Robert Morton gives up who almost bought Worldwide Pants, plays name association with Mike, and who he wishes Dave would interview moving forward.

okay Rupert David Letterman hasn't been on CBS for Years yet his merchandise is still killing it the only place that you can get official Letterman Late Show with David Letterman merchandise is right here at the hello Deli how do people get this merchandise other than coming in here obviously you want to come in here if you're in New York all right come to the inside theater come to uh the hello Deli get yourself a Paul Shaffer sandwich or something else and then buy some merchandise if people can't make it to New York what's the best way to get some of this merchandise they can get on my website um hello Dash deli.com yep and now do you pack that yourself do you pack it uh this merchandise and send it off to people yourself I I do okay if um if people ask you to add onions to the order will you add onions to the order absolutely that sounds great uh the hello Deli is the sponsor of the Lettermen podcast we are so grateful for that River we're so grateful for you and on a personal note thank you for the years and years and years of entertainment that you have brought not just America I'm Canadian but brought the world thank you very very much my pleasure thank you for watching absolutely la la foreign podcast with Mike Chisholm I am so excited to present part two now some of you might be saying hey wait a second he's wearing the same clothes he was wearing in the intro for part one yeah I shot I'm shooting the intro for part one and part two at the same time uh you know an efficient I'm synergistic no I'm not synergistic this isn't Synergy at all this is just you know uh efficient planning and you know killing two birds with one stone um Morty part two here we go uh we're gonna find out right now is it the Late Show is it late show um leading into stories about Bill Wendell uh which are very very funny uh the bombshell who almost bought worldwide pants there was talk of worldwide pants being purchased who buy um Don Giller is in this episode a lot more as well which is just I I love that so much I think you all know the affection I have for Dawn and what he has done for all of us as enthusiasts of uh David Letterman and Company this is a fantastic continuation of a fantastic conversation already uh very very exciting stuff and um yeah I I just let's let's let's let's do it here it is Robert Morton part two um okay I gotta ask you a question this is just a one-off is it the late show or is it Late Show Late Show no okay okay Nova did you would you ever get mad at Wendell uh if he called it The Late Show because they did we had so many reasons to get mad at Wendell that's me setting it up and that's you spiking it right there there we go Wendell was a nice man and then God Rest his soul he's he he was a very nice man he had a very nice family a lovely wife a lovely daughter he had a son uh you know and he was a good guy but he was one of the old school old old chummy guys who you know used to go to the New York Athletic Club which you know I never liked because it was an anti-semitic Club supposedly yeah so you know he was he would and and he would steal pies he'd come back to the office and he'd have this gigantic pecan pie and he goes I took this from the club you want it and he'd bring pies and he'd bring things and he used to steal them from the kitchen at the club yeah so when we took over at CBS we own the show yes it was our show so every penny of it was from our pocketbook and the more money that we had put out the less money we made yep less money we had to do the show the less money we had to travel less money you know we were on a tight budget it was a good budget and Wendell used to go into the store room and see I'm walking out with a case of bottled water you know the Evian water but in in a 24 pack yep but Bill were you going oh I'm just going to take this whole bill it's a NBC no no CBS doesn't pay for it we pay for it yeah please don't do that and then after he did it repeatedly you know it was one of the chits on on Wendell's record yeah and you know I I've heard you talk about the the flatulence thing yeah malkov and I are delighted to this day about that and and I had dinner last night evolved with uh Doug Herzog do you know Doug yeah I had dinner with Doug Herzog and Kevin K who was our cue card guy no kidding and Lee Curtis who's a manager who's a good friend of mine and we had dinner and we were just telling stories like this you know about Wendell and Kevin and I used to be in the pit where the camera was camera two would be back in this little carved out area of the audience this is Studio 6A yep and the pit would you know you had a big camera and a big cameraman you had Wendell me Kevin with the cue cards and usually the segment producer who had the segment that we were we were shooting yeah and it was very tight quarters it was you were right on top of people and all of a sudden you'd hear and you'd go Bill and it would stink and you were literally two and a half feet away from the audience the audience heard it all and we'd crack up yeah we laugh Kevin K who has like this cackle like a girl's laughing and we would just crack up and let him and we would always look around the camera to the side and go everything okay there you go you sure everything's okay back there and it became a running joke and we told Letterman what was going on and it disgusted him I mean you can do that in front of the audience God what are we gonna do about this guy so another kid on Wendell's record you know it was he was a he was a well-meaning guy he loved the show he was he he always wanted to do more and we never let him yeah he he didn't have the comedic ability that Alan Coulter ended up oh absolutely not yeah they're totally two different complete different animals yeah by the way Don Geller put a compilation together of of that like when that story came out I don't know if you know this or not but when that story came out I think it came out on malkov's podcast actually um Giller went and put a a a little compilation together because of the moments of Dave looking over at you guys everything okay like fantastic I just absolutely love how that story continues on and it's it's adorable it feels like something else I I I mean you know to this day I regret the fact that that we fired him and you know it hurt him and I heard his his family I think and you know I don't think he worked very much after that and then he retired and passed away and you know I still bear that and it makes me sad but you know you can't take away you know something the show is on stage not in the well there where where Bill's doing it uh I definitely want to talk a little bit about the uh the transition over and all that that's why I asked if it was late show or or The Late Show I mean yeah late show was um how I grew up in New York I grew up in New York and there was on on WCBS in New York at 11 30.

they had something called The Late Show which was a movie yes and then they had after the Late Show after the 90-minute movie they would have at one in the morning The Late Late Show yep so when we were coming up with names for the show I said why don't we just call it the Late Show because that's what it always was on channel two you know and then when we did The Late Late Show I I I recall that I suggested they're always versions of stories that people claim credit for this or that sure absolutely the name of the show so and I recall saying let's go at The Late Late Show based on what it used to be called in that time slot for 40 years beforehand yeah so that's how those names came up and led him and didn't like the Late Show he just wanted it the same way it was late night not the late night so they called it Late Show slip one word and again when you guys came over from NBC all of the like this is the part I want to transfer the knowledge of there was no bigger story when this was unfolding there was no bigger story in Show Business you were a part of something and uh zinnamon actually had a I asked him about the cult uh following that that you guys had versus you know some of the other shows that are out there that just simply don't have that following and and he said part of it and this is hits me right in the right in the forehead is that the people who were in their formative years it's kind of like with Saturday Night Live you know the who's your cast well whoever the cast was in high school it's kind of usually people's cast with the folks who were in in high school or college when the shift happened it seared into them in a different way than it did other people and that's probably part of the reason why you guys are so culty I I love that I think people thought it would be the end I think you know and and look and and history has proven that that David Letterman knows how to reinvent himself very well yes and this day yeah and you know to this day exactly and he knew he knew that balance yeah he knew that balance and I'll never forget when we designed the set at the Ed Sullivan Theater you know he was he was concerned because he was the greatest Studio performer ever uh-huh a studio floor where it's and the audience is above yep you know you look right at that audience you don't have to look down on them he was never a big proscenium performer yeah he was never a big stage perform and here we are on a stage looking down yep didn't have the studio across the hall he didn't have you know so I think he was kind of concerned we were all concerned about what the show would would morph into yeah and look how to house credit Hal had the foresight to say this is going to be great doing it from the theater it's going to change everything yeah we all didn't want to do it from the theater and did you want to go to Burbank no none of us wanted to go to California you want to stay in New York but you couldn't do that BlackRock you couldn't do it like you know it would hit the broadcast Center but it's on 10th Avenue there was no presence you know there's no magic to it like there is 30 rocks right exactly yeah exactly so you know we when they brought up the theater we went and we said yeah let's try it you know and let him move smart enough to use the outside to use Broadway and to use mirrors uh Sergio and mujabar and yep and and our boy Rupert of course Deli yep I I have to admit I I've never eaten a single thing from the hello Deli so you're the one I loved Rupert love her you can always go in and say hello and maybe get a water or something never ate their food because I had seen the rats I was a page at the Ed Sullivan Theater okay there it is right there you were a page at the Ed Sullivan Theater back in the day I was a page at the Ed Sullivan Theater in the 70s and I remember seeing the rats in the theater and it just it was they were like cats they were that big and I thought I can't eat at a restaurant in that building isn't that funny food is coming you know not that they have rats I'm not no no of course not but no no my grandfather on the my grandfather owned coffee shops all throughout New York and had one on Third Avenue and 51st Street yeah and he had plenty of rats in at that restaurant so I remembered that I just never eat at restaurants where you know I don't know but isn't Rupert isn't Rupert a prince like the kind he's like he's like God took the word kind and made it into a human he is so kind and so sweet the love that he's given us in in our show like he's our they're our only sponsor the Ohio Delhi it's our only sponsor of the show and and and and he's he and may have just recently announced that they're gonna they're gonna put a shingle out there and put it up for sale uh Paul came on the show I said he and I should buy it um but that's that's history in this history that that you helped create um I want to talk to you about that uh okay so I talked to Carter about this and I think I hung with him pretty well which I'm grateful for I love Bill Carter by the way he did give you the props that the book of The Late Shift was your idea awesome I want to talk about that it was a publicist yeah yep yep um the fact that it's Carter was great you know and Carter yeah I'll never forget the first time I met Carter he had just started with the New York Times and we were competing with Arsenio Hall and it was a Monday night and in the Sunday Times Arsenio took out a full it was when he first started yeah he took a full page ad in the Sunday Times in the Arts and Leisure section yep and in that same section Bill Carter wrote a very favorable review all right the next night I'm at a party at the Russian Tea Room for Billy Crystal had done a special called The Midnight Train to Moscow where he he went to see his relatives in Russia and so they had the premiere at the Russian Tea Room and somebody introduces me to Carter and I was a little drunk on vodka and I listened to them I lay I go what kind of paper do you call that New York Times no kidding do you have a review a favorable review for us a full page ad what kind of rag are you running there blah blah blah and I just berate Carter I scr I'm screaming at him ask him about it and I'm screaming at him I get home that night and I realize what I've done so the next day I call Carter and I go bill I had a few too many drinks say I love the New York Times you're you seem like a lovely guy I hope we have a long and fruitful relationship because I found it very entertaining don't worry about it and we became friends after that just before you get going uh and continuing on that there's there's right there there he is look at that guy yeah look at that guy amazing there's a page at the Ed Sullivan Theater right there if I've ever seen one and I always said I said I would always say to my mother years later I'd say Mom thank you for never criticizing me or making me cut my hair I put it God bless her she's 93 years old 92 years old um so here's the thing I know at the time you guys didn't know it because of Dave's reverence for The Tonight Show um you didn't have that same reverence for The Tonight Show that he had right oh no we did it we yeah you know what being a comic I think it's a it's it's a different set of rules yeah yeah so it's it's the epitome it's it's it's Nirvana you get on that show and at the time it made your career absolutely you know I I I I I I love Johnny Carson yeah and obviously you you love the guy and his talent and as the years went on I got to know him and I liked him very much and I think he liked me very much he used to have me on the whenever I'd go he never let people on the floor as Lettermen never liked people on the floor right he would always let me be on the floor and I'll never forget he would look around the same way let him look around the camera Carson would look at me and I I and I told the comedian Justice area was a comedian yeah Cesario was on The Tonight Show and I was in the audit I was on the floor that night and Carson looked at me and like it's good and you know Carson like saying he's good and I told Jeff that and he was like really wow I can't believe that you know but that's the kind of relationship I had with Carson yep which was nice I like them you uh but but no we you know yeah at a certain point though you guys stopped drinking The Tonight Show Kool-Aid when NBC was kind of screwing you with your pants on you guys stopped you know when we thought you know when we we stopped drinking the Kool-Aid yeah when we started to mimic what we did and and he didn't do it well and he realized it yeah and it was kind of a desperate attempt and yeah I kind of felt badly for him I didn't turn off on him no I still respected the hell out of them but but it was like that's not what you do and he was smart enough to realize that too so this is the greatest side I'm going to ask you this right now because I because I thought maybe you or Meryl might have been in on it there was one time though where he did it really well and he did it really well with Dave the the time when he stole Dave's truck and then they went and did the Wapner thing afterwards they actually got two or three Tonight Show appearances out of it um Dave didn't know he was stealing the truck right again we're I think Merrell engineered at all I think okay Maryland engineered at all thank you I think no it was a privy to all that and they went through her and okay because that was a mashup I mean I'm not I'm not saying that's for sure but I I always thought that was the situation that was kind of what I thought too but but again here's an example of Carson actually doing a little bit of Dave's uh shtick if you want to call it that or or taking some of that stuff where it actually did work but that's because Dave's right there so okay I'm glad you mentioned that um now that being said you guys at a certain point realize this is the point of no return uh you know Ovitz shows up um you know and and and and and starts that must have been a fun time by the way being wined and dined in absolutely 100 percent uh uh catered to by Michael it's almost been fun what was fun about it was and Michael Ovitz made it fun yeah because Mark he had this reputation of being the killer he was Mike Ovitz for God's sakes are you a Jew um we'll climb anyway absolutely so uh Ovitz made it fun because he was the revered he was I you know the Wizard of Oz He was the guy behind the curtain he was you know Michael Ovitz oh my God and hush tones we're gonna meet Michael Ovitz and we just abused him we just used to abuse the out of him and he loved it they would make fun of him I obviously I didn't do it it was all stemming from Letterman giving us license to do it and then we all followed suit we'd make fun of him you know he would we'd have a meeting with him and we'd mention the so-and-so's not treating us too well they're not giving us a lot of guests and he would pull out he had a single Buck slip in a leather like little binder that the corners went into the thing and he'd pull out this piece of leather and he'd write a note and put it back in his pocket and Letterman would go who are you gonna kill you gonna kill somebody is that a hit list are you gonna murder something you can have somebody killed right and the ovids would just laugh and you know giggle about it and we just used to do crazy with him and I stayed very good friends with all of it and and when Ovitz left CAA yeah everyone was very upset because as Letterman used to say about Ovitz he goes he's not the smartest guy in the world necessarily he's this much smarter than every agent he's ever had this much and it was true there were agents all over the place it wasn't like this was Ovitz over here he was this much smarter which is not to say that he wasn't a bright guy he was a very bright guy and very cultured and a lovely guy he loved us he just loved hanging out with us he loved fooling around with us and ordering pizzas and he it was the one opportunity I think he got to be a real guy yeah he just used to love coming to the show and I'll never forget so anyway when he left CAA and went to Disney let him was very upset he felt like he left he lost you know his most trusted advisor and guy that got him where he where he got yeah and Overton I hatched a plan and the plan was what if Disney buys worldwide pants and if Disney buys worldwide pants in our library and our assets and our commitments from CBS Everybody Loves Raymond we hadn't done the pilot yet if Disney buys all that one they pay a fortune for it two Michael Ovitz and David Letterman would be partners and he'd be back in business with Ovitz holy Morty I've never heard that this is that's amazing why did it happen at the time Letterman and and this is how I surmise it happened I think there were other factors in my getting fired but I had always kind of put two and two together where there were people that when Ovitz left they ascended to be the the point person for Letterman okay gabler and Jim jackaway who was Letterman's attorney and Fred and I grow his business manager okay and I don't think they want it over it's back in Letterman's life so when they caught wind of this secret proposal that Ovitz and I wrote uh they turned against me and I think they convinced Letterman to turn against me that I was out for myself I was out for the money whatever it was but I became very close so when I got fired the night that I got fired I went back into my office and I called Ovitz who was at Disney and I said I can't believe I just got fired he goes good he goes you'll you'll come here you'll be the Lorne Michaels of Disney of ABC blah blah blah blah blah I'll give you a deal simultaneously he was negotiating with my girlfriend at the time who was Jamie Tarsus and she became the president of entertainment at ABC so he couldn't give me a deal because it looked like she was giving me the deal which she wasn't Ovitz gave me a deal there so I had to wait like a year before I got a deal but Ovitz had promised me and took very good care of me and when Elvis was at the on the outs there I'll never forget going up to seeing him to see him at the Disney headquarters and he was in this gigantic office he had not a paper on his desk and and he broke down crying and he said I don't know what to do here mortally what the do I do he goes they call this building the team Disney building there's no teamwork in this company I mean he's sobbing sobbing and I go Michael you're better than all this done blah blah blah blah blah you know trying to play Kaden and he goes Morty you're the only one that knows I have a sense of humor you and Dave know that I'm funny and that I can have fun I'm not serious and and it was a very interesting conversation and shortly thereafter he left you know well here's a guy who who used to be the guy who could call all the shots and and and and suddenly he's thrown into a machine and uh you know sometimes that works out sometimes that doesn't this is a flabbergasting uh story to me um I'm grateful that you're telling it he uh to this day I still get a handwritten birthday card from him every year he had only write something Goofy and funny and you know he he he liked being funny with us yeah I don't think he got that opportunity with with too many people I really don't well it was a crazy situation and I mean you know he's got the syndicators in front of you and he's got the other networks in front of you and all these sorts of things and and at the end of the day the CBS deal made so much sense in so many ways um the irony that I talk about as much as I possibly can to anybody who will listen I don't think there's anybody on the planet who might be more uh qualified to hear this kind of theory that I've always had the irony of this is crazy to me because nobody had been able to compete with The Tonight Show period I I appreciate the fact that the way things were going like again Gretzky talks about don't go where the puck is go where the puck is going the way the puck was going was the dilution of things I get it but the fact that you guys in not getting the Tonight Show were the ones who walked across the street got the continuation of the Johnny Carson deal took Carson 30 years to get the deal where ownership in the next 12 30 slot which again got Tom out and got you guys in irony again but the fact is you guys got to continue the Carson deal with the promise that you would build them a franchise for the first time ever and you wanted The Tonight Show so badly but really at the end of the day you guys walk across the street and start ramparting The Tonight Show and are responsible again honestly go ahead we walked across the street but CBS didn't have the full complement of stations no yeah underhanded with the hand tie behind your back absolutely they did not have a full lineup of the of CBS Affiliates yes and we had it work we had to go I remember going with Letterman to Dallas to Nashville to Houston to Las Vegas to I mean Letterman and I and Peter came along to some of them you know we used to do these road trips and let them all get so pissed off at me because I was about to say those must have been happy trips oh so horrible they were horrible we were in uh Houston and you know Letterman loves Aviation and is always interested in planes and we're taking the tour of the station and they go you want to go up on a roof and see the weather helicopter so I said yeah let's go yeah we don't want to see what we got to go and see the weather helicopter what we've never seen a helicopter before Jesus and we went to the weather helicopter and you know they made him sit in the the cockpit whatever one of the most depressing days of my life was we were in Nashville and Letterman and I had dinner together at the seafood you know it was like a theme restaurant yeah well I don't know Fisherman's catch or something like that and when you walked into the restaurant there was this gigantic scale you know the kind with the big round readout and yeah when they put the fish on it and you'd see how much the fish weighed it was uh you know yeah the Lettermen says to me because get on a scale like I'm not getting on the scale he's like Morgan get on the scale I said all right it's the first time in my life that I weighed over 200 pounds I got on that scale and I saw it was like 204 or something and I was like I'm gonna kill myself I weigh over 200 pounds I can leave it you know something and he would of course you weigh over 200 pounds Morty what are you gonna do um but we had okay so we were in Dallas we were in Dallas yep watching and he missed the flight he missed the connecting flight in Dallas I don't know what the he was doing uh but we were watching when they busted uh the Branch Davidians and and David koresh it was yeah while we were in Texas and we're watching we were transfixed we were watching the local news coverage when they were going in with the fire bombing at all and we were there yep fun the uh well this year and it's funny like the series is coming out right now the miniseries are the the limited series is about to come out on koresh um so that being said okay and we had George Schweitzer on and he talked about a little bit how you know and Bill Carter is obviously uh expertly reported that CBS kind of had one hand tied behind their back you know but at the same time you guys go over 18 months beat them in the ratings all that you guys are firing the first shots across the bow and actually creating a franchise that could compete with The Tonight Show the irony of ironies is crazy to me the fact that that you guys had so much reverence for this show and then it becomes okay like again Mr Leno I I will appreciate the fact that he you know ah he came in at number one I left it number one okay fine but no nobody had ever competed with The Tonight Show ever and you guys gave CBS a franchise once Dave was done with it Colbert's number one like like and and the dilution happened I get that but there was one reason and one reason only yes sir prime time when when CBS lost its dominance in prime time and started skewing older and football yeah and football losing football yeah it it hurt us you're you're only as good as the lead and you get right we had the Late Night show and we did well you know given the time we thought we were doing horribly but we were getting you know four million viewers at the time and it was like oh okay if you were competing against The Tonight Show which was uncompetable and they're just giving us they were giving us tremendous lead-ins yes our rule of thumb was always if we lose half the audience we're yes we used to check those ratings in the morning was the most stressful time of my my my my time there yeah and um the only reason we lost dominance was because we got in prime time and didn't get any lead-ins yes we started going older and it was Matlock and this one and that one and you know all of a sudden it wasn't the audience that we were craving and they had musty TV and they did younger shows and they had friends and they had this and they had that you know something that's how we lost wasn't about the quality of our show and his show it just so happened that it coincided with Hugh Grant's appearance on the show on The Tonight Show yeah and that happened because uh Hughes publicist you know he was a desirable guest whether he was caught with hookers or not it's a pretty big yeah so they can be out of fairness and the publicist would you know they were very fair they would alternate one movie Letterman would get him first one movie Leno would get him first so that movie just by luck of the draw Letterman uh Leno got you grant first and got him the night that after he was caught so you know that that was the the spark plug that brought on the defeat but yeah but you call it a defense because people watch it and liked Leno it was because people happen to have watched it and it was about the time when the season was changing and yes you know that being said away from Jay Jay is a good host you know fantastic comedian yes um my point is five years before before any of that stuff happened if the numbers were the same if you would have offered any of the other networks other than NBC uh blind doesn't matter who's hosting it you're gonna get this many numbers Against The Tonight Show you're gonna be second but you're gonna get this many numbers Against The Tonight Show do you want that every single one of those networks would have said yes because nobody had ever competed with The Tonight Show that's my point and the the fact that you know number one is number one but the fact that something could not just sustain but actually permeate The American or the international culture while The Tonight Show was still in existence had was unprecedented that's never happened and that's one of the you guys you know cast the first stone towards that and and there's something to be said for that I don't think you get enough credit for that um they were dominant and they were no longer dominant you know and that to me uh is a testament to the work and the quality that you guys all and guys and gals I should say all did during that time it was the most exciting time in television and you were helming the ship um congratulations on that I'm saying it all these years later it was awesome and it still is to me I still love get fired up talking about it I love it yeah it was a fun time in my life it really was um but you know it's funny um you talk about George Schweitzer who I yeah he was a production manager when I was a page so I I go way back with George what a phenomenal marketing mind oh great great yeah but but you know the problem when we got there you know promo writers are all frustrated writers they want to be comedy writers they all want to be working on on the Letterman show they don't want to be writing promos for it so as a result when we first got there they started trying to write funny promos but they were never in our voice they were never in our sensibility they were always off and we would always reject reject just do a straight promo yeah Dave provide the the joke and you just go coming soon on CBS 11 35 you know whatever and they never got it they just couldn't resist the temptation so we were getting frustrated with the the fact that they always wanted to do funny promos and they kept trying they kept trying so we had the idea of Hiring Our Own promo people and doing our own promos so that pissed off George in the pissed off CBS because they had only allowed it once before when Cosby did his show his new show at CBS yeah let me have control of the promos and they brought in an outside agency so we started interviewing outside people and I'll never forget JJ Abrams who wasn't JJ Abrams nope he came in with the guy from Grounded for Life the cab driver on MTV the red-headed guy uh okay I don't have it but Don will get it to us in a second okay yeah so he came in he came in with Donald love and they pit who's a great great comic and they pitched an idea for a promo campaign that was great and we had to pitch it up to CBS and they uh you know we had never ended up hiring an outside agency and CBS presented me they didn't like me because I I was the cowboy who wanted them to do our own promos funny very funny you you know um years later what I loved about that though was that you made it one quick sorry please please yeah I get fired from from the Letterman show yeah and part of my exit deal was that they were going to give me an office for a year at BlackRock the CBS headquarters and I was on like the 32nd Floor yeah they used to call it the Bad Boys floor because anybody that got fired and had an exit deal they would give an office on that floor so Eric Ober who was fired as the president of CBS News he was on that floor and it was the bad boys floor so you know they gave me an assistant they paid for my assistant they gave me a beautiful office overlooking Sixth Avenue Big View wow three year uh you know I didn't have much to do I was kind of you know looking to figure out what I was going to do for a career and um so I used to have lunch every day at the China Grill which was in the lobby of the CBS building yep the one day I'm having lunch there and I see Cosby and moonves together having lunch and I I you know I would be there with magazines reading and eating alone and I had to pass them to get out of the restaurant so of course I passed them and say hello and Cosby goes in front of move as he says is he goes I can't believe you got fired from that show he goes you with a heart and soul of that program he goes you were the papa bear you were the conscience of that show he goes I will never do that show again now that you're gone I was like film that's so sweet of you thank you and in front of moonves and you know wow you know move as is even so in the moment yeah I'm like flying high thinking what a great thing that night I get home watch the Letterman show put it on tonight Bill Cosby yep that night he taped it at 5 30 right after lunch honestly it's never gonna do a new show again so I knew Bill Cosby was a liar from that day on well then he went on a guest host it when Dave was off too um I was gone by then yeah I know you were going by them but uh uh you know and and I want to quickly talk about this right now and maybe we have time to go through the pictures maybe we don't I don't know but but um you know the famous uh I the picture I had never seen the I don't think I'd seen the picture before um you know in in 2015 when and coinciding with the release of this episode where we're doing that my 15th and May 20th my 70th birthday yeah that's absolutely right and so we're gonna release this the day before uh on the Friday um you are you had this reconciliation with Dave and it was captured it was captured uh uh you know beautiful pictures of it it was like you know when when you know Trump met with the the guy from Korea all the shots going you know people were taking pictures of the two of us and he pulled me aside and he whispered in my ear and he said some very nice things and yeah it kind of was Full Circle for me you know it was I realized that he had respect for me and you know he was in a situation where he fired me and you know what am I going to do yeah if I started the night I got fired um Mandy Patinkin was a guest on the show Amanda I I so I I was friendly with Mandy so he calls me up that afternoon he goes Morty I have an idea he said I want to do some magic tricks for Dave he goes you know I have four or five he goes I don't have anything to talk about he goes I really want to do these magic tricks sir I've really done them well and and I think he'll enjoy it so I said all right let me talk to him about it I go to Letterman and I'm sure in his mind he knew he had to fire me that night it was the night I got fired so Letterman says uh Letterman said I said 11 I said Mandy wants to do magic tricks what do you think of that he goes no because what am I well he goes what am I supposed to do act surprised when he does a magic trick I have to fake being surprised why he hated getting gifts on the show right never liked to be surprised with a gift because he'd have to feign appreciation he had a Fame that he likes it whatever it is so he goes I know all these tricks he goes what am I going to do like oh wow I'm amazed he goes I don't want to have to act and and and react that way so I go to Mandy and Mandy goes well I have nothing else Morty I have to do these tricks it's a finally I convinced Letterman I said let him do the tricks what's the big deal right I'm getting a drop hold on so one of the tricks he wants to do is where he goes behind Letterman's head right and now Letterman had a thing with his neck Letterman claimed that he had a broken neck yes claimed that you know he was in a car accident whatever it was and that he broke his neck so Mandy had this trick where he would get behind Letterman and he'd go oh boy and it wasn't supposed to squeak it's a dog toy with a water so he had a water bottle under a zombie to go nope no I hear it no we hear it the water bottle yep so it sounds like cracking his neck yeah so everybody like goes oh he touched Letterman's neck oh my God and Letterman looks at me you know gives me around the camera look and I knew he was pissed so after the show he calls me into his office and he fires me now I of course think it's because I let him touch I said David he goes it's not about that he goes we want to make a change blah blah blah blah blah yeah so that was uh so anyway I go back to him Andy so I go back to my office and the phone rings and it's Mandy and I had just gotten fired and he goes Morty is is Dave pissed off I'm so sorry blah blah blah Mandy it's okay don't worry about it I gotta go I'll call yeah and so I rushed him off the phone didn't tell him I got fired and years later he he says to me he goes you got fired that night he goes did I have anything I go no man that you didn't blah blah so it was funny just a real quick aside to your audience uh the Gen X audience okay so at that point my life Canadian kid the only reason I knew and um Manny Patinkin at all uh was because of Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride and he was my hero everyone loved my age loved Inigo Montoya so when we would watch Letterman and I remember watching with high school buddies and an eagle Montoya would suddenly show up and burst into song for no reason or whatever we were like we loved it Letterman was a big fan he used to watch the old Jack Benny shows yeah and Jack Benny used to have a running gag he had a singer named Dennis day and he had a his his announcer was uh Don I forget his last name Jesus Christ Don heavyset guy I forget his name okay I'll probably speed it to us in a second they would do a bit where where Don would burst into the studio and say to Jack Jack we just had a flat tire and uh Dennis has to rehearse this song could we rehearse it here so Letterman heard that on the Jack Benny show and we directly lifted it and it would be Tony Randall knocking on the door coming in maybe I just had a flat tire and Mandy as a gig and we gotta rehearse the song because we rehearse it here and let him go well I guess you know just like Jack Benning wow and Paul would have the charts and Paul would say I would always we took such great care I remember Letterman saying we got to get a song and and he used this term that will blow the roof off the place yes because it has to be a song that is just so powerful that it blows the roof off the place yep and so Paul would always build to it and then Mandy would belt out this song that would stop the show it would just people would jump to their feet just smells like crazy they'd jump to their feet and then it would be okay bye thanks Dave and they'd run out and Dave would be like well you know like look at me just stole the show for me yep we just did the high point of the show how could I follow that and that's how good Letterman was that he he knew to play that moment that oh and he knew that he could recover it was great Don Wilson by the way was the United Wilson yes thanks killer appreciate that um I very much want and don't get me wrong I'm not rapping I I just want to be very conscious of your time and uh and and also we're recording right now and maybe we do the pictures uh next time you come on yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I understand okay okay I appreciate that um I got a next time from Schaefer I got a next time from Morty I'm a happy guy tonight I want to do uh some word association with you if that's okay I'm gonna I'm gonna I've got 10 or 11 of them here some of them you've already talked about I might skip a couple of them just a couple of words about what I'm about to say for the for some of these people like a one-word answer one word a sentence two sentences whatever you want if it goes into a story it goes into a story I'm not I'm loose uh number one Merrill Marco genius yeah genius the the heart and soul of the operation the creator of the show the creator of the Sensibility the the beacon behind the comedy the beacon behind the writers that we hired the the tenor of everything yeah she was uh she is a brilliant person and still is the stuff she's putting out on her sub stack is fantastic what is it I don't yeah no she's she's got a lot of good stuff coming out by the way there's the moment right there there's D-Day right there oh my God look at that wow well it's funny thumbnail for this show is going to be you and Dave hugging and reuniting if that's all right with you um I appreciate that picture very very much but there's the there's that day in question uh yeah we're gonna try and get Merrell on the show because I mean absolutely genius I view her the same way uh Steve O'Donnell Steve O'Donnell was another genius stink O'Donnell was you know another guy that carried the torch carried the sensibility Steve is a lovely guy and a great writer and was a great head writer there was always an argument that he created the top 10 list and Adam Resnick was was the judge who heard me create the top 10 list I didn't actually create it I had the idea I was we were standing in a reception area at the old show and I had just gotten a copy of People magazine who did the 10 most beautiful people in the world yep I said you know something we should do our 10 our own 10 best list at which point Steve O'Donnell says yeah that's a great idea I'll I'll write some up and he crafted it as the top 10 list even though it was my suggestion that we do Iran's list so Adam Resnick used to get pissed off when Steve O'Donnell would take credit for creating because you took credit you did it why don't you tell Steve I go what do I care you know things that almost sound like Steve was great Steve was great Steve had a a monster of a job it was you know being the head writer on that show you know you're administering a staff of 12 15 people you are dealing with a piece of talent who's very choosy who likes one out of every 50 jokes uh and then you know the deadline would always come and and and Steve would be you know it would be 4 30 and we'd be going down to the studio at five and we'd have to load the Chiron and do whatever we had to do yeah and Steve didn't have an act one and God bless him you'd always come up with an idea Letterman would say no that's horrible you know I remember once the one that that I I remember so well was Steve said let's go take a camera on the street and we'll find a baby and we'll bring the baby up and let him goes yeah and then what am I supposed to do what do I do with the baby do I diaper the baby and we would do and it would be funny Letterman would be great you know it was just yep of course Steve I I endorse you me too um my boy Dan Callison Daniel Callison I always describe and he gets pissed at me I always describe I would always describe Daniel kellison as a little puppy dog um he would come and like a puppy rub his head on your leg and you'd push him away and he rubbed his head again on your leg and you'd push him away the third time he'd rub his head on your leg you'd pick him up and he'd pee on you Daniel was always the guy that would bug me let's so and so come in on a horse let's fly Sean Connery in on a jet pack and then it would something would get up and I go Daniel why did you have that Daniel was was the most creative segment producer we ever had and I was a second person so that's High Praise Daniel always had great ideas it was always a a a process getting getting there but Daniel's a creative talented fun guy and I'm still friends with him and he'll get pissed at me for using the little puppy dog but he's heard me describe it about 50 times so he's uh he's been on the show and I've worked with Daniel since Daniel and I Daniel and I did the Sports Illustrated Sports Person of the Year Awards together we did I think three or four of them yeah so he was always very good to me Daniel um yeah I just appreciate him so much he he he he told a version of the Madonna story on this show that was just fantastic um I just yeah I just I let him to blame me for Madonna Letterman got pissed at me because he had heard and and his assistant probably told him she used to squeal on everybody but it wasn't true that I told Madonna just get out there and say dirty things and do whatever you want and I think kellison maybe did it but Letterman thought I did it was pissed at me for months months didn't talk to me because he was mad at me that that I had I put Madonna up to it once again irony because that was a legendary segment and to the Gen X audience we absolutely worshiped that segment and ate it up and the PS to that story by the way um Charles Grodin the next night oh my God Charles girl the next night brings him uh I don't know what I'm supposed to do here has a pair of boxer shorts and hands it over to Dave they're clean is this what we do now and and the PS to that was uh unbelievable and it's good to mention Charles Grodin right now uh uh the funniest guy you'll ever meet just not even trying not even trying he was he was an original he brought fun to the show we we loved seeing him he would get annoying at times but you know but always a joy to be be with and you know he had some tragedy in his life at the end but but was a good man and Hal took very good care of him and you know he would direct and Pete was uh Pete was a good guy uh Chris Elliott Miss Elliott was a natural you know starters and intern and pushed his way on the air and always delivered always delivered never let us down and and ultimately I his pieces on the show were probably the biggest laughs I'd have on that show I would just laugh my ass off at every piece he did I just found them endlessly entertaining a a genius I mean a a true genius in his own way and yeah unfortunately it was the best he ever was and that partnership between and that trust between he and Dave uh you know he hasn't recaptured it and it's a shame because he's so talented he's so good so I I love how he you know the the narrative is that he could actually stand he would stand up to Dave and and and and throw the comedy back in the face of uh when some people have a hard time saying truth to power in this case comedy to power um he had no problem doing that right I love that great confidence and yeah just the funniest you know more Downey stuff the the the brand of the guy under the seats I mean classic classic pieces and he had Adam Resnick who you know is is one of the Geniuses as far as I'm concerned and when we started worldwide pants Adam and I produced a show called The High Life I don't know if you remember it was a great show on HBO we sold it to HBO and Adam had the vision he wanted to do it in black and white and HBO led us Chris Albrecht God bless him let us do it in black and white I got fired after the pilot and I think they did 10 episodes and it didn't do anything but it was a genius show if you ever get a chance to see it it's great absolutely I think it's on the archives I think it's on the HBO archive still oh is it still all good well it is up here in Canada anyway I I um that's how I've seen it uh play the most depressing thing I saw yesterday telling uh Doug Herzog this and they were cracking up I saw an ad for Shark Week and it's going to be on max oh no that's what HBO is becoming Shark Week so depressing there's something to be said for a boutique Network that brought you Larry Sanders and shows like that um uh let's see here okay so we've talked about this person we've talked about this person we talked about this person um oh let's do uh Madeline Smith perk Madeline is is a force of of nature Madeleine is Madeline's the most enthusiastic funny who had a talent that I don't know where the she got it she had a talent of finding the most obscure but but but where Madeline you know there are a lot of people that can find them but Madeline was great at vetting them and knowing how to milk it for comedy yeah it was a very funny very smart woman uh you know and she she not only you know there are a lot of people that could find interesting creative you know nuts but if you don't create the the dialogue and you don't know how to produce it to to get the jokes you know that's where Madeline was brilliant you know she knew how and and the combination of what she fed Letterman and what Letterman did on his own you know was was was genius yeah and and Madeline is is terrific I adore Madeline and we'll do a shout out to her right now glad that she's uh feeling the way that she is right now because things look really really good and I appreciate that I appreciate Italy she's in Italy for a couple of months yeah she just got back she just got back with a nice guy and she her son has grown up and he's a good kid and yeah we're gonna tell we're gonna tell that love story on the Lettermen podcast at some point she and I are just trying to uh it's an amazing love story um yeah it you know what let's finish off with uh come on give me one answer I'm enjoying no no well okay so to me that's close to my heart because this show wouldn't exist without him uh is is shecky Rick scheckman Jackie was an enigma I mean he in death shecky had proved everybody wrong I I think everybody looked at check he has a guy who had no life he lived with his mother then when his mother passed away he lived in that house it was him and his films he would work you know long days and finding stock footage for the show was maybe two percent of what he did yep Jackie was just everybody's pound shecky had a photographic mind for that show and knew every bit every detail and he was like my my sidekick shecky uh you know I used to have to pick a woman named Sue Hall used to find the stupid petrics and you know she'd show us videotape and we'd decide what pet tricks we'd have on and then for the show we'd rehearse them and it would be Sue and me and for some reason shecky became a part of that operation wasn't had nothing to do with what his job was but I always felt comfortable having shecky by my side looking at stupid Patrick's so shacky would say no and I go really shacky it's good he goes nope nope nope and he was always right on with which one we'd lead when with which one we'd end with and shecky was invaluable but but what what I found surprising in depth with shecky is how broad his network is how how many true friends and dear friends he had we always imagined him to be this lonely guy who went home at night and looked at movies but he had such an active social life and had such a an active you know curiosity of of film and and and the Arts and and you know so many deep friendships with people that mattered and had such intelligent conversations and and you know let him Walton writing a piece about him Alex you know it it it it it it it really opened up a whole new appreciation for what what Rick was about yeah you know very very much so uh I've said it before this show wouldn't exist if it wasn't for for Rick um Rick vetted me um and and one thing that I just appreciate so much about him um was he would talk to me for the last three years he and I talked a lot and uh um he was so proud of people that he hired that did well he wanted people to succeed if Rick took a shine to somebody for whatever it was whether it was a new intern or whether it was somebody or he helped Scott Ryan write that book the last days of Letterman he actually kind of really helped get that going he loved to be a service to somebody excelling and there's a lot of people in the pants family by the way who have that same thing but he just did that to me and for me and he would constantly talk about with pride people that like you talk about Mary he's like I helped hire Mary and look at marionette like he's so proud of her and and not just many many people and and um he and I bonded because we have same similar interests in different Generations so he would you know I had a wrestling promotion as part of my my financial career the way that we gave back to the community was we didn't do a golf tournament we put on a wrestling show and so when shecky found that out he started telling me about how he used to go down to the garden and watch Bruno Sammartino every week and and he would every month he would go down and he had the programs from it still and we just bonded over that we bonded over comic books and he had like you said you put it perfectly Morty he had so many uh don called them uh orbits he had so many orbits and people who just cared about him and he cared for them in these different worlds and and uh so I'm glad you mentioned that that's that's I love everything I love the recognition that he got in me too me too so for me it was so oddly enough enjoyable to see you know it made me proud of him he was hilarious he was in Antarctica with resting face yes absolutely the wonder he would go on vacations with Brian mceloon who was a director and associate director in the beginning and they'd go on cruises and I think what the did these guys do on these cruises you know I mean are they going after women are they I I I just never got what he was doing you know I always thought he was just this lonely guy but he was just had this rich life that was so nice to see yeah yeah um uh Barbara Gaines Barbara Gaines you know with Kathy and with Jude and with with Rick they were the heart and soul of of the operation yeah you know Barbara you know what I like most and I don't talk to Barbara much and I adore her and we used to be good friends you know we were the two Jews on the show so you know Barbara I I love how she matured you know Barbara was Goofy Barbara was a goofball she and Jude would sit in that Production Office smoking like chimneys it would stink right and she was like a kid and everybody yeah Bob and she's talking a high voice and then all of a sudden she became you know the producer and the executive producer and you know I wasn't there to observe it firsthand but I I always got a kick out of how she stepped up and and and became this this Powerhouse well she's she's a good woman Don Giller he's a bum this guy latched on to the shows that I produced put his own name Don's TV whatever the that is and has co-opted my work Don's a good guy not everybody relies on Don I always used to love seeing him outside the theater when he was in nothing he was a little street urchin who used to hang outside the theater but I adore Don he's he's a he's I'm so glad that he's part of the team after all these years oh me too me too and that archive like again and without Rick now especially too like like there goes the safety like the two of them you know the archive of this body of work is important he's to keep her the flame yeah the 100 um which is what I'm what we're trying to do with this show anecdotally um listen you have you have blown away any hopes that I have had and my hopes were pretty high I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie uh this is funny though I wish I were funnier you are funny man you oh no no no no no you absolutely you are um I I'm really grateful that uh that you did have that that moment with the two the two people coming together with the flash bulbs around I'm really really from the bottom of my heart happy that you had that oh um have you has there been talk with pants about doing the uh uh the favorite moments segment because I think yours would be pretty uh intriguing nobody's asked me really I'm here I'd love to do it I'm not going to say anything bad I only have positive wonderful memories let's get those Wheels going hey Walter um I'll tell the story about the first clip I'm going to show is Mandy patinka oh there we go boom done there it is um Don do you have any questions for for uh Mr Morton here before we oh I gotta show this picture that you just sent Don thank you for sending that look at that that was an art opening that was that uh uh he did a show at a local Gallery here of the bumpers yeah that one narrity was like asking for like 700 for the bumper pictures I said that I got a copy of my own that's all yep Mark's book everybody he's so good good for our show and we want to do some more stuff with Mark here but I see Mark a lot I run in Mark and I live in the same area so I see him quite I love that guy yep so I'm a schmuck huh um we actually have something in common that would be of interest to nobody uh you mentioned Jamie Tarsus yeah Jamie's Dad Jay uh my mom babysat for him in Baltimore in the 40s no early 50s not fun this is before he and Tom Patchett had gotten together he was a genius yeah genius uh and um still looks great I I run into him not often but I saw Jamie's brother a couple of months ago it's unfortunate she passed away she was a sweet sweetheart nice woman that's all I had to say That's funny though yeah but um I'm gonna watch your back whatever you're around to my back you know that we always talk to you outside the theater I always talk to you right um it was brief I remembered um one time I met up with you and and uh uh shecky had called me and asked if I had had collected any old older Academy Award footage um and it turns out you had asked Chucky to ask if anybody had it uh it was it was prep work for Dave oh oh okay so I I I I'm proud to have had some part in that Fiasco well I was going to tell you the story about when I worked on the Academy Awards that one picture of me and the Oscar at the Museum I I I produced the red carpet which was a lot of fun but it was just fun to have an executive producer credential at the Academy Awards where the guards go oh sir how are you sir and it really it was very important the other thing I found interesting about working on the Academy Awards was they have a meteor a meteorological service that gives them weather reports every single day for a year leading up to the Oscars because the decision to tent the red carpet or not is the biggest decision that's made on the award show and they they literally 365 days beforehand start tracking the weather patterns crazy so I'm doing the red carpet and they have all these big Oscar statues made out of you know molded plastic and they're painted very flat they they didn't look good and I said I don't like the paint job on these and the scenic designer said yeah but we have you know 700 of them around the theater I go well the ones I'm using on air are horrible they look they go like a flat gold I said I want it to have a little Sheen I want them to to Sparkle a little bit so he painted it and the people that ran the academy saw how great they looked and he had to paint all the awards a couple of nights before all this new shiny gold and he called it Morty gold no all those all those awards that you see on the set at the Academy Award is painted in Morty golds so that's my my little Legacy with the Oscars and coincidentally Morty gold is the name of my accountant so that's it that's Bonkers man and by the way I'm gonna throw this out there too Dave has done an expert job of changing the narrative he actually killed it at the Academy Awards again the Gen X kid absolutely loved I still one of his jokes from that night I still quote to this day he actually did a really good job of it but um I appreciate the fact that uh as a producer I I kind of shh I shook him up a little bit after he did his mileage do you notice sorry I don't we sold it before after he did his monologue and came backstage and he was like how was it how was it and I said it was okay and he was it was okay it was just okay and he's quoted that many times I've heard in interviews where it kind of shook him up and and you know he lost a little confidence after I didn't say it was great but you know he got out there he was he was great that might be the case but that was the year of Forrest Gump and that was the year of Pulp Fiction and it was the year and I remember when when when uh bender and Tarantino got up to accept the one time that they got to win an award but because Forrest Gump cleaned up on everything else and and and and and Bender was like oh you know we're gonna get off here really quick I gotta go take a leak really bad and Dave walks up to the microphone right after and said I've had to dig a league the last two hours you don't hear me complaining and it was just fantastic so that was after the monologue so there was some gold some Morty gold after that uh well it was funny because Forrest Gump obviously I knew Hanks very well yeah uh I was friendly with Steve Tisch who who produced the movie and my friend Eric Roth wrote the movie so it was you know I love being backstage when they won and being the first ones to greet them all it was it was fun I was I was rooting for them and you know something the the the the the Academy made such a to-do about Dave bringing you know Tom Hanks up to do the stupid Patrick and roll out the red carpet and Hanks could care less hex is the most chilled guy you've ever met you know it was like he knew he was going to win or oh yo yeah like that that was one of those Charmed things and it was such a I thought it was an awesome thing and by the way again for whatever reason the narrative uh you know that Dave didn't do well but the next year when Billy hosted Dave did a remote from a plane looking down at Billy hey Billy you know Uber Oprah so so it was it was a fantastic moment it was pop culture it was day following Johnny but creating his own part of that that culture that was the difference and he's Counter Culture Embrace The Counter Culture every now and then he didn't embarrass the awards their their legacy he was you know doing what he did if they didn't know that that's what he was going to do they shouldn't have hired him right no it it wasn't his fault and and I I kind of felt bad because Gil Cates who who did the show I was I was very close to his brother Joe Cates so I knew Gil and right before the awards Letterman wanted to with him and he said to me morning I want you to go to Gil case and tell him that I'm not going to wear a tuxedo that I want to do the show in a suit and I said Dave what do you want to do that for I said the guy's going to show that a billion people watched the biggest show ever I said a half hour before the show you want to just just with him like that he goes yeah yeah let's do it so I felt badly so I went up to Kate's I said Gil you got to take this with a grain of salt Letterman wanted me to tell you that he's going to wear a suit not a tuxedo tonight and Gail goes yeah yeah all right don't worry he got it instantly and it was it was just one of those things that you go oh my God why do you have to with people if that isn't a story that encapsulated who you were and what you did I don't know exactly that's that's it right there you balancing that line and doing what you're supposed to do but at the same time trying to preserve these relationships and these other things here uh I don't know a better example of that I'm going to finish this show the way I finished the first 15 episodes um because I mean I'm fascinated to know um God we didn't even get into the I wanted to talk to you about real estate in L.A I want to talk talk to you about what you're doing now but you got to come back on and we're gonna well there's nothing interesting about it oh I see I can pick your brain about it and I bet you I could make it interesting you know I represent some famous people I show famous people houses I you know I see the greatest houses in the world I you know it's fun you see how how these stars live you go through their closets you see they hide their Oscars on open houses so nobody sees it it's fun yeah and I got to see a picture of jaja's toilet because of you um so okay we'll talk more about this the next time I can't thank you enough uh let's finish off by let's finish off by saying okay Dave's doing the long form he's doing the Tom Snyder thing now and it's great doing a great job of getting the young audience because he gets pop culture icons of today we get it the strategy is awesome he's amazing if there were three people that you could see Dave do uh uh my next guest treatment with who would they be I'm fascinated to know who you'd like to see Dave talk to today uh Steve Martin did he have Steve Martin on yet not yet that's a great yeah I love him and Steve together the two of them yeah there are two of the brightest guys I've ever known yeah I'd love to see him anybody that Sparks his curiosity because the Curious you know the way to book that show is to bring on you know when he did you know uh zielinski yeah I mean it was his curiosity was so acute and and and it made that interview so so wonderful yep uh you know anybody that you know and and and he's he's so interesting because yeah he'll read a book and just be so curious and it could be a book about medicine it could be you know I'd love to see him talk to a doctor when he talks about medicine you know I'd like to see fauci on that show I'd love to see him talk to fauci that's a great answer you had so much talked about you about just just his curiosity about medical procedures I remember how great he was when when he had the heart surgery yeah just you know how he loved those doctors and those nurses and you know it shows a sigh to him that's that's you don't see when he does comedy though so I would say a falcon I would say Steve Martin I'd say you know I'd love to see him with a great director you know not Spielberg uh uh I don't know how about a JJ or someone like that Wes Anderson Wes Anderson that's a good one I'd love to see him with Wes Anderson excellent choice yep yeah um he loves movies he loves movies you know yeah Dawn you got anything else for God's sakes who've died 15 years ago you got anything else for Morty no just stay up out uh remembering when Morty called me a schmuck remember that and we'll uh throw lots of things you know I adore you yeah um Robert thank you for taking time to do this for the last time thank you for being so persistent I I I appreciate it oh well I knew I was gonna do it eventually right I used to describe our interactions as you uh as a cat playing with a rubber Mouse and and and I love that and I appreciate it very very much worth the wait um thank you very very much for doing this I'm gonna hit stop right now we'll say our goodbye privately uh Robert Morton everybody and Don Giller for that matter thank you okay I couldn't just let it go right there as you know uh I I'm a blowhard that likes the sound of my own voice and uh uh just so grateful for Morty um it was an epic conversation and now I'm gonna I'm just I'll do a little bit of inside baseball here not not very much and not the content but just the uh the the teas I don't know if it's a tease but at this point is anybody teased I think everybody's probably pretty full right now it was a very satisfying conversation very satisfying episode with uh teasers for more uh I've got some ideas uh of ways that we can we can do some some some fun things uh with Morty and and and utilize that a vault of stories that he has um but I'll let you know we hit stop uh and then Dawn Morty and I talked for like another 90 minutes after that it was it was just so cool to be so free and easy uh talking about some of these things um but I'm really grateful that we got a lot of these stories on the Disney thing I I I'm just blown away by that still can you imagine a world where Disney owned worldwide pants uh I'm very I'm extremely grateful that that Dave and company right now have the autonomy that they do with um their material with their catalog it's it's Unique and whatever we've seen again if they would have been purchased by Disney it probably wouldn't have been it you know that would have ended uh what we have now but at the end of the day thinking about the road that could have been uh that is a very interesting road that one there in particular uh I love that that Morty still keeps up with Dave to the point where he can kind of expertly say uh yeah Steve Martin that would be a good one fouchy that would be a good one like like the idea of Dave doing the long form here um the the the connection back to Tom Snyder of course um and and the fact that um you know you really look at two of the greatest broadcasters of all time you and and you know in Tom Snyder and Johnny Carson and Dave has kind of done both to his version of perfection and uh I'm I'm just really really grateful that uh uh we've had a chance to talk to to Morty about this stuff and I hope for for stuff in the future um this last week I hope you've had a chance to watch the very last Late Show with David Letterman and uh um come join the fun uh with us talking about this stuff reminiscing keeping this stuff alive because at the end of the day the content is still so good and some of it was only seen you know once um it's great to be a part of this I really really enjoy it uh this was a Monumental episode for us for me personally I'm just I don't know where it's going to go professionally but at the end of the day personally you just can't you can't take away this this is unbelievable unique um feeling that I get in having these conversations and and uh thank you for coming along uh for the ride with us thank you so much for everybody who's interacted with us the alpha uh consumers who have jumped back jumped out right away and and actually um you know interacted um you know please come to the Facebook group interact with us there uh I know a lot of people have reached out to me privately and and I thank you for all of the hints and the help and uh people who have who have reached out to help me and build um connections and relationships with people I know this isn't our anniversary episode our anniversary episode was last month but uh this kind of feels like one it just it was a big moment for us uh having Morty on and um I hope that we hit the ball uh you know at least we got on base if not if not more more so um if it wasn't a home run it might have been a triple uh I hope that was that way for you as well and and the next time uh we have them on where we'll be even better I'll have even better of setup we'll have a better technological setup we'll make it even and you know even even more special but I'm very grateful for this and I I I don't like an episode to go by where I don't talk about how grateful uh I am for this whole thing please take part please interact like share subscribe of course Rupert G the hello Deli uh I want to relate Revelation that was that was funny I'm curious to hear Rupert's reaction to that I'm gonna um I'm gonna wait for him to hear it in the episode and then I want to talk to him about it but uh uh yeah that is another episode of The Lettermen podcast we got plenty more coming this isn't like it's the last one or anything we've got lots more coming we got some in the can already and uh some special guests that are coming that I just haven't announced yet but it's coming uh thank you very much for everyone out there once again this has been the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants