Steve Mazan was dying to do Letterman now he’s living on stage and runs a movie club

you're watching the letman podcast with Mike chisen endorsed by the hello Deli yeah welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum today's episode is a cool one because now some of you who have been uh fans of David Letterman and Company for a long time might remember a documentary that came out uh just over a decade ago it was called dying to do Letterman and it was um it's a story about comedian Steve maon and and Steve is our guest today um he's the dying to do Letterman guy the good news is he hasn't died medically he's okay right now and and and we're very very grateful that in 2023 at the time of this recording we can say that and we can talk with Steve about all sorts of fun stuff he goes down uh the rabbit hole when it comes to the the making of the documentary dying D Letterman his set eventually uh that did happen where he got to go and actually perform on Late Show with David Letterman and and and some of the things the behind the scenes things that uh don't get captured in a documentary necessarily because they're trying to get a narrative and and and and you're combing through hundreds of hours of footage over uh you know four or five years and and and so we got a chance to kind of go back on that and talk to Steve but then also just talking to Steve about um comedy he's still a stand-up comedian and and and uh Steve maison's Movie Club is it is is a big thing go check that out uh online his podcast and and and if you have the opportunity to go see Steve live as he tours around please take the uh take the time to do it uh just really appreciated getting to know him we had a fantastic conversation um now we had this uh full disclosure we had this conversation before the writer strike was settled and so there's some writer strike stuff in there that we talk about and and whatnot because it it was still happening at the time very grateful to hear that that issue has been resolved and entertainment um can start to roll its way uh its wheel get its Wheels rolling again I should say um Letterman podcast has one sponsor one sponsor only that is Rupert G and the hello Deli go to hellodd deli.com to grab any rert or Late Show with David Letterman merchandise that you can while you can hellodd deli.com hit on over there and uh yeah I really hope you enjoy this episode with comedian and friend good friend Steve Maison all right I want to make sure first it's Steve maon right not Steve maon yep how you doing man welcome to the Letterman podcast thanks for having me Mike I appreciate it thanks thanks for being here this is uh obviously one of my favorite things in the world is Letterman so I always love to love to be on anything Letterman related were you one of those guys um we had uh Chris shukai on the show not too long ago and I mean he worked for Paul for for years and years and years and years and years and he talked about he and I had something in common where growing up especially for me it was high school um I was a guy who was uh you know I had a lot of friends who were Christians and they were great and they always wanted to spread the good news um I was the guy who wanted to spread the good news about Letterman to people growing up and whenever I found somebody that got the joke we saw it last night or whatever they were always a kindered spirit were you that guy growing up yeah I don't know I love that he spread the word that he was spreading the gospel about it I I remember I remember the friend John Ramel in in grade school who turned me on to Letterman and I remember he was like he's a comedic genius and I was in you know in like third or fourth grade and I was like why I hadn't even heard that term before comedic genius and I was like oh I gotta I gotta I gotta see this guy of course now and uh I fell in love with him and so I felt like it was passed on to me and then I I definitely found all the other people that were into it yes and and shared that that common Bond of sharing what happened on the show last night and our favorite you know stories and that kind of thing um but I I I don't I now I wish I was I wish I was more of a person that was spreading the gospel I I I I I feel I think it's because I don't like those people who do it with religion so I I didn't want I didn't want to push Letterman on anyone you know man I my band teacher and I we loved him so much and and and uh it was right during the the The Late Shift era yeah and you know my band teacher was really into all types of music and stuff and and you know being Canadian of course you worship Paul Schaefer we all worship Paul Schaefer as a music and as a an Entertainer and and as a Canadian who did good which we have this thing that whenever someone does good down south uh you know we always like to uh attach the fact of Pride that that they're Canadian but so we would talk about it incessantly um in between you know measures where we would stop for a while and and and then he and I would talk for a while and and part of it I I swear to God part of it was that hey yeah you all should be part of this you all you all should be a uh you know understand this comedic genius uh that's there I think yeah for sure that that thing there's always that people having fun talking about it and then other people are like wait one of these who you know I mean there there's definitely that and Letterman I mean again he was uh he's one of those guys that went from cult status almost uh when he you know was was was doing the weather and the the the morning show and then and then even to the L show after after Carson it was you know I remember specifically I think you know I've said it before my my parents were like I don't get him I don't get him you know what I mean and it was it was something new and different and so it it it was interesting that he went from kind of that cult faction of the people who loved him loved him even though a lot of people didn't get it or like it people loved him loved him and then he grew into something even bigger where he was he was the the Johnny Carson of his time where you know he was you know everyone did love him and he was you know uh you know the big guy rather than the cult guy yeah absolutely and and I mean we've used this in alogy on the show before with with a few guests um and I don't know if you're a huge music fan or not I'm a giant music fan and I can remember especially in the time of the 90s when all of these Indie bands yeah blew up Suddenly yeah and and there was always a backlash of people like like green day is a good example uh you know Green Day kerplunk is out and people are calling it you know unbelievable and revolutionary and all this sort of stuff and then the moment Long View hits uh some of those people were like oh I don't I don't like that and it's cool because there's some people in the Letterman Camp who feel the same way they worked for him for years and years and years and years and years you know on the Indies quotequote and as soon as the show got big they moved on to other things and it's just it's it's such a a fascinating tapestry of a body of work would you say that uh Dave is a a direct influence into how you got into standup Steve 100% there's no doubt the story I've said already about discover when I was young and then uh feeling like you know I'd been watching staying up trying to stay up late and watch you know just to stay up late as a kid right it was just fun to stay up late on a school night and so you know I'd watch Johnny Carson because my mom and dad would watch him and I liked him and he had comedians on so that was fun and then all of a sudden they would go to bed sometimes and then there was this guy on afterwards I I remember seeing the show before I ever saw him on Johnny Carson like guest hosting or even being a guest on Carson seeing the show and being like well this guy's really funny and like I thought it was funny and then and then my then parents didn't like didn't like him or didn't get him was even more fun you know it felt like you had something secret and so yeah I think it was a real shape you know music's a great analogy in it that I because there's an influence then it's it's what you're it's I didn't understand uh comedy I knew what I knew I laughed but I never looked at it further and that he was doing stuff that was so different yep you know than than other late night shows had been done and purposely you know because he was restricted a little bit from Carson what he was allowed to do uh but it was so different and it it felt you know hipper and cooler and uh yeah 100% I think it shaped yeah I think it shaped my my sense of humor I it shaped you know um how silly I wanted to be and uh you know how how you know kind of original you wanted to kind of kind of be that kind of stuff and uh 100% he he's an influence in so many ways but even in just in that just the sense of a direct line to him I think about uh some of the standups that appeared um and and how how how they contrasted very much uh to Johnny I I could say this I can Echo the exact same sentiments you know I used to sneak up after my dad would finished The Tonight Show when I was really young so I could watch late night but when I became kind of old enough to understand you know famously used the idea of the deconstruction of the talk show and and and I I do understand that point uh I think it's overused a little bit but but yeah the fact that they would have writers on they would have different things where they talk about uh the mechanics of Comedy that kind of a thing right but a different culture the comics who were on there were very different than the comics that were on The Tonight Show other than a couple of notable Seinfeld being one and and I think there's one or two others uh were there any standups that were on Letterman uh in late the late night days that that you attracted to yeah to uh Andy Kaufman uh coming out I mean amazing and then I still remember the first time I saw um Sam Kennison come on and I it's one of my favorite things ever uh because it's every listen as a comedian there's there's so many restrictions they have on this stuff and it's it's so silly especially with whatever it's I'm not blaming this on Letterman or or Carson or those guys because they they have no touch with that that Bottom Rung of of what the guy who was booking the comedian is doing yeah um but they really just think again the same way it's just the structure of the base how late night talk shows are done this is how the comedy on late night talk shows you're going to come in and you're going to walk out and stand on the star and do your set you know and all a sudden Here Comes Kennison and he comes in and he he grabs the mic stand and he tosses it to the side and as my friend a comedian from San Francisco always points out he goes if you listen closely you can hear the mic stand crashing into like the equipment on the side and then he's he's a minute later he's in the crowd like yelling at people and doing it and it's it's so uh original and unlike anything you had seen on on TV or comedians on TV at that point even still yeah even if someone did that today it would be then that was you know 40 years ago um they're so restrictive Conan was I will say Conan who who we both know is a huge huge huge Letterman fan absolutely he uh he was very good about that about uh kind of letting comedians be a little looser in the in their sets there's some really funny late night comedy sets that ended up being uning by but uh Kaufman and Kennison are the two guys that really stick out I mean I loved I loved it's so funny because you know people who are peripherally Letterman fans or or came it came to it late in like the Late Show they forget it was Letterman who introduced Leno to the to the country you know it was he he loved Leno and he would have him on to do standup all the time I mean it was yeah and some would say saved Leno uh many people like like like guys like Bill Carter like like educated people who are who are deep into this you know with with the idea that that his tone um and especially the panel like the standup was but the the way that um uh that Dave could take some of of Leno's standup bits on panel yes and then enhance them because of his razor sharp uh whip-like quips that would come back in responses and and and I just I loved watching those two go back and forth so much fun so much fun that's what I mean and so it seems weird to say as a letterman fan one of my favorite guests on his show was was Jay Leto comedian but it he was he was great and they were both and you could tell they both they at that time they both really loved each other they both respected each other and thought each other were funny so yeah like you said that back and forth was so fun to watch well IR iron sharpens iron and and I mean um now I guess if you were to describe it it'd be like the modern day equivalent of Facebook relationship status it's complicated uh because there was so much of that sharpening going on back then uh and then resulting of course in in in in late shift one and then late shift two and and all of that stuff um let's go back to that real quick uh The Comedy Store is The Comedy Store a place that uh that You' frequented it's funny because The Comedy Store well you know like anything like we've been talking about Letterman the show what it is at one time and what it is later and uh how things grow like that when I first moved I started comedy in San Francisco Y and uh when I moved down so this would have been 99 99 okay 99 and so I moved down here to like where I'm at now in 03 I think it was end of2 or 03 and um The Comedy Store was a uh by the way can we swear can we I I should ask you yeah it was it was a hole then and I everyone would agree it was not even a hole is kind of too nice it was a hole and probably still is a hole but it was also a hell hole I mean it was it was like the closest to Comedy hell you could get like me and my friends who had moved down all within a year would go there because we're like well this is one of the the places you go and you hang out and just every time we went in we just it it gave you a bad feeling like there were Comics heckling other Comics uh there's a great documentary on The Comedy Store that came out you know over the past probably two years the five parter one right yes yes yes and um highly recommended really good and they talk about it then this is this time when Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Griffin were just coming in and they' bump all the the other Comedians and they would do two and a half hours and like that was the time I showed up there and me and my friends were like what a waste like this is this is what you're going to put your time into so I we never went back I went there two or three times and and that exactly happened Eddie Griffin came in and he's funny but he like again to take the time about of everyone else and uh the whole idea was it was this showcase club that you could you could go and be there for hours and see all these different comedians you know what Letterman and Leto did so uh I quickly uh just uh changed my focus to uh the Laugh Factory and then the Improv because the Improv had the most clubs across the country so I was like if I can get in the Improv then that's that that makes the most uh you know monetary sense so yeah so not much time and I've gone back and now as we're saying and if you see the documentary you see this it had a nice rebirth later someone comes and kind of fixes everything at the comedy store and it was really the mecca now and then Joe Rogan who helped in that change has now taken that all to Austin um that idea that they made but uh yeah is that a bucket list item for it do you want to perform at the Mother Ship of course I love it I haven't been down yet but yeah defin definitely on the uh on the bucket list that'll happen soon I'm sure well it's cool because Rogan it seems that um you know he talks about how much he loves mity and and in the documentary you're talking about he tear up talking about her yeah um and what she meant to him um and how it seems like you know certainly from their narrative standpoint uh he's trying to take all of the best parts of The Comedy Store and put that into a club and then obviously smooth out the edges of of of some of the stuff that wasn't uh wasn't as good as it could be and it's it's it's neat to see this Resurgence talking about Rogan again um you know it's funny every once in a while when I say this I'm going to get a slice of people who react to me and and and basically say that I'm I'm I'm speaking blasphemy what I'm about to say now but if you think about the Carson bump and I can't wait to ask you about this Letterman when it comes but when you think about the Carson bump and the legendary Carson bump you're a nobody but uh but but but they see you uh you know they bring you up and and suddenly the next day your your life is completely changed right um you know I've had folks on my other podcast who've been on Rogan and and and and I've talked to people who've been on Rogan before yeah the what Rogan now is is the equivalent today of the Carson bump back then yes 100% you know 100% yeah that that's he's he's that guy for sure I mean he gets and me you you see it you know it's not the just the the TV landscape isn't what it used to be there was you know they're talking about that the the watching Carson then Letterman after him uh you know three channels and you didn't have it was that or you know maybe Tom Snider on the other show or I think Nightline you know news so of course you're attracted to the the entertainment aspect of it uh and now it's you know a a great night of uh late night now is I think yeah if something happened I can't remember what it was I wish I could remember what it was something happened in the last couple weeks where the ratings for something were five or six million on one of the late night shows and I mean that would have that would have got you canceled back in the day if you only got you know it was you need to have you know 10 to 30 million uh on those nights so yeah there's a huge M and that's what Rogan now he he can get that in in a podcast and uh so yeah I don't think it's blasphemy I mean that's those are just facts it's it's true yeah um I think I think because you know he is such a a polarizing figure you know what I I compare it a little bit somebody who who who kind of gave me some threw some shade on me for for for saying that I kind of had a dialogue with them and then it's funny once you start having a dialogue with some of these people um they well sometimes and most times that I find if they're willing to have the dialogue they calm down immediately and and and and and then it becomes an actual rational back and forth conversation and I think um but the polarization with with with Rogan now I would compare that to the polarization of Howard Stern back when we were kind of more in our formative years I think they're I think they touch on similar things there's a lot of misunderstanding for certain um and then and then some of the the the the things that might be controversial get um blown up in so many ways that's what that's a good comparison because yeah it's the same thing I think it's a uh you know it's a a lot of people listen even back to the Letterman thing there's a lot of people that love him a lot of people that hate him you know again I think Letterman as he grew became more lovable and mainstream uh but at the at the time and that's you know Letterman himself was a big Howard Stern fan you know uh loved him he's the he's the guy that introduced him and made him bigger and uh yeah I I Rogan's for sure like that and again I you know there's plenty of things uh I don't agree with Rogan about but there there's no doubt his impact and uh he's a he's a uh for lack of a better word thoughtful guy I mean he's he's you know you're talking about this this stuff he's done with the comedy store and the well thought out like exactly it's what he's done he's he's trying to replicate the Mitsy Shore comedy Story the best of it in Austin there and he's being pretty successful I mean there's no there's no doubt uh his results you know of what he's doing and the thing is he has such a pure love for standup like like like you know he'll have guests of all crazy world-renowned authors and scientists and these people on the show but when he has a standup on and he starts talking about his love for the crowd for standup um and and it's it's it takes a special breed to do it you've done it for a quarter Century now which is which is Bonkers yeah I hav't said ien I haven't put it in those words and now you scare me like oh boy yeah it's a long time yeah well and and okay so now uh I'm an I'm I'm a jerk um because I didn't uh I I should have my first question for you Steve um my gosh should have been how's your health oh well yeah thanks for asking but no that's uh that makes me feel good that that doesn't have to be the first question anymore that uh yeah I uh obviously I'm here uh I feel great uh you know for for for people listening I in 2005 I was diagnosed with stage four cancer was given a worst case scenario of five years to live and uh here we are 13 plus years after that worst case scenario I want to ask you about that real quick because um you know obviously when you do a documentary and we're going to talk about dying to do Letterman of course we will of course we will but but gosh I just like connecting with you about movies and all the other stuff that we we connect on um so of course we're going to talk about that um you know when you're doing a documentary you know you obviously have uh uh narratives or phrases or whatever that you use that was the worst case scenario that they gave you did they gave you give you a best case scenario as well did they say you could live a long productive life and and and still be doing standup you know some 15 years later yeah it's funny cuz I know this is going to sound silly because it's it's a documentary that's about me sure uh and so sometimes I forget what's in the documentary what isn't in fact we were just talking about something else about the comedians from letterin and I was like was that in the movie or not it was in the back of my head sometimes I forget I so I can't remember if it this mentions this this makes me think no the way you phrase that but the way that happened is we went my but she's my wife now but my girlfriend at the time y went to the oncologist when they came it was this panel of doctors and they said hey uh this is a very rare uh kind of cancer you have it's stage four because it spread and uh we've seen people live anywhere from you know maybe 10 maybe 15 years with this and we're like it sounds like you're this and they're like that's best case and we're like well both of us looked at each other we're like you could tell they were soft Sho it so we're like okay so you're saying best cases 10 to 15 15 years maybe like you seen this what's the worst case and that's when they kind of like got serious okay they're like okay the worst case is you know five years yeah so that that was yeah that was kind of it so we we we had a pressure because we knew they were just trying to be nice and be like don't tell them the worst case tell them the best case um and and and like uh the Sha Shank Redemption you know when red says to Andy defrain get get busy Liv or Andra actually says it to red and then red Echoes it later in the movie Get Busy Living Get Busy Dying um you kind of had that that that that call to get busy and I'm so grateful that you still are first and foremost and things things are knock on wood things are good right now yeah everything's good I have I have some scans coming up I go to scans every year I do blood tests every every six months y um so I got some coming up in December uh but yeah I'm feeling great uh I still have uh the cancerous tumors on my liver but they haven't grown uh so that's been the good thing that was the worry that they would they would take over the liver and shut it down and uh or spread again uh and they have it so uh very lucky um one of the moments of the documentary that I just thought was so beautiful the Get Busy Living Get Busy Dying you know you're your idea is I'm not going to be a burden to you her idea no we're getting married and and the idea okay we're getting and you got married at that case that's just one of the sweetest things I've ever heard is your wife still into holistic practices of any yeah still into to to all that stuff and you see in the movie all the different things she comes up with yep uh to try like you know uh dietary cleanses exercise yoga all these things meditation there's even this one uh I think I just don't think we had footage of it it was this kind of mauy healing kind of thing you know this New Zealand guy and I remember I was I think I was naked on a table but there were other people naked on tables it was outside and this guy sounds like a party yeah it was it should have been better than it was it was painful he he had this tiny little thing it was like a almost like a toothpick and he just touched my heel and Mike it's the loudest I've screamed in my life and and my wife would later was like he just barely touched you that I was like I don't know what pressure point it was whatever you know of course his thing was like that's that's the releasing of this now so you see in the movie what all the different things she comes up with that you have cancer we got to try all these things to to keep you alive Y and I'm I'm here which is great but the we were trying so many things we don't know which one worked you know was it was it all of them was it none of them was it you know uh so I gotta ask you how much of it do you think his attitude and mindset I you know gosh I that's such a tough question because I I wanna i w to believe yeah I W to believe that's got a big effect uh but also you know I I'm a comedian so I I have I love the onion you know what I mean I love the onion one of my favorite headlines in there and I'm gonna butcher it is but like uh Local woman you know loses uh you know a fearful fight with cancer or something you know what I mean it's like it's it's it seems unfair to me be like well I'm here because I had the right attitude and other people aren't because they didn't yes absolutely our Journeys are our own and and that's true but there are commonalities with other stuff that's out there and there's ways that we can so I I appreciate that disclaimer for and and that sensitivity for those who have their journey and their Journey isn't identical but that being said I listen to your Ted Talk uh the one about chasing your dreams yeah and I mean you know and again it goes back to that Get Busy Living get busy dying thing and and and I feel like it just it just feels like that is uh it's got to be a recipe or an ingredient I should say in the recipe 100% And I I think for people who check out the Ted Talk uh thanks for for mentioning that uh but of course the whole idea when I was doing it uh was to kind of have an anti-ed talk you know what I mean like I started with like making fun of all these these things that you usually say you know all oh the list the list of platitudes uh you know affirmative you know things that you would tell yourself and the inspirational quotes and then kind of making fun of those and just like that in the end all it comes down you all that it comes down to is is you know chasing your dream and and that's it you know what I mean like the the the no nothing can inspire you more than just the action of doing something yourself and and that that's got to be worth it on its own the chasing of it you know so I hope that preaching to the choir yeah that's that's this whole whole thing by the grace of of of my wife and a little bit of luck and and and just the whole thing is Chasing the Dream this whole uh you know project that is the Letterman podcast right that is 100% and I'll tell you this you know I make my living as a financial adviser that's how I pay the bills and all that uh there take my family out of the equation there is no joy greater than having discovered a dream and then putting action towards that dream with no outcome whatsoever except for being Pres in that moment and and like this here there is no better feeling that I'm going to have this week than today uh it just it just is that way because you just you want it so bad it's clear it's from your guts it's from your insides you just feel like you're I don't know living a purpose I don't know if that's what it is but there's there's a satisfaction that is unique to it 100% And you know uh and again some of these things are things I talked about with the comedians in in the documentary you know I go I interview the comedian who had been on Letterman and uh I there's so much stuff that ends up on the floor and can't be in the movie but I so there's a bunch of Ray Romano stuff that oh my God so much great stuff he's got some great jokes and stories and uh um but uh Brian Regan tells a story about um his his favorite part ever of standup is the the week he got passed at the club it's like none of his big success or stuff and I'm same way I every comedian I talk to they they love the big stuff and I would never trade Letterman or any of other great of course no of course or the stadium show right the stadium show is a different experience though than the club with 50 people where you're experimenting exactly there's there's this romantic you always end up looking back at at the thing it's almost the birth of it is when the thing you most you know hold dear because that's the beginning of the dream of like no I started this and it's here and it's you know uh you know I'll I'll I'll bet Dave looks back to you know the the weather show or or or late night versus late show and uh Stern looks back to you know DC when he was first starting and you know uh I I think those things when when everything started that becomes such a romantic period because you're you're finally on the path you know what I mean um I believe it was I'm trying to remember whose episode it was I think it was one of the Steves by the way you are the fourth Steve on the uh on the Letterman podcast we've had Steve Wier of course the original writer discovered Calbert forest and through you know the breaking glass we've had uh Steve Young on a couple of times we've had Steve odonnell on oh jeez you're so you're number four good company to be in by the way that's great company that's good right so many Steves yeah these are the Steves I know um that's a Kids in the Hall Canadian joke that Canadians will get um there's a uh but I asked I think it was odonnell I said is Dave nostalgic and and that's a that because Nostalgia is one of those things that I just adore right right and and Dave's version of nostalgia I think is extremely unique and I don't know this this is one thing it was it's a question that I will ask him one day or I hope to ask him one day you know clearly you see it with cars the types of cars he likes and and all that kind of stuff you see Nostalgia there but I think that what you're talking about I mean when you listen to Dave talk about The Comedy Store and and some of the different characters and Antics there and and you get them you get Dave talking about you hear him talk about George Miller or or or some of these other people that he was with you know Altman um or Jon or or some of these you know people that he was with they're they're it's a family and a Brotherhood and it's crazy characters so it's kind of like a cartoon and it's it's it's it's just an Eclectic group of people I have a lot of stand-ups in my life locally I wish I had the gift um but it just seems to be like a culture unto itself that creates that Nostalgia and really touches on that and really because maybe it is so personal I don't know is that what is that what why those feelings are there I I think it's it's personal and I think it's such a unique thing like it's a um I I always hate you know I was in the military when I was younger I I I hate to you know compare anything to like not war or anything like that but there is a there is a and you know this this goes to Sisterhood too it's a Band of Brothers kind of thing that yeah that that when you meet another comedian you immediately know what they've gone through to kind of get there and how awful it is at the beginning I remember you know when you go to a movie theater like before the show they'll uh they'll show like local businesses or something you know like up on the screen or trivia like can you guess you know who you know what 1993 movie won the Oscar for best one of them this week it was just a quote it was from Dane Cook and it said I wouldn't wish the first seven years of comedy on my worst enemy and uh I I I get what he's saying it's it's so hard it's so unnatural to do and the learning process is so tough and what you have to go through uh it's a u a business of rejection uh both both on trying to sell yourself to people but also in the moment it's literally throwing yourself and your art art out and getting an immediate reaction so it's very very tough so whenever you meet someone else who has done that or that you started with and you shared those moments with Y there is there's like a it feels like like I said for for lack of a worse comparison like a Band of Brothers like kind of War we were in the trenches together so you can see Dave definitely has that that he had the he would have these guys on that he started comedy with even the ones that weren't famous like drez and like uh like I started the barri barria Bob sarlot he'd have on every year yes uh you know the these guys he started with and were friends with and he would showcase them you could tell yeah he was very uh again Dave's you know for lack of a better word probably a you know you could describe him as a you know grumpy sometimes but no really he's got he's got that soft spot I think for those guys that would show through he would never never he would show it a lot on the show like you you you would never describe him on the show as being nostalgic but his actions kind of kind of showed that you know to describe that just I love whenever Conan talks about Dave's disposition um yes and he's done it in a few different ways and a few different venues along the way and and uh you know he'll say it like you know Dave's not necessarily the most you know there are times where he gets grumpy like he just he'll say that but then he'll talk about like when the genuine Delight in seeing him happy and I certainly certainly feel that uh you know when when you see him when you see him happy it's it's it's really really good to see that I uh I love I love that we're having this see this is that this is that thing there aren't a ton of people who can get as much enjoyment talking about the minutia of this stuff and this is kind of what it's like being in that club in high school with that other friend who who who understands this this is what it you're like oh yeah there's someone else who who who examines this as much listen this is I loved about Dave is that everyone else seemed like even Johnny I know Johnny grew up in Johnny Carson grew up in Nebraska but he seemed like a Hollywood guy you know what I mean like he had he had he had he had nice tailored suits and was swab and you know uh and his guests were were pretty goodlooking and that kind of thing and then there was Dave Dave felt like he was from Indiana he had a gap in his team he was an outsider yeah he had he he he wasn't always happy and he wasn't always just like a a you know like today like a Jimmy Fallon smiling and that's great you know there were times where he was uh you know ornery with people and it was nice it felt real and uh you know Sher calling him an and you know like like and she's not wrong but that's what we liked about him right like well they just put that clip on the official Channel actually and by the way that shows how powerful the official channel is I don't know where they're at for hundred how many hundreds of millions of views they've had uh but but it's only been around like a like February will be two years like I mean we're talking a year and a half here kind of thing and they finally put that clip up on the official channel that shows the breadth and depth of the body of work I mean it's just it's just absolutely insane when you think about all the erors that he went through yeah um all of that now I gotta ask you this question because I'm super curious about your perspective um some people yeah uh were you were you a late night or a late show guy or did you just enjoy the whole thing I enjoyed the whole thing but I was always as I as I look back I think in the moment I just I was along for the ride but yeah in the in the long term uh a late night guy yeah I thought so and in the documentary it was funny because in the documentary you always said you know I've always wanted to be on Late Show with David lman and it's like and of course that's what you got to say because that's the show that's out there and that's where you that's where Letterman is and all that stuff but I was like yeah I feel like um you you you read it correctly that's yeah 100% I mean that because that was that was the time that was when it was listen I as much as I'm a letterman fan I'm all right I'm going to come clean this is going to hurt me with anything Letterman probably going forward I'm not I I'm not a fan of the the the current Letterman interviewing people show like people like long forers much I he's he's just it just seems more like it's Dave interviewing people which is great yeah um he's he's a good he's a very good interviewer but he's he's just very much like he's he's older Dave and he's more thoughtful it's it's it's like you know Stern's a great example of like loving Stern back in his kind of rebel days and now he's just become more scen stream and he's getting bigger interviews and he wants bigger interviews so he's gonna be nicer to people and that's that's kind of what Dave's doing he's being nicer I loved when Dave just had enough of whoever he was interviewing and he would be contentious and that was that was the fun of it and that's that's when you really got to see what I'm saying is is that uh you know as great as Stern is as great as Letterman is any different people could do those interviews where you you ask them the questions and sure and and it's still great and I still watch the show I'm just saying of course yeah you're late night late night very different animals you know what it is it's it's Elvis right it's Elvis yeah yeah and and you know what cards on the table I like the Vegas on drugs fat Elvis is my favorite oh You Love In the Ghetto Elvis I love it I love it but I'll go I love all Elvises but that's my favorite one I I like that he was yeah he was all drugged out and still doing it uh but you know go ahead going back it's late night for me for sure well and it's funny because it's it's it's clearly an evolution though as well and I mean we're just picking different different times you could do the same thing about the Beatles you could do the same thing about anything that has a long body of Works where there is variety within that body yeah um and I think that's one of the things about Carson that's so interesting in how uh Steady As She Goes Johnny was in so many ways he was he was really steady as she goes and so but Dave has evolved in three or four different ways um and and and uh like I think about there's a there's there's a part of I was I was actually I mentioned this to uh to Dick cavitt which which appeared a couple weeks ago um the uh you know there Comes A Time with certain hosts yeah where a shift happens and they become bigger than the guest in the chair right and I think when that happens there's a responsibility that happens like uh did you watch the YouTu special no I have okay there's a part in the YouTu I highly recommend it there is a part in the You2 special where Dave looks at Bono and says have your um has your activism or your antics I forget which word he uses he would obviously articulate it better than me uh but has your have your antics ever embarrassed the band now for a guy to look at the biggest arguably the biggest you know biggest superg group in the world the front man of the biggest superp group in the world and to ask that question right you got to be a certain you got to be a certain place to do that and there's a part of me if you look at this as circular um you know you think about it's that same muscle that he is starting to use the person who was Ill prepared or or or ill advised or whatever and he starts using it as a comedy speed bag it's almost that same muscle isn't it that's you telling that just that question makes me like okay well now I got to see this I mean because that sound it's so good like old Letterman yeah I cannot I cannot recommend it enough um and it combines you know his love for music and then of course if you like you too you will just oh my God but yeah him ask like he asks the tough questions and he gets into stuff he goes down some nooks and crannies but it's funny that you mentioned the old Dave who uh could get um you know irritable with people who didn't bring their aame in the chair you know I mean at the highest level that's that's the that's the standard that they have just ask any of the writers um whether they were there a little while or a long while the standard is high and if someone's going to sit in that chair you got to bring your aame yeah okay so he would get contentious like that I actually thought during the my next guest interview with Kanye West um I wonder what it would look like if old Dave interviewed Kanye so that's a thought that I've had as well I think it's a like it would be very very interesting to see him get into a row with somebody yeah um every once in a while you saw it on Late Show you saw it with Bill O'Reilly you saw it with a few other people but yeah 100% with Trump with yeah uh yeah um he the one I I remember saying recently was he interviews lizo yes and uh lizo is very nice and she's very charming and but I was just there was a couple times where lizo is like all right we're gonna make her we're gonna record you Dave and it it just felt so produced I was like the old Dave would be like I'm not doing this like I'm we not recording me and this is stupid like you know what I mean like he would have he would he would have been mean to her but he'd be like that's not I'm not doing this you know kind of thing so um again I'm glad he was and I know there's people who love it I'm not you know I I never like to yuck anyone's yum as they say no no no no no it's it's the one I love is the the the yeah that's and that's what it is it's a matter of um Don Giller actually has a really amazing quote I I had him on a few weeks ago and I I I um I heard him say in another interview though um that that when you know somebody asked him well which do you prefer late night or late show and he's like it's like comparing early Mozart to late Mozart yeah it's Mozart like but you know there are things that speak to others uh you know differently yeah um but yeah I I uh I oh God I love being able to talk about this so great it's that stuff but I love like I said I I was so into it and with the comics and then later on on on L Show when he he would do like uh impressionist week or magician you know all the these different things um I would watch Dave because again I you you just feel like when you're so deep into a show like this yeah you you really feel I I know this sounds so you feel like you're friends with that like you know that person you know what I mean like I know Dave like his wife knows him like I can tell when he's grumpy I could tell when he's in a good mood I could tell so I was so good I could tell how Dave felt about the guest like I I would pay attention to what he said to his guest at the end like when he'd walk over after you know with a magician or something like that he be like if he was a comedian and you could tell he love comedy and i' heard he he didn't actually like magic you know is what what I had heard you know rumor so he would he would say something like uh as a comedian be like that was great hilarious blah blah blah but if it was somebody he didn't like it he would pass off the comp like they loved you you know what I mean like it would so I was like a student of that of of what Dave so when I finished my set you don't meet him before the show so when you when I finished my set that was the it it hit me and you can see you know you can watch this on YouTube or you you see the documentary check it out but you can just see my set on Letterman you could see the gness hits me where I where it finally hits me oh my God I'm about to meet David Letterman he's W I'm thinking he's walking up behind me and I'm paying attention to what he says and he says some nice things luckily but I I was like I'll be heartbroken if he goes they loved you yeah exactly here's the test here's the here's right right you did it or something like that something that would have would have broke my heart but yeah it was very complimentary um I guess we should get yeah like I mean you know I don't want to I don't want to explicate the documentary uh but but at the end of the day let's let's let's let's talk about the documentary a little bit because it came out in ' 09 right uh 09 is when I actually did the show um 09's when you did the show and then the documentary out yeah so we I guess I spoil alerted we already talked about it that's why I'm here right I hope everybody goes and watches Steve Set uh after they watch this podcast of course don't change the CH don't change now obviously go watch it but no please and we'll we'll uh if if if it's on our Facebook group or whatever we will put clips of your appearance on there underneath this so people can go watch it yeah thank uh so 11 is when the documentary comes so two I get this diagnosis in 2005 and um I decide if I only have five years or whatever time it is I have left I'm gonna dedicate it to getting on the David Letter show that was my again and you you hear more in the documentary it's my idea how I got into comedy was that was my end goal was to one day be on Le because I was such a fan of this guy but I was kind of as most things happen you you go to work you think you'll eventually get a promotion I wasn't pushing for it I was I was just like keep being a good comic and eventually they'll find you and so when I all of a sudden only thought I might have five years left I was like okay maybe you have to push this and and uh and try and get on the show versus waiting for it to come to you and so that's that's what the documentary is about yeah yeah and um safe to say you're a bit of a brat yes a pain in aain yeah talk about that one of my I know what I know what it's like to be a bit of a brat with with Dave when I had my little Q&A moment with him I was a bit of a brat so I I can relate don't feel bad I mean Dave's a brat right I mean this is a well yeah yeah yeah yeah there you go good point he used to he he lean out the right when people forget like he used to remember the Bryant Gumble years like the him and Bryant the like the the stuff him and Stern would talk about that they would do in the NBC Studios like they they would harass everyone yep so I I didn't feel bad you know uh not to not not to Da least of all but what was the behavior though so so tell the audience that Behavior here that so what I would do is uh this I know this sounds strange because this is now it would this would be Social Media stuff this ABS absolutely y this this is 05 I think maybe Facebook's around but it's not what it was there is now not even close so YouTube No No Youtube different era yep all I did was I started a website called dying too Letterman it wasn't even there was no idea for a movie or anything like this there's a website called D do Letterman and it told my story and it said here's here's my standup if you think I'm good enough to be on Letterman if you don't fine if you do here's a link and you can email the people at David Letterman and said hey you know I watch this guy and then when I would do a show live I would tell people the same thing you know at the end of the show I wouldn't say at the beginning anything about cancer anything like that I would prove I'm funny to the people and be like hey I'm trying to get David Letterman show if you thought I was funny please send them a link and uh to my surprise people started sending them stuff and uh you know uh first I got like an email just saying you know not going to happen just go away you know again I think they were taking like a make a wish and then eventually um it was you know one of those Bittersweet days but you see in the documentary I'm I'm excited and sad all at the same time I get on a late show with David Letterman letterhead like crisp real legal paper you know like you you used to put a resume on it's quality paper yep from the executive a producer this is not going to happen and it was basically like a c to say stop this now you know like stop telling people you're not it's not gonna happen and uh again you're bothering us you got you're bothering us letter right so uh you know I I just kept bothering them and proving that I was um you know good enough to be on the show so um and and and the bit that you got on uh very clever it was a lot of fun I really I really really like the the premise the bit all of that I got to ask this um like I think about a guy like Bill Burr who is one of my very very very favorites yeah Bill Bill you know formative years in comedy I mean obviously he had he had he had gone through the grind and got good at his craft but in his formative years he made appearances before he became kind of the bill bur he is now yes um he would make appearances on the show and and I remember seeing Burr non-letter and going holy smokes this is a different dude than who's than who who I've seen on Letterman a couple of times and I'm I'm curious um you know you think about the hunk that you you built uh and and I think Eddie bril helped you and and different people helped you hone that you actually got on the show yeah um you think about that hunk versus a typical Steve Maison set how close are they to each other yeah very different I mean it's completely completely different set than what I you know again it takes it ends up taking from bugging them and then them finally relenting to at least look at me and and accept that I'm a real comic you know and it's not just this this wish thing um then finding the right material that that that that's going to be on uh you know Eddie BR who's who's was the booker at that time says been on here love Eddie BR yeah that he has his favorite comedian was Robert Shimmel but Robert shl's stuff wasn't the right thing for Letterman it's just not the right thing so there there's a um you know a hoop you have to jump through so it was it was figuring out that hoop and what was the right thing um so there's some things that don't come through you know TimeWise in the documentary about the set I end up doing and finding out it first of all that that was a five minute Chunk on one topic and you you sell them see I remember Jim Gaffigan saying to me after it like uh that that was an impressive part of it because you you I had seen only a couple Comics do it where it's one topic through the whole thing right did a a whole thing on a garage sale like where it's the whole thing but usually it's you know over five minutes five or six different topics you you go through so so that way if your first joke doesn't work you're going somewhere else something so it felt like a very high level of difficulty and I think that's the compliment that uh gaffing and was you know alluding to yeah is it if they're not enjoying that first minute you still have four minutes of that topic that you're GNA go through so um so did you have like three or four different options when you were honing it in before you had your date did you have kind of like three or four options and then Eddie or other producers or whoever helped you said okay we're going to choose that one nope it was it was it was that one I had been sending different different tapes and uh sets and stuff yeah and I I think I said this it it it's funny how it unfolds is because I was send five minutes because that's what you're going to do on the show five to six minutes so I was sending these five minutes things and if I had taped you know I'm on stage so if I'm doing a 30 minute set I'm only sending the five minutes I want them to see yeah I had done a 10-minute set somewhere and so it was the five minutes I wanted them to see and then there was this five minutes of this this joke about hotel key cards and I just got lazy because this is we're talking five years in of bugging them now I just got lazy and I didn't edit out the second five minutes I wanted them to see the first five minutes and strangely Eddie bril calls and he goes hey I love this key card bit I was key card what's he talking about I didn't send that and I was like oh geez so it was just happen stance that I got lazy and didn't edit that out because he had told me before he didn't like he didn't like characters he didn't like long bits like that so these things that he said he didn't like that bit had so I would have never sent that him that it was just dumb luck that he got to see it and he liked it and it's it's I I always you know um say it's like it's like where someone says hey this is what I'm looking for and they choose something different yeah then they it's like someone's like oh I'm into blondes but they're married to a brunette when you when you see it you see it you know it and he he saw that bit and was like no that's it and then we we changed the bit around the night before which was a little scary the night before the night before we were that's not in the dock yeah uh so the night before I I'd been working at once I knew I had I think I had five days from when I found out I was going to be on the show to being on the show and so I practiced visit here in La a bunch and then I flew to New York and the night before he took me to like Eddie took me to three or four clubs to run it through and it it's I gotta say it's kind of deflating because a late night set is so very just like we were talking about kenneson and the thing it's so very structured and you stand in one place because you're not allowed to move on the stage so you're a midst at you're at a club and you're with comedians who are walking all around and they're swearing and they're blah blah blah and then all of a sudden there's this one and they're doing eight or ninees or 10 or 15 and then all sudden you come up and you can't greet the audience you can't say hello you can't say give it up for the last you you just come up and you practice your set that you're going to do on TV exactly like verbatim so you feel very like even the audience is like why is this he's a little stiff you know so none of the sets one was great the others were like it was okay but I mean enough to make you like oh is this is this not the right set and uh there was there was an intro That You Don't See in the movie mie uh about my wife about she never travels with me unless I'm going to nice places and uh we had practiced it you know the whole night and after the last show Eddie says I think you can lose that that intro with your wife and I it had a couple laughs in it and I was like that's the way I've told that joke all forever I've never told that joke without it and now you're telling me tomorrow when I do it on a TV show in front of millions of people you want me to tell it for the first time without that intro and see if it works you know you just know it's a recipe it's like pulling out one part of a reci I didn't know if the joke would work and luckily it does um but it he's just he's like a wler and and and somebody comes with the wood carving and and no okay one stroke here one stroke there and it changes the entire composition of the piece 100 100 per.

you know there's a if you saw the movie comedian with Seinfeld Orie Adams has the same thing where they ask him to change CH a joke I think it was he said lupus in his thing and they didn't want him to say lupus so they asked him to change it to some other yeah disease and and he was saying lupus because automa poetically lupus is a funny word it's just it's a funny word it could be out of a cartoon it could be like cooka or something like that exactly so he doesn't know if that's gonna work with without lupus and and luckily it does but yeah so there's a lot of like yeah little little weird idiosyncrasies to a late night's set like that um oh God I love getting into the weeds with this stuff here with you um okay so let's go to your set because I mean you know the premise of the movie dying to do Letterman uh everybody watch it it's fantastic um now now let's get to the day of though because you know and they did a you got a lot of footage I mean shooting a doc over over four years yeah um you know oh my gosh the footage that you must have of and and the stuff to sift through and it's not like you're doing dailies every day because the story is unfolding you don't know what the story is going to be because it's about it's happening real time and you don't know how it's going to end you hope how it's going to end but uh but you had a lot of very cool footage of of of of finding out of getting people's reaction hearing it for the first time like your mom your mom on speaker phone and things like that um all of that and and and um now that being said you're being filmed this entire time did that steal any of the joy of actually getting like like were you still able to be present knowing that your dream was coming true yeah that's a that's a great question uh because there is a weirdness to it and I think you can even see it unfold in the movie over the years you know what I mean because it takes it over five years um I think probably me and even my my wife you know there there's these parts where we do some confessionals of what's happening and that kind of thing and you just get more comfortable being talking in front of a camera with no one there that kind of thing you know because the filmmakers wer always there they just gave a camera we're like when something important happens film it and talk about it yeah um but the luckily for me and it it's a great point I haven't even thought about but you kind of make it there uh is I had enough moments to myself like you even see in the movie we get the reaction from my wife we get the reaction from my mom we my friend Gary who helped me with so much of this um we get their reaction you hear me telling the story of how I found out but I got there was no camera crew there when I found out when I got the call yes yes yes yes so I that was just to myself and I an awesome story because I did have some friends there when the phone and I didn't think it was happening and they surprised me and um so I did though there was plenty of moments where I just got to have the joy to myself and then that flight home um I write about it we there's a book version too of Dy do Letterman that the Chicken Soup for the Soul people published and uh I write about there like the whole plane ride home I was on the East Coast when I got the news and I had to fly back to California so the whole plane ride home I just remember staring out the window as this beautiful one of those like the clouds were gorgeous and I was just like my heart was beating fast the whole time because I was like your your dream of getting on the show is coming true and it yeah so I there were plenty of moments I got to myself with cameras yeah oh that's good to know um and and then okay so finding out five days later you're there uh the night before you're you're you're touring around New York with Eddie Brill going to different comedy clubs how cool was that it was had you done any sets with Eddie previous or or anything where you were in clubs with Eddie at all nope he never even met no I had met him in person we worked a week together in San Francisco um oh really yes you don't see that in the movie uh and I don't want to Eddie was again Eddie was in a tough position you know he he's he's actually not I would say he's not a huge fan of the documentary because he thinks he comes across as the bad guy uh in it um really yeah and he's you know he feels like he is he's the gatekeeper and yeah I don't yeah I mean maybe I'm too deep into the with my knowledge and all that stuff and maybe like to me it's like no this is a high bar that you got Jim mccaulay my God like I mean like when you think about Jim McCaul for the for the Tonight Show um I I yeah I I I don't think at all he necessarily comes across bad I don't think so either but I think it's one of those things someone was making a movie that Eddie kind of played a part in didn't know really you know and so Eddie's doing his job and he's thinking he's perceived one way and then all of a sudden because again he's he's he he does have a tough job he's getting to help people make their dreams come true yeah he gets like 16 Comics a year on that show like I mean that is a that is a brutal brutal job yes and I've said that you know and again we love Eddie so much on this show that is a brutal job I mean how many people he had to say no to along the way yeah never mind a dude with cancer like like I mean oh my gosh of course that's what I'm saying I and I saw yeah that's what I'm saying I saw him as a hero and a Helper and a mentor yeah but there there he you know if you can imagine it's like someone someone showing you the part of your job that you never get to see so he's he's he's got this job in the way he sees it and he's helping and he has to let people down sometimes but all of a sudden he's seeing now and there's footage of me hanging up with Eddie BR and like putting my hands in my face and and and you know being on the edge of crying and heartbroken seen that before and he you know um and me saying the things like oh Eddie told me this is what he didn't want in a set and then later he's like well no I was trying to say this like he's you know context well okay I see I see and so he sees it that way I'm very s set the record Edie bill is awesome like I he's I read that's what I'm saying he's love that guy absolutely okay Soh so but I want to go back to San Francisco for a second you worked with him for a week in San Francisco that's so yeah about three years into it I was lucky I was working with someone at the last and I remember uh it was it they usually have on the weekend like a big headliner yeah and uh I want to say Eddie was going to be in the town for a week so he ended up doing some days this is how I remember I might be misremembering how the week actually unfolded but I remember it was a change and the booker at the punch line in San Francisco had said hey great news you're gonna be working with Eddie Brill and so I was like holy I've been sending this guy DVDs over and over now I'll have three or four shows with the guy where I'll get to do a half hour in front of him yeah and I could show it each each night I could do different stuff and show him and be like what do you think there's got to be something in here and we had already you know been communicating and now I get to work with him but I will say that week and again to to show some understanding what tough job Eddie has I think and this is how I remember it again sure absolutely two perspectives yeah he didn't watch me a lot that week I think if you asked him he would say he did but how I remember it okay and some friends of mine who were there because they were very excited for me were like he didn't come out of the green room and watch you I was expecting because of this and I was bugging the out of that show he and find it but he didn't now to be fair he had other things doing he was headlining the show I was just gonna say as a headliner you're getting in the right game for the got be in his own he doesn't need to be watching me yeah yeah yeah um and he he had friends in town he was running a workshop uh for young Comics uh he he had a bunch of other things in the mix that he was doing so like I said it was just when when I heard that I was gonna be working with him I was like well this is the week I convince him you know and it didn't it didn't happen it was I still needed a couple more years of convincing him the oldfashioned way so uh well and and yeah I mean again um I think it was Romano yeah I I forget who it might have been it might have been actually a few of them might have might might have said it is is um you know I've been doing it 11 years and then I finally got on Letterman I've been doing it you know 12 years then I finally got on Letterman you uh you know 10 years yeah because you started in 99 started in 99 so so there you go so you're grinding it out grinding it out grinding it out you got on there and I thought was the I think gaffan e he either says it in the movie or it ended up on the floor but he said hey there's there's when I thought I was ready to do Letterman and there's where Letterman thought I was ready to do Letterman he's like I still think I was ready when I thought I was ready you know like but that doesn't matter what they as a comic that's kind of how you have to that's it you have to keep your I mean so many Comics have confidence issues anyway but you gotta keep your your engine running right you know and that laugh that you got the last night sometimes you're you're you're you're using it you know to get through the next week because of that one laugh that you got but when you start to get these uh these things happening for you okay yeah now I'm ready now and the the the I don't know if it's ego or if it what it is is that comes up yeah it's a that makes that makes a lot of sense um yeah so let's get to the day I mean like so you were present enough like I mean obviously the cameras were on you uh were were um was pants cool with you bringing cameras in was that something that was hard to get no we we lied to him again um so I had yeah we lied more brat Behavior okay yeah more brat behavior and again I I I allow that I think Dave and his and his Heyday would have been all four of those so uh the people people running the show probably weren't but Dave would have been okay so yes so I got to bring I think I got two tickets and then they two tickets to people so I was going to have the filmmakers come and then uh uh my friend my mom was gonna come and then you see in the the movie my wife was gonna come but she and she got sick she gets very sick and can't can't go and so it's very disrupting so I have these two tickets my friend Gary who's in the movie End ends up coming with my mom um and so we're like uh and uh Eddie says hey I'll get you two more tickets for your your filmmakers but they can't bring the cameras in they can't do that you know that kind of thing and so we're like what are you gonna do I guess we'll shoot just outside and I will say listen the uh I'm I'm the subject of the documentary but I didn't make the documentary it's this husband and wife uh they were they were straight out of uccla at the time yeah filmmakers and you know how sometimes you read a book and then they make a movie and the movie is that good these are just because they're not you know you got to be a good Storyteller these two are great storytellers they find ways around telling it just like you said you don't see the mov you don't get to see the moment I find out I'm gonna be on Letterman but they find a way to share that Joy by me telling the other people yes story and sharing it and breaking it to my mom and my wife all this stuff so same thing with that day we were like okay we're gonna have to work around this yeah and then at the last second Eddie Eddie this is probably another reason Eddie is is not the he's mad at me but it he's not as uh in love with me as I am with him and him with the the documentary is he had told me he can't bring it and then he allowed he's like you can have two guests in the dressing room yeah so I was like okay well it's gonna be the filmmakers and then they just snuck in their equipment so that's why you see in the movie you don't really see the you know me backstage or anything like that but there's shots of the green room after I come off and I I walk the green room and I'm in makeup and all that kind of stuff which which by the way is like like uh to Steve Young you know you think about bathtubs Over Broadway I don't know if you've seen it or not but I mean ien you know he's got footage inside the office building that is just you don't see that anywhere and so you know any Letterman F uh fan um you know who wants to see the kind of behind the scenes stuff the fact that you have anything is astounding right um is that a rights thing like I mean I know it's the filmmakers maybe this is a better question for the filmmakers not exact no no no but I know this stuff I mean I help I I did did help extensively after the movie was shot I helped extensively like going through like you said all the footage finding out what we have and you know screenings and stuff like that and so did they have to get permission for that so this this is the fun story of it um two things two things helped us that day so they snuck in the stuff and we were worried about someone's gonna come in and see it and see that they have the equipment because it's got to be ready right when I walk back in or outs are coming in all the time they come to give you your gift bag or whatever H in and be like who the hell are these stuff right so one thing that helped us that day was the the band that was on um was uh Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros is the name of the band now if if once you see my set there's a part in my set that has uh specifically has to do with a magnet yes so you can even see at the end when when Letterman comes up and says nice things then he goes we'll be right back with Edward Sharp in the med I laugh when he says Magnetic Zeros because I was like I didn't know that's the name of the band I knew Edward Sharp but I didn't know that was the name of the band it's kind of funny so anyways Edward Sharp and if you look you can watch this set of theirs on Letterman first of all another great thing about Letterman besides com all the music groups he's introduced people to you know what I mean over the years the some of the great performers of all time on on all both late night and late show y so many great ones you're preaching to the choir yes Edward Sharp shows up his band has 14 or 15 people in it oh wow so they're in a green room right next to me that is about the same size so they're all spilling into the the hallway and the scaffolding it was on like a third or fourth floor like outside yep so it became such a show about there that no one came up to the dressing room so that day no one Catches Us filming up there because there's basically this giant party of and Edward Sharp like they're they're kind of like a hippie band and stuff so it looked like the 60s were going out in the hallway there and they're awesome they're all high they were so nice to me they're like you well of course they were they were all high you want to party with us before and I was like no I gotta I gotta oh yeah no no no and so okay so that helped that day to hide the C and then uh this is funny because I I think it's since come out that Letterman was in on it but while we in those years after I was on so 10 and 11 before we release the movie and we are trying to find ways how how can we show the footage how can we show the behind the scenes without rights the uh waim Phoenix thing happened right yes so that happened in those two years and making that documentary y yes which originally they they claim Letterman doesn't know about it and he's just acting weird he's drugged out no one knows right this was a famous Letterman story it's like some of the great the share stuff or uh um Farah faucet you know and you're like he's just acting weird and that kind of thing well it comes out later he's he was making a documentary with Casey Affleck and he goes back on to promote it and this Letterman's still not allowing that he knew that this was going on he he's acting like wa yeah where's my money he kept that was the Where's My Money uh yeah that's exactly it funny so that our the the filmmakers their eyes lit up because they're like ah Letterman is already allowing that waim Phoenix has come on and done this thing and he's not suing them he's not doing Wen Phoenix and his group for their documentary and they're going to use footage from the show so of course he's not going to go after this guy who had cancer and came on the show and these little filmmakers that do it he even says something in that interview about our legal team is checked and we don't have the rights to you know even this was all Bs because we know now Dave was kind of in on it but at the time that gave us the green light to be like well we can we can use that footage without asking that was the wing and the prayer that you needed to put the footage into the movie exactly it was under under like yeah documentary rights uh of that kind of thing as long as it's documentary and not you know for you know certain level of profits or something so that and then the creative thing the filmmakers do the end of the show yes you don't actually see my whole set on Letterman what they creatively do we were under public use yeah you can use two minutes I guess if it if it's under two two minutes you can use it you can't use it over two minutes so the filmmakers creatively Ed it in me practicing the set all the sets that I did it before and they intersperse it for one minute and 59 seconds of the actual Letterman show which was a very creative way to do it did they ever say anything no yeah never said anything so uh we got away with it so you see me yeah you see Dave introduced me you see me start telling the joke and then you see me practicing it at all these different places you see the whole joke and then it comes back to let you know in the middle and then at the end when I when I finish and Dave coming up to me but it's it's literally one second under what we're allowed to use in public use kind of thing um if I am anything uh the top of the list would be Daft and so I need to ask you this question how many times have you told that part of the story have you told it like a lot because I mean you are so polished at it talking about it but I have a hard time Discerning whether it's oh I've Mike I have told this story a thousand times over the last you know and I'm bored telling you it again uh because it's just verbatim or the passion is just coming out of you and you know it so well you're just articulating it it's just falling out of you like have you told this story a lot I I mean seriously that's the people usually ask about like oh the cancer and start chasing the dream and stuff like that okay that people don't get into the weeds that much so it is something I'm passionate because this what I love I like the Deep the deep cut stuff like that like oh okay you want to hear a real behind the scen story this is how we I love Letterman but this is how we got one over on Letterman's team yeah to get these things so no this is I mean five or six times and it's it's one I share with the the filmmakers when we're talking to other filmmakers about it and it's such a fun thing that uh again if you saw the movie that's nothing you need to know to enjoy the movie but it's a it's it's it's almost like a director's commentary behind the scenes of like hey here's a cool story about this this is this is what we had to do to make this work that's uh actually when when I was talking to uh you know one of the things Rick shekman and I uh when we had the early conversations of what the show was going to be um you know he was a mentor of mine well actually the the the term that I used I said I need you to be my consiliary and and uhi big big big film guy and so you know I invoke The Godfather I IED there's a Godfather analogy for everything I'm I'm a True Believer in that listen this is this is my other life is movies I'm with you hey we know how to segue this is great uh because I'm gonna segue into that in a second here oh perfect jump but the whole thing about this show the idea of it I'm the guy who if it was a favorite movie of mine the moment it showed up on DVD I would pop it in because I'd probably seen it twice or three times in the theater if it was one that I loved and I would immediately I wouldn't even watch the film I would just pop on the commentary right and part of what certain episodes of this show that's exactly what we want to be we want to be like a director's commentary of an aspect of the of of of Letterman and so that when you said that that is like an insane comp El uh to me in in in in this this in in the uh uh the identifying of what this discussion is I love that um but before we finish that last day uh Dave comes over and he does say the word magnetic I did catch that because we'll be right back with the Magnetic Zeros and you had used it with the in the bit and I saw your laugh and I'm like oh that's funny I wonder if it's the magnetic thing like I totally 100% connected with that moment um he finish it's done yeah uh that's good night oh no it's um not good night but good night for you do you go back to the Green Room how long are you there do you watch the rest of the show I uh so he he says that I I think when it ciss commercial we're still maybe shaking hands or something or he's point and then uh he gives me one more really great stuff Steve and then I go this isn't on camera I go can I have that Q card he gives me he gives me the greatest David Letterman like everything we're saying we love about him the greatest look of all time it couldn't have been better like he he is this look like I don't care I don't care but I think he walks over and he grabs it from the guy and he hands it to me and then you know he someone grabs him because he's got to go get ready for the next segment but yeah it it was it was just this like I don't give a about the take whatever you want you know uh so it was great and then I go back up you know uh to the thing like I said you had to take an elevator to the dressing room I was in and uh uh it was it it was yeah it was awesome you see me I think in the movie I walk into the dressing room my hands are and it's the the filmmakers are waiting for me and they're friends as well so there was like besides besides the excitement of of this for the film like they were so like happy and like they're like you know were you happy did you like this set did you have fun you know it's I I've told this part of but it's what I love about comedy all the things that can go through your head at at once y you know you can think about the joke you're telling about how the the you know the what you got to remember about the next part don't forget to sell it with your face and so while I was out there and I don't need to tell you this is the Ed solivan theater you know Elvis got to be there not fat Elvis but still Elvis the energy anybody who's been there we'll talk about the energy that's there yeah absolutely so I'm performing and it's this SC two two levels and uh I hear I hear Dave laugh off to the side or Paul laugh off to the right side at one point and then someone else in the thing and then Dave laughed at another you know a couple seconds later and I was enjoying it and they ask you uh you know Eddie's like what's the last word in the bit again because the minute you say that last word we tell Paul and when you see that word Paul kicks in with the music yep so I actually glad you thank you for saying that moment because that's something that the people who like that is a that is a nice little detail about the show and the music it's a music queue your last word is a music CU so you better damn well get it right you say that right there was someone on the show I can't remember who it was like we interviewed him but we just didn't get in the documentary but he he he changed the wording so he didn't end on that word and this so there's a pause and the crowd's laughing and clapping because it was still funny yeah but the band it takes a couple seconds to kick in and he they came up and yelled at him Eddie and they're like what happened why did you change it he's like they were waiting for that so um yeah there's that the other fun part is you get to pick your song that they bring you out to so my song is acdc's Long Way to the Top If you want to rock and roll uh so that's playing if I walk out um but anyway so I'm staring at this theater it's going well I'm thinking all this I'm like this is going great it's going well Dave left oh that's awesome what if you didn't and this goes in my head I go what if what if you didn't say that last word what if you kept going what if you kept what if you told another joke after oh my God what if what if you kept going what are they gonna do like because I brat there's that brat coming out right I like I already won here right what are they going to do are they going to kick is a hook going to come out and take me out what are you do and then all of a sudden like all at once in my head I'm like hey idiot you're on TV your losses fool you're gonna screw up the joke here and in fact you don't you can't tell from it but I do I do screw up the joke there's a little mistake I make in the joke um and it and like I said it doesn't come into play and the the making sense of it but I tell it differently than I normally do and it probably because that because I'm in my head and I'm thinking like hey just never leave here right now like idiot get back in your body you stay in the moment you're you're you're going to ruin this you know so wow yeah it was great and then like I said yeah went went up and you know backstage I got to run into uh I was backstage with Biff Biff is is the guy that hands you the mic before you walk out stage manager legendary stage manager the best and then uh Neil Patrick haris was the that you you see in the movie it's very common that people Ray Romano talks about it getting bumped yep like you're you're supposed to do the show and the comedian's the easy one to yank so he had been bumped a few times so uh I'm backstage and Neil Patrick erk was the guest before me and they kept going long and Biff kept giving me the look like they might stretch this might you might get bumped you know and uh so then finally comes off and Biff gives me the nod no you're gonna go and uh Neil came up and he was like good luck out there and I was like wow you're a little too funny you know like almost went long he was really nice so yeah all these kind of back things you don't get to see in the movie or backstage so much fun and that could have been like he would have been promoting How I Met Your Mother yes that's what he was created by two of Dave's legendary writers you know Carter Bay and Craig Thomas yeah um yeah you know the bar in there based on the bar that they would go to the late night writers would go or late show writers rather would go to after that could have easily gone long like like and it's Neil Patrick Harris like a variety of reasons that could have gone long um wow uh okay so you finish you go back up there did you take any souvenirs you know it's crazy I this is and I guess I am gonna trash it the show's done so we don't there were they didn't give you like i' done other TV shows at that point and and sense and there's usually a nice gift bag and stuff I think there was a gift bag I think there was a mug yep and and there was something else but I had to buy this shirt I was like I great shows like they sent me to the gift shop like yeah yeah but there was a can weal some of it to the filmmakers okay I gotta I gotcha okay can we do a really quick commercial here yeah The Late Show uh the Letterman podcast Late Show the letter Letterman podcast has one sponsor one sponsor only that is rer g and the hello Deli um you know the hello Deli is selling go as quick as you can to hellodd deli.com the only place where you can get officially licensed David Lea with David Letterman merchandise mugs the shirt that Steve is wearing right now he's on brand caps all sorts of stuff and there's still some rert G merchandise and I mean in a few weeks this thing is done uh more about that uh probably mid October you'll be hearing more about that actually right on the time of this episode uh SS I think uh we we there'll be some announcements that are there so I don't know what's gonna happen after that uh go but now you still have time to go to hellodd deli.com to get your Late Show with David Letterman merchandise did you go into the hello Deli while you were there you been there we went there we even went with the the camera crew again just all these all these things that weren't able to be be in it but we went to there that footage cool you went there with the camera crew yeah and he was funny and wished me luck and everything and yeah crazy the day of I walk over from the um just a couple things again that don't end up thing the night before you come in the night before my mom and I go to dinner uh I think before I went out with Eddie to practice the set yeah and uh we went to the Carnegie Del oh and uh how Mandel was there and he had been on the show he had been on and I had met how he I did some warmup on the uh dealer no deal when it started but he didn't remember me um and then my mom tried to shake his hand and of course how he doesn't shake yeah yeah a no go uh so we met we saw him the night before and then uh the day of Eddie gives me the call I think you can see me getting a call in the movie and he's saying come on over because they take two shows that day that I was on I was on y and so it's afternoon beautiful afternoon Autumn in New York September and I walk over and I've got like you know my suit on my thing and I'm walking over and I'm you know beaming and I turn the corner into the alley and they're doing this thing it's uh they have a pool set up and a long ramp and they're doing like a Purina sponsoring at dog the dog the the dog jumps the dog jumps walking up into that it's like a circus back there and I'm like how it was like the Muppet Show and all the crazy Stu going on Backstage and uh I remember just it being so weird and at first my dressing wasn't was ready so I just walked past all these dogs I'm watching that that was so cool and uh I get inside and they're like your dressing room's not ready but have a seat in the like main green room kind of thing and I was sitting there and someone came in and made eye contact with me and I looked at him and I was like he was so familiar but so strange looking and I was like who is that and he grabbed some food and he kind of gave me a nod and walked away and then he came back a few minutes later he had glass it was Paul Schaefer but he looked so weird without his glasses I recognize yep uh he just you know any he way he was done up so uh yeah all those little things that about that day that were special very very much so um you finish you obviously watch the show in the hotel room that's the that's the deal right yeah oh this I gotta tell you I it really feels like there was like someone looking down on me you know again I'm not a religious guy but these these things that fall into place like this like I told you about the magnetico and Phoenix and I'm staying you see in the movie I'm staying at a place the hotel they put me up is called the dream yeah you know what I mean like you see me approach it that's the name of the hotel like it's like I'm living this dream right because they tap two shows that day the early one aired that night the one I was on yeah didn't air till I think three days later and then watch it with all my friends and family we had like so I basically had two two Letterman days oh how fun was that night whose house were you at were you at your house up watching in my house not the one I'm in now but yeah all my friends came over and uh it's it's so weird you know you're watching it uh you know as yourself and you know some my friends had heard that joke a million times by that point so they weren't impressed you know um but yeah my my a bunch of the people who couldn't make it to New York had come and uh yeah it was just amazing amazing this is uh I I can feel it's funny because it's like years later yeah and I can still feel the gratefulness coming from you like I mean yeah one of those moments it's the dream come true that you will still hold on to even though it's come true kind of a thing right um now now let's get to the to the bump was there a was there a bump in uh for the career was there a letterman bump I was just gonna say whether you came back to that or not I was just gonna say you know there was a life bump for sure like I mean you can see how grateful I am and how it it changed my life in that way that I I again the chasing the dream was the the magical part anyways but of course I wouldn't trade in having made it um it I didn't get it's not the bump it was like uh even when you you know back when there was three channels and stuff um so no I did get a meeting with NBC but I think that was more about the story came out about like the the the me chasing it and that kind of thing versus versus like oh this was incredible set on late night you know uh we need to make a sitcom around this guy I see yeah I see what you're well it is a compelling story of course I mean the documentary I mean the audience awards that it's won and the different the different Awards it's won I mean the story is absolutely compelling to say the least right so and it ended up that someone at Yahoo got the story and it was on the front page Yahoo that day like uh you know uh comedian does Letterman you know all this kind of stuff and the story was on there it's like my website broke down I was getting all these things and I like I I gu um the credit itself has helped me I mean obviously it opens doors you know when I say I I've been the David letter I had done other uh TV you know uh the llight show at Ferguson absolutely a b a bunch of other things uh but not the bump even like there's a show in the midwest here I don't know if it gets up to Canada it's a radio show called The Bob and Tom radio show I've heard of I've heard of that show that's that's the biggest bump I've had from everything and it's a radio show it's almost like what Rogan is now it was maybe 10 years ago so that kind of thing where if you can do that you get a nice bump of stuff but again still nothing even the Rogan stuff isn't a bump like Carson used to be where you could you're like okay if you if you go and kill it on harson you really can have a sitcom the next day yeah everybody knows who you are the next day I think is the big big big difference right Bing is a comic you might get a lot of bookings or whatever but not exactly you you'll have more followers and that will turn into more bookings and stuff like that so that for sure the credit and then but I mean it's made my life I mean just incredible like I said the gratefulness and the uh I guess yeah even the I don't know as I look back on it you know little little we're talking about being a brat like that little pat on the back of like yeah you really pulled out all the spots there you could have right you you did everything you could you know even stuff you probably shouldn't have and uh so yeah it does feel good to look back on it like that yeah um I I can't thank you enough for for for allowing me to randomly you know uh get a hold of you and and open up this this can of soup that you have and and and it's so good and I just appreciate it very very much uh let's let's shift gears and talk about the movie club and and and what you're doing now um because you wrote you you wrote on Ellen correct y yeah after so let's let's talk about that a little bit because you got do you have an Emmy is it Emmy in the house do you yeah you want to see it yes of course we want to see it yeah absolutely abolutely we want to see it very sure I think I'm trying to think how many how many Emmy winners we've had on here quite oh is right all the Letterman writers of course yeah well absolutely yeah uh but yeah this is for uh yeah writing for Allen and uh yeah it's sharp and yeah how long were you on the show uh just one season so luckily you know what's great and I think the season before I was there they didn't win it at me and then not that to say not to say it was all me it was nice that that that year and you know is a weird thing uh because they do the daytime ones at a different time yes yeah so uh someone called me up I wasn't there and um they called me up and they're like hey you just want an Emmy I was like what so yeah what a strange call what a great all right all right oh that's tremendous yeah what was it like being that WR room you know I listen I don't know if you've paid attention to the news how much gets up to there but yeah it was a crazy crazy stuff and the headwriter has since been uh you know got fired in a lot of the stuff uh because he was he was kind of uh abusive and I guess maybe maybe some kind of like U inappropriate sexual stuff I didn't I didn't see so much of that um but but it was kind of yeah a lot of bullying and stuff which seemed very weird with Ellen's brand um but you know Jimmy Fallon now is getting some backlash on well I see it and and and I mean I know there's always two sides to every story and when I asked the question of how was it like in the in the room it was more like I mean when you take a pressure cooker yeah and and and you put it on high yeah and and and you fill it to the very very very very very top and and this is the this is the scenario of of a work environment uh I've got a lot of friends I'm in Canada there's a lot of friends who work we call it up north and they go up to the oil patch and they talk about some of the some of the conditions up there um you know a writer's room at that level and which is why I was asking about the room itself because I mean the everything is at Max and and um you know I can only imagine that the pressure in that situation must have been astounding for everybody and you put anybody in a situation and I'm not trying to be apologist for anybody but I I just I look at things two ways all the time you take anybody and you put that kind of pressure you know the pressure cooker analogy on them and then a team of people around them all under the same amount of pressure yeah and and and stuff's gonna blow it just it it just is and I'm not excusing anything but uh I can imagine that the pressure in that room like was there relief when you when you after that one season I guess is the question yeah 100% my I look back again it was it's a nice thing it's nice to it's nice to have an Emmy up on the you know some some thing in the corner here y so and I love the uh you know um the clout I guess of yeah that's cool I for Ellen and it's it's it's a little below Letterman but to to when I wrote my first monologue for Ellen she's one of I think one of the top 10 comedians of all time standup wise people kind of forget what a great standup she was absolutely her Netflix incredible so too was her episode on my next guest with Dave that was incredible both of those were incredible great and so she uh when I wrote a monologue and then I see her out on the stage reading my jokes like that's up there with Letterman like that's my joke and she's telling it and she's she's doing things with it I could never have imagined she's so talented so um and monologue was where you that was where you sat you sat monologue was your speciality I yeah you kind of did everything you did you did yeah monologue you did yeah bits and every it was everything in fact to your point about what the boiler cooker or or the yeah Boiler Room was first of all there wasn't really a writer's room which I was I I had grown up watching The Dick Van Dyk show in 30 Rock and you know that's how I imagined it and that's how comedians are we sit around a table throw out jokes and then someone tops it and then you think you've got there and then someone else tops it you you you end up somewhere there's the one there's the like the one hits and it's like yep everyone agrees and that's it yeah that's what I was hoping it was and and Ellen uh and I don't want to blame the headwriter this was strangely this was a year or two after the last writer strike yeah which flipped everything at Ellen a bunch of bunch of Greg Fitz Simmons Karen kilgariff Karen Anderson a bunch of very famous uh writers for that show and comedians left the show right before that right after that strike so it was different when I got in there there was no writer room it was a lot of like assignment you you you'd be given something go back to your room and you work on it alone and I was like Ah that's that's not what I was hoping this would be and so similar to Dave's though similar to Late Show uh at the end like there was a lot of that yeah oh 100% I mean there's I knew a writer at Ellen uh who worked on the Letterman show best Sherman she'd be probably a good guest for youy if we can make that happen please let's make that happen yeah I think she said she and again I might be misremembering this yeah I think she said she never met Dave yeah oh yeah oh absolutely lots of folks lots of folks so to to Ellen's defense I worked with every every day you would work with her I'd be you in the room five feet from her working on jokes so one of the boiler room kind of stories is and this became a thing to exactly what you're talking about and I think you're close to the truth like from the outside and reading things it sounds awful yeah and it is I know you you want things to be better yeah absolutely we're all we're all hoping for that but it is many times you would be working throughout the day on a monologue or something with Ellen and you meet three or four times start in the morning and you're taking in the afternoon around two or something and so you're you're honing this thing and you keep bringing it back to her and she changed and sometimes this wouldn't happen often once a month you'd give her the monologue at that last thing and the show's about to start and she'd be like I want this changed well the show is about to start so now you have to change that on the computer and go to the the um teleprompter yeah guy and get it in the teleprompter before she walks to the stage which is where she's going you have to do three things before she gets out and the music is kicking in already of their intr so your heart's beating you're like oh sh right right even imagine so I mean it is the stress as I've ever been on stuff I was in Navy on a submarine and this was more stressful than anything I ever did in that like just the pressure of it now a couple times uh a couple of the uh woman writers I'm not making a man woman thing about this I'm just saying this is just the facts of unfolding a couple of those women cried when that happened so then the story that I started hearing afterwards and I understand them crying it's pressure buil Theory an emotional man would also cry I'd be the guy that cried to tears be absolutely of course I felt like crying so that's what I'm saying no judgment on them y but the story I started hearing Whispering around backstage was did you hear Ellen made so and so cry and I was like that Ellen didn't make anyone cry like that's an out of context narrative yeah that's not what happened here and and Ellen's mean and she's not you know uh so um yeah that's to your point about the it's just pressure of that job so even when I read that Fallon stuff I'm sure other people are upall I'm like this sounds like a late night show this is and I mean you talk about you know with the Fallon situation the one thing when I read the the you talking about the article in Rolling Stone um you know you go through how many show Raiders in so much time any job that I have uh ever known or any workplace that I've ever known where they have gone through five bosses in five years yes that's a chaotic work environment yes and I understand that the powers that be whoever they are that hires that boss or whoever the business owner you know they're trying to find the right chemistry they're trying to make it work and when the chemistry doesn't work guess what the result is it's going to be chaos but in Show Business when that happens uh it becomes a story that is extraordinary than it is if it's an accounting office or or something that goes through identical things and again if if somebody is inappropriate or mean or whatever that's not you know that's not ex I'm not trying to excuse that in any way but I also trying to look at it from from both sides like you go through five bosses in five years that's going to be and I think that was the number with Fallon it might be might be four might be six I'm not sure right but but but yeah like I mean um and again at the highest level like the highest level this is this is this is where we're performing I mean this is this is a it's The Tonight Show my god um the pressure bu and yeah money is good and you know not to not a d Draper it but some of that's what the money's for and there you go yes there you go um I know somebody who's a writer for for for World Wrestling Entertainment and and and I mean the the the the the money was phenomenal but you were at the beckon call of the business right uh you know you could be woking up at three in the morning you could be you you know it was and and I mean I don't know that they would necessarily call it a hostal work environment or whatever but the expectation on them but the money that they were paid for it uh made it worth worthwhile for them um I I wna I want to talk about the movie club and uh I mean we've gone so long are you okay for a few more minutes here yeah yeah yeah great I'm having a ball Steve I hope you are too I am like I said I didn't even notice yeah how long we were talked so great okay good good good good that's a good sign right so you do the writing thing you're still doing standup still doing standup yep yeah out out of clubs yeah corporate cruises uh all that kind of stuff yeah awesome have you gone in uh have you been over to to entertain the troops anytime since the documentary I literally last week was was performing for the troops and I went to curau uh for some troops and then the Bahamas and we were supposed to go to Greenland and it got canceled because the hurricane out there no kidding uh but I'm going to Europe uh L luckily we're not we we're not in the m movie in the movie I go over to the Middle East and yeah are you in Eastern Europe like are you going over to like near Ukraine uh we're in Poland so right next door we're going to be yeah wow yeah so wow and and again I I should have said this at the beginning thank you for your service I say that like that's and I mean that beyond anything I probably could have filled an entire podcast asking you questions about is was Desert Storm right that you were that would have been uh when I was in it was just after this was early 90s I think it was Des so well they had so many different names for the all stuff I was never near any action luckily okay okay I got you I got you but uh yeah I got I'm I'm endlessly fascinated by uh by that too so thank you for your service and the fact that you go and entertain the troops and have continued to do that that is uh Beyond admirable that's fantastic um really this is in my plug for the movie if people go check out Dan you do Letterman um I know usually you say cancer and documentary I say I'm not seeing that movie but it it's it it's fun and funny and there's even explosions you get explosions in the movie oh my god do you ever oh my God okay so yes oh thank you saying that's you don't have to backtrack but I'm just saying it it's much better than you think cancer documentary right yeah yeah there's a there's war Zone Action in this movie uh you could shoot some some footage for a GI Joe movie if you wanted to oh yes okay good call good call thank you for that yeah that was Bonkers seeing that and and please watch d d Letterman you'll see you'll see that um great call let's talk about the movie club because I think you and I have a very similar again we talk about Rick sheckman I mean um you know love love love movies he's the authority on them he just passed away this last March anytime I have a chance to mention Rick I mention him and and and um you know there are people who like movies there are people who are Enthusiast of movies and there are people who go down the rabbit hole deep yeah uh you and I are certainly the latter uh especially on the movies that we like um talk about the movie club okay so I I you know it's one of those things like when you do comedy even at the you know clubs I come up to to Canada often like but you're you're there every year year and a half so you always want like a way to stay in touch with people so podcast become thing Y and I'm sure this is a bit of the way you found your way to this I just eventually because I love it I always find myself end up talking about movies so I've with other Comics tried three or four different podcasts of different things we ideas and then after those I I just thought to myself anytime I could be talking in a in a a line at the grocery store with someone I just met and if we're there long enough the conversation eventually will go to movies or they'll say something that I'll I'll think of a movie and they'll recommend it y uh or they'll say a line you know from a movie or something you see the magazine rack and you see Star in one of the yeah absolutely absolutely there's always some so I always end up there so I'm like okay well that's what I'm gonna if I'm talking about that anyways might as well start recording it and then so my mom was in a book club and I was like What if I started a a movie club so instead it's so I always say it's a book club for people who don't like to read Y and uh so we watch a movie each week I announce it you know on my social media like hey this is the movie we play some games like can you guess the movie this week from from the poster tagline or from this Mentalist poster or from these actors who are in it and then I announce the movie people watch the movie uh they send me their thoughts I have a guest as well and then I share those thoughts in the guest interview on the movie and we watch another movie the week after so so when you have the guest on you're talking about the movie not while it's running real time necessarily just discuss the movie you bring two or three discussion points and then you're off to the races Post Yeah post post watching the movie just all afterwards sharing some trivia thoughts insights Yeah you mentioned you know the great thing is we're I think six years into it now so we have 300 plus movies we've watched and where can this be seen tell tell where where can we see this yeah where wherever wherever podcasts are not sold Apple Spotify Apple uh Spotify iTunes um I think the one thing it's not on might be Sound Exchange okay but Google yeah okay so it's everywhere okay everywhere else you can you can find it heart radio has it uh all that stuff so and what's it called Steve maison's Movie Club it's just called ma my last name Maison Movie Club Maison Movie Club okay Bon Movie Club and so the idea in the beginning is we watched the top 100 rated movies on IMDb awesome and then after that we watched the top hundred movies on the American Film Institute list some of those are shared on both so we didn't go through you know uh and then the pandemic hit so then I just started picking movies that were great but that are streaming on either prime or Amazon or uh Netflix so that people didn't have to spend money because they weren't working and so that's kind of where we are now movies that are considered great like this week we're doing Wolf The Wolf of Wall Street yep um so yeah but I I got a good one so in watching all these movies though there's these I've I've had a bunch of theories come up on different movies so you mentioned consiglieri earlier yes sir are you a big amadas fan uh not as much as The Godfather The Godfather was where that it was there but of course I mean amadas is course well let me get this and you have to be a guest you and I have already talked about this off off your podcast okay you got to be a guest because I love that you love movies as much absolutely I ask every every guest three questions besides the movie we're talking about that week what's your favorite movie what's the best movie of all time if it's different from your favorite and then do you have a movie it's you know it's a bad movie but you like it kind of a guilty absolutely are you that right now best movie yeah what do you got okay uh best movie it used to be The Empire Strikes Back it's now Rogue one so I'm a gantic Star Wars fan wow and Rogue one actually has edged Out The Empire Strikes Back by a by a by a by the tip of a star destroyer yeah okay so that the first one so Rogue one is my favorite because it's got to be a Star Wars deal what's the second question uh so favorite movie best movie of all time if it's different than your favorite like okay this is probably the best movie made like there are some per I have a I have a compliment for for a movie but I call it a perfect movie like Iron Man one was a perfect movie yeah um same with actually the first Marvel Spider-Man movie uh homecoming that was a perfect movie and there have been perfect movies along the way um I gotta go with but I call them one is Godfather one and two those are that's that's what I say get is the greatest of all time because they hold up like you wouldn't believe stillie the period piece uh part of it is just yeah it's astounding and I do have I definitely definitely have a a bad movie that is just in my heart and it's one that I know nobody will have ever ever ever said to you it's a movie with a guy by with James Woods and Lou goset Jr it's a movie called digstown I I'm gonna push back that's a that's a great movie it's fantastic yeah yeah it's fantastic it's there's no and again the only way it be guilty pleasure is because people don't know enough about it but there's there's anyone that's listening to us talk you go see that movie you're gonna like it I mean it's good quality great acting great twists great story so many uh cameos uh it it's great someone else someone else listed that as their favorite movie of all time you're kidding me yeah oh that makes me so happy and they threw me for a loop because you know you get the you get the usuals of like you know uh Godfather and shash shk and you know good Fellas uh but when they said digs down I was like oh my God that's yeah that's fantastic I love it I love that movie I love it Roadhouse gets thrown out a lot it's like a oh I can imagine Roadhouse wood bad movie that people like I think almost anything with Patrick sesy is a is a right they're never great but they're so fun you know ghost for the ladies Road house for the boys ghost right yeah Dirty Dancing I mean they're all like you're like it's not great but fun to watch Dirty Dancing Yeah um okay well here's my theory by the way that I've come up with so there's there's certain movies that over the years the Patrick sey Theory like that um this week I came up with the way people see Godfather one and two is really one movie right that's right Rocky one and two I think are that same way I do y um but uh even peripherally I think you you'll appreciate this if if you're using cons are like that like you know for Godfather um uh oh shoot I lost my trade of thought now were you gonna say amadas or yeah consiliary and then go back to oh amadas this is one of my favorite series why um why do they call it amadas why is it titled Amad the the the name Wolf Gang right but we Mozart right like you even mentioned before like Mo early Mozart or late Mozart like why it's his middle name yeah I think it's another slight that we're gonna make the name amadas his middle name is gonna be more famous than sary like that's how like like what a nice deep cut that like Wolf Gang you could have called the movie Wolf Gang or Mozart we all knew was talking about yes right we would have we both known that but Amad they choose the guy's middle name it's almost like a further slight to saryi of hey like his his middle name is going to be more famous than you we're going to make a movie where his middle name and then there's songs and stuff right but I I I think that that's the wrinkle there like why call it I'm a this it'd be like if they they people made a movie called it Joseph well no one knows me by my middle name I love that I got you did it to me again the first time you did it to me was I was I was exploring it a little bit and uh and and and in print you did it there's a theory about Ferris Beer's day off that it was a dream that it was this kid's dream about like what he and he was aspiring to be the ultimate version of himself it starts in bed it finishes in bed and and and I it blew me away because I love that movie I can I can go chapter by chapter in that I'm a John Hughes fan I love that stuff but the idea that the whole movie was a dream was astounding to me and it really does make sense yeah I call that one You' seen it for the people listening to Henry Winkler Theory because Henry Winkler plays the fwn who's the coolest guy in the world but if you've ever seen Henry Winkler and anything else he's not cool at all he's kind of nerdy nebbish kind of guy and same thing with Matthew brck he's you're telling me Matthew brck is the coolest kid in your school he he didn't get a car he got a computer yep he plays the clarinet yep you know he's he's the kind of dorky brother of a hot you know older senior uh gal yeah yeah his best friend isn't cool he's kind of Dy yeah but and and it isn't just like hey some of the cool people like him everyone loves her that's exactly the dream a high school kid would nerdy high school kid would have is that everyone loves him not just certain people Everyone loves him so yeah that's as I watched it I was like oh this this has to be you know again the the movie is fine without that theory you don't need that there to enjoy but it's a nice extra layer to it it's yeah it's it's it melted my mind is what that layer did to me did to your to your knowledge before Mr Hughes passed away did anybody ask him that question not not that I know of not that I don't now I have heard other people came back to me with I guess someone else's spous the theory that it's uh Cameron's dream I don't think that holds up because Cameron doesn't end up in bed at both ends he starts in bed but he doesn't yeah and why would why would if it's his dream why would he give Ferris the the girlfriend yeah you know I mean the Redemption with his dad I mean you know that's obviously the the case for but uh you know the empowerment of of of of it but you know maybe that's but again I see I think that goes back to Ferris is my best friend is going to break out of this shell that he is in this prison that his father has created for him he's gonna stand up for himself and break out of that it all works out it works out for Sloan it works out for him it works out for Cameron it works out for yeah to me that that's goes back to the original Theory and just makes it even more uh solidified that is yeah uh so this is in a nutshell right now the Maison Movie Club this is what it this is what it is each episode of something like this just us yeah breaking down yeah getting people's you know there's also like yeah people just chiming in with like I love this movie I remember where I saw it I love I love the stories around movies you know there's you know the one the ones you mentioned I'm sure Godfather the first time first time you saw it or Rogue one I would guarantee you remember the theater you saw it in the first time you saw it with all that kind of stuff there's these memories that go with with movies like that I love how they spill out into real life like that so that's a lot of what we end up talking about Rogue one actually gave me um uh hope for myself as an adult because it's so um easily a few other movies did the same thing The Dark Knight did it for me as well it so easily put me back into childhood and got me to the place where I could recall that movie and and and the scenes in it and and and just it impacted me the same way that empire did when I was a kid right um and then it just grew and grew and grew and the depth of it just it became that and as an adult man like I think I don't know when it came out it was 19 maybe 2019 so so I mean I'm in my 40s you know SE maybe it was 15 or 16 I forget but um you know I'm in I'm in my 40s at the time and it made me feel like a kid again and uh and it gave me um a great satisfaction in that and so yeah that that that uh but I cannot wait to come on the show like I wait to do this again with you this yeah when I when I pick a movie please yeah if there's one you're excited about I love when people again the same way you were talking about earlier when when someone's passionate about something so if if you if there's a movie you love or even if you hate the movie I want to have you as a guest oh I can't wait um God is there okay so is there anything else that we want to cover in your first appearance here on the Letterman podcast I don't think so I think I think we've got yeah you've got so many like I said I love I I usually get asked the same questions about oh what was it like in the journey and that kind of thing but I love that we got into so much of the deep stuff and I obviously your love of of Letterman and his shows you know play into that but yeah I love the the extra stuff that that no one would think of like yeah you know before and after the set what what happens then um so no think I got everything I think we did too and I I appreciate it so much are you uh it just occurred to me are you still a member of the are you a member of the w GA I I'm not now I was you're not on strike right now yeah four or five years after but yeah not now okay but we're still gonna um we're gonna finish off here by by uh giving a quick note to everybody who is affected by the strike um there's a lot of a lot of people big issues right now um you know we obviously support uh you know the the the writers who are who are out there right now trying to make sure that uh there's another generation that gets to come up and use their creativity use their gifts um you know actors of course too as well and and I mean complex issues here uh we want to just voice our support for the uh for for for those members right now and let's let's get a deal that everybody can we get yeah we get more Rogue ones and uh more more episodes more everything oh yeah like I mean I'm watching Ahsoka right now going great they're they're putting at least another year on on when the next season would be if there's another season or whatever like like it's just all it's there's going to be an empty Wasteland for a while and uh please go back to work soon so please corporations pay these people a wage where they can pay where they can make a career out of it they can live where they need to live and um and yeah let's spread it around that's what I understand you know I'm simplifying this right sure uh but would wouldn't everything get better if that was the case if they just pay if if they pay now listen I understand people being greedy and be like I yeah I do want to make 30 million a year as in bonuses and not give this to the writers but I'm saying if if these people who are great writers and stuff if all of a sudden they could make a living wage and that kind wouldn't all our shows in entertainment get better wouldn't they they're already great but they'd all it would only get better absolutely uh okay instead of 21 episodes if you can do 11 and it's a better story I get it let's just make sure everybody can still have make a living wage with those 11 let's figure out a way that that can happen so yeah I I totally am on the same page with you um God this is uh thank you so much I'll I'll say quick goodbye and we'll say our our our our goodbye priv our real goodbye privately um okay thank you Steve oh best way to find you Steve stev mason.com stev mason.com uh on all the social media stevon maaz uh yeah you can find me on uh yeah Tik Tok Instagram Facebook Facebook is because of the chat feature of a commentary you know you can leave comments much more easily and have conversations with other people that's where a lot of the movie club work gets done but yeah it's on Instagram and and Tik Tok as well and still taking bookings obviously always yes yes yes always always there so be come come out come out and laugh uh and and yeah check out you can see Clips online from yeah Letterman my dry bar other TV appearances all that stuff excellent okay um that's uh man I just as you can tell I love doing this show so much it's just the greatest it shows and yeah you're a good interviewer I like it oh thank you brother I appreciate that so much um this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and