Erik Akerblom Didn’t Take The Job With ABC Because Dave Letterman Retired

Thank you very much, Paul. [applause] Oh boy, we're here on a great night. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another installment of Late Show technical maintenance minute. Boys, take it away. [music] a lot of exciting new changes in the technical maintenance uh department. Isn't that right, Mike?

Right indeed, Gary. First and foremost, we've begun testing the new Symphony Nitrous DX4 with realtime NTSC output for 1080 24p projects and ancillary data handling. It only gets better, Mike. The DNx HD encoding provides a flawless HD quality and incredibly low bandwidths and pushes the envelope with spectra keying, fluid motion time effects, and Boris continuum complete. Well said, Eric and Mike. And get this, the architecture is optimized for digital HD codeexes, including HDV, XD Cam HD, DVC Pro HD, and Avid DNx HD. I could go on, but we should always leave the audience wanting more. That's all the time we have for today. Remember, as we say in technical maintenance,

it ain't broke if we can fix it.

Welcome once again to the Letterman Podcast. My name is Mike Chisum. All right. Today we've got Eric Akerblam. Now, Eric uh worked for most of the entire Late Show run. Uh he was hired on um he was he did some freelance work actually uh for the Pants crew and then CBS hired him on um in the early 2000s and he was part of the technical maintenance right up until not just the end of of of the run of Late Show with David Letterman, but also was one of the few people who actually made the transition over to uh Late Show or to the Late Show with Stephen Cobear. And and I just um I love talking to people who are kind of a fixture of the Ed Sullivan Theater, which is exactly what Eric is. Eric knows um boy does he ever know the uh the how that place is laid out. He the Ed Sullivan Theater, he is a fixture of it and and there are a few people who were like that. Pat Farmer was like that and a few other staffers that that were every bit of a part of the show.

Um and and and certainly Eric was and currently is that uh for both incarnations of of of CBS's late night franchise, but um also very much uh a part of where that show is from. He this is one of those guys who he he works um in the technical part of the show that doesn't work for other shows for CBS. He just works for shows that are in the Ed Sullivan Theater and there's only one show that's there and that's the Late Show with Stephen Cobear, formerly Late Show with David Letterman.

Eric has all sorts of stories and uh I really appreciate the fact that he is so grateful and present and uh where he's at right now and and I just again we want to just shout out all those people who are working for the late show with Steven Coar who know that their times time is numbered uh when it comes to their employment because the show is being cancelled um May of 2026 and and and we just want to give so much support and love to these people as they are uh literally driving a freight train faster and faster and faster and faster knowing that the bridge is out and they are doing that and uh I I certainly loved the last six weeks or the last even year as Eric points out of Late Show with David Letterman. Certainly the Late Show with Stephen Cobear is shaping up to have some of these um amazing moments and memories and uh Eric has been there for both of them and one of the few people who can say that.

Uh he started with Late Show as the young guy and now he's leaving the Late Show as the old guy with a lot of stories um in the middle. Particularly my favorite part of this conversation is where he talked about the day he found out that David Letterman was retiring from Late Show with David Letterman and then going to there's a photo that uh that we're going to show of when Dave went back to the Late Show with Steven Colbear and and he spent some time with the people who worked um for his run at the Ed Sullivan Theater. A lot of fun. Uh, please enjoy my conversation today uh with Eric Akerblam.

Eric, oh man, this is so cool. I'm I'm I'm really grateful to have you here. It's uh I've wanted to have you here actually for quite a while. We've been Facebook friends for quite a while and I haven't um there's just some people that I haven't gotten to yet and I the people who were there for Late Show and then got to transition over to the Late Show. Small handful of people. You are still there. I believe you started your relationship with uh with with the the the Letterman side of CBS back in 96. You're still working for the current uh Colbear incarnation of The Late Show. Eric, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. And please forgive my tardiness for having you on.

Oh, Mike, thanks for having me. I uh yeah, I've been a fan and um I'm happy to uh be here.

Oh, it's so good to have you here. Um okay, so wear the pants jacket. I uh appreciate that you're representing. We've got a bit of a slideshow that we're going to show later for some showand tell. Uh folks of the people who who who uh tolerate this show know that I love the show and tell stuff, but I do want to go back first off. Okay. So, what is your role uh with it's CBS you work for directly, correct?

Yes, I work for CBS.

Okay. And what's what's uh what's your role there and what has your role been over the years? Has it changed very much?

Um I you know, I started in the technical maintenance department. Um and I still am in the technical maintenance department. I was at the bottom tier and now I'm at the top tier, [laughter] but same general department. Um and uh yeah, I've just been there longer than anybody else. A lot of my colleagues retired. Um, most of them came over but then, you know, retired. So, um, yeah, I've been in in technical maintenance. I'm considered the senior engineer, whatever that means. Maybe it's because I'm the oldest.

Yep. [laughter] Yeah.

You worked your way up. You were the junior, now you're the senior. Would you It's safe to say you'd be considered one of the monkeys in the truck.

Maybe.

Technical. Uh, give give the audience technical maintenance. Um, obviously, you know, this side of the of the production essential essential to uh it reminds me of an old far side. I think it was a far side still. Um, and it was talking about the importance of sound engineers and and it was somebody on stage. It was a a rockstar on stage and they were being a primadana, a primadana. And you saw in the foreground the um the sound engineer watching this behavior happen and he was just taking the slider and turning it from awesome to crap. And uh to me that's you guys. You guys are the ones that make sure the show looks so shiny, right? What what what's your what's when you say technical maintenance, what would you call that? Describe it as uh anything in the theater, any system. It could be a cameras, lights, could be network, it could be storage, it could be anything. Um there was a crew of four or five people on the technical maintenance department would fix it.

Uh it ain't broke if we can fix it. That was our motto and um uh you know different people in the department specialized in different things. Other you know Gary Mintz you know he knew oldest oldest technology and you know I was the the young guy coming in in my 40s. It was really kind of novel um to join this crew of people who were all older than me and they're like oh you're the new kid right? You're the new kid. And I'm like yeah kid in my 40s. It was awesome.

So, uh yeah, I uh basically anything that goes wrong. My my forte is post and editing environment and network and Avids and

all of those things. Uh workflow, show delivery,

tape path, signal path, um that kind of stuff. But there's other guys who are much smarter than me who who know a lot more than I do. And I appreciate that. What got you into television in the first place?

You know, I never would have guessed I would have ended up on uh working on a television show. It wasn't what I thought uh I was going to do. I was actually a photographer and um I went into the film business um and through the help of uh somebody I knew in the business and worked my way up from PA to you know, whatever. Um but uh people stopped asking me for the simple things and started saying how do I fix this computer or how can I do a mailing list or how can and I was always the person to embrace it. I'm like hey I will learn I will teach you I will figure it out. I will make this computer get that signal onto that screen or or whatever. And that that was the kind of stuff that I was really interested in. So, were you uh like a like a film photographer or uh like like 16 millimeter?

Yeah. No, film. Film. I I briefly worked at Life magazine. Um

I uh I went to school visual arts. I studied photography and film. I I was not studying engineering. Um but you know, almost anything that I work on wasn't even invented when I was in college.

Interesting.

Yeah. Nothing. Nothing I work with was invented. So even if I learned all that stuff way back then,

y

it it wouldn't be pertain to what the current environment of of production and post-production look like. So

immediate antiquation. Um did you and John Phoare notes? I imagine that. Uh

um kind of. Yeah, occasionally. Um love that guy. Yeah,

actually I have a one of Well, I have something related to John tonight to show you pictures. Oh, excellent. Okay. Well, we'll get back to that then. John, of course, he's been on the show. He's the uh the CBS uh behind the scenes photographer. Um and and I mean, he's got his stories have stories and boy, the uh the archive that he has collected over the years. My goodness. Um what uh so always in New York like when you said you got into film a little bit, was any notable films? Uh was it all stuff in the New York area?

No, actually I started in London. Um

Wow. I uh I went backpacking for two months and I didn't come back for five years and I ended up getting a job for a photographer who went into the film business who didn't know anything about the film business and I'm like I know all about the film business. I know about shutter speeds and all the the whole thing. I mean you know so um that's when I started but when I came back here in the US nobody knew me. They're like I don't know you didn't work for me. You're not in the union. We don't know your father. we don't like it was

it was tough but a um a director neighbor of mine who uh when I was a kid

took me on as a PA in his production company even though like at by that time I was way more skilled than PA. Um, of course, yeah, you learn that stuff along the way. And and I I do love that. It's kind of a um, you know, frustrating when you get back obviously nobody knew who you were, but the idea though that that uh that kind of brotherhood that's there where it is who you know and once you get in, it is a family very very much so on the technical side of both film and TV, isn't it?

Yeah. It's a big small business. You like, you know, it seems huge, but you run into the same people all the time. Oh, I worked with this person over there. I knew them from there or you know whatever. It's it it is a a big small business. So um so I eventually I worked my way up and and got into post-prouction. I worked for Editel. Uh I worked for Unel. Um and it was when I was at Unel that um I had recommended we buy this really really expensive video card. It was like $18,000. And they're like, "You're crazy, right?" And I'm like, "No, I'm actually not crazy. This will change your business." this will make your life easier, produce stuff quicker. And they were like, "Okay, we'll buy it." And and they bought it. So, uh, we were happy. We were the only people in New York who had it. It it was it was good for us. And then the next person who bought one was David Letterman.

No. So, uh, they couldn't get it to work. So, they were complaining to the manufacturer, $18,000. this stupid thing doesn't work. We want our money back. Blah blah blah. And the manufacturer's like, "Listen, there's one in New York. There's only other one other one in New York, and it works perfectly." And so Tim Kennedy,

I was going to ask if it was Tim. Yep.

Tim Kennedy called up and said, "How did you get your card working?" And they're like, "Well, we got this guy named Eric." And he's like, "Can we borrow your Eric? Can we pay him? Can we pay you? whatever whatever happens, just send him over here to get the card working. So, I went over there one night at like I think it was like 9 or 10:00 at night because they wanted to be after the edit they were like, "Don't touch anything."

And I'm like, "Yeah, sure." I I walked into Cheryl Hearn's office where the computer was and the card and I think it took me like four hours to sort of get it sorted out because her computer was a little built by somebody different. So,

yeah, you had to learn the dialect.

Yeah. And so then they kept asking me back just to kind of check up on it and this and that. And this is like late 95, early 96. Y

um and um that was great. I really enjoyed that. And then

cuz you were a Letterman fan. You loved Letterman, right?

I was a Letterman fan. Yeah. Actually,

because of my sister's uh insistence, I knew somebody who worked at NBC and I'm like, "Hey, could you get me a ticket to Letterman?" So, I was actually show number I think it was 13 Don Giller told me. Um

Wow.

at NBC. Yeah. It was really early on. Um, I think it was my birthday and I remember the next the following year I got a call from the audience department and they're like, "Hey, you were in this uh audience last year on this day. Where are you?" And I'm like, "Yeah." They're like, "We want to invite the same exact audience back. We're having the same guests, the same audience, the same everything. Would you come?" And I'm like, "Yeah, absolutely. I would come." That was my second um I may have the dates wrong. I could have ears wrong, but I based on what Don told me, I thought it was

um show number 13.

That is fantastic.

And that's your first exposure with the show. Now, now obviously uh working for for Unel.

Okay. So, working for them um in post, you had been around, you know, the business, uh you know, quite a bit. You get invited down to the Ed Sullivan Theater. Um, any majesty there for you or at that point there, are you kind of a season pro and whatever the background is is the background?

Oh, no. I'm thrilled to have a new freelance client, somebody who, you know, I really enjoy. Um, I never got past the seventh floor. Um, because nothing I was working on was in the basement where everything is or on the stage. Um, but they were incredibly nice to me and I, you know, they paid me well and it it was only when they merged with Viacom the first time I got they were like get out. Um, and it wasn't the people, it was the Viacom people like we have people who do what you do. We don't need you as a freelancer. So they just said you know shove off. So I for five years I think I didn't do any work for them as a freelancer.

Okay. So you started uh so we're talking 959 96ish is when you were freelancing and and and that's when you started with them and then so you took a break from 97 to 2001 kind of a thing

or how long how long was it had you been there for a while before they popped in? you know, I don't remember the years that the Viacom merger was, but I think I worked a couple of years freelance, you know, and then um uh nothing. And then probably in the early 2000s um I started to get called back in to to work on things.

Gotcha. Um, and back then, what were kind of I know I know I know you were a bit of a catch-all and I understand that you have specific uh knowledge about this this specific video card, that sort of a thing. If there was a majority of things that you'd be doing for the show, I mean, back at that time, '9596, that was when things were really really really hot, obviously. Um, you know, it was very fresh into uh the the CBS years. What were some of the things that uh some of your memories of the time back then uh because the circus was there almost every day a lot of the time? Yeah. Um, you know, it was so exciting to be around there and, uh, associated with it, but I, you know, I was still like kind of on the surface. I didn't get deep into, you know, the party and the people and the, you know, who, what's going on. I, I, but I got treated really well. I just I don't have too many like I never got tickets to the show. I never,

you know, I didn't really

I didn't really hang around that much.

So you your your primary time that you were there at those times you were um after the show was was recorded was when you would kind of jump into action,

do maintenance in the dark hours and perfect for me because I'm a late night guy. I I I also stay up and watch the show every night. I mean

every night I work on it.

I see it rehearsed. I see it taped and then I see it air aired because I I just I'm I've always been a fan. Um so yeah, that's been a joy. Yeah, I was going to say a special uh a very unique perspective being able to see the show knowing that you are one who did watch it because it's it's funny. I I find that the people I talk to uh more people than not didn't watch the show. You know, they were there for their part, whatnot. the idea that you would literally see it shepherded and know all the things in between that get it on air and then watch the final product. Um, you know, a pattern of gratification seeing that like like that's just a beautiful that's a that's that's a very very cool thing. Um, I got to ask this right off the bat. Did you ever work with Jackie? Did you work with Rick Sheckman at all?

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure.

I figured you would have you know him being the uh the film coordinator uh is the you know, he never asked for a title bump. um you know he if he wanted he would have been one of the producers that sort of thing. Um Rick you know I got to be friends with him you know the last sort of five years of his life. Um but it's it seems to me um the guys on the technical maintenance crew are the guys that Shecky would love to have hung with that uh that you guys were the ones that he he would have been sort of his people.

Yeah, he was sweet. We didn't really like have like in the in the current administration, I have access to every floor,

right,

of the office building as well as the theater. I have super access. I can go anywhere. In those days, we could only go on the seventh floor

or the basement. There were no other floors that my pass, you know, worked on. We weren't, you know, they had they had reception and worldwide pants behind another door. So, we didn't really get to spend too much time with those people. But when things were going on or when things were going wrong or we were throwing out new technology or hey, we're going to put a a system in your desk where you can actually watch all these things, etc. That's when we mostly got to interact with people like Shecky, but he was really good at just all of a sudden walking up to you and just whispering some advice in your ear. And, you know, I really appreciated that. I he was, you know, to guide me through that environment when I was a young new guy. He was he was very helpful. Brian Teda, a bunch of people were like super cool with me just to kind of, you know, help me out. Well, and you you mentioned Brian Ted.

I love I love that that you mentioned him too because again another person who came in on the young side of an old production you know um and I love that there is that life cycle um you know with with Letterman's body of work you know at one point they were the the the snot-nosed kids working in 30 Rock and you got all these old union guys with cigarettes in their mouths and and and you know looking at what these kids are doing by the time you guys like you and Teda got there um you were the kids and and and working with a lot of these veterans that were there on a show that had already established legendary status. Um, very cool to be that part of the life cycle and to see people like Teda and other people establish themselves and then go into big again like you said going from the junior guy to the senior guy. You saw a lot of that.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was the best crew in the business, the best everybody in the business. I mean, you know, just to to land there was a miracle. You know, I the the way I got in um for the full-time job

Yep. was um all of a sudden one day I got a call from Cheryl Hearnie and she said, "Hey, your dream job just became available. Some one of the maintenance engineers, Brad, is leaving for Major League Baseball. You should apply for that job right now." And I was like, "You bet." And called them up and I came down and I had a interview on Monday morning and boom, I got hired. They knew who I was. I was a known quantity. I'd been there before. I also had, you know, people like Cheryl championing for me and Tim, I I assume. Um that uh you know, really helped me get in there.

So, here's um I'm always fascinated with the idea of the worldwide pants aspect of things and then the CBS aspect of things and then the union of of of course. Um so, so you go for this job. You're you're actually applying for a job with CBS, not Worldwide Pants, right? Yeah, exactly.

Okay. And they're dealing with all the unions that they need to deal with. Um, is it one of those things where it's like, okay, yes, I have some experience here. Um, you know, you've got somebody in your corner championing you, but are there also restraints that other people might apply for that job that have seniority that might have been around the company in other places? Was that ever uh, you know, a part of a thing or because they wanted you, they knew that there was a route to get you?

Um, I Well, I think it was probably competitive. I know one of my other colleagues who I used to work with at Editel um

he also applied um and um but I'm not really sure how many other people I was in there so quick as soon as they knew Brad was leaving Cheryl said hey I think this is the guy I'd like to work with if I have to interface and blah blah blah. So I was extremely lucky to get that call. Thank you Cheryl. Shout out to Cheryl. And so working for CBS in this role, um, how many shows did you work for? Was it just Letterman or were there multiple shows that you worked for?

No, I've only worked on Letterman. Um, that's it.

Wow.

Obviously Co Bear version.

How well do you uh how well do you know the Ed Sullivan Theater in that in that area? Like do you know that thing like the back of your hand? Are you you know

I know the hidden passages. I know where Dave used to disappear to. Um there's a lot of cool but you know it's all been ripped apart and totally rebuilt. It's very sort of you know the footprint is different and the layout's a little different but um

yeah I'm I you know I can't believe there's going to be a time where I'm not going to be in the Ed Sullivan theater and that's coming soon. And I know that, you know, we want to be as respectful as we possibly can. Um, you know, to to to your current position and and and riding out, um, you know, what is going to be, I mean, I've talked about a lot on the show here. I'm devastated of the fact that the franchise isn't going to be there anymore. Um, and part of that devastation is that that franchise has been tied to that legendary theater that has so much energy and so much um history in in in in show business. And uh you know the fact that you have said like my gosh, how many years is that? 30 years. 30 years more that you have been uh you know the vast majority of your time is spent in this theater. Um, I I appreciate the fact I love the fact that you that you appreciate it and that you're grateful like in your you're you're current about it. Um, I want to ask about the hidey-hole.

Um, [laughter] I don't know. I don't know if we can, you know, when Dave appeared on on the Late Show, uh, you know, with Stephen, one of the things that they talked about was one of the questions back in the day that that Stephen asked Dave was, "Is there a place that I can hide from my producers?" [laughter] and Dave told him a spot. Um, and they they reminised about this when Dave appeared on the Late Show. Uh, I guess Okay, so this is the only question I'm going to ask about that. Is it the same spot?

No comment.

We'll talk in June. We'll talk in June about it. [laughter] Um, that's beautiful that you would even mention, you know, uh, that that that moment and you do know the history. Uh, is the the passageway to the pizza joint, is that still there?

Is the pardon?

The passageway to the pizza joint. Is that still there?

Oh, that's still there. Yeah,

that's still there. Okay. Um, were I don't suppose you were near that uh that spot when they smuggled Leno in back in the day. Were you?

I knew about it. I you know, I saw the rehearsal. I saw the Oh god, watching all that stuff while it was being taped. It was so much fun.

You must have had goosebumps.

It was very cool. Um and and okay, so again to to to talk about like the depth of knowledge that you have, uh Rick told me so few people knew about that. Like that was a really closely guarded secret and it was it was guarded right up until Super Bowl Sunday when that when that commercial with Oprah and Jay and and and and Dave uh appeared. You know, the the the reports were that Barack Obama from the White House was real time making phone calls saying, "Hey, was that how did they do that? Was that real?" while the Super Bowl was going on. Um, so few people knew about it. You're one of them. You knew about it.

Yeah. Because, you know, if if you're going to tape it and it's going to end up in the post environment. Yeah. There was only like one editor who knew about it. Uh, Post Super or you know, like very few people knew, but yeah, I was in that in that film chain where I got to watch it. So, I was like, "Yeah, this is fun." [laughter] No kidding. Um, and the fact that you can like, you know, I asked that question earlier. you said no comment. The fact that you can keep your cards close to the chest. Uh, you know, obviously a huge attribute and and I mean, you're not going to be on the team if you can't do that. Let's face it. Um, let's talk about some of the I assume that there were shows that went off the rails and it was your job and your cohort's job to kind of put it back on the rails and to fix things. Um, there's one in particular that I I I think I want to wait till the end. So, let's I'll put it this way. I'm going to ask you about the montage in the last show, but I want to wait till the end to ask about that cuz I've heard so many stories about that montage and I'm very curious about your about your perspective. But clearly there were shows along the way um where you guys were racing maybe against the clock to try and get the tape to the broadcast center, that sort of a thing. Uh do you have any stories around that that you uh that come to mind?

There's Yeah, there that definitely happened. Um, you know, when I worked on Letterman, I was a every night I worked late. I until the show was delivered and and back then the show was delivered by hand on

two videotapes, a run and ad would go over to the broadcast center and go, "Here it is." Um, and um, uh, there was a couple of occasions where we just weren't going to be able to make it to air that way. So, we literally had to uh queue up two avids with the program.

Yep.

No. Oh, sorry.

What do we got?

I tapped my finger on the table and the dog went crazy thinking

Didn't I didn't even hear it over here. No, no, no. All good.

By the way, people like dogs. We're all good. This is This is good.

A lot of barking. But um so we had to uh we had to line up uh the edit on two uh Avids and literally play it out live or the tapes were finished or being finished while act one was running. Act five might be laid down to tape and and swapping tapes and very interesting but always made it to air. Never had an issue. Uh, I think it was only like two or three times in my in my span there. A pretty rare event. Did it also happened the very first night of Co Bear show? Yes, it did. [laughter] That was I I as you were saying that that it only happened a few times where we had to do it like real time. Um, I thought in my head I was like, I'm pretty sure one of the times was was was uh the very first late the late show with Steven Colbear. Um, but I mean like the adrenaline at that point must be just you you must be able to taste it. It must be so exciting.

Yeah, it's it's very exciting. There's a bunch of adrenaline. But, you know, uh I learned this on Letterman because I'd never had this before in any place that I worked. when every single person around you is the best at what they do.

Yep.

And they're so confident and they've seen everything happen before. It It really helps. It really helps with not being nervous and this is going to get done. We're going to figure out how to do this. Um and and yeah, being with like the best crew in the business is super important [snorts] uh in pressure situations like that. Yeah, I can I can Yeah, you just got to you got to rely on your foxhole buddies that are around you, right? They're all in it. They're all just as dedicated as you are. Um and and and just very present in that moment. [laughter] Um, what were some of the things like like I've heard, you know, we've had Harvey Goldberg on the show who another one of the handful of people who has has uh has stayed over and almost like similar to yourself, Eric, like almost a custodian of the theater itself and and and and the bones of the uh of what happens in the theater is as as well as Harvey. You know, they built him a a new studio. Um he talked about that and and and um many times musical guests would have to either reperform or or they would have to do some heavy post work.

Um again I love the hybrid between live and produced. It's a such a unique thing especially considering with music um with what you guys do. It's it's it's masterful. I assume that that might be something that might cause delays uh in getting in getting the tape to the broadcast center.

Yeah. that those kinds of things do happen, can happen. I I think it was my second day at the show

as a full-timer. Uh, and I literally I'm I'm 6'4, uh, over 200 pounds, and I I literally had to climb under Harvey's floor, his his drop floor, and find one cable out of like 10,000 cables or something. It was it was pretty exciting. Um, but, uh, we we fixed it. So yeah, those guys, but again, any kind of like stress or pressure in in the background, they keep it to themselves. They're not nothing's going to leave that room. None of their anxiety or whatever is going on with them

isn't going to be shared. So nobody else is going to be like, "Oh, we should worry about this." No, it's it's they're [snorts] very professional and they're very buttoned up and they know how to, you know, it's great to still work with Harvey. I love it. Oh yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, you want to talk about a guy who is a master of his craft and has uh, you know, his his musical lineage of the things that he has worked on and been a part of, just unbelievable. Um, and again, I I look at I look at what you guys are doing um at the Late Show. And when it comes to musical performance in front of an audience on television, I don't think that there is a better uh a better show. And I think it's been that way since the Letterman days. I mean, I I remember watching I'm so grateful when when when when Late Show went down the path and started doing the Live at Letterman concerts and things like that.

I imagine that those were things you worked on as well.

Yes, we got to work, uh, on all of those webcasts, uh, so to speak, and and yeah, that was so exciting. Fantastic people coming through and, you know, Jerry Foley did an amazing job. It was it was really something to have that kind of energy in the theater. It was, you know, the way way way high energy. It was super. Did you re um did you interact with Jerry every single day and was it very much or or was it just more of a a reporting to everything's everything's okay boss or or or like how much interaction did you have with Jerry?

I don't know if my predecess predecessors had as much but I certainly did. I cuz I always proposed new ideas. I'm like, Jerry, what if we do this? Or we could have an assist station where you could sit it on your desk and you could see all the cuts that are being worked on. Or he [snorts] wanted me to build him some sort of dictation system for books and things he was, you know, working on with Pete Pellen and like different different stuff. And um it was, you know, he was always open to new ideas and like, yeah, blow me away. Show me something, you know. show me new technology that's going to make my life better or easier to work with. And uh yeah, I loved working with him. He was he was super nice. Um you know, the the accolades of course uh that that that Jerry gets um you know, but also before he passed away, everyone just talked about the uh just the job that he had.

And I mean, I don't know if there was a person in the production that had a harder job than than than Jerry did, you know. um having to having to, you know, they always say they always say stuff rolls downhill, right? and and and you know the pressure from the executive part of the show uh for him to execute what they were looking for while being creative at the same time and being able to kind of roll with the punches and do things and then also manage um teams, not just a team, but teams of people at the same time. and having to be that that that that person right in the middle of such bigness on top and below. Um and and and just again unrelenting the amount of shows that you guys produced and how it was just over and over the groundhog day effect of it.

Um it takes a special person to be able to direct a show like that for a long time. And anytime I have somebody on who worked with Jerry, I like to spend a little bit of time with him. I uh talking about him. I I I I've met him a few times. We traded a we traded, you know, a couple dozen emails maybe. Um and and just such a such a kind man. Um yet at the same time, there are people in the production not necessarily thinking that [laughter] because of the the tonnage of stuff that he, you know, was dealing with and transferring to you all. Um anytime somebody mentions Jerry, I like to do a little saliloquy about him because he's just an amazing guy. Um you worked with him that long. Um, you know, other impressions, any other impressions of Jerry that that that come to mind as I say these things, Eric?

Um, you know, he was always willing to give advice, which was great, uh, career-wise. And, um, you know, he was such a veteran in the business and he'd seen everything that, uh, you know, he was always being the conductor of 200 plus people and making sure everything happens at the right time. Uh, he was very good at that. I mean, he had a temper. I I I got to see it occasionally. It was interesting. And um you know, with with some people not on our show or some people on our show, uh things needed to go the way Jerry wanted them to go and and that's why he was so good. Um but God, it was so much fun to uh to work with him. I was so sorry when he passed. Yeah, it was it's very very um unexpected and sad and and just all of the things that come with that and it just uh you know Oh, yeah. And and and again, somebody who I'm really grateful that there are some tributes to him that are out there like Walter Kim built that beautiful beautiful one that uh um that went out not that long ago. Um, it went it went out just shortly after Late Show uh uh uh left the airwaves, but then also again it was it surfaced again after Jerry's passing and it was such a it's such a beautiful tribute to him and so many people have so many beautiful beautiful things to say about that guy.

Um, let's talk about a little bit of uh some content, some stuff that happened on the show that that that you remember perhaps and I mean I want to talk about when you guys were actually featured on the show. I thought that was just uh it was such a genius letter classic uh Letterman bit the way that they featured you guys on the show. I want to get to that too. But um it feels like if I'm getting the impression properly, if it's coming across properly, Eric is that while I the fan get to watch and enjoy some of the content on the show, like you know, um different shows come come to mind. the one the one that uh um that I that I can't stop really thinking about. I love it so much because it happened in real I love the moments that happened in real time. You know, can we play these eagle songs on on you know tonight and suddenly the whole show stops and they're trying to go back and forth to try and find if they can get clearances and you know there's extra camera positions because we're doing new things. I love that. Um, but uh were there ever nights where things kind of happened spontaneously that you remember uh from a content perspective or were you just the guy that couldn't really focus on that because you had to focus on the technical aspects of the show?

Yeah, I don't know if we got exposed to too much of that. Um, those kinds of things didn't go out over the intercom. Whereas the current current system with intercom, we can hear everything if we need to. we can hear everything anybody says. Um, but in those days I didn't really, you know, we didn't get a whole lot of of that kind of feedback and and also, you know, I was at the tail end of Dave's career,

right?

Most of the time he didn't come to rehearsal.

Um, you know,

writer would sit in and and it wasn't it wasn't Dave. So there wasn't that, you know, kind of energy on the set. It was a little different. Um, everybody's walking through it. The cameras need to know what's going to happen. The director needs to know it's it's useful, but it it it's not the same energy as a taping. And uh, you know, the tapings were always exciting. I can't really think of anything like super

spontaneous unless you know, we went out into the street and, you know, hosy or some, you know, some bit that we were doing. Um, we did some cool stuff on the roof for you know the so exciting when when we had uh Paul McCartney on the on the uh marquee.

Yeah. Um, those are like the more exciting things that I can think of, but nothing like spontaneously in my memory goes, "Oh, yeah, I remember the night this happened." Or, um, like the my one of my it's probably my top it's in my top 10 uh favorite moments of from from from Late Show for sure was the night John McCain was supposed to come on but then didn't come on.

Oh yes,

there we go. So like that's that there's an example of that spontaneous Okay, the show now was this. We thought it was going to be this, but now it becomes this. And and you guys after the fact are supposed to piece it all together into one coherent narrative. Um, and that was

happening because somebody did look at the CBS cameras and saw where he was and then they went, "Hey, guess what?" Because we have access to everything. If I if I go through the television in my office, y

I can I can get a live picture of the White House. I can get I've got every CBS camera and RAM that are out there. Um I have access to and you know other people did and the control room does and and somebody went uhoh look what we just found out. And that was really a fun and exciting uh moment uh of discovery and then just you know let here we go. We're going to load the shotgun and let him have it. It was [laughter] and he deserved it. It was fun.

Oh absolutely. It was just that those are those moments where uh so special. Um and and also the moment where uh not the moment but I really really loved the show when you talk about um you know the show had become very routine you know Dave not coming to rehearsal that sort of a thing. I think of the times when uh like when Conan lost the Tonight Show and then every night Dave's coming out there and it's and it's and it's seeming it's ripped from the headlines stuff and I'm curious if um and I know we're not going to talk too much about you know the current show uh until after till we get you on after um after uh May this year. But that being said, I remember that time and how fresh and everything seemed in 2009 2010 and I think about now with how present everybody must be. I was wondering if those two time frames might be a similar similar feelings for the time and place of the show.

Yeah, I think so. Um I, you know, obviously the current show is much more political and much more, you know, following what's going on in politics. Uh Dave did, but not to the same extent. You know, we're looking for fun things, stupid things. The more stupid the better. Yeah,

it was it was that kind of stuff. So, um, yeah, I I wasn't really aware of as much of a newsdriven thing as and and also we didn't all have all those resources of uh, you know, internet was very young. There's not places to Google stuff and and, you know, verify or something. So, there there was a lot of smart researchers and people who knew what the hell they were doing. But um I think you know they're they're kind of different times

moving towards the uh the end of Late Show. Um I have uh I've said it many times on this program and and and to other people as well. For me the last six weeks of Late Show with David Letterman is the best six weeks of television in any era. It was so good. And um I imagine that that I imagine that that's one of those unique times in life that you'll never be able to kind of replicate. It was just a unique moment and uh and very very special for you as well, that last six weeks. Would you want to talk about that a little bit? Then maybe we can get to that montage because I do want to ask about that night.

Sure. Yeah. Um you know, not only the last six weeks, but the last year was very memorable for me from the from the moment Dave announced he was stepping down. Um, everything changed. Uh, believe it or not, I had a job interview that morning. I was at ABC News. They wanted to hire me away. And

No kidding.

Yeah. And, you know, I went to the interview. I wasn't looking for a job. I was I was recruited and cuz why would I leave? I I was super happy. But, you know, evaluate every opportunity, which I'll do soon. But um uh anyhow, they they I went through I met with like three people at the end of it. They're like, "Here, sign this. You're hired." And and it was I don't know. It was almost double my salary. And wow.

But with a asterisk, uh some nights and weekends, some 4 a.m. calls for Good Morning America, blah blah blah. It wasn't exactly even.

Um it was a good amount of money. And my father always taught me to just evaluate every opportunity, sleep on it, think about it the next day. And I'm like, "I'm going to tell you tomorrow." They're like, "What do you mean?" I said, "I'm going to tell you tomorrow. That's what you I mean." And so I go to work and live in front of the audience. Dave says, "I'm going to retire. I'm gonna I'm going to step down or I'm I'm leaving the show in about a year." And I was floored the same day. And I was like, "Huh? I don't know. And and you know, it's now public because the audience has heard it.

Yep.

After the taping, I called up uh the woman, my contact at ABC, and I said, "Hey, um I don't know if you heard or not. Letterman's retiring." And she's like, "Excuse me?" And I said, "Letterman's retiring." And she goes, "Hold on." And she's like, "Letterman's retiring?" She's shouting to the newsroom like, "We don't know this yet, but the tapings happened. It's already public.

Yep.

No.

And she said, "Well, I guess that means you're going to take the job." And I said, "You know what? That's the reason I'm not going to take the job because the last year of Letterman is going to be so insane that I don't care." And and and if you really want me, you'll still want me a year from now.

Oh, Eric, I got goosebumps right now. That is

So, yeah, I'm not I'm not leaving. You're going to have to drag me out of the theater. And then, you know, was that a wise decision? Maybe not. Did I know I would get further work with another show? I had no idea. Um, didn't even think about it, but I just didn't I couldn't imagine not seeing not putting it to bed, not being the person who turned out the lights. That's really where it was at for me. Um, so, so yeah, and then eventually I was asked to start planning a Co Bear show.

Yeah. uh and uh and then was eventually chosen as one of the people to to work on it. So I I was very thrilled. Um I don't know what's going to happen this time. W Yeah. I uh I you know what? I got to I got to say this, too. I' I've said it I've said on the show, too. Uh but but just please please please convey um there's a lot of people out there that feel really bad for all of the staff and everything that's going to happen. You know, people a [clears throat] lot of people say, "Oh, Co Bear will land on his feet." Of course Bear will land on his feet. Of course he will. You know, he he is a worldclass talent and uh um I can you know the idea of Colbear unleashed, you know, how much time until Co Bear Unleashed can happen, whatever that looks like. Um in the world of entertainment, in broadcasting, that's going to be great. But um I visited your show a couple of times the Col Bear show a couple of times and and seeing the family that's there and the team that's there and knowing that that team um has a half-life and and and uh and you're moving towards that. Um, you know, what an interesting perspective. The fact that you could I I goosebumps, Eric, listening to that story. The idea that the very day you're offered another job.

Okay, I'm going to go sleep on it. And in the process of getting to the place to sleep on it, you find out Dave is leaving. And I cannot like that's the that's the decision I would have made too. That's a decision a lot of people would have made from a from a a perspective of going, "Okay, I don't care about the money because this next year is going to be nuts and historic and you were a part of it and uh um you know, clearly clearly no regret there whatsoever." A lot of people would just say, "Oh, the money situation's better." But really being present and thinking about there are things that are more important than money and the family that you had there. You got to be part of an incredible, incredible time and place in the history of pop culture.

Agreed. Is I'm ridiculously lucky.

Wow. Wow. [laughter] That's that's a that is a beautiful beautiful part of of of your part in this of your story in this Eric. Um that last year lots of crazy stuff going on. Uh okay. So whenever there were remotes, you would never you basically you'd never leave the the Edel Theater was kind of the Batcave for you and you wouldn't leave there. You wouldn't be going on remotes. You wouldn't be going you were the person that received things and helped usher them to become part of the show. That was essentially your uh your station

for the project. I never went out remotely with anybody or did anything like that kind of stuff. No.

Okay. But you were featured on the show.

Yes. a couple of times who got to be I was shocked. But yeah, I it was a it was a running bit that existed before I came. Um Brad was in it. Um

yeah,

SteveSky was in it. Bunch of other people. So um I was happy that it continued. It was really, really fun. The technical maintenance minute.

The technical maintenance minute. And it's exactly like you would think it would be if if uh if you're an enthusiast of David Letterman, you know exactly where we're going with this. They bring staff on uh from a very very specific department and they get them just talking about [laughter] technical uh equipment uh jargon. Um [laughter] and that was essentially the bit. Um what a beautiful piece. Now and how much of these little speeches that the three of you made, how much of it was absolute versus how much of it was absolute, you know, real? Were we just taking names of equipment just putting them together or or was it all actual uh technical uh did it make sense to other people who were in the maintenance technical department?

Yeah, 100% real. every single every single little snake at least when I was on they were the writers would come to us and say hey give us something give us like something to work on and we'll we'll take so we would give them uh you know advertising stuff from Avid or this or that or here's the new version of this and and they would just literally copy it down and and we would read it and you know for them the and I'm pretty sure somebody could confirm this but their whole goal goal was to give Gary Mintz the most difficult tongue twister because if he screwed up it was much funnier. Um he was always deer in the headlights kind of guy and and they would just I was like I would look at my Q card and then I would look at his Q card and I'd be like damn they're giving him the hardest stuff to read so that he will screw up. Um and uh that that was brilliant. It was it was a lot of fun.

Um and and it was near the end of the run that you guys did that, right?

Uh I don't know. So I did like three or four, but I think only two of them ended up on the air, right?

Um we got bumped by I don't know somebody and some big thing happened that day and b we're bumped.

Oh, and that would happen a lot. Yeah. I've said this m I I I wish it was organized and I wish I wish I were still with us and whatnot to even talk about how it would have been organized. How many extras made it to the cutting room floor and never like fully produced fully produced extras and and and and things um that that would have been just fine if like you said something didn't happen you know Dave you know deciding to talk about a current event rather than these things and then they just go away. How cool would it be to unearth some of these things that never saw the light of day and show because they're entertaining. They're funny stuff and uh there's a lot of that stuff. Um I you you probably would have seen some of those things, you know. Okay, Dave went long here. We're going to have to drop this and uh yeah, you saw a lot of how the sausage got made.

Yes, I watched it while it was being made. Um and you know, Dave was unique. He didn't want anyone to ever re-edit his show. um all he wanted was the final masters of it. So on the shelf in the tape room were two tapes of every show and uh every Monday morning the entire previous week's media, all the cameras, all the ISOs, everything went delete. No archive, never backed up, not put on tape, nothing. Just literally thrown away. So, anything that got produced that didn't hit the air literally doesn't exist unless somebody got it out of a dumpster on a tape. Um, but there was never any, you know, trace of any other media. Uh, because he owned the show. He had the right to do that. Y

where CBS owns our current show,

they own everything. So, they get everything.

Well, and it's funny just like I think about uh I don't know how aware you are of of what Conan was doing at the time on his TBS show, but he almost kind of went the opposite way. like they would have actual uh I believe they called them scraps shows. Um and what they were were literally shows that were assembled footage of the rehearsals and some of the things in behind the scenes that never made it to air and they would actually make full shows of it. Uh boy, that's interesting. The um the audience Q&A um was that ever do you remember that if that was recorded and ever kept or is that one of those things where on the Monday morning it would be that would be the stuff that would be uh erased? It would be recorded for sure. As soon as you know Dave's out there, the cameras are rolling and um Nope. It wouldn't exist, not uh you know, only the camera lens that got bashed with the microphone.

Dave used to bang it on there and um but no, there was no other no other physical trace of all those cool things.

Wow.

Somebody has an archive that we don't know about. I mean, you know.

Oh, uh wouldn't that be great? Um, [sighs] Don's got Don's got the most complete collection. And I know that Shecky had little tidbits and things like that. Like like it was cool when that they had the foresight to save Dave's last Q&A, you know, before the last show that's been released, that sort of stuff, but but yeah, the there was a lot of gold that happened in all those moments. And I mean, I guess it's one of those things where um you know, being part of the family that makes it more that much more special because you get to see a whole lot of stuff that the public just doesn't get to see and the joke just stays within the family.

Yep. It's that's the way it was.

Huge advantage of being part of that family. Um you're one of your how how many kids you got, Eric?

I have two kids.

Two kids. What are their names? Uh, Anna and EJ.

Anna and Anna and EJ. One of them, at least one of them, uh, highlighted in uh in in the great Sue Hums uh, Halloween uh, kids Halloween costumes for the new year for for this year. Um, I believe one of your kids was a uh, one of the miners trapped in the mine and being rescued from back in the day. That was a that was that was one of your kids.

Yes, EJ was on the show. Um, he made air. Uh he was a Chilean miner in a rescue capsule. Before the show, somebody said, "Dave, you can go ahead and eat the expired cheese. More proof that they're trying to kill me." [bell] Hi. Oh, well, here they are. Look, ladies and gentlemen, look. They spent 70 days underground in a Chilean gold mine.

And here they are tonight. [applause]

Complete with a rescue capsule. How you doing, buddy?

Good.

Must have been tough down there, huh?

Yep.

Well, good to have you back topside.

Thank you.

What's your name?

EJ.

EJ. Good to have you with us. Having a nice evening?

Yep.

What do you want?

Candy.

Well, you know, we don't have any candy. How about this? This is a gift certificate for Miniki Care Center. That's for $15, my friend. There you are. Go nuts. Good luck. Be careful.

Good [applause and cheering] night.

That that rescue capsule cost like $2500 to make. It was insanely and and they measured him first for it so that it would fit him only. Um, and he also was supposed to be the situation from the Jersey Shore, but that that part got cut. Um, so yeah, he was the uh Chilean minor and uh he it was a thrill for him. Um, my daughter unfortunately never made the cut. Uh, she was a little too young before they cut it off and you know, as we got towards the end, it was more popular people than me. Their kids were getting on, not like it.

Right. All right. Oh, because there was there was a hierarchy of whose kid got to be in the

a hierarchy who you are. Yeah, for sure. And and that's okay. There's no problem with that. I I was super super excited for for him to be on.

Were you nervous when uh the camera would turn on to you? You seem like a pretty chill person. Like you seem pretty even keel when it comes to this stuff when you were doing your segments. Uh would would would you get nervous at all? No, I somehow I don't know why I don't really get nervous speaking in front of people or it just doesn't just doesn't get me. Um I want just want to concentrate on not screwing up. That's really you know I I I really tried with my lines to to you know I knew they were trying to get Gary to fumble but I didn't want to be the guy who did it first.

Right. Right. Gotcha. Um, okay. So, let's uh before we get to the slideshow and and and talk about some I want to get to that last night um because that the the last show um again a master stroke you guys landed it perfectly, but the uh descent to the landing pad uh there was some bumpiness that was there. This is one of those things where delivering talk about delivering the tape. It did not get to CBS until shortly before broadcast. Um, and and and a big part of that to do with the again in some would say insane idea of playing live music to a canned montage. Um, insanely difficult thing to do. I want to talk about this montage because it is one of the greatest uh pieces of television. Um, especially when you consider something that that that is summing a body of work up. I don't know that there's ever been a better one. The entire team deserves accolade upon accolade to get it done. From uh from what I hear, the practice went real well and it was it was it went almost almost flawlessly. Uh but then when you got to the real thing, uh the train came off the tracks. Is that is that accurate?

I'm not sure if I'm remembering it that way. and and people who maybe know better uh would know better than that. I do know it was months and months and months of effort by a bunch of people pulling stuff video stills. Oh, we're not allowed to show that as video. Oh, that has to be a still. We don't have the rights to this or or or I I can't even imagine the amount of of preparation to cover as many things as that that were in that. Yeah.

Um I know uh the editor Mark Spatada. It was

at least one of the editors. I think he was the main editor on that. Um

unbelievable job. I mean just crazy. And you know for me the euphoria of the show being over and and us, you know, getting to air, you know, it was it was a long episode, right? They allowed us to run over. I believe

almost a half hour. Yeah.

Yeah. and and that causes technical issues because nobody's ready for that. Um we knew there was a possibility, but um it was Yeah. And then there was an afterparty immediately after that at MoMA, which

did you make it there or were you one of the ones that had to miss it?

Eventually made it there, but not not at the peak time, but that's okay.

That's the way it always is for for us in, you know, in the post side of it is like we're going to be the last people out the door. Um, and uh, yeah, I don't I'm personally not aware and I was just, you know, I still have the last 10 episodes of the show on my to

Yeah. Yeah.

like refused to delete them. Um, and uh, I don't remember it going off the rails. I I

I heard I heard a chair was thrown in the editing bay.

I heard I heard that u it was didn't make it

was not the easiest thing in the world.

I I don't I don't I really

All right. Okay.

Not confirm that at all cuz I I know it was a tough night. It was a it was a sad night. There was a lot of people,

you know, uh not rehired, not not having jobs to to go to. Um but I don't remember any of that.

Okay. But I didn't I I live on the seventh floor now, whereas back then I lived in the basement,

right?

I came up, you know, I was I was uh in the background really, not

I gota

So that being said, you alluded to it earlier and I want to talk a little bit about that. So the announcement is made that Steven Colbear will be David Letterman's successor and um and and things will continue um you know similar being in the venue but that being said uh a lot of preparation for that to happen and then the moment the show ends uh the transformation of the theater astounding um but I'm curious let's go back how long before the show ended were you already kind of uh handpicked to say okay uh we need you to help prepping for uh for the transition.

Well, I I remember, you know, I started to get invited to meetings that I normally would never have been invited to over at the broadcast center. Um and I started to feel like, okay, well, at least they want my opinion. They, you know, we're going to do this or we're going to do this differently or we're going to build this or we're going to, you know, let's let's plan it. Um, so I felt good about that, but I wasn't really sure

that I would make it through to the other side. There was one brutal day where they just call people into a conference room one after the other and and person would come out and go, "Nope, I'm let go. Another one, another one, another one." And, you know, I walked in there pretty nervous. Um, but uh it's hard to get rid of me because I know where the wires are.

Um

it's well you know the Ed Sullivan

farmer same thing I mean he came over too right?

Yeah it's a beast um of a a place and if you don't know um it took me my first year it took me a whole year to really kind of get comfortable with the whole signal path and where everything was.

Y

um to throw that away is tough. You don't want to do that. If if Cobear brought his engineers over from that studio in that other space, they wouldn't know anything about the Ed Sullivan Theater and and their studio is begging them to stay because they are the ones who know what's going on in that studio. So

for me, I've sort of became kind of part of the building. Um, not intentionally, but I it just that's what it happened is my my set of knowledge was valuable moving forward.

That's a good way of putting it. And there was a few of you who were that uh who who were just as attached to the building as to what was performed within the building and and and part of it. Pat Farmer being one of them and and and and others as well. That's a great way of of of putting it. Um, so when you found out and you got the nod, uh, how much of your did you have to spend a lot of time, um, well, cuz I mean again, like I say, you're still producing, uh, you know, the Letterman show at a break deck speed, at a break deck time in the place of of history. It, you know, the it got more intense, but now you're kind of having to wear two hats a little bit. Did that happen a lot or was it mostly after Late Show went off the air that's when uh you really started working with the other team?

No, it took I you know I think it took about nine months to get so I I I think probably around December, January. We we had probably started purchasing equipment for people and and you know specking out what was going to be um needed or used or orworked or whatever. So no, it was definitely before I think you know dark days possibly and or mornings um which were less important for people like me.

Yep.

Um and you know before Zoom before all meetings were in person so it was uh but I started to dress better. Maybe you should dress a little nice. I mean I'm not a bad dresser or anything by any means. I but I I was like, "Yeah, you know, maybe

the technical crew didn't have a dress code."

No, no, no, no, no. But, um, I was I I exercised a little personal personal uh Yeah. step it up a little bit, maybe.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I'm I'm hanging in the broadcast center with all these people wearing suits and I'm I never wore a suit to work. Uh, I did not start wearing suits, but did get a jacket and, you know,

Yeah.

try to judge it up a little bit. Um, okay. So, now we're talking about the transition period and all that sort of stuff, but the transition period started uh with a bit of a thunk. Um, you know, the show ends on on May 20th and quite literally the next day. Uh, those of us who are deep into this when it comes to our enthusiasm, you know, devastated seeing the pictures coming out of New York. Um you have an interesting place in this because you know you knew the mammoth job ahead of converting uh you know everything in that building from the theater itself to the office building itself to go from the old regime which had been around um you know for 22 years plus uh you know to to we want to make it shiny and new for the new regime. So and the job was trying to kind of you know put a garbage truck through a pinhole. It was not an easy thing to do. So, you saw that, but then also the devastation the next day of going, "Oh my gosh, they're trashing Letterman's studio and throwing it in dumpsters." Uh, that must have been an interesting time for you.

Yeah, it was really um it was kind of scarring uh a little bit, but uh you know, a lot of people felt that way. A lot of people were just in it was like that scene in Animal House where they take the bar out of the took the bar the whole bar. That's kind of how I felt as as all this stuff. I did get a pair of seats. I have I have u a couple of theater seats that got torn out. Um

Yep. Good.

It it was uh it was chaos in the building. It was chaos on every floor. And then like very very shortly after that there was nobody left. There were no people. No people. And just stuff everywhere. office chairs here and monitors there and stuff that they just left behind that like we're not taking this. I I I picked up a few little choice pieces of things that I found. But, you know, it was kind of sad going through their for the first time ever. Their floor was unlocked so I could go into World War left behind to like, is this worth anything? Should we keep this? Should we throw this out? like uh it was it was a really weird time. Um and uh you know those of us attached to the theater and the whole thing, it was it it felt strange when the marquee came down and all this other stuff, but you know, I guess that's what happens when you have a new show. It's not I mean the the amount of work and restoration they did to the Ed Sullivan Theater was incredible in the amount of time they did it. Mhm.

I really do understand why they had to start the very second afterwards because there was not a moment to lose between May and September. They transformed this entire building. Um and not in a small way. There was there was scaffolding all the way up to the top of the theater.

Yep.

And I could I I was on top of the scaffolding. I could touch the dome. I you know they took down the whole uh gantry system and you know you can't imagine how much different it is and it's really beautiful. They did a fantastic job. Um, but you know, it started off as very jarring to a lot of people and

yeah, I was going to ask uh well put um on all of that and and it is the nice thing about the Ed Sullivan Theater still which I which I appreciate so much um you know the uh the the the lobby is the same and um and and then when you walk in it's the same feeling the energy the flush of energy that you get when you walk into that room um as different as it was from from from when Late Show was there to compare to The Late Show. Um the energy still assaults you in such a beautiful positive way, in such a good way and they did an incredible job. Um you know, one of the times that I was there was a guest of CBS. It was got so when when you're against CBS, you get to sit right in the front row of the balcony and boy the viewpoint of like there isn't a place where a perspective where you have your vision pointed that isn't absolutely awesome and then you point it into the, you know, a few degrees to the left or to the right and it's equally as awesome and and up and down. Like it's it's so beautiful. Um, from a technical standpoint, how much was different from the last late show with David Letterman to the first uh the late show with Steven Colbear, how much was different for you? Were there a lot of bugs? Like, was it so different that you actually had a lot of bugs that you had to get uh get out of the system to get things flowing properly?

Yeah, everything was new. So, yes, there's always that uh version one uh you know, trouble. Um, we got pretty close. Almost everything was ready to go when we when we first went to air. The only thing that wasn't really working was archive. And that requires transporting files. Something we never did with Letterman. Um, transporting files to the broadcast center uh for for archive on a big big system that resides over there. And it took us like a month to to really get that. But but we did electronic delivery versus tape delivery. We also sent backup uh XD cam discs, but our main delivery of the show is electronic now.

So there's a lot of differences. Um it was the the the first night troubles were not related to any kind of bugs. It was a it was a different situation, but it's a good story. And even [snorts] Stephen told the story the second night of the show when I was watching the monologue of show number two of Coar and he's like, "Hey, we almost didn't make it to air last night." And I'm like, "No. Oh no, here it comes. Here it comes." And his version of the story is slightly different from my version of the story, a different perspective, but um

it was uh exciting. um broadstrokes uh the differences in your job, you know, and the differences of of of the current show uh compared to the old show, you know. Um and it's not a better worse thing. It's not anything like that, but just differences uh in in in your your job.

Um I kind of do the same thing. I'm I'm I'm actually more focused on the post environment than I was in the Letterman era. In the letterman error, I wasn't specifically post. I was the guy who knew post and knew how to, you know, fix it,

right?

Um, but I could be responsible for anything. And now I'm less responsible for other things and more responsible for post. And there are other engineers who are much better at other areas of the facility. So that's a slight difference for me. I I get to focus on one thing. Um, uh, but that's because the people I work with are really strong. Um, one's a former colleague, one the former colleague, he took the ABC job that I turned down.

No kidding.

Yeah. And then I hired him away from ABC a few years ago and um he was like, "You're lucky you didn't take that job." Like, "Yeah, [laughter]

I know." Um,

no kidding.

Big small business. Yeah. And then I hire another engineer recently in the last year and a half. Uh, and I find out he lives five streets away from me in my town. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Uh, it's it's really u it's a big small business. But um I uh what else is different, you know, working on Letterman, walking into the best crew in the business. Um people who knew everything about everything, uh and how much I learned, it was really great. Uh but it was a different energy, right? So, so then Co Bear comes in and you have all these young people. I'm the old guy. People start calling me sir. I'm like, you know, and and um there's a lot more youthful energy uh on Col Bear, rightly um and uh you know, they're also not experienced enough to know whether something can't be done or not.

Right.

Right. So actually sometimes that pushed us even harder to go okay maybe we can solve that problem whereas I'm you know I'm not sure we were presented with those kinds of things when I was working on Letterman like oh we're going to do something that maybe can't be done figure it out y

uh that happens a lot in the current environment especially during COVID I mean

during COVID the the whole Zoom part of the show ran out of my house um I was these Zoom rooms are.

Are you kidding me? I didn't know that.

Yeah, that's a whole another story. But yeah, so it it's it's a very different energy. I really love it. I loved working with all those, you know, senior professionals who knew everything. It was tremendous. It was tremendous. And then I get to meet a whole another bunch of like energetic, exciting, can't be stopped kind of people. and it was challenging and it was it was really good. We did some things that nobody ever thought we could do and I'm really happy about that.

Have you enjoyed um I'm curious as to your uh how things are for you when you guys decide to broadcast a live show whether it's on an election night or after a Super Bowl or whatever it was. Sometimes you guys will broadcast a live show. Um does that change your job significantly?

Changes my hours significantly. And

yeah,

but you know the other thing is it's actually for me because I'm in post or you know focus on that.

Yeah,

it's actually less stressful because there is no post. There's no editing. It it is what it is. It's going to be a time and the director is going to say cut and we're going to go to commercial and and we got so good at doing live shows. It it was astonishing like what we could pull off even during COVID. We did some live shows on COVID which was

uh on Zoom which was like unthinkable to be honest. Um and uh so it's been it's just been a really exciting run and I you know I love the youthful energy. So, right now, um, you know, we're sitting, you know, just before, um, you know, just before the holiday season and all of that stuff as, you know, at the time that we record this, knowing that in May, um, you know, everything changes again and we don't know exactly what it's going to change to. Uh, you know, just over 10 years ago, you were in the exact same boat [laughter] with with with Late Show. Um, similar feelings. I mean, obviously you're 10 years older and whatnot and different teams and whatnot, but is it is it sort of a similar anticipation?

It it is. It's a little, you know, should I be out there knocking on doors looking for jobs? Yeah, I probably should. But again, I have this feeling just like Stephen is like, we want to land the plane. We want

we just want to bring it in smooth

and and you know, that's going to be really exciting and really fun. I can't wait to do that. And um so and and roll the dice. I What's going to happen to the Ed Sullivan Theater? Anybody knows? Let me know because I don't know. I I It's too small for Broadway.

Yeah.

It's too small for music performances. So what do you do in that? It's a television studio really technically. Um is would would they sell it? Would they consider putting another show in there? I don't know. But if if something comes, I'm interested. I'd like to keep a job. I don't want to be unemployed. Um, you know, I don't know really what's going to happen in the future, but I'm I'm going to lay on the plane and I'm put the lights out and I'm going to archive all the stuff and I'm going to put it to bed the way it needs to. Hopefully, we have the time to do that, but um because there's a lot of stuff to uh archive and erase, but um that's kind of, you know, where I'm at.

I uh um Letterman's former producer Robert Morton uh was on not that long ago and we were talking about we were talking about this and and the idea uh someone floated out the idea u that Netflix should buy it because like you said it's it's you know it's too small for music ex unless you're unless the music is for a video presentation of some sort because then it is absolutely perfect you know that 500 seats or whatever it is uh comedy specials things like that and and and you know, you've got Netflix and and some of these other like last night the Rock and Roll uh Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was on broadcast streamed live on Disney Plus u these live events are becoming more and more uh um you know these communal moments that can happen and and the idea of Netflix owning that place where you know any one of the roster of their comedians could do a stand-up special at any time there or a musical thing it would make sense to keep it as a as a as a television studio.

You say it's too small for Broadway.

Yeah. I mean, you could put some tiny seats in there, but I don't really think you're going to get more than like 700 people in there. Right now, it's 50 or 450. It's, you know, uh the balcony is different from when the Beatles were there. There was things that were removed. It's It's not quite the same. Um could you jam more seats in there? Yeah, sure. Airplanes do that all the time. But I don't think I don't think it's there's enough butts in the seats to make it worthwhile for Broadway. But uh you know hopefully something I don't know. Um and again not to get too much into the into the you know if it is politics whatever it is uh that you want to call it of of of television but like Harvey Studio had never been had never been redone. Just a couple years ago they spent a a chunk of change giving them a new studio. other technical improvements that have happened to that theater. I mean, it's in such beautiful shape in so many ways. It would be such a shame um if if if if something like this were to happen, but it doesn't seem like a couple years ago it was even thinkable that that that that this show and that uh that production might stop.

Um but at the end of the day, it's nice to know that there are people who who care about the place as much as you do. Uh did you uh speaking of airplanes uh did you go to California to the Emmys with the rest of the team?

Oh yeah, this past Emmys. Yes.

This Yeah, for the Yeah, this uh 2025.

A thrill. It was a real thrill to go and to win. And it's it's different when you win. I didn't realize. [laughter] Um it really is. But we, you know, we worked so hard and uh it's great to be nominated, but it was real fun to win. We had a we had a terrific time

when you guys won. Um where were you?

Um we're in the balcony with I don't know roughly 200 other people from the show because

Stephen and Eie um were kind enough to bring us all which was tremendous. Um so yeah, we're up in the balcony. We're not in the on the floor segment um of the Emmys and we were I'm sure you heard us on TV. We were loud. We were

Oh yeah, very very much so. Um the uh the broadcast of the Emmys ends. You guys are all up there. Where do you go? Are you all are you all together most of the night? Did you branch off into different groups? How did how did that work?

Um party. We we have a party. Um you don't go to the governor's ball. They go to the governor's ball for a little bit. That's a sort of a touchand go. They I don't think they spend

make an appearance.

Yeah. I don't think they spend too much time there. And then um we had a beautiful party place um all set up and uh uh it wasn't too long after that Steven walked in with the Emmy and uh it all hell broke loose. It was really cool. Very very uh fun time. But yeah, we're just we're just partying until we can't party anymore. And uh also a lot of the crew work on other shows too. Some work on Oliver, some work on Saturday Night Live. They go to their HBO parties. they go to wherever, you know, I'm I'm a oneman

a little unique when it comes to that because again, yeah, like you say, a lot of these people a lot of I've got friends uh you know, in different departments um who who who worked for a few if there's a few that that still are holdovers from from Late Show, but they're also, like you say, working on many other shows. It's kind of a rare thing for you to be one of these guys that uh that just works for the one show as opposed to a whole bunch of different projects within either CBS or the unions um you know landscape.

Well, my skill was more transportable. Yes. But you know, a camera is a camera. Wherever it is, it works. So,

you know, but uh I I really like working in the one in the one spot. It's good. I gota um well I just again want to convey to those people that you're talking about here that crew um you know who works for Stephen and and and and uh the late show and the amazing work you guys are doing just know that there's a lot of empathy from a lot of places with what you guys um are going to are are going through. But the idea that you're going to keep partying till you can't party anymore is that is exactly what we would all hope for you and I hope it is. I hope that the unforeseen bangs that are going to come um that there are, you know, you don't go out with one bang, but there are a lot of bangs that happen between now. I hope the holiday season is incredible for you guys. Um and then and then the ramp up to what you've done. Uh you know, again, not an easy thing to succeed David Letterman and and and uh there I don't know how many people on the planet could do it. Um you know, Colbear in many respects. I mean, Conan O'Brien and Co and Steven Colbear are the two men who have who have done it and both done it very very well. Um, it's very cool that that's going to be the case for you that you are staying there and and get to see again, not very many of you got a chance to see the end of these two historic runs in television. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Eric, thank you for your contribution to it. You've got uh I love show and tell in this show. I I love it very very much. Um, and you've got uh you've got some pictures that we can share of of some of the things the keepsakes and the things that you have uh seen over the years.

Yeah, I'm a I'm a you know I scrge things all the time. I still have Su Hum's Polaroid camera that she left behind. Um my my door at

my door at CBS is called the Museum of Lost Formats. Uh, and it is loaded with old technology from records to laser discs to whatever. And Su Hum's Polaroid camera is on my door. But, um, I don't know what's going to happen after I go to that door, but let's hope something good. Yeah. I I I'm the unofficial keeper of the unofficial Late Show Museum in my office currently. And that's from the current show.

Yep. you know, weird stuff ends up in the office and it ends up in the free box and I'm the idiot who picks it up and puts it on my shelf and calls it a museum.

I'm that guy, too. I've always been that guy. And and being a being a collector of of things that have sort of an energetic pull, I I can I can 100% relate to what you're talking about. When you said you have Su Hum's uh Polaroid camera, that delights me to no end. That's fantastic.

Oh, there's the Explo. All right.

So, I I'll show you because my Zoom I don't know why I can't like

No, it's looking good over here. I can see it. I can see it here.

Disappears into the background. Let me share a couple images. So, let's see. Where am I in my stack here? Hold on. Give me a second. Okay, here we go.

You got a funny little story about the Explos when we get to that picture. I can't wait to hear that one.

Yeah. So, here's this. We're going to share this with you. There we go.

I believe you have you have a stack of these postcards of

I have a small stack of those. Those are rejection postcards.

Yes, you did not make it.

And we do not need you. [laughter] Uh I got some hand warmers. Branded hand warmers. They they still give out hand warmers at the show, but they're not branded. Um

Oh, do they still give out Really? Interesting.

Yeah. Yeah. There's still people who are It's not as cold as Dave's day. I think our our temperature is maybe four or five degrees

warmer than when Letterman had it, but uh it's still cold.

Keeps the comedy fresh. Yep.

There's the drinking cup. Oh, that's such a great keepsake.

Yep. I got a couple of those. These, as you could see, right, I wear this hat and these are my hats over the years. I just run them into the ground until they couldn't stand up anymore. But um

our boy Rupert still sells them by the way.

Yeah, I probably need another one. Rupert, I need another [laughter] um but uh I wor I wore this show to Co Bear for a while. I was like, "Until you give me a hat, I'm sorry. I'm wearing this hat." And eventually they gave me a late show, you know, a new late show. Um uh Alan Coulter, you're busted. The mic the microphone little thing that would go around. Um, miss Allan. He was a lovely guy.

Uh, yeah.

All Okay, we'll get to Allan. Remind me to talk about Allan before we finish the show. Yeah, the Explo.

Explo again. Uh, I found these in a closet somewhere not too long after I joined actually

uh and and just kept them. And recently uh when Dave was on Co Bear uh a bunch of us who worked on his show got to hang out with him afterwards uh backstage and I showed him this and he's like, "Oh my god, where'd you get that?" And I had I had a box. I gave it to him. It was it was nice.

Um

now I got to ask you, Eric, was that your first major interaction with Dave?

No. No. No. During the show, you know, I

Okay, we'll get to that too then. We'll get to that too. Let's keep going on the slideshow and we'll get to that.

Okay.

This was

Oh, what is that?

This was by my desk when I literally started. I took I my computer. They wanted to give me a PC. I said, "I want a Mac." And they're like, "The only Mac we have is Harvey Goldberg's old Mac that nobody wants." I'm like, "That's what I want. I want

old Mac." And um next to it was this little piece of woodwork that I have no idea who did, but it was nice. I kept it. Oh, that is really cool. Uh, and then there was a stack four feet high of these bumpers.

Oh my god.

Four feet high. I wish I had taken more than five of them, but I just took five. I was like, I don't know. I'll just take a couple.

Oh,

but somebody left the whole That's like That's the back of the card, the front of the card.

And then

we're gonna show our boy Mark Cars in this. Oh my gosh.

Mark's gonna be like, "Oh my goodness."

Yeah. um these and I don't you know continuous tone 48% I don't know what that is but I just left it on there because that's what was

when I picked it up.

Um oh my god. Oh there this was EJ when he was

there we go EJ.

Yeah.

Oh and he s Oh really really awesome. EJ, great job. Um, all my best. Uh, be nice to your dad. [laughter] Love I love Dave doing that. And then, uh, oh, sorry, wrong way. Oh, and then Anna was jealous, my daughter. So, I got a picture to Anna. Oh, my best. Be kind to your father.

Oh, that is so precious.

Yes. Very sweet. He was very sweet. Um, and then this this picture.

Okay. So, um John is taking the class picture

Yep.

of all of us and he is up on a fire escape across the street and I guess you know it attracted the press and other people who were hanging around.

Y

So, uh one of the press photographers took this picture uh and um I guess I didn't know about this picture. I didn't know it existed. And my sister all of a sudden sent this to me. She was in advertising and she actually licensed this picture from the photographer so I could have a copy of it

which was I was like you know to have me and Dave in the same picture uh and of course a lot of other notable people there Paul and

I I cherish I cherish this photo and it was it was such a joyous uh thing.

Yeah, that is a beautiful beautiful photograph.

Yeah. Uh oh, wait. I'm going the wrong way again. No, [laughter] that I think that's I think that's all the uh all the stuff I have to show.

Okay. So, let's uh let's let's let's

let's finish off and talk about um again you you know I asked the question not in just at all, you know, like like [clears throat] um Dave comes and uh and sees you guys as the holdovers, as the handful of people. Um and there's a beautiful picture of that. I'll see if I can if I can dig that up. I've got that somewhere. the picture of you guys behind this uh you know the same the night he came to uh the late show with Stephen Cobear um and the entire show dedicated to Dave including the musical guest having the national there and and and you know everything about that show was so beautiful um and and I said to you you know it it wasn't in justest is this the only time [laughter] is this one of the few interactions you actually had with Dave because there were people you wrote for the show for a long time that can count on one hand how many times they actually had interactions with him and uh you know that's just that's just the ecosystem and that's part of the beauty of of of of what was and it's it's it's interesting to me.

That being said um you know the signatures for the kids uh on on the photographs there um interactions with Dave over the years any notable ones other ones we've just talked about? you know, as a tech guy, I would be in situations where, uh, there was some technology that needed help in Dave's, you know, dressing room or his office. I'd go up there and he'd like, "Hey, I, you know, I told you I wouldn't I monkeyed with the remote and now no sound is coming out of the stereo. Can you fix it for me?" I'm like, "Yeah, Dave, I got it. No problem.

If it ain't broke, we can fix it."

Yeah. Uh, you know, it was those types of things. or in his dressing room. Again, we installed one of those things because everything before we installed this new system was they literally would go up with a stack of VHS tapes and then put one in the machine and go, "Okay, here, play this one. Okay, take that tape out, put another one in." We put a digital system in there and once it needed it needed some massaging or somebody pushed the wrong button or whatever, so I had to go in the dressing room and it's sort of a charged environment before a show. There's a lot going on. There's there's people, there's discussions. Dave's there and and Dave's nothing but cool and nice and and he's like, you know, he goes, "You look like Tim Syndric, the head of Penske Racing." He goes, "You similarity to Tim Cyn." I'm cool. I didn't know. I looked it up and I'm like, "Yeah, I actually do look like [laughter] this."

Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, I talked to him at a Christmas party once. He was very sweet. I talked to him on the last night at the Museum of Modern Art. He was more than happy to talk and and it was uh yeah any interactions I had with him were great. I the whole oh don't look him in the eye, don't say anything to him. I never believed any of that. I mean I don't know if that's true or not, but I I personally never had any kind of awkward uh I almost got run over by him once when he was running down the hallway. was really when I first started and I didn't know you weren't supposed to be in the hallway when Dave runs past.

Yep.

Um so I really just kind of got out of the way at the last second and somebody's like, "Don't ever do that again." I'm like, "All right, promise I'll stay away." [laughter] Um but

pre-show ritual getting his energy up though, getting the getting the blood pumping, getting ready to go. Um yeah, it it was always uh it was always a a pleasant and and you know fulfilling. And then the moment where he comes back um and and and that picture was taken with with you guys and I'll I'll post it here. I'll I'll put it up, you know, because I've got it somewhere. Um must have been full circle. Like again, you talk about the energy that that that that that you feel some of during some of these moments. the night that he announces retirement, you know, that that that energy. That that being said, the night uh you know, that's not just a routine show for you. The night that Dave comes back to uh the late show,

right? No, it's it's it's special. It's really nice that we got to hang out with him and Mary and uh uh it was kind of calm backstage and and you know, it was it was really cool. Do you The picture you have, do you have the regular version or the bearded version? I think I have the I think I I think I have the I've seen both. I think I have the regular version, but I've seen both. We should put both up. We should we should do that. Make sure both get up.

But uh anyhow, [laughter] um yeah, we we all had Letterman beards. It was funny. But um uh yeah, it was it was really cool to be included in that. It was really, you know, and he was he was genuine and and you know, recognized us and had fun. It was it was really cool. Oh, that's awesome. Um, Eric, before we uh and now, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you, uh, you know, uh, prematurely, um, but when the, uh, when the show ends in May, um, you know, providing everything, uh, goes the way that it seems like it's going to go right now, I would love to have you back on the show and ask you a little bit about a little bit more specifically about, uh, um, you know, the Co Bear show and some of the things that are happening there and whatnot. Um, but but really at the end of the day, you're just locked in for for a pretty amazing rocket ride over this next seven or eight months, uh, however long it's going to be here. Um, so so please come back. I would love to have you back. Before we, uh, finish up this conversation, your first appearance on here, is there anything else that you thought of that I missed that we missed uh, that you want to note here?

No, I think I blabbed enough. I I a few stories. I I'm sure I'll afterwards I'll go, "Oh, should have said this." But I, you know, no, I I I uh I really enjoyed being here and talking to you and, you know, somebody so knowledgeable of of what I've done over the years, you know, the show in general. It's it's great to share those uh those moments with someone who knows what it's like.

I appreciate it, Eric. Thank you for saying that. Thank you for coming on the show. Uh before we finish, we're going to finish the the way that we always do. We do have one sponsor and one sponsor only of the Letterman podcast, and that is Rupert G and the Hello Deli. I assume you've got a lot of memories of of Rupert and May over the years.

Oh god. Yeah. I spent I was I was in there every day. Like at some point I was on a I would call on my cell phone. They would know that I want food for breakfast. They would pick up the phone and just hang it back up. And then by the time I got to the Hello Deli, here's your order. Get ready. You're ready to go. I tried to get him to name a sandwich after me and it just didn't work as much as I as I tried. Uh I tried a burger. I was like, "How about you name a burger after me?" The the bingo burger with peanut butter and bacon on it and

take my money. I'm in.

But I miss Rupert and May. I loved hanging out with them. They were just such a great fixture of of you know they were part of the building and it was so much so much fun to uh experience that

and again when the new crew came oh what's that

I said thanks Rbert

thanks Rupert [snorts] yeah that and I'm you know he's such a such a wonderful wonderful wonderful guy he and May are just so sweet and um shout out to them shout out to Irene uh Rupert's girl gal pal as we like to say um you know and and you talk about your spot uh you know the unique spot, you know, the the Worldwide Pants crew, which was their family for so long, um, suddenly gone and this new young group there, uh, optimistic, brighteyed, bushy tailed group, Co Bear's group, comes in and, and and and they get a whole different group of regulars, but a few holdovers, and you got to be one of those holdovers that stayed. Um, and and and that I know happen to know that that was very precious for them. the ones who got to stay and and and part of the old crew that would that would that would still come and frequent the shop. Um, very very important to them. So, thank you. Uh, hello-delly.com if you want any Late Show with David Letterman merchandise, including the hat that uh, Eric is wearing right there. Not the jacket though. Not the jacket. He's wearing one of the pants jackets. Um, how many of those things you got left?

I got a few. I I rarely wore them because my job didn't always center on being in the theater. My office was cold. It was a machine room. There was It was but it wasn't as cold as the theater. You could not see your breath. Um so hence after wearing them for a little bit each year I would just put them back and uh put them in the box and store them. So I've got a few, not as many as some others, but uh I cherish them. I you know they're they're they mean a lot. Thank you, Dave.

Absolutely. Um, I've been lucky enough to uh to have been given a few during this run here and I love every single one of them. Um, so grateful for them. Again, it's just like when you walk in the theater, there's a little bit of energy that's there. I don't know I don't know how else to describe it, but uh it feels like you're you're you're part of something special. Eric, you certainly have been and and and uh the one of the takeaways that I just have from this this this conversation today is just how grateful you are and how present you are. And I appreciate that very very much about you. I hope that you're able to stay both of those things and more as you move into the close here. Uh I very much look forward to the second time that we do this on camera and anytime, man. Um call, text, whatever. You're you're you're a friend. I appreciate you very very much. Thank you so much for uh appearing here today on the Letterman podcast.

You bet, Mike. It was my pleasure. I really enjoyed it.

Me too, man. Me, too. Um this is why we do the show. We do the show to talk about all of these amazing times and places that uh that so many of us communally still pine for in so many ways. And we remember this is one of the ways of doing that. Talking about the most important, in my opinion, the most important uh broadcast history in of any television show, the greatest body of broadcast work in history, that of David Letterman and company. Uh thank you so much for being on the show here today, Eric. My name is Mike Chisum. Uh that is another episode of the Letterman podcast. Thank you and good night. Thank you. This is the office where my dad works. The audience enters the theater through here. The audience waits outside. The Beatles played here 50 years ago. All these people have had a show in the theater. We are entering the lobby of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Your tickets were free. Sullivan Theater. It holds 350 people. Let's explore the stage. This is where the CBS orchestra performs. No food is allowed on the set.

Hey, now check check.

Everyone tests out all the equipment before the show, even the piano.

Now check check. 1 2 3 4 5. [music] This is the EC where my dad works. It's where all the wires come together. The control room is where the director and producer sit. The technical director has over a thousand buttons to press.

This is the sound effects department.

Okay, I can push any button you want. I remember it [music] as if it were yesterday. And I'm absolutely right. And this is the one the writers love at almost any time. And if Dave gets electrocuted, and when he's done being electrocuted,

this is the videotaping room. They play all the videotapes on the show. This is the edit machine room. The equipment on this rack costs over a million dollar. These are pictures of the staff. Dave runs down this hallway before every show. Here they make funny props. Every show they've made is on the shelf. Over 4,000 shows. This is the edit room. Today's show is featuring Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga invited her audience to go across the street to see her play. Right next door is the Hello Deli. Rupert is on the show a lot. And now here's the show.

They don't talk to me.

Yeah,

I don't talk to them. Bang zoom. All right.