Vinnie Favale is back and we can mostly hear him! The network exec that was NOT a pinhead!

hi I'm Paul Schaefer I'm will Lee and you're watching The Lettermen podcast welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisholm uh today this is this is the fun part of this show is when ah they're all fun Parts I suppose but I hate just claiming that I'll make a statement and then realize I have to disclaim it because I don't want to exclude uh the other things are people like when I say I have a favorite guest on then it makes me feel like well what about all the other guests aren't they all your favorite Mike and they kind of are I'm like a teacher who claims that they have no pets um the uh I I will love you I love the life cycle of some of the relationships that have developed in this show and it's not like it's every single guest but quite a few of the guests uh they will have heard of me uh or or or we will um you know I'll reach out to them and then we'll kind of start they'll come on the show and then after they come on the show um that's when the the fun really begins because Rapport is established and and we're um you know moving towards a deeper understanding and all of that stuff and and this guy who's going to be on today is certainly an example of that so this is the let's meet us claiming how much I enjoy the fact that I've already built the rapport with Vinnie Vinnie favali uh we you know go back if you haven't watched Vinnie's first episode here go back to when we had the brick wall and it was just you know uh still you know things are still kind of chaotic here but it was really chaotic at the beginning um I didn't know what the heck I was doing some would say that Mike you still don't know what the heck you're doing and would probably have some valid points uh to that contention however um things are better now than they were back then and hopefully they continue to get better Vinnie favali has come back on how he was the liaison between CBS and Late Show for the vast majority of Dave's run on Late Show it was uh Vinnie who was in the control room representing uh CBS he had literally a telephone where he would have to periodically call the boss of the day uh Les moonves being the the one who was the vast majority of that time the the CBS boss and um and Vinnie would be the guy who would make calls here and there I get a chance to talk to him about a couple of those moments I've got a list of moments that I thought maybe the network might have had to be involved today I asked him I think about two of them the majority of it was talking about our boy Rick sheckman Rick and Vinnie very very close and we saw each other at Rick's Memorial but we haven't really had a chance to to break things down and to talk about it since then we we knew that we were going to kind of break it down together on the air uh Vinnie's going to come back on the show many many times there was a time where he and my boy Scott Ryan who wrote last days of Letterman uh were considering maybe doing a podcast and talking about some of these things all the time Vinnie I think should have a podcast he's incredible uh real personality and and and opinions that are as I say in the show nothing short of expert uh when it comes to the landscape of of entertainment you know his his background uh you know with Howard Stern and Dave like really interesting here's a guy who has um ties to two of the most renowned broadcasters in history David Letterman Howard Stern again if you want to know about the CERN stuff go back watch vidi's first appearance on this show uh he and I just basically shoot the bull for almost an hour he had a heart out today so we you know it was great uh to talk about things I know there's a bit of an audio issue on his side of things um his microphone would kind of come in and out and I listened back um and it's like okay well there might be a little bit of difficulty uh hearing a few of the things there there was one moment actually where his might cut out completely and I didn't understand that he was asking a question about this show I thought he was making a statement and you know so so there's a little bit of confusion on my end too but that's okay I'm gonna throw it out there anyway because there's some real fun moments in it but yes we know that there was a bit of an audio issue on on his infrar's microphone the next time he's on and he and I do like a long longer episode uh we'll make sure that that's not the case that being said it's worth putting out anyway uh I think for a lot of uh Letterman enthusiasts will really really enjoy boy uh hearing from Vinnie he did a really nice job talking about some of the things our boy Rick scheckman did behind the scenes and and how integral Rick was uh to the production without being front and center and uh you know he he listed a couple of things I could list a couple more um you know I I was talking to somebody uh a couple weeks ago and they were talking about how many times they would just go and bounce a concept or bounce like a piece of video that would that had been uh you know produced almost the entire way off Rick and say is this okay and Rick and be like yeah could be better shorter that's good like he he was this this um you know this title was film coordinator but he was way more than that it was nice uh telling some little anecdotes about Rick and and again um just being able to talk to some of these folks I really really like Vinnie a lot he's a great guy uh very excited about presenting this episode of The Lettermen podcast um we're gonna talk one more time uh the the one and only sponsor of the Lettermen podcast is Rupert G's hello Deli uh go to hellodashdaily.com get yourself a late show mug get yourself a late show cap Late Show with David Letterman t-shirts that kind of stuff also Rupert t-shirts the deli is being sold more on that soon and um we just appreciate everything that Rupert does so hello Dash daily.com uh the one and only sponsor of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm please enjoy uh the episode of The Return of Vinnie favali okay uh I've got a little bit of time with you for this one I'm taking it I I I'm so grateful to have you back here buddy I'm so happy to have you Vinnie yeah no um we're we're doing better we've we've grown since the last time you've been here about the background I'm so used to it I'll tell you how many people I've spoken to who appear to be in San Francisco yeah but they're not yeah no this is the real deal um I I'm old school when it comes to this I get energy knowing that I got one of your Bridges back here um remind me how that we're talking about for a lot of people can see it eventually right so the other thing is that really fair yeah so um you remember were you there for dumpster day when everybody was just devastated seeing everything just thrown away so quickly and all of that were you there for that yeah yes yeah I mean I wasn't physically there I remember you know there was all these conversations about where the stuff goes I just assumed that the show was taken everything that they wanted so yeah that was that was my exception I was there there those guys were so on top of everything and I'm sure that they did by the way they took everything of value to them Paul took part of the uh his area uh so I'm I was surprised that there was stuff left over to be honest with you I uh oh uh seeing that video because I had I had gone a month before right like like that night was a month before exactly one month before and so I was so familiar with the area because I was just there and when I saw the the uh the dumpsters and all of these familiar things being thrown away like a month later if I would have known that I would have had a U-Haul just exactly on the other side of the dumpster and as they were throwing stuff in I would have been putting this stuff into the U-Haul really everything I think uh Ben uh Ben Winston the producer of the Court shows got a nice piece in his office yeah no I'm I'm sure there are a few uh folks who have Bridges some of them are in storage containers and things like that I know Dave uh or or or uh Barbara whoever made the decision gave one of the big Bridges uh to another show um so we've inter me and a few other people have been tracking down some of these things but this guy here this was behind Dave's shoulder during the monologue so amazing you know in my basement Studio it's it's it's nice because you know until the studio expands again it fits perfectly one of the one of the uh the union guys who continues to work to cult for for Colbert to this day so I'm going to keep them nameless but he saved this thing and when he found out about what we were doing here he's like hey you know and he sends me this video and I'm just like yeah yeah we would like that that would be very fantastic it's fantastic uh I'm sorry I didn't get to spend any time with me when you were there with your wife right at the Rick's Memorial not no I I actually went solo to Rick's funeral but I was hanging out with Steve Weiner and his wife and and yeah yeah I don't want your wife to think you were there with another woman sorry it was Lori so if there's anybody uh I think candy be okay with that I think my wife would be okay this is um from that day and you know um it was so great because uh you know one of Rick's nieces came up to me and she said I just would you like this and I said yes I would absolutely like this this show wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Rick and and I said can you just do me a favor um can you not tell anybody that you gave it to me and and she said sure because I wanted like Kathy and the crew to see me across the street at the bar walking around with it thinking that I stole it I wanted them to think you're so funny I love it yeah but um I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see you too it was so nice like across oh Phineas great to see you yeah it was yeah it was such an emotional day uh I left right after because it was just like I was overwhelmed by everything you know I was so overwhelmed with this passing that I couldn't even make like they kept on asking me Kathy was great she did an amazing job putting them both together produced with us yeah with love and and a lot of talent because that's what they did they're so good at it and um she had asked me to record something and of course absolutely and then like I just couldn't I didn't I get I I kept on putting it off and putting it off and there were a couple of times where I was ready to do it and I needed information to do it right to really you know and I'll tell you what it was but um and this was the guy to go to for that I'm like at one time actually was about to email him like Hey Rick remember when we did that because I wanted to talk about a specific thing and I'm like oh wait a second you know that's not yeah yeah so I I just I and Kathy was great she did the right amount of asking and then she knew that I just couldn't pull it off and she was a little bit about that but I thought like oh my God everything the things that people said that I thought I'd leave him so well and I did and I do but there were things that I didn't know if he had different size of his life well that was what Morty said Morty uh said you know it was so crazy because there's this impression of Rick from the folks who worked at the show and they knew him as the show Family you know together that Rick basically worked his butt off at the show or worked at Rick's Pace at the show and then and then um went home and then came back and that was his life and then he said but in death he then realized how many different dimensions of Rick's life there was and that day at check Fest seeing all of these people come together like I love meeting Rick's business partner right and I love meeting our partner as his former partner who was it was it used to be a three-way thing and then it became a two-way like I loved hearing those stories I love hearing um from people that he just went up the road with to all these film festivals and all of these you know collectors fairs and things like that right you know I met a couple of his comic book friends I met like it was so cool seeing all these people come together because of this guy and and how much he did give like again I would not be doing this if it wasn't for Rick well yeah I remember him like and and Rick was not one to advocate for other people especially ones that ain't just that like you and he's like yeah you gotta do like like if Rick said was okay that was good enough for me I would trust him implicitly with with that um and you know it was interesting to find out that you know so Rick like myself when it came to the Letterman show we were in service of the show it was all about you know making whatever Dave and the writer says producers need to make it as easy as possible for them to do these impossible things you know uh these challenges but like there was a sign of Rick's life where people were in service to him where he was the David Letterman he was the guy he was you know the the important person on those Film Festival circuits and all the things that were going on and it was like amazing to see a guy that could put his ego aside for for the Letterman part of his life you know he was completely egoless anyway but but then you know and I'm sure he I know he downplayed all of the stuff he did outside he evaporated with me he's Trump you know it's like yeah yeah sure I want to put together a film festival in upstate brother Mark was going to be there you know that typical you know talking and uh matter of fact you know as a matter of fact manner but yeah you know it's just an amazing guy and it was a very moving uh tribute very I could not agree more and it was one um like I loved when Alex Bennett came up and it was cool because you know Dave's Video played and then Alex bit like radio Legend Alex Bennett comes up and is up right after the that and Alex knew Rick so well and and um you know the best thing that you could ever do for a film like you think about the first time you saw Star Wars the first time maybe you saw like Jurassic Park like one of these movies that just kind of bull you over with with emotion and at the end of the movie everybody just can't do anything but they stand up and they applaud and and I love that Alex led the audience in doing that that was so right Standing Ovation while that you know we were in a movie theater like it was just a perfect it was a perfect day um it really was uh you know you know what's great now that you've reported me this opportunity yes I could maybe do a rough version an unpowered conversion of what I would have done versus trivia yeah yeah yeah because there's there's two things uh one was to really make the point on how important this was to the show's creatively okay um there are people who Europe on that show we're only seven producers especially the second producers and everybody in the early days I don't know if that they were through writers uh in the wga but they were in some ways as important as the writers themselves because when you think about that the real part of the show uh what was was the the you know the monologue obviously the best piece the top ten all the stuff that was going on we had the separate producers who were who were um you know producing the segments with a creative angle making sure that the interview was funny getting the boilerplate stuff out of the way you got to move everything up these are the facts tape these are the great stories that we should explore you know and just go through it and um both sides of the creative and the you know the the writers and the sexual producers would would often Reach Out to to wreck more for assistance you know and one of the things one of the big things that was a staple of record people wouldn't even know it but we're gonna we're gonna tell them that right this is how they're going to find out what was when like you know the biggest stars you can imagine and it was really great when it wasn't the big stars like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts but the ones like Carson Stewart and Harry Helen Mirren who might not have been so up on the Internet like of course they knew David loved David knew he was a reverend it didn't really always know how to show work right they would be like uh you know um yeah and uh you know uh FS1 let's show clip you know sometimes the deck would be surprised because they didn't know what the clip was it was going to be a clip right and they would say roll it roll it out even though it was Jerry Foley directed oh yeah roll it out and it would be piece of Shackled footage already lined up that was somehow related to the subject matter so if it was Air Force One it might have made some black and white public domain footage if the right breath is dancing on the wings of a plane you know or more of a party whatever it was and and you know uh Harrison Ford would be dead pan like oh you got me there but the audience would always always love it right but then we move on or sometimes they would show the real stuff like that was all checking that was a phone call probably uh a couple of hours before Showtime it's like uh check we need uh anything that's comical related to Aviation you know I had wanted to say of his value to the show and and not him only knowing that there were Evolution Aviation clips and suddenly it was you know so all of the public domain footage that he owns or has yeah um probably it probably would 100 results and he was smart enough and funny enough uh to know the show to say okay these are the four you're going to choose from you know you're not going to give him a hundred let me give you the ones right so that was one thing and that was a constant in the show that was going back to to the early days another thing that he did that is probably my favorite contribution of Rick's you know he was as you saw in the videos he was Elvis he played all these different roles on camera the CRX machine iconic right you know uh all of that or faxing right the Xerox and effects of some um yeah I forget what that was that was like that was great that was the shower on the shower I think it was yeah yeah uh yeah but by the way a lot of stuff we're talking about can be seen on Dave's um amazing YouTube channel absolutely which is now on The Late Show shop and they did a beautiful tribute to Rick that's up there as well so and Chef Chris is up there like I was so happy oh they gave it to Walter and Walter could throw shekfest like anybody who wants to see the entirety of of shekfest uh I highly recommend it it's about 90 minutes long you know I I haven't seen it yet that's great to know that it's up there yeah absolutely and it's fantastic it's perfectly produced um you don't get quite the feeling of being in the audience but it's it's it's close enough that that that the Goosebumps translate it's right it's amazing okay so so my stuff is basically the DVD experts this entire show yeah yeah uh the other thing that we did which I think is the funniest contribution the most amazing one because it had legs you know you know when database to the well sometimes they're one-offs so when Dave goes to the web the same thing many many times long after the expiration date in some people's opinion are we still making this joke but yep right now if Dave thinks it's funny there is no expiration date right exactly um so typical Network sweeps um that happened which you guess was the morning show where someone I guess decided that uh we're gonna show um Harry slits colonoscopy on TV we're going to promote the hell out of it for a colostomy awareness week whatever right so that's a given that happens and and Dave obviously found that amusing as he could and how many was on the Shelf promoting it so it was a thing I think the first time the clip was shown was when Harry was a guest yes I think you know again well I'll ask John about it but I think you're right though like that's my memory of it too I I didn't want to do it without the right information I would have said hey Rick remind me can you give me all the Beats of this All-Star mattress he's going to do it on CBS Ariana then when did this stuff start happening which I don't know that the the timeline of that but uh the the big stuff the important stuff right now and so uh one of the writers this is another thing I want to know who is the writer that reached out to Rick you know because just kind of paint the picture which maybe you could print out I'll ask Matt Roberts about that he'll know the answer to that that's a great call yes but uh someone obviously went to Rick and said listen I need archival footage that will will work with Paris of its colonoscopy yeah whatever you need a nap if someone hates you or that you'd be like I'd start crying but I don't know what to do what are you talking about Rick not a problem and I by the way I want to see the other footage again answer this question so how many things did you give them yeah that's a great question yes we might have just given them the one yeah but uh so so both says you know we have short footage that's colonoscopy and it comes to some black advice footage of a man and a woman and a man was wearing a pants black and white 1940s right uh he goes to the woman after you and they both walk through through a tunnel right a tunnel and it's like one of those classic you know uh Thomas underground problems where you see the Rockets you know the rock Dragon edges and they're going through and they're making their wishes exactly even though you remember I wish someone put together all of Dave's comments like oh good thing to grow up the torch with him you know like right there like so yeah it was so goddamn funny that that clip that was the princess illustration of the Brilliance of the Letterman show that was absolutely show your ideas like this to boot to live and live comfortably and be funny and be familiar to the hardcore fans so so that was beautiful and that became a running joke forever you know that's the thing I loved about that running joke so Matt Roberts was recently on and he talked about like weekend late show was supposed to be a one-off but okay that was so good the audience would like even here it was like there's nothing going on yes yes it's supposed to be a one-off Dave loves it so Bruce and Linda ended up becoming a fixture and they they kept going and going and going with the Harry smith thing uh the you know them walking through the the cave and all of that you know Dave would then weeks months years later asked for a piece of oh okay so can we see a piece of that and then yeah then that that that would show but then he'd say oh no no that was Harry Smith's colonoscopy that's what he was he wouldn't say sorry yeah they would do callbacks that people a lot of people had no idea because you know the thing is is they go it was it's you know when you did a sick on my Seinfeld you know you could do call back to the previous seats a half hours you know like people don't like what they're talking about yeah that happened especially you know with Letterman you know who just did his show God bless them under the this idea that well listen if you get the joke you get the joke if you missed you know one of our 200 episodes we did this year that's no problem first origins of the Harry Smith's colon you know I think that's why you know um I've had a couple of like writers people who have analyzed the entire landscape we've had cinnamon on we've had Bill Carter on and and they've talked about the idea of of of um there being like a club here when it comes to Letterman versus any other franchise in history the club aspect of Letterman where you're you know or you don't know like you're in or you're not in like like that is one of the ingredients I think think to that if you want to call it like the cult status or or whatever and or just you know what yeah be actually Beyond cult the thing that just made it such a a classic groundbreaking show these shows there's there's no thread Through The Tonight Show it's it's I still watch Johnny Carson I still am watching the the rabbit hole of the Rodney Dangerfield Don Rickles clips and all the Great Moments and the stand-ups and you know the you know the docs Everson Thanksgiving story you know yeah but those those were those were they stood alone they were their own thing there weren't really any callbacks um maybe within the show they might have been a call back what they've like they were real characters you know these people Rupert was a character a go-to maybe Steve Allen did some of this I don't know I haven't really done a a long you know watch and see but again Dave did this for many many years you know that's the other thing you know so it's amazing what he did it's its own thing there'll never be anything like like it thank God there's the YouTube channel to resurrect a lot of this uh old stuff and it's funny it's working too because this new generation of uh and it's funny because watching Dave in the later years you could see where you know there is pressure like when the the laptop showed up on his desk and they're like okay you should start Tweeting or putting out these little viral moments and stuff and I mean I could just see him laughing at them going what the like no but yeah the ironic part is that show had so much gold for the current audience of that uh that logic or that persuasion where it's like no no we need these three to five minute Clips well Walter and his team I mean my gosh they're they're literally they have a gold mine that is virtually Limitless if you want three to five minute Clips um no problem we'll give them to you and we'll give them to you forever because the show actually did have many of those types of moments and right now like I look at my kids the part of the reason I do this show is because I don't like the fact that people are forgetting who Dave was in the groundbreaking thing like we're archiving this stuff anecdotally right my kids are actually now like on to the Lettermen YouTube channel they're like oh this moment was really funny or that moment was really funny it's like yeah yeah not yes thank you for joining the conversation yeah yeah it does translate really well and is going to outlive and when we talk Legacy the the worldwide pants Legacy of what they've done in entertain payment in broadcasting is going to move on and that YouTube channel is is proof positive you look at the view well it's crazy well they're doing stuff that we Dave would never have done on the air yes um uh which is I don't know I want to use the word exploit but be super topical in a very smart business way like we might suggest the network might suggest Dave to do a certain thing because this was going on whatever was going on in the world to kind of get in on that and like not gonna happen you know but no well even he was also very very uh closed off about licensing clips of celebrities because because he didn't know how they were going to be used like when when and this was so good like when Farrah Fawcett did that appearance on the show where she was really out of it it was really really sad I think they obviously I think felt the same way afterwards he refused to to put any of that stuff out it probably we won't even see it on on the channel it's like yes he did it's okay but like he would never take advantage of uh of of of of like maybe making someone pass because think about like this archive that they had but now um when a celebrity dies like within 24 hours and it's not explaining it so that's not really the right word it's it's just nearly you'll see Tina Turner's eyes and within 24 hours and this is really Walter is doing which is amazing but again under the blessing of Dave you you get uh the interview Tina Turner interview you know like like within 24 hours which is wonderful because you get to see her in a light an extended like not as much this Montage of flips they did it with Little Richard but they did it well they do that it's a thing yeah yeah so I love love love that he's doing it and he's doing in a way where he can control it in a good smart way he knows it's not part of a documentary where they're all beating up on Farrah Fawcett or making fun of it or you know it's all within like no this nothing is out of context ladies and gentlemen Tina Turner interview and that's it and it's done so you get to see them it's better than an obituary in some ways I could not agree more it's it's it's a tribute of them in one of their most like Sinead O'Connor just passed guess what she made her network television debut on late night and here it is and so you're seeing her at the time in her career where she was starting to explode and and it was happening and it also it shows The credibility of the show because how many of these folks made their network television debut on from a comedian to musicians to you know actors it was their first kind of Step into the Limelight and and and if they show one of the first ones or they show one of the ones mid-career what a great fitting amazing tribute to them you know as they have passed on to the next whatever the next thing is um I I could not agree with you more it's such a the the um the different phases of it's just like interviewing some of these writers some of these writers who were there at the very beginning okay or the writers who came over from the Saturday Night Live Exodus okay um or then you get the people the first generation the Dave rogowskis of the world who came in who loved the show and then they got their first writing gig at the show and then you get like the Joe Grossman's of the world who are more gen xers who worship the show growing up and then got a chance to work at it it's the different phases of people and the phases of the Lettermen um uh you know Legacy are still revealing themselves and right now one of those phases is these tributes and these obituaries it is fascinating to see this this is beautiful yeah so so it's really really great and uh you know Rick was so getting back to Rick was so invaluable I think even to to just I'm sure helping Walter with the launch of the channel even just by by his legacy just you know with all the information like Rick was the guy he went to Rick was our Wikipedia Wikipedia let's call it a Wikipedia yes yes you know he was he was our internet he was my go-to guy forever even long after Google was established as a thing I don't you know tell me tell me what you know about such and such yeah I think more of these people the actor and boom he would give me like a great like tape on it and then suggest you might want to look at this movie you might want you know Rick was AI Rick was entertainment AI you know you can just instantly instant call back into the data sets within Rick uh were amazing you know all of this information that he had and a lot of it also about the show yeah this resource for the show so yeah uh could not agree more um okay I've got you for about 25 more minutes here you're gonna come back so I'm gonna tell the audience right now uh we're gonna have Vinnie back as many times as he's willing to be on the show I adore this guy however often you want Oh fantastic I appreciate that uh there's a couple there are a couple moments that I do want to to ask you about uh in particular the last time you were on you talked about the John McCain moment which I loved so much oh that was so good it was so good and and uh and when Randy uh did her I'm still I'm still nudging Randy I want to get Randy on here so bad just even to talk about the final uh montage and and and what not just yeah how come Randy won't do it she's too shy or there are some people I'll let me let me go let me go zoom out and I'll get a little broader here because I don't want to um there are some questions if if there's anyone that is like on the fence because of their own reasons whatever uh with them I uh I I saw her really quick at chat Fest in the flesh for the first time really really nice but but there are some people who are just very um unsure and and it's one of those things where I don't know if we'd have enough to talk about when the reality is is the moment someone gets on the other side of the camera from me I can keep them talking for hours people can't just pull stuff out right but um but Randy did a really good job on the um uh on the on the official Letterman Channel talking about the McCain moment I'm so happy that it went up there so if you want to uh go back about it I didn't know that that's great yeah yeah so go back to Vinnie's first episode uh on the Letterman podcast go to the Lettermen or the actual Letterman YouTube channel and look up Randy grossick's uh favorite staff favorite moments and the McCain thing was in there and it's fantastic those are the moments that are I think universally whether people were fans of late night and they thought Late Show got too big or or they're a fans of Late Show they thought late night was too small one of the things that always translated and it seems universally loved by everybody are the moments that are unscripted where the crew gets involved and you're like okay what are we doing now is this okay is that okay when Dave would talk to Hal but not in a pre-scripted way it was like real time or talk to Jerry or talk to right I gotta ask you and this is you can find it on the Letterman Channel because it's a phenomenal moment uh with Nancy and Jerry and I think you might have been involved too the Eagles moment the the time when on the show um they wanted to play an Eagles song right right right yeah I remember I remember the licensing was it was a licensing issue right and you were talking about it real time during the show with the cameras on yeah no Paul play a few bars and Nancy's like no don't do it and Jerry's like you should do it and Chef came in and he said no no you could play three seconds yeah I I remember that everybody on my end I was probably doing more logistical work trying to uh see if I could intelligently give a ruling to say you know what we'll we'll back you up as a network I don't think I was able to do that but that was my recollection of that trying to figure it out I have one question about that specifically for you because obviously you're in the you're in the control room you know again go back and you'll find out if you watch Vinnie's first uh appearance on here you'll find out what he uh what his role was in the show he's in the control room sitting with Rick Rick but he's the CBS guy so at some point the message comes forward that um hey guys CBS actually has uh a version of Life in the Fast Lane that isn't Life in the Fast Lane it's a it's a it's a a mock-up of the song called you know high voltage or something like I forget the name yeah yeah but it's like we can play this song and it sounds kind of like yeah yeah that's that's a a a a a a thing intelligence they're called needle drops you know where you get something that sounds like Tom Petty or it sounds like the Eagles or a song they use it in advertising all the time you know yeah whether they don't want to uh license the song that was my question my question was were you the guy that pointed them out to the CBS friendly version of this song you know what I don't I don't recall it could have been Kathy it could have been just um yeah I don't remember I'd be I'd be lying if I said I remembered so I don't I don't know it could be but I don't recall yeah okay so for anybody who's listening to this um go back to the Letterman Channel and look up the the the time that they wanted to play the Eagles uh it was a fantastic segment with everybody getting involved and and Paul and the band was about to play it he had Nancy screaming no don't play it and it just those moments the one that like moments like that um the show wasn't live but what that fell was live during those moments I I had a moment that I was directly I may have said this on the other one I apologize if I repeat no no please please just cut it out but I did even remember one thing that I was involved in and I think this show was actually submitted for the Emmy because you know do you know the way the Emmys work right yeah you know they don't they don't give them every year for that body of work the show has to you know of the 200 some odd shows they submit the one they think is Emmy worthy you know uh and I think this episode I'm about to talk about was submitted one uh I remember um we were showing or we were and um oh God what was the word there was there was I think the word was was I think it was a big deal that CBS wasn't going to uh Loop it right because it was a prestigious you know Prime Time eight o'clock it was a big deal and that the Monday after Dave decides I want them to say you can't you can't that's right into his terms I think he knew that it was never going to reverse degree in my experience right but they would pushing we're pushing to the point where it was great logins right and I was dealing with the senses and finally it was a shit's creek was it yeah yeah this was literally the word being used in CBS making uh uh you know Leslie green lighting it's okay because again it was it was a prestigious I think it was if they did it was one of the movies of the week were a big deal um probably late 90s and then so so Dave says um you know it's interesting you know we're trying you know CBS air disc the other night they played a clip of it and with with the purse right yeah because you know so there you can say it but I can't say and deliver by the clip but I can't say you know that went on I mean I know the Beats of it was was that suggested it uh and that's That's a classic moment I think you know that people probably then maybe I'm remembering it more because I was involved in it correctly but take me out of the equation it's a great story right absolutely remember that time when Dave the networks that told babe he can't say even though they had they they said it in crime and they think I've seen the clip you know so those are things like that uh are like they're like moments that make certain Seinfeld episodes better than other ones you know there's nothing wrong with that right that's the episode yes you could you could probably come up with over a hundred of those moments extended moments let's just call them things that could have could be considered oh that was the episode when Dave did that thing you know remember the episode of late night when Andy Crawford got into a fight you know remember the episode of Late Show when when when these things happen they get lost the time that's why this this um is this a podcast a webcast what the hell is this thing anyway but this is why your show is important what you're doing things like this yeah what is this how do you describe this show is it a this show here that's okay the celebration of the greatest body of broadcasting history what is it though I was gonna say it's a podcast but then I throw it on YouTube because of this part of it because people like to see the animated versions of it and that seems to be what everybody's doing these days it used to be called vodcast bogging all that crap yeah but yeah it's kind of a combination of them all what do you think more people are listening to your podcast right now more people but with Spotify though which makes sense yeah it makes sense but there's video on Spotify now too so it's blurry because people can see it on Spotify now just like on YouTube so Spotify is moving over into the other area as well so so while they lit while there if I modified to listen to podcasts I'm looking for yours but I have video you could watch it too if you wanted to you could take the phone and you could watch it as well or or whatever yeah I guess you know what I I get why the onion would be more popular there I was just you know a lot of videos working on the house and I was listening to Marc maron's contest yes and and I'm sure like I couldn't watch it while I was doing what I was doing you know so but sorry for the period we went into the period no no no no I love I'm grateful for it because we're trying to figure it out still too we just know that we want to be this archive uh but at the same time we're trying to figure out the best way to present it um I know YouTube is essential as well because you know some guests they bring on visual aids and things like that I think I do think YouTube is the best way to watch the show or consume the show but we want to make sure that it's available for anybody who has the persuasion of podcasts as well so yeah yeah don't lose sight of the audience because I really do think that's that's important I appreciate that very very much um okay so we got 15 minutes there is another there's another thing I got to ask you about um there was a time on uh I I want to say it was around the time that Fallon took over for late night not the not okay so around that time now I loved Ferguson so much um that for me the Golden Age of of of of of late night is probably a late night television I should say is probably around the time Conan had lost The Tonight Show so probably 2011 2012.

Conan gets his own show on TBS which I thought was incredible I was already watching the one-two punch of Dave and Craig Ferguson I loved Ferguson so much but then there's a time when again this moment that you were talking about where Dave was tweeting but then he would try and tweet out to Jimmy Fallon and then at a certain point um he came on and Dave all Dave said on on the air was well we're not going to be tweeting to Jimmy Fallon anymore because it makes the network sad and that was how he referred to it and and and uh and I wondered if you had any insight well well you know it's funny because the only thing that it almost sounds like something I would say but not for the reasons that you you would think like I I thought the whole tweeting thing was silly at the time because it was still relatively new and and my thought was the show is a tweet like these are like people tweet because they don't have a platform you know like they hate and everyone gives a what they have to say anyway he's on TV every night for an hour why does he have to it just don't use those words I found it sad that that we were trying to do that you know and maybe they were doing the tongue-in-cheek and maybe I missed the whole point I know right there seemed to be an effort to well people are doing it now so Dave should do it wasn't coming from from the network that he should do it if anything I was sad that it just it made us look old that we were talking about it that we were like making uh girl yeah it feels like we're current too hard you know right you know so so it may have been me saying that but taking out of contact no problem from a competition point of view mentioned no you were beyond that at that point you were your own institution and you could kind of talk to or about whatever you wanted okay so if his definition of of it makes the network sad because it makes us look old yeah that's true you know because we weren't old it just what we weren't old we were just seems to we could have just been comfortable what we were doing and I liked it he was I like when Dave would do the premier but tweeting whatever like the characters making fun of it which is great like that that's what the show does you know absolutely we're honestly trying to get a thing going with balance pick up a phone call with somebody tweeting oh okay you just right there you just open up a cat I so badly as I still watch um some of the current franchises because if ever there's a there's an opportunity to kind of get involved in in talking about late night there's in so many ways uh what's going on in television um and and in late night right now it's a fascinating time and so I try and keep up with the late night shows to see you know kind of what's happening and plus some of Dave's writers now work for some of the other late night shows and whatnot so I always like I'll watch Fallon's mom uh yeah Fallon's monologue and I'll try and call which joke might be a Grossman Ellenberg joke I'll try and call those if I can so I do watch them there's a dream segment that me as a as a letterman fan wants uh like seeing Paul I don't know if you saw it a few months ago just before the strike started uh Paul and the band were on The Tonight Show because um uh questions The Roots had to go to the ground or the uh either the Grammys or the Emmys or something really so Paul anymore I love that I love that so much and I know Fallon loves Letterman um I want remember when Letterman called up Carson and said hey can we use stump the band I would love to see if Fallon calls up Dave and says hey can we use elevator races and then maybe him and Seth have a thing that crosses their franchise together I would love if they did things like that so that's just me coming out with yeah that would be great and I'm sure I'm sure like like they would probably go for I think Fallon would love something like that you know as a way and you know a great way to do it is to tie it into an anniversary because it was that building you know so they could say you know 30 years ago like you do it one time you just say you know 30 years ago tonight you know but that would be funny like were you there I guess I don't know if you would have been there right at this time when Dave sent the standby audience over to Conan's like when Dave and Conan used to have a thing um what was was this um uh was David CBS yeah Dave was at CBS I think it was like 95 maybe where they had a standby audience and they sent the standby audience over to 30 Rock to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien and great ideas between the two shows and so you had to go over and watch late night after yeah I wasn't there that was the year before that was 96.

yeah yeah that's a great idea but I love that stuff and then and you know because Fallon and Myers are a studio away from each other they tape around the same time like that would be so cool that was some of the stuff that Dave brought to it you know him making fun of The Today Show and and all that stuff the the um the you know kids call it the The Meta of things and I and I think that that does exist but I want to ask you because you have this what wide-eyed uh lens what's going on with late night television these days like is it is it shrinking to the point where you read some of these articles and they're pretty Grim um you have an interesting perspective on that and I really wanted to talk yeah today I do and I wish you know it it felt like to me when Dave left um late night moving forward should retire that format anyone including The Colbert Show like they should have done figured out to do something by the way this is easier said than done right yeah but it just felt like the desk that whole conceit of of the physicality of it the band the couch the desk the one person the monologue all that stuff it's just not like well two other guys are doing it great you know The Colbert Report certainly wasn't a talk show it was a parody of of of of of of uh Bill O'Reilly and if anyone could figure out a way to do it it would have been deaf them to do it but I don't even think of their defense that's what the network wanted Network just wanted to keep on going but the thing that I thought was a missed opportunity with CBS now with um with the strikes going on now but with Gordon leaving yeah that would have been the perfect opportunity it could still do it but I don't think they will to break that hour up into two half hours and and and really let your go wild and just say okay we're gonna do two half hour shows right about you doing something different yeah and they're going to be their own thing you know we're going to figure out what it is one could be personality driven like a Marc Maron doing or just you know look the Bob Costas we didn't reinvent the wheel but that got a lot of juice you know of just okay one guy sitting down talking to another guy you know uh or a guy I'm using that you know yeah but like a long form like a Tom okay these two shows was a perfect opportunity to to break it it shouldn't be a guy it should be diverse it should you know um you know do something completely different and um so so now like the networks and everyone are getting a chance to see what life is like without them and I think everyone's doing okay you know like you know I'm sure the reruns get enough make enough of money to justify whatever residuals that they have to pay out for that but uh I I tell you when when when Kimmel hangs it up you know or Fallon hangs it up it'll it'll be a shame if they just replace it with the same thing you know because who's going to do it better than Kimmel who's going to do it better than Fallon you know just do something different you could be different than family you know and maybe Seth Meyers is the guy who could figure out what that would be yeah I think honestly if if uh an evolution for any one of those shows is probably especially for CBS was if if like The Bear Went to a half hour right of just just the three descriptive stuff that they that they did in late night that could be whatever they want not tied into the network of it's got to be a big movie stars so they want to talk to a community you know on a topic or whatever whatever he wanted to do yeah um and take the pressure off and then that half hour is followed by three other half hours you know a few different shows their followers that would have the Boost of of of of your management or a Fairwinds uh Kimmel or Colbert because the second year power plus it's just mathematically the numbers go down you know so from 11 30 to 12 and you stopped it at 12.

oh my God that's a big number and then yeah quarterly ratings right it gets pulled down and then by music there I think it's happening anymore could you imagine a shelf of a limited is a 12 That Was Then thrown into a new show with that business you had really good chance of holding that audience that better chance than than what darling Kimball or Colbert would even have impoted their own audience because you got to shake it up it's like okay great wow the big star is out it's not even midnight oh wait I gotta watch this other show this new show that they're doing whatever that new show is yeah they're doing it good night which is a game show like I you know I don't I think it's interesting that they're doing that but I think they can do it for an hour which is just a waste just uh you know the realm of YouTube is one like um right yeah under under seven minutes or something like that under seven minutes you know so the TV version of that should be keeping it 30.

you know well that's 30.

that's three seven minute segments basically right and I get the TV the TV version of it should be just keep it a half hour that should be the seven minute rule on TV should be a half hour show at least in this format so so long-winded way to answer your question is is they just it should be rebooted you know like look at look at the tick tock videos like I could find myself watching an hour of tick tock without realizing it because I just watched 61 minute brilliant pieces of of things and they're brilliant because it's the algorithm really by the way brilliant to Me Maybe not brilliant to you that's true Illusionist you know that that that that that person that's just doing really you know like a lot of comedians are reinvented their stand up into Tick Tock videos which is great so they'll just be sitting talking they'll do a bit of theirs that works as admitted with the beginning middle and end so yeah I think it's going to change well I I and and uh this is why I wanted to talk to you about this today um because your opinion um you know nothing short of expert you have a very interesting Advantage you're way too kind this is like the Joe Franco show our next guest knows everything about Lakeland and there's that worldwide pants uh self-deprecation that everybody is so I'll tell you if there's one common trait uh that everybody who worked for Letterman's Productions it doesn't matter where because I've had them all from the very beginning right to the very end if there's one common trait that you all seem to have I've said I said I think I even said it to Matt uh on his episode um one of you guys it doesn't matter the most brilliant of you you know the Steve O'Donnell of of you guys who's brilliant or even Merrell well Meryl probably could do it could not Host this show this show here that's one thing I do know about this show you're asking about it earlier is right it's got to be somebody who's a massive Enthusiast and everybody who worked for the pants production all you guys do is self-deprecate and every single time I try to compliment I don't even do intros with you listening you guys listening anymore because every time I try and edify you I have to do it off while you're off oh that's funny well whatever he said about me take with a great assault because it's not great yeah but but here's the thing here's the thing I will say your your spot on 100 but I could in a very clear way without bragging and they're not really my accomplishments it's worldwide parents and Dave's but I'm proud of the association I will happily recount all these things that were done because they speak for themselves especially it's not bragging if it's true you know so I could tell you 50 100 things that happened while I was there with the show and you know it might even sound like I'm bragging that's why it's almost like sometimes you have to downplay it because it sounds like well this sounds like ridiculous well like John McCain and the guys ready for president did that really happen are they exaggerating it almost sounds like yeah but It All Happened it's all true well absolutely and the biggest of the big like I'm gonna have Joanna Jordan on here fairly soon I'm very she is Joanna is gold she is great they're so lucky to have her uh please tell her I said hi she's she's amazing she's great could not agree more we had a really nice phone conversation the other day and uh but what you're saying here like again it's not bragging because you we're talking about the a-listers of the A-list World in every genre you could think of from from of course acting and singing of course but then also to news also to politics also to like ever like presidents of the United States uh all of these people so it isn't bragging but the thing that I do love um you know and it's it's it's we all hail Dave as the greatest broadcaster in history he is of course he is but the genius part about these Productions and I would say especially once he got to CBS uh with you involved because you were the CBS guy that was in there but you got the show when he was at NBC they were the pinheads they were the enemy they were the but then the show evolved and and you got into sync with the network in many many ways you're yourself being a big part of it so going back Dave the greatest broadcaster but this show is not hailing just Dave not even close it's a failing the team that surrounded days everybody from the director to the writers to the the segment producers the editors all of the people including the network guy look at this we are your heart out is less than 60 seconds away Vinnie favali I love you I appreciate the hell out of you you're so sweet thank you for having you again I love what I love what you're doing I think this is really really great Mike um and sorry I couldn't give you more time but I'm happy to do it again and again I'm happy to do it alongside anyone that you're doing stuff with you know we did that we had we had Jerry Mulligan and Jeff Martin on an episode so two writers then we talked that was really good we're gonna do more of this and I told Randy that I said you know we could have you on you know well if Barbara would do it she's also you know I like I'll have you and Barbara on to talk about the Montage I'd love to have Randy a you on or or something like that whatever you need I'm happy to uh to be there you rock or we'll talk more off camera all right about things I think I'm coming out again in October there's a thing happening for Rupert I'll tell you about that okay good just appreciate the hell out of you Vinnie favali everybody that's another episode of The Lettermen podcast with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants