Don Giller shows…and tells!

Hi, this is Rupert Gee from the Hello Deli and you're currently watching the Letterman podcast. Welcome once again to the Letterman podcast. My name is Mike Chisholm. This is going to be a very interesting episode because we either are going to have a guest or we're not going to have a guest. And if we don't have a guest, I'm just going to do what I do and talk about David Letterman for a few minutes here. Uh we had a weird sort of happening um with with the Letterman podcast this week. Um it's funny. I've recording three episodes next week. I had a whole pile of them that were recorded uh a few weeks ago, but this week here we we we ran out of the can. We we we uh we ran out of what we had. And with the inventory that I have coming up of guests coming on the show, um I was like, "Yeah, it's going to be great. We'll just ride it right through uh you know, the beginning of autumn and we'll go from there." Well, I had two guests this week on deck. Um both of them one of them had to reschedule uh to next week in fact. The other one um you know, kind of jammed on me. And that's okay.

And I'm not saying who it is. Uh we're fine with that now. Um when that happened, uh I was talking to Don Giller. And he said, "Well, maybe it's uh Well, I said to him I said I it actually started being going, "Hey, I would love to have you on the show and I don't have a guest this week. Would you do it?" And he of course said no, um which is our um our way. You know, Don Giller is uh I love the man to death and I can never ever predict what the man is going to say or do and that's one of the reasons why I love him. Uh but he we have this running joke about how he's never going to come on the podcast. He even did an interview and let's plug this interview that Don did with Alex Bennett, radio legend. He loves it when I say that. Alex Bennett not too long ago. You can go to Gabnet um and uh the Gabnet televi- uh, YouTube channel and check out Don Giller on there a few weeks back. We'll even I I promoted it within the Letterman Podcast um, Facebook group.

You can find it there if you go down uh, a couple months worth of posts, you'll find it there. And Don did a great job. And and and part of me thinks that he did that episode because of um, uh, you know, reverence and respect for Alex and uh, Alex is Rick Sheckman's uh, best friend and who's our boy Shecky right there. Um, but part of it part of me also thinks it was a little bit of a cuz he went on Alex's show and still won't come on the Letterman Podcast.

Anyway, oh my gosh, he actually is here. I was thinking that I was going to talk to you for 45 minutes um, but he's actually here. You uh, you showed. You're here. Are you taping? I'm taping. All right, hang on. Okay, I'll set. Perfect. Oh man, I can do that too. I got one of those I got a couple of actually from the uh, from the home office of uh, Don Giller. Welcome. I can't believe this. It's not your first time on the podcast, but it's your first time where I feel like I'm allowed to talk and look at you at the same time. You're not allowed of anything. If if you're going to start this with a pre pre-intro Uh-huh. after we're done. Yeah, I'm not. I know the arsonist who who sets your city fires. And it just takes one phone call. All right? I I have already a full disclosure. I already started an intro and I was like, okay, it's a 50/50 shot whether or not you're actually going to show up or not. It's either going to be me talking for 45 minutes and you laughing your butt off back in the cave there or you're actually going to show up. Yeah, I can't believe you showed up. Um, why why are you hesitant to do these things?

I will stop it. I had I brought some show and tell. Did you Oh, that's fantastic. I'm going to I'm going to ignore all your questions. Okay, good idea. That's what my wife does. talk for 45 minutes, that's fine. Did you really bring show and tell? Yeah. What did you bring? Where shall we begin? Uh, up to you. It's your show. All right. Well, you've seen this before. Okay. So, I'll I'll just show it again for the for the for the 40 listeners you're you've got here. Uh Oh, there it is. Rubik's Cube. Yep. Now, this Okay, Hank promo item. I'm almost not organized here. Sure. Sorry. I can't believe you're doing the Letterman podcast. Thank you, buddy. Oh, is that what this is? I thought this was Cars and Comedy. I was I I thought you Okay, part of me thought you did Alex Bennett's show just to just to say, "Oh, yeah, okay. I'm not going to do the Letterman podcast, but I'll do Alex's show and and and to give me a little bit of the gears." Which I think is fine.

and he's going to die soon. Or sooner than us, we hope. You almost made me do a legitimate spit take there. Okay, the Rubik's Cube. Um, uh one other thing. Sorry. Yep. Yeah, this is this is this going exactly to plan. Sure. Okay. That's how podcasts work. This was a promotional item that NBC had prepared. Uh, I got this from a friend of a friend whose mom worked at NBC. Yeah. Um and let's see. I don't know if we can get closer to it. Oh, yeah. You've got You've got Dave and NBC and Lord Dave. And what's that say? Oh, Letterman. Letterman, yeah. Yeah. Um and Dave hated it. This this was this was early '82 when when the when late night was just getting getting off the ground. Uh and he and uh the bumper people they they took they made two bumpers uh and the story is that Dave said no, you're not going to use these. Uh we're I'm I'm vetoing these bumpers. Um But on on March 8th, '82 There it is.

did air. There it is right there. There's one and then I'm sorry, you got the you got the light thing that you got there. No, no, no, no, it's it's we can see it perfectly. Yeah, and then the then it's it's broken up with a hammer. Uh and then and then this Was it used on the same night? Yeah, same night, same show. And then a week or so later Oops. Ah. I knew this was going to happen. No, no, no, we're good. We're good. Uh Yeah, about a week later or a couple days later, uh they aired they aired this one more time, just this one. And and then it never saw the light of day again. Um So that's that's the that's the earliest thing I got. Um Yeah, well, that's the first year of the show. I mean, I doubt the sponges were even made at that point, right? Uh I don't know. Yeah. Um This is uh This is a watch. Oops. Oh, that's cool. is this is this backwards? It looks backwards on my end. On my end, it's fine.

Okay. All right, Yeah, it's funny. It it's it's it's in reverse where I see it. Uh this is for Late Show number 1,000, which was May 11, 1998. Uh you see it's it's still working. It's not working at all. It's stuck. I the taping of the show is over. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so the clock stops. Yeah, it's right. Let's see. This is the Where'd you get that from? What? The the watch? Yeah. I don't remember. Okay. That's how vast Don's collection is is that he has a whole bunch of Letterman treasures and many of them he doesn't remember where he got them from, which is uh Well, it's because I'm also old and and I'm going to die soon, so. Um This is the 10th annual Holiday Quarterback Challenge. Oops. Uh there's the meatball. Uh and I I would I'm trying to think when was that um uh what's-his-face uh I can't think of his name. Okay. You know, the the uh the the the Lone Ranger guy. Jay Thomas? Jay Thomas.

Okay. Yeah, boy, this is this is happening more and more. Um you're you're Alex, right? Yeah, I'm Alex, that's right. Radio legend Alex Trebek. so this would have been a December uh uh uh Jay Thomas's first Quarterback Challenge was uh um with the meatball was in the late December '98, so this would be 2008. Wow. Yeah, this is Okay. Jay Thomas and the Holiday That goes back that far. I I That was actually a question that someone had asked me, how many times did Jay Thomas actually tell the story on the show? I think somebody put up a compilation of all of Jay Thomas's appearances. I think so, too. Yeah, so that it's uh Let's plug the Don Giller channel, by the way. Nobody reads my descriptions. Are are you Okay, so people have asked, you're you're not posting anything new ever since the deal, that's what we'll refer to that as, happened. You don't Yeah, yeah, you don't you don't post anything new online. Um Uh no no Dave no Dave owned or licensed content. I'm I I'm no longer putting that online. Right. Um are you are also careful when it comes to sharing sharing what's on your channel as well, even on you know, your private social media and all that. You're also really careful with that. You're extremely respectful of uh of your position.

Uh yeah, let's go with that. Okay, I am going to ask you a question. If if if Don from 1994 were to know that Don from 2023 uh was working directly indirectly with Pants. Um I don't know what you call yourself, it's a consultant or whatever. What do you think that guy would think? Did you ever think that it was even possible I can't I can't do that. Did you Okay, did you ever think it was actually possible that you would actually work officially with with the Pants in any way? Uh Not Not after I offered Dave Floss. I figured, nah, this is not going to happen. Do you want to tell that story or not? Okay, I'll tell I'll Okay, that's fine. That's fine. I wouldn't have asked about that story, but you brought it up. Okay, so so like but like along the way when they started like um asking you questions about things cuz obviously you became known to them and and your resources um you know, of of of archiving became known to them.

Did you think that there was a possibility ever that it could have happened in an official capacity? I'm trying to I I I I don't know if I can honestly answer that cuz I just haven't I haven't been that introspective about it. I feel you. Uh don't feel me. Um You know, I warned you about this. Um Okay, yeah. Okay, what else we got? Well, this this Well, this this you all know. Ooh. Do you know whose that was? Uh I got it from somebody who lives in San Diego. Okay. So, I don't I have no idea. Uh you know, it's blank. There's nothing there. I know it's Yeah, yeah, yeah. We understand. That's what's right. So, the original Late Night jacket um I've seen a few of them. Apparently, our friend Jay, your friend and mine, Jay Ryan, apparently has one. He has Ed Hall's for me. Uh which I'm very very excited about cuz that that'd be the This this is actually Ed Hall wearing it. This is the very first bumper with with the Late Night jacket. There it is.

This is uh sometime '82, I forget. Sometime in September or so. So, that one there would be the rarest one because they actually painted on the Well, no. They painted onto this as well. Oh, they painted onto that as well. Yeah, yeah. None of the Late Show jackets have with David Letterman. Uh Yeah. Um That's what that is. Uh But, there's another jacket. And that they that they distributed to the staff in '84. See that? I've never seen that. And Guess I have now. Hey, how come the last time I was there you didn't show me that? You had a whole bunch of stuff prepped for me. Oh, it's got the God. Yeah, let's see if we can get a close-up of that. Whose was that? This was Marie O'Donnell's. You're kidding. She was Dave's assistant. And then she left in '85 and Laurie Diamond succeeded her. But then Marie stuck around to to She wanted to be an actress. And she did appear in a in a Madonna film. I forget I forget what it was called.

Um Uh Desperately Seeking Susan? Maybe. It might have been one I know. that might have been it. Um And and she she she was the mom in all of the Peace Through Dramatization Players. Uh Right on. And has no and is not related to Steve. Yeah, okay. No relation to Mr. Steve O'Donnell, who apparently Dave did not like his first wife. Um And I don't think they I I mean the word is Dave wasn't great wasn't really fond of this. Um Of that one. 84. Um Uh I got it's Mary's Marie's rather, but I got it from Mark Malkoff, who got it from uh Bill Shortridge. You're kidding. Yeah. Shout out to Bill who watches the show, by the way. Um and Mark Mark as well. You should do this. What's that? I know. I I was talking to Bill. Oh. Um Yeah, and Mark as well who watches the show. That might be the Like the obviously the very first one where they painted it on was the rarest one. Uh what you're showing there is another really rare one. The other one is painted it on on on the bumper photo.

Yes. So there there is no late night jacket with with with Letterman. Yes. It was all posted the original one they made specifically for the bumper, which is where I was saying that that one there in particular. And then they thought it was a good idea to kind of uh you know, give the crew option. Did you know that there is one of those jackets that does not have leather sleeves, that has vinyl sleeves? Did you know that story? Let me see if I can find mine. No, I don't know I don't know that one. Okay, so um you know our good friend Steve Weiner and uh and he had a writing partner named Carl Titerman. Never heard of him. Okay. Carl they they gave the STAFF HANG THAT. SHOUT OUT TO OUR BOY STEVE WEINER. Um and Lori, too. The uh but the legend is is that the first jacket there was a certain if people had to buy them if they wanted them. And uh there was a price if you wanted the leather sleeves and a less expensive price if you wanted vinyl sleeves. And apparently Carl was the only one who chose vinyl sleeves. And then Dave ended up buying them for everybody anyway. So, his was the only one with the vinyl sleeves. And so, that makes it a pretty rare uh rare Letterman collectible. So, that's the that's the legend anyway. I don't I don't uh I cannot uh 100% verify its accuracy, but I just learned something. Tell me. Oh.

Um now there's a picture of Barbara. This is oops and hang on, let me let me turn this off. Sure. Uh cuz I I think the glare hang on. We're not taping, are we? No, no, no, no. Don't worry. This isn't This isn't on. Um and that's Barbara wearing a blue a blue flannel jacket. Denim jacket. Denim denim jacket, sorry. You can tell I'm really fashion conscious. Um And on the other side, oops, sorry. Oops. And when she turns her back This is a Nancy Griffith promotional jacket. Oh my gosh. And for some reason I don't know why, but Barbara Are you kidding me? Yeah, here's the jacket. Oh my god. I don't you know, there's a package. This is in the mid-90s. Um And I said, "Oh, well, jeez, thanks, Barbara." And the great surprise, I went through the pockets and there's nothing in it. There's nothing in it. You know my little iPod story, right? Have I shown you the I've shown you the iPod, right? Yeah. Yeah. But tell it again.

So I uh I my one of my letterman jackets that I that I ended up getting um it was a second time that I it went to somebody and then from that somebody it went to me. When that somebody got it um he looked in the pocket and there was a little iPod shuffle. I don't know if you remember the little iPod shuffle. They were teeny tiny. They didn't have a display on them whatsoever. They could be kind of clipped on your on your collar. And on it it said uh I think it says season's greetings uh Late Show and I forget what year it was, but uh it's it's it's it's uh Is that monogrammed? Is that what that is? I don't know. It has it has uh it has writing on it. And so when that jacket found its way to me, he's like, "Well, it's only fair that the iPod accompanies it." And apparently it's loaded. But I mean, I don't have an iPod shuffle uh charger or interface and I'm not sure exactly how to do it, but apparently it's loaded with some live on Letterman stuff, which is pretty interesting.

So that was a staff gift. So I've got that.

I don't have that down here. I should put that down here, actually, now that remember who gave it to you? Uh someone I tried to figure it out. Someone said that it was Barbara Gaines' gift to the staff that year. Mhm. But I haven't talked to her about that yet. So, I haven't verified that. person who gave it to you you'd rather keep confidential. I would. Yes. Okay. In that in that in that respect. Just like you enjoy that uh for certain people for as well. You're welcome, Joe. It wasn't Joe. It was not. Although, shout out to our boy Joe Grossman, too. We love him so much. Um I owe him an email. I've been trying to respond to an email that he sent to me last week that uh I've written three times and haven't been able to figure out the words. Is that 14? Is that 2014? I like this jacket. I just like the design. It's it's a simple and oops. Yeah, you see that? It's a really nice image. That's number one on my list.

That's I've got eight of the things or seven of the things, but that one there is number one on my list of the ones that I don't have. Okay. I call that the Julia Roberts jacket. Yeah, I'll send it to you. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Here's the thing, folks. When I go see him in a couple weeks, I'm going to go back to New York in a couple weeks for a thing, and when I see him he's going to have a whole different selection of items that I haven't seen. The first time I went to the cave a selection of items and and and maybe or maybe not some footage. Um the second time I went completely different things. And now for the show and tell, I haven't seen any of these things. That first late show or late that that that uh No, I've seen that. Yes. Yeah. The uh the late night jacket though with the big block letters on the back, that is astounding to me. That is And this you you've done. Oh, I love the Joe Grossman flip book.

Yeah, that's I love the Yeah, that thing is image here. That thing is so great. And this you have I think you have this one. You do have this one. Yeah. I do. I Oh, the thank you and goodnight jacket is Full disclosure, that was the one that I packed with me. When we thought our place might burn. And there were a couple of things that I grabbed and that was one of them. Double ended pencil is another one. And a couple of other things. Well, see that's the only one I got and they are really hard to get. I tried to get one for a for a for a fan or for an enthusiast of of our show. So so you you locked Candy inside but you took the pencil. No, Candy was the one holding the jacket. No, this Oh, look at that. Dave headed for the after party after the last show. Wearing the item that if I could have any Letterman collectible, oh, I mean I guess I could not any. I mean, Jay Ryan's got the desk, okay, obviously that's a but yeah, if there's a if there's a garment out there that is like near the top of my list, that Foo Fighters shirt. There it is. Oh, you pulled out the FOO FIGHTERS SHIRT.

OH. HEY JANUARY. OH. YEAH, I can't I love that. Band shirts are my favorite t-shirts to wear when I can get away with them wearing it some to the office with the with a sport coat on I do. That shirt is incredible. You see the you see the uh um the band members and Dave right in the middle. And that's Roy Letterman. Roy Letterman, that's right. That's right. And it's a perfect look. and yeah, I mean So for those who don't know, the last night uh I were the thank you and goodnight jackets handed out the last night? The last the last morning. The last morning. So everybody cuz everyone was wearing it. If you watch the last uh Late Show with David Letterman you see all sorts of people in the thank you and goodnight jackets and there's all sorts of videos that are out there showing behind the scenes and they're all wearing them. So they got the last jacket that was the 2015 uh jacket. And then the Foo Fighters apparently showed up with those t-shirts. I think that's how it went.

And because they were obviously the the final musical anything on that show other than Paul playing Paul and the band playing the credits out at the end. The Foo Fighters played during that amazing montage and they showed up with a with a gig shirt specifically made for that moment. I'm thinking about doing that for when we come out for when we come out next month actually. I'm thinking about making a a shirt just for a select few people. You'll be on that list of course. I'm paying attention. I know what you're saying. All right, sounds good. What do we got here? Oh, look at the white suit on Mr. Letterman there. This is from what what is this June 12th 85? He's holding up that that stupid doll. Yeah. There's a close-up of it. Yeah. And Look at that stupid doll. Now Jerry and and I think Dave aired it. Jerry took a picture of his doll next to his baby Kevin I think. Jerry Mulligan? Yeah and and and the baby is just mortified by this by this monster.

How many dolls did they make? Like were those It was a it was a I think it was a LA promotional thing. Got you. Got you. Um which which of course Dave hated. Um Now this is a bumper. From September of 82. Yeah. All right. Uh I I don't have the plaid shirt. All right. No, Jerry Mulligan still got that in his closet. But I have the book. Oh my god. Wow. And the book is actually uh men, ships, and the sea. Let me take a look actually. It is. Yeah, they uh they had an amazing slip cover uh staff. Oh, damn. I should have uh I have another I have another book, but I don't know where it is. So, uh uh see what else I got. Show and tell with Don Giller. Also, you know, I'm warning you. I'm going to call that guy. Um uh these are got on eBay, and it turns out they they were actually owned by uh uh Shecky's business partner. Yep. Um and so, which means Shecky gave these to him. Right. Um these are uh uh scripts for the Shakedown shows.

Um Okay, so this is for the before we didn't ever never saw the Shakedown shows. Right. Well, some of us didn't. Um uh this is actually called a run-through show, which had no audience. And then then the second one, which was actually the first Shakedown show with an audience. But the one without an audience, um actually consisted of just staffers and executives. And here's a here's a screen capture of that. And hey, there's Walter. Oh my gosh, look at that. There we go. There's our boy. Hey, look, Walter. You're on the Letterman podcast. Um so uh do you think that there's ever any do you think that it'll ever happen that if those shows existed somewhere, which of course they do, um footage of them, uh do you think that there's any possibility those things will ever see the light of day? There's a lot of folks who would love to see those original Shakedown shows. You're asking someone who's not in the loop. I don't know.

Okay, I got you. I I I kind of doubt it. Yeah. But I don't know. Uh because that would be Dave's call and I don't My my sense is that he he would not want it released. Um but you know, that could change. Um maybe Harry might, you know, think differently when the time Oh, I got an email from Barbara, speaking of. I never know if you're screwing around with me or not. No, I really Yeah, no. She asked She asked me a couple questions. Um it's another all-nighter I got to do for her. Barbara Gaines, not Barbara Nitke, right? Who? Barbara? She She pretty was the predecessor of John Filo. Oh, okay. Both of whom, I believe, are coming on the show pretty soon. And I love the fact that that we have you on this Friday knowing who's coming on next Friday. I think that's kind of cool. That's kind of a cool one-two punch. I think a little bit. Um yeah, but I I don't remember. But I'm old and I don't remember, so.

Oh, right. Okay. Um I don't know if we I don't know if you want to get into this. Okay. Um but what do I care, you know? Yeah. I'm I'm I'm soon not to be on their payroll. It's your show. I don't know what you're talking Now, this is a picture of Shecky and and Cathy. Yep. It's Cathy Michaelchik Maverick Office. Uh I I don't know the year. I She She joined the staff in late '84. Yeah. Um I I don't remember if as an intern or not. I I can look that up, but I don't have it offhand. Um and they're in the offices. And if you see above them, above the cabinets, Yep. Um and and Rick identified them. Those were show tapes. And those are um, uh, those are 3/4 inch tapes that were made for Dave to watch to to evaluate his performance after each show. Um, So, basically a duplicate copy of what aired. Yeah. Um, and what they're called 3/4 inches um, This This is a regular VHS tape. Mhm. Uh, this is this is a beta tape. Yep.

Um, But in television studios back in the day This is a This is a 3/4 inch tape. They used the big guys. Yeah. Now Now, the master tapes are what were were 1 inch. So, which are you know, I don't have any of them. Yep. Um, This is actually a uh uh raw footage of Biff and his tiny camera. Um, Those shaky tapes there, they would have been raw footage as well, right? So, they would have included the band performances and all of that stuff? Uh, just the audio. Oh, okay. Yep. Yep. Um, but occasionally or something. So, what the So, sometime in the uh the show took these 3/4 inch tapes from NBC to to CBS. Mhm. Um, Because they were Dave's copy for him to Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Um, Not the property of NBC. And some Well, they were the property of NBC. And um, sometime in I don't know what year in the aughts, maybe starting in '07, '08, uh, they started digitizing them. Yep. Um, and uh But they were many of these tapes were in very bad shape. Um in fact that this picture Rick says that this this was before Oops.

Uh now now I'm getting another image. Sorry about that. Yeah, no, that's okay. Um Special effects are unbelievable on the podcast. Yeah, and I worked hard on that. Um Apparently there's there's some water damage from the ceiling. Rick mentioned that this was before the water damage. Okay. I don't have any other details beyond that. Yep. Um uh and um I would uh uh in the mid-90s um Rick would I I would trade tapes with Rick. Yes. Um This was before before those tapes were digitized. Yeah. Um and I was I was looking more for the uh for the 90-minute shows because they would never air again. Um uh uh and Let's talk about the 90-minute shows for those Okay, what were the 90-minute shows? Oh, um when the the the original s- air schedule from '82 to '87 was Monday to Thursday. Uh 60-minute shows from Monday to Thursday. Yeah. Uh and then uh and Friday nights was uh SCTV Friday night videos. Yes. Um uh and then SCTV went to Cinemax and so it was always then I think it was exclusively Friday night videos. Yeah.

Um but occasionally, maybe once a month um uh that Friday show that Friday slot the 12:30 Friday slot would be uh delegated to uh to a 90-minute show on late night. Um that was taped a day before. So the shows were still taped Monday to Thursday, but they aired Tuesday to Friday. And where Monday was a repeat. Um uh and then in '87, uh, the schedule shifted to a Tuesday to Friday 60-minute show Yeah. where Monday was always a rerun. Yeah. Um Uh, and uh, yeah, but before that, uh, '82 and '83, there I think maybe 30 90-minute shows that would air on Friday nights. Uh, one of them was the Christmas Show in July of '82. Uh, another one was the Bar Mitzvah in Sep- October of '82. Uh That wasn't Oh, the Bar Mitzvah was a 90-minute show? Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. Uh, that was Barry Sand's idea and and uh uh, he had uh, six good years left after that. Uh, the talent show was a 90-minute show, um that they got from Tom Snyder. Yep. Uh, that that Morty uh, knew about. Um uh, uh, the Nothing Special special, the the Dave show where where he was in a tux.

Arv Garrison playing the the themes to uh, the the guest intros and and uh um uh, and yeah, uh, the the the summer special where they went to Coney Island. Yeah. Uh Uh, and when when Rick was producing the A&E shows from '91 '92, it was only 60 minutes. And then when E got a hold of the shows from late from December '93 until I think July '96. Yep. Those are the same shows, right? Um All I think all of the A&E shows aired on E. Yes. But then E aired a whole bunch of other shows after that. Oh, okay. I didn't realize that. Okay. Yep. Um I have a Yeah. Um But but they only aired 60-minute shows except on on the July 4th uh, '90 uh '94 '95. Yep. Um they did a marathon 4th of July 90-minute anniversary show specials. Yep. Um uh in fact they uh which they all got from NBC. Um And they they the the 1988 anniversary show, which was the sixth anniversary show, um NBC sent them the uh uh uh uh uh uh the afternoon show rather than the evening show. Uh uh and and it it begins there's no Bill Wendell in the introduction. It's uh um And as and as far as I know, or let's just say I I have good authority to know. Yeah. Um uh that's the only copy they have.

They they don't have the they don't have the aired evening performance. Um uh Yeah, so so those are the only 90 90-minute shows that E! aired, were the were the anniversary shows. Except for the second, they never aired the the 1984 show. Um And all of these would have been on the Shecky tapes that were in behind him there the the the Dave copies of of of You know what I'm hearing right now? What? I'm hearing lot lots of yawns. Yeah, yawns. Not for me. And I really I I really don't care. But wait, there was a lot of folks who were excited that Don Giller is here. Oh, well. Please keep going. So, those shows were all on those tapes that you showed in that picture. Well, I mean that's a that was a sample. I mean that uh who knows where the other tapes were. There was just like maybe 40 40 tapes. Yes. Um Did they do that the entire run? Yeah. Wow. Um So, in the in maybe '07, they they started to digitizing it in the in the basement of the Sullum Theater. Yep.

But again, some tapes uh were unplayable. Oh yeah, that's what I was going to say. Um I would sometimes go into Shecky's office Yeah. and and watch some shows. Uh I wouldn't dub them. Um he just allowed me to watch it. One One of the shows was the uh um Actually, the first show I watched in his office while he was doing something else was the uh uh the mid-May '84 show uh where where where Andy Kaufman died. Um and and Dave gave a very short eulogy at the very end. Uh that was the only show I had missed at the time uh because at at the time I didn't have a VCR. I was taping everything on audio cassette, so I couldn't time anything. Right. Uh so that was the first show uh which actually he did give me a dub of that. Um Your uh uh eulogy collection that you have on your channel is is that in there? Yeah. That That's the very first one, actually. That's the That's the very first show where Dave mentioned the death of somebody.

Um and it and ends uh with uh his mom's eulogy uh that never aired because she died 2 years after the show ended. But they had prepared a eulogy for her just in case. Um and and during the last couple weeks of the show, they they used that footage to make it a more celebratory tribute to to Mom because she was still alive. But but there's this other version um that was more somber. Um uh Paul Simon uh singing the sound uh singing uh uh it's it's very sad and and and moving. Um uh and uh I'll get to that. Um Uh oh yeah, and and another tape that I watched but didn't didn't um um was the uh uh the January 16th, 1991 show that never aired uh because it was preempted by the Gulf War, the beginning of the Gulf War. Right. The first Gulf War. Yep. Uh and and then I and that was in maybe '95 early '96, I think I I watched it. Yep. And finally 6 years later I got a dub of it. So I I finally got a hold of it. Uh uh and and NBC didn't have it um in the course of things many shows that were many 3/4-in shows disappeared.

Uh Rick told me a story where it where this where they put all of the all the shows with Andy Kaufman on a conference table uh all all of the late-night Andy Kaufman shows, 3/4-in shows, on a conference table and then some cleaning person threw them out. But but it turns out that's that wasn't completely true. Okay. There there there were shows that did survive with Andy. Um so but you know, Rick's not around to you know and so I can't kick him around anymore. As we were saying earlier, I miss that guy. I miss the sound of his voice on the phone. I miss him very very very much. Uh I miss I miss his talking down to me. That's the fun part. See, I don't I don't miss that. And the reason I don't miss that is because for me, it's like when I talk to you, too. It's like I sit under the learning tree and I really don't care if it's cuz it is to me. It is you know guys like you and him should be talking down to me. And and I don't I I yeah, I never looked at it that way. I always just looked at it like, okay, please just keep talking. Um that's why I love Yeah, I don't I don't I I I feel that way because Yeah. You you do what I can't do.

You know, so I can't you know, you're not you're not a wannabe. Um Uh I'm the wannabe. Um Okay, hold on. You're not, but you and Rick very similar uh when it comes to your disposition about wanting to archive things and and do it properly. I got to turn on I got to turn on the filter, okay. Okay, go ahead. We're we're not all that all we're not all that the same. Well, okay, but the collector parts of you is where I'm coming from. Like Like Like what you have just done out of the top of your head with a maybe a little bit of preparation, although I mean, gosh, it was only last night that I even suggested that this could even happen. Um the of you coming on here today. Out of the top of your head, you just pulled out seven or eight, you know, arcane pieces of information that just a lot of people would not know. Rick could do that with film, right? He could do that with He could do that with comics. He could do that with all sorts of things as well. And again, both of you have uh collections of the things that you like that are I call them alpha collectors. Like just just things that are one-offs, things that just don't exist in the rest of the collecting world of that particular genre. In that area, you and Rick very similar.

Um like the fact that he would let you watch tapes. He used to work at the tape library or the the footage li- the film library. Um and and people would come in and they would want to watch different archived footage uh that they had on on hand. Um you know, him allowing you to come into his office and do that. Yeah. I don't imagine there were very many people he let do that, Don. Well, he he didn't know I was there. I just I kind of snuck in. Um Uh but we also traded tapes. You know, like I I I would I would trade I would find a tape that he was looking for from other tape traders like like the Jerry Lewis show from '84, I think. There you go. Yep. And and then he would then dub for me those 90-minute shows. That's kind of how it works with collectors many times. It's a It's a It's a give and take kind of a deal, right? Um Exactly right. I couldn't have put it myself better myself that you you just cuz that you explained it so succinctly.

You've christified crystallized my thoughts exactly. Um Please do this once a month. So So I I was throughout all this I you know I the tapes the shows I didn't have because I was taping them onto onto audio cassette and I finally got my first VCR in mid-February '85 and so that point forward I was taping all the shows. But there was a period before that where I would I would tape the repeats that aired after February '85. Yeah. Um But then many of the that pre-VCR era I would get from trades. Um Uh the quality would vary from okay to well, jeez, this is embarrassing. Yeah. We're going to look for another one. It's nice to have it, great, but we're going to look for another one. I had a tape where if I put it on pause, I got a decent picture, but if I put it on play, it was all jumbled up. You know, it was unplayable. What was that? The V hold? The V hold was off? The tracking? Remember the tracking on the VCRs back in the day? Oh, yeah. No, I I did I have VCRs that they have tracking and they're they're crucial.

Yep. Um Um Uh Um But there were still shows I was missing and complete shows I was missing. Up till just a few years ago. Yeah. I'm trying to I'm trying to get This is I was going to get an exact date, but who cares? Sure. Well, whatever. Yeah, yeah. It was in sometime in maybe August, September of '16. Um I asked Rick if he was interested in a trade where I would At that time I was digitizing my late nights. Um and I offered him a trade that I would send him all the shows that I had digitized for all the shows that he had had digitized. Um and and I didn't really realize what he had. Um and he said, "No, I'll be happy to You're You're welcome to anything I have because this stuff really doesn't mean much to me anymore." I can get the I can get the exact I mean, I'm paraphrasing. It's not exactly what he said, but it was it was more it was more of his jaded uh um Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He very He Yeah, definitely There was definitely that side to Rick, um but, you know, which was always a pleasure to TO YOU KNOW UM SO, IN SO, in November uh we met up at he he was going to go he went to MoMA uh Metropolitan uh Metropolitan Museum Museum of uh what's it? Metropolitan Um Museum of Modern Art? Museum of Modern Art, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm so I go there frequently. Yeah, you got the season's pass, don't you? And I got emails, "You're not there. Where are you?" And so, we met there. Yep. And And he and he loaned me this. This is what's called a binder. A DVD binder. DVD binder. Yep. That that consists of maybe 200 DVDs. That's a lot of shows. How many fit How many shows fit on one DVD? One. Oh, just one. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And each show And Can you make that out? Oh, yeah. January 11, '83. Show number um And These were the These were the digitized DVDs from the 3/4 in tapes. And this was Thanksgiving. And I'm and and I I take it home and I'm I'm I'm watch I'm I'm I'm duplicating the DVDs. And then I would then then I would convert them to MP to convert the DVDs to uh MP MP4 files on the computer. condense it down. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm blowing my brain out cuz this is this is this is this is every show that I was looking for we didn't have.

Um except for two. Uh they were missing two shows. Uh in fact, one of the shows Um I was in Rick's office. And and he was record he was dubbing onto VCR one of the 3/4 in tapes. It was from February 24, '82. And we're watching it together. And as we're watching it uh uh the picture starts to crumble. And what's happening is that the oxide is peeling off the tape. Oh my god. This like within the first 5 minutes of the show. Um and and I said, "Well, can I have the tape?" He said, "Yeah." So, he gave me the tape. So, I had 5 minutes of the show. Uh and and that show was missing in in this DVD binder. Uh um and there was another show that that was from the early years that early '82 that it was also missing. Yeah. Um and the summer of '17 uh actually Jason Zinoman got me got me into this. Uh uh the the producers of the Mark Twain Prize were were preparing a uh a thing for Dave. Mhm. Uh and they talked to Jason and Jason then referred them to me. So, then so that I was their tape guy.

Um So, they talked to Jason just because he was kind of the last person to to to write a significant book about about Dave. The last day of late night. Right. Okay. Um and and and you know, he wore a mask, so no one knew who he was. Um and uh and and they would get their I mean, I would send them uh screeners and they would get their their final good copies uh uh licensed copies from NBC. Yeah. Um so, I asked them, "Can you get me these two copies? Uh these two shows that I'm missing." Uh this is it's a long story and it's a it's a frustrating story, but uh uh uh in December of '80 of '17 Yeah. uh I went to Broadway Video. You know, Lorne Michaels' production yeah. Yeah. Uh and and they had the two shows uh on on on uh on uh uh uh digital files. Uh and and I got them. And that and at that was in December '17 when when the collection it 100% complete. So, that was it was it was a a nice thing to happen.

Yeah. Um Um we'll get to that in a second. Broadway Video, so obviously Lauren kind of owns Late Night on NBC now. Oh, no, he doesn't. I I have no idea why they had it. Really? Because they had they had No, I mean this was this was NBC's property, but for some reason uh it it may not have been a Broadway Video property rather someone who worked there. I feel you. Okay. I had I had assumed because Broadway Video now produces or has produced Late Night basically ever since Conan. Yeah. Um that maybe that they would have just handed all the old Late Night assets over to them and said, "Okay, well, it's your franchise now. Here you go." But No, that that that just started with Conan cuz that's yeah cuz Lauren owned you know, owned that or Conan that. Yeah. Um so, let's go back for a second. And and that person who who was there to to to to gave me the tapes uh was Joe Grossman. No, I'm kidding.

Shout out to Joe once again. Nice Joe. Just kidding, buddy. Um great flip book uh we love so much. Steve Young is a genius. Um I can't There we go. There it is. Joe Grossman I'm never going to do it right. Forget it. Yeah, this is really exciting. Oh, it is. Okay, there's Joe. Look at the animation. Look at the animation. And and tell what Kathy did. Well, yeah, so I go over to Steve Young's house a few months ago and and if you if you watch the episode recapping um you know, my last trip to New York for for for Shecky's memorial, uh I go to Steve Young's place and he he brings out a a box full of of of keepsakes that he had from Late Show. And I mean Steve, very smart guy, um you know, very meticulous and and the stuff that he kept was just very select. One of the things that he kept was one of those flip books, and he starts flipping through it, and somebody who he had given that flip book to, and I think it was Kathy, um, although, funny thing, she doesn't remember doing it, but he said it he swears up and down it was Kathy, um, went through the painstaking effort of defacing every single page of that book and putting, uh, you know, faces on Joe and expressions and all this sort of stuff all around him, and turned it into an actual flip book, uh, which I just found endless delight in. You could tell she WAS PRETTY BUSY.

I'M KIDDING, KATHY. IN FACT, you Kathy, this this I got from Steve Young. Uh, you're kidding, that's Young's? He was selling it on eBay. Uh, and and I was determined to have it, and so so I bid a ridiculous price and then got it. Yeah, but this this was Steve's. Jackie used to tease me about his. Jackie was like, "Ah, one day I'll give my give you mine." And I was like, "Okay." Thanks, Drake. But I love that though, too, cuz it's just Oh god, I miss him though. Um, now, that being said, you're digitizing shows in '16. When did you start your channel? Um, I started maybe '09, but it was just isolated things here and there. Totally. Yep. I I Let Let me get my database. Sure. Cuz after '15, when Late Show ended, I I I think I I started in earnest in in in maybe the fall of '15. Okay. Yeah, after Late Show. Yeah, and and and I mean, for a while, you could find on the CBS website, you could still find clips, but pretty quickly after, um, the May 15 or May 20th show, um, pretty quickly after that footage started disappearing.

And, um, Because it was it was as I understand it, I may be wrong. Um that website was co-owned by by Pants and CBS. And then after the show ended CBS uh no longer had rights to the content. Right. But but they still had access to the channel. So so they just they just took it everything down. Yeah. Yeah. And I grabbed as much as I could. Uh I didn't get everything, but I I I got a bunch of stuff. Um Well, yeah, cuz there was like Tony Mendez show and all that all there was lots of, you know, other other footage that was on there as well, not just clips from the show. Uh but really at the end of the day when you think about it when you talk about our boy Rick Sheckman, um he he he is a significant contributor to your compilations in in in some respects. Yeah, I mean when I when I got the this the first binder was in again mid-November of '16. Yeah. Uh and it consisted of '82 and '83. Yeah. And then in uh maybe February '17, he loaned me this there's this a second Late Night binder.

Which was every other shows but scattered. It wasn't a complete collection. There was stuff from '84, '85, a couple weeks of '93, but it there is nothing complete about it. Um uh that was I think in February '17. Uh and then I went over to his place in September of '17. Yeah. Uh and I think he loaned me a bunch of tapes. Uh which I then digitized and returned. Yeah, I mean I everything he loaned me I returned to him, you know, I I wanted to be really good about that. Yeah. Um in March of '18 I went back to his place. And I had to take Uber. Um these these were the late shows. Uh the DVD binders of the late shows. Um and uh and not complete. Maybe maybe 60 65% of the late shows. Uh it the first binder that I had started in February of '95. Um Okay. So it's missing the first 2 years. I was going to say a couple of years in, yeah. Yeah. Uh and then it went it was '95 '96 until the end of '97 and then just very scattered DVDs from '98 until 2007.

And then from 2007 to '15 it was complete. Right. Um Any explanation as to why uh the breaks? Uh he just didn't have them. And I I don't know. No, I never, you know, you can't be too greedy. Yeah, I I clearly I wasn't going to ask, "Where are the rest?" You get into Fort Knox and you know you didn't see all the rooms. Well, okay. Beggars can't be choosers. Yeah, clearly. And and when I when I took them out of the Uber and brought them home and and and and and and there's another picture where they're all over the place, but this is this is the the the better picture. Um I realized that that the first binder was missing. And I was thinking, "Oh god, did I leave it in the Uber?" You know, and that and that haunted me for for months. Oh no. Um and then that was in March of '17 in September of '17 my friend Adam, who had a car, he drove me and all of these binders back to Rick's place. Yeah. And and the idea was was for Adam to distract Rick uh in in the living room while I went downstairs and and then grabbed all of the all of the video tapes I hadn't grabbed before. It was a caper.

Well done. How did it go? And Rick no it went it went as well as it could. And and in the tape room was the first binder. And I just like thank god. I was yeah. Um There there there was there's a a remaining maybe 10 video tapes that he that he said uh don't take them now you'll get them the next time. And there never was a next time. Uh Uh Yeah but but but what's what's interesting to me and probably to no one else that maybe you but I'm not sure about it you anymore. Yeah I know no I'm here. I'm right with you. These DVDs it would it would one show per TV per per DVD. But after the show there are these outtakes. Not on every DVD but on many of them. Uh they're outtakes of uh All right not outtakes um uh There there's a performance of Jackson Browne uh performing Doctor My Eyes during a commercial break. Uh Um there's a uh lots of Bill Wendel post show doing this post production introduction to the shows. Yeah. Um uh Alan Coulter's very first announcement announcement where he he which which I'd which I'd put up as part of the uh his compilation.

That's on his tribute yeah. In fact it's I think it's the very last item that I put up. Yeah. I put it in there. Um I might have watched that one more than any other of your compilations is Alan's In fact two nights ago I'm doing something for Rupert and and I'm and and I found two more outtakes that I didn't realize before and I said you know the nice discovery there's one Chuck Berry during he performs a song and he starts another song and the show and the show goes into commercial commercial break but here's the entire song and he's messing up you know he's playing like HE DOESN'T AND HE'S pointing everyone you take a solo and no you take a solo and and no one knows what's going on. And then I found another tape it was a remote piece where Dave is interviewing a Wayne Newton fan a nice lady elderly lady. Sounds about right and they're chatting and then he's respectful to her and asking her all sorts of questions then she's answering them and Dave says well we have a page who looks just like Wayne Newton and and we asked him to come in and he comes in it's Wayne Newton and Wayne and this woman they embrace and they get their neck braces bracelets caught up and they get stuck to each other.

So they have to redo it in gold is Mr. Wayne Newton so they have to redo it. That never aired that that entire segment never aired. I think I mentioned so so these tapes or these DVDs that they're they have so much content that's interesting to me you know there's there's Alec Baldwin I I played you this that Alec Baldwin thing when you were here the first time. Sure did I love that and especially since getting to know Nadine um you know, like that just was even more It just shows how much fun that they were having. That's the type of stuff I wish was out there because it would show how much fun that that that that they were having during these segments and no one knows what we're talking about. Uh it's Alec Baldwin in the audience with Nadine Henley. And I think you can find that clip online of what aired. That's around. But then they were messing around with it and doing what around and and Alec takes off his shirt and he's got all this hair hairy chest and and Dave is just is just mercilessly mocking him.

And at one point Dave says, you know, this this ain't funny. Um Uh there there the tapes were he's doing a bit uh but one of the items it's it's not good new gift items, but it's it's odd items. So it's a desk piece. Yeah. But one of the items is missing. It's not there. And so they stop they stop tape, but they don't stop tape. And and Dave goes, you know, it's goes on stage and say, "Look, we're going to have to redo this. It's not going to be the same because they're not going to have that spontaneity. Uh so just you know, play along if you can." Um and they're still looking for the piece and and all these members says, "I have the piece." And and and he says, "No, you don't." So they're going back and forth. Um And and they finally do the piece and and and the items finally found and it just gets a roaring ovation that that no one no viewer will understand the import of that. Exactly.

Uh it's the same with with with a late night 3/4 inch um there are many sit During the mid-show break you know, the the half-hour break Dave would do promos for the show that would air on NBC usually on the Tonight Show. Uh sometimes in primetime even 9:30, 10:30. Yep. And the raw footage of those promos are in some of these 3/4 inch tapes. Um That's a great And and I actually I've I've put some of them up but there's a a uh on Twitter which I'm never going to call whatever they're calling it now. Um Y, I think they're calling it Y. Yeah, I think it's Y. Yeah. Um uh I I put up uh you know little minute long segments on Twitter. And I just called it your moment of of Dave Zen. Um so I put a collection of that on YouTube. Yep. This is before you know I I couldn't do it anymore. Uh and and and those promotional things are are are in are included in there. Um They're just a really nice moment where Dave is promoting the next that night show.

And it's running long. Mhm. It's just a long copy and it goes over like 10 seconds. And and Hal says from the booth, "That's that's way too long. You you got to and and Dave says, "Well, don't blame me." And so he starts another take. And and his mouth gets all flubbed up within 5 seconds. And and Hal says, "That's too short." You know, and the audience cracks up. Um uh there's another one. Uh I'm trying to remember what uh Oh, uh Dave does the promo. Mhm. And he ends it by saying "You'll laugh till you shit." And the audience goes nuts. And he says, "I think we're going to have to do that again." So he He it again and he ends it with you'll laugh. And the audience cracks up because they know they know what wasn't said. Yep. You know, and that that to me was just educational. You know, that that that told me that gave me a sense of of what the show was about.

You know, that this this uh uh this connection with the audience and Dave and what plays and what doesn't play and and how do you use it and and and and I'm pontificating so I'll stop now. No, no, no. It's it's it's uh you know, they talk about how he's a broadcaster, but and and there's so many people that that say, "Oh yeah, Dave's not a pure stand-up. He's a broadcaster." But he knew how to um you know, like you say manipulate is the wrong word. He knew how to take advantage of of of when you could do connect live with the crowd.

Yeah. And it went all the way to the end. I can think of episodes of Late Show right into 2015 where I would be at home yearning to be in the audience because they did something that popped, whatever it was. And and and by that point I'm like, "Okay, obviously they've redone this and and they're doing it a second time." And the audience is like, "You got it right, Dave, this time. Great job." And Dave was able to make them a part of that. Right. Mer- Merl told me something and and I'm trying to remember what it was. It it it was a situation that was very uncomfortable for Dave and everybody. And Merl says he was just so smooth. You know, he just you know, you walk slowly and and you don't you act like you're not panicking. And and you'll get through it. And that's what he did. Uh I one uh marker he would he would he would he would he would take a drink. You know, that Yep. You know, that so you knew that he Okay, let's we're out of control. Let's just let's just let's just reset this. Yeah.

Uh it's it's uh it's 8:11. you got to go. I don't. Did you contact Do you Do you Okay, um God. Okay, that was that was jarring. DID YOU BRING ANYTHING ELSE FOR SHOW AND TELL? UM I don't think so. Let me check my uh Um Let's see, we did that. We did that. Um No, that's it. That's it. Okay. Um just a couple a couple little ones here. Just a couple cuz I do want to talk about Rupert and and it's great that you're working on. I would never ask you what you're working on. Um when the camera's when the camera's on. Um I mean I asked I I need to get permission if if I if I'm going to share stuff with people. Yes. And and I got permission. Uh I'm preparing uh every Rupert appearance for Rupert. Um and there are 446 shows that he appeared in and I'm up to 100. So, I have a ways to go. Uh Um Are you doing it in the old school Don Giller way where it has the white date and the green line coming down the side? Like are you doing it that way?

Are you I uh green line across the side I I that's a mistake. Yeah. Okay. Do you remember making the decision to do that? Like do you remember making the decision? Okay, when I do this and it goes to black, I'm going to have the video tape uh green thing going down the side. That it's kind of a signature, right? I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Okay, sounds good. Watch one of your compilations and you'll you'll you'll see it. thing going on the side? Well, it it's it's uh it's it's it's the wide screen of YouTube, but it's obviously a uh uh um a pan and or a 5x Was it 5x7? Is the the Uh 4x4:3, 4x3. Yeah, 4x3. There there there you go. Yeah, yeah. Um, and then there's a There's a There's a There's a There's Don't ask me what that means. I just know the numbers. All right, fair enough. Yeah, exactly. 16x9 is widescreen. 4x3 is is is the television. Um, square. 3x2 is a iPhone.

3x2 There you go. Yeah. But anyway, uh there just seems to be whenever your your your white titles show up, there's a there's a there's a line on the on the left side. And I just thought that that was put in on on purpose. Uh, yeah, it was on purpose. Yeah, I was thinking about it. Anyway, so what you're preparing is it prepared in the same way that you prepare your compilations? No, because I wanted to make it so I mean first I I was lazy. Um, it would just take too much time to do No, they'll just be separate clips. Um, I'll give him a PDF of all the contents. Um And so he can pick and choose what he wants to watch rather than having to wade through, you know, 2 hours and doing what he wants to see what I want to I got you. Okay. Yeah, cuz 444 that's a Yeah. That's a seven-parter. I mean I'm the the I mean the '90s to me are more interesting in the '00s.

It's mostly him at the deli talking to survivor losers and and uh uh do you want to you know would you like to cut some meat and Beat the clock. civilian stuff, beat the clock. Yeah. Um uh Trump or monkey. Uh or or Rupert really really isn't that integral to the to the segment. Um uh But there's Christmas shows when he shows up with the meatball. Yeah. Um But there are a couple things that I had no memory of. There's a There's a There's a CBS mailbag where uh Rupert and Dave trade places. You know, and Rupert's at the on at the desk and and and Dave's at the at the Hello Deli. Uh and and Rupert is is insulting Dave. Um I I I just had no memory of this at all.

And the other one I'd mentioned to you The writers must have enjoyed preparing that piece. All right. There there's another piece which I kind of remember where where uh Rupert is uh Spider-Man, maybe. Yeah. Forget. Maybe it wasn't Spider-Man, but he was a Superman. Yeah. Of some sort. Superhero, yeah. Uh and and Paul plays Dave. Um And and and Rupert's wearing this gigantic codpiece. And of course, you know, Dave has to make mention of it. And there a couple things that that that uh in '90s five and six um instead of airing repeats of shows that that they would air compilation repeats. Um uh uh that would feature like one show one compilation show would have uh Like stupid human tricks? Um Well, I guess big guests. Okay. that that that they collected into one show. Um and and they would also they would include they would be introduced uh by Dave and other people. Um The very first one was Dave and Paul and and a room upstairs and they're making fun of uh staff names. Zork to Zork's.

They just make they just they just they don't know what they're doing. And and there are there are three with Rupert. Um and I I don't think anybody this stuff never aired ever again and and I don't think it's anyone it's not in CBS's collection because they were repeats. Right. You know, so um Yeah, so I found them and and uh uh and digitized them. So, that that was that was nice to find those things. Um Any chance that's going to be cuz I mean obviously you know the we're talking about Rupert. He's the sponsor of the Letterman podcast. We all we've been talking about it incessantly. Um I hear he's I hear he's selling t-shirts. Tell us more. I heard that too. I heard if you go to hellodashdeli.com you can get Late Show with David Letterman t-shirts. But he's selling he's not just selling that. This is where Mike turns on the the word salad. Go. That's right. Exactly. But he's selling the deli and it's happening and it's you know it's happening soon and and events are are are kind of coming into play which is obviously why you're you're you're helping uh you're helping the the the pants crew out with this here. Any any chance do you have any idea if any of this stuff is going to see the light of day?

I I don't know. Okay. Honestly don't know. Yeah. Okay. I know that uh that's what making I'm making this for Rupert. So this is you know it's a one it's it's just for him and what he does with it. Uh I don't know he'll put up a Rupert channel. I don't know. Cuz cuz he'll have a lot that's very sweet of you. I have a lot of spare time. How long before you know when the when the show moved over to the the Sullivan Theater you used to be one of those guys that would go down there sometimes and and be part of all the the hoopla that was outside. The stalker. The stalker. Did you get to know Rupert right away? I probably got to know him through Dave Cohn. Right. Uh I'm I'm pretty sure that that's how that happened. And Marilyn and Marilyn Targent in particular I remember she gave him this some sort of wrap to put on the on the on the on the counter that he opened up to to to enter behind and and you know I'm talking about of course not.

You know when when you he does that to to get to get inside the the Yeah, the the the the big cup. I know what you're talking about. Sure. That thing. Yeah, and and she and Marilyn made and and Marilyn thought it was just the the the top was so grimy and and so she gave him this thing to fasten. Um I think she or maybe Cheryl or maybe Tracy, I I don't remember who um uh gave him or I don't know if they if they gave it to him or they just did it themselves. They they made they made a AFL Alt Fan Letterman decal that that they placed on the the the drinking container, you know, that that that's that any that everyone could see whenever Dave would would go into the Hello Deli. Yeah. And there was there was one I know. Yeah, I'm not going to get to it. Okay. Next time. And and in '06, my friend Tad and I, we put out a CD. Yeah. Um and and and I uh for at least for one show that I plastered the CD, you know, on onto the to the soda thing. And so you can say that we we got national exposure cuz we put the cuz everyone could see it. No one could know what it was, but at least you know, we knew what it was.

Um I think one of the thumbnails of this I've got I've got a few ideas for the thumbnails of this episode. One of them is Don't you have a picture of of every band member? There's your Oh, that that'd be a good one, too. Yeah. No. Every band member Yeah, yeah. I I had I had them holding up the CD and and giving two a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Don't you have Paul giving a thumbs down? Yeah, yeah. I got Will was in Belgium, so I didn't get him. Uh Sid and Bruce Yeah, they Did Tom I think I missed Tom. Hey, what about that guy Al Chez? Did Al do it? Yeah, yeah. Al His thumbs down, he has such a frown. He goes "Mhm." Oh. And he hated that picture. He hated it. So, of course I, you know, made it prominent. Um Anton, he did a thumbs up, thumbs down. Um Yeah, yeah, it was great. I I I was really glad for them to have done that. Um I'm running out of steam, so No, you're Okay, you're running out of steam. Thank you so much for doing this.

Uh you knew that I was a man in need of a guest, and uh I thank you so, so, so much. Yeah, this this is a one-off. Okay, well, if it's a one-off, it's a one-off. I I cannot thank you enough. nothing else. Okay, well, yeah, we all know that's not true. Um the closest thing that I'm going to get to saying something um good Don't do it. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being my friend. I appreciate you. I'm going to call the arsonist. That has been You're on hold. That has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm. Uh that guy is Don Giller. I am Mike Chisholm.