The Letterman Podcast Made It A Full Calendar Year, And The Oddsmakers Take A Beating

this is Steve Wier I used to write for the David Letterman show this is Mike Chism who spent entire life dreaming of being on the David Letterman show and will never happen watch this podcast instead welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum and uh here we are our year in review episode that was actually supposed to be part of the Christmas episode last week but we kind of got Shanghai wait am I allowed to say Shanghai anymore Shanghai is still a place right I don't know I don't know I'm uh not smart enough to know uh about political correctness so I will plead ignorance we got whay I'm allowed to say whay I think so um we got whay last week because uh in the middle of the Christmas episode There Was An Unexpected uh appearance on the Sandra burnhard Sirius XM radio show on radio Andy on the radio Andy channel uh that was a lot of fun I look forward to having Sandra on this year a lot of people have actually reached out saying how much they enjoyed uh hearing Sandra and I interact and that'll be a lot lot more fun in this venue here having her on the show that's going to be great um got some good things coming up record tomorrow actually with uh with with I'm going to keep it keep it quiet right now with somebody who is a uh um the daughter of tal royalty how's that we'll do that right there um but I do see the value and a and a a viewer or a listener one or the other or perhaps both even uh suggested that we do this year in review our numbers have gone up quite a bit over the last few months and uh Stan Lee used to have a a saying Stan Stanley comic book um you know Legend Stan Lee rest in peace Big Stan um used to have a saying every comic book is somebody's first comic book and I love that I I you know it's it's it's the message to writers to make sure that you don't go too far down the rabbit hole of um inside inside jokes inside this inside that assuming that's that people have been there the whole time you got to have a good entry point for people to come in and and view that comic book for the first time you know that's the same thing with this show um the year and review show that uh somebody suggested that we do why don't you do a clip show with some of the with every guest that you've had or or most of the guests or a lot of the guests and and and it's a good idea uh we did it in episode 30 where we didn't add Clips because again I was uh so green to the idea of of of adding clips and video editing and things like that I've improved that considerably since then uh I'm still not great at it but it is there and then um you know maybe we do a clip show of this last year and and talk about uh aspirations for the future and I'm a big believer in aspirations for the F talking about that setting goals uh now I also don't believe they they should be so rigid that um you know you you don't allow spontaneity into the equation I'll tell you I'll tell you a story about about goals uh my wife and I in 2019 uh had a really nice set of goals and plans laid out and uh uh you know getting ready for for for for the holiday season of 2019 to move into 2020 we thought 2020 was going to be a very different year than it was a lot of people can say they felt the same way uh I think with the pandemic sprouting up in in in 2020 ours was a little bit different though uh we I I've had my granddaughter I think on here she's been on an official episode of of uh before um with Steve Young and then also we just released a video a few weeks back of her thanking Chris Harris for the children's books that he wrote that he sent to my granddaughter Alara uh Alara is my best friend in the whole world if you look at my telephone she is the she is the wallpaper on my on my phone she is my absolute everything I adore her uh believe it or not more than this show or anything to do with this show I adore her more than more than life itself and uh back then in 2019 she was 18 months old now Lauren has had a real special relationship with with candy and I she has slept over at our house uh at least once a week pretty much every week I can count on one hand the number of times that she hasn't since she was two weeks old um I see her five days a week I take her to MMA classes she's five now she's just absolutely my everything well um in in in in 2019 like I said candy and I are getting ready for 2020 got all our goals written couple trips planned things like that and and uh this is where you know not being able to be rigid to goals is important but yet at the same time it's important to have them it's important to know kind of know where you're going or at least where you want to go well um on on Christmas Eve of 2019 we found out that my 18-year-old 18-month-old Grand daughter had a uh tumor a growth the size of my fist right between her little tailbone um and that was that was scary that stopped everything right at that point uh we had Christmas at home by boxing day which is the day after Christmas we celebrate that in Canada um by going to stores and getting discounted uh items from before the holidays we were heading to BC Children's Hospital um my wife and I went down down early uh because we want to have a vehicle down in Vancouver um her son and and and and daughter-in-law and AA were being flown out separately uh on the 27th so we wanted to kind of get the lay of the land know the route from the airport to the hospital to figure out what was going to happen that sort of thing so we go down there we're there on the 26th of December uh we didn't come home until near the end of April 2020 so you can imagine any of the things that we had kind of planned for what 2020 was going to be we're out the window now that being said um a lot of people can say the same thing because around us while we were down there around marchish uh a pandemic sprung up around us as well so not only did our granddaughter have to go for surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy which by the way she's great if you saw the video with Chris you see how amazing that she is um but then a pandemic sprouted around us now uh was setting the goals in 2019 a worthless Endeavor no it wasn't it it wasn't um a lot of those goals going back to candy and I have accomplished since then we have done them and we just did them in different timing and of course we were open to um you know life throwing a curved ball at us and us having to go down that trajectory for a little while but that being said I do think that goals are important and and and coming here and talking to camera for a couple of episodes at Christmas time and and and and time of reflection in the new year uh I think are are good and throwing out intentions for this show I think are good I think it's good to say it out loud I think it's good to verbalize some of these things um so this isn't a therapy session but it is a a um a looking back on the Letterman podcast for 2023 kind of doing a bit of a postmortem and and and and and celebrating the people that we had on this show because I'll tell you this I did not think 2023 was going to be the way it was in 2022 we blew away any expectations that I had as a show uh the community growing the way that it is I'm so happy that we are where we are right now and I think the year end of the year is a good time to do that so if you don't want to uh hear me pontificate a little bit about uh where we're going as a show things that I would like to see happen uh and take a trip down memory lane we're going to show clips uh of I mean at least at least 40 of the guests from this past year I'm not sure how many Clips we're going to show but I will interlace them in now I'm going to tell you this straight up every clip that I put in is going to be a minute or less of that show why because well I want to put these up as YouTube shorts as well uh you know people who are in our ear giving us strategy about how to grow this thing and get eyeballs on this thing and ear holes on this thing uh tell us that hey you got to get some YouTube shorts going and and make that happen and you want to put one up every day well this way here we pull 40 clips and uh put 40 clips into the year end episode those can be put repurposed for YouTube Shorts YouTube shorts has to be a minute or less so that hopefully will lead to though every single one of those shorts we put up we're going to attach to the full episode uh that that clip is from hopefully to go back to Stan Lee for the folks who are seeing this episode as maybe their very first episode or maybe they've just come in Midstream hopefully it'll wet the appetite to go back and not just listen to the new stuff or watch the new stuff as it comes out but to actually go back and um and and take in some of these amazing amazing guests and amazing amazing Stories I think about some of the people that we've had on the show that went you know an hour and a half two hours these stories need to be heard for from for every uh afficianado or wouldbe afficianado of David Letterman and Company I think that it is really cool what we're building I just had um a long writer who's actually in this uh in this uh episode this year review episode we're going to put a clip Up of him he he messaged me back and he said um that Don Gill's compilations that he did for episode 100 should be in a museum he said they should be put out there as a as a as a definitive Archive of of things I getting that from from him was just I didn't expect that at the beginning of 2023 that as we record this in the last days of 2023 that that would happen um so I'm going to throw some stuff out there as to as to some aspirations and that we would have for this show guests that we would have uh and and uh I just want to say hey we're building a community here join the Facebook group if you want you can reach out to me um as well and and and let's come up with some ideas let's come up with some ways let's grow the show let's grow the community let's make this happen um so that being said uh we had a lot of guests this last year 60 episodes between last Christmas episode and uh the Christmas episode that was released last week so it looks like in 2023 61 episodes will come out this will probably be a two-parter um that is fantastic that is fantastic I was really hoping that we could stick to at least a weekly schedule and we were able to do that um you know the idea of being predictable that every Friday no matter what uh wherever people are at if there's you know yeah a letterman podcast is there to look forward to I think I know that for me personally as somebody who views and listens to podcast uh I love when there are regular times that an episode uh of my favorite podcast comes out so so very cool and then we've sprinkled in enough bonus episodes to to bring her up over 60 very very proud about that um and in those 60 episodes a lot of cool things a lot of different types of folks uh that we've had on the show again for this show the three types of people that we like to have on are people who uh worked for uh David Letterman and Company in some capacity including right down to the interns who were there maybe for one cycle three months something like that any of those people absolutely we want to have on the show uh number two people who had a brush with the show whether they were a guest on the show that is something by the way when it comes to aspirations for this thing this year here we want to have a lot more people who actually guested it on the show um and I'm talking all sorts of different ones comedians um you know of course actors actresses uh uh musical guests um on my list here I got I got the blue card here you know full of aspirations that we have um you know I want to have the food fighters on this show this year and I think we can get them I think we can get them we're going to start working we're g to start putting a campaign together uh campaign that sounds so official we're gonna start doing some stuff to try and get the food fighters on here I think we can make it happen and by the way the guy that we can thank for that uh to kick that off is is a guy by the name of Dan flarity um and uh I just appreciate him so so so much for for um sending that food fighter shirt to me before Christmas here thank you so much for that Dan but anyway yeah I think we can get the food fighters on this year uh so that's the second type people who guess it on the show and the third type of course are people who are in the community in the community people who who love the show and and uh have a story to tell maybe that they got to got got to go when they got to go see it something special happened maybe they went and saw rbert that kind of a thing and these are the types of guests that we have on the Letterman podcast that has been that way right from the very very start and uh I I don't see us deviating from that uh I think this is a little bit of review I think I talked a little bit about this in the Christmas episode last week so what we're going to do is we're going to start going through some of the guests who were on um in the last 12 months uh we're gonna start with Jeremy Wier uh Jeremy Winer fantastic writer and just a really really good guy Jeremy and I um connect on all sorts of all sorts of different ways uh we're both Kevin Smith fans and and just um and he's uh I just I really appreciate Jeremy Late Show writer so he came along again was one of these people that was just influenced by what Dave and Company were doing back in the day at NBC and and uh you know wanted to dive in so yeah Jeremy Wier we thank him for coming on was a Conan seeing just just seeing like you know I was a script intern so that was my first in introduction to what it was like with writers like professional comedy writers and it was awesome and it was like you know every time there was a change in the script I was the guy that had to go bring it to the different uh departments so I got to know everybody on the staff and then like right before the show if they're doing a Clutch Cargo and Robert smiggle's there I'm in the dressing room as he's doing rewrites and then I'm running them to Q cards and to Jonathan gra who was a headwriter at the time and it was just you know was on inspiring because you're just seeing all these great comedy professionals and I'm just like this is incredible so possible and you know just seeing him backstage you know he would you know bouncing around with all that energy rehearsing the cards you know standing there waiting for changes I remember being there uh in the control room the night nor McDonald was with there with Courtney Thorne smith and he did the famous chairman of the board riff and just it was like one of those things David K now David K is an interesting dude he is a granular dude he is a guy that I am just in awe of when it comes to systemizing the idea of audience coordination and T ticket distribution for the late show or for Late Show with David Letterman he was absolutely unbelievable in what he did uh how he built a department uh really pioneered the way that that the show um uh had people visit and I think I think it was a h my advantage I think it was a major major thing uh that he did and no offense to any other shows and how they do it out there these days you know there's the you know the the one iotas of the world and whatnot how a lot of these shows have kind of um you know taken the in-house approach away and and and use other services to book their shows um and then once the audience gets in there you know they they rely on an audience coordinator or something or a warm-up person to to to try and direct it David uh was a completely different deal there was relationships with some of these people that were would come to the show that's the way he tried to do it they tried to really for lack of a better term profile the audience uh his episode is is an incredible one um where we go deep and I mean I I actually owe David a phone call I need to we need to have him back on there on here because he set the table did a really good job explaining what he did I want to get into anecdotes with him uh in another episode so David Kay was uh next you you mentioned that but there were other times that did not involve the roof that would involve a performance on the street yeah the Marquee or TV on the radio of the fire escapes or whatever absolutely McCartney being the most famous One probably on the Marquee yeah and there were times in cases when there was um some entertainment outside we would bring the audience outside because that was a very quick transition that was a matter of opening all the double doors and you know inviting people into a kind of a a holding area to be able to watch that and you know we could start in five or 10 minutes the momentum was still there yeah yeah and that was another big thing and we'll talk some other time remember to talk about the momentum and keeping it going during commercial breaks at the show then we had um you know getting into January we had um Gabe abson now I appreciate Gabe so much Gabe uh monologue writer with Dave so so Gabe had a very different job he was a writer for late Joe with David Letterman for years but had a very very different job description than any of the other writers in fact uh his own words was isolated from the writers uh Gabe did a really great job talking about the process of the monologue um talking with some of the other writers who help write monologue jokes um you know uh uh Mike Barry and Jim M Holland who who were faers but on staff faers and and um you know would fax in jokes from California Carson writers they were the Johnny Carson's writers that came over and and worked for Late Show they they they contributed to the monologue quite a bit too uh really great conversation with Gabe abson well keep in mind um uh like I said I was like my own Thum separate from the rest of the I was not in the writer room for any of the rest of the show I did not you know I would I was going to say fraternized with them I I just didn't you know they were a group on their own I was just off in this one one place so who was head riter at the time at that point the headwriter I was there for three head writers uh young who went on to write for The Simpsons and produce for The Simpsons Rodney Rothman who y w the Oscar I think for the spiderverse movie yep um and the sangles okay yeah so I was here for all three as head writers did you corroborate with them at all or were was it was it separate completely no not at all and in fact because the mon they didn't really have any they didn't have much FaceTime with Dave every uh next here's an example of a couple of the the third category people who just love the show and wanted to show experience um Ken corm and Scott Anderson they came on and they told a Fant fantastic version of their story about when they went to New York um for the last late show or the last week of of of shows with the with late show and and their trip how they got there how they got the tickets how they you know made it happen really really fast and how to this day both teachers how how that trip is still uh The Echoes of it you know it's like a it's like a rock being thrown into the into the water and the ripples just keep going and going and going well we're in 2023 almost 2024 and the ripples that are um that are that are occurring for these two friends and colleagues from that night going to see Late Show in the final winding down days uh really great episode lot of fun if if by the way and if you listen or watch that episode and you're one of those people who have had this one of these experiences with the show and you want to come on you want to tell your story please reach out to us um next rert and Irene rert G I mean okay and you know what I'll say it here the Letterman podcast is one sponsor one sponsor only by the way I want that to change in in in in uh in 24 I want us to have a sponsor that' be that'd be very very cool that's one of the ways uh I think I I mentioned it in the uh in the Christmas episode you know this is work by many stretches of the imagination I want to make that so if we can get paid to do this a little bit uh I can put more into it that's something that a sponsor would be able to do that uh that would be a very very cool thing and I mean who knows how that how that'll work who it would be but that would be a great thing if we could get a sponsor for this thing uh hey who knows maybe worldwide pants could do it maybe one of the other uh companies out there um who sponsor podcasts I'm not sure but we want to make it a good fit for um dare I say the brand that we're building here but anyway uh rert G and the hello Deli were the only sponsor of the Letterman podcast the badge of honor that I felt and feel to this day every time I mention um rert is just and I mean we're going to bring him up more and more in this episode even this year review because we had a quite a few uh encounters with Rupert this year but Rupert and Irene his girlfriend Irene Hoffman they came on the show together while rert was down in Florida and told some amazing stories rubert told the story about how he was in the van in LA with Dave and they were trying to figure out who he was going to go bother and they were looking and there was Jay Leno there he told that story when he was on the podcast so love rert uh one one sponsor of the Letterman podcast go to Hello deli's closed now unfortunately but hellodd deli.com is still open for business you can go to hello- deli.com and uh and it's not the word Dash hello hyen deli.com and you can buy Leo with David Letterman merchandise you can buy mugs you can buy hats you can buy all sorts of stuff and uh um and drop rbert a line This is this that's still his deal so hell.com the only sponsor right now of the Letterman podcast we just appreciate rert and Irene so very much down in La you're in the van doing your thing um I don't know if you're in the same van with Dave or not this is the stuff I want to ask you run into or you see Jay Leno's crew out there while you're doing your thing yeah we were shooting the fun of rer thing yeah was in a separate van and it was about it was nighttime so that so you you know we were driving around looking for the next uh victim suddenly um the the the van in the front with Dave they pull over so we all stopped and apparently there was some discussion going on between between the crew in in Dave's van and I later found out they were going to let me out to bother this person who was across the street well I looked across and lo behold it was Jay Leno who was interviewing someone else after that we have Jeff Martin now um this is one of those ones where I have a whole bunch of feelings towards it and I'm gonna mention Rick sheckman right now shecky there he is right there um I love Rick so much and I appreciate him so so much we lost him and and we'll get to that in a minute here Rick attack attached me to a bunch of people um to come on this show Jeff Martin was one of them and and uh with Rick sheckman name came uh a metric trick ton of credibility people um if I reached out to Jeff long long long time writer Harvard guy uh friend of Conan O'Brien one of Conan O'Brien's best friends uh to this day um you know Lampoon guy um if I would have reached out to him to have him and the simp writer on The Simpsons and and I mean you know longtime late night writer if I would have reached out to Jeff maybe I would have gotten him maybe I wouldn't have probably not only because uh first off I would have know known how to get at him and second off I mean who was I who am I but Rick provided that introduction and I appreciated that so so much and then hearing Rick talk about how much he loved the conversation with that we had with Jeff um you know it was a two-parter and and uh uh Jeff and I went on and on and on it was awesome and then he came on again and we'll get to that episode here so I just just appreciate Jeff Martin so much he is a uh he's a true gentleman and hilarious and just uh this year here hey you know what I would love to have him and Conan O'Brien on at the same time I think that would be a lot of fun and I would just kind of sit back and every once in a while lob out a question lob out something but uh to have him and Conan on here that'd be a lot of fun so uh maybe that's something that we can have happen Okay the when we did the uh the airplane yeah episode um the the uh I was I said you know I got an idea for the cold opening day I think it's because we were I didn't hang out pitching with Dave too often I I you know he he would go in his office we would give our jokes to Steve he'd take them in and the movie The Late Shift at one point he's talking to a few writers I I liked that movie I thought it was pretty accurate but at one point he was talking to uhh some writers he's like okay yeah don't come back till it's funny and I thought nope didn't happen but I think we were like probably riding to the airport which is why you know I was spending time with them and I said um so Jeff Martin came on two-parter another two-parter right after that was Felicia Collins and I gotta tell you I I I want to have Felicia on here again uh just because I love talking to her she is just such a cool human being amazing guitar player inspirational woman uh in so many respects um you know I uh uh will I I talked about in the Christmas episode how Willie and I talk and and and uh I don't think he'd mind me saying this when he listened to the Felicia Collins episode he called me up immediately and and and um there's a part in that episode that I thought was really awesome it was in part two I talked about my granddaughter earlier in this show and I thanked Felicia for being an inspiration for for for girls like my granddaughter because she is um to see her for 22 years uh coming out of almost every single commercial break going into almost every single commercial break um you know shredding on that guitar doing a lead vocal in a bumper whatever um and then just that smile of hers and that energy that she brings to things I love Felicia Collins so much she is just the best so I called her and uh she said please should Paul schaer called me I said Paul schaer called you I was like Paul schaer from TV Paul schaer and she said well it sounded like that voice of his I'm pretty sure it was him he said he got got your number from NY Rogers I said yeah that sounds about right he said what did he want he said well he wanted me to uh give you he he wanted your number to get in touch with you but I told him I would take his number and uh give it to you so you could call him and I just said that is so typical of my mother she would never give my mother out my number out not even to Jesus Christ she would say you know what Lord I appreciate you're looking for my daughter but let me take your number and I'll have her call you and so I called Paul and that's when he told me that um um after that Jason zenman Jason zenman the author of Letterman the last giant of late night a fantastic title and um you know he's also the comedy critic for the New York Times Jason zinaman is an interesting dude that gets to see a lot of interesting things and has done some cool things he got a podcast of his own in his own right and I uh I hope to Jason on again I certainly want to have have conversations with him next time I go to New York I want to I want to take him out for a for a tasty beverage of some sort he is just a really cool cat um and and I highly recommend the book I think the clip that we're going to show here is actually when he talks about there's a potential longer version of the book uh out there um but uh I just I really really am glad that Jason and I connected and uh you know there's there's there's three major authors of Letterman books there's more than that but three three major ones that we've had on this show and it's very very cool that I can every once in a while send Jason a message him bounce something off of him and ask him a question that that kind of a thing he's a great great guy so uh Jason zinaman really appreciated him being on the show this year and it's funny I if I was to look at like all right what would I do differently with that book and you know I like what what are the criticisms that I think I were were good or that worth you know there's a version of the book that's much longer um that's that that digs into uh you know goes to much more detail into the last show the the you know the CBS show and taking words out of my mouth here okay good this is good I had a question on that yes yes I I think you know a lot of people that was like a that was one criticism of the book and now I've had enough years of distance to be like there's there's some Merit to that I I think that there's uh of that the book could be twice as long the it was definitely a a choice to not make it so because I've never liked these big do stop um bios that are only for the the people who are obsessed with the person that said there as naiden Henley now I think naen was the first Canadian that we've had on the show and um one of the high ho babes so for years and years and years you would see her come out and present a meat platter or or a prize of some sort or be in a in an extra of some sort and and you know when they needed a beautiful woman uh to be on staff I mean you know worldclass model been on the cover of of of magazines and and all sorts of different uh spreads inside fashion magazines uh lives in Montreal right now she and I go back and forth quite a bit I just appreciate naen so so much and uh again uh she and Rick sheckman had a very cool she used to go down and have dinner all the time in the in in the control room so especially during the double shows uh she would go down there and hang out in the control room and and and uh and and I'm really grateful that Rick connected naen and I and and and just again a fantastic gal um she's doing some really really cool things for uh for the deaf or those who are heart of hearing uh she is as well and and um this next year she's going to get that out there a lot more and I want to use this you know as this platform gets bigger and bigger and bigger um I want to use uh that to help promote what it is that she's doing she wants to make the world a better place for people who can't hear and I really appreciate that about naen she's got a heart of gold really awesome gal with the guys I love them they were so sweet so Way's do a shout out to Shey right now because Shey loves you as well and he's one of oh I love Shey he's so sweet but they're all so nice you know so every time we'd have break instead of going off and having dinner somewhere else or whatever I would just go downstairs to the basement the lower level and I would go sit with all the guys and have dinner with them and they were just wonderful they're just so nice you know they like all the grips everybody like the camera guys just everyone all the tech guys they would all be down there eating dinner because it was catered you know they all dinner was part of their show uh I mean part of I think CBS furnished that so I would always go down and just hang out with them because they were just so sweet and wonderful always felt to me like a family there know I just felt like I was hanging out with like my brothers or something after that Jeff Martin's back but he's not alone see Jeff in the course of his episode talked about how he shared an office with uh Gerard Mulligan and Jerry Mulligan I mean Jerry Mulligan's been around he was in season the first year of the Letterman podcast he's not not he was in the in 22 he was on our show and uh Jerry I just appreciate him so much much uh so funny effortlessly funny just I ju I just love him and when I found out that those two had an office I said hey guys I've had this vision of having uh and by the way this is also something that I'd like to see for 24 I'd like to see more double shows um I've got a commitments from you know Steve Young and Steve O'Donald imagine having them on at the same time well we've talked about it already so hopefully we can make that happen sooner than later but we had Jerry and Jeff on at the same time that was a very very fun episode episode and and just listening to those two riff off each other and and and whatnot it was it was it was great fun uh Jeff said to Jeff Martin said to me I don't know that you know people don't want me on again I was just not no no no it was a fantastic episode and and really shows the power that there are so many an anecdotes many times that the first time a guest is on here we're just hitting the tip of the iceberg because we're doing all the introduction stuff and all that man just to get into it like we did with these two guys that was a lot of fun there was a tradition on the show when a writer would leave and they were very in the early days they're very loose about this you got a better offer in California people would just come and the tradition was you would go to Dave's secretary Lori yeah or assistant whatever and make an appointment to talk to Dave after the show and people pretty much knew what that was so one point Kevin Kin did this he said I want to talk to I G talk to Dave after the show they said oh okay and he came in and he said to Dave Dave uh I'm leaving the show and I'm G to uh work on uh what the f children did he go to Married with Children after that married with Children yes and Dave said oh I believe the first part okay uh now we get to now this is gonna be a hard section A little bit um we lost Rick sheckman on on March 10th of 2023 and um I I I've told the story before and and but again you know back to the San Lee thing every comic book is somebody's first comic book for those who have you know jumped onto the Letterman podcast at this point uh Rick sheckman they called him the film coordinator 32 years uh from late night all the way you know the early early early on late night like right near the very beginning and I mean he was contract for a little while and they realized they were paying him so much money that it would be cheaper to bring him on staff and he never left and um Rick sheckman was there the entire run uh on camera many times uh you know as Elvis um uh uh and many other roles as well he died a lot on camera Bruce Willis killed him a bunch of times I just um there's a whole bunch of Rick sheckman stuff out there that you can go watch on the official Channel please do please go watch it including his memorial service um and we I'll get to that in a minute in a few minutes here um in the urine review but um so before I decided to start this show uh there's a whole Evolution that really started um about a month before Dave retired as to how this show came about um I call it the lily pads that led to this thing well about 20 of those lily pads in a row to do with Rick sheckman uh including permission I don't know if that's the right word empowerment um I suffer from a lot of imposter syndrome and I'm working on that and uh 2023 has really helped with that in this but Rick and I became friends in 2020 when I was down at Children's hospital with my granddaughter there's a cancer has um there's a lot of downtime in cancer uh there's a lot of slow time when it comes Toc cancer a lot of hurry up and wait and um uh I wrote about my experience with um the show while I was down there I wrote this like 15,000 Word document it's called the letter Manifesto It's out there somewhere it's out there it's on it's on the website and a few other places um and then I put it out there on Facebook and this is a very crude version of it uh it's been edited and refined since then but Rick read it and uh um and and and and we reached out to each other it was actually through Scott Ryan author of last days of Letterman um and and that's how we got connected and uh and Rick and I just started corresponding and sometimes it'd be a phone call or an email um but and sometimes it'd be over chat but anyway we would just go back and forth and and and uh he uh Rick um I I think he was vetting me a little bit making sure I wasn't freakish or at least the wrong kind of freakish I guess but we connected on so many things we're both collectors and and and uh um memorabilia guys and comp book guys and and and and pro wrestling and all this other stuff but anyway so Rick and I connected and and I'm a big podcast fan and I've been waiting for this show forever I know that there are people who have who watched this show or listen to this show and are unbelievable disappointed in it um you know maybe because it's not officially a worldwide pants or because it's uh you know it's not you know a formal staff member that sort of thing what for whatever reason or just straight up my inadequacies I'm not sure uh but the kernel of commonality between those people and me was we're podcast fans and we've been waiting for a letterman podcast forever uh and I I was waiting for the show forever I mean i' listened to mark malov Carson podcast and every single time he'd have a letterman staffer on I'd be riveted and don't get me wrong I listen to you know again shout out to Mark malov the Carson podcast it's an awesome awesome show but whenever he'd have a letterman staffer on I'd be just riveted ready to go yes awesome and so but Rick knew this and and we would talk and I said Rick the Laren podcast needs to exist and there's this whole story about how he guessed it on the Carson podcast and and and at that point there um he helped me make the decision to start this show and uh you know I get emotional talking about him again um the episode that came out after Jerry and Jeff uh was my tribute episode to Rick and and it's just me you know you know talk about a therapy session that episode kind of was a bit of a therapy session um but it was an hour hour and a bit whatever it was foret I don't know how long an hour and 26 minutes and uh and it was me talking about my friend and and and and you know if you have some time go back and listen to that episode not for me not for any vanity of any sort but because I talk a lot about Rick and and and the world should know about Rick they really really should um we lost an incredibly valuable resource when we lost Rick this year on March 10th and so anyway that was the tribute episode my usual shout out Chism I watched last night he had Felicia Collins from the um lettering band as his guest really good show thank you Shy part two is even better and it's longer too thank you very much for saying that I appreciate it very very much yeah because again you know I've known Felicia God knows how many years I never really I talked to her a few times but this was like really interesting yeah it's on I mean again I'm I'm sounding like a shill but you away a lot of Letterman people on Jeff Martin people like that Steve O'Donnell and they're just very he's a very good interviewer let me thank you for saying that your check is in the mail I hope you accept Canadian dollars the episode that came out after that uh was Alex Bennett um Alex Bennett was Rick's best friend for 40 something years he's also a broadcast he's a radio Legend he Alex hates what I call him that but he is he's in his 80s now um he was there he was a type of Howard Stern type character before Howard Stern showed up um amazing uh history John lennin Abby Hoffman um a lot of uh very very comedians I mean during his time in San Francisco he had a show on Live 105 and you know all these comedians of the day would be on this show and and and Alex is just a really cool guy and he and Rick got along really well um and and and so the week after uh Rick's episode Alex came on here and and and we had a a really nice conversation um a tribute to Rick but also talking about uh Alex in his own right and and his different connections to the show uh Robert Morton sold him cable once this is before Morty you know became a producer television guy he he sold Alex Bennett cable and he was a huge fan of Alex just a lot of really neat little Echoes uh before the show happened you started uh creating ties to the show without even knowing it like years beforehand like um The Legend has it that Robert Morton that Morty sold you a cable package and when he did he was a gigantic fan of yours uh at the time this is when you were in New York this is after the you know the John lennin Abby Hoffman years kind of thing you had back out he was going door to door selling cable Robert Morton shows up at your door to sell you cable did he know that you were the the person behind the door you know something it's strange um no and I don't think when I bought it from him he you know knew it or I I may have already bought it I may have already had cable I don't know and he was there with I'm trying to remember the other guy's name he became the head of programming comedy programming at showtime and and they were Pals and they would go door too selling cable um after Alex Bennett was and you want to talk about bucket list moments oh God this one kicks me right in the balls because I wish Rick would have known Rick knew this was going to happen but I wish I wish Rick would have listened to this episode Rick Rick listened to the episodes and he watched the show and he loved what we were doing here he loved the long form he loved that it went beyond you know 20 minutes of servy type questions headline type stuff he loved that we went deep and um he knew how much I wanted to have Bill Carter on this show author of The Late Shift the war for late night among mother amazing books but but but Bill Carter uh The Late Shift movie on HBO Infamous famous whatever you want to call it Bill Carter um was was that and and and whose idea was the The Late Shift book Robert Morton lots of circles here and uh having bill on was an absolute dream come true I've been wanting to talk to him uh since I was in high school and and actually having a conversation with him was was incredible I hope to have Bill on again this year and uh we'll go from there but uh having Bill Carter on was was amazing what I was trying to do with the book now if if that story had occurred while I was covering uh if I knew about it when I was covering just day-to-day stuff I would have written it I would have written it on the basis oh Dave got a phone call from Johnny Carson I would have written it just on the basis that Dave said it happened I would have said Letterman said he got a this is how we made the decision that would have been enough because it was a personal event he could have told me that story and I would have believed him but in in the form I was doing I wanted to get a an actual storytelling going so when people are reading it it doesn't read like a newspaper it reads like a novel kind of like right and the best review I got for that book and I got reviews my mother could have written could not have written and they were crazy over the top great reviews but one review was it's written like a thriller and I was like yes that's sort of what I was doing that was it after that we had episode 58 Glenn borders and Glenn was part of the Christmas episode last week we put a clip of him in there but the special effects guy um and he was in the in different departments for uh for for Late Show he actually moved over to the Late Show with Stephen Kar as well uh really love Glenn very very much and it was funny when I went out to to New York for Rick's Memorial um hanging out with uh uh with Steve Wier and and his amazing wife Lori uh we they took me they they took me to a diner near their place and first person we run into is Glenn borders and he just kind of looks at me and goes like what are you doing here and you know big hugs and and I just I I love Glenn so much he's great great great guy um friend of the show and uh made the desk vibrate made desk Dave's desk vibrate snow Darlene loves app at last episode so after Glenn we had mark malov on again and and again the host of the Carson podcast the brainchild of the Carson podcast uh I look at Mark you want to talk about aspirations and and and things intentions that I want to throw out there you know Mark had I forget how many episodes of the Carson podcast 400 something I believe and and um he now is doing a project about Johnny Carson it's possible that dreams can come true and it is a dream come true for him and I just I am his biggest cheerleader and also been incredibly inspired by him because he came along and he wanted to do something and he started doing something and it turned into something else and it turned into something else and it's just really led him down a different path and this is one of those things where I just want to say to people if you got a dream of some sort go follow it whatever it looks like I'm not saying you know I'm not saying sell everything and all that stuff maybe maybe some people that's that's what they want to do I don't know but even I'm a financial planner by trade right now and and and and if I can I mean if this evolves into something where I could do something like this fulltime my goodness but even if not Mark gave me the inspiration that you can get a lot of joy out of this life if you can just move a little bit closer to the things that you dream about instead of just fantasizing about it you know and if I can help somebody um make a decision to move towards your dream whatever that might be a little bit um I'm going to do it but it's not my idea I got it from Mark and others who have done the same thing and I just appreciate Mark malov so so much having him on this show and I mean we got to get him on again this year um sooner than later I love Mark he's such a such a great guy normally when we're done recording they're like can I tell you something I'm like tell me whatever you want and they start just y everything starts coming out that they don't feel and rightfully so for in some cases that should be on there and uh definitely Rick was one of those people but there's certain people also and I'm not going to mention there's somebody else somebody letter been related that would just be like dropping these like things that I was like I can't believe you're saying this on the podcast and they're like um well you're not going to ER put this in the podcast you'll edit this part out I'm like yes I will I no I will I'll protect you sure but yeah Rick was one of those people to me personally when I have somebody on it's their episode and we'll talk about whatever they want to Y um if they want to say things and they want to keep it in and they're comfortable with it I I'll put it unless it like I really think it's going to hurt the that the guest or really another person and I'll just make a judgment call but um a lot L of times they like no keep that in when something I wouldn't necessarily put it in and it wasn't nothing scandalous but um after that episode 60 Darren Cox the guy who is our very very very first guest host uh co-host I should say of the irritable dad syndrome podcast um and and episode one guest of the Letterman podcast and and we had him on here because I wanted to make sure I tested the system to make sure it could work but also because Darren and I are like brothers from another mother we really are I love Darren and um and just seeing what him and Mike are doing with irritable adad syndrome here's another guy who's chasing his dream he's been in the television business for a long time uh worked for a CBS affiliate in fact so just love Darren so much and uh I'm certain his name will come up again in this year in review this is gonna be tough to show oh my gosh back up on this what so when I when I uh went in interview for my very first job in television this is August of uh 93 I walked in they had this hanging on the wall they knew Dave was coming and all the CBS Affiliates got one of these and when they offered me the job um I was like fantastic and I had a great interview I interviewed with a guy named Rusty and a guy named Al Gregory and I hit it off with both of them and I felt comfortable enough to say hey um if it's possible now that I'm an employee here what do I got to do to get this and it is a life life size poster of day I've never seen that and by life siiz I mean it is life siiz it it is his height okay I had one of those of Wayne Gretzky growing up I uh that is that is fantastic I've never seen that okay now we get to the anniversary episode Paul shaer our anniversary our one-year anniversary episode April 20th of 2022 is when we started the same anniversary week uh in 2023 Paul Schaefer was on our show did I think that that would happen at the beginning of this thing nope nope sure didn't um another Canadian of course metal uh he's a a recipient of the Order of Canada which is the highest award a civilian can get here in Canada and uh just I adore Paul he is fantastic uh saw him actually two times later on in 23 after we met for the first time uh when he came on the show could not have been more uh more gracious and kind I just want to thank him I want to thank Olivia um and and and uh well you know what I want to thank will Lee for making that happen helping to make that happen as well um just Paul is a super super guy he is a friend of the Letterman podcast and as far as I'm concerned this year um when we have him on again he agreed to come back on the show again when we can make it happen uh I want if he's doing it on an iPad or something like that I want that to be on top of a piano and uh wouldn't that be fun if if we have Paul on if if Paul's going to come on again it won't be a surprise this year uh we'll tell people in advance and then people can send in questions and things like that as well we want to make this a community event when Paul is on the show again the idea presented here was that Andy would do two shows two nights in a row he'd appear the guest on Letterman show two nights in a row first night as himself Andy pman the conceptual comedian second night as the his alter ego character that he does Tony clipon yes sir so and Tony's going to perform yeah with me and the band so the thing was though that when Andy got there he was all about you know when Tony gets here he's he's going to be you know he's very difficult to work with you better be on top of your game Tony Clifton gets and I'm just saying you know don't I'll be able to Tony don't worry about it but I thought you remember that show Max headro oh of course absolutely shout out to like having to work with Max hedro or something um oh speaking of community events okay another uh aspiration or uh an intention for this year I would love to do live Letterman podcasts would it be cool if uh we could you know fill a theater somewhere or be part of a Convention of some sort where uh we bring up somebody who was high ranking within the Letterman uh production for a long period of time or someone like that like if we bring up a Steve Young and interview him in front of an entire uh an audience an auditorium of some sort how cool would that be I think that would be a lot of fun then film the whole thing release it as an episode I mean a lot of podcasts are doing that these days I look at what the boys at smartless are doing or uh Conan does it too um how how fun would that be I think we'd have a lot of blast doing that so that's something in 2024 I'd love to kick off uh I would love to you know I'm I'm trying to figure out a way to get Tom dreon up here uh to do a show um where I where I live here and if that happens I mean man we could we could shoot an episode of the Letterman podcast so easily that way with with dreon or some of these other people that'd be a lot of fun so that's a that's another intention for for 24 that uh I'd like to throw out there for the Letterman podcast after that Adam Lorenzo now Adam's an awesome awesome guy you want to talk about a guy manifest things holy smokes this is a guy that uh has a career in television and it all started from being a faxer he's he's the only faxer we've had on the show here so far I want to get other faers if I if I possibly can as well but what an awesome episode that that that was um it all started with a mailbag segment and then he um he also wrote a book as well and part of the reason that we had him on the show to talk about his Letterman stuff but also to talk about his book all I need to know I learned from my college bar uh when he was in college he had he owned a bar and and and it's a pretty amazing story Adam's got a lot of very very cool um he's lived a very cool life and he's not an old guy by any stretch of the imagination but he has had a lot of very cool life experiences and he talks about them in the show we talk about Al Franken and some of the other some of the other things that he did he went over to to to Late Late Show um and and uh um just a great great guy I appreciate Adam very much to this day he keeps reaching back out to the show and to me and and uh uh he's one of our biggest cheerleaders and I just love Adam to death he's such a great guy and now here's the funny part so now it happens I'm so green I call the show awesome I say hey I just got a CBS mailbag on what am I getting paid awesome that's fantastic so this guy I have no idea who he is he's so nice he sends me two tickets to go see Letterman this is what so cool so now you have to realize now the manifestation is happening I go you know bring my girlfriend I'm like out of my mind you know I'm waiting in line I'm pretty much pitching anybody I see the security guards anybody relating to the show how do you get I can put myself in your skin right now hearing that episode 63 Carter Baye oh man was that fun uh traded some correspondence with him over the over the holidays here and and uh you know Carter uh and his writing partner Craig Thomas we'll get to him in a minute but they um you want to talk about a prolific amount a prolific volume of of of stuff that was put into Late Show uh and made made uh made the show extras um Allan calter segments and then of course the mailbag they ran the mailbag for a long time and uh Carter really really smart guy really funny guy I appreciate him so much and kind Carter is just a really kind man um I really appreciate Carter Bay very much and then he and Craig of course left and and and became the showrunners and created how I Met Your Mother um and and we both in both their episodes in Carter and Craigs we talk about that we talk about how the bar and How I Met Your Mother was based on McGee the place that all of the uh the the most of the Late Show staff would go to especially nights after Double tapings and and and uh I just really appreciated the time and effort that uh that Carter gave for us um and then he led me to Craig after that so so so that's how that happened um really really cool having him on like the headwriter would take like a few topics down to Dave and and Pitch them to Dave and then y one get approved when it would get approved basically then then we would all Shuffle off to our to our offices the assignments for the day would arrive in the form of these xerox's like like the the the headwriter would say okay we got this we got this this this uh topic approved and he would say to the intern tell the writers you know the topic is this and we we want a passive jokes due at 11 o' and so you would like you'd be sitting in your office just twiddling your thumbs and then the intern would come by with a with a Xerox that just said in big letters just written handwritten in big letters you know top 10 things Bill Clinton did on vacation uh then another guy the guy who actually helped he and his writing partner actually took over for Carter and Craig when they left Jonathan green and Jonathan Green um you know was was a writer for Late Show for um for a few years and then he went off and and he ended up becoming part of the show Superstore and uh and the office as well actually in the tail end of the office as as as well working for um working with Justin Spitzer I should say so These Guys these writers are just fantastic guys and uh I can't wait to have I want to have them both back on I want to have Carter and Craig on at the same time and I want to have Jonathan and and Gabe on at at the same time you could sometimes you could hear sometimes you're hoping to hear Dave laugh Al I mean you're always hoping to hear Dave laugh but sometimes you can hear him actually laughing at the thing you can't he's it's you can't really hear what his feedback is but uh often he would give he would approve something sometimes he would just be like okay we're not doing that y other times it would be he'd approve something but have a few little tweaks like change this change that they would come rushing out of the room hand you back the tape and go okay go make this help help Randy basically you're running back to the editing and there was so many times where you're just watching the clock the show is about to start sometimes the monologue had even started uh while you're still finishing your piece because yeah you know there was a little time still to get it ready before he you know he was gonna introduce it at the desk so that takes us to episode 65 anyway yeah May 20th Robert Morton came came on the show and uh I I love Morty I he just he is such a a cool guy to bounce things off of um he gives zero FS like he just he tells it like it is in his mind and um he in my opinion he's he's strong uh strongly opinionated I think I can see why uh you know people a lot of people viewed him as a as as an amazing leader um executive producer of of Late Night with David Letterman and and and then late show and uh boy did we have a great two-part episode that was a lot of fun having him on um Bombshells dropped the biggest one for me um was the idea that there was talk about Disney buying worldwide pants that was a bombshell to me that I just was blown away by I had never heard it before when Bill Carter comes back on I'm going to ask him if they ever talked about that and um and I hope to have Mike Ovitz on one day as well there's another you want to throw another intention out there I hope to have Mike Ovitz on one day but uh Robert Morton is unbelievable I I I call him a friend now he is my friend uh I I appreciate that so so much next time I'm down in La um we're doing lunch um and how cool is that yeah let's do lunch and we will and and I just he has been a real um friend of this show as well and he's cheering us on Mor's cheering us on as to what we're doing and that just feels amazing Ovitz and I hatched a plan and the plan was what if Disney buys worldwide pants and if Disney buys worldwide pants and our library and our assets and our commitments from CBS yes Everybody Loves Raymond we hadn't done the pilot yet if Disney buys all that one they' pay a fortune for it two Michael Ovitz and David lman would be partners and he'd be back in business with Ovitz holy I've never heard this this that's amazing Why didn't it happen at the time Letterman and and and this is how I suisee it happened I think there were other factors in my getting fired but I had always kind of put two and two together after Robert Morton Rob Stover another brother from another from another mother my Vancouver uh brother he he lives he lives about 350 kilometers away from me which is I guess about what 250 miles away from me and has had some amazing times I'm gonna have him on back on in 24 as well uh because he just came back from New York uh went on Saturday Night Live and a bunch of other things he came on and talked about um you know uh uh uh uh going to see Dave's Last show and um that was a really fun episode and again you know some people who who who it's funny how we're sort of dividing not dividing our audience there's slight polarization in the audience of of this show you know there are some people who think that we just need to it needs to be um just people who worked for the show and keep it on track Chisum you know talk about the show itself and and there are some people who are very strongly opinionated when it comes to that uh where I should talk very little and and just ask questions and and it should be them talking there are some people who are very very very um structured in how they believe that this show should be and then we go right to the opposite where there are some people that are like just shoot the bow with people shoot the bow with people have anybody on you can have anybody on who has an opinion about Letterman and and and go from there and and and uh that's where I'm kind of in the Middle where it's yeah okay let's do the conversation thing but let's there's got to be a connection of some sort and and um for those who haven't listened or watched the episodes with po people who have had a brush with the show um or are are are just big within the community and have something to say please go and watch this episode with Rob it is so good it is a really fun episode and and it just it's happy you know that's the thing about a lot of these people that that that that come on who are in that category they're just happy shows it's a happy way to spend an hour spend 90 minutes or if you listen to it on Fast Forward uh you know 37 minutes or whatever it is it's it's you know the show's not negative right we're just positive um and and and we are that way we're designed that way for a reason there's a lot of you want to go see negativity in this world it's super super easy just open up the first page of of go Google news or or or or or social media or whatever you'll see you'll see negative stuff there it is it's right there in front of you but that's not what this is this is this shows a celebration and um who better to celebrate with than other people who just enjoy celebrating it and you know what you end up being in a better mood after listening to it unless you're really on that one side side where you think it's just a complete waste of time then I got nothing for you uh but Rob's an amazing guy I hope to have him on again this year after that a very cool one uh and again bring into the aspirations or the um or or or what we would like to do in 2024 uh I really want to go down the Late Late Show path further everything worldwide pants did including Ed including Everybody Loves Raymond um all the other things that that worldwide pants has been a part of my next guest for that matter um as as as time progresses um I want to get to it all now I think yeah I've been I've talked about my love for the late The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson um for me my golden age of Letterman was Far later than a lot of people who who who have been Enthusiast of Dave for a long time people talk about the last few years of late night first few years of Late Show absolutely people talk about the experimental years the early years of late night for sure love them all they're they're they're great but their evolutions they're different incarnations of the same um of the same program um my golden age was in the I don't know 200 2008 right up to the end of The Late Late Show where you could literally watch Dave and then Conan and then Craig Ferguson and whichever incarnation of Conan you're thinking of whether it's late night uh whether it's um you know his his his seven month run on The Tonight Show or Conan on TBS which was absolutely fantastic and then Craig Ferguson um the next episode of of the Letterman podcast that we get to in 2023 was Josh Robert Thompson who played the sidekick to Craig Ferguson uh Jeffrey Peterson the this the robot skeleton and many many many other things and we had a long podcast it was awesome we talked about all sorts of stuff um and I'm going to do a plug here uh Josh Robert Thompson now it never got picked up and um but he shot a pilot for something called the Josh Robert Thompson show and it included a lot of the things that made Craig so great puppets and and and and and and songs and characters and things it was really good one episode it's on YouTube go watch it it's fantastic highly recommend it and the episode with Josh was really good I would love to have him on again as well we had a great um kinship uh and and uh and just hearing his perspective he tells a story about when um he tells a couple of stories it's neat to hear his version of like you know people you know what Dave was like and and Paul and and how you know da you know just people know that right people have heard uh how things were you know there's books been books WR written you know by Bill Carter by others um but they don't talk about that as much with Craig Ferguson and Josh talks a little bit about his Dynamic with Craig as well Craig being the star that he is and and the host that he was um and hopefully will be again I think he will be again I mean there's there's there's rumors out there saying that Craig Ferguson might be coming back in some form or another indication uh but listening to Josh talk about that Peter lale uh from The Tonight Show then to Dave's you know if there was there's one Sage uh that Dave had Peter Lali would certainly be that and then he became uh trenched with the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson um you know Josh tells a Peter some really cool Peter Lali anecdotes in his episode so I highly recommend the Josh Robert Thompson episode So eventually I went to Craig's off I just I directly went to his office and I knocked on the door which everyone told me not to do they're like don't no he's don't disturb Craig he's in his you know meditation chamber whatever the hell he like his door's open he's fine now I need to talk to you for a minute I got these fellas over here pushing me around I don't care for it and uh he's like yeah don't don't listen to them man listen just do what you do man don't worry about it and I'll tell you that was the greatest thing he could have said because the last year of that show anybody who watched that show yeah um boy oh boy it's not like I wanted to say anything that was offensive it's not like we were trying it's just that you gota you got to give me a little room yeah to play because if he's throwing me a softball I I have to I have to swing for it after that we have Craig Thomas Craig Thomas Carter Bay's partner and he is just uh you know just as cool as as as as Carter uh you can see how the two definitely got along they would play off each other they would um they complimented each other very very well in their writing and uh I just loved talking to Craig Thomas about his experience working uh for Le show and then his moving over to How I Met Your Mother as well of course and and and um everything in between um just a really really cool guy and uh a lot of insights on there we were young we were very ambitious we didn't know how in over our head we were we were confident based on nothing I mean not really BL ignorance y we were blissfully ignorant ambitious based on nothing we were plenty unconfident actually but we were ambitious godamn it we kept on asking homework we'd put our hand up and say teacher can we have extra homework and that took the form of uh we volunteered to take over the mailbag at likeon six or seven months in whoever was doing the mailbag had had left and there was an opening of running that segment and we just ambitiously went to the executive producer we said give us the mailbag segment because we were starting to get some stuff on the air people sort of knew we were doing a pretty good job and we we put up our hand God blessed them and for all the opportunities they gave to very young us every now and again I stumble upon a photo of myself from my Letterman years from the age 22 to age 26 and in the photo I look four years old like and Carter does too all right well let's see how long that is I don't know how long that's going to be but that is uh our episode that's part one we're going to call that part one of the year in review uh of the Letterman podcast will come back and do one more and go through the rest of the guests on the show um for this last year but I mean I look at that first half of the year and man Paul and Morty within like six weeks of each other like like just really special really special having um you know the year that we did last year and and again I hope that uh this next year um we can say that that that just as special things or or or or unique things happen for our show and then some of the things that happened in 23 we could do a do over and and have uh even more experiences with some of these people in in in 2024 all I know is is that um I'm so grateful to be on this uh this Mr Toad's Wild Ride to be in the wagon uh going down the hill seeing the jump coming up not knowing where how how we're going to land but just really being present um right as we're about to hit that jump I'm so grateful I'm so grateful for every single one of you who have listened to this and uh I mean it's your fault that this thing is still going and the the the new viewers or listeners well okay we're just going to keep her we're g to keep her going so thank you so much um that has been again once again what the Letterman podcast is one sponsor right now one sponsor only that is hellodd deli.com go to hellodd deli.com to get Late Show with David Letterman merchandise your only place to get official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise uh and uh Rupert G packs and sends off these items himself personally uh if he ask really nicely he might go to the kitchen and grab an onion and add onions to your order can't do it from the deli anymore unfortunately that has been another episode the special year- end review episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants