that fixed yeah um okay and then but everybody was so sweet on that show you know Kathleen anchors you know they're all Geniuses too you know that's the on top of that y incredibly talented people well and that's the thing that's the reason why we do the show is because again you know D as far as I'm concerned um and many many who who who would say the same thing David Letterman is most gifted broadcaster that we've ever seen he can ever effortlessly go from a communicator from something incredibly serious to light-hearted to hilarious um the Curiosity that he has I mean just an incredible broadcaster but this show isn't just about that it's about the greatest body of broadcast work in history that of David Letterman and Company and the company were all we're talking top shelf whatever department they were whether it was Art whether it was writing whether it was music you know Paul in the back unbelievable at just everybody at the highest level producers were producing at the highest levels that's right and and and um and and that's why we do this show it's it's and and the the DNA of it so much of the DNA that made it to the end was there at the very beginning like you mentioned a bunch of people there who made it yeah you know a huge way into the run or to the very end of the run you know Barbara and Jude you know to the very very end um uh I'm I'm super curious when you saw the product and how different it was for something that had ever been on at that time of day or really in many respects different from anything that's ever been on um did you have any commentary at that point going oh this isn't going to last very long or was it just so balls to the wall that you were just you had no time to even think about that I thought it was I I you know right from the beginning I knew Letterman was a little different because his uh PUK designed his um stationary I think I think it was right and I remember he wanted a coffee ring you know like you put your coffee mug down so he had that printed on his stationer it was just I'm like oh good we finally have some there's somebody here that's got a a sense of humor you know I mean other than just plain jokes you know this guy really the irony and it's yeah so I was shocked when it was cancelled actually you were okay that was what I was going to that's what I was going to ask it was it was shocking to you cuz well and I mean the quality of the work speaks for itself I don't know how many uh folks that come out of the woodwork Conan O'Brien you know being one of them who who remember the morning show and just zeroed in on it immediately as something that is completely different completely original and and wildly entertaining um you know people people felt that way about it but it didn't hit the general uh you know the the it wasn't pop music and it needed to be po music that time of the day do do you know what the viewership was uh it wasn't very high I know I know that that that they were pretty excited about game shows after I believe they did three game shows right after it right right um but uh that being said you know like you said the you know the pieces were all in place it was just a matter of how we executed uh before I before we go to late night did you um have many encounters with Dave at the morning show did you encoun have any encounters with him at all zero zero zero there it is okay I was just a Hired Hand yeah you know there was no there was it was um um it wasn't like I wasn't up there on the 14th floor I think it was 14th floor yeah 14 yeah and and like you said Ed Hall was the liaison right right so so he's a guy that I'm trying to get on the show here I we we we've talked a little bit we've exchanged a couple emails back and it was a yeah when the timing is right and I you know what now that we've had you on here I think the we got to nudge him again and see if we can yeah AB oh absolutely I want to have it it on here very very much so um you know because he's got a story into himself like you know working for late night the way they did moov it over working for Jay coming back and doing some stuff I uh Ed Ed's got a fascinating uh tale inside of this larger story yeah I yeah I had a few nights with that that um yeah we just let that trail off we'll just let that trail off um okay so the show is cancelled um you just basically you're an NBC guy anyway so you're going back and they're keeping you guys busy doing other things in between the time of the show being canceled and late night being announced right so yeah I would do NFL I would do NBC News I would do you know whatever programming needed to be done I even did the few radio ads for radio uh cuz uh we were on the second floor the radio station was on the second floor in a middle yep and that's where stern was and all those guys say wnbc doing the afternoon um um drive time yeah wow yeah um that's when he was good I think that's when he was best when he was doing that afternoon thing at the NBC yeah a lot of people say the best stern was wnbc Stern yeah I think so um yeah and a bunch of people came out of that like Janice Panino who ran HR for you remember Janice she was the head of the page program back in the day right right but she also worked for the radio station there as well and uh and she went on to run the the HR for worldwide pants so so she came out of that yeah so so she ended up when uh when they moved over to CBS they brought her over she started an audience coordination um you know which makes some sense with her page experience and and and and all of that and then uh worldwide pants was like well we we're this company now kind of we're like a vendor to CBS we need an HR we need all these things and Janice finished up and she did the entire run wow uh at CBS and finished up yeah she was the one that was giving everybody their last paychecks at the end so and what's she doing now uh happily retired I believe she uh you know she's been on the show we've talked um she went and did uh some nonprofit work you shouldn't say nonprofit work there's a nonprofit theater project that she got to go and be a part of and she loved it partially because she wasn't sure of her skills they were so Letterman Centric for so long she wasn't sure if her skills would translate into the real world and she was delighted when she found out that they did and yeah she's uh Janice is awesome I I I I I like her very very very much um and but yeah she was around back then working for for wnbc um okay so you're doing your thing doing the NFL doing anything uh NBC's bidding and suddenly it's like okay tomorrow show is going away and late night was starting was that a big deal when you found out the tomorrow show was going away uh no it wasn't not not for me I mean I'm sure it was for Tom and everybody I mean I was a big fan of Tom SNY yeah I mean but at the time when it went away I was I was in this I was in everything you know it didn't yeah right but um uh Tom Snider was uh one of the alltime great interviewers ever you know incredible uh probing interview you know he's so good so good yeah I mean I remember when he had the The Sex Pistols on you absolutely and The Clash and that kind of the Clash by the way what a performance you have never heard music unless you've heard it in a TV studio it is so good and on SNL I used to go up when when we'd have dinner I would wait to have dinner but I would go and listen to the band for a sound check because they would do it when dinner started so I would get dinner later but I would hear Elvis Costello or whoever Johnny Cash you know and I'm 15 feet away Talking Heads uh in in Letterman I was right there so that was that was a highlight for me yeah I'm a huge music guy and I could not agree with you more um you know you think about the music on late night and and and uh and Late Show as well of course but with late night it was just even a little bit tweaked a little bit more because you had this band app name the world's most dangerous band and you would have these front men or front women from bands come in and jam with these musicians that weren't necessarily their normal uh their normal uh bandmates yeah and and and the stuff that they would put out like you know you I mean the obvious example is Springsteen doing Glory Days on the very last late night I mean you know that's with Paul and the band absolutely killing it yeah with Bruce just with they in the guitar and no E Street Band but they're just going for it um I love that you went and saw some of this stuff and and appreciated it in the moment because it is it was all of these performances whether it's SNL or late night unique a one time off a oneof of of of something and they would they would make it special in so many different ways uh were you there the night James Brown was uh showed up on Late Night yep yeah it was yeah the um yeah it was pretty incredible in fact uh I when I came out I actually bumped into him he was a little shorter than me and uh yeah but he had the platforms he had the platforms so it helped a little bit Yeah well then how short is he I mean because yeah but he can dance he's absolutely yeah that that was you know you talk to the the band to this day and and James Brown is like up there for you know top moments of of of of all time and you think about how much good stuff so you would go and watch the uh whether it's Saturday Night Live or late night you would go and watch the music if you could uh yeah when I whenever I could if I wasn't working on something that had to be done you know then I'm I'm up there it was dinner break too it was no big deal um you know you'd be having dinner next to Don Paro you know did you did you talk to Don Paro very much oh my God he's a cheese Hound you know he loves cheese yeah but um yeah it was fun yeah oh that's fantastic I um any did you ever have an encounter with Andy cman no okay you didn't all right yeah um he that's one of my I I was afraid of him I W go near him not that I would have anyway but yeah um okay so uh you know you find out late night's showing up the tomorrow Show's going away and uh and here we go we're retooling um how similar in your mind was uh the first year or so of late night compared to the morning show were there any other than the bumpers themselves were there any massive differences or was it very similar in tone and style in the things that you had to do um from my point of view it was a much more um polished product the late night as compared to the morning show um but that's from my angle you know upstairs I'm sure that's it's still you you're professionals and you have to put this show on you know and it's got to look really good so the same same um uh quality or or same demands uh applied to the morning show as the as the uh late night but that late night show was just right where it should be and it was completely different format too so that that helped I mean even just the sets yeah when you you know late night as opposed to like a set like Regis and Kathy you know it's it's that's the difference it's morning versus night I guess that's that is yeah and and I think the tone is there too you know um I think one of the reasons why Jay Leno didn't work at 10 was that tone doesn't work at 10 right yeah it just doesn't you know uh The Comedy Central stuff that we see you know with Co bear report and and and Daily Show yeah they can go out a little earlier maybe and and because they they they come off as more of a news news thing but the the the late night talk show I think it's late night for a reason I think I think it's it's viewed best I can think of times that I would watch I'd catch up on Letterman that I maybe missed because I was out doing something or whatever and you you watch them during the day they're still great but they just don't have the same there's something about that nighttime feeling and it's something that was engineered in there I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is but there's something there where It just fits the tone of of of the night very very well yeah yeah no I I agree the um I looked at an old show the morning show the other day and it was really hard to watch you know I mean it was funny but just the aesthetically it was yeah well it's funny because was that Kathleen anchor and Kathleen and they were all there uh but you would see you would go see this these models of the sets and they would tell you know look at it from here so you see how you're going to move through it you know it's just fascinating to see them construct these sets and then be able to look at it with the camera camera's eye you know yeah it really interesting did you uh did you have many encounters with Hal gurny yeah he was a sweet guy I I mean not workwise but just um just you know if there was a party or something it was just a really a great human you know and so if I met him outside of TV I would never think of him as a TV guy you know he was just down to earth he's just really just a a genuine human being yeah oh that's that's excellent um how long did you stay with late night for oh it's uh I think it was only two years I think maybe maybe two and a half yeah I don't think I left in the middle of I don't know if I I don't know when I left but when I left I went to Lauren Michaels um the news show yeah and I want to ask about that like how did that happen and let's talk a little bit about that because because that's a that's a footnote that uh gets glossed over a lot in in the annuals of television history LA Micha yeah one season they're going you know 50 years at Saturday Night Live next year uh but there was that blip in the Middle where the new show showed up and uh let's tell let's tell the viewers a little bit about that what was uh what was that project well Lauren had left NBC and that's when uh those two years Saturday Night Live without him and then um I think three years and then uh he started this new I guess competition for Saturday Night Live I don't know but it was the new show it was Dave Thomas it was Franken and Davis it was uh Allen's y Bell y um I can't think of so many the other ones but but you know Alan havy was on it John Candy made appearances you'd see Steve Martin was there I mean there were a lot of Heavy Hitters you know um like satv and SNL had a baby almost well that's yeah and it's like but all all these guys are are there you know all the guys that started SNL were there and it for some reason it just didn't click you know it was in the brill building yeah and um that was a cool building too because I was in a room where you know could have been Carol King writing all her stuff I I don't know is the sixth floor was all had Johnny Marx I used to go to the bathroom next to Johnny Marx who wrot Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeeer yeah are you Kidd it be standing there there he is you know that's unbelievable and um uh so that was a historic building too and we had these the the sixth floor was me and uh ge Smith used to come down and play his hollow bodied uh Gibson oh my God because the graphics Department was quiet so I'd be working and he'd be playing on the sofa and be like it's like oh man this is yeah oh that's fascinating he's he's pretty good he's a he's a good guitar player just yeah just a little bit for those who don't know GE Smith he ran the Saturday Night Live band for I don't know how many many years um you know they even even to the point where he was build as was build as GE Smith in the Saturday Night Live band all throughout the 90s um and and and I'm not sure exactly when he retired but married to Gilder Radner too was he not um geez no I was he maybe not I might be wrong on that I never heard that that might be wrong I might be wrong um let's start it let's start the yeah let's start it g Smith and Gilda rner uh that's amazing so so but you know I worked with Eugene Lee who was the first guy to create the sets for SNL y um Keith Raywood who took over SNL U later on after Akira Yoshimura um uh Leo was his name when I first met him but um or we called him that mhm but um uh and Anne Patterson who's an amazing artist today uh those were the people in the creative who I was working next to it was just an honor to be there you know and for some reason it didn't click yeah was it difficult for you to leave NBC yes and no yeah so there you go the yes part the yes part is Lauren Michaels is a Visionary and I'm excited to do this uh is that was that part of the the the the the part where there was no hesitation you know I I never really stayed one place for very long I was always moving I was always you know it was a comfort zone maybe there's a bug in me that says you know time to go y whatever you know but um but I just kept going and that's when I opened the studio on Time Square so let's talk about that let's talk about that studio for a second here yeah well well that was that we did a lot of theater uh uh posters uh the only one I have left I think I saw it in your list is the pen and Teller y poster yeah I got it so when they first came to when they broke on Broadway I I did that poster and what I loved about that was that um uh Richard I forget his name he produced it with art wolf um Richard Frankle yep I said you know it would be cool if you if you wallpaper this lobby with all these posters and he did it and it looked amazing it looked amazing the whole Lobby yeah the whole every inch of that wall was covered in these posters it was great wow yeah so what year would this have been okay so where are we where are we looking here I think does it have a year no it doesn't have a year 82 maybe or 83 or something yeah that's very 80s font for sure yeah that's a definite 80s font there so so that was the studio that you opened up was for to do Broadway posters yeah it was within a um an advertising agency yep and I worked with a bunch of different uh artists and um I would bring freelance stuff in but I did a lot of work for them I mean eventually it was just all a lot of their shows they would present and stuff and uh that was it was really creatively uh creative freedom was amazing so it was just fun and that's the thing it's it like I've been lucky enough to do this work that I absolutely love you know it's it's not like punching a clock every day or something well I did but but you know what I mean it's like you do what you love and you'll never work well that's that that's it's either an old Chinese Rob or one to make sound like one if you monetize your pass chines sure okay there you go Chinese why not you monetize your passion you never work a day in your life um okay so after that when did you go to work for the comedy channel oh that was um because donik talked about that he had some really nice things to say about you um because there was a time in between his intern stint and coming back over to late night that well he was an intern on Late Night and then when I went there he was I think he was writing right on the he became he ended up becoming a writer yeah he yes that's right I think he was writing on the new or the comedy channel yep that's right and um but that was fun because that's where I met Nick Bai and um and Allan havy I I i' never met him on the new show but he was on a new show and um you know Scott Carter uh some Rich Hall was there yeah um the Higgins boys uh Dave Higgins Steve Higgins um who is uh um Jimmy Fallon's second banana I think absolutely well yeah prolific writer in all of late night yeah and Rachel Sweet um she was a stiff records artist and she had her own show on called The Sweet Life yeah but that was um all of those guys went to LA and a lot of them just said why don't you come out here it' be great so I went out there that's when I went to LA so okay what year are we talking that you moved to LA 91 I think 91 yeah cuz you know H the MTV version of the comedy channel yeah they kind of I don't know what happened kind of but the cam comedy channel was dissolving all around us I'm like I got to do something so that's where you know that that bug came in and and I went to LA uh culture shock going from New York to LA yeah yeah you missed New York I did yeah I was I I always complained about it and uh when I got there it was not yeah I was not happy what was the what you know what I've heard that a lot I've heard that a lot um for various reasons uh the location of course of New York being one of them the thing the thing about New York is that you know it's like um the energy you know you'd be sitting there on a Sunday morning with the New York Times and a cup of coffee and you hear the city happening outside yep you're like I got to get out I got to go there's stuff going on out there y you know and and when I get to La you get in your car and you get to your destination and you're insulated you're not bumping into people on the subway you're not U talking to strangers at an art gallery or a coffee shop you know it's like you go there you get your Starbucks and you get back in your car and you go to your Des wherever you're going yep and everybody was kind of insulated in La um great place to work you know I mean if you if you were working uh but um yeah New York was so much so much more texture to me yeah I still feel that way and I mean I I I love La don't get me wrong my favorite hockey team in the entire world is the LA Kings I'm a gigantic la I love a lot of the things and a lot of the people that are in LA but New York New York Owns My Heart Like it literally Owns My Heart the place is alive I I tell people who haven't been there you don't understand the city is alive it has a pulse it you can feel like you say it just it has a feeling to it an energy about it that is just so and it is sleep is the enemy at that place as far as I'm concerned I don't want to sleep I always want to be up doing something when new yor yeah I had a bunch of uh Japanese friends in in New York and um we'd go out with them and like after 2 o'clock in the morning all the Japanese clubs open up in New York City and these are doors that you pass by all the time and when you go down into these these Club these piano bars and you have all these it was like hostess bars and it was like insane it was like Tokyo opened up at two o'clock in the morning in New York City yeah it was great yeah when you went to LA what were some of the things that you worked on uh fresh prins of Bel Air um I'm dating myself no not at all there's a lot of people that look at that show as royalty as well like that's a that's a huge that's a huge icon show for its time and again you know a time stamp show for sure but that is a gigantic gigantic show yeah I did some props for that I did did a um I did two movies I did one called speechless and one called the um was it the web I think the web yeah with u is that Sandra Bullock no Sandra Bullock yeah there you go yes so that so that yeah there's a there's a virus that comes onto a computer screen with an animated skeleton in in uh revolutionary clothes and a guitar and I did that animation and um then I did the whole campaign speechless was about two different political campaigns yeah and I had to design the both campaigns and one was more Republican one was more Democrat so I had to make it feel you know but it was cool because I was designing graphics on buses you know it's like think about what goes into a campaign yeah and I was design all that stuff so that was that was a lot of fun that happened right on um right across the street from the Formosa at the um the old Warner Brother Studios there and that was the great thing about La is that when you go on to a lot yep you know like the MGM lot where Sony is now you go you realize you're standing right in the middle of the you know where Gone With the Wind was shot yeah you know it's it's that's what that's the great thing about La you know yeah so that the The Nostalgia that was in New York there that exists in La as well it's just in a different form and these lots are certainly well that's right but but but boy that's starting to be uh that's starting to be crumbled away too you've got all of these uh these these these conglomerate corporations that are selling off these iconic pieces of property down there right now and getting rid of some of these amazing sets um the street that uh oh man I want to say it's the vacation movies and and and and Gremlins and uh uh a whole bunch of iconic movies in the 80s and television shows going up it's just this one street that they would use they just tore it down I forget the name of the street Barn it oh on the um Warner Brothers lot in Bur yeah yeah yeah yeah so yeah you'd go down you'd see all these uh like The Brady Bunch Street or or Seinfeld City street you know it's yeah it's um it's it's magic you know it's it's the magic of movies you know and you you sit there and you're like my God there's no there's no back to that house you know and it's a whole neighborhood and it's just but but again Artisans all Artisans putting this stuff together and just it's and and when you're in the movie business it's like if you want to go to La and you want to be an electrician get in the movie business you want to be a carpenter get in the movie it's it's a whole world where they need everybody y you know everybody works on it but it's so much fun to do it are you in a union huh are you in a union no I was with at NBC I had to join nabit nabit what's that one that's that's a national broadcast engineers and National Association of broadcast engineers and technicians I think okay so it's a it was it wasn't just artist Centric it was more of a a poper of of of different jobs I think the cameramen all the prop guys I think they were all you know yeah um does that add politics does that add politics to your to your your Artistry being in a union does that stifle things uh the creativity at all I I didn't pay attention to it they took my dues out of my check once a once a year I think and that's all I knew I think I forget so you're not in La now right you're further north right yeah I'm in um about 40 miles north of San Francisco right okay and how long you been there since 06 since 06 okay yeah yeah we moved up here from La what made you what made just La was just too much like I mean northern California you know burn you know my wife still works from up here yeah but um yeah it's uh we just we didn't want to raise kids in La yeah no I feel you at that point um what was the type of uh did you transition into a different uh sector of Art in yeah I came up here planted a Vineyard and um got into the wine business cuz I've been drinking wine Carson was a was uh the one to turn me on to California Wines in in New York I was drinking French wines and then when I came out here carsen introduced me I think it was cane 5 we used to drink and um great little wine shop in West LA called duvon that is so it's like he he satisfied my French Jones you know all this French stuff there and then when I came up here I planted a Vineyard acre of Pino and um um then I got into the business and I I do that I'm a wine consultant um I imagine that designing the wine labels would have been a lot of fun I you know I did a a wine label and I did three uh great but these guys are just they're a little flaky and they're not you know they're not moving forward so I'm done you know it's over but yeah it is fun because you you know you just you take a I made a real kind of look you know like a prop yep I gave it to them and they flipped over it but I haven't heard from them so I don't know where my wife and I are we're in a place called Colona British Columbia and and and it's the wine it's the wine country of of of western Canada is where oh is it really oh very much so very much so yeah from here right down to the Border uh the border is just uh I know the biggest city wachi Washington we're basically right on the border where wachi is and and and so um it becomes desert just below where where where we are and so I don't I forget I forget how many 300 wineries in a in a 180 mile radius something like that do you know what they plant everything um all sorts of stuff it's a younger it's obviously a younger industry because it's only about 30 years old uh you know so so some of them uh some of them are are are still considered young uh but some of the older vintages are just unbelievable yeah but everything like um there there's a there's a different part of the valley that can you that can basically utilize each type of grape and so uh for some of the ones where you don't need the sun you know they're further north the ones that absolutely that's that's the essential um and you said there's a desert just below us just below us it becomes and and where you get to wachi Washington that's considered desert as well all the way up to our side on the Canadian border and so there's a couple uh a couple smaller centers down there that are just basically all if you look up at the hills it's all great and uh you ever go to skoki Lodge No where's ski lodge Lake Louise oh Lake Louise uh yeah Lake Louise is there's a green in that Lake that doesn't exist anywhere on the planet except for that Lake really it's unbelievable it's just so on the other side of that lake is a Sky Lodge which was built by the the mounties in the 20s and it's still that there's still no electricity the food is amazing it's an eight mile ski in yeah SK k o Ki yeah no we're gonna take a look at that for sure you can go in the summer you can go in the winter I'm not a great skier so I think I have PTSD from that trip but um but it was amazing once you got there you we have uh like we're kind of like the Lake Tahoe of of of Canada where I am so 45 minutes from where I'm sitting right now world class skiing and then we're in a valley and the lake which is aund 100 mile uh lake has world class water skiing and all that stuff and then in the Hills behind us world- class fishing and hunting and all of that it it just surrounds us and so very very very blessed to be uh to be born here and then in my lifetime I've watched this wine industry just Blossom up and right it's so fun like my wife and I every Sunday we have our granddaughter and then she kind of goes home uh about noon almost every Sunday in the summertime we are going to a different Winery and having a wine tasting on a patio and it's just such a it's such a fun lifestyle it's just so great yeah you get it helps you get through the day too it does do you have a favorite uh do you have a favorite wine or favorite type what are we eating I well that's a good point okay so say you got a nice steak coming give me a big fat cab yeah yeah I like the right Bank stuff that blends Mero Blends and yep yeah I'm a SRA guy yeah oh yeah so rone you like Ron yeah and and cab Fran I like cab Fran as well that's a I got a killer C FR for you oh okay so um there's a chance that in early May I'm gonna be taking a road trip from here down okay uh to to to see Dave uh perform uh for the Netflix is a joke Comedy Festival so I I I'm that's the plan is is in early May I'm going to be driving down I'm going to make sure either on the way way down or the way through uh let's go let's go have a glass of wine together that'd be great yeah oh that's that' be good yeah absolutely um okay see me posted yeah I absolutely will well okay so are you you world traveler you're you you've been going on some uh some pretty amazing Adventures around the planet is that uh are you going to be around in May or are you are you going on another trip in the end of May I'm going to Amsterdam with my daughter and um I'm going to be kned I'm going to become a Chevalier yeah and it's this it's the second oldest wine Brotherhood in the world and it's like go back to the 1500s and it's in Veno um um uh Netherland in the nether Netherlands yep and um I mean these guys dress in hoods you know they got thousand year old petrified grape Vines as as um staffs and going to um I have a client one of my clients is one of the members there and he submitted me to be kned so I I'll be doing that so you're going to be sir Shortridge you're gonna kneel in front of me every time you see me yeah that's right um before I get to I wanted to get to uh the the popup books here at the end here before I get to that um I can't wait to to maybe have you on with carsen or something like that at the same time thank you very very much for everything that you have uh uh contributed to the things that are in my generation's pop culture and there's so many of them and maybe they're subtle but like again B weed sings I wanted that on a shirt thank you so much for everything that you have done to contribute to these uh amazing iconic projects Bill we just so grateful for you that's nice to hear thank you yeah no absolutely because when you say it that way it's like it puts it into perspective you know it's it's like um yeah a lot of people grew up watching that every yeah absolutely what you guys did was important and I say that without an ounce of uh like it's it's it's 100% authentic when I say that what you guys did was important and uh I'm so so so grateful let's go back and look at some of the these popup books here because you know and again if the the by the way thanks to Don Giller for capturing these for us yeah um really really grateful I wanted to wanted to maybe show some videos and and things like that we're just not quite at that place with pants where we can just start showing clips and what so screen captures is the better way to go um this is from the morning show and a writer would have come up to you and said okay we're going to do a pop-up book segment is that how is that how it worked yeah I you know I forget exactly how it worked um but that's usually whether it was Ed but these were so um uh complicated that uh direct communication with the writers was probably how it went but I I really don't remember but uh yeah I think I think it's a watch this National Treasure grow before your eyes or something like that yeah yeah was um doing a pop-up book where you pull a tab and and and and manipulates the picture in the book was that something that was in your wheelhouse or were there things that you had to kind of uh was it a trial and error kind of a thing I remember when they told me about it I I went out and we got a bunch of um uh we had I think our forget who it was trip I forget who the prop guy was but they'd go out and they'd get um uh as many different popup books as they can find Y and then I would deconstruct them right and I I would find out how things work because I popup yeah so um and I would just replicate that and when they'd bring it down to me I'd try to figure out well how would this what function would work better for this joke I got and you'll see like with the isidora Duncan it's you're moving the Dave Dave always had a problem with some props and uh once something went South it was it was over but um with the isidora Duncan yeah there's there's a pull so that's so that's a pull down and there's Johnny Carson on the TV in the joy of sex yeah I forget what I yeah it was like um yeah I forget the joke oh just yeah Johnny Carson it's late night Johnny Carson yeah yeah talk about a popup um Ste rner one's funny well we could skip it but it's just here's here's a good example of how you know a piece of art suffered uh because there was no time to do it and here like I would have had much more detail in the background I would have paid a little bit more attention to um uh drawing the figures yeah and just just having a little bit better contrast but you can see the wheel there that metal the wheel yeah it turns and puts different faces on yeah you know and and the obvious Stein burner joke there and then it gets crazy ridiculous because there's lamb chop and let's put Lamb Chop on the story of mankind so this um yeah so this is U obviously what's his name um Isaac Newton yep and there comes the Apple all right so you pull the tab now you pull this this is the guy who invented the steamboat the operation of Dreams yeah this was just that and then finally the David Letterman story and of course predictably he pulls the tab and there's the Gap in the teeth right there there's the iconic Gap in Dave's teeth right there that got a big laugh I can imagine that it did and again we're going back and I mean Dave's teeth the Gap in his teeth I mean became this this this this stereotype uh caricature of of of Dave that's the DNA that's where it came from let's start making fun of it on the morning show and and there's a prop gag that like again all in the DNA of this thing that we all know in love bill I can't thank you enough for doing this today oh it was it was it was a pleasure yeah oh I hope you had fun I hope you had nearly as much fun as I did we've been talking about it for a long time and okay good um thank you so much I'll do a really quick uh outro and then we'll say goodbye privately if that's all right it's okay with me okay uh there we go everybody we got back to the beginning somebody finally again from the morning show uh Bill Shortridge we're so grateful for everything that uh he has done and and boy it would have been great to have Bob PUK on here and it's nice to hear puk's name so said so many times uh rest in peace sir we just appreciate all the work that all of you have done absolutely and um yeah you know what we got one sponsor one sponsor only on the Letterman podcast that's the hello Deli go to hello- deli.com and you get letter Le with David Letterman mugs and shirts and all that fun stuff um this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and