John Moran Handed David Letterman The Microphone Hundreds Of Times

hey it's me John Beckerman and you are watching the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum and coincidentally I am Mike Chisum that's your bit right that's your bit that's my bit doing your bit thank you buddy welcome once again to the Letterman podcast my name is Mike Chisum all right today we got John Moran now John uh John has had a long career in broadcasting uh going all the way back to when he was an intern or not even intern i he was he was in the page program but before that yeah there was an internship actually with W uh NBC working for 30 Rock in the uh in the in the 70s he was there during the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live um you know was starting to get his broad his chops on the technical side of broadcasting and um you know went through a bunch of things that we go through you know all the way back to when he was delivering TV got sides I just love the idea that as a child he was taken so taken with television and and wanted to get into it as a as a um as a career and did so and moved towards that and never really looked back and for over four decades was in this career uh in ' 86 was hired in uh by CBS and and did a whole bunch of stuff in the videotape library and a few other things uh for CBS at the broadcast Center and then in 1992 uh the news com that that David Letterman was bringing his dog and pony show over to the network at uh you know talking about this career that he has had with Late Show uh he was the guy during the Q&A that would hand Dave the mic and get it back now I mean he was a utility uh he did boom mic stuff he did all sorts of stuff for late show but he was there from the very beginning to the very end we go through a bunch of the memories with John here today it is a fantastic conversation now I will tell you uh there was a some there were some uh technical challenges we've had those on the show before I will do my very best to edit those as much as we can but the stories that he tells uh stories about uh Hal gurnie how stories about Jerry Foley um Steve calman so we talk about some of the some of the crew that we've we've lost up to this point and and given some really nice tributes but then also uh Dave Dorset one of his best friends in the world uh camera 2 for Letterman for so many years and um just a lot of the different things that would happen during the show uh I just really appreciate Johnny in his time today Letterman podcast is one sponsor one sponsor only that is hellodd deli.com go to hellodd deli.com for official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise curated by rert G himself uh Letterman podcast is proud to present my uh techn technically challenged conversation with John Moran John I am so happy that you have taken time uh not just time but you have actually taken meticulous time you have made sure that your presentation is going to be as good as possible you've gone to a friend of yours who's a voiceover guy um in the business I just I I dig that you've gone to his studio um because you've taken you know you coming on the Letterman podcast very very seriously the amount of notes the amount of pictures you sent me um I am really grateful that you've taken time to do this and and and really when you think about the career that you have had in broadcasting um boy it is sure nice to meet somebody who has has really uh curated so many of these amazing memories John you've had quite the career in broadcasting welcome welcome welcome to the Letterman podcast thank you very much Mike it's my pleasure and I got to you know give special thanks to you directly to keeping the Letterman iconic show alive for everybody to share it's all about sharing right that's just it man it's uh you know I'll I'll tell you one of the things that and I've mentioned this on the show before but I I I'm astounded how quickly the world forgot Johnny Carson and and um you know we're talking about a guy who was the biggest he was the biggest star in the world he was the the you know the most recognizable face on the planet and um and and and uh how quickly uh some of these memories fade well with what you all did night after night forever so many people depending on you as as their consistent mark to end the day I just think it's important to uh to go back and take a look at some of these things and to see how the show was made I mean all these little teeny tiny details that people may not necessarily understand are people who are are quite literally you know crafts people at the highest level of whatever discipline it is that they are part of the show I want to go into you because you obviously had a career in broadcasting you're one of these guys that had a career in broadcasting you worked for CBS for a long time before Late Show showed up I want to get into all of that today uh yes you were the guy who at the Q&A he Dave would hand the microphone to afterwards when he was finished the Q&A you're that guy but you're so much more than that and you've got a lot of memories I want to talk about that let's go back did you used to deliver TV Guide as a boy is that true and ALS yeah uh we gotta start off with where it all started sure not me personally well me personally but where it led to yeah point to point Z yeah so uh most of my buddies had newspaper routes I tried it it lasted about a month because on Thursdays all all of the uh advertisements were packed in there and you had a a newspaper that was like that big yep carry this Satchel of sorts a sack around your neck yeah and it's like 40 pounds and I said to myself especially when it was raining yeah I didn't need that so the entry point was hey I like TV I want to be in TV why not deliver TV guides I had like 27 maybe 30 or more customers y in the immediate neighborhood very light it was 15 cents cheap back in the day y I delivered TV guides so one particular week there was a picture of a CBS television camera and they were promoting the CBS fall season right so I looked at this picture and I said maybe that's what I want to do I want to get into television maybe TV cameraman it's kind of a dream but I had a vision to go there and you know fast forward 44 years in television and movies you know point A to point B but the TV Guide delivering TV guides was the kind of the starting point but really one of the original starting points was my mom and stepdad I think it was on my 14th birthday they got tickets to The Ed Sullivan Show we wound up front row Center in the balcony Michael Jackson was on the show wow and I'm sure you'll have cutaway shots of Michael with his purple hat singing Whatever the song was at the time and I looked down literally I was like holy that's what I want to do at Agee 14 yeah yeah there was the TV Guide hey I saw the TV Camera wanted to be in television but that kind of uh brought it to fruition for me yeah you know thinking ahead that this is what I want to do I saw all the cameras the lights the boom I saw Ed with the you know this and uh it was a live show yeah uh maybe you're too young to remember red Sullivan maybe no well of course I mean you know um um he's he's in The Ether uh in a in in a in a pretty major way before I get to the the the question the next question here what was the name of the newspaper and what town were you in uh the Newark Star Ledger Newark Star Ledger and you were obviously in nework it would be weird if uh you know you were somewhere else the outskirts it was like kinan New Jersey oh there we go okay now down New Jersey um you you know the idea of the The Whimsy of seeing the cover of a TV Guide seeing a television camera and being you know kind of uh zeroed in magnetically attracted to it going and seeing Ed Sullivan I mean seeing Michael Jackson This Is The Jackson 5 Michael Jackson at the time um you know he's he's you know a superstar uh of a young lad at this point now I know like a few months ago I went to see Kimmel tape of show and for me every time I would go to late show every time I would see uh one of these shows I was always obviously I was entertained with what was going on but I was fascinated looking around at all of the people who were putting the show on that was something that I just really really zeroed in on and enjoyed was that something that uh that that you felt even at 14 were you were you taken by the whole experience and the environment around you yeah absolutely the the the lights the cameras and I even nudged my mom and said I think that's what I want to be when I grow up kind of thing you know Y and I was like then uh several months even couple of years later I was drawing pictures of TV cameras and I'm and I created kind of a vision for myself and and I kind of you know spiritually and otherwise I took it from the universe saying this is what I want there's a book called The Secret you probably know about it I did do basically it's uh concentrate on what you want yeah not what you don't want yeah try to make that kind of a a thing in my life so I was just fixated television television tele and there was a time when I was in high school where I was in radio I did on air on air news for a local radio station in northern New Jersey in Newton New Jersey was the call sign do you remember the call sign yeah it was uh W NJ wxl FM wonderful and I did weekends and this was the time when it during the Nixon impeachment hearings oh wow so I took it upon myself I bounced it off the news director at the time I was I think uh I want to say 20 21 MH and in in in college and I said to him I want to go to Washington to cover the the hearings MH so I had access to the local Congressman at the time Joe maraziti a long story short there was no security back then I went right right up to Joe's office yeah and I said Joe I want to interview you would it be okay he was on the house Judiciary Committee for the impeachment of President Nixon so he says come here come come with me kid he took me down to a news conference that he was in yeah and here we have Sam Donaldson Ted Coppel all the guys with their microphones yeah and I'm there you know barely 21 maybe or 20 whatever the age was yeah got my little W NJ microphone and I'm ask asking questions you know and then I after the news conference I went up to uh Congressman mari's office Congressman mari's office and uh I said I'd like to do a phoner report you know what a phoner report is right yep yep I literally took the phone and I I gave a short tease and here is Congressman Mar's response y to the proed ings which occur today and I literally handed him the phone he did a I don't know like a 35 second sound bite y I took it back to the station packaged it and it was on the air actually I was in high school not College I was in high school wow maybe it was uh sophomore junior in high school yep maybe senior um but the next day some of my teachers holy crap I heard you on the radio you went down you went down to Washington and and did that I well yeah so anyway that is fantastic so so you know and you you you mentioned the secret earlier the idea of and I mean I mean I'm a walking advertisement for for for literally oh you see something that you want okay just go and try and see what happens and don't look for the things that could go wrong but look for the doors that open and then when you walk through them see what might happen um isn't it funny how when we are when we're either someone doesn't limit us you know whether it be parents or friends or people crabs in the bucket right when you're the crabs crawling up and the other crab comes and and and and pulls them back into the bucket um isn't it funny how when that doesn't happen how oh yeah the the doors that open and and the places that we can go and if you don't you don't know what you don't know and and and and I mean you cut through here here you're wa you're walking around with people who will go on to Be Giants in news and here you are as a as in your formative years hanging out with these people just and and and and hanging with them and and that is just a very very cool thing did you go to school for broadcasting or did you go right into the business and basically just learn uh learn your way up throughout the industry yeah I went to Ramapo College which at the time maybe it still was a state school yeah I majored in Communications of course um my my major was Contemporary Arts which was a a mix of fine and Performing Arts and that opportunity being at at Ropo College led to a couple of internships number one wnbc in New York the second one was the Associated Press and the third one uh boy uh m come to me so many years ago but three internships but the one that made a difference was uh and NBC uh there were 700 applicants only three were to be chosen yeah I was one three and it was the local station WBC and uh gave me an opportunity to look over a lot of shoulders producers directors uh uh I remember my first experience my first show that I observed was a show called not for wom only with uh Frank Field meteorologist Polly Bergen and Barbara Walters Wow first guest Betty Davis wow are you kidding me and I said to the direct uh the producer one of the stage hands uh is it cool for her to be smoking in the studio and then the the response was like uh Betty Davis could do whatever she wants to do I counted I think nine cigarettes or 11 cigarettes uh before it was before the interview was over and I got to meet her hi how you doing you know hi so it was interesting that is very very cool so is that in 30 Rock is that where is that where the uh the location was so you're a young guy um you're interning and suddenly you're in the most famous broadcasting building in the world um is that what led you to become part of the page program yes uh I was a page uh 1977 I worked on the original Saturday Night Live with hackro Belushi Gilda Radner all those people and uh great experience I was right there on the studio floor I was basically a tour guide I gave tours to the network and one kind of funny story one that jumps out at me now I'm thinking about it I had a tour of all of mostly hearing impaired uh young adults and children yeah part of the uh part of the tour was the sound effects demonstration right so we had seen the Saturday Night Live set the Phil Don who set uh a soap opera set master control now we're in the elevator and I turn to the group and I say to them would you all like to see the sound effects demonstration and oops the signer person he signed it and he basically said uh we don't think so so I went on to the next stop but then you had you know you had your script down I mean so you talk about acting and what not you had some Performing Arts uh back then being a you kind of had to have that a little bit right because um you know it was basically a script you were basically going through a a routine every single time and I don't know how many of those you would have done a day but uh it gets you it gets it gets a little bit of acting chops down doesn't it yeah pretty much uh the page program now as we speak you know all the Millennials uh it's they say it is more difficult to get into the NBC page project than it is to get into Harvard yeah and you know I believe it but back in the day you know it was like I went from an internship program to a temporary staff job in scheduling yep where I with uh Biff Henderson the great Biff Henderson yeah you you go way back with Biff so this is the first place that you met Biff well I was a scheduler okay scheduled all the crews uh NBC Nightly News the Soaps um all the NBC shows and of course I would see Biff every single day we were schedulers together from 78 to 1980 yeah had the same boss Tom smiley yeah who he was the original TD on Howdy Duty okay just a little tidbit information there so yeah Biff went on to obviously being a sage manager yep and uh the rest is history as they say absolutely now I'm gonna I'm gonna fast forward really quick and then we can rewind back to this place uh did you know Janice Panino at all yes I worked with her uh she was the HR person over at Letterman yeah so she used to run the page program at NBC did you guys ever Bond over the fact that you were a pagee and she ran that program no that was a that was a different era as they said of course of course I was a page in 77 yeah it was I think it still is uh you have 90 days no what was it a year and a half yep to be a page give tours of the networks work shows Etc yeah and then the the objective is to get you absorbed into the uh system you know by way of and that's exactly what I did I had a series of temp jobs and uh yeah so Biff became a stage manager yeah uh yeah just a great guy and so how long did you stay with NBC before you moved over to the Tiffany network uh let's see uh okay there was the internship yeah then a series of temporary jobs I left NBC in 78 uh 1980 and then I got a job as uh a tech at RCA which uh was in Vernon Township New Jersey yeah we were a station um and videotape playback uh and editing uh facility for Showtime y so gig there was four years from 1980 to 84 I was hired with pretty much no experience the the lovely lady gave me a gave me a real break and so um it it was called out the door in 84 everybody was laid off uh Showtime uh created and built their own Studios and Playback Center in Smithtown Long Island out the door in 84 so at that point there I mean had you okay so 84 you got a kind of a breather here you you've been busy um you know through your formative Years starting to get some uh experience in the industry you get this time where you're laate off was television or broadcasting still Whimsical to you did you still did you fall in love with it and knew that you wanted to stay with it oh absolutely I when the layoff occurred at uh at Showtime I was employed by RCA the air station yep and uh everybody was scrambling what do we do where do we go from here uh a lot of the guys got jobs at CBS as uh in in videotape or uh air control or other areas uh one one gentleman uh co-worker of mine got a got a job at NBC that was Peter Sullivan Peter Sullivan uh great guy he was uh kind of like yeah Peter Solon he he was a shop steward at the time we were believe it or not we were Teamsters yeah uh the ters uh organization had a a television arm and I think a radio arm of uh their operations and uh there was a time where we're almost on strike but it never happened but if you go if you're ever in New Jersey which I don't think you'll be but there's numerous satellite dishes uh which compris the it's RCA americom uh satellite Earth station one very not a funny story but uh they were a satellite tracking facility right they flew the satellites yep and at the time ourc had I don't know 300 satellites he was in the satellite side and suddenly I think he took a nap or something and the satellite the satellite is missing uh oh never be seen again and it would never to be seen again the satellite you it it apparently it went out of it and uh I don't know it probably burnt up in space or maybe it's in Mars I'm not sure I'll have to check on that that's a crazy story to have in your head just just a story that you know oh yeah yeah yeah guy I know he lost a satellite once never to be seen again you know that's a funny story to have in your head yeah that's right that's a big oops um okay so at this point here that's when CBS came a call in uh well I I worked a couple of temp jobs in between I was laid off this uh once for five months another for four months collected Unemployment uh I think it was $180 a week yeah but I bounced back I worked at WPIX the local flag flag Flagship Station in New York uh I did freelance there I uh did a vacation relief job at NBC yeah uh back to my original Roots going back to when I was an intern yeah and uh worked in on air videotape and guess what of all things I I was in I worked the midnight shift came in at about 11:30 walk down the hallway go to the library put up the one inch tape of Late Night with David Letterman yeah so I did the playback of the Letterman show so what does that mean what does that mean for the people who aren't in the business what does that mean the onair playback on air playback I'm the guy that you know literally took the 1in tape yeah up on the machine checked it in with Master Control making sure all the levels were proper and then I would queue it up we had an air copy and a and a standby copy yeah so uh if the if the air copy you know crapped out then uh Master controller would switch to the standby so I I was that guy I was uh uh VR or vacation relief I think it was like five months or so yeah and then I think I I did some freelance work with the Pix or wpx uh March 18th 1986 my first day at CBS and the story I like to tell which really isn't true I I tell the story just for some laughs I go to the men's room it was my second day and I'm at the Ural I look to my right Walter cronite I look to my left Captain Kangaroo again not a true story I that's a joke I like to tell but but it encapsulates perfectly though what you did when you were there these are people that you worked with while you were at at CBS very early on yeah yeah I uh uh my good friend my best friend Dave Dorset okay he he was camera 2 on Letterman absolutely he was uh Walters goto guy camera to yeah uh Dave Dorset 47 years at CBS and Dave did all a tremendous amount of uh bits on the Letterman show Absolutely he was sort of close to the heartbeat you know with Letterman and every oh he got uh all kinds of very fancy gifts from the host and uh so let me ask you let's ask talk about Dave here because we've talked about Dave on the show here before and I wanna I wanna you know that you you you kind of open the door here perfectly you've known him for years you knew him back when um you know at the end of the day and I'm not saying that he wasn't this for late show but you know he's a straight laced veteran camera guy you know working for crun kite working for the CBS broadcast iner doing the you know the heartbeat of of of of CBS he's one of the he's one of the pillars that people could depend on what do you think it was that when late show started that uh that Dave took so much to Dave like what was it about Dorset that uh that Letterman liked so much do you think well largely I think it was the writers they wrote all of these bits y for I was in I want to say maybe a dozen bits y after the you know six or seven bits that I was in oh you got to join the union now all right uh how much does that cost th uh $3,000 all right here's here's my $3,000 I might have bounced a check or something and I joined the union but anyway Sidetrack from that uh Dave was on numerous times different if you go on YouTube you know his Ben still you know oh there's all sorts of yeah Dave dorsett's all over that show Absolutely and we're hoping we're hoping to talk to him at some point that would be so great if we did but we're GNA send him another shout out we said it with George um you know and we've got other episodes coming out too with but I'm glad that you and I can talk about Dave here because he definitely definitely deserves uh some love from this show here so Dave Dorset for sure um you know so so back then yeah before let's before you know let's let's talk about back then is this a guy that took you under his wing is he a guy that uh you know you go for beers afterwards after a broadcast what are we how did the Friendship fill up there well there there were no beers because Dave wasn't he wasn't a drinker yeah but his retirement party I kind of got involved in that uh I took him out for Chinese just around the block and around the corner and uh Jerry Foley uh went up to Dave after the show and uh he said something like Dave don't don't be in a hurry to go home and that was like dorset's cue it's like all right he he knew something was up yeah so I to Chinese and we come back and suddenly there's got to be 150 people uh of course all the crew people and it was uh I I think you you could do cutaway shots when you do the edit uh you know Dave's uh retirement party uh 47 years when he left by the way you knew he was on he he did rather as well he left he left uh CBS Evening News with Dan Rather uh to go to Letterman and Dan Rather threw him a retirement party at yeah Pub down the street Connie Chung showed up a lot of a lot of people and uh hey Dave we're going to miss you you know uh you know you're always welcome back at news so and I worked in the broadcast Center as well uh videotape uh doing on air videotape uh playing back commercials I think I did one or two Super Bowl com uh Super Bowl uh one or two Super Bowls playing back commercials and what a hot seat that was yeah playing back you know multi-million dollar commercials but I I I did that and uh so out of videotape I was there I don't know x amount of years and then the the Letterman opportunity came up and that's a story in itself well and that's we're gonna we're g to get there so so so you know for six years basically you're working for CBS um do you remember when you start first started hearing the Rumblings that uh that Dave might be making the and you guys might be the uh the the receiving end of that the year was 1992 mhm uh it was everybody was full aware fully aware the Press everything you know was they were totally aware of uh of the show coming over and I had a uh how could I put this I had an interest in taking a long walk to over 30 Rock the plaza I figured know I just something drew me to 30 Rock my old stomping grounds I was a page I was you know an intern there yeah yeah I go into the into the building I take a a loop around the entire you know building uh the security entrance you know uh the old page headquarters was right there in the bottom floor yeah and so I come out of the building and I run into a gentleman by the name of Jack sroy mhm turns out he was the director that I referenced when I when I worked on that show not for woman only Barbara Walters and frankfield and I worked with him and I said Jack this is again like 20 years plus later said Jack John Moran I I worked with you on not for women only I don't know if he pretended to REM remember me or if he was sincere but a great guy he's still with us to this day Jack so I basically said Jack I I hear nbbc and the Letterman I hear the Letterman show is coming to CBS says yeah that's true that's that's a great thing I said well I'd love the opportunity to be a part of that yeah I've been PS for x amount of years and it would just be a dream come true I work in videotape G me long spiel like you know a verbal resume of sorts he says I tell you what send me send me your resume and so I sent him my sent him my resume and he did reference the fact he says oh uh by the way I'm I'm good friends with Hal gurnie uh we're golfing Buddies and I'm like oh that's a couple of points there right so apparently he sent the resume to Hal gurny Hal gurny then in return gives it hand hand delivers it to Jerry Foley they check this guy out I think he's Irish I think he's like 100% Irish he says uh see if you could help the kid out right m so just as a backup to the backup okay the resume to Hal gurny well from Jack uh suid to Hal gurny golfing buddy yep and so Hal gives it to Jerry and then just back up to the backup I went I think two days later it was a rainy day and I had I didn't have an umbrella I had to put my resume under my shirt Y and I went into the theater I hand delivered Jerry my resume May and uh he says well yeah we'll we'll we'll take a look and fast forward I think it was like 3 weeks maybe a month I got a call from scheduling on my voicemail the old style voicemail yeah the answering machine the answering machine right and it was scheduling John Moran give me a call it's about Letterman I'm like I'm a happy man now yep yes so he I call him back immediately uh his his phone was busy I called it back again and uh by the way his name was uh Kevin Chisum no kidding K Chism fellow member of the Scottish Clan the Chisum Clan oh we're we're Fierce with the fierce that is fantastic yeah so uh Kevin said here's the deal Johnny he said we're gonna uh we're going to put you on the lman show as uh utility mhm and it's temporary six weeks on because this the show was just about to get underway yeah and they they had a pretty much a full compliment to the crew but well maybe we need some you know XYZ type people lighting uh sound effects okay just to give perspective just to give perspective for our listeners or View viewers utility um you know we've had Brian uh simino on and and and a few others um but but that is the person basically you're the cameraman's right hand you're basically with the cameraman the whole time making sure you got cabling you make sure you got all the assisting to make sure the cameraman or camera operator can do exactly what they need to do had you done utility at this point um a handful of times when I worked with Studio show Crews y um and videotape they would borrow me and work like a soap opera you know pushing the uh pushing the boom around or kicking some cables and you know uh one of the one of one of the soap oper like you know As the World Turns or something like that yep uh other than that I you know didn't have any experience so okay so you get I want to paint the picture here so you get this call because again people it's just like the Johnny Carson thing we talked about earlier the biggest show in the world is now coming over to CBS in that regard like like like you could not go anywhere without seeing a magazine or a newspaper articles or any of that talking about Letterman's move it was the biggest story in Show Business and they're coming over to your network you want this thing you you basically you know you you throw your shot out there um and and by the way that's how the secret works it it's not a matter of these things just come to you you got to actually put action out there and then reaction like you know you you had the backup plan and then the backup the backup plan you wanted this and then you're told yes you're going to be a part of it and you're going to be doing something that you're not necessarily intimately familiar with at the highest level um was there any nervousness at that point or was it just flat out excitement a little bit of both I was uh utility he's one of he's the uh he's the best of the best multi awardwinning guy who is this say that again AL chelino yeah Al chelino when and Al's hopefully coming on the show here very soon yep yeah so uh I was utility for him so now I'm on loan from videotape the world of vide which I was starting to get a little bored with because the technology was kind of changing it went to you know from what we called videotape beta tapes one-inch tape way back in the day 2in tape now everything is robotic robotic cameras robotic tape Etc so I was like H yeah I'm ready for a change I am ready for a change so six weeks I did my six weeks uh sort of apprenticeship I guess you could call it yeah and then uh well hold on hold on hold on we Haden know we can't just gloss over that so first night that you do your six weeks apprenticeship was was that's night one of Late Show yeah it was uh the very first show so you did the did you also do the warm-up shows the uh the Preamble shows that never made air did you do those as well yeah yeah okay yeah so the six weeks came and went and then the tech manager at the time Stacy Sullivan y fabulous lady wonderful person she said John you know as you know you're on on loan to the show we'd like to make you permanent and we'd like you to transition from utility to Boom push yep so Hal gurnie was a big boom guy so I did boom push you know describe describe that for folks you're the guy who's literally walking around with the boom mic no it's uh it's a it's a platform uh that raises up and it goes back to the Sullivan days there were two booms one stage left one stage right Y and uh you know uh so it was it was the boom you know uh for example Jerry was not a boom guy yeah he was a boom fan whereas Hal the boom so it's this is an oldo School concept when it comes to audio right this is an old school concept for these shows yeah yeah and then uh at one point uh when Jerry came on board as as director he said oh you know what let's lose the boom we're gonna mic the guests so there were a couple of times where the Mike's guest crapped out so I would have a lavali mic on the boom ready to go in and what one particular time was uh uh Alicia Silverstone was on the show MH she had kind of like long hair and it was brushing up against the mic causing Havoc y Jerry said all right hey uh uh get her miked up get her miked up so I go in and very nervous it's like approaching the altar when the pope is serving Sunday Easter Mass right and there's there's the host which I was a little afraid of to be honest yeah so I go in there and I do my thing and Letterman looks up and he goes uh excuse me are you with the show I just wanted to just like where's the egg um okay hold on and so that I would I don't know if that was when she was promoting clueless or not but that's a that's a fun moment um and again we're not in Kansas anymore kind of a moment which is which is which is neat uh but I want to go back talking Boom for a second here there was a pretty famous moment early on with Madonna with a boom mic uh were you the guy were you the guy holding that one for that no no uh Al Norwood was the boom on the platform you know he lowers the broom he but uh she she she was on for like four segments yeah she sure was wearing head uh headsets or they call them cans yep and hear I hear some of the producers get her off get her off get her off she had at the time very slick back hair yeah Letterman turns and Letterman replies says what is that a swim cap you're wearing and she lights up bar she makes some references to the cigar she makes references and she she uh she goes like this queuing the Boom in and then you know house all right bring the Boom in and she and she smoking her cigar and she made a reference to the boom yeah which oh and then some of the some of the a lot of the audience members were booing her you probably maybe saw the show yes and we've talked about it at length um with different people who were at different Vantage points with it you know we had kellison on he talked about it and and and um I don't know if I don't know if we talked about it on Morty's episode but anyway yeah on a few of the episodes we uh certainly certainly few episodes of the show have have referenced that moment uh but it's just you know you bring up the boom that's one that comes to mind right away that uh that Madonna had a little bit of fun with um okay so you're the uh you're you're on the boom stand so they say okay you did you did your stint your six weeks um any any memories of the beginning of the show and and and what not comparing it to because I want compare it same with Dorset too same same deal you know you're in really conventional broadcasting for a long time and and and and uh suddenly the letter Letterman comes in worldwide pants is an entity now that is doing business with CBS as opposed to everybody there being you know CBS employees and there's this hybrid as they're kind of feeling things out a little bit um was it a different animal or was it B and I mean obviously it was a different job that were doing as well or was it business as usual for the most part it's like ah this is the TV business and everything changes yeah it was uh kind of a loaded question but that's exactly what it was everything kind of like fit like a glove everything yeah just you know and I think when we spoke on the phone initially a couple days ago I've got like 14,000 memories of which I've got some notes on there yeah absolutely and I get the salmon card out I got the salmon card out today for my friend Steve O'Donnell yeah we got we you and I are going to do we got episodes for days I mean we're just basically queuing things up for the stories now we've set a beautiful stage here uh for the stories and you have stories after story after story about about being there and the pictures you have and also uh you know you referenced earlier that that that you became a member of the Union I mean it's led to all sorts of extras on different shows as well and uh you've had a lot of fun because of Letterman that just simply wouldn't have happened if you remained in the broadcast Center which led to a of movie roles TV shows uh got to do two movies with Spielberg two movies with Woody Allen uh did a featured uh role on a show called Instinct uh lasted only two seasons maybe maybe three seasons and I was the uh murdered billionaire stabbed Times by a serial killer and uh I'm sure cut away oh yeah I'll throw I'll throw pictures on top of the whole episode don't worry about that yeah yeah that that that was a three-day shoot 11 hours each day they treated me like royalty like I was literally a part of the cast they put me in the green room with Allen coming and bojan she was the female lead she was played the part of a detective but that was a season one episode one uh was the pilot and uh yeah they killed me off in the first episode episode those bastards uh those producers and uh but it was a great experience they treated me like royalty Mr Moran how would you like your meatloaf you know so uh yeah the the uh the opening scene was CBS had rented this uh townhouse five-story townhouse down in the the Lower Manhattan for I think three or four days it was astronomical somebody told me it was like $100,000 a day they took so that was the murder scene in the library yeah and then pass forward that was like 11 hours and then couple other uh one other major scene was we we we did this we filmed the scene at Harlem Hospital for this in the morg there was a a morg scene uh an actual morg yeah doesn't get much more real that no set here yeah CBS made arrangements with the morg people and so they they cleared out a bunch of bodies or whatever they had to and they put me in the drawer yeah in the drawer out out of the door uh like 17 takes and it was a one camera shoot which translates into an 11h hour day okay uh three days I think it was in the the the morg scene but put me in there like I said 17 17 takes total pitch black of course it was I think like 49 degrees okay was tight shot of the hander says and this guy blah blah blah blah and they had dialogue back and forth between um uh the star of the show Allen coming did 17 Tes it was a lot of fun um I it's fantastic that you've had a lot of these opportunities to do that and and I mean uh you know we're scratching the surface when it comes to uh some of these little side gigs that you would get now that being said you were also part of a lot of Letterman extras and bits and things over the years um but let's go back okay so at what point do you be the guy who takes the microphone from Dave every time he finishes the Q&A how far into the Run did that happened because the Q&A for the most part stayed pretty standard throughout the run until the end when it started going longer and they started they stopped caring so much about the 5:30 uh uh time you know but that was at the very very end when did you become the guy that Dave would hand his mic to after uh after the Q&A before the show a lot ofman took 17 Hiatus weeks a year right yeah so uh there were many of those Hiatus weeks uh that I would you know a lot of us would go on vacation anyway cut of the chase uh the one time Brian simino good guy very talented guy Y and I believe he was nominated for Co bear this this this uh couple weeks ago y so Dave was very you know every day the same thing with the Q&A he would come out and bang the microphone on camera tw's lens Y and at the end he would say oh I gotta go take my medicine have a good show or something like that so this one particular time I was not there I think Brian was there yeah got to do the the the mic take so to speak yeah so Dave backstage in a loud voice because the band is playing and everything else Dave says to uh you're a good listener by the way and thank you oh thanks thanks brother most uh many people uh say the exact opposite they say I talk too much so to hear you say that I appreciate it so uh so Brian I I believe it was Brian that was uh filling in for me you know with the mic and then Letterman and a very loud voice says to Eddie Brill who was warm up you know to the audience before Dave comes out absolutely Dave yells to him and he calls him over and he yells to them uh and a loud voice he goes where's the guy where's the guy Eddie was like what where's the guy Dave John is on vacation he's on vacation you know we got it covered we got a covered no worry where's the guy yeah you know because he's all you know he he comes out the audience he bangs on the on the camera lens and then at the end of the rehearsal he goes over to the drums beats the drums for six minutes and runs runs out of the theater with his with his uh football well with his football he Dave runs out of the theater he beats the drums for five and he runs out the theater yep but and Brian that night I believe I believe he had a little bit of fun with Brian when he was handing the mic back as well oh yeah yeah oh yeah he he definitely did uh see when when when Dave sees somebody that he doesn't recognize it could be like a page that's standing in the back or somebody new yep he would say who was who who was that person you know and so there you go yeah um would he okay so but for the most part though he finishes the Q&A you're the guy that takes the microphone back from him would he uh was it mostly business as usual or he try and have fun with you during during that moment as well no uh never fun with me but I I tried well I had fun with him this one occasion where every once in a while I don't know if he thought the audience sucked yeah and he would drop the microphone that's happened a number of times by the way I don't know what the psychology is behind that yeah but he would Dr the microphone and then I don't know what possessed me to do this but it it's a wired mic y as he went to bend over to pick it up I reeled it in and then he went to pick it up again and I reeled it in again right the audience having fun and laughing right and then Letterman says hey hey hey hey what are you what are you trying to pull or me after the show he goes Johnny never upstage the star oh there we go there we go but I didn't hear anything about it ever since um another time you know I took the mic and I have to race race across the stage yeah not to get caught by the uh the swooping camera that comes down the uh the jib okay the jib right as right as Alan cter is saying David Letterman you're talking about that moment right as yeah that's right yeah so uh I start running across stage my I think it was my left shoe or does it matter one of my shoes my loafers fell off and it's in the middle of stage and I take another couple of steps and very quickly my mind is scrambled do I stop and retrieve the shoe or do I keep going at it and like go through the exit and go home right but I I said well was thinking well if I left this shoe that would become not only an issue but that would become maybe comedy who knows sure yeah yeah so running across the stage losing a shoe on the stage scrambled mine mind I'm like do I go back and retrieve that shoe or do I just keep running to get out of camera range of me well was like there was somebody on my shoulders get the shoe you idiot so I went I got the shoe and uh it could have been either a disaster it could have been uh a comedy situation where a letterman would say to the audience uh ladies and gentlemen anybody lose a a left oh that's fun because the energy and I I don't know that uh people remember uh unless they were there unless they were really dialed in and noticed this stuff the energy you guys shot that thing like it was a live show and and and the energy was at the highest levels the band would play they didn't just play in and out of bumpers they played the whole time and and and to begin the show um you know I I know what you're saying about audiences that that suck versus in you know a lively audience it can completely change the show and on the way in you know you've got these audience coordinators that are getting people excited and hyped up and hyped up and you get in there and it's cold and it's you know you're wondering and then suddenly the band picks in and and and you know they're playing Earth Wind and Fire or they're playing you know um um Sly Stone or they're playing these crazy awesome high energy songs and then Dave comes out and does this Q&A well at that point there I mean when they play the opening theme the place is at a fever pitch when it comes to energy and and that moment when you when that's happening uh that is very very cool um that that's a very cool thing to have in your memory bank that you lost a shoe running across the stage uh as things happen um I want to go through some of the pictures that you sent me and I've I've curated just a few of them um because you know you and I we've got lots of stories that we can tell moving forward when it comes to this um do you see that John yes all right so you made first off you made the photo Club so there's Tom celic and then there's you in the background there Isn't that cool yeah that was y yeah okay that was uh Tom celic coming in and every just about every day we had uh the uh star arrival I think we called it where we had a handheld out and uh Letterman would uh do the intro ladies and gentlemen Mr Tom celic up next stay tuned you know and it'd be a cutaway shot of Tom coming into the theater and so I was doing the handheld handheld guy I think it was Dan flarey his and uh when I posted it on Facebook some years ago uh people were like hey you look like a gacho guy with the pants and then I was like a gacho guy with the you know with the cable there you know so yeah that was uh yeah okay here we go here we go uh Mr T not too many celebrities are how shall I say uh warm and fuzzy and friendly Mr T and there are others uh uh that I can't really think of right right now um uh but Mr T was one of the kindest just very spiritual very very religious guy of course his uh his uh uh role on TV on that show you know was a different Persona of course but he spent probably 40 minutes with us on the set and got to know a little bit about him he was RA by his grandmother in a very uh you know uh religious kind of a situation and yeah he he was one of the great guys uh Bill Clinton also Bill Clinton uh came out to in front of this uh uh stage door he took a photo shot uh uh it was a photo op with the president yeah I think we've got that one in here too actually but uh spin was another great well yeah I want to talk about Regis as well yeah you've got uh you know I mean we're talking you know these Legends in broadcasting that you have worked with um you know what I'll stop sharing that we'll we'll we'll get back to the to the slideshow in a second here some of the broadcasters that you have uh you know worked with and and and visited and touched just you know just just been around been the crew for or or have seen tangentially I mean you have these are the biggest broadcasters that the world has ever seen some of these people and Regis is one of those guys yeah Regis started his TV career as an NBC page yeah him epim zimis JR Kate Jackson there's a host of talented you know people that started as page so one day I went up to Regis and I said hey Regis just to let you know I was a page Back in 77 oh really he said he's very genely interested and I said you know I just spoke to Peter tintle the other day Peter was our his boss and my boss of the page program and he goes no he's still alive I said no I'm just I'm messing with you he's what a great guy we had romanist stories about Peter Peter uh tennel uh Peter tinel I think attended the uh 50-year NBC page re Union yeah then fast forward I attended the 80th the 80 yeah we got pictures of that in here as well yeah and uh so re just told me he says oh at the time at the time I was making uh $152 a a week or something or something like that there you are with the big guy speaking of uh Legends of of of of of Industry that you have look at that where was uh where was the picture with Mr movez taken okay that was the 30-year CBS Service Awards dinner I believe yeah it took place at a very fancy restaurant and uh uh he actually came over to our table I was sitting with some of the construction guys yeah struck the entire theater uh when Letterman came over yeah there were one or two seats empty to my right so Mr moonves comes over would you mind if I can I have a seat and what are you gonna say no to the boss yeah exactly you paid for the joint you paid for this thing you sit on down there Leslie I said oh by the way the roast beef is excellent so so he sits down and I of course I'm being very professional and I reference him as Mr moonves and I had met him another time I forget what the event was and it was another another photo which I think you have and and uh so you know I kept saying Mr moonves he goes He leans over John it's less a and I'm like um thank you very much sir and then we had a sort of a side conversation I try to make it personal I said oh how's your son I said How's he how how old is he now you I'm pretending I've known him for 18 years sure so um I said just out of curiosity L when they were looking for a replacement for Dave Letterman uh again just out of curiosity were there any other options besides Steven colar who came from cable the uh Comedy Central yeah Central he says well there were some options I said you like what about people like Chris Rock Ellen degenerous uh James Cordon yeah he says well James was a relatively unknown at the time yeah oops right yeah long St I said uh then said well Ellen she's making uh I think it was like 300 million a year or something she not quite that much but boy oh boy yeah no no no she is an institution she's absolutely an institution y yep and I'm thinking I'm going in the direction uh what about a female host let's go you know in that direction female host and she's well she you know she was tied to show plus she was making you know way too much money than we were offering to give her and I said well Chris Rock what about Chris Rock he would have been perfect well Chris is making 22 million a picture yep we we offered it to him but he said I don't think so he said they offered it to him yeah they oh that's interesting they entertained oh he was he was on the list kind of a thing on the maybe short list long list oh that's interesting but it was it was such an honor and a privilege to be sort of close to the heartbeat yeah I mean come on he he was like one seat over for God's sake right absolutely so did you know John Pho yes John's awesome he told a similar story actually um around the time do you remember when there was a contract negotiation going on between CBS and worldwide pants and there was a thought of moving over to ABC potentially do you uh do you remember that at all do you remember the scuttlebutt of that no not at all okay so it was it was it was happening but at the end of the day you know the production was very happy where they were and all of that stuff well John had heard that uh I don't know if it was from Barbara or if it was from it was from the high UPS it might have been from Rob but anyway uh he mentioned it to his boss but the back at the broadcast Center and they said Oh come with us and they immediately brought him up to Les moonves's office and they said hey tell us what you just told what you just tell tell L what you just told us and John said well apparently Letterman and Company or they're not going to go anywhere they're not going to go to NBC and it was a very similar kind of a kind of an exchange where he was just kind of just talking to him like he's one of the guys like they're just talking about stuff at work but here it is the the grand Pua of the network you know talking about things at the highest level that is so cool that he would sit down with you and uh and and talk with you at that at that event um let's go to look at this okay I like this one I like this one now is this Senator Clinton at the time this must be this must be Senator Clinton yes he was yep so interesting uh take note of the woman behind her that's uh can't remember her name but she's Hillary's uh executive assistant okay so Hillary when she was on the show she had remarked to Dave she said oh my god this is my first time in the theater I am honored I am privileged this is a Historic Landmark and Dave the The Beatles Elvis and she was so blown away with being impressed being in the confines of the Ed Sullivan Theater yeah so I was putting away some mics and I just casually went up to her there was no well there was secret service around her but uh I just went up to her and I said uh uh Mrs uh Mrs Clinton uh I really appreciated your uh comments about the Ed Sullivan Theater I said uh over the years working in videotape at NBC I uh I had access uh to uh The Ed Sullivan Show and what I had access to primarily you know was music acts that appeared on solivan so I compiled late at night I working the midnight shift I compiled I don't know 20 hours 30 whatever it was uh I I would record it on one inch tape I would transfer it to at the time it was VHS tape know this these were recordings you know in the 2inch reels that weighed 90 pounds 90 and I would transfer it from 2 inch to one inch one inch to uh VHS so I said I happen to have a uh uh a copy an original recording original copy of the original recording of the Beatles on Sullivan she called over her assistant she and she she says to me uh uh she says to her assistant uh give this gentleman your your card and I said I'd love to send uh the president uh a copy of the Beatles uh all I think they they appeared four or five times on Sullivan once in Miami the rest in the rest in New York uh so I said well what's the address other than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue she called her uh assistant over she gave me her card yeah long story to make it a little bit shorter my cousin was in the Air Force at the at the time he had white house clearance and I told her that the assistant and he part of his job I think was to shuttle Around The Joint Chiefs of Staff wow he literally hand delivered this VHS tape to the Oval Office to the go-to person here's a tape from J Moran and I think he might have said the woman said well they're goingon to have to take it apart make sure there's not a bomb or whatever they did so fast forward seven weeks later uh Bill Clinton sent a letter to the CBS broadcast center with my name on it came in at this fancy you know uh envelope I think it might have been uh wasn't US mail I'll tell you that maybe it was FedEx I don't know so um he he he sent me the uh this wonderful letter typewritten letter signed by him wow and it was like box framing of of of uh the president you know I I think I might have sent you that shot I'm not sure think you did too I think you did too uh that is that is such a great story I love that story so much and you've got so many of them uh look where we go oops there we go there we go there's you there it is right there a you know how many nights how many nights did you do that or a variation of that you know hundreds if not Millions uh so there's camera to which you can see all beat to Hell there's camera to there Letterman would lean on it he would he would uh and it was purposely unlocked so that he could play with the camera you know so to speak yeah you move it up and down and do all sorts of yeah yeah so with the mic handoff the uh uh what was I going to say the uh oh uh The Awkward Moment was I take the mic now I'm going to run across the stage to get out of camera range I accidentally left my Late Show fleece draped over the monologue monitor so lman is about three minutes into his monologue and he starts pointing at the camera because now he's jinxed because everything has to be perfect everything has to uh align with everything right yep so he's pointing to the camera Jerry says what's Dave pointing to and immediately gy Ramirez stage manager throws me into the bus understandably so I I I deserved a whooping you know so corki says to the director John Moran left his jacket across the monolog uh monitor oh yeah and you wouldn't know that it's just a screen that's in front of Dave where he can see himself and see the shots and see what's going on like I mean because he's got the Q cards it's not like his it's not like a teleprompter but it's a monitor for him to see how things are looking and there's no way anybody in the control room would ever know that that is covered because it's not like it's you know it's not in shot it's that's something that basically only Dave gets to see for the most part um and you've covered it with your fleece yeah his reference and then uh I don't think did it make air did it make air did they edit it out edit it out I'm not sure oh a thing that did make air yep I'm over by you know Dave is doing the monologue I'm over by the Boom the platform there uh ready to you know go to work so to speak yep um so when Dave says oh say hello to Paul schaer part of my job was to wield the monologue monitor in to the desk yeah right so um where am I going with this what made air something made air one night oh yes the speaking of sorry about that the monologue monitor was over by my boom yep for some un known reason maybe that the floor was a little unleveled so I'm tied to the headset somehow it was the Ghost of Ed Sullivan monitor starts rolling toward the audience now I'm tied to a headset I'm pretending to uh don't worry I I'll get it pretending really literally pretending to get it and then corki kind of saved my life a little bit he goes over and grabs the Monitor and the one wheel on that monitor was literally off the stage that monitor was about 400 pounds yeah oh yeah and so now Letterman he's on the monologue Mark and that grabs his attention and he he points and he says and I quote ladies and gentlemen an audience member maybe three audience members were nearly killed now tight shot of the wheel Al chelino's shot tight shotel and the monitor is that would have been like a multi-million dollar lawsuit oh yeah no know maybe not killing not maybe not killing you know three audience members but uh you know it would have changed their day that's for aren't sure it would have been a bad day absolutely all right let's do some more of these I I love that picture I love that picture so much that's such a great photo uh encapsulating you know one of the one of the coolest moments of your day every day or four days a week anyway oh yeah look at this look at this there's you and Paul of course the resolution is unbelievable what a yeah some of them are better than others like one of those disposable cameras you know is there a nicer guy than Paul Schaefer I mean isn't he the greatest yeah he was very approachable uh Anton fig in the band he was literally very very shy he didn't but all the guys bones Malone fabulous PE people yeah there you are down there during the Q&A yeah working my ass off I would every every uh Christmas or New Years I would put it on Facebook I would say Happy New Year Year from the two hardest working men in show business men working in Show Business oh that's great well thank you for sharing are you kidding me are you kidding me look at this that's one of my favorite pictures in the whole world a picture of my wife and I behind Dave's desk there you are there um just yeah not much to say more more than that than just uh boy that's a piece of furniture that's a that's that's a very cool piece of furniture I love that desk yeah I would go in there I think about a month before the show that's the last show by the way the that's that's the night of the last show WEA yeah or the week W so a couple weeks prior to that I took my partner Janet uh into the studio shut her around and you know it was dark and everything and uh uh I had a a dog at the time she's no longer with us uh a Samoyed uh dog by the name of Joy I lifted Joy up and I put her on the desk I've got that shot in here somewhere we're getting to it we're getting to it oh look at this guy oh yeah he there he is he looks familiar that's me that was in the show uh Instinct with the uh what's his name Allan Alan cuming we talked about that earlier yeah yeah you uh you you certainly don't look like you're resting in peace there John that's for sure they uh uh that was an 11h hour day oh Allan okay so let's talk about this guy let's talk about big red um I've said this on the show many many times one of the catalysts starting this thing was um was was big red passing way too soon um you know Rick Rick used to Rick sheckman used to tell me he used to say that that that that Allen was the guy he was the nicest guy in the world there was no uh pecking order when it came to Al people were just people and um he said he said if if Rick used to say to me Mike if if if if Allen knew you were doing this show he would do everything for you he would do the voiceover he would do everything he would just he was such a kind guy you were friends with Allan he was everybody's friend um Allan knew everybody by first and last name it would be hey John how's your day what's going on you know and uh see him on the street he'd be just like you know just like that with you know the fans of the show you know and would do you know photo ops with uh people and uh just what a true gentleman and he goes way back his TV broadcasting careers you know better than me he goes back to I think to tell the truth and uh yep you know those shows iconic and this is the this is the uh I talk about I call it the Alchemy of of of of folks who worked in Dave's Productions um you know the people who were who go way back you know the Hal gurns of the world and and and and Allen is certainly certainly in that place you know Jack Rollins the manager um and and and I mean I look at guys like you people are Dave Dorset people who are journeyman um you know who who Dave could depend on but then he also had this mix of young talent in there as well and it just it's such a neat Alchemy but yeah like you say Allan just a hell of a guy um and and and a broadcasting I mean at this point Broad casting Legend I think that that is an apt uh description for Alan calter he certainly certainly was a broadcast Legend and just a hell of a guy too from what everybody says okay let's see let's keep going here oh look at this now we've got the super the Super Bowl trophy is around too but you've gotten a chance to see and you got to see the Stanley Cup too I believe um perk's working for the job yeah definitely and uh in all honesty I could care less about sports right there right there at my doorstep so to speak y I was up close and personal with all of the uh trophies Super Bowl trophy yeah uh I think that's it for trophies no not really uh whatever the trophies were oh yeah my daughter Lindsay yeah absolutely now we've had Sue hel on the show a couple of times and and and uh this last time that she was on we talked we did a full Halloween episode and and she talked about a lot of the crew who would have uh their kids as a part of the uh that's that's a squished cockroach right that's a a cockroach that's squished under your shoe I think we've got there yeah it's a a squished New York City cockroach now this uh she was like eight at the time she's getting married Saturday at 33 oh congratulations the New York squished cockroach thank you she's getting married Saturday so uh she got paid $310 the uh there were two trailers set up one for the boys one for the girls and uh they gave them Pizza soda they sugared them up for the shop yeah and they got the day off from school and um the day she appeared well she got a W2 so she had to report that as income you know uh really oh yeah yeah so uh so the following year uhuh they called her back and it was a different costume yeah so she appeared she got her I think she got a pay raise to it was $330 right for taxes so um same routine two trailers you know pizzas Burgers hot dogs everything else day off from school so her costume was cut either Letterman cut it or the writers yeah they thought maybe the the joke the costume didn't work it didn't land yeah yeah now she's nine years old and she's pissed off and she's kicking and screaming and she in the lobby uhhuh with her mother at the time and she in a direct quote here and I'm like I can't believe she said that out loud she said well because she was she was upset that she didn't make the cut sure of course of course you were on National Television last year come on don't be don't be a nut you know you know maybe maybe next year yeah so she basically was like saying things like I hate literally I hate David Letterman oh fantastic yep he suck and and her mother was like Lindsay stop it you know a kid acting up right if you had that on camera Dave would have put that on the show just so you know probably I was like uh this kid is not mine and getting married this Saturday how great is that yeah yeah that's beautiful that's beautiful oh I love hearing that um okay we got uh oh there it is there's you and Regis isn't that great yep that was a memorable moment bringing bringing me back to my NBC days that was the uh the NBC 80-year uh reunion yep and uh Regis was there who's that guy who's that guy I want to know who that guy is uh might have been a one of my stalkers I'm not sure oh look at this look at this how did how did Willie how did Willie smell did Willie smell like weed uh well interesting to say that because as you know he doesn't fly he yeah he's got his he's got his uh Magical Mystery school bus that he Willie Nelson travels the world in so Willie's bus uh stage manager went in there and he said you you almost couldn't see the hand in front of your face right so Willie one of the nicest guys like Mr T Allen right yep so many others that are just genuinely nice people energetic positive great people but he he spent he I said will he can I take it can I take a picture with you oh yeah come on it's okay he won't remember it in 30 seconds anyway um okay let's see who else we got here okay so this is uh President Clinton and you referred to this this photo earlier President Clinton taking a picture with everybody how cool is that yeah my head is much larger than the other heads I don't know why big brain my friend big brain there it is there's Stevie calman yeah right oh hey hey hey let's uh do we have anything uh we should you mentioned Steve cman there that's fantastic anything uh that we can say about our our friend Steve Steve was a hard worker yeah uh Jerry gave him the opportunity to do camera uh most of it was handheld but he was just a sweetheart of a guy and missed and you know something I made a a list of all the people from Showtime or Showtime uh from Letterman that that are no no longer with us and it's quite a lengthy list going you know Kevin drone you know uh uh Pat farmer side kick Kenny yeah Kenny Sheen yeah and uh just a lot of memories yeah well you know what that's something that we'll probably we'll probably go through that I would love uh you know we'll go through that one day I I want to Tribute every single person that has that um I think about Michelle and makeup and I think about uh you know of course Shey I mean that shei is the one that that that hits me in the heart the most obviously losing him was was was absolutely brutal um and and I mean you know we want to be able to Tribute a lot of these people that uh that meant so much to so many um you know and and let's go back to this picture here for a second because there's a bunch of people there's Pat and there's um Sue hum you have a story I gotta tell you you have a story about Sue hum that is one of the most from a from a memorabilia and collector guy because I'm I'm that guy right like um like I'm very much that guy I want you to tell the story about the Wardrobe because I I I've heard this story a couple of times and and and I've always thought to myself I wonder who ended up with Dave suit jackets because I mean how amazing would it be now now tell the story about about suam doing the call about a week was it about a week before the show's done okay so the suam story uh I don't know when the time frame was uh maybe I I'll just say shortly before the show ended Yeahs out an email blast saying anyone interested she was the Wardrobe lady the C anybody interested that wants to come up and go through the Wardrobe you're welcome too so all these people go up and I I figured I'm gonna wait a couple of days wait till the crowds you know slow down yeah I went up and uh I was like I was like uh Michael Jackson I'll take two of those and uh so I managed to get uh Letterman and myself were the the same size right we're both I think six foot tall yeah same so I got uh a sports jacket uh I've got uh or had uh a half a dozen of his ties his show ties and Sue had said that I think he rotates uh he could be really off on this like uh between four and 600 suits that he rotates and she is the person she takes it to the tailor yeah utman would never ever go in for a quote unquote fitting yeah so you would have to measure him you know and then at one point lman said well what about socks do you have my socks size you know the gray socks yeah uh so anyway I I got a handful of ties uh his sports jacket which by the way I I told you on our pre- interiew yeah his sports jacket I actually wore on the last show and I was like very hesitant to do that yeah because I was fearful that he might say hey hey hey hey that that that's my that's my jacket wh hey what are you doing with that my with my and it was this jacket that Sue gave me and well you know what I'm going to I'm going to wear it because it's the last show Absolutely what's he gonna what's he gonna do fire me yep yeah um this is the part that that just the memorabilia collector in me is just like it's a gutshot every time I think about it because you think about having one of David Letterman's screen used uh you know suit coats or or or whatever and I mean that's something that I would frame that up and put it up somewhere or whatever how what what what ended up with that coat what happened to it I I definitely gave it to uh charity to Goodwill that was his name Goodwill there's a there's a guy named Goodwill on the street somewhere unknowingly wearing one of David Letterman's green used uh suit jackets which I just thought was delightful um there we go I I could not put this one up here being Canadian uh there you are with the Stanley Cup I've got a few pictures of myself with the Stanley Cup that's just I know you don't care about sports but that is a that is a hollowed piece of Hardware up here and uh that is so cool that is so cool right there that was a special day uh definitely it was an honor and a a privilege uh the Stanley Cup I got my picture taken with the uh uh what is it the uh baseball trophy yeah which we've shown Vince lardi trophy like it's pretty crazy it's pretty pretty crazy some of the stuff you've seen oh there we go again there's the uh more Instinct more of the acting chops you're pretty good at getting killed you're pretty good at that yeah the murder scene uh they let's talk about this one because we talked about the murdery already let's talk about this picture this is a picture that I just absolutely adore for a whole pile of reasons um you were there when they did the 50th Anniversary show uh for the Beatles weren't you yeah I was uh well actually uh the short story behind that is uh the memo went out yep do they still have memos so Emil blast went out right under no circumstances are you to go on social media phone calls yeah don't mention it to anybody but Paul and Ringo Dave is going to do an interview and it was in honor of the 50th anniversary of the uh Beatles performing on the Sullivan Show yeah and that was in 1964 MH uh I got a copy of that a hard copy original copy of that uh but uh it was like quiet nobody everybody has to Clear the Stage except for a couple of cameras okay and then so what I did I was like I that I respect the Privacy so what I did was don't tell CBS but uh I went behind the scenes behind the behind the set and it was a monitor big monitor took it for a long time didn't obviously didn't Spiel it out to you know social media or anything like that I started sharing maybe a year or two after like on Facebook and everything because it was truly a a historic moment to have you know uh half the Beatles you know Ringo and Paul on the stage and then which brings me to the iconic appearance of uh Paul performing on the Marquee hush didn't go out to the press the only people that knew about it was the mayor's office police and you know the it was a huge setup uh poll parents on Letterman yep that's one of the moments you for Late Show I mean there's a lot of iconic moments obviously in the in the in the David Letterman body of work one of the moments that people talk about the most is Paul uh Paul McCartney I should say performing on the Marquee that was a that's one of those iconic moments that uh well really at the end of the day it continues on you think about you know the the mashup of what that is you know when you think about them performing on the rooftop back in the day um you know and and and then also them showing up on The Ed Sullivan Show the way that they did and it's kind of a mashup of those two things together in a brand new moment um such a beautiful beautiful piece of television history was that moment and and I mean look at what you got to see I mean I mean my word and then there's our boy Jerry Foley um you know we haven't really talked about him uh the uh at the the time of this recording here um the Emmys have just just happened and they had they had a beautiful IM memorium shot of Jerry U during the Montage which is which is fantastic you worked with Jerry for a long time man any uh any words of tribute that you want to give to uh uh to this legendary director yeah absolutely uh worked the show a actually from the very beginning you know August 30th 1993 and of course the backstory the history was playing back the original Late Night show but uh couple of funny stories with Jerry uh he often times would come and you know after a big show especially or after like a webcast he would go around and literally thank everybody so he would he approached me this one particular day that I'll always remember and he'll say he'll he said John thank you very much uh it was we had a great show I said I I downplayed it I said Jerry uh you know I'm only one piece of a 5,000 piece puzzle here and he laughed and he folded his arms and he goes you know well without that piece the puzzle would not be complete which the story is it takes I won't use the word Village but it takes a team it's a community man absolutely to you know uh 3 to 350 people staff and crew room you know everybody from the the janitors to you know the the the engineer George Clark who rides Letterman up to his uh uh office the fre elevator yep piece of the puzzle background in a movie I'm like an extra guy you know he says you know and he and he told me that the other thing was with Jerry he would come up to me and sometimes I'd be like in the daydreaming look you know I'm like you know looking around and it'd be you know downtime he says John Moran uh John Moran what are you thinking about right now right at this moment and I'd say uh cold mashed potatoes I would appear to be like know in another world like daydreaming kind of a thing it was it was just a little banter back and forth no no no no those little moments you know the com it's it's it's so funny you guys go from zero to 100 and then back to zero again many times to downtime for a while depending on the schedule of the day and the flow of things and what what's going on and it's uh those are your Foxhole buddies and um you know that one there is uh that is a very very important piece to the Letterman puzzle is Jerry Foley uh there's of course the Vince Lombardi trophy um you know so we alluded to that now look at this look at these two kids look at these two kids right here John well I was younger then uh you both were look at that yeah that was at at uh I think the first year uh at the woman rink the ice R during the Christmas party ice R in Central Park a place where a lot made so that was just a hey hey Dave can I you know take a take a picture with you and you know he was courteous uh uh so it was a full Buffet yeah and the main course was meatloaf and I all right meatloaf you know my mother made meatloaf so let's go with that sure comfort food yeah so who was at the party the only one that stands out is Mia farell wow she was she she was at the party and uh Mia faroh and there were Paparazzi all over you know the entire circumference of the ice skating rink yeah and you know trying to get their shots we did two uh woman rink Christmas parties they would load everybody at uh everybody uh at the theater and stretch limos or Dave would maybe he would show up maybe he wouldn't yep yeah well and that's the that's the Quirk but at the end of the day the family was always there and and I mean you know again we've said this so much so many times about the show is is is is is our show is a celebration of David Letterman and Company and uh the company I mean you're doing such a good job today John of describing that just a couple more and then we can finish off for this our first episode look at this guy Dave another Dave that's a great shot yeah that's uh of course uh Mr Dave Gro yeah Dave croll uh that was uh might have been the last show I'm not sure about that as you know many many many times yeah he was at the rap party along with the top 10 people yeah celebrities and let's add let's add him to the list as far as the nicest guy you could talk to him like we're having a conversation right now and uh yeah big big poo Fighters fan as Letterman is as well absolutely yeah you know and uh well we've got we've got some overtures out there I think I think sooner than later I think we'll probably have Mr Gro on the show I that's my uh that's my little version of manifesting in the SE secret uh again there we go there's uh you in action while Dave is in action two hardest working men in Show Business oh a story just popped into my head about that please please mic hand off right so Letterman the mic and it turns out somebody on the crew made a uh did a prank they coiled up the cable so that it would be way too short and it wouldn't have a long you know reach on it when I get somebody on the crew no no names mentioned I don't even know who it was they tied up the cable so that Letterman would be like hey hey hey what's going on here and then one of my teammates Dan Campbell came over and Letterman of course made a joke of it there so uh uh we got several Union uh people involved in this uh short cable and and Dan like you know you know bailed me out helped me tremendously and loosing up loosing up that cable and uh anyway that was just a a side story that was like quite embarrassing and Jerry I hear him in my what what's going on with because you know he sees Dave you know doing his goodbye to the audience yeah was like what's wrong with what's up with Dave's Mike why why is why is he struggling with the cable well somebody tied up the cable with zip tide or something and it it wasn't you know because Letterman likes to walk around a little bit um and that's a really that's what happened that's a three that's a three-person prank because they're pranking you they're pranking Dave and they're pranking Jerry at the same time uh that's a Highwire act for whoever that whoever the pranker was you never did find out who it was uh I have uh some uh suspicions but uh I'll probably drop the lawsuit and and this is joy joy oh look at Joy Jo no longer with us she passed away at age 16 years and two months oh she's beautiful beautiful Johnny yeah she's I have uh uh this is well I have two SS now uh a real handful vum minutes I take her I take both of them to the groomer like every 20 minutes it's terrible yeah that's the first man on the moon uh the second man on the moon there we go how cool is that how cool is that I mean my word um and I think that is all that I had uh chosen for today um you're a trooper man this has been this has been so much fun before we now now obviously I mean you and I we talk on the phone we we've connected a bunch there's a whole bunch of stories here we haven't gotten to like a whole bunch let me let me pick one more name uh off the list here that I have before we uh I know oh I know I told you I told you it would go fast and we wouldn't even get we didn't even scratch a service uh but the next time you come on we can just get to some stories which would be great because we've done a good job setting the table of how you got there and and and all this stuff um I'm going to I'm going to pull one name off theist though and um yeah it's got to be Rickles what's your Don Rickles story oh so Rickles was on the show numerous times yeah and uh if Rickles were alive today uh let's put it bluntly he couldn't get away with the that he did when he was on Letterman okay but iconic letter uh often there were a couple of isolated times where uh Letterman would make reference to not only Don Rickles but Regis say the three of them would go in her and uh the uh they're waiting for the check to arrive and Reis five times out of out of out of 10 would excuse himself go to the go to the men's room so the waiter would come back and H hand Dave the check and the other person to check but uh oh yeah so um so who are we talking about so don um Don Rickles yeah so uh there there was a a situation where I don't know what the bit was but like five or six stage hands came out and squirted R and these water pistols and sage and was running all over the stage and he wound up next to me like kind of like hiding behind me kind of thing a water gun fight with Don Rickles yeah yeah there's not many people who can say that sentence John like you you you you've been involved uh as as as perhaps as a barrier during a water fight with Don Rickles that's pretty cool Jerry Lewis was another one yeah yeah very very beginnings of Letterman it was probably 95 or 96 yep Jerry Lewis was on and Letterman leaned in he goes Jerry are you ready to go nuts why don't you just go around the stage and I think he might have Goose me you know I was by the boom there at the time chewing chewing gum and he went up by Dave Dorset and he tried to pull his headset off and then he sits down Jerry sits down and he does the old water to the year and he spits it out yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and then there were guests like uh p uh alpacino and Robert daero yeah together on Letterman yeah and here they these guys are seven feet away iconic actors and I'm like a part of it you know uh Madonna we spoke of Madonna we spoke of uh Mr T just um John this is so much fun doing this with you and uh I want you to come back and we we can tell some more of these stories um you wanted to give some sh I wanted to make sure that before we finished off you gave any shoutouts that you wanted to give before uh before we close up this episode your first time on here shout outs to like crew members former crew I know I don't know you I just wanted to make sure if there was anybody that you wanted to say hi to or any any final kind of thoughts um that you wanted to to throw out there or or you know before we end this uh this first time you appearing on show well that would be an iconic moment if you could get Hal gurny on the show oh I know you you had a phone call with him a week ago didn't you well he on his when he retired from Late Show retired forever yeah he goes back to the par days as you know so he uh wrote everybody a a personal thank you he used to call me Catholic John because Irish Catholic right so dear Catholic John thank you for all the hard work uh I'll always remember your jokes and Etc so on the letter head it gave his address in Sharon Connecticut you'll let edit that out and so I got on the internet thing and cut to the chase I came across this phone number I gave a call it was probably a seven minute phone call so so we reminisced about some of the stories uh we referenced uh Jack uh sroy his golfing buddy and I said uh how you know I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opp opportunity of 22 almost 23 years of great all be forever indebted to you and then I then we drifted a little bit I go ow January 25th 99 years old Hal and I said to him how what's it like being 99 and then I'm like uh oops and typical how gurny humor he said John I'll be honest with you I have never celebrated my birthday ever not even a cake because you know why it brings me closer to death there you go I I wouldn't expect anything except a quirky response from from from from that guy and I'm grateful that uh I'm really grateful that you've you've taken time out of your day to talk to us about this here today uh I'm GNA just do a real quick sponsor plug and then uh I'll do a quick outro please stay on here uh actually if you want to be part of the sponsor plug the letter podcast as one sponsor one sponsor only and it is rert G and the hello Deli uh now the hello Deli obviously not owned by rert anymore but guess what he owns hellodd deli.com hellodd deli.com is your only source for official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise you got mugs you got hats you got shirts anywhere that you want to get uh official the only place to get official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise is hello- deli.com uh any Rupert stories here before we go John uh just add add him to the list Mr T uh uh all those guy Hal everybody he knew everybody by first and last name yeah my only disappointment with rert was he didn't uh add my name to the sandwich lineup I mean rert give me a break I mean even like uh uh the Moran liver wor special something like that you know but just kidding kidding a he was he was a real Jam of a guy and I'm sure he's a forever friend of yours and boy did he strike go did he strike gold in that little Deli that was kind of like Off Broadway yeah you know and you know what the universe spoke and the universe gave him a a full plate of positivity and greatness and a real kind spiritual Soul rert she's good too rert and may are amazing amazing creatures I love them both and and again there was no more perfect aside kick for Late Show with David Letterman than that of Rupert and may of the hello Deli hellodd deli.com um this has been you know again I I say this uh leaving the show so many times but it's it's it's the truth this is why we do the show uh you know these stories I believe are ones that that that need to be preserved and and really the people who made this show just like rert when he cooked he cooked with love you know what these people when they produced this show they produced it with love this has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisum coincidentally I am Mike Chisum thank you and good night overcoat and 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