The Letterman Podcast Don Giller Celebration Compilation Part Four: Epilogue, Odds & Ends

hi my name is Don Giller you may know me as Mason from the TV series the lives of Lauren Green you're watching a very special episode of the Letterman podcast a look back at 100 wonderful years 100 wonderful worldwide pants proudly presents The Late Show with David Letterman worldwide pants the most trusted name in pants and entertainment and pants we we all believed in in Letterman we all believed in his talent we all believed in his vision and eventually we all kind of understood what he was trying to do with the show and despite the fact and look Letterman had reverence for Show Business also absolutely you know he he loved Carson he loved you know he was a big movie fan he you know Letterman was was a very learned guy in in in the business you knew all the agents you know he never let on that he was but you know in the beginning he had a hustle like everybody else so you know I think he had a lot of respect for the business but then we realized we wanted to deconstruct the business yeah and and once we all kind of got that that was the mission we we just loved it what could be more fun you know and Hal was the leader of it Hal was the greatest at it you know between Merill and Hal you know Hal did visually what what Merill was doing on on paper yeah know we I I always looked at how like another writer on the show except he was looking for the visual joke I felt like I was like so fortunate to have followed and and been around on a daily basis Merill Marco who really was the she she was the uh she was the uh Egyptian overseer at the base of the pyramids and Jim Downey and well actually all the writers I I I just thought everyone in in your 20s you know you think that was some golden age but I've been on other writing staffs and they're all interesting and and fun in their different way but the the Letterman group still seems to me to be a special golden group that was really trying to make each other laugh and do unusual things not for any credit or groundbreaking thing but just because they could and no one was bothering us too much from the network or anything so um yes we all uh stand on the shoulders of giants so that we could see that those last four weeks six weeks of the show it was it was it was nice because you hear like I never worked at Saturday Night Live but like you often hear that it's kind of a Cutthroat environment and and um I I I mean I don't know if it's it's testimony to having to do a show every day like like at at some point you're going to need favors from everyone on staff just because like there's just so much chaos and and and you know and and so like it was really really a nice place to work like everyone really looked out for each other and like that's why you know I stayed there a ridiculously long time you know I was probably there total of like 17 years which is crazy in TV to stay someplace that long but the reason is is cuz you know I mean that's they became my friends and I ended up you know marrying a woman who who worked there and uh you know um yeah it it was really a great environment I think people in general are very protective of of Dave yep and of all of us yep you know and and you know regardless of the joke that I started with um it was not a hell hole no I've worked in really bad [ __ ] shows and bad job it was a family Fred a generational family by the way it was it was weird it was weird that yeah and there were people who were like mad at each other and some people you know like every any family absolutely like any family but uh again because of who we were and what point in our careers we were making ourselves up as much as we were making the shell up I I do have one about some maybe something that a reason something inspires uh uh such fandom is it's like the usual business of show business is okay try to find out what people want and give it to them you know just what have they liked before well let's package it and give that to them and every now and then uh you give people something they didn't know they wanted yes and that was very much you know that was very much the Beatles well they were great they were better than everybody before since but also wait a minute they're British they got long hair they's wearing suits there's four of them Yep they're doing driving rock and roll with the these devastating block harmonies how how are you going to see that come and and you can't and it's just and everybody said okay if you give them something that what they want that they didn't know they wanted yeah then they'll follow you anywhere you you've opened up a new world to them and Letterman we weren't The Beatles needless to say but but but uh uh still everybody saw this thing that as we talked about wait a minute this is a t is familiar and yet everything's wrong and the wrongness makes it right somehow Dave was his genius was able to synthesize yeah these contradictory elements for those guys to to go work at Letterman it wasn't just thinking uh oh I'd like to do something like that no I'd like to do exactly that when Letterman retired Conan wrote uh an essay uh about when the show first came on and he said something to the effect of every everything was wrong and yet it was all right and what uh what he me it's sort of like okay Letterman is he's nicel looking but he's got a gap in his teeth and he's wearing a suit like a talk show host but he's also got sneakers on yes and just there were there were just contradictions abounded that uh uh he he seemed well just just that someone who uh seemed averse to back slapping yes and uh had wanted the the shoest job there was yes to be a talk show host yes and every talk show host more or less to that point had been you know hey it's great to be here we've got some great Stars everything is great celebrating Show Business yes celebrating Show Business and Dave you know would Revel in the awkwardness would occasionally seem cranky which which especially at the beginning of the show he was he was a young kerin and and you know he he was parading stars out and yet you could sort of tell he was thinking this is a little ridiculous isn't it show business yep worshiping of of celebrity D so I mean when when he would talk on the show uh about like oh you know so many great shows with uh uh marvelous Stars you would say marvelous Stars with a smirk yes and it was so funny coming from him because you you knew it wasn't heartfelt and okay the and the the basically the first thing I I remember writing for the show is uh after I got sent in the office Steve said hey we do these promos every night and we would record them during a break in the show and they would toss them on the air one time during Prime Time yep it was just a little 10-second thing and it would just be uh uh tonight on late night uh Charles groden Terry gar and stupid Patrick so join and then just a little phrase little half joke and uh and I wrote uh so join us won't you the password is fun a lot of the staffers had odd uh previous careers um I had written greeting cards and then my last week at the greeting card job the executive in charge came me and brought me into his office and shut the door and said uh uh Steve I know you have your heart set on going to New York and seeking your fortune but I think if you stay here and keep going the way you're going you could be the next Bob hammerquist and yes I had no idea who that was it turns out he was like the top greeting card right legend in the greeting CED I Deed on that and then of course foolishly told the story to Dave a year or two into our relationship friendship cooworker status well of course he loved the name hammerquist to begin with he liked words that way but whenever I would disappoint him or fall short and that would be often he would go well you're no hammerquist oh see but come on we would both laugh I don't never say no and and there's one person responsible for that and there's another person you know which is Steve O'Donnell oh wow and Steve O'Donnell when I was sort of a punk intern um I looked around and saw all these um people who are writers on the show and thought well I'm a I'm a dramatic writer I want to be a playwright I bet I I bet I could figure this out and crack this nut and it was it's very arrogant thing to think I mean this was the these were the elite of the elite writers comedy of the time and sto Donell was a headwriter and I gave him my submission packet which I still have and it was [ __ ] terrible it was really bad and um uh uh and you know a lot of those writers not a lot but a few of them were were not very friendly and Steve O'Donnell who had the most coveted job in late night television or in television at time y um you know and and has to produce a show every single day not this wasn't like you know Chris Rock did one the Emmy every year and did like eight shows a year Yep this is you know 200 shows a year and and and the quality never can lower whatever Steve Took My packet and he said I'm GNA take you to lunch no gain for Steve O'Donald in this at all a nice guy think I didn't ask him to go to lunch he said I'm GNA take you to lunch we went to Sparro he went through Page by page with me my material and was encouraging but also realistic yeah and I never forgot that kindness that he showed me and and it's been my privilege to worked with Steve on maybe six different shows since and and and hire him since then from Rosie odonnell to Bonnie Hunt to nor McDonald To The Man Show to Jimmy Kim alive he has been in integral part of my career um and and and my life and uh he a guy that I love more than anyone and it's it all started with him showing me kindness at a really vulnerable time in my career so I think that it all the time I will mention in a sort of back down to earthway that I have several dozen notes from Dave scribbled on the actual typewritten pages of jokes where he did a joke and it did not go well or there was some unforeseen turn of events like I remember he did a joke of mine one night about Karen Carpenter I guess you read recently in one of the major news Publications about their tightening up the test now uh for naturalized citizens say you come to this country and want to become an American citizen you can't just walk well I guess you can but you also are supposed to take a test and uh the traditional questions what about President Lincoln what about President Washington but the new test now they've really cracked down you've got to be able to tell the difference between the Carpenters and Captain and tanil they have and um was that ugly was that a kind of a naol just these are just jokes ladies and gentlemen now the next day she was dead and he circled the joke and said I hope you're happy Steve like I how did I I didn't um anyway there could in the right atmosphere a failure can be as funny as a success and that's definitely something we took to heart at all of the various Letterman incarnations number one Marl Marco genius yeah genius the the the heart and soul of the operation the the creator of the show the creator of the sensibility the the beacon behind the comedy the beacon behind the writers that we hired the the tenor of everything she was a br she is a brilliant person uh Steve O'Donnell Steve O'Donnell was another genius Steve O'Donnell was you know another guy that carried the torch carried the Sensibility Steve is a lovely guy and a great writer and was a great headwriter there was always an argument that he created the top 10 list and Adam Resnik was was the judge who heard me create the top 10 list I didn't actually create it I had the idea I was we were standing in the reception area at the old show and I had just gotten a copy of People magazine who did the 10 most beautiful people in the world yeah I said you know something we should do our 10 our own 10 best list at which point Steve O'Donald says yeah that's a great idea I'll I'll I'll write some up and he crafted it as the top 10 list even though it was my suggestion that we do our own list so Adam Resnik used to get pissed off when Steve O'Donnell would pay credit for creating he goes you took credit you did it why don't you tell Steve I go what do I care you know it's things that almost sound like Steve was great Steve was great Steve had a a monster of a job it was you know being headwriter on that show you know you're administering a a staff of 12 15 people you're dealing with a piece of talent who's very choosy who likes one out of every 50 jokes y uh and then you know the deadline would always come and and and Steve would be you know it would be 4:30 and we'd be going down to the studio at five and we'd have to load the Chiron and do whatever we had to do yeah and Steve didn't have an act one and God bless him he'd always come up with an idea let him and would say no that's horrible you know I remember once the one that that I I remember so well was Steve said let's go take a camera on the street and we'll find a baby and we'll bring the baby up and let him goes yeah and then what am I supposed to do what do I do with the baby do I diaper the baby and we would do it and it would be funny let him and would be great you know it was just yep course Steve I I I Adore Steve me too um my boy Kellis Daniel kellison I always described and he gets pissed at me I always describe I would always describe Daniel kellison as a little puppy dog come he would come and like a puppy he'd rub his head on your leg and you'd push him away and he'd rub his head again on your leg and you'd push him away the third time he'd rub his head on your leg you'd pick him up and he'd pee on you Daniel was always the guy that would bug me let's SLP so and so come in on a horse let's fly Sean connory in on a jetpack and then it would [ __ ] something would get [ __ ] up and I go Daniel why did you have this why don't you have that Daniel was was the most creative segment producer we ever had and I was a second producer so that's High Praise Daniel always had great ideas it was always a a a a process getting getting there but Daniel's a a creative talented fun guy and I'm still friends with him and he'll get pissed at me for using the little puppy dog but he's heard me describe it about 50 times so he's uh he's been on and I've worked with Daniel since Daniel and I Daniel and I did the Sports Illustrated Sports Person of the Year Awards together we did I think three or four of them you know he was always very good to me Daniel um yeah I just appreciate him so much he he he he told a version of the Madonna story on this show that was just fantastic um I just yeah yeah I just us to blame me for Madonna let letman got pissed at me because he had heard and and his assistant probably told him she used to squeal on everybody but it wasn't true that I told Madonna just get out there and say dirty things and do whatever you want and I think kellison maybe did it but Letterman thought I did it and was pissed at me for months months didn't talk to me because he was mad at me that that I had I put Madonna up to it fatovic heat fatovich uh the funniest guy you'll ever meet just not even trying not even trying he was he was an original he brought fun to the show we we loved seeing him he would get annoying at times but you know but always a joy to be be with and you know he had some tragedy in his life at the end but but was a good man and Hal took very good care of him and you know he would direct and Pete was a Pete was a a good guy uh Chris Elliott Chris Elliott was a natural you know started as an intern and pushed his way on the air and always delivered always delivered never let us down and and ultimately I his pieces on the show were probably the biggest laughs I'd have on that show I would just laugh my ass off at every piece he did I just found them endlessly entertaining a genius I mean a a true genius in his own way and yeah unfortunately it was the best he ever was and that partnership between and that trust between he and Dave uh you know he hasn't recaptured it and it's it's a shame because he's so [ __ ] talented he's so good great confidence and just the funniest [ __ ] you know the Morton Downey stuff the the the Brando the guy under the seats I mean classic classic pieces and he and Adam Resnik who you know is is one of the Geniuses as far as I'm concerned and when we started worldwide pants Adam and I produced a show called The High Life I don't know if you remember it was a great show on HBO we sold it to HBO and Adam had the vision he wanted do it in black and white and HBO let us Chris alre God bless him let us do it in black and white I got fired after the pilot and I think they did 10 episodes and it didn't do anything but it was a genius show if you ever get a chance to see it it's great uh let's see here okay so we've talked about this person we've talked about this person we've talked about this person um oh let's do uh meline Smith perk meline is is a force of of nature mine is mine's the most enthusiast I Astic funny who had a talent that I don't know where the [ __ ] she got it she had a talent of finding the most obscure but but but where mateline you know there are a lot of people that can find them but madaline was great at vetting them and knowing how to milk it for comedy mine was a very funny very smart woman you know and she she not only you know there are a lot of people that could find in interesting creative you know nuts but if if you don't create the the dialogue and you don't know how to produce it to to get the jokes you know that's where meline was brilliant you know she knew how and and the combination of what she fed Letterman and what Letterman did on his own you know was was was genius yeah and and mateline is is terrific I adore meline yeah [ __ ] it you know what let's finish off with and then come on give me more names I'm enjoying oh no no no okay well well okay so the one that's to me that's close to my heart because this show wouldn't exist without him uh is is shecky Rick sheckman shecky was an enigma I mean he in Death sheeky has proved everybody wrong I I think everybody looked to shecky as a guy who had no life he lived with his mother then when his mother passed away lived in that house it was him and his films he would work you know long days and finding stock footage for the show was maybe two% of what he did yep shecky was just everybody's pal and shecky had a photographic mind for that show and knew every bit every detail and he was like my my sidekick Shey uh you know I used to have to pick uh a woman named Sue Hall used to find the stupid petrics and you know she'd show us videotape and we decide what petrics we'd have on and then before the show we'd rehearse him and it would be Sue and me and for some reason shecky became a part of that operation wasn't had nothing to do with what his job was but I always felt comfortable having shecky by my side looking at stupid Patricks so shy would say no and I go really shy that's a good goes nope nope nope and he was always right on with which one we'd lead one with which one we'd end with and Shey was invaluable but but what what I found surprising in depth with shecky is how broad his network is how how many true friends and dear friends he had we always imagined him to be this lonely guy who went home at night and looked at movies but he had such an active social life and had such a an active you know curiosity of of of film and and and the Arts and and you know so many deep friendships with people that mattered and had such intelligent conversations and and you know Le Malton writing a piece about him Alex you know it it it it it it really opened up a whole new appreciation for what what Rick was about yeah I love the recognition that he got in me too me too so for me it was so oddly enough enjoyable to see you know it it made me proud of him speaking of he would you know his travel pictures where he never smiles and know he was he was hilarious he was anarctica with resting [ __ ] face yes absolutely used to wonder he would go on vacations with Brian Malon who was a director and an associate director in the beginning and they'd go on cruises and I think what the [ __ ] do these guys do on these cruises you you know I mean are they going after women are they I I just never got what he was doing you know I always thought he was just this lonely guy but he was just had this rich life that was so nice to see yeah yeah um uh Barbara gains Barbara gains you know with Kathy and with Jude and with with Rick they were the heart and soul of of the operation yeah you know Barbara you know what I like most and I don't talk to Barbara much and I adore her and we used to be good friends you know we were the two Jews on the show so you know Barbara I I love how she matured you know Barbara was Goofy Barbara was a [ __ ] goofball she and Jude would sit in that Production Office smoking like Chimes it would stink right and she was like a kid and everybody bar she talking a high voice and then all of a sudden she became you know the producer and the executive producer and you know I wasn't there to observe it firsthand but I I I always got a kick out of how she stepped up and and and became this this Powerhouse well she's she's a good woman Don Giller he's a [ __ ] bum this guy latched on to the shows that I produced put his own [ __ ] name Don's TV whatever the [ __ ] that is and has co-opted my work Don's a good guy Don everybody relies on Don I always used to love seeing him outside the theater when he was a nothing he was a little street urchin who used to hang outside the theater but I adore Don he's he's a he's I'm so glad that he's part of the team after all these years after 20 years I didn't really see him or speak to him much at all there was a long gap between like mid90s and 2015 it's like two weeks or so before his very last telecast of Lake Show and I had just called up and said could I just come up and say hello um and thank you and stuff like that and his assistant said yes and I came up we sat there for like two hours but the little the little the little funny moment that pertains to your documentary whoops is right there funny moment that pertains to your documentary when I hadn't laid eyes on Letterman in two decades he comes out and I go uh hi Dave you know I don't really there's not really a very good reason for me being here and he said come to that Steven I don't have one either and um we laughed over it you know was kind of H my Justified humility and his kind of uh uh higher contrast humility but it was fun and we had a very nice conversation and um I will also say that that uh uh a certain amount of of self-doubt and self-examination is probably good because I think you've got to keep checking yourself but there is there you also have to keep your eye on what you're good at and what is your the thing you do probably you know better in your own way than anyone else and when the Letterman show was starting up I had that feeling about that like I can do this and if if if they don't see that I can just right for them then they're crazy but turns out they weren't crazy or they were crazy in some other way but they did they did see the the aoness I mean it it was a thing I wanted to do more than anything else in my life you have high school guidance counselors maybe you get into this kind of thing tell you find that thing you love and go do it I was never quite sure what it was I liked cartooning I liked writing I liked history I liked music yeah but most of the job decisions I made were like sort of 75% like yeah I guess so but to the Letterman job was something I wanted 100% if I get up in front of a group of people um and start talk um Betsy my wife points this out all the time I start doing Dave's hand gestures I start or I start picking up I using his rhythms and it's just because for years I was just laser focused on this guy yep here's George Miller's joke um this is a great way to finish right here what was what was yeah yeah what's Letterman's and he did it on stage so I'm not [ __ ] with him uh what what's David Letterman's idea of foreplay let's get on with it shall we so Mike Chism I think he's I think he's better than Christ this is the Chism podcast he's fantastic do the CH podcast Chism don't know this makes me so happy you've heard his reputation everybody loves Mike everyone lik mik think of the nicest person you know he's nicer than Mother Teresa forget about not not in the same league not at all he's better than this strawberry and this strawberry is delicious we used to get we once got in trouble um I don't know if I've ever told this story to anyway uh after the shows we used to have cars waiting for us I'd have a car Letterman would have a car my deal with NBC was I would get a a and it wasn't a limo it was you know a black radio town car with a driver kind of thing yeah to take me one way so I could take it home at night or I could take it to work in the morning but I had a one-way trip every day that was my deal very generous with them yeah so I always used to take it out to go out at night and you know go to the theater go to restaurants and do my thing so one night I'm leaving and it's when I I I came down through the studio entrance right in the middle there at 30 Rock and I walked out on the 49th Street side to get my car which was facing west so I I got into I'm walking into the little caror do you know 30 Rock I do there's a small Cara on 49th Street and there's a single revolving door yeah in the Cara I see John Gotti has a guy by the collar and is screaming at this [ __ ] guy you [ __ ] how do you [ __ ] that BL blah blah blah blah and I like stop in my tracks right I get into the car and my driver said did you see a gotti with Letterman's driver I said what are you talking about he goes That's Letterman's driver because that's the guy driving Letterman home so I it was just when cell phones came out and I had I remember I had a Motorola flip phone and I called Letterman's office and I go I don't know if this concerns you but John Gotti has the guy that's driving your car against the wall and he's screaming at him and you know and let him and then gets crazy he's gonna kill me he wants me they're G to kill me I'm telling something and of course he didn't take that car he got another car but the backstory where Hal comes into it was uh lman had done a joke in the monologue about the mafia and unbeknownst to any of us one of the crew was friendly with John Gotti's daughter Victoria and got to the show and she was a blonde with big hair and very flashy so letman did a joke about the mafia not knowing that Gotti's daughter was sitting in there and how being the perceptive director that he was right after the joke is delivered how does it cutaway to Gotti's daughter yeah after the show the crew member comes up to me and to Howen he goes guys that was Gotti's daughter that you cut away to so I said well we you know what are we going to do we got to edit it out so this was well before the the car incident so Letterman kind of put the two together and thought God he's killing me because I did a cutway I said Dave we edited it out it was never on yeah but she knew and the father yeah it was just a whole crazy thing that was one of my many John Gotti uh okay I was going to ask you did you talk he was you know the guy The Godfather that was out every night and I was out every night you know I I used to go to this one restaurant Columbus restaurant and he was there one night and I asked the owner of the restaurant I said I want to meet God I go he introduced me to him so he goes well I'll have to ask him and I see him walk over to Gotti and I he whispers to Gotti and Gotti just goes like that just shakes his head no and comes back he goes he's a little busy now so but um another time I was at a club and there was this woman that I was talking to on the dance floor and she was just a real horrible person and I think I said to her you [ __ ] skank I you know what whatever I said to her cut to I'm walking out and I see she's making out with Gotti oh no I'm thinking holy [ __ ] I'm a dead man here I just called Gotti's girlfriend skank or whatever the hell I said to her because she being a jerk I start it was like an old Abid and Costello movie where I'm like trying to sneak against the wall and Edge my way out of the place it was at regine's nightclub on Park Avenue and I'm trying to sneak out of the club without anybody seeing me yeah as I get to where Gotti is a bunch of Gotti henchman pick this woman out pick her up and throw her out the front door at the restaurant they physically threw her out so I say to one of the guys I go what's that all about he goes this strange girl just started making out with Gotti and As She's kissing him she's trying to steal his pinky ring oh my God and I'm thinking what a great souvenir that would have been the Godfather's pinky ring are you kidding so I lived to see another day it was you know it was a great feeling that's what they call hutzpah I think when when we went to CBS also from being out I became friendly with with Bruce Cutler who was got's attorney right who was a mafiosa guy you know he was a Jewish guy but he had like a 19inch neck with tight suits you know and he was always out and I I I liked him I I always like talking to him and we were talking about going to CBS and he wanted to make my deal for me he said let me make you deal for you I said Bruce and I and and it's the one thing I regret over the years not having I I I I took it so seriously because you know it was a big break it was a big show I'm I'm the executive producer finally Y and I didn't have the the sense of irony or the sense of humor at the time to kind of say oh that' be great go ahead Bruce make my deal go up to Brandon Tarter club's office and scare the [ __ ] out of him you know today I would have you know in hindsight it was it was a missed opportunity for me to have the greatest story ever it's not a bad story to begin with so I I I did not let him make my deal very fated so I don't know if you'll be able to see it okay I had a girlfriend who owned a restaurant in Brooklyn uh right across from the Brooklyn Courthouse Y and Gotti is on trial for murder Mur and it was on Clark Street in Brooklyn and for some reason I I don't know if this is standard procedure but they used to let Gotti go out with his boys for lunch he was he was in up for murder I don't think he even had parole but they'd let him go so he go to my girlfriend's little gourmet shop restaurant where you know she'd make all the food they had like four or five tables there and he would pay her you know he'd give her $1,000 and say all right we're taking over but he insisted on doing all the cooking he'd get behind the counter and make all the sandwiches and Fry all the burgers and do whatever you know he loved doing it so he did it one day then the next day and the whole trial he would eat there every day so I said get me a Gotti's autograph please get me got Gotti's autograph so she gets me an autograph I don't know if you could make it out it's very faint oh yeah no there it is right there says is Rob you owe me one and in parentheses the number one and it's signed onti there it is Rob you owe me one one there it is and I heard something about you getting a little one of these from him or something like that he did this from across the room or something I don't know if that's true or not but I don't remember that one okay well no but it it it I had many brushes with Gotti I I I used to see Gotti out on the town a lot a lot yep he was a a very visible figure in in the 1980s and early 90s I once saw him after I left Le yeah it was after I left Letterman I'm just thinking I got hired by a company to go to Branson Missouri and they want to do this this this guy this promoter uh with my help we had a meeting with Monty Hall all right oh and what we wanted to do was do a live version of Let's Make a Deal in Branson Missouri at one of the theaters and people would come all dressed up and we'd get a good host you know it wouldn't be Monty Hall or or somebody like that but we'd get a decent host and we'd do a show every single day not not televised but do a live show people would pay to get in whatever absolutely win big money and you know we would have first to have that now I think they do a lot of game show things down there yeah or if there is a Branson still so we had to go down to Branson for for like five days and you fly into this little airport and I was leaving and I see Gotti's brother Peter Gotti who I had recognized Gotti's wife Gotti's daughter and Gotti's son he was in the federal penitentiary in Missouri right by they and and this airport was you know there was one gug there was one gate it was a little H you know like a little looked like a little cabin had one gaug and maybe you know 15 seats in the waiting room and I of course see them so I sit myself very close to them just to Eaves drop yep and all they were talking about we can't tell them this and we made Mistake by telling him this and it was great it was great in Branson Missouri I have a brush with the Gottis it was terrific did a video we did a secret video so during the there that big long writer strike yep um yeah that went on forever I forget like in the third or I really it's like the third year of the show yeah fourth um and uh the mid 80s writer strike during that time Dave turned 40 yeah so we my Betsy and I and Hal and Lori Guthrie and uh uh Kevin k um Jude b barbar g Jude Brennan Barbara gains uh started the original idea was just to tape random people on the street saying happy birthday to Dave and we cut it together and say send it to him somebody gets it in their head oh why don't we have some of Dave friends in it so now we've got shots of a telephone with a microphone hooked up to it and Steve Martin calling and and and you know saying hi to Dave um and then we start combing through NBC and there's Tom Brokaw and and uh uh uh you know NBC personalities then it branches out into oh we could go to get the Yankees and and so Betsy goes to Yankee Stadium with Lorie Guthrie and gets Billy Martin and and George steinbrener at the same exact time I'm getting Richard Nixon holy crap so we had Nixon uh mayor cotch uh uh uh Jane Paulie all these people and um it's like you're gophers and you've been digging and digging and digging and digging and digging and digging for so long in your little hole and then you pop your head up and realiz realize we didn't realize holy [ __ ] um and so send the tape yeah we just sent the tape to Dave on his birthday he gets it he's home in California holy and crap like a day later I just get a phone call and and I pick up the phone this is the day before days before caller ID right hello and he goes Nixon how the [ __ ] did you get Nixon and here's the story this is even better so Nixon was in a recording studio in New York City recording some voiceover for something he just happened to be in a place recording which by the way not a good thing Frank Ganon was a segment producer on the show okay okay okay I got worked in the Nixon White House I gotcha so that's how we got to Nixon so we're all getting into an elevator after everything's all done and and everybody's kind of crowding in and Nixon's there and and the door starts to to to close yeah um and and I got to the door a little too late and it literally slammed Nixon uh up against the the wall of the elevator not too hard but like an elevator and then it bounced back hard enough and Frank forever was like you [ __ ] let the door slam on Nixon you you could have reached your arm in I said I I I just didn't I didn't I I blame my subconscious for that I blame my unconscious self for letting the door slam um but yeah I don't know how we got into that um that's something that will never light of day it will never see the light of day there's a couple of things that I did on remotes uh that a will never see the light of day and B I'll never tell you about okay well and fair enough and i' I've had fun they were they were very it got it got very um personal yeah or something yeah can you talk about Gary chandling talk about that for a moment I I I knew Gary obviously yeah and I was going out to LA for you know auditions or seeing somebody some executive I don't know who probably moonz and um because we were doing Raymond no it might have been before that but I used to go out to moonves and try to get him jazzed up about about Ray Romano and I remember having a meeting with him and saying to him this is the guy that you're going to pull out for every press tour this is the guy you're going to pull out for every affiliate convention and MZ was yeah yeah yeah just do your [ __ ] pilot you know he didn't care he did not care at all it was funny it was very funny but uh I was I went out to LA and it was just about the time uh did you remember MGM Grand air yes oh yes yeah it was like a it was like a flying Green Room it was every celebrity in the world I remember Barry sand telling me that he once sat next to Elizabeth Taylor on MGM and you know it it was like you'd see people so Gary was on that flight so we sat together and he goes hey while you're in La why don't you do my show so I said well what am I going to do he goes we'll figure something out don't worry two days later I'm at I'm on the stage you know taping the you know filming the the par you know on stage acting with Rip Torn I was intimidated as all hell I bet Gary didn't bother me you know I I was fine with him but Rip Torn it was intimidating having to act not really I would hardly call what I did acting but you know it it was fun I enjoyed it and riptor was very reassuring you're doing great kid you're doing great you know funny all around the episode where they they went they were at this award show yes you remember the I have the award right here if you'd like no really hold on it's not an Emmy but they kind of made it look like it was an Emmy and Dave and he offers it to Gary and Gary come on go ahead take it take it well really really can confirm that this is the award oh this is excellent oh that's excellent It's called The American television Award right and it was an idea of the former late uh uh Laughin producer George Schauer and he had this idea let's have an award show to compete with the emies Y and you know when when you create an award show you have to have like yeah you you have to follow all the standards and practices in the network so you have to really have a voting body you have to abide by certain rules I mean it's a whole big thing you can't just say ah we're going to give out Awards you know it has to be the the standards and practices so he created this award and you know letter in won the best show and the I think the only reason he went out was because Gary had this idea to do do Larry Sanders backstage yep that was that was the episode uh before this is this is off the air before we go on before the before uh the tape started rolling yeah um the band would come out and play for the audience and I always have a a big supply of of custom picks guitar picks and I would throw one out one or two out into the audience right cool and it would be you know just pcks I don't know whether it' be my signature piics or glow-in-the-dark picss or whatever and um they weren't always colored white until I until this thing happened um I had learned that a lady had gotten hit in the eye during the warm-up of the show but because tickets were so hard to come by she wasn't going to leave her seat she was going to stay there for the whole duration in pain and ended up having to go to the hospital eye infection and I think they were threatening to sue the show but Dave thought it was cool so I kept doing it also you got to admire the commitment of the lady to stay there yes differently of course sure I I them differently and and I had them paint you know they had them colored white after that too so and I threw them completely a different like you know not a straight on yeah anyway that's just a complete ridiculous aside um I I would I'm fascinated I would love to have some of the Alum on here maybe a few of you at the same time and talk I'm not an Alum I have coasted for years on people thinking that I went to Harvard so it worked for me with Dave because I went to Notre Dame okay so where's the lamp because you wrote for them as a stud no I wrote for the National Lampoon oh you wrote for the National Lampoon okay okay and thecon for years for years when people when it worked to my advantage to have people assume I went to Harvard I just kept my [ __ ] mouth shut um when it worked to my advantage to go those [ __ ] Harvard boys I would do play that card it worked great for me you wrote for the National Lampoon um under a pseudonym right no I know I wrote it on my inter name but this is a good I I I I I'll tell this story as quickly as I can um obviously the founder the two founders of the National Lampoon yeah uh were were um Doug Kenny and Henry beard okay and both of them were Harvard boys y Doug was Doug was I met Doug once but but Doug was a [ __ ] just he yeah our sense of humor if you you can track from Animal House to through Ghostbusters yeah that is the that is mine that is all a direct connection to to Doug Kenny and the National Lampoon and to many J there's a religious Journey right there what you just said there you go there's Doug there's Doug Doug Doug goes to Hollywood makes catty Shack and then falls to his death tragically in Hawaii yeah um uh Kevin by the way lived with Doug for a summer so there you go um so so after Doug um a guy named PJ oor took over the National Lampoon conservative conservative humorist PJ oor um and then uh uh after that there was a guy named Jerry susman who basically was kind of just keeping the magazine running okay Jerry hired me as a copy editor um because I could copy edit I knew how to copy edit I had come up in newspapers I knew how to do that but I also knew how to copy edit in a way that wouldn't kill the joke right if it's misspelled or there's stuff missing or whatever I know oh that's a joke that's why it's and I'm not like somebody going like anyway so ping ideas and I get a bunch of stuff on Jerry leaves the Lampoon and uh Sean Kelly who was one who was one of the original National Lampoon people and I are in a room one day that room is probably a bar and we decide to create a fictional editor in chief that is an amalgam of all the past editor and Chiefs oh that's J and we called him El Dennis plunkin and El Dennis's editorials at the beginning of every issue right were always uh uh Webster defines satire as right they were just horribly pretentious and terrible and then it would begin to reveal uh how he worried about uh this was a Henry beard reference how he how his family never forgave Roosevelt uh for how he got us out of the depression because you know Mama lost all of her you know you know PA fa lost all of his you know Fortune right what a beautiful device and then when M came into to El Dennis I would answer it and so somebody wrote in one time and said um that I also had to answer the slush pile and if there was somebody who was kind of close and like we actually wanted to reply to I would reply to them and then they'd write again and I go ah it didn't work out this time thank you so much and somebody decided that they were unhappy with the way they'd been treated by me and they wrote to El Dennis El Dennis wrote back to him and said thank you so much for helping me get the goods on this Graver guy I have been trying if you could just Xerox the correspondence I will get on this right away um then the guy xeroxed the correspondence and send it in and then I just got a Pang of conscience and just dropped it no I thought this is cruel this poor guy he thinks he thinks he's got an in at the Lampoon now and I said I just sent him a kind of like thank you very much this is under investigation or something like that but I felt bad I felt like like oh geez so it's probably you know morning Fred felt bad about what okay there it is done and and so yeah so that was that another song that I love singing was a weak as I am by Skunk and Nancy that was one of my favorites and it would all and all my favorites were like kickoff songs yeah and by by kickoff songs I means the ones that we would start the set with the fir the first song After the monologue would be the kickoff song uh there was one and I'm going to oh this could be a Highwire act that just I fall and fall in my face on there was one that you did the lead vocals on that going out to commercial um it it started like this and then you kicked into the vocal right away after that do you know what I'm talking about when I say that no okay it doesn't matter I'll find it and I'll send it to you because I know that now now I want to know and then and then you kicked right into a vocal on it um I always loved when you sang and it was so uh it was so cool whenever you had a a highlight performance uh don just said that I might have been thinking of Soul Survivors express way to your heart I think that's I think that's it I think that's exactly the song actually there it is and then you kick right in what did I tell yeah I've been trying to get to you there it is thank you oh my God that's the moment right right oh my God you just gave me goosebumps girl you just put them all over me just by doing that Don Giller I love you that song that's a song I snatched from my childhood and and Paul let me do it like that that's what I meant like you could just ask for things and it would happen that's why I love that gig so much I would just pull songs that that meant something to me as a child and next thing I know we're doing it on television how could you not love a gig like that how could you let me quickly explain what we're doing we're putting together a show here not for American television so don't let this stuff alarm you okay part of what you see tonight will actually be on the air and then there are two specific segments that will never be seen