Molly Sweet stole at least one potato from the NBC commissary and finally comes clean about it

yeah 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 before we get going with this episode we want to remind you we have one sponsor and one sponsor only on this show and that is Rupert G's hello Deli yes Rupert G uh and may are uh selling the deli right now they're ending their 30 plus year run as owners of one of the most famous soup and sandwich shops uh New York has to offer uh you can buy Letterman merchandise there still though Late Show with David Letterman merchandise uh go to hellodashdeli.com and rubber packs these orders himself you can buy a t-shirt you can buy a late show mug you can buy a hat you can buy Rupert merchandise and I would recommend doing it sooner than later because we don't know what's going to happen and how things are going to work how things are going to settle uh when the when the sale happens but uh we will keep you posted as to what's going on there so go to Hello Dash daily.com and get yourself some Letterman or Rupert G hello Deli merchandise this is a fun episode we are doing um our we're calling it The Summer intern series which is probably going to go into the fall and maybe even Beyond I got a whole list of interns that uh former interns of either Late Night with David Letterman or a late show with David Letterman uh that want to come on and talk about their experience uh it's really really fun doing this and and kind of um you know putting together a puzzle of the different memories uh that that folks have and all the pieces are different it's very cool I'm enjoying it immensely uh today's episode is what I enjoyed very much that is very evident so um legendary writer Steve O'Donnell uh I who a gentleman I absolutely adore um and uh you know every once in a while we have a phone conversation and it's a lot of fun and and um on one of our most recent ones uh he said hey I've got some interns that uh you know I do and I do an invitation of Steve in the show actually which which is which is uh something I enjoy doing because he's got a very distinct voice very Gravelly uh yet excited um voice very present and and uh I don't know slightly intense not intense that's not the right word energetic anyway it doesn't matter Steve said to me that he had a couple of interns that were um in his Circle still and uh this is one of them this episode is one of them the gal's name is Molly sweet I believe it was the summer of 91 that she interned uh when she and I had an intro phone call we just absolutely hit it off we've had so much fun this episode is going to be a very much a reflection of that statement uh she is great I really really appreciate Molly uh after her run at Letterman she went over and and gone to the hotel business and now she's in the non-profit sector and she's putting on some pretty major things and and doing in charge of some major events uh in the Northeast in the Pittsburgh area I just really really enjoyed talking to Molly the Delight that she had uh for that summer as a 19 year old kid working in 30 Rock for for Late Night with David Letterman it was one that she clearly has never forgotten and and and uh she goes back to that place pretty easily she and I have an absolute ball doing this together uh I hope you enjoy it I hope it translates I hope the uh the joy that we had and the laughter and all of that I hope it's infectious and this makes your day a little bit brighter uh this is the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm featuring Molly sweet by the way Molly sweet not a stage name we checked into it we looked in no it's a Christian name pretty crazy okay so here's the thing whenever Steve O'Donnell tells me something I listen and one of the things that he told me he said Mikey you have to meet this Molly geez what an impersonation oh I love I love Steve and I do love it I do love impersonating him like I do I love this guy um what did he say Mike you must meet Molly she is vivacious and hilarious and she loves to talk and she's good at it and I think you two will have a great conversation and and but he said funnier things than that uh you know better vocabulary and and I gotta get better at it he has very big words um I I'm so grateful to do this you and I have had so much fun to know each other Molly sweet real name not a stage name uh but Molly sweet welcome to the Lettermen podcast thank you thank you thank you for having me I am very very flattered to be here this is amazing what a fun time to it's been I would like to thank you in advance for the wonderful trip down memory lane I've had over the past two days yeah down there with my in the cob labs in my college creates looking for pulling up the relics I was psyched I was like I was jogging in the memory I could remember all the stories it was great so it's been a really fun time I'll be experiencing this yeah it's uh well it's great for it's great for us too and and uh it's cool because this this intern thing has kind of turned into it's turned into a summer series I'm releasing uh bonus episodes I've wanted to find a way a theme to release some extra content to do more than just one a week and having all of these interns uh come on and tell the stories I had a long time staff member say to me hey Mike you got to talk to the interns they have all the good stories but the cool thing is is we've had a few on already and I've had a few longtime staffers message me back saying oh I'm so glad to hear what happened like I came on the show a few weeks ago named Andy Carson Andy Carson was Paul Schaefer's uh intern um just before the the the turnover so it was like 90 91 in that area and and I was over 91 so I vaguely okay so Jill Bayer Andy Carson were there at the same time I know you were there just like before or after you guys summer time so they were probably there during the semester there you go but anyway yeah so people are like I'm so grateful to hear what's happening with Andy he's been on Good Day Oregon for 20 years and knowing that he still stayed in broadcasting yeah I mean it's so fun right like even I moved around a lot in high school and um everyone's like oh social media it sucks I'm like I know unless you went to three high schools you know like I I mean I would have never been able to know what happened to anybody I mean it's been like you know there's good good and bad in everything right everything in moderation especially Monterey especially moderation um could not agree more I I I'm so grateful that I get to unleash you to the world uh in in our world anyway because um again you're just so electric and and the story is great the stories are great um let's go back to the beginning pre-interview interview no we don't do that we don't do that no no no I just like shooting the bowl with you and uh and and and you know it was like okay this is going to be a fantastic episode um let's go back to the beginning where'd you grow up where did you go to school and how did you end up uh becoming uh an intern at Late Night with David Letterman I grew up in Syracuse New York right in the city in the Strathmore area on Arden Drive um and my I grew up the oldest of four children and my dad was the is still like he's an American classic in my opinion but uh you know the the Eternal salesman DJ radio personality The Voice always playing rock and roll you know it was a lot of I've got some good news and some bad news good news is I'll be home for the holidays bad news lost my job you know like my dad really hit it uh in hotel management and uh we had to move so when I was in ninth grade we moved to Harrisburg which was a huge adjustment um this is a very very small very small suburban very suburban small little town called Camp Hill and I had a lot of eyeliner and a very heavy New York accent that wasn't like the good one and everyone thought I liked a girl named Ellen for six months and it was a guy named Allen that's how bad it was anyway that happened so I was there for 9th 10th half of 11th grade riding bikes in Camp Hill you know and then my dad's like we're moving to Pittsburgh I'm like what the is that the pants you know I'm from Syracuse where sorry Syracuse but don't dogs and Dome foam that's it like there is nothing so we come to Pittsburgh and I get to live with my dad ahead of everybody else and we I have my own hotel room and I put up my uh you know Madonna posters and I have room service and my dad drives me to school every day and after school I go to the real estate agent's house who my mom ended up working there for years later but anyway that yeah there I am and that's just how I met all the friends and and everyone that I've been friends with still to this day and you know I love Pittsburgh I'm a die-hard Pittsburgh person but I oh so so how do I get to Letterman so I was at WVU okay um which you know is considered like at that time and when I went there was 1989 was considered um you know well the truth was I just had terrible SAT scores you know I'm much better than essay question I mean anyway uh the truth is that this is the truth of the matter um of course at that time it was the height of the popularity I mean in my sorority house they'd have the top 10 reasons to pay your bill this week like it was like around all the time always referenced so I the truth of the truth I was thinking about this today because we were going to talk and here's the truth so um it says a lot about what you can do with the power of the mind and being dumb and just a helpful naive attack really there's a thing about persistence right so I just made it a game so I found out my Suite mate um in the dorm Patsy I'll leave her last name out she's one of my most favorite people but I found out that she had secured an internship um at ESPN she wanted to be a sports person and in 1909 for a woman to get that like that was outrageous and I was just I didn't know where it came from just incredibly jealous and I was like well I will just show her I will find out so I just like hunted down this poor woman in Colette Coleman who worked at these two David Letterman show and I just never thought I'd get it it was just a game like it didn't matter my dad had all these freaking fire points from being in the hotel guy I figured it was all just fun and games there was no way in hell I was ever gonna and um the night her name's Colette and that's my middle name and then I found out she was super duper pregnant and really was stressed out and wanted to be done and I just called her every day like I'm embarrassed about it so let me call up 30 right hello 30 Rock yeah I'm looking for a couple Letterman office that's what you're doing yeah no I had a direct dial I was a Colette hi it's Colette I had a neon glow phone on Spruce Street at WVU I was like it was totally a game like a totally and I remember the day that they called and they said I got it and they asked me if I wanted I think I told you this was on Research or talent and I was like what's that mean that they're like research you know this is before the interwebs so there was no it was like or there's a writer writer or anything like that option but I was like well yeah Talent sure I remember just hanging up that glow phone like jumping around in this apartment and like no because there like nobody believed me like I was like no seriously I'm going to New York like all right sweet whatever sure you're on Molly yeah and how long but before you you so you got the call did you do an interview then I did the interactions very like uh yes I did I was very persistent as I might have mentioned so I uh kind of wasn't taking enough for an answer it was a game so I told Colette poor Colette she hated me I was like I can come there on Wednesday and I just like took my dad's freaking flyer miles and literally did the old Makeover at mises where I looked pretty much like a prostitute and then I was wearing this around hey Molly sweet for my sorority sister anyway it went great because then I saw how brilliant she was and then I completely harassed her and then I just never thought I'd get it and then I did and then that was great because then my grandmother had to like find me an apartment in New York in a bridge game and that's a good story because like this girl Supply closed me that didn't quite fit and I'd wear them anyway because they were fancy it's all very funny but it all happened and like and then you know and then so much life has gone by you think did that really have yeah yeah and then talking to you it's been so fun because yeah back there yeah I've gotten that a lot uh where there are people who who were there for you know a cup of coffee or a couple cups of coffee and they're like it was a blur but it did happen and talking about this now it brings it all back because of how exciting it was a good time too and all of if you're really a fan of uh late night television and and and I realized now in hindsight how much I just do love the medium so much of Television particularly I don't know why and so it's been very drawn to it um just uh as as Steve put it once uh I think in my letter of recommendation we putting on Mini Extravaganza day after day I mean I got into Hospitality which was very similar you know every day is a different group a different you know and that kind of was like we said it's a skill set right but it's not really my love like I loved that stuff and it wasn't the famous people and stuff it was just the whole of the energy of that kind of those people I like yeah that is such a Steve o'donnellism I'm not showing you that letter by the way oh well okay let's tell people about the letter let's yeah okay I did not I'm not showing it to you I'm not showing it okay but yeah he gave you a letter of recommendation and it is framed on your wall which I think is I was a lot it was lost you know for a while and it was recovered you know dusted off you know you don't think you're ever gonna and then just it's just it's been really wonderful to be reconnected a little bit over a year ago the uh the interwebs that's how Steve and I connected as well and I mean you've been out with them too it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be yeah it's been great yeah and it just um I I've shared a couple meals with him and it just times that I I continually tell the people the story as well they want to hear it or not I I just I love it so much it's so entertaining and one thing that I Love About Steve and I'm so glad that he's uh he's doing the NYU thing again he's teaching oh me too are you jealous like I want to be there well I'm like what late night right he's like oh I can't believe it it's not full I'm like I can't believe there's an like I I just the whole thing almost feels it makes me annoyed almost no me too like like this is where can I come in can I put in your pocket on your phone just listening like I'm like it's like so cool like I think it's amazing okay glasses like that last October almost a year ago right now uh you know I was planning a trip and I went out to New York and and that was where I met him first In the Flesh and I said to him hey when I'm in New York this is like the night naivete that you're talking about I've got it in Spades I'm like a Yokel almost a pumpkin uh I said to him I said hey maybe when I'm in New York one of the days I can come and audit the class and he called me up and he's like no no you don't understand it's like eight or nine people around a table and we've got this kinship we insisted on the table for that part that's the best part of the whole thing yes it says it very nationally we're just taking a walk and he goes you know I only had a few stipulations and you would think it would be like about whatever you know typical you know money or something like I you know so I knew the numbers I really wanted to be like it really was like around a table like that's it's totally awesome and he's like that was like the sticking point or whatever I'm probably gonna get in trouble for saying that well see no but anyway he was right I imagine in the auditorium I'm sure it's all well and good yeah well yeah it's it's well I just love that I was like that's like the exact correct thing to be yeah you know it's like my dad with hotels my dad just excellent at it and it's like he just knows what he's doing in that topic and I find that zone and he inspires others like the thing is with Steve it's like every time I have an interaction with him I want to go do something creative I feel inspired to go do something I I agree was he like that on the show as well I mean I guess so because I asked him for a recommendation letter I guess that was like not supposed to be done I think it would just flatter than somebody asked him because probably they were all told not to I didn't follow the rules very very well so and we got along great I mean he was just always so he was he just was made me feel like I could do what I need like I could do what you know I could do what I wanted to do he's empowering he likes people like that yeah this is this is gonna be the Steve O'Donnell Love Fest this is oh god let's change the subject okay let's go to your first day because you find the apartment what part of town was the apartment that Grandma found oh yeah East 93rd between first and second oh my gosh I know so you got the clear bars in New York and I could I could pour my coffee and take a shower and there was not a bed I would just like roll out the futon cold shower lay down but I mean I was 19 years old I I wasn't paid and my grandmother um said hey uh Betty here remember lady's name was in the game doesn't uh doesn't hear it's a granddaughter really says we have a boyfriend in a high-rise with central air it was 750 I'll never forget it my parents got bless them the best parents in the Whole Wide World of Sports they always uh really came through and when Big Stuff mattered and they really made sure I could do that I did steal a raw potato from the the NBC commissary every day for dinner but you know do it was anybody in there while you did it I mean what are they gonna do say a little shake it down for a potato I mean it was just so I don't know like please please sir like that right here the whole thing was a bit much but Hey listen they were just there it's the New York experience that you would hope to have and and especially looking back you think about oh I was 19 in New York and and that's like oh and and all of 19's wisdom yeah exactly which is not much man like I think of the stupid things I did and thank God I just laugh but I now live with a 19 year old soon to be 20 year old and I mean they just know everything and she's way more convincing of it than me but it is kind of funny like why is that like when you're like your best you're also kind of your worst I think it's because life is a journey and you're learning no matter what and and uh there's always going to be a blind spot there's always going to be a blind spot even when you're at your best um let's go back to your first date do you remember your first day oh well it's very very memorable okay yes very very very very very very first day so you know you get the letter and all you know is where to show up and they say 1410 West Bank you know and get there took like the bus and everything so I'm there really early like really early but somehow I got up to the floor but nobody that I've worked for I mean I met no one yet so I'm it's a good you get off the elevator and then you can go right or left and I went to the left and it's down the hallway and I worked for Madeline smithberg was my direct report and Betsy and so and Madeline's coming on the show in a couple weeks just so you know and Sheila Rogers who did the music oh great for Rolling Stone and I'm standing right right there in the darkest like the semi you know that kind of like the lights aren't on yet you know I'm there way too early it's like 7 A.M and Rockefeller Center and all of a sudden I just hear this booming voice and it's like what is with overhead lighting where is the indirect lighting I need lips I thought we were at Letterman and I'm like and it was like a thunderous voice bonding and I turned around and like everyone is shorter than they you think they are um for this guy Bill Murray is like towering over me like he's huge he's funny and he's totally on and he's like where is it are you the intern oh my God is this your first day you're with us all day kid and I was and we I don't know what the bit was but we I was at one point in a shower with Bill Murray and Terry gar yes for my first day fantastic it's like an out-of-body I don't know I just remember it was I just remember see I'm always into like the logistics right like I always wanted to be like in production so I'm like how are they getting this shots meanwhile like Terry guy's like literally she's got a shower cap and then what they would do all the pre-tapes right so you would do like it was I was with him all day day one all day so it's like like it's like the first day of school like you know you get some ice cream sundaes all day and you're like that's gonna be and I was like no then you're just no this is not how it's gonna be which you don't enjoy anyway yeah that's why we had listed did it air yeah they were like a mile long yeah yeah yeah so hard she's like this is my typewriter it's like yeah yeah it's a thing called typewriter did it air did what error the pre-tape thing that you did like did it actually make the air and all that so what they would do is they would uh from my understanding like I don't know but my understanding back then was that uh they did a bunch of tapes so it was all day so it wasn't just for one show so like they would see them like freezing your eggs if you were I'm gonna tell everybody our little so so do everyone see Mike's very high and tight and Bun oh they're oh you like you like that by the end by the end of this conversation will be matching okay I raise you a high and tight I adore you um so you're not calling home the first day saying Mom Dad I'm gonna be on TV tonight I was never on TV okay so it was just pre-taped you were part of it but you weren't ever actually always behind the scenes yeah I was never on I was just there with the first people all day long it was like I don't remember a lot of it which is you know I think it's like a situation but it's just funny just chatting with you like it all just comes right you know and then it almost feels like it wasn't real but oh I do remember all that he was just like exactly like he would think and nobody else really is but he was like I remember face and just but is just personality was like vibrating out of them and very kind and weird which was awesome um I've been told that Bill Murray has an energy and you can actually oh yeah it's very popular oh yeah I mean I was in the shower with him I wasn't thinking twice about it so in there do you need me to take notes that's day one um okay so yeah so so Talent here you're working with talent and you mentioned Madeline smithberg she's coming on the show in a couple weeks Madeline smithberg you talk about Talent she had a talent for finding people uh and again like you said no internet no interwebs back then and she found the most interesting oddest stories it was like that human interest yeah thing that like now is a real every 10 seconds but like really had to be dug for it back then so are you helping with that no okay no no I'm like answering the phone okay sorting things messing things up a lot um I was thinking today because I knew we were going to talk of course I'm thinking about this yeah and I'm like it's really remarkable the amount of uh things they allowed me to do look like really no supervision I mean it's pretty you know like there was some level of trust it must have known I wasn't a but like I think back I'm like holy crap I can't believe like they just let me like talk to John Hughes and I'd be like hi um guys Johnny is on the phone tell them we love Ferris Bueller like they don't talk to you it's like I never knew what to do and like it was just like a movie like my life was like a movie it was like God The Devil Wears Prada exactly but like I'm just kidding it wasn't bad without the writers they were very nice very nice I planned all of the wives parties yeah that's how I got into writing an angle do you want to host this show I think you'll be really good at it um oh my God so okay um how long were you there total um it started in May and it went through the end of August like I went back to go to my senior year of college okay so four four months-ish whatever yeah it was summer okay and I went home and I went home and I went home in the middle which I was thinking today must have been the Fourth of July because there was a ton of show Hiatus that we were in charge of where I made up most of my mistakes um but um that's when the infamous interview happened and you know that is a funny story and and so that's what I figured it out because I thought couldn't figure out when summer started but uh the script cover I gave you to is May one so I was there I almost think I got out of even I did finals early I feel like it started early so I think right yeah because my junior year so I was I was still had my senior year to go well and you get the call saying you're going to Letterman if you're able to cut a couple weeks you're gonna cut a couple weeks you're gonna do what it takes it out yeah yeah we're gonna work you're gonna work it out it's gonna happen regardless I don't know if that's true I just feel like it was like earlier than we would have been out but maybe not maybe just like right at that moment um can you isolate this down to uh you know is it possible to answer this question um was if there was one or two tasks that you did kind of routinely like more than any other tasks what would they have been or was it just chaos all the time and you didn't know what you were going to get every single day I mean we did what we were awesome every day was like a different day different thing going on different bit that they were doing but I really I was like a phone gal right so I would that that was very fun because I answered I mean so my desk sat and said desk right it was in a desk it was a counter really and um a little teeny cubicle over here was a guy named Chris Elliot yeah and then right there is Paul Shaffer you know and I answered their phones you know so I learned a lot about um Fame and kinds of Fame and there's the kind of like like these guys the the musicians on that show are just renowned you know and the calls I was feeling were yeah incredible and then same same with Madeline and Betsy and Sheila's lines because that's what I did all the lines basically so you know when somebody was emphatic and called all the time you sort of remember the name that's how I learned all of the area codes like I got kind of pissed and started adding area codes because I was like I know them all like this is that show because I would know like who was calling for what state yeah so there was a there was a prehistoric version of caller ID yeah see again kids don't understand that you know but it was a very different time when we grew up and and that's a yeah that's a yes it was which is weird because it feels like it was yesterday you mentioned his name I gotta ask um you know I've gone back and forth with them a little bit on email and and whatnot he's just the sweetest guy in the world do you have any uh Chris Elliott stories that are at the top of mind right now well you know not a lot no he's really nice that's all I remember I remember um one time he rode in on a bike which was funny because we were way up on the 14th floor um he wasn't there a lot you know it was the summer and so I think that was also a little weird um everyone kind of gets out of Manhattan in the summer so um we they kind of left the the Asylum to the inmates a lot so you know he look at he was very nice I've spoken to him a few times and stuff but it wasn't funny you just like you would think actually so very very fine and I really understood I almost kind of thought he was a writer I didn't really know he was probably like a contract guy I don't know just there sometimes um you talk about Sheila Rogers I maintain that she has the best hair in Show Business uh in front or behind a camera doesn't matter I put her up there um now I mean we're gonna I might as well we might as well get to the Smashing Pumpkins story because this is one of the things that Steve told me uh I'm a huge music fan and and one of the things that I love about Sheila so much is how many bands can say or or or artists can say that they made their network television debut on one of Letterman's franchises um and and I think about that time early on like Smashing Pumpkins really smashed in in no pun intended in 93 91 was a while ago that was when Gish came out like that's and I mean I love India what did you say earlier Billy had hair yeah totally Billy had hair that's right but we didn't know who Billy was is the truth of the matter and this nobody did at that time nobody remember I answered the phone said this lady this I mean I I say I'm a salesperson until this day so I just my heart went out she was just so persistent and she and she had a great name I'm not gonna say it and I she said the name of the record label and she just she was just for this band and they were it and they were the grunge and don't I know grunge is here to stay and it was a Friday in the summer and everyone wanted to leave I did nothing dramatically great I just gave everyone the push that they needed to blame the intern if it didn't work out and I was like hey guys I hear grunge is here to stay and I was like basically gave the green light for them to be like oh if it's terrible it's her fault in the book so that technically booked the Smashing Pumpkins First National Television gigs they said those words if they're terrible it's that girl's fault like you you totally I mean that's without saying most things were so it's fine I don't care if it's tongue-in-cheek or not that isn't oh no I did a lot of stupid let me have I didn't know what I was doing so that is uh and were you would you have been there when the show happened or were you gone by the time they got the booking like was it months in advance and you didn't get a chance it was um I feel like it was in pretty lifetime maybe because it was summer maybe because it was the 1991 yeah I think it's just different so it was the Dave I think coined the term the summer blockbuster so it was like you get the people for the summer blockbuster and you couldn't get anyone in Newark and it was actually a hard job in a way being on talent because just kind of like trying to make numbers and what I do now in non-profit you just can't create someone that's not there so like literally I like everyone just wanted to go home and I was like oh I you know I just really want to give this lady a bite too she was like so I mean I did not I didn't know anything about the Smashing Pumpkins and just worked out um but I didn't book many guests but I mean there was this no there was a pet trick coordinator like it was a full job and would have reported to Madeline I would assume right oh I don't know how the reporting worked but she was right next to Colette who that was who was the assisted morning it was charged with dealing with hiring the interns poor thing I forgot about it she was she was like eight months pregnant with twins when I harassed her um and talking about to this day how many years later I mean that's just uh did you ever get a chance now okay so obviously engrossed in the behind the scenes part you love love that it seems like you love the staff and the camaraderie and it was a great time did you ever actually watch the show live or watch the show tape no I don't I uh we could only do things called show phones which is like answering the phones during the show I think I need a lot I guess I could have gone down and hung out I did a few times when I was asked to but I wasn't ever allowed to be in the audience and I was told never in my lifetime he would recognize me and know who I'm like what the you know but then I kind of bummed out because like my family got to go to the show like you know like my ex-husband got front roasted it's like what the hell you know like I was like I never could ever like what if I wore a wig you know it was like this whole folklore and like now obviously it's true because I never went yeah the biggest bummer it was summer so there was no SNL taping so I've yet to go to Nissan Elm which is like my dream and so it's just so weird to have worked there right there I was like peek to the little like under the fuzz of the door and then like who are you and they'd see my little and the ladies in the elevators that were um like like real business ladies they'd always be like you girls in your Gap clothing like just all annoyed because we were just casual you bring up a great point because like at the end of the day you talk about the inmates in the asylum in in some ways late night and late night staff were the inmates and inmates in the Asylum for 30 Rock right like I mean you guys were always causing stuff to happen and all that kind of stuff nobody was mean to us or anything like that ladies just be like ah they're like jealous and you know they had to wear pantyhose because videos suck I didn't take a job once literally over pantyhose really literally they were like you have to repenting house I was like first of all let's discuss open toe shoes second of all I'm not a Jimmy Dean sausage and no get in this century uh well the job appreciated fine Hosiery okay that's an interesting requirement um that is yeah but you know like back in the days you know companies like IBM and whatnot go dude this is not long ago really are you kidding me no wow it all worked out it's fine it's fine it's all good um you have some softball experience they took their softball pretty darn seriously at that place you know when you don't pay people you don't tell them anything either so I didn't know of said softball game I was not prepared with the right anything really but at least I was told like go into this limo and I was like okay and so my brother was a really good baseball player because I presumably the point is like I was not so there I am and all I know is three structure out and so I just can't wait to be out so I'm like woof and then I dropped the bat and I guess there's some rule cause I don't know because no one told me I was bullied as a child and maybe that's why I did so well there anyway it's Dave yells from the back ah this is a new goddamn intern and then this one guy's like it's okay it's okay here's what we're gonna do like we bump and I don't know how to do that I'm like thanks nice guy and at the end he's like hey would you like to go to the bar with us um you know we always get a couple drinks after that I'm like oh well I have my little subway pass and I go I don't think I can get into the bar because I'm only 19.

hour 20 or whatever the hell I was and he's like and I had no idea that it was Bob Costas what so I didn't know who he was okay wva journals I really wanted to be in it so uh they had a giveaway box of stuff and I would send it to my brother like baseball and one day he called he's like um Mom yeah Bob he's borrowed how he does it I don't know so nice uh your life at this time is like a Candace Bushnell boy I mean I'm a very late bloomer clearly late to the party little Bob uh so was Bob on the the late like was it an NBC song no it was like an NBC oh God no you're really testing me here okay it was like an NBC um we played other shows I believe but it was the Lettermen they they did it I mean we he taped two shows on Thursday over it like yeah yeah they took their ball seriously I guess yeah I it's very yeah and it was summer so maybe it wasn't like all the time because there was something yeah but I remember like it was fun because if there was a it was every Friday when they were not on Hiatus and and I should remember we went but it was like fun it was good to go out and stuff because I feel like when you've done that you know what I mean like so it was really it was great like everyone was so nice like it was a wonderful experience I never nobody was ever um it felt like work like I felt like going to work like we were all on the same team right uh did you get to keep the jersey or was it a loner because I was in a jersey that I recall no everybody was wearing like I remember it was just the 10-year anniversary I think everyone is wearing like those old t-shirts and like anything that's significant they were so I think I just wore a late night hat yeah because I had no forewarning and I was probably in like mini pumps or something but no pantyhose um absolutely not um would you eat the commissary every day I guess so I don't really remember that oh I know what we would do we would go get um um it's funny because I still make them to this day salads said like they were like I guess Peter bread pocket breads like that was like a new invention and it was like salad sandwiches from obon pen it was very fancy but it was like cheaper almost in the commentary I think anyway we would just take shifts like we didn't really go to lunch because we were interns or like we'd all just kind of covering this desk right no big memories on lunch sorry no big lunch ones and how long do they doing fun Mike what are you doing right now I'll go to the Letterman podcast I asked them what they ate for lunch it's great I'm great it's a hell of a show um do you like pickles in your tuna okay uh if you never drove Dave's car right no did you see the rules I sent you yeah you see a list yeah I did something called they call it a hug I gotta refer I mean I know the area code so now let me make sure yeah they're a lot of rules basically there's a lot of speeding tickets from what I understand and back injuries from something to do with speeding and you know Dave really didn't like people knowing his business and uh I totally get it you know it gets misconstrued absolutely yeah and and I mean the one thing that that seems to be a a a a tie that that goes through everybody even doesn't matter the era is how protective people I mean it's weird I was just gonna say I'm so glad you said it first Don't Go Over the Top Molly that means you almost get a little protected of them and um because it was almost I'm gonna really sound sappy but it was kind of like an American treasure kind of thing and you wanted to preserve the Integrity of what was going on there you know and I didn't I didn't everything I saw was great so you know like I just felt that way um you know there were things I had to do that weren't fun like uh who is that guy with the goddamn oh I don't remember his name he wore the bow and arrows he's really into guns anyway I had to go buy him um Jack Daniels or something and I was like I can't I'm only 20.

and they're like you got the NBC badge get out of there Ted Nugent oh you're talking about Ted Nugent yeah okay there you go yeah yeah yeah oh he hated him disgusting anything and I was just like what I can't come on man I'm not old enough man she's like bow and arrow I don't know what was happening he shoots pigs from a helicopter that's what Ted Nugent does these these days I saw a video this was like the Genesis I guess I've said um other music acts that you uh got a chance to brush with I mean you know Smashing Pumpkins I mean I love I love that story so much but yeah it's so hard to like come up with it like it's so funny so every so often somebody will mentioned I'm like oh yeah you know it's more like I remember the actors and stuff I don't know there was a ton of music life being the summer honestly it was a really different time like there'd be no reason for everyone to be in New York like everyone left the weekend Friday show Thursday Friday shows were the hardest to book like it was literally like a job like it was a job of course but there was like slots you had to fill the excitements right and there'd be glaring holes just like there are in a budget or any job you have like yikes look out for October yeah it's like the same idea like it was like what are we gonna do you know and so um you got to see that board every day yeah I did that's crazy no I didn't get to see the good board though the writing board with the little blue cards that's the room I wanted to be in really why was that the room you wanted to be in because I would like to have been a writer it was even an option so I mean they get to write all the fun stuff I mean and sometimes even be on it but um really it's because of their personalities like I just like I think that that's where I so I got along with all them very well and they I mean I was to be honest I didn't have a ton to do I just kidding office like messing everything up so uh they would say hey I'm always turning 30.

kind of want to surprise you I'm like what is she like and I did like more than one 30th birthday party really yeah is Rob Burnett a writer if like that's a name I did I think it is right yeah yeah Rob yeah Rob wrote uh right okay yeah believe God Rob I'm sorry if I'm wrong believe it was his wife okay hold on we have to isolate that and I want to send it I'm going to send it to me no please don't embarrass me Mike I thought oh no no no no no that's just no that's really funny uh there's some people I'm gonna send that part of this show uh audience it's it's 8 56 p.m in Pittsburgh so it's time for meal yeah Rob Rob had a tenure with the show he he continued on with the show Rob Rob was the exact producer he was the head writer for a long time and then ended up being one of the executive producers all the way to the end so they have all those pictures I sent you did you see oh they're great yeah I wish I could have load them yeah can I um my name is Dave I'm trying to remember everyone's name that picture Betsy's Tire like I remember a lot of them that was fun I couldn't believe I found all those that was so cool oh they're great um can we what I would like to do is I'd like to put a filter over those those those pictures and ask you we I want to pick up the ones that I I can put under the Facebook group because there's some really really good ones that a lot of staffers will be like really excited to see from back in the day um so can I if I can post those that'd be fantastic sure I mean they're not of me so certainly now there is one of me they're certainly yeah there is that hair yeah great hair too absolutely the outfit I'm wearing literally I was wearing today like it's literally back in style like that it was the same t-shirt them wearing the bike shorts with the stupid it all comes back it just comes back to the twist sometimes but it always comes back everything gets recycled pretty much just the mom jeans all over again it's like I just should have saved him this isn't interesting um you know we talk about the writers being able to do things I don't know if Steve said this on camera or not I believe he played a police officer so many times that I believe suhum gave him the police officer costume I don't know I conversations about Central Casting like I will tell him like oh blah blah call Central Casting and I'll be like I was in Social casting and that's exactly right that is the exact costume yeah or whatever you're kind of doing them a little bit too I was in Central Casting yeah it's just such a yeah well he's like is he not a delightful Storyteller am I good oh he's the best yeah and tell stories all day long I said to him okay so I'll tell Tails out of school a little bit here I'm positioning to get him and Steve Young on here at the same time oh wow but when I when I when I said O'Donnell I said hey I'd like to get you back on the show again oh are you sure I think I've run out of things yeah no you haven't run out of things to say but I do have a Twist I would like to have both of you yeah he's done so many things but I know like I don't know if this will win he's just being Steve he doesn't want he doesn't need all that I know and that's part of the part of the charm and one of the things and I tell him you're just a guy from Cleveland he's simmer down I'm gonna um I'm gonna uh uh direct people to this clip because it's been a long time since I have um there's a clip of Steve O'Donnell uh accepting the herb Sergeant Comedy Award on YouTube and and Steve yeah I was trying to watch it in the airport this weekend and it was just spinning and I couldn't see it so good Steve Young go back and watch it it was I was oh yeah the podcast while I was stuck in Detroit and I was trying so hard to like catch up and you know what you guys do and I wanted to see it and I couldn't see it darn it okay so good it was such a good speech I highly recommend that to everybody out there who uh you know you want to see a nice Steve O'Donnell moment the speech is just so Charming um and and uh Steve Young inducted him and Letterman uh put in a sent in a video as well which was which was very very sweet um yeah but anyway so I'm glad oh I'm so glad we get to love all over Steve Steve O'Donnell um during this episode that's fantastic um because and this is something else um that so many of the folks who work there seem to have everybody seems to kind of be self-deprecating or downplay who they are and what they do and all that kind of stuff when so many people kind of worship that I think part of the secret sauce of the Lettermen even you yourself you know you were there but you love the behind the scenes stuff you didn't try and jockey yourself so you could see the show every night and all that kind of stuff um you know it was it was just it's like you were cool but you didn't want I think that you were cool really have been thinking about this because like I guess I could have done that I just really liked theater workings of the show and so it wasn't like I could like give up like see it really it would just be on a monitor and I could see that up by the desk and I was more helpful answering the phones and then I didn't have to deal with all of the BS yeah always happens a famous people I was like they wanted a what now oh oh darn it I was answering the phones um are there any safe for broadcast stories that you can tell about that are those the ones that we gotta keep just to the project are you trying to tell me about the Dana Delana story about her hair if you'll tell it so you remember the show no one watching this like hello children people are called China Beach yes Dana Delaney they cut her hair off in a little Dorothy Hamill s cut and I guess her first stop for promotion David Letterman show and they must have just freshly chopped it was like look by the way Dana very beautiful woman before that that she had long beautiful hair I do she did she had long hair but it was beautiful like this was a fresh chopperoo okay and I never ever I'm like yeah let me help but I'm like very like I'm a non-profit you're the kind of person I have someone's like do you want to what can I do to help let's just go into this dress room and see if David and Delaney would like hair and makeup I'm like doesn't she know if she the Molly we offer it okay hi uh uh would you like it for what have you seen my hair and I was like close the door no mama Molly kicks in I'm like it's gonna be okay you know this was very popular when I was young with Dorothy him what's a pixie it's darling I'm like I'm popping her putting like ice on her ass she used to like go on and like they're not gonna fix it because Daniel doesn't like her hair good nope so anyway that was my big moment but like at one point like I remember it wasn't like a glamorous room wherever we were or if it was a side of a stage I haven't been in her it might have been like I don't know but I remember it kind of being long and drafting it's been going oh oh good like someone's dealing I don't like I was like I'm going back to the phones Jesus that's the kind of stuff that you you want to avoid but it was that that was that that was helpful with my personality was that I don't really get um Starstruck you know because of course I admire the art and the artist oh yeah and on their talent and and all of that but I'm more like just like collection about it you know like I'm just like I just don't would never be like asking for you know and then later it's funny when I was in Hospitality I booked a lot of movie Crews and famous bands and uh hockey troops and then also corporate people that were really famous and like all the different segments and hockey teams and hockey hockey teams yeah there were some anyways sorry I didn't mean to drop it I just yeah and so that all happened but it was like I was kind of equipped from that job I think you know I was very like they're just people you know I never got you know Mario lemoo does smell very good however I just wanted to say like I booked his hockey camp where I was in charge of the entire thing like so basically millionaires just paid forty thousand dollars to pretend that they play hockey with Marley for a week and then they go to the games and our hotel is attached to the arena so I I mean we were like washing their pads like they it was like a whole yep yeah Mario and Lemieux looks like a guy who would smell good he looks like a guy who he just he's he's pretty well put together the hair and the like he looks like a guy that was an amazing human being in general and I mean I these amazing families made his wife's amazing but like just like he would check in and he always had the same room and you know it just smelled like fresh laundry Mario Lemieux smelled like a spring day you heard it here first folks such a tall glass of water I was delightful it was very hard to hide him at said camps because he's pretty he's a big man because he would be so you understand the hotel is attached to the arena so they'd go to a few games so this pre-gaming people are in the bar and I kind of stood out it was problematic didn't you stand out in Mario Lemieux suite at one point did I what didn't you weren't you standing out in Mario Lemieux sweet at one point didn't you have a really oh no his uh in the arena they have the street 66 after his that's what that's the suite that I meant the arena sweet everybody not the hotel room sweet come on with his favorite treats but no I did not yeah well it was so sweet we said that my friends from the from the penguins that kind of knew um just knowing me the Smashing Pumpkins story when the Smashing Pumpkins came to town I got to get treated like you know like I mattered about the Smashing Pumpkins but they don't know but it was so fun there was like a butler and then I knew them from like booking all the things there so like hey Mom I'm like hey like it was like sir like I got to be like you know and there's dinner in there and everything and oh we got to see Blake Shelton in the same Suite oh there you go that job yes yes well that's all wonderful friends in Hospitality which is an amazing business similar to television just hard-working um really hard-working uh creative and going on nothing energy so um one of the things that uh the folks who um who worked for the show for a long time enjoy about this intern series that we kind of fell into um in the Letterman podcast here is they love to know what people ended up getting up to and what they did now obviously you've talked about the hotel industry and things like that um you were in the hotel industry for a long time and then you've moved into non-profit so uh like let's let's update folks who do watch this and and want to know what uh what Molly sweets yeah I mean like it's I mean I'll be honest full of regret a lot of it because like that honestly this has been like shining a light on that didn't happen but basically like you know I went back to a senior year so oldest of four kids very responsible there's no way in hell I'm gonna get out of school and be like I'm gonna go back myself it was like original with Interstate hotels or just Hotel company just take this job in Worcester Mass it's a catering manager I think about catering and you've got the vivacious uh you know which is true personality yeah and you know I I think about it a lot because I I just lost my right like that Mojo went away I didn't follow up I I didn't think anyone remembered me I kind of shirked out and then just chased a boy classic story it did yield three beautiful children and uh then you know was home with them for 10 years this is not a fun story uh and then I had to go next joke with my parents of the week yeah and so uh God damn it my my what was once my assistant now is the director of sales at the Rose that's hotel and the internet has happened what a good time so uh yeah let's see time to Pivot at the bottom of the barrel and that I mean it was promoted quickly throughout the rinks ended up the director of sales of many hotels here in Pittsburgh but um never really wanted to be doing that and then one day said well I'm clearly not going to be in production or do what I want to do so at least I should sell for the good guys and so I decided I lost a job and I decided to just switch to nonprofit so I did a year with the Alzheimer's Association running 25 walks and Alzheimer's across Pennsylvania um it was a very stressful job and I was burnt out I was then a founding board member of the community liver Alliance um my husband had liver disease and was the first person cured of hepatitis C here in Pittsburgh and so then I felt you know our lives to to the liver Community which nobody knows is Mecca here in Pittsburgh Dr Stars will do the first transplant here and we have one of the only VA hospitals and children's hospitals faithful programs and the only uh well the largest excuse me not only largest live donor program so um people from all over the world so liver was big so um we seceded from a National Organization started a local community non-profit and I was a director of development for that but it again very small two of us didn't know what I was doing pandemic happened lost my job um and Coleman Susan G Komen the mecca of uh Women's Health found me and they were consolidating and starting a verse so I've been on the plane as it rebuilds for three years and it's been great um I run Western PA um all of the events that are public facing um so there's a lot of pink ribbons lots of pink I'm about to ride the pink wave this October and um in Pittsburgh the greatest City and I've been the greatest region the Northeast so I have all the great cities um that's how I got to see Steve because they were a regional meeting in New York city so I got to see him when he was teaching at Miu so it's all great but um yeah I just unlimited a good good space in my job I love my organization but um it's just been really fun like uh being able to use my creative muscles a little bit and remembering all these fun like things I did that I just can't believe the balls to do so kind of like well I mean you're preaching to the course yeah I did that yeah and you you you're aware that you still have the desires to do that like I said before I turned the camera on I'm like you gotta do you stand up or something like you got it just there's got to be something I mean I see you oh start hahaha I see you in front of a camera I also see you enjoying the things behind the scenes like like to just want to be a part of something and and that's the whole reason that I kind of started the show no outcome whatsoever except for the itch that it scratches and um yeah I don't know why I still enjoy I mean it's like anything you know just at my brother's house in Philadelphia this weekend surprised my dad for his 70th birthday it was so wonderful but my brother you know we call them we call him stats because he he he's track guy and it's all about the track steps yeah stats and he is just it's so genuine man he's just watching he's watching this track meet like who watches traffic he'll tell you in Britain and they have the best commentators and I enlisted wants me to be so excited about it that is how probably everyone around me feels when I break down like the segments of a late night show or SNL or everyone's like yeah my one friend Stephanie goes I know you really love that Molly like I'm like oh you know she's just like like I can't even but like it's it's niche isn't it what they say Niche yeah yeah it's uh but by the way I don't know why you're so I mean I am obsessed with it I mean I I like it's a great I mean I think you do Trump us all however my Mikey really oh really yeah you have a podcast about it yeah you're winning uh it's cool because it's making us all remember good stuff so it's all good there you go and if they the genre needs People Like Us right just to let you know like because the genre is changing do you remember it all right but I do the same thing like I'll I'll analyze the the show itself and the segments and things like that with people and it I I have gotten the sideways looks and all of that kind of stuff too and part of the the joy of doing this show is connecting with folks man sorry to talk for like almost a ridiculous amount of time the other night and we're both like oh just give me two seconds but we're told dorks and other stuff and it's it's just it's what you're into you know um my sister has really specific taste in the music she loves and she just knows every single player in that world I mean like every you know that's just that's just passion you know and I just it's just so fun to be invited back to those people who can talk about it it's fantastic so you have a standing invite my friend I'm so flattered to have been thought of so thank you so so much for that oh well okay and uh I don't know if yeah yeah we're we're quarter past here so oh I wasn't I was not wrapping it off I would not be so presumptuous but I was just saying I wanted to thank you no but like again thanks to Steve like I'm so grateful that Steve you know uh connected us and and I am too yeah it's just now I have a new Canadian friend absolutely Beauty it's a beauty right there yeah absolutely I uh okay so as we are gonna kind of move towards the close here um if there was anything that you like I mean the question I like to ask is if there's anything that you learned while you were there that that kind of endured himself and and I mean I think that uh so when you when you want to pitch something it means to try to sell it yeah and not send it back with a rejection letter that was the first thing I up messed up uh big box VHS shapes I mean big said four Morty to pitch I'm a Virgo I like to clean I like to be organized I wrote a lovely really really kind rejection letter to everyone that now in hindsight was probably told like four times but they just after Hiatus they were going to get a sorority like could you imagine like the disaster right like so and I came and metallic poor form it was so I sent a letter wrapped it up went down to packaging and so they all get back and I'm from Madeline's office and we're going around and I'm like and I did this and she's like freaking out because I cleaned her office okay and I mean I cleaned it just where's my this where's my dad she's like kind of flipping out and Betsy's right there and she's kind of laughing and I'm like and then I took care of all of the tapes to be pitched and she's like where are they what do you mean and then Mary Conley was there effing humiliating because she's so cool they're all there oh the all the cool women were there and doubled over I believe one of them said you can't do anything she's free foreign and then I got it you know like way too late okay so then cut to 10 minutes later though they were illegally smoking in her office sure and garbage can come on fire and I saved the day ran in and they were like you're okay kid and then Madeline probably shouldn't say this but it's true I found this also in the archives it did not send it to you but she dictated her recommendation letter to me no kidding yeah so I didn't make a good impression but I didn't use it for anything either but you didn't sign it well you you did throw out an entire box of videotape pitches so you know I mean I was a free 19 year old that had no instruction and was trying to help you helpful you know give a kid a break also you know I went to interview at uh CNN in DC and didn't know who the secretary of defense was yeah the driving on my dad's just screaming dick shady I was like um God right we're going to put Molly on the entertainment side as opposed to the news division we're going to keep her on the entertainment side only two sips of the Molly mule and look what happened I uh I adore you Molly this is this has been so much fun um like you're delightful honestly it's been such a good time getting to know you in the past couple days and I'm so flattered again should have been invited and I can't wait to watch the whole intern series I might know a few it's really fun I'm certain that you you will end up knowing a few absolutely um thank you so much and it's late where you are right now so thank you for taking time and I just uh you know what I'll do the outro while you're here oh no you look great no no you don't need ice you don't need ice so oh yeah we're gonna do the thing oh yeah okay this is what I do every day and I walk the dog ready okay yours is a little lower than I would go I'm just saying for the audio listeners I'm taking my man bun down and she's putting her woman bun in oh we're gonna match equal Bunch well we were going to match now I'm down see now we're the other way oh right Opposite Day listener if you have kids from SpongeBob years that was the funniest episode right there it is until you get the headache headache and it comes out I'm being new um I have a beard so you know to hide all my secrets um so um this has been another episode of The Lettermen podcast with Mike Chisholm uh that is Molly sweet coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants