The Rick Scheckman Tribute Episode

foreign okay so this is uh the weekly Alex Bennett radio Legend Alex Bennett does a weekly pop-up show on his YouTube channel and his Facebook and whatnot and I've been on there for a couple years as a panelist coming on weekly uh talking about just you know all sorts of fun stuff and one of the reason I'm on there is because that guy right there shecky Rick sheckman um alerted me to it and I became friends with him and Alex and um this was something that was said on the show yesterday I've really got her hooked yeah I watched last night he had Felicia Collins from the um Letterman band as his guest really good show thank you shecky part two is even better and it's longer too thank you very much for saying that I appreciate it very very much yeah because again you know I've known Felicia God knows how many years I've never really I talked to her a few times but this was like really interesting she is an absolute sweetheart how about my show did you hear anything in the last uh while that was uh terrific I didn't think so no Ray was asking what show it is I'll do a cheat plug it's the Letterman podcast right oh okay I have to listen to it happy again um sounding like a shield but you show away Jackie Jeff Martin people like that Steve O'Donnell and he's a very good interviewer okay let me ask for saying that look your check is in the mail I hope you accept Canadian dollars and I'm I'm starting I'm he's doing so well I'm starting something called The Lettermen podcast podcast I wish I had people on from his show thank you but no seriously he takes deep Dives like Jeff Martin is three hours Felicia is three hours yeah where you just you know and it's not just Letterman it's about their lives yeah yeah let me ask you this though shecky I I watch these Letterman things on YouTube right where they have like uh some of the writers or a producer or something uh talk about their favorite things over the years that they liked you know and they you've seen them right yeah yeah uh and uh I I was watching it and for instance somebody on it was only working at Letterman for three years you know and I'm going boy they're getting down to the bottom of the barrel on this well again I'm gonna get a joke for a moment my friend Randy who you you know you always hear me speak about yeah she was taping one of those fish because I don't know what the hell to talk about yeah well the thing was I kept thinking to myself they got somebody who only worked there for three years and yet have they asked you to do it yet oh no they would die if I would do it but I don't want to do it why don't you want to do it I got nothing to say yes because shecky knows where their bodies are buried stories that you know Chisholm would hear he's heard them you know uh you know what any time that you can have um well first off a radio Legend Alexander is a radio Legend and um someone who worked for Dave for 32 years look at the Goosebumps I got you see them my hairs are standing up um very grateful to Rick scheckman and uh as we do the Lettermen podcast his there's a few people whose respect that I am continually trying to uh earn and live up to Rick scheckman is right near the top of that list so thank you for saying that shecky and watch Alex Bennett's uh pop up for those who remember who Alex Bennett is remember him from Sirius and then from um wmca and then in the 90s and then live in San Francisco amazing amazing career so uh anyway that was yesterday that's that's what makes this stuff worthwhile is people's appreciation like that welcome once again to the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm uh this is going to be a different episode than all of our other ones I have I think I have done one or two uh where I have just talked to camera I know the very very first episode uh episode zero of the Lettermen podcast which has not been released um it was the test it was just me talking to camera to see how long I could talk to camera before I talk myself out uh I think I went 45 minutes and I wasn't talked out yet but thought it was a good time to end and so that's where I ended it so I it's not that I'm not accustomed to doing one of these Alone um I'm just really uh this is this is a surreal one it's weird I don't normally get I get excited when I do these things there are some people who I get nervous with just beforehand but it's an excited nervous it's a it's electricity in the air and I feel that and I love that and we're going to get back to guests like that uh coming up we've got other we've got you know what I'm not even gonna say who we've got booked but we've got some very very cool episodes uh coming down the pipe including um there's an episode coming that has uh some current stand-ups that could lead to some very big stand-ups coming on the show and I'm excited about that I'm really excited to start flexing the muscle of not just folks who worked for Dave and Company but also have been affected by Dave and Company some of the biggest you know stand-ups in the world now some of the biggest entertainers in the world now uh go back and cite one of David Letterman's Productions as influences for them and it's going to be very cool to talk to them as this show grows in the aspects of it grow I'm excited about that um lots of good things coming but today isn't about that I'm stalling right now you know it's weird like I'm nervous in a different way that I've never been nervous before I I tested all the equipment twice uh the microphones and all of that so I don't I don't normally do that I just normally just rock and roll and we go for it and and uh today isn't about that I procrastinated I was going to shoot this thing yesterday and and I just I shouldn't say I couldn't do it I just I hesitated um and it's because this is a this is the tribute show now I I wanna um you know a good friend of ours and somebody who worked for for Letterman company um for 32 years uh Rick sheckman passed away and I I just want to let you know he passed away on March 10th and that's um that's a significant date uh to me that I'll reveal a little bit in a little bit here but um uh I became friends with Rick in 2020 and I am going to kind of talk about there's a lot of information online about Rick um and his career obviously please you know what go to the Letterman Channel and and look at the tribute they put up to to Rick shaquin to shecky um it's so it's so beautiful I watched it just so you know I'm not going to be a blathering mess here blathering I think yeah I think that I think that works from an onomatopoeia point of view blathering works here I'm not going to be a mess I'm not going to be crying and all that stuff here I think I've I think I've gotten all my tears out for now I think I can kind of get it together to to do this here um but when you watch the the tribute that um Walter put up and that the Letterman Channel put up um it's so it's so easy to get caught up in the moments like like when when the shower curtain opens and Jackie's there naked uh you know lean right into the fax machine or The copier whichever device he was leaned into um it uh uh you know it was very obvious that Dave didn't know he was going to be completely naked and uh I like that that was something that we we we've talked about on the show here the idea that early on in late night they like to prank The Host and um and and that was uh you know one of um Meryl Marco's calling cards and and and I I liked that a moment with Rick was attached to a moment that we've talked about on the show or a an idea that was talked about on this show zinnamon and I talked about the idea of pranking the host and although it wasn't uh it was kind of they knocked it off after a while um every once in a while there would still be pranks and even the the to the spirit of later on into Late Show you know unexpected things would happen that you didn't really know if Dave was in on or not but this was a moment when they opened up the shower curtain that clearly Dave wasn't in on that and and I I appreciate the fact that um that was one of shecky's first on-screen appearances and um you know the Elvis stuff and all the things and it's so easy to get wrapped up in the moments like watching it right now like even I'm getting you know uh nostalgic and Whimsical and entertained even thinking about some of the uh the the shecky moments and then they just took a so they show in the tribute they show a bunch of those moments and then they took a right-hand turn and they had the big gentle Hawaiian singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with stills of Rick and other members of the company flipping by and I just lost it I just lost it and it was just I I mean I I couldn't believe it it was it was literally like a gut punch because you're you're sitting there laughing you're like oh yeah I remember all these things and then you start seeing the sentimentality oh but please go and watch the tribute to Rick scheckman watch it multiple times go and see it drive up there YouTube views account um but check out our friend um I I would even I I might even yeah I think I I think I can safely say this Rick might have been the very first friend of the Letterman podcast and so I'm going to talk about that so his past is out there and anybody who wants to go and see um you know some of the accomplishments or the the things about um my friend Rick that that made him him there's a lot of stuff out there uh Leonard Bolton's Leonard Moulton I mean you know a lot of people who are uh you know below my age I'm 47 at the time of this broadcast um I'm a 76 baby so that might give you context you know in the 80s if you were a film fan at all there's a guy by the name of Leonard Malton who you'd know who you'd know who that is um and and I I read his tribute to Rick um and it was just just just beautiful and it encapsulates so much of one aspect of Rick's life but the thing that I have there's nothing to me that is great or beautiful or um there's nothing to me that's that's positive about Rick leaving like as far as I'm concerned the world is in a is it a negative space um now that he's gone and for a variety of reasons and I'll talk a little bit about some of those things but at the end of the day you know it's funny how sometimes when someone's gone other people who may not have necessarily interacted before start comparing notes because you know obviously when somebody leaves this planet many times it brings people together and I and and I certainly had that happen uh for me and and I think other people can say that too since Rick has passed and and and um you know they start comparing notes and and and and uh somebody said this the other day on one of Alex Bennett's uh shows and I'll get to Alex and while he's going to be a part of this show for sure um uh they were talking about how Rick has different orbits and I'm certainly getting into the orbits of his that I knew and it it's been really neat hearing about some of the other orbits that that check he had and and and it's been really cool sharing some of the orbits that I've had with him because I've only been friends with him for three years you know I I I've been a lifelong fan of of the production and um but I've only known him for three years and at the end of the day I can safely say he is the first friend of I talk about the friends of the show he is the very first friend of the show because he was there um when the Genesis of this show began in fact um I've started my Lily Pad uh board where there's a you know connecting all the lily pads that led to this show um existing um his is probably his and if any one of those lily pads was taken away this show probably wouldn't have happened but his he's got multiple lily pads like he's got a series of them and uh and I think I've talked about one of them before and when I get to alexman and I'll talk about that but shecky this show wouldn't exist without him I have a deeper appreciation for the Productions of David Letterman and Company because of Rick sheckman um like we we talked a lot over the last three years um and and and and so I think it'd be kind of neat instead of doing a retrospective and going back to things that I can't speak nearly as eloquently or um as authoritatively if I have any Authority whatsoever I don't think I have any Authority whatsoever that's a bad word Mike um with any with any degree of of specific uh knowledge you know Leonard knows that stuff Alex Bennett knows that stuff um people who worked with with Rick for years know that stuff way better than me because I wasn't there what I can speak to is the last three years and and um and then I can also speak to very carefully uh some of the things that he talked to me about about other people and the things that other people have said to me about Rick and I just um boy that alone could probably fill an entire podcast I thought to myself and so that's that's what I'm doing here and I also I'm not I have no I have no designs um on the idea that this is going to be that's it's not going to be therapy for me it's kind of going to be therapy for me I I talking into the camera like this about my friend just after he passed it and you know not even a week after he passed um I know we'll be therapeutic but maybe there will be some people who hear this and it might be comforting to them as well because obviously I don't have a cross thing to say about Rick um and to me I mean it's funny even all the the insights that he has given me over these years um these these few years here he never really had a cross thing to say about anybody you know he told me about things that happened lots of things that happened I mean the stories that he told me um about some of the hijinks some of the pranks some of the uh the things that happened that he's seen over his life not just with the Letterman show but outside of that as well wow um Rick has seen some stuff and I just appreciate that um the attitude that he had one of the things that he told me is that um he did his very best to stay in his own lane through his years his 32 years 32 years working for David Letterman and Company he said he could stay in his own life for the most part that was when it was a sweet spot you know he he stayed in his Lane he knew his role he didn't push for promotion bumps and things like that he was a film Corp they still call him I think the film coordinator right to the very end and and technically you know he could have gone down a path where he demanded you know a producer executive producer or whatever like like he could have gone down those paths for these bumps or co-exec producers I don't know I don't know the hierarchy but but he could have easily easily taken you know title bumps and promotions and things like that and made it about him but he didn't do that he he he he's he said to me many times that he knew his role and I just um I pre that's one of the many things that I appreciate about about Rick so if it's okay with you I don't know how many views or listens we're gonna get on this podcast but it doesn't matter I've never chased that on this show and that was advice that Rick gave to me actually he said don't go chasing that stuff just do a do a damn good show as far as you're concerned and um I may imitate him a couple of times because I I like to imitate Rick he had a very distinct voice those of us who are not from New York um but have an appreciation for New York like my wife and I we just we've always unabashedly loved Love New York and we love New Yorkers and Rick was a New Yorker from Queens he lived in the house that he grew up in and I have a special appreciation for that um my parents still live in the house that I grew up in and I have stuff stored there I've Got a Car stored there I've got a car that I want to restore at some point when when money uh becomes available to do that like I've got in my old bedroom has you know a quarter of the room with boxes of things that are that I'm nostalgic about and um Collectibles some of them some of them are are things that are are just nostalgic to me um but Rick lived in the house that he grew up in and at the end of the day I mean I I've got all these pictures that he has sent me and and uh it's essentially a museum to the things that he loves um to film to comic books to sports memorabilia comic art as well sports memorabilia um and and and many other things as well and I just appreciate that about him so so first and foremost uh you know I'm getting disjointed some would say that I've never been jointed but I'm going to kind of start from the beginning as to when Rick and I met and um gonna talk a little bit about that and how he contributed so greatly not just to the Letterman podcast but the Letterman podcast is an extension of of of of of who I am and me and it brings me I've said this before on and off camera this this doing this for whatever reason brings me so much joy and I'll tell you let's just go right from the beginning um the transfer of knowledge is a big thing for me and um I'm a big fan of that sorry when somebody's an expert in something and they are able to find someone or some sort of Outlet to transfer their expertise to somebody or something else I think that that is a beautiful experience um I'm fascinated listening to and and I mean it's getting harder and harder and harder now I mean it's it's nearly impossible now to talk to a lot of the folks from World anybody from World War II who is actually there but I remember growing up I would talk to people who had been at some of these pivotal world events or or even um you know minor world events somebody been to you know the Olympics in Calgary somebody who had been to um you know a World's Fair it didn't have to be something catastrophic it could have just been something that I just found interesting and I would love to listen to them talk about these things anybody who knew Rick knows Heavens even people who didn't know Rick but knew of him might know that Rick could do that about Old Time Hollywood old school movies and I would this time and place that I didn't necessarily connect with I mean I haven't seen I I we don't even have Turner Classic Movies up here we didn't have Turner Classic Movies up here in Canada for for years so I haven't seen a lot of the movies that he would talk about but I would be endlessly fascinated listening to Rick talk about all of the stories behind the scenes in old Hollywood and he could go like you wouldn't believe and and I I could listen to him talk about that stuff forever um so the transfer of knowledge is something that I really like and um and I think any time somebody's an expert maybe not any time that's generalizing I suppose but I think many times when somebody's an expert on something they um enjoy finding a place where they can spread their wings about it a little bit well Rick had a whole pile of those with me those orbits that we're talking about we had a bunch of different things and and I'm going to get into that in a second because I didn't know any of that as I got to know Rick at first I didn't know any of that okay so here's how here's here's here's uh I'll get into it now I don't know how many minutes we are into this podcast but it doesn't really matter because people are going to tune in tune in and people who aren't going to tune in don't tune in that's okay um so I I think I've talked about my granddaughter on this podcast in fact my granddaughter appeared on this podcast um I know what you're thinking Mike you are way too fabulous uh looking and and sounded to have a granddaughter but you know what it still happened I still have this beautiful wonderful four-year-old granddaughter who is the light of my life her name is Alara um Alara incidentally is one of the moons on Jupiter she um is my world I believe she appeared on the Steve Young episode uh the first Steve Young episode we had I think she showed up she came down to the studio paw hi Laura you know I think I think we had that so um when Alara was 18 months old she went to um British Columbia children's hospital for a period of almost five months um my wife and I uh she has slept over at our house at least one night a week since she was two weeks old my wife and I are very very very involved with Alara and if you meet her you'll I mean she's the cutest thing you'd ever you'd ever Lay Your Eyes on and I'm biased but I'd still put her up against any other um kid out there she's just magic she absolutely is and she and and and she uh has always been that way um it was weird my wife and I would be walking with her in the mall um you know when she was an infant and people would literally walk across the mall and and come and look at us and go oh my goodness she's an old soul she's magic there's something about this girl and I don't know any of that I don't know how any of that stuff works but what I do know is that's my experience and people have said that for all I know people say that about all babies there's there's people who just are you know people who say that about all babies I don't know but I I have bought into that and so when Alara was 18 months old um we discovered my wife discovered we had her over uh one night and my wife discovered a bump um on our lower lower lower back and it turns out she had a tumor the size of my fist behind her tailbone everything's fine now it all worked out real good um but uh we found out um basically it was three days before Christmas we saw the bump on Christmas Eve uh we were summoned to our local hospital to get do an MRI if you know anything about the Canadian Health Care System MRIs can be something that are a little bit tricky to get so the idea of getting one within a day on Christmas Eve we knew something was there on Christmas Eve we found out about this uh this tumor um that her mom named Virgil named the tumor Virgil and um so unboxing day which is the day after Christmas we went down to Vancouver uh to BC Children's Hospital the kids got to stay at Ronald McDonald House with Alara candy and I uh started at a hotel and um not knowing then we would end up having seven residences in Vancouver um because we didn't leave we wouldn't leave we thought that they were going to remove a cyst she had a surgery um on New Year's Eve um going into 2020 so so December 31st 2019 my granddaughter had a surgery um longest day of my life it was seven hours they went in from the front and the back to get Virgil out uh they did it was successful we thought okay we're gonna go home soon while pathology came back and it turns out it was cancerous and so we're now staying in Vancouver for another four and a half months um for four rounds of chemo okay here we go and uh so anyway um that was a pivotal time in my life um there's never been a time where I have exercised uh faith more um I had to rebuild back up to that anyway uh so I don't know if you've ever been touched with cancer with a loved one but there's a lot of down time with cancer and so while we were in Vancouver I had always thought I was going to rewrite or write um the story about that night and uh the night that uh you know April 20th 2015 the night I was at the end Sullivan Theater and and had my interaction with Dave and uh I had you know had books brought down to me while I was down there um one of them being Scott's book so this is going to get to shecky here in a second but um checking I connected on a really personal way that's how we connected in the first place and so um I feel like the back story is and plus this is therapy for me right so I'm not going to feel guilty about this anymore I'm just gonna keep talking um so anyway um I'm writing out the story because you know in between rounds of chemo there's downtime but you got to be near the hospital anyway to go in for uh outpatient care and all that kind of stuff so I just thought okay well what we're gonna do here is we're gonna um uh I'm gonna rewrite the story and just let this room of Consciousness go and that's what I did I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and I and I wrote the entire ordeal uh uh titled it the letter manifest I don't even think I had it titled the letter Manifesto back then and it's out there if you want to read it it's like 12 000 words um I've been told it's mildly entertaining and it certainly will pass the time um prisoners seem to really enjoy it uh and so I wrote the entire story out and I put it out there and um I don't know where I put it out there I think I put it out there on Facebook it doesn't matter so at that point I had also been corresponding with Scott Ryan writer of of of the last days of Letterman and and I had asked him so every once in a while I'd bug him and ask him some questions from time to time and uh and one of the people of course in that book is Rick scheckman because it's an oral history book right and the book is essentially written Scott put it together and he did a masterful job of editing all of these interviews that he did with all of these people um and Rick shackman is one of the people in that book that Scott I believe called invaluable if I misquoted you buddy I apologize I don't think I did though I think you've called sheki invaluable uh either to me in person or uh in the book itself and and again we're going to talk about this transfer of knowledge thing it's because Rick either collected or remembered everything like you know film coordinator right we talk about this the idea of that well when when um Bill Hicks uh when his set was cut from Late Show and they wanted to make it right and show it nobody had it well Rick had it Rick had it either was in an office or his house or wherever it was like Rick has the stuff that he has he has shown me pictures of some of the things that he has that has never made it to air or full episodes of uh you know pivotal moments uh uncut and and and and that's his gig that's his job is to have that stuff right and so as a collector um he was perfect for the job that he had uh for Letterman so anyway uh I put it out there I talked to Scott Ryan a little bit and somehow sheky reads it and um I think it was I think it was via Facebook was the first I've gone through all the correspondence that I've done with Rick in the past few years but I think the initial reach out was through Facebook so I'm going to say thank you very much to the Facebook thanks Zuckerberg I've connected with a lot of my uh a lot of people that I'm very interested in um and who they are and what they've done uh because of Facebook so thank you very much um you know people can say what they want about Facebook but hey that's probably a lily pad I haven't even thought about for this show so I connected with Rick and he said I loved he didn't say I loved but it was something like it was Rick's version of I love like Rick had his own language and his own way of of of discussing it was very New York um and I love that I love that he just is a as a pure New Yorker um and he said that he he he might use the word enjoyed I really enjoyed um your story and I'm like oh my God this is really really cool I I'll never forget that that was that was definitely over a messenger app because uh I was sitting on my couch upstairs and Candy was on the other side of we got a big couch like a big L couch and she was kind of sprawled out on the other side of it and I'm like I'm having a conversation with Rick shackman right now and I was blown away by that I was Starstruck totally Starstruck and so I asked him a few questions about the show and all that and he was very gracious answered everything I I asked and then uh and then I I talked about how I remember talking about how David Letterman is the greatest broadcaster in in history and we got into the broadcasting thing a little bit and that night it's either the first or the second time that he and I corresponded back and forth but also he he wanted to know if my granddaughter was okay which I appreciated very much um that was really cool because this is after the fact this is uh we had come home um we were shell shocked but very grateful she's can't she's cancer-free there a lot I think they're allowed to say now that she's cancer-free um but even then they were like yeah she's good and um anyway he was I appreciated the fact that he asked about that but anyway um we started talking about uh Broadcasting and I he just did an offhand comment and I honestly think that this might be the night like I think and I've asked a couple other people about this who know Rick and um I think he was vetting me and people have agreed emphatically yes he was I just have a hard time saying that I have a bit of imposter syndrome and um and I have a hard time thinking that he might have been vetting me you know for this or for something I I don't know but this is what he said to me he goes hey well if you like great broadcasters uh you should look into Alex Bennett and like again in one of our very first conversations Alex Alex is going to watch this but uh in one of our very first conversations that we ever had he mentioned Alex Bennett to me and Alex Bennett is Rick's best friend or one of his best friends again lots of orbits but Alex and Rick have this amazing Bond um Tom Sawyer Huck Finn it's probably an apt uh but I mean I'd even go I'd even go further for those who are uh who are who are biblical nuts um David and Jonathan I would I would put uh for those who are Lord of the Rings Sam wise and Frodo yeah I mean that's that's how I like I just I'm sorry I like the idea of thinking that Alex and Chucky are Hobbits sorry um but anyway they're very very very close friends and and for those of you who don't know who Alex Bennett is um this is the what I have said Alex Bennett was a it was a radio guy and he's still broadcasting he's in his 80s now he's still broadcasting every single week I go panel on a show that he does um because shecky invited me to and he invited me to this this is either this night or the next conversation where he was where I was just talking I was talking right from my heart just being who I was and he's like oh yeah well you know you should come on Alex's show one day and that's a terrible shacky impression but I'll get better at them as as I go um you know and and I was like well what do you mean he goes he goes well we do a show every week come on on and I'm like I didn't understand he sent me the zoom address and I was like okay and and so I decided to to do a little bit of research on Alex Bennett and it turns out Alex Bennett uh legendary radio guy that does not get the credit he deserves in in broadcasting um here is the the the the shorthand that I like to describe Alex Bennett um Howard Stern drove on the highway that Alex Bennett paved and and and I truly truly believe that um I mean and and Alex don't get me wrong even though maybe he might not be the you know as acclaimed worldwide as Howard it doesn't matter because Alex Bennett was that guy whether or not the masses knew it um I mean friends with John Lennon and and has Many Adventures and and anecdotes um you know that spawn all sorts of different times and places um like I think about Dave uh doing this special with you too it'll be it'll be out I guess by the time this episode airs are very very close to that um you know Alex interviewed John and and and and not only that that interview turned into other things and I would say the same was probably uh similar for Dave you know Dave interviewed you two and whatnot and because of that it evolved into other things that happened for Alex back in the 70s um you know uh um Abby Hoffman um I forget the name of the Netflix movie with Sasha Baron Cohen but but that that movie was just just released and told the story of Abby Hoffman and and and um and and and Alex knew him and knew him when he was in hiding like like crazy stuff he was bi-coastal he was huge in California huge in New York wmca I believe and then went back to California and then came back to New York to do the serious thing uh to finish up his career it worked for Sirius Alex Bennett is an incredible broadcaster and he's Shaky's best friend and so shecky connected us and I'll never forget the first time going on the show and and just it's it's it's kind of like what we do here it's a bunch of you know but 15 to 20 screens or you know 10 to 20 screens I guess of different panelists from all over the place and check he was on there every single week and Alex like Letterman or likes letter and loves Letterman he's a fan and so every once in a while and every second episode or whatever either Alex or I would ask sheki a letterman question and so this was like this amazing experience being able to come on to this show and see shecky every week and then and then his in my correspondence outside of the show was starting to get a little bit more um frequent and this is where the transfer of knowledge stuff is something I very much appreciate I appreciate watching and listening to Alex and his point of view I just many times observe him because again this is one of the greatest broadcasters um that that we've ever seen and I mean he was into all sorts of antics and pranks and and and and and his fan base would do things again long before Howard Stern showed up there's a Danielle Steel story that is just unbelievable unbelievably funny um and and many others as well uh if you want to learn more about Alex he actually put out people always said to him oh write a book you got to write a book you gotta write a book and he's like Ah that's not really my style I'm a broadcaster so he put out this I think it's 50-something Parts maybe even more it's called life in the passing Lane with Alex Bennett you can find it uh where podcasts are available um I highly recommend it and within a couple weeks of coming on this weekly show I had listened or yeah listened to all of the episodes and also by the way if uh about halfway through or three quarters of the way through Alex goes through his entire life and then once he gets to when shecky came into his life he talks about a lot of the adventures that they've been on together so for those who are want to hear some more background about Rick outside of the Lettermen show um you know look for life in the passing Lane with Alex Bennett so anyway I'm learning all this stuff and and I'm going on the show every week and I'm seeing shacky and then outside of the show he and I are starting to connect more and and and this transfer of knowledge thing is something I love and then realizing that he and I have a lot of common interests um and in this episode you might learn a lot about you might learn some things about me and that's that's that's all right I was brought up to my attention brought to my attention not too long ago that that I could maybe um say more things biographically about myself um in this show and so that's probably going to happen here because shaqi and I turns out are into many of the same things but from different Generations which is fascinating to me so again I'm a movie guy like like one of the things one of the things that no longer really exists but do you remember going Tuesdays do you remember Tuesdays uh movie release day whenever whenever um and I mean I guess it I don't know if it started with I don't think it started with VHS I think it started with more like when things were transitioning over to DVD but every Tuesday you know I used to go to either one or two of my favorite um audio visual centers that sold movies and and and and music and uh see what was the new releases were and this is something that shecky was he and I bonded over but we would look for different things you know I'd be looking for the latest uh special edition Criterion edition of you know my favorite Kevin Smith movie or something like that whereas he was looking for something um you know All Quiet on the restaurant Western Front the original right a new version of that comes out I don't know if that's exactly one of them but but checky would always be looking for these archival releases and things like that and and Tuesday used to be the day now with where we live in the time and place that we live things are streaming things around demand things are instant it's a very different time than it was back then but back then um you know getting these things for The Collector these release days were very very important and in times where you could go and trade you know for him it was filmed but I know all about tape trading and things like that from some of the other things that I'm into from music I'm a huge music fan and I have bootlegs of some of my favorite uh bands live performances and things like that and there was a culture back then so he and I bonded with that idea but it was with two completely different things uh time frames within that so that film's a good example another one is pro wrestling so we have a pro wrestling connection um shecky would tell me she would tell me these stories about film he would tell me these stories about pro wrestling and and he used to go to Madison Square Garden all the time growing up and see like Bruno Sammartino and some of the the old wwwf or the early incarnations of the World Wrestling Federation who ran out of uh Madison Square Garden he would go there and see that stuff all the time growing up for me personally I grew up a wrestling fan um but also it's so weird to say this to this audience um this audience what am I kidding all dozen of you plus you mom um I have a I've talked about how I have a financial uh business and um and I love I love that I love helping people I love connecting with people and helping people and so that's a way that I can I can do that this here seems to be the thing that I was kind of meant to do from my my heart whether or not you guys think that is irrelevant I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do and if there's a way that we can figure out a way to make that happen we're going to do that um and I'll keep my financial business I got a bunch of advisors that I can you know just like Rick Rick kept his film company right he's got his oh I love the idea of being entrepreneurial and having all sorts of different um spoons and all sorts of different pots but anyway um I have a financial business and it kind of came time to start trying to give back to the community I'm a big believer in giving back to the community local community um I love doing that and and but many times people in my profession uh when they give back to the community they do it through like a golf tournament or a walk of some sort um the place that I live in in Kelowna has like 80 golf courses within 100 miles something like that that's very much a so so that's that's where people kind of move towards um to me that's like well that's not really me um so a business partner of mine and I said well we should do a wrestling promotion and what we did was we basically took the the idea of a golf tournament you know you got prizes and sponsors and all these sorts of things or whatever and we we built it around a wrestling event and everyone laughed at us everyone totally totally laughed at us uh we we planned it for a certain night in October of 2013.

uh we brought in an old uh World Wrestling Federation starting Brutus The Barber Beefcake Brutus The Barber Beefcake are you kidding me the alliteration alone never mind the metaphor his name is Brutus he's a barber and he's a Beefcake like what does that okay so anyway uh he was a star in the 80s we brought him in and and used a bunch of local um independent professional wrestlers or whatever and everyone laughed at me like everybody laughed at me and and and and and and and that's okay I'm okay with that um I like being different and uh and they stopped laughing when we raised fifteen thousand dollars in one night for for ironically for BC Children's Hospital yeah there's a lot of things that come full circle uh for BC Children's Hospitals where we raised our our money for on the very first event well so so that was kind of fun um but then the wrestling fans started clamoring when's your next event when's your next event we kind of we didn't think it was going to be anything beyond one night Well turns out wrestling fans are pretty rabid and uh and and we were onto something and so we ran shows twice a year the fall in the spring every year for like six years right up until covet basically and um we raised over 250 000 for local charities so in that process I got invited I was kind of the business end behind things and I got invited or pulled in behind the curtain of the pro wrestling business I saw the Jerry Lawler thing happened um I was at a wrestling uh event called cauliflower alley and Jerry Lawler was there and and and and you know I've had many people who know him work for me for for the event for a weekend and so anyway I I learned how it works and and all that stuff it's still a very as public as it is um it's still a very closed off um culture so how does this relate to shaki well shecky used to go to Madison Square Garden all the time and I mean you talk about a time when wrestling was really closed off like they would not even confirm that it was a spectacle a form of entertainment rather than an actual contest like like like it was a different time and place when shecky was going to the garden and seeing like old women who would stab the wrestlers as they were coming down they would stab the bad guys because they were the bad guys were were doing something to their hero it was a different time and place and shecky and I bonded over that and so the idea like we would go back and forth and he would tell me stories and and and and oh my gosh it was so cool that this guy that I looked up to Forever through Letterman and I were talking wrestling and then we started talking and then I realized how big of a comic book fan he is but again different different like he loved Golden Age DC Comics again I'm isolating the audience because I'm talking about things that are just so it doesn't matter it doesn't matter I'm wearing my I'm wearing my Dark Knight Returns 2 shirt today because he knew Frank Miller and God damn it these are questions that I wanted to ask him I stopped being a fan with Rick because and we just became friends talking about this stuff but there's I got a list of questions like it was it was a joke once the Letterman podcast started it was like this this joke that he was he's not gonna come on the show ever there's a moment I'll talk about there's a moment I'll talk about in a few minutes but uh the joke was he's never gonna come on the show but I always had him there I can ask him any question I want and the ironic thing is I didn't because I just want to talk to him about other that we liked and uh and wrestling was one of those things and then comic books was another one of those things I'll tell you here's the question okay so so so um when uh when they moved to the Ed Sullivan Theater for a significant portion of time that they were there DC Comics was right across the street and so oh my gosh some of the Collectibles Rick has and not just that but like there's an artist by the name of Alex Ross look up Alex Ross DC he does these paintings of superheroes and makes them look almost photo realistic and he's got Alex Ross is an unbelievable artist Alex Ross did a a picture for sheky like and and I mean he's she's taking pictures and showing me this stuff and I'm like oh my gosh in 1985 The Dark Knight Returns one came out by Frank Miller and David Letterman's featured in it I never asked Jackie what would it what was it like when you like saw The Dark Knight Returns because he was still into Comics at the time he likes he likes the really old stuff but also like The Dark Knight Returns is a very pivotal comic book um so for those people out there who like comic books you understand what I'm talking about for those who don't this is like I don't know it'd be like Ben Hur or Citizen Kane of comic books like it's a really powerful comic book and it's about an alternate future uh it was in it was in 85 and so um you know it was the Cold War was it was a big part of it and uh it was basically what would happen if there was a nuclear war and Superman was involved and all this sort of stuff like it was geopolitical stuff like it really really got heavy but in it the Joker was the Joker was in it and and it was so it's so crazy because people were like there was this um culture that was developing where people were showing empathy to people like the Joker and so they invited him onto a talk show from prison um and then you know he was reforming himself and all these sorts of things and getting better and that's what he wanted everyone to think and then he shows up it's it's Letterman they didn't call him David Letterman but it was Dave there's Paul and the Joker ends up killing the entire audience puts a smoke bomb in there uh everyone gets the the big grin and they all die so and then Batman's gotta go save the day came out when Rick was there and I I never asked him about that because it would have been it just or when Dave was on the cover of Avengers number I forget what the Avengers were on David Letterman and he was on the cover I forget which issue it was but I didn't really I didn't focus on that with him it's so weird that I could have but I didn't those were questions that I always said ah if I ever have them on the show I'll ask him those things like that we always hear when we lose somebody not to you know be grateful in the moment don't take moments for granted don't lose your shot and and and I'm gonna just say this right now you know if you've got some something you want to say to somebody go say it because you don't know when they're going to be gone I knew Rick was sick for a while but we always thought it was going to be just handled oh they'll find out they'll zero in on what it is but um anyway so we bonded over comic books um and then we started bonding over sports memorabilia again but see with the comic books and the and the wrestling he would talk to me about his era I would talk about my era and and and and he would transfer that knowledge to me and it was just so fun talking to my friend Rick about this and then of course lots of Letterman stuff in in between like like he would just throw out there like big statements that would get my Letterman synopsis firing like crazy but hold on what are you talking about but it was such a different context because we became friends and then you know every week with with Alex and watching him and Alex connect and it just it was such a different dynamic so sports memorabilia um I mean I don't wanna I I sent Rick a president like what do you get for the guy this is the this is my wife has a really hard time with this sometimes because she looks at me and she goes what do I get for a present the guy who you know has everything when it comes to collect like collectors have it's very hard to buy for a collector sometimes well my friend owns a sports memorabilia store here in in where I'm from and um a card got pulled and it was a card of it was a Yogi Berra card and it had a piece of Yogi Bear an actual piece of Yogi Bear Jersey on it and I immediately said Jason that's mine and and I sent it to Rick um out of gratitude because what do you get for the person who has kind of giving you everything and I I view Rick that way when it comes to the Letterman podcast um I'll get to that but I sent that to him and and and and because I know how much you love the old school Yankees I asked him about who uh one of the things I asked him about was was there ever any guests on the show that you had to go see and he's it was he's so funny he's like ah all the actors yeah you know but whatever a big time baseball player was on that he liked that was somebody he wanted to go see and uh um I appreciate that about many members of the staff that you know they don't get Star Struck except for that one person like think of like I think of the Casey you know Prince being on that was a like you know you're not getting Starstruck too too much about some of these things you know but but but when every once in a while a big one comes out well for Rick it was the big baseball players um big Yankees and uh I appreciate that about him um yeah I appreciate that very much about it so anyway uh let's get to how he got involved with this so we're on Alex Bennett's program one day I I feel like I've been doing the program at this point for at least six months maybe a year I don't know it gets jumbled in my head one day I'm gonna go back into Alex's old programs and see which day it was we we do this every Monday four o'clock Eastern time one o'clock Pacific time uh you go on Alex Bennett's Facebook you can see it every single week he does it live it goes on to his YouTube channel afterwards um I just love the fact that Alex is still broadcasting I love that he is still scratching the itch um he's not a big time guy it's serious you know not the the controversial guy and on wmca um but he's just doing it and I mean that gives me it's like an indie band that just plays in the garage and for a show every once in a while but they love what they're doing sometimes that's how I view myself doing this um sometimes the Indie band wants to get out of the garage sometimes they go back to the garage whatever um foreign you know and and and shecky encouraged me to do this no matter what it turned into if it turns into something and and he wanted it to he told me many many many times he's like I yeah you never know you know and that's how his way of saying just keep doing it um you never know what will happen from it and I I I love him for that I love you Rick um so one day I'm on Alex Bennett's show with him and I want to look at myself I did I did go back a while ago and look at it uh it was on the Monday show he um Rick was talking about Alex was like oh yeah like it's a very casual show and so Alex would always go to Rick because they were best friends right and he'd go to Rick whenever whenever the conversation with lull so Rick what's going on with you he'd say and oh you know um and one day he said Rick surprised me he goes well I've got to go on to uh after this I'm gonna be on a on a podcast this is long before the Letterman podcast I've got to be on a podcast about Letterman and as he's saying that I just get this little smile on my face you know because what reaction do you have on your face when your dream is dying um and your heart is breaking I don't know and I'm just going oh and and I I remember asking him I'm like hey uh shecky what show is that because I mean I'm a podcast fan right and I've been waiting for this podcast for I've been waiting for the Letterman podcast for years and uh and you know obviously it's a busy World things can escape and get by you and I'm like what podcast is it oh I don't know it's some Letterman podcast okay all right well all right so there's me just uh accepting the fact that um you know that hole is now filled and uh a couple hours later I get a message from him and he goes oh just so you know it was um the Carson podcast that I was on Mark malkov which of course I knew about and I'm like oh my gosh because because malkov would have a lot of Letterman folks on I'd really appreciate that again for those people who like this podcast check out the Carson podcast so many Letterman people uh have been on the Carson on the Carson podcast with Mark melkoff and we I keep saying I gotta get him back on here we keep messing I gotta have him mark back on as a guest um now that we're almost a year in um and so he messaged me that um it was actually the Carson podcast that I was a guest on and and I really had an existential Awakening at that point and uh I realized okay like it's like the world the universe God whatever you want to call it looking down at me going okay or looking over at me and and saying okay stupid you now know what it feels like um to have this dream of yours taken away Rick knew that when he messaged me I I he he knew he was giving me some comfort going hey it's it's still there it's still available and I think that that was when I really started seriously considering the idea of battling through um whatever demons or imposter syndrome that I had and trying to make this a reality so I'm really grateful for that um really grateful for Alex Bennett um yeah I just really appreciate the fact they invited me into their world because who am I I'm just a weirdo from western Canada um but I would surprise every once in a while I'd surprise them with insights or things that I knew because again it's that transfer knowledge thing well Rick knows all these things is these Arcane pieces of knowledge well I've got a little bit in my head too certainly a lot more to learn and I think that that's the curiosity is one of the things that's one of the things told me he appreciated is that I'm curious about all these things and uh so anyway um that was a that was a pivotal day and I started thinking about it and I think I already had I already had the men's mental Wellness podcast going he cast um um I already had that going so it's not like it was out of the realm of possibility um but I'll never forget what it felt like to think that the Letterman podcast existed somewhere else um that was that was a terrible thought and that was a terrible moment um and Rick helped me through it and uh I think it's what you know they say you know you know Pizer get off the pot whatever uh that's really the day that I decided okay well if I'm gonna make this happen I gotta start taking some steps to make it happen um so anyway we start moving forward um with the idea of this and I had a very serious conversation with him shortly after that and uh and it was talking about hey you know Rick I really really want to do this um I really want to host this the Lettermen podcast I want to put it out there I mean he's just so relaxed ah do it see what happens he'd say you know like um which I appreciated the encouragement but one night I I got serious and uh I don't know other people who are friends with Rick in different ways I'm a very uh vulnerable emotional guy um I I like to share my feelings and and and and and and and do that for people and just kind of lay it out there and people who like it can like it people who don't like it can you know dismiss whatever but I am that guy and so um I also appreciate the fact that many times especially men older than me like I host a men's mental Wellness podcast I'm starting to understand how many of these people generationally tick and also how men uh who have learned to stifle feelings and sentimentality and vulnerability and things like that also think and so it's no skin off my nose when somebody doesn't necessarily reciprocate in the same way that I do um but this was a night where I actually got vulnerable with him and and he kind of came down to my level a little bit and it's a Godfather analogy I don't think I've said this out loud I don't think I've told anybody this I might have told Don um but I had this moment where I was like okay I'm really gonna do this and he's like good do it and I said listen I I need uh I need a conciliary and I always use Godfather references because I believe there's a Godfather reference for almost every situation in life I just happen to be one of those people and I said listen um if I'm gonna go and try and do this I need a Tom Hagen Tom Hagen was of course um you know the the the the person that was in the ear of The Godfather he was the conciliary Robert Duvall in The Godfather and I said I needed Tom Hagen and he said Mike whatever you need I'm here for you by this time we had known each other a couple years he had seen he had you know if he had been vetting me or whatever um it was there already and uh when somebody believes in you it's really a good thing that can be everything but when somebody believes in you who you have ultimate respect for I missed the little I miss um again how New York he is there's a place in New York called Stew Leonard's I've never been to Stu Leonard's uh but I want to go it's a grocery store uh with a deli and and things like that inside it um I very much want to go there because I have heard about a bunch of the different food that is available there and and and and and and it just I I rick loved it rick loves Stew Leonard's uh I again but don't know about me I work for Costco for a long time uh before I I kind of struck out to to to do better than what of a wage hopefully you know and that's why I started my financial business but I started that on the side I worked for Costco for 23 years I was in the marketing department and Rick loved Costco and I love that Rick loved Costco because I worked there and that was one of the other wonderful ways that we bought it like he would tell me some things about Costco and I'd be like oh well I can like I can rattle off all sorts of Costco uh gosh indoctrination I mean corporate whatever I can talk about I can talk all sorts of Costco stuff because I was there for so long and not just I was you know a little bit deeper into the business uh being in the marketing department and so we would talk about things like that and I just appreciated that um I loved how much he loved New York I talked a little bit about that earlier but he would post pictures on his Facebook of like what Times Square looked like at a certain year you know like in the turn of the century or or other like old New York stuff I loved when he did that um it was again just him sharing a part of who he is and who he was um and where he lived and what it used to look like and old pictures of queens and old pictures of Manhattan and old pictures of all the different boroughs um I loved when he did that that's the one thing we talked about this on Alex's show the other day like when the transfer of knowledge stuff is really important and the outlet is really important but when that person leaves this place we are all at a loss and many times we don't even realize that we're at a loss because the past is so important in Canada November 11th we have a holiday called Remembrance Day and the whole thing about Remembrance Day is um 11 11 11.

it's lest we forget right the atrocities that have happened in the past if we forget about them history will repeat itself and that's a very grave way of looking at it but it's also I think really important I'm glad that I remember what life was like before the internet my granddaughter is going to have a completely different standpoint like that's one of those things that I look like like when I say to my parents you know did the wheel exist when you were growing up like there are people who will never ever take that for granted but I'm going to meet people in my life that are a Lara's age that will ask me what it's like what it was like at least I hope this happens what it was like before the internet I hope that somebody her age if not her herself I hope I'm given the blessing of being able to be the transfer of knowledge when it comes to that and having Rick gone well as far as I'm concerned the world is a little less good of a place because that is a real resource that we have lost and I'm sad about that that's the world's loss I think about my friend being gone and that's my loss and there's a lot of people out there who either worked with Rick for years and years and years maybe they understood one of his orbits maybe they were involved in a couple of them um who all are feeling the same way right now and I just I'm so grateful for my friend Rick I'm so grateful for the inspiration that he was but I'm so grateful that I didn't just look at him the same way that I look at Merrill or Dave or Morty or some of these other people who I haven't developed I developed a friendship with him and that was so unexpected and so delightful and I'm really grateful for it I was going back through all of our correspondence through different we corresponded a whole bunch of different ways um emails and different messenger stuff and whatnot and Rick got sick Rick hasn't been well this last year and I mean I'm not I'm not gonna you know it's not my place to throw out any private information or anything like that but he he Rick loved to travel and and one of the things that I loved about Rick was when he would tell me some of the adventures he went on love cruises the big cruises and things like that but also big just really cool stuff that Rick's done I don't want to get too too I don't want to divulge too much private stuff but he loved to travel and um gosh even almost this time summertime last year you know as the world was opening back up again I was really excited for Rick because I just felt like I felt like during the pandemic which is really when I got to know him um I felt like he was cooped up and and he booked this big trip to Italy and and I was so excited about it and I knew that he wasn't feeling very well in some aspects and and there was some you know fatigue and other things and uh and when he booked the trip to Italy I was like oh this is awesome Rick gets to go traveling again that makes me really really happy I can't wait to hear some of the stories and some of the things he's seen and then um he canceled the trip because of where he was at and uh I remember I remember that I was alarmed and I was sad and I I I had reached out to a couple of people who are actually directly in contact with him because it's so I feel so helpless being across the continent um and around that time as well just a little bit after that my wife booked our trip to New York in the fall and we've talked about that there's an episode where Candace was on my wife was on the uh on on the podcast believe me that's a much more um I was going to use a self-deprecating joke there but my wife's an amazing creature and and that episode we talked about our trip to New York and in that episode we talked about how we I didn't go to see shaky and it wasn't a it was just one of those things where I almost felt like he didn't want me to come see him because he was still sick he was sick and this isn't one of those things where there's a ton of regret there it there isn't like it's do I wish I would have gone to see yeah but not under terms where he wouldn't have wanted me to see him he wanted to show me the basement and show me all this stuff that he had sent me pictures of and everything I think on his terms and he wasn't feeling his turn on his terms there and I've got them you know yeah there'll be other trips that's what he said to me so that is a note say what you're gonna say get the feelings out there that you want to get out there um because sometimes there aren't any more trips now the good news is I've told Rick I love him I've thanked him I've I've told him that so in fact the day before he was found um the last thing I said to him was that I loved him I appreciated that but I'll get to that in a second but over the last few months though yeah when he canceled his trip to Italy and and and and he had a visit to the hospital and it was like okay have they found out what this is yet no not really it's like okay but then he booked another trip he booked it he's supposed to be on it right now at the time of this recording he booked another trip he booked a cruise and um two days before he was supposed to leave I phoned him and uh I phoned him and I and and it was the day that we were recording with with Gerard Mulligan and Jeff Martin and he was really happy about that um he was really happy about a lot of the guests like he basically he he didn't do this for me he made sure that I did the work like I reached out to people and things like that everyone he would give me an email address he would give me you know a little tidbit here and there he'd give me notes on the show sometimes and and the past 15 episodes by the way all he just said every time which I'll love to death but at the end of the day I want to make the show better I want some notes he just said great show great show he talked about Felicia oh I worked with Felicia for 20 years and I did I got to know her more on your show than I did in those 20 years I mean hearing that from Rick Jackman are you kidding me like oh my gosh what a compliment and he would say that about the different people he gave me people that like I my friendship with Stephen weiner would not exist if it wasn't for Rick and and and and like things beyond the show but in the show itself like making sure you I have Vinnie favalion making sure I have Steve Winer on like like like it was almost like he's like you make sure you do this and that's gone now and I'm really I'm not pessimistic at all about it but it is something that I desperately already miss he's I've said it he's the north star of this show and and man oh that part is frustrating but I miss my friend more so anyway uh he had booked a trip and I was excited about him booking this trip and and and but there were people around him who had said to me that they were a little nervous and whatnot I was I was two but I thought you know what he needs to get out of New York he needs to get into the sun Sunshine he's giving out of Florida for a few days and then jump on a boat come back go back very simple trip but I just thought the sunlight hopefully the sunlight and that was part of the conversation the last conversation we had so so I I got on the phone with him actually and a little bit inside baseball um I told him I go look we're going live or not going live but the recorder is starting with Jerry and Jeff uh in about 20 minutes um I'm gonna send you the link and and he was non-committal is is typically non-committal ah send it to me see we'll see what happens ah who knows you know um he just had this checkiness about him and and so uh I sent him I I told him I was going to send the link and he said he might come on and I I just thought I thought okay if I'm gonna get checky on the Letterman podcast that's how it's gonna be he's gonna just show up with no expectation or pressure whatsoever but he'll come on to say hi to one of his friends I was convinced that that was gonna happen and actually I even thought maybe that day it was gonna happen he was like because he was considering it he was like okay yeah okay good to know whatever still prepping for the trip but like okay well uh this was on a Tuesday and I knew he was flying out on the Thursday um and so anyway uh he didn't come on the show that day but um he was really congratulatory and and he even said that and he goes he said he said to me you're doing great and I said hey Rick I I I I always tell people what I'm grateful for them and I appreciate them I I just that's something that I do I'm hardwired to do that and I told him that and then it was really funny I said I said hey man I love you Rick we had this way of whenever I'm like my man when he would call and he'd be like hi Mike my friend he'd say that it sounds almost Southern but anyway that's what he would say and um or Mike my friend and at the end of it I said I love you man and uh and it was one of those between men sometimes when they tell each other they love each other or whatever there's like awkward it's like really awkward and this was this was that he's like oh yeah you too my friend or something like that and I was amped up for energy because I'm about to talk to Jeff and Jerry um and that was the last time I ever talked to him but I told him I love him and that part I'm really grateful for but then I think about you know I think about him going to the hospital and uh and it was fast you know it was it was really really quick and here's the other part that uh yeah I can't believe I'm about to say this so when I was 19 years old um I had a surprise birthday party put on by my parents and um after the party and my friends were invited and things like that after the party I had people who in my life who who said to me you know I I didn't know it was your birthday like they got mad almost they weren't invited to the party and all that sort of stuff and I had this existential crisis and that was a weird kid and I still am I'm 47 and I'm still a weird kid um but anyway uh I I decided at that point I'm not gonna make a big deal of my birthday if somebody wants to celebrate me they're going to celebrate me for something that I've done and I wouldn't tell anybody my birthday and even online like whenever I was at my birthday I would put a day that wasn't like I have very good friends in my life that have no idea what my birthday is um and again I wasn't being dramatic about it I wasn't like an angsty 80s teenager uh you know who could have been in the John films uh movie uh John Hughes movie I should say um John Hughes film there you go uh I wasn't that wasn't what I was it was just a matter of it was a decision that I made and that was it like my mom doesn't even acknowledge my birthday my birthday is March 10th and that was the day Shack he died and um as somebody who like I miss him and I want I wish he was still here but if I'm gonna make it all about me and I'll do that just for a second here I'm gonna make it all about me um if I had to choose a day for him to go that's the day I'm going to choose because I'll remember it and uh it's also Mario Day March 10th mar 1-0 Mario and I'm a Nintendo fan so I uh I appreciate the fact that every single year I will not forget that this is the day that my friend left this Earth I'll never forget that and I'm glad I'm really glad because it's really easy in this world to forget things and um I don't know what's going to happen with the Lettermen podcast moving forward if I'm just going to stay in the garage or if uh or if I might get asked to play some bigger venues but what I do know is how much joy it's brought to me I love it with all of my heart you take out my family my friends it's one of the things that brings me more joy than anything and I get brought a lot of Joy from a lot of things a lot of things that Chucky also got joy from the um this show would not exist if it wasn't for him but more so a step in my life where I actually dared that doesn't happen if it's not for Rick shackman I want to send uh this episode is dedicated this episode is dedicated to Alex to Randy to Don Stephen Laurie Barbara to Walter and anybody who loved Rick and Rick's family his brother and any other or those who would identify but even with another name that's who this episode is dedicated to please go and watch uh don Giller had a very cool um little retrospective video about about Rick which uh the soundtrack to it is so perfect I just I just love it uh Don had some great things to say about Rick um so go check those out uh again Watch The Lettermen Channel official uh tribute to Rick um very very good stuff Leonard Moulton um like The Hollywood Reporter did a piece on him um but anyway all of those people that I just mentioned and please know that you're not alone there are others all the way across the continent who were touched by Rick as well and are thinking about you he was the conciliary of the Letterman podcast his name is Rick shackman shecky I will miss you the rest of my days and uh I will help transfer the knowledge of Who You Are and what you stood for thank you my friend all right that's another episode of The Lettermen podcast with Mike Chisholm uh thank you and good night