Sue Hum has the original ‘Big Ass Ham’ Costume and a whole lot more!

this is Steve Wier I used to write for the David Letterman show this is Mike Chism who spent entire life dreaming of being on the David Letterman show and will never happen watch this podcast instead welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum this is our trick-or treat episode uh the treat is we have Sue hum and she has come on the show uh once again uh for those of you who don't know she was the Wardrobe costume designer the head of uh anything uh clothing on Late Night with David Letterman and Late Show with David Letterman well over 30 years suam is a legend many people saw her on screen many times come on on stage and be rate David Letterman that was a lot of fun if you want to see a very cool uh suam uh uh retrospective go to the regular Letterman channel the the Letterman YouTube channel suam has a staff favorite moments also she has been on this show once before love Sue very very much she's come on here and I think I don't know if this is going to be a tradition I hope it is um because there was a bit that ran every year for David Letterman and that was around Halloween time he had a bit where uh kids Halloween costumes this year's Halloween costumes and what would happen was they'd build a set uh with a front door and there'd be a ding-dong sound or another uh sound of some sort uh Dave would open the door and a child would walk in in a funny costume Sue and her team but Sue is the one that helmed that whole thing the writers would bring her uh ideas for these gags and it was uh um just a a fantastic time of year for her except it was also uh Breakneck speed and and trying to get these uh amazing costumes Built For This bit and so this year it's Halloween right now let's have Sue on and we're going to go through she's showing us some of her sketches and some of the uh the costumes as they were conceived and then of course also to what appeared on screen she has a whole bunch of memory about this uh now that's the treat the trick is and we're going to trick you a little bit here because uh it wasn't exactly the best technically sound episode the internet connection on suicide was not great so there are points where there are blanks that happen because uh uh she was um she was frozen and there was no sound and so I've had to edit as much of that out as I possibly can I'm not a great video editor as you all know uh so that's kind of the trick of this episode but still lots of very cool little tidbits it's definitely worth putting the episode out for sure and um and just Sue's a friend she's a friend of the Letterman podcast we're so excited about that and uh hopefully we'll be able to get her on uh for years to come around this time of year and we can go through some of these amazing costumes and it's cool because I I threw a couple at her that she wasn't ready for me to throw at her and she had all these amazing memories um the Chapstick that boils over in your pocket yeah the kid who was wearing that one Barbara gain's son Simon very cool uh and lots of other little tidbits about this so um the Letterman podcast of course brought to you by hellodd deli.com go to hellodd deli.com to get Late Show with David Letterman merchandise like mugs like shirts like hats and sold of course by and packed by personally um the legendary Rupert G who may not be running the hello Deli anymore but he's still running hellodd deli.com so without further Ado the Letterman podcast is proud to present Sue hum Sue thank you for coming back on the Letterman podcast I appreciate your time very much this is going to be a lot of fun today thanks uh for having me I'm um honored I didn't expect this what happened in October yeah of course it's right around from Halloween yeah well and and your first time that you were on here so many people were excited um you know because the only the only uh time they ever saw you was when you were coming out on stage of course telling Dave uh saying something derogatory to him and telling him to go shove it that kind of a thing um and I just loved that you went into your background the last time that you were on and and where you came from and it was just a natural that at Halloween we would have you back on because then we could focus on some of these costumes that you built because as we talked about off air you put heart and soul and effort into these costumes it was a big deal these kids Halloween costumes yes this segment was a big deal for 32 years and then when you asked me about coming onto your podcast I said Jee let me count how many costumes I did just for that particular segment and during that period of time it's over 380 costumes 380 oh man yes 380 costumes let alone uh just The Daily Show um but these these these this was the big time of being very creative and um I I'd like to tell you um procedure and the and the way the col the costumes evolve Y and how that segment happens and I can go into that Absolut so let me start off with saying that all the concepts come from writers yep and so there being compiled uh about a couple of weeks uh the last week in September something starts buzzing and and the collection of of ideals start to come and the uh uh I end up with about 12 total that I have to make only kind of nine Get on um so how it starts is that I get the list and I start sketching away but I give phone calls to uh the writers to get a more definition what you mean because it's word and and and and and the physical sign of something an image is two different things you know sometimes so by that time it's um 1 of October but I don't get started and act uality until I get the okay with head writers yeah of all my sketches showing them the images to okay and certain ideals and changes and then in the two weeks of that Madness it is pure Madness because I am doing that segment let alone The Daily Show y so I am running around first of all how to get the supplies to the costume CR shop that I use and I have used one uh shop named jepetto Studios and we connect and you don't have to to explain and you know the the shops skill Scott Mali he's he's so skillful and we unst it says over here um uh my my like you said you don't have the greatest uh you don't have the greatest Wi-Fi but we're just gonna keep going with it no okay yeah something is wrong yeah so I can I get all the supplies because when I'm doing seven and eight year old or maybe younger yeah I I have to think in terms of materials that I use uh and I use something called mini mini cell phone for for the most part and and I I'm getting all the supplies that are light because children do don't know how to balance weight you know they have to walk to the right of stage to all the Wardrobe people that are guiding them off you know so in those two weeks I I am dealing with material graphics and I had used ads company and I would do these all after hours uh um you know the costume shop is not in Manhattan is in Brooklyn Sunset Park that takes me an hour by train to get there oh and the graphic people are in Jersey City New Jersey I get there too by by a public transportation but again I use the same people because we're all on the same page and they know exactly what I mean you know and once I I go into the shop in those two weeks I'm in there every night seeing the progress telling them what Corrections what proportions the Night Before Halloween show yep and the Halloween show could be and that's usually a double taping yep it could be on the first show or the second show accordingly to the dates all the years gone by yeah I uh oh go ahead and and and you know I tell you the staff really looks forward to that Halloween date they everybody has fun everybody has fun yeah at what at what point did you start using staff staff's children for okay the episodes was that at the beginning or was that uh something that you did later on in the run all right when we were at NBC yep we use all actor yeah children then when we went to CBS we started using some actors and some some staffer nieces yep you know it all became that yeah uh was there one you preferred one I preferred yeah did you did you prefer actors or was it did you like the staff for kids you know it was just fine you know it it's just fine you know um the actor kids were were pretty much uh knew knew what to do I mean got you know little actor kids they're marvelous they they're they're always uh uh listening and doing exactly what you said you know yeah they were adorable ones you they were adorable ones yeah um I I I just imagine we've got some pictures here that we're going to show later on in the episode and and uh one of the years that we picked was 2013 and when you think about it those kids in 20 10 years ago they're all adults now I know isn't that weird that's that's that's kind of trippy it uh did you ever see any of the kids that you had in any of your stuff and then see them later on in life only on Facebook when I tune into my friends yeah uh and see what's happening and they post something some family outing or vacation and I would see how how big they were and how grown up they were how they changed you know yeah I I would see them by then yeah usually I have not seen them you know in person um I want to go back to some of the stuff you talked about in the process so you talk about the writers were there any particular writers over the years that were either assigned or or they kind of specialized in the Halloween costumes or was it a random like it was every writer was a part of it every writer was a part of it you know every writer yeah you know in the beginning when I was at NBC you know there were particular ones that did that like Steve O donnal and I don't know who the Writ was it might have been Joe topplin I I'm not sure yeah yeah just don't know that no no that's that's cool um and I want to know the difference between the workshops your workshop at NVC versus your workshop at uh at the Ed Sullivan Theater um did you have more room in the Ed or was it uh was it because NBC had such a big footprint in that building was it was it were there more resources there yeah I'll tell you um in NBC The Design partment had a whole floor to themselves where they had work taes yeah and and they had the graphic designers there and set designers from the other shows were there so we were like a whole big family there when we moved over to uh CBS I only had a um there was no Workshop zero Workshop only storage wow so I would go and I had no time I had time was of the essence you know it's everything was done a lot of the stuff was done in 24 hours and two days yep of the other costumes regarding the show but this one I had a little time but still they would write more more costumes for the the Halloween show and and that has still had to be run to the shop yeah and where was the shop in relation to the Ed Sullivan Theater like where did you work the shop was in Sunset Park I don't know if you know where where Sunset Park is that's a train ride by the dra train in the lower depths of Brooklyn okay so that's the Brooklyn shop you were talking about now yeah okay so in a in a in a work day because obviously you know like you said you've got the show that's going on every single day and you're having to make sure Dave is dressed and whatnot you had a staff though too right you had Rodney and and you had you had a couple of people who could help with some of this load right actually no no Rodney Rodney was Rodney was only there for I don't know two two years yeah something like that but I had an assistant uh Juliet and I had Isabelle at at times and then I had a wardrobe uh girl head of wardrobe Natalie yeah and she would at that time on Halloween hire about four other handlers that's the only time you know show was uh ch- Ching budget dat conscious y you know yeah budget conscious uh but um that's how it worked I would solely go there in the morning and then or after after the show I would end up being there 11 o'clock night yeah I can only imagine um at that time how much how much of your time would it be 5050 in the in the theater versus other places or were you the majority of your time were you in other places during that time majority of the time um I was at the show okay and I to do that after the show show time was over I went and got the train to go to Sunset Park long days an hour and I would be there every day for two weeks wow every day at night yeah just to see and to control uh what what was happening and making sure things were specific even though we had good communication you know color shape everything had had to uh be considered yeah they were fantastic sck to work with Scott malany and his crew all the crew were art students from college you know oh that's they all had a had a sense sense of something yeah um and and like you said uh we talked about this off camera a little bit uh before we hit the record button a lot of these costumes you know they're ornate they're they're they're they're delicate you put all this time and effort into them and then the moment the Halloween episode is over they're ready to get thrown thrown away but you you couldn't bear to throw some of that the parts of those costumes away you have a lot of costume uh accessories in your place don't you well you know I have the actual costume because the ones that I saved are are the ones that I had to do a lot of Ingenuity thought unless it was too large and I just like one was the four opter a four opter to examine your eye eyes for glasses that that took a bit of doing you know of figuring out and how to harness the the costume to the child's body yep and uh those were all quick changes and and then it all became that the size of the children which I took their measurements through telephone calls with the parents but they had to be a universal size because they changed out children to other costumes if they they struck a costume so it had to fit you know it just had to fit universally I had a universal seveny old size you know so there had to be some flexibility there because yeah uh Dave would even Dave would even joke about that sometimes you know you'd see uh you know uh the same child in the same sketch two or three times or whatever yeah you would see that so oh yeah yeah that happened a couple of times so let's uh let's let's bring the viewer back the viewer of this show who uh you know maybe they were a fan of the show uh maybe uh they're just kind of catching up the segment was basically the same I went back and looked at the original segments all the way to the very last one the segments were almost identical and I mean if you think about that 32 years of the same you know annual segment uh a little set was built that was supposed to be Dave's house and and there was a door and and basically there'd be a you know a sound effect of a doorbell or something else and Dave would open the door and and and a child would walk in and the costume that the child was wearing was um unconventional and and and it was a comedy piece um were there ever times where the um you know either at uh at rehearsal or or coming up did costumes ever get cut like did you you know if it's eight or nine for the segment you had 10 or 11 there and then they would cut it last minute and say ah yeah no it's not quite uh what we were looking for did that ever happen all costumes were approved image- wise they were cut by choice of what was funny yeah what was amusing you know that's that's how they were cut um yes uh you would think uh I you know there there was always a meeting after after rehearsal what who's the sequence of who's going first who's going last for the laugh to build it up I mean all all that's it you know is is is considered you know and it's the headwriter and I think Barbara gains is in in it all the time y uh doing the finalizing you know you know that before Showtime uh everybody is in Dave's dressing room chomping down the minutes in the seconds and and how it's going to go because it's up to Dave to make it a show when when we're on and he is so concerned about that it's so funny talking to you about this Sue because you know I I I've talked to so many writers and and these writers have these comedy pieces some of them that uh go all the way you know these extras that would be filmed beautiful pieces of you know cut down to about three minute um you know uh uh you know video presentation and then just before the show yeah no and it would never get aired it's interesting I know that in this you you went through the same thing in this in this place here you know you go through all this work and you build this costume but at the same time it might look beautiful and whatnot but if it just didn't fit the sensibility or or or or somebody's mood was off either Dave's or one of the writers or somebody they say yeah no we're not going to use it and all of that work didn't happen was that frustrating or did you just learn to roll with it you know I knew that when I do 12 I know eight or nine are only getting in and you know I am so busy that I cannot be concerned I wished something would go on that something that like took a lot of effort and thinking on on on something like there was a URL bottle that the child was inside and it took a lot of technical buying a a a a a a machine that would melt the the acrylic plastic into shape and bend it uh while it's hot and all that uh so you didn't see any seams and anything that was technically a big undertaking I I sort of got a little disappointed yeah yeah no I get that's that's Perfectly Natural because these costumes are amazing um I'm G to share the screen right now and show one an example of one um you know and you think about this so there's one where a child was gonna be downtown Abby can you see that yes yes yes so that was you know and I just I just love it so much like look at this sketch like were you familiar with the show down to Abby or did you have to research what it was I watched that religiously and and and I I found that D Downy aony was in a state of the high clear castle Yeah and um you know I I work with ads company now that's in Jersey City to do that uh to conceive how we're going to get that through the door we measure the I measure the door all the time to see if if what would gets fit in and um so we boiled it down to cutting it in half and I said I am never going to get that image on unless I do some relief and photographs so it took um uh a graphic designer there to hone down take the the Castle's little um what do you call those Steeples on the side the corner and we knew the child was going to be in the center and I had to build it all the way around around so we we honed it down and and these are the working working shots of of the legistics of how it had to be and also I had to figure out how to strap the the little little kid in there um it took time that was several times um of course that I don't I I said to to the ads company uh well now that colen's over would you like to have this back because I know it's going in the waste paper can yep so you see all the working working estimate you see all the working measurements on my worksheet yeah yeah yeah absolutely it uh and it turned out so beautifully um and you know it's funny watching Dave helped them get through the door and all of that and and whatnot were um were you there like as the kids are going out and they would walk off stage usually they wouldn't go back through the door they would they would walk out are you sitting there right beside the the the door helping these kids get through there I'm the the the wardr people are doing that but I'm back there I'm back there my main thing is making sure that the costumes is on their shoulder in position and the and I'm talking to the kids are they feeling comfortable and I'm tell in them you know hold your trick or treat bag on the right Dave's on the right and be sure and up so everybody can hear you and the kids are pretty psyched you know there's a monitor right in front of the camera where Dave is doing most of the kids looking at the monitor looking at themselves going on they're pretty sight to the pretty sight they're cute they're cute yeah little adults you know absolutely um you know I just uh I look at some of these things and I just marvel at them um there's the faucet oh yeah a nonworking automatic faucet yes and I just and on that non-working one thing had to work of course there was a light that had to uh be on red or blinking Y and um of course um that was a big success a silly ass thing like that automatic faucet uh when that came in the doors it was ginormous and that that was made out of minic cell foam which was very light and um to to make it silver yeah there's the shop and I found out you know a lot of stuff is experimental how does the pink go on to make it silver does it soak into the to to to the foam and and and so we found techniques to do that little simple things that you have in the shop you wouldn't know that would solve the solution you know there's another one I don't know when this one was used but another bathroom lots of bathroom uh utensils and things like that there's a floss stick right there yeah yeah yeah that that that that that that brought out a owl uh and a laugh you know with that and and of course that kid had a duck in a little bit at the door to come in yeah and and those are all researched I go online and I research everything this RB's thing yeah that was so successful that RBS called the shop and wanted them to make one for them okay things like that happen but they wouldn't pay the price you you know things like that just don't don't you know it's not it's not a $100 you know like like the Halloween costume you get now at those bought bought hot dogs or whatever you see in in in the in those uh Halloween Spirit costumes that shops that come in temporarily all that meat you know was all out of foam and individually sprayed and put together like a sandwich and Maria Pop's daughter did that one she loved it she took that one home I don't know if she still has it oh I gotta ask I I I saw Maria at uh I saw Maria at Rupert's uh yeah retirement party and I got a chance to go up to her and tell her how many people uh I've had a lot of people tell me how much they appreciate her and and and so um that's really nice to hear she's going to be uh we talked about her coming on the show here so hopefully yeah she's got good ideals in her brain yeah good ideal I always respected that you know but uh the idea of of uh you know Arby's calling you up and saying hey can we have that uh that you you brought up cost one of the questions I have here for you is um on a given year do they give you a separate kind of budget for the Halloween costume segment is there a is is there a number that's there or is it just whatever the writers came up your job was to dream it up and keep it as low as possible or did you have a number you had to stay with I I'll tell you what I go to the shop and they bid on I I they bid on and give me an estimate okay and then I and and then I hle them and then I said okay that's that's worth it then I they I show them the and I show the uh account in the budget got at the show and it's acceptable you know let alone the the the the construction fee is separate from the material fee absolutely yeah totally separate which I totally uh shop that because I know you know all these years you just know where to get it you know it's going to work you know anything yeah that is a yeah that is a hell of a job um let's you know I I forgot to tell you I forgot to show you one that I thought was successful you know one is the New York city garbage can after a heavy rain there's nothing but broken uh umbrellas all stred all over the place in in in in in the waste paper can so so so I go to the shop they've done it and I've got this mesh that I got at home Home Depot to go around something that's very light to simulate a a trash can and um one of his workers thought it was really easy to do that so he busted up a lot of The Umbrellas that I got you know cheap umbrellas and you know they have you have to put a kid in the middle and you have to design so we busted up a few more umbrellas gotta be careful with those points oh yeah um here let's see what else we got here oh the uh I have a little bit of technical difficulty here on this one unfortunately yeah I maybe it's my no no no no no no I love this one here oh at the podium that's fantastic that is so funny and you see my little sketch on the metal metal brace to hold it up because all this is made out of a Gator Board which is like Styrofoam yeah got to be really light for those kids right oh it's got to be light and then this is all in the front of him you know he's got to steady himself you know yeah that that that that and then see the logo I had to have that logo uh printed out at a graphics place because the graphic designer the show is busy with the show yeah every day but then oh every day but I get to tell him uh send that disc over uh pull it and send that disc over because that'll help with the cost of the costume that just had the disc sent over to him so all you have to do is pop it in you know then there was disc you know one of the things that oh look at the Crocs look at the Crocs there yeah th that that that that was such a fun thing you know I don't I don't know when you remember when the Crocs were so popular andbody had them everybody had them yeah yeah yeah that's still one of them uh there were so big the shop um jepetto took them you know um jetto now is Upstate near UDA you know um oh wow guess what priced out by the landlords and and shops closed down shop shops moved out of town uh shops costumers are using California times change times change absolutely so now they're Upstate they were in chedo yeah he's doing well he's doing well I love this Ted Williams head oh that that was hilarious that was hilarious uh and that was the real child's head in there of course yeah of course I had to have air vents in the back yeah that that was good oh it was hoot and that would that that that says run over gecko you know yeah yeah yeah and you know real leaves real tires stuff like that well and it's funny because some of them like you say are are are like really ornate and and detailed and they're very unique then there are some where you know it's more of a uh it's just the tire tread you know this is a fairly simple costume as far as costumes go um but then the tire tread and the the comedy comes with the accessory to it and and and it seems like every year there was a balance of both of those things there was you know really really complex ones and then also just a very simple joke as well well well you know the people like Omar Gaddafi yeah Hugo Chavez all those uh Tom Cruz and yeah and and and his his wife you know we would have those kids dress up like that yeah oh of of course this one I I had to go out and buy sushi for my research well of course of course and play and play with the design you know and and the graphics yeah um and that that that got changed out to another child that was rehearsal you see a lot of those pictures I gave you at rehearsal time yeah oh yeah absolutely with the stangle there a writer a lot there's the initial a lot more food yeah lot food yeah of oh yeah the food ones are always good yeah let's see here I've got uh that one was that one with the gasoline oh let's see the gasoline the Gulf Station yes that that was a bit of doing of doing that you see there's knobs on the sides to the left right there yeah yeah and the prices would change out and those are triangles and Dave we had arrows on those little knobs so Dave knew which way to turn them because the prices were going up and out and I still have that one in my house because that that was like let's get clever so it's humorous you know yep yeah those little details of being able to turn the signs that's great you still have this one yes I do I don't know what to do but I have it I have it yeah look at that yeah yeah the concept and then the actual yeah very you that's important with costume designers you do you do what your sketch says oh yes Halloween 04 so think about this for a second here we're almost 20 years ago and how much mileage does making fun of Donald Trump's hair have I mean gosh that's almost a universal joke we're talking decades now making fun of Donald Trump's hair look at that well Dave would just go at him when he was on on stage you know but you know Donald would come in and uh I would you know D Dave would say is that to pay you're wearing you and so I would always check Donald's hair out and walk behind him when he went into the stage door uh and and and check it out uh he he just quaffed it he really his hair was thin but he was quaffing it sure and this was made out out of Rafia what's Rafia you know what Rafia is it's a straw like ribbon like that is used in Decor decorations uh people use it to TI um presents or make you know there you go making aesthetic choices oh that one an animal oh gosh you know you know the the people who made crayons what's the Smith Crayola Crayola I wrote to them and I said I'm doing a um I'm doing a animal cracker send me that white Play-Doh stuff that dries that you you you I I I need a lot of it so they send me tubs of this stuff I molded it and when it was finish I I I send it send in the costume back to them it was a fun thing yeah that's hilarious yeah 97 by the way there're the kids after 2013 pizza party I assume that that would always be the tradition the kids would always get a party in The Green Room yeah yeah they they they like they they had a ball children had a ball such a nice thing to do um okay so here we go we're going to get some pictures of the actual show this is a this is all 2013 here so this is a a seat obstructed by a pillar yes so conceptual humor there yes yeah intentionally intentionally use the same color as the Ed Sullivan Theater seats yes yes yes yeah and how to fit that uh beautiful little girl in into that seat to come in you know all that was very light that that pole is a dor column yeah and she was beautiful she was beautiful her name was in there Brook by the way huh her name was Brooke by the way oh oh yeah she was the stage manager's daughter oh you're kidding oh c yeah this is CK Lou C I think this was I think this was Lee Lee uh Lee's uh uh nephew I think it was Lee Ellenberg yeah I think it was his name is Leo so that's Leo yeah and what a fantastic job you guys did on that one that would have been done just in house I would assume right yeah that was in house you know makeup artist did it yep yep you know yeah there he is yeah did you ever know Louie when he wrote on the show uh I didn't know him I knew he was on the as one of the writers yeah like some of the other people that that were there yeah I knew them you know the writers they stayed till like 10 o'clock at night you know they oh gosh everybody was behind the scenes doing it let alone the edit people were editing it to get it out on air that night you know everybody put in lots of time you know lived and breathed in our offices big family oh yeah you got that yeah there's the faucet yeah turned out so beautifully yes yeah know that that was um it it it it was very light you know it it it was good it was that that was given away to his name was Arlo by the way the the yes that's Sheila's she's son yeah um yeah there's another shot of it there's Downtown Abby of course yeah that was Haley yeah Haley's her birthday that's right it was her birthday oh man you got a memory like a steel trap that's exactly right her birthday that day yeah I hope so she's beautiful I love this one of oh he's cute this one was just so fun and I assume the Chapstick is that foam that you were talking about yes that that well no it's different the Chapstick Barrel is made out of uh the mini cell phone okay that is that is a packaging uh uh comes in big sheets like n by uh 6 by 9 by six it's a a a packaging uh um uh material yeah uh I I get that in Pennsylvania somewhere but that foam is that foam you get out of the bottle you know you go to Home Depot and and that's that styrofoam that's oh look a urethane type type deal okay yeah yeah you have to think now I got a question about this one um the child's name is Simon that's not Barbara's Simon is it oh yeah isn't he cute is that he's so cute that so that's Barbara's son yeah that's Barbara's son oh that's adorable I saw the name was Simon I wondered about it yes yeah yeah that's him little cutie talks to him he felt he felt he knew him so he he he had struck up a good conversation with him ABS yeah and and I you wonder that like I always wondered that because some of the kids that there was a rapport uh with and you always wondered if those were the staff kids or not uh this was a topical joke I mean again another one that you can just do this was the gal who work on OB care yeah a Janet yell yeah there you go yeah yeah Define a suit for her oh this was a logistic uh one that got had to be changed out and this is the Makeup Artist's uh uh son um you know inside that was all foam that was went to Chinatown to get a lazy Susan you know Chinatown they have these lazy Susans that they put in the middle of a table to serve well I took the mechanism from that to which are ball bearings and a rod or circular circumfer rod and I I made that in there and they had it have a trap door you see how that that that in itself that costume had to be helped in the door because uh the nature of that costume had to be that size and cut it down as much as I could and he had to carry it yeah and then the extra layer of the rotating meat because the thing rotated the the the thing it was a rotating slab of meat you can buy off the streets of New York that was the uh that was the but yeah very very uh detailed and You' got sketches drawing on that yeah I'll add the sketches a little bit later as well this one I love Vlad Putin on a horse of course if you had a side view of of this little boy who happens to be Lucas my grandson that's your grandson yes oh Sue you're breaking my heart that's beautiful yeah he's 16 now but he makeup Artis said he was so good we had to put this weak thing on his head he was so patient you know and then there's that that uh skin skin flesh tone uh bodysuit for him yeah and his legs are on the bottom he goes through and he's walking but he I got fake legs on the side of the horse that that was hilarious oh that's great yeah so hilarious so so your memory uh your steel trap like memory is absolutely incredible why don't we go back a little bit further now let's check out uh this is from 1986 oh yes so there's Roger eert and I love the thing about Roger Ebert is they had two kids in for the rery for one you know they they they the writers let me say uh fat was funny for them you know size a person was funny for them absolutely listen they're they're writing their heads off and you only have to say a joke once that's the end of it you know repeat it you know yeah I respect the writers doing that and this is over plug absolutely yeah socket yeah yeah a dangerously overloaded electrical socket played by Joselyn and Joselyn now would be in her well man she'd be in her almost 40 years old now really really she would be at this point so Jon if you're out there well done that's great yeah that was actor actor kid yeah all those had to be made yeah all that's and again that's that mini cell phone light as it can be yeah every time I call the manufacturer Raleigh foam oh it's that time of the year you know yeah I need f 10 sheets of this you know um a cocktail weenie yes that's long time ago yep yeah this is all from the same year this is all from 86 yeah all from 86 and around there I was making them and hiring one of my uh people that I knew that did that so she was making all those you know that bubble gum under the chair that I don't oh I just think that concept was funnier than hell and this is the guy with all those plugs yeah recently divorced man with hair plugs that's right yes yes that's that get a so when you would get the list from the writers and and and whatnot were there ever times where it would be like oh there's a relief there because there's a there's more costumes like that that you can kind of do inh house with a little thing as opposed to the bigger and whatnot like like obviously some of those costumes are fairly simple for you yeah they they are simple uh y you when I start out I I I start with the the big motherload of of what what needs to be taken care of and and and and TimeWise how long to get to construct yeah but and I'm always thinking about the simple ones and little girls they're they're they're you have to shop around town I I I think I went into Brooklyn you know you there was a a shop I don't think it's there anymore called cookies it had parochial school things and suits you know and and and you and Macy's was the only other store that would have a CH children's Department with suits but to find one with a little color I I I had to go down into into Fon Street cookies around there that had all kinds of stuff um and uh to this day uh I don't know where other people get suits for their little kids for communion and stuff like that because I think that's why they existed yeah you no that makes sense and to of course enhance the comedy of the David Letterman show so there's a couple more from 86 I wanted to show you one in particular that I just love this one here that's a stack of National Geographic magazine Graphics had to be done on the side yeah but that idea is is you know funny make it a little on even there yeah but the process of making a costume like that back in 1986 completely different than 2006 um oh yeah you know Graphics back then were much a very different animal than Graphics later on weren't they oh yeah you you didn't you know when I got to an 84 I'd like to say an 84 that's when everything was being turned over to computers to do graphics because the graphic designers used to hando them with letter print yeah remember the letter print you go absolutely and get letter print and do that yep yeah and then we just Xerox all this um on on on a on the Xerox machine to multiply it one point I had to in a money jacket did you know that you cannot print money on a com on a on on a computer on a on a copier is it is you you have to change the size or something because it can't be done yeah it's uh it's got to be parody money or or movie money as they say otherwise yeah there's there's see oh see these are the little things here um that you have to be careful yeah that 50 B Bill had to be a little bigger y yeah let's see here this one here I really like it pulls out it's the oage boys oh yes and that was done in 86 that's a that was 86 as well yeah oh that I was doing all those myself because at that time I had no staff did you know I just had a wardrobe my man that really did Dave and I just did everything myself I hired a friend of mine who was a A in that worked in um media shops and Industrials uh uh and hires her to help me out and we spend late nights doing it in the building at NBC at 30 Rock lots of time spent in 30 Rock that's just yes lots of times 30 Rock um there's a McDonald's manager right there yes yes yes again very simple one so there's a good example of going to see the going to that shop to get the kids little suits and ties and things like that yes and he I think he's got himself a little wig yeah oh yeah yeah you guys did a great job with him looks like uh almost almost a Nick Offerman type uh type haird there and this one I love a pest this is a uh A Pest Strip or bug yeah the bugs would get called on there yeah I went to the joke store you know you can't find those bugs anymore I was gonna ask so those are those were basically from a toy store or something like that they don't exist and I just like oh gosh I got this fly it looks so good I can't throw them away yeah Sue I appreciate you you you doing this so much I I just I really really do let's uh let's go back okay I got to ask the about the bra behind you because uh I know that was part of a costume too do you remember which costume that was part of yeah um it was about the when the push-up braw was starting to happen two kids this got cut but I couldn't I couldn't throw it away I farm that out to someone else I had two children in nude leotards so they were flesh tone and one on each strap yeah and um they cut that they they they they thought uh uh that was um Expediting children okay so it was over the line the sensors cut that one it wasn't the the the writers or the the staff that cut it it was the sensors that cut it yeah the sensors cut it you know I I get I get the word and and I put so much time into making it scaled uh to the right that this is so old it's sitting there and anybody who comes in this bedroom sleeps under this big red bra where did that come from they say oh that's so great what are some of the other things that you have saved from some of the costumes along the way uh the four opter that is the the examining y uh behind me is this um at the supermarket where you touch and write your name for the credit and run your credit card down y y that that's there uh I I have a chatro razor blade of thing that I thought it was so funny that I I I just couldn't throw it away it was done very well yeah Clinton's heart uh and it I I had a heart and it was it's it's really done up well and I actually went to NYU and and uh my general practitioner said oh you can go to this heart surgeon he'll show you about the vein and everything where by bypasses so I went there and and of course that got cut but I saved the heart so much work was put into a three-dimensional heart you know oh that's and then and then you remember Fridays remember Fridays y well Fridays no longer well you know Fridays used to be a they used to decorate their uh walls with with lamps and guitars and stuff like that in picture frames I got one of those and I have the big ass ham you have a big ass ham you have the big ass ham costume yeah the original big ass ham that's fantastic Don Giller is very jealous right now as there a whole bunch of other Letterman collectors that is a very very cool thing to have oh that's great I don't know what to do with it it um it it's in my storage and it takes up so much room you know I'd like to give it to the m a museum but you know I don't know who would would give me the time of the day for that you know I don't know I'm looking around my studio right now going I wonder how much room that would take oh that is so cool you have that that's great yeah I did that myself big mm with with I I used to have uh uh I did have uh interns yep from art schools and this one girl Johanna was from my armor ma more College of Art yep and so we we if you want to really know I had no workspace I did all my costumes on the floor in the hallway by the elevator that's what I did it's so funny too because you think it would be the opposite you know as the show got bigger and bigger and bigger that you would be given a bigger space uh you know once you get to the Ed Sullivan Theater you you'd think that that would be grown because the rest of the show grew but your part actually kind of your your facility kind of shrunk well it it just stayed the same and that's the same with the with the props with Ruth yeah Ruth seagull same they only gave her a cake you know that's it that's it but you know it it was all about writers yes and the and production office their naivity their naivity about what we do uh and the space is needed for that y as a profession you know um they were just thinking about writing and moving over and Dave's big deal of going to CBS This is a big deal yes that that political chiching politics who they've learned a lot from that absolutely um it was a time in history and and it's just such a fascinating thing um before we kind of close up this episode thank you so much for coming back we appreciate this so much we would love to make this sort of a tradition where we go over some of these things I mean really at the end of the day we went over your sketches and we went over a couple years but there are 32 years of segments of this that we could go through I hope you come back one day and we can talk about some more of these amazing costumes that you did because really at the end of the day they were they were only there for one segment and then they were gone like you said into the trash can yeah I would uh I would love to bring it back out and talk to you about them some more and get some of these memories again I'm astounded by your memor Sue it's amazing well thanks I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm glad it's intact um once again oh and you know what I'm doing kind of this uh this this tour with people who um you know because rert just recently retired Rupert May sold the deli um you couldn't be at the at there that night you were at of town which is which is too bad but I know that you love them very much and um any any messages for Rupert May because Rupert hellodd deli.com still sponsors the Letterman podcast so is there any any messages for Rupert or May rert I would always run down there and may had them say I said make me a Chinese breakfast and you know what a Chinese breakfast is tell me steam rice uh a um lightly turned over egg yeah soy sauce and Tabasco and you mix that all up together yep that was good and he would do it he would do it no problem yeah yeah because you know I I didn't real I didn't really eat half the time because I was busy yeah but uh that's the only thing I thought was nutritional that it'll stick to my ribs until I get home yeah it filled me up well there you go and I and I I I will see them they are they are the most they're good they're good I'm glad they're retiring you know um I'm very happy for them as well it's viously a you know a sad thing that that Deli that was there for so long is gone now but I'm so happy for rubert and may that they're on the other side of it and uh and have so much joy and so many good memories for it thank you very much for talking about that before we close up is there anything else that you had thought about wanting to talk about today oh well I I'm you know let's see eight years we're going on nine years and and the show has has is gone yep uh I uh we set the bar and Dave set the bar for other talk shows and when you look at the reruns and YouTube just so glad I was part of it I didn't realize when I was there that uh this show was would uh be uh I don't know um Reed more more than revered it it it just uh there's nothing like Dave's humor I tell you how does he come off of that off that's that's a genius that's a genius yeah absolutely uh very very well said uh until the next time you come back on the Letterman podcast thank you very much she is Su thanks for asking me oh anytime and every time this won't be the last good to see you oh it's good to see you again too I'll do a quick outro and then we'll say our goodbye privately so just stay uh stay there um that's why we do this show is to get the ins and outs of what we consider to be the greatest body of broadcasting work in history that of David Letterman and Company this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chism coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and