Arthur Kelly

welcome once again to the letterman podcast i am mike chism i am so excited to be doing these shows and uh and it shows that i'm excited about it because it's starting to catch fire a little bit i got a lot of people who have been reaching out uh and and supporting what it is that we're doing hey if you like what we're doing please like and subscribe i hate being a broken record talking about that liking and subscribing stuff but that is the world that we live in right now please like subscribe and if you want to go that extra mile and write a nice comment or share we'd appreciate that too but uh i'm gonna ask that now i'm also going to i believe these podcasts are being shot out of order so this is not the first time i'm doing this but it might be the first time the public is seeing me do this uh depending on the order of how we release these shows doesn't matter i gotta do it because you know gotta keep the sponsors happy and we gotta sponsor we got one sponsor the lone brave sponsor 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who um i could say this next statement for uh that the letterman podcast would not exist if it wasn't for this person and the reason being is i believe since that night in 2015 that's kind of where uh when i saw dave that night um i believe that's where the letterman podcast was birthed but there have been a lot of breadcrumbs and things that have happened along the way to create a pathway to leo us to this very very moment and if any one of those breadcrumbs wasn't on that path this would not be happening one of the the major breadcrumbs fact he might have been an entire piece of bread in that pathway is a guy by the name of arthur kelly artie the one man party you might remember him from the show if you worked for the show he answered the phones on dave's floor if you watched the show you watched him on coach's corner now i've talked with our artie and i are friends we've talked a lot um when i started doing podcasting i was kind of getting going for my men's mental wellness podcast that i host called he cast and i wasn't i didn't know what to do uh how to do it anything like that and arty and i had already been communicating i thought hey can i can i like do a video call with you and record it and um and ask you questions about uh about working at the late show and and being on coach's corner be mike singletary and it would give me a real thrill to do it and and uh and and he said sure absolutely let's do it now that interview's around you can find it um i stepped all over it i was not very good at this some would say i'm still not very good at this but then i was really not very good at it so i stepped all over already as he was talking i was getting used to the zoom back and forth uh but he has uh our friendship has has um continued on and uh we've we've talked a lot we've you know social media things like that already the one-man part arty is one of the funniest people he is i don't even know how to describe him except for saying one of a kind goofball willing to put himself out there and uh and put smiles on people's faces i love that about artie is that he just if he can just put smiles on people's faces he would do that um he is a guy that marches to the beat of his own drum i know a little bit about that as well um and uh he gave me my first pants jacket out of his collection and i'm wearing it right now there's actually footage of me my wife was smart enough when the package arrived she got a video uh got her phone out and video uh took video of me opening up my very first worldwide pants jacket that already uh sent and he sent a note along with her that said welcome to the family that was that was one of the most special moments it brought me to tears i'm not you know ashamed to say it brought me to tears um the documentary that's being shot we might include that footage on the documentary of me getting my first pants jacket i'm wearing it right now i'm wearing it because i became friends with and uh and and i'm just so grateful for the relationship i have with artie the one-man party arthur kelly thank you so much for finally finally being on the letterman podcast it's going to be your first of many appearances how you doing in your jersey right yes how's the jersey today buddy once again i want to thank you uh once again for wasting your time bringing me on and your podcast um it's unbelievable and i like the work you're doing as i mentioned before so once again i want to thank you for wasting your time oh well hey no problem i look at it as an investment of time but uh we're not going to we're going to get squabbled in uh in in in semantics and words there um i uh you're wearing your your your late show 18 shirt every year they gave the staff t-shirts as to what year of the late show was um i want to ask you real quick first and foremost we're not gonna start talking about the singletary stuff and all that stuff that'll come into it because we're friends now we've talked about this so much uh but our viewing audience and our listening audience hasn't heard it yet so every time we go into some of these stories uh it might be their first time hearing it it's cool tell me about when dave would go by and he would whip things at you let's let's let's do that you answered the phones on his floor and many times you interacted with dave outside of when you were on the show right well you know the the rifling of these items for some strange reason he would come blazing out of the door and he would rifle off maybe a carrot or a grape or whatever he had and lightning speed and and amazing i was able to catch it because i have quick hands but it was it was good exercise it was fun but i never really got the gist of it but it was good but it happened a lot right like i mean even every day is there somebody on the planet who else who can say hey every single day in my workspace uh david letterman would whip something at me to to keep my hands uh my fast hands uh ready to go i'm not sure that there is um if you watch the last day in the oh go ahead there is one so one day that i was absent out sick and he didn't know that i was out so he came blazing out of the door and it was an intern sitting and he threw it and whatever he threw bounced off her head so outstanding even better um i'm sure past the statute of limitations and if there was a lawsuit it's well settled by now so we can tell those tales out of school we're good yeah yeah yeah yeah um one other person i could think of one other person you could think of that he would say that okay um if you watch on the very last uh letterman episode uh on the late show there's a compilation a day in the life uh video and and and actually you can see footage of it really quick you can see let him be running down the hall and going arty and i think he whipped it it was a tape ball or whatever but anyway that was this man's life for a long time um and uh and and you loved it you talk about how you and i have talked privately about how um how the staff was so eclectic they were from people from different places of life different uh times of life of ages and things like that different experiences and backgrounds uh yours very unique where you came from and uh compared to a lot of the other folks who worked for the show well yeah absolutely most definitely um you know you know different worlds and and and but the thing is you know i understood that you know when you're working with people you're working with the people so it was a great group of people that i work with so the thing is you blend in you know because everyone got along i never had any issues with anyone no one had any issues with me that i know of so it was it but the thing is you know it was different a little bit of difference you know because of you know the uh of uh different things i don't know you know and how people view comedy what people grew up with a lot of the people they had been with this organization for like 30 years you know as a newcomer i had no idea what was going on i know it was comedy but i had never seen the show before yeah you know what let's uh it's it might not be a bad idea to talk about it was it was kind of a head hunter that throws it was an agency that forwarded you to this job right was it 2 000 was that the year yes 2000.

yeah and and and you you kind of answered an ad it wasn't like you know there's a lot of us we've talked to folks on on the on the letterman podcast so far where they talk about being an intern you know we had uh uh uh daniel kellison mark malkov uh a few others that that that talked about either being an intern or getting on that way and and they like clawed and scraped and it was like their life's ambition to do that but it's interesting that you got your place from an agency rather than than than being an enthusiast no no no yeah yeah i came straight from the streets um i remember it was the coldest day in january um and uh i was i already had a job prior to that i was working at goldman sachs and so i was looking for something else i didn't know what that something else was so i had um set my uh resume because i used to work as a headhunter myself prior to all of this stuff and so i know how that works and they saw my background they brought me in they thought i would be great to work for them and then what at the end of the day the woman says i have an opportunity that you may be interested in okay well what is it she says it's working for worldwide pants so my first thought is what is worldwide pants i'm like jesus i'm really not looking to leave uh you know goldman sachs to work for a uh a garment factory but i said well let's let's go anyway so she said it's 1697 broadway i figured well that's not too far so i walk up broadway and i see this marquee and i'm thinking look what the hell is this i see the late show but i don't see any worldwide because i'm looking for those worldwide pants sure you know and she says you have to go into the entrance on the ed sullivan theater building so i go there and i said where is this worldwide pants and then i go to the uh human resources i met with the human resources manager janice punida a wonderful person kathy mavrococcus and david letterman's personal assistant the lovely laurie diamond and i met with them we chatted you know and that was it i didn't think anything of it you know i figured well that's it i just want to mess with them i just want to go home this is the coldest day you know and i'm thinking the interview was like 5 30 6 o'clock i'm you know like what kind of stuff is this who's going to interview somebody at 5 36 and so i you know go you know and then i meet with them i don't think anything up i just went with my friends that's the formality go people nice to you well yes we'll be in contact with you you'll look nice we love your suit you know you know you you're looking like you're having bella fonte you know at least one thing um and so um and then after that i go back to work and then i get a phone call from the agency and they says um how did the interview go i said well it went well you know he said what did you say that's about nice people and she says are you interested well yeah i guess you just well they're interested and then that's when we became engaged and we got married uh you just named a bunch of people that we would love to have on this show and to and to talk to them as well because um you know we're all charmed by this i think a lot of a lot of us who love letterman uh understand the fact that there was a family that was there and that included all sorts of stuff all the dysfunction that comes with the family uh of course was there but of course also the joy and and many other things um when you started working there how long did it take you to realize you said you know 30 years or some of those people were there how long do you did it take you to realize that you were part of a family i would probably say it took maybe a couple years because when i went there i had no expectations of being part of anything i just i just figured i'd come and provide the service and that's it but then as i started to look at the people when i first came i first stayed at the uh robbernet and i met uh some of the other people and and this is a different setup because they were one they came over introduced themselves and told me who they were so i started to realize it was a different setup versus where i was in the corporate sector because you know the giant corazons you know they weren't really uh that cordial you know they figured you know who we are you soon have pictures we're the gods we're the heads yeah and and that's it but this environment was a little bit different and that's when i started to realize i was in a different place and it's uh a little goofy right like i mean i i can imagine and not nearly as straight laced as being on wall street well most definitely most definitely yeah yeah because some of the antics that i saw there you know you could never you know pull anywhere else you'd be immediately fired okay so okay is there one that we can everybody's safe and and it's not uh it's not telling tales out of school is there an antic there uh that you can talk about that comes to mind as you say that let me think there's so many uh i love hearing that let me think let me think let me just figure out one that really runs to my mind i'll stick with myself sure um oh yeah so one of the antics that i pulled probably um i'm trying to think there's so very few of them because i remember once we had an issue with uh you know a issue with the broadcast that took place and i just took it upon myself to uh disregard a diplomat you know uh that wanted to speak to mr letterman you know because i felt well you know listen it's only by appointment only do you have an appointment and and and so that was probably you know something that i think that i one of my performing moves you okay yep and then tony mendez we love tony mendez tony mendez um you know this guy was full of antics yeah oh yeah you know i i i i i would just sit back and watch him i would be like jesus did he just really do that did he pull that uh i i love that uh the fact that you okay so so we'll get to inky in a second because i think i think uh i hope anyway you know now that the official letterman channel is doing its thing and and putting out a lot of this amazing content uh that hasn't been earthed many times hasn't been on earth for years uh i i can't wait i hope that there's an opportunity for them to give some love to the tony mendez show because i mean that's the show within the show the sub show that happened online stuff they did really early on experimental stuff and then tony brought his own like you say his own personality to things i'm glad you mentioned his name we've talked about him a little bit on the show but we're going to talk about him a lot more moving forward for sure but the diplomat that you you know i mean how do you know right because at the end of the day that's that's a big part of your job which is why i can see why it was such a um you know to have lori involved personally and some of these other folks kathy involved personally into this because at the end of the day you were one of the last lines of defense directly to dave and not only did you have diplomats calling who you you know accidentally uh uh you know gave the the the closed door to but you had a lot of crap that you dealt with too you had crazy phone calls and and and and obsessive fan phone calls and protest phone calls and things like that uh all the time didn't you oh i missed them yes indeed every day oh every day you know let me just tell you a little brief story sure i'm trying to make as quick as possible because i know we're pressed for time no or not you know what you're going to hear there is the there was a photo of dave on the corner of 53rd and broadway yeah and every in the subway i would take i would be right across the street every morning before i would come to go into the building i would look up at the photo and i would say oh dear lord um what is our day going to be like today you know because i knew each day was going to be a a roller coaster ride right and and and and it's continuous throughout the day but it was exciting it was fun you know um yeah but the thing is with complaints and demands and all sorts of things you know you know we've got the kings the queens everybody calling everybody's a star everybody everybody who has a guitar wants to come on the show if you have a banjo or monica you know they they want to come on can i speak to paul shaffer can i join the band you know ridiculous things but hey listen that's what they paid me for and i enjoy doing it it's crazy as it may seem because i'm crazy sure well and you are you you're the right kind of crazy i love i love your brand of crazy uh and i i yeah because you're you're you've broken the mold you're an individual in in that regard i love how uh and we'll get to this as whether it's this episode or other episodes that you and i have uh our buddies we're gonna get to that how how that the performer in you now like when you look and see what you're doing now and just just for the hell of it sometimes and i mean watching some of the the antics that you do now um you've told me before that that that performer side of you was awakened because of the show because of coach's corner because of the oh let's try this let's see let's put artie up and make a mike singletary and and make him scream crazy things all the time stuff that lines the writers would feed you and all that kind of stuff that ignited the performer in you didn't it well absolutely yeah because you know actually when they first came to me with the id i mean idea excuse me um i i'm like okay i'll give it a try and then they told me how it was going to be done i said oh no no thanks you know and then the writer says we'll give it a try give it a shot and i said okay you know don't expect much because i i i'm not i'm no actor a performer i don't know what i'm doing or a football coach for that matter yeah and so they said give it a go and i said okay fine i thought it was going to be a one-shot deal yeah and it turned out it was a continuous thing you know but hey stranger things have happened and i think that that gave me an idea that you know maybe i could do something else maybe there's something there that i never knew i could do it only took that one little opportunity you know to to give me the uh idea because oh this is an idea you know and that's what i'm doing now i'm just fooling around playing with ideas that's it okay so if people want to see what it is that you're doing where's the best place to come and see that let's talk about that right now you're doing the comedy lemonade are you doing stand-up as well so yeah what are all the things that you're doing right now to kind of exercise this muscle that uh that was that was uh discovered on that okay i'm gonna just go through a couple things overload myself with a lot of different things because sometimes my concentration is not where i really want it to be yeah so uh and december of last year i joined up with uh bigo it's a it's a live stream and they were looking for hosts okay what the hell what is you know i i worked for a host i it seemed like it's something you can do so i you know they said well how would you like to have an audition sure why not you know what what do you want me to do and they shall talk they didn't really tell me what to do they just said download the app and sit in front of the camera and talk they want to see what your presentation was um and then my first audition i failed because i was fooling around with the buttons like what's this click click and and that that that that through the audition off and then they were kind enough to give me a second audition and they said well you passed your audition really now no what do i do this well you're going to host a live stream and i'm like well okay what is that so you know and then it's it's very interesting uh uh uh uh uh classic so the thing is doing the live stream about like uh probably in january they approached me they said how would you like to host your own show here on beagle wow and i'm thinking to myself did you not just see the audition can you ask me would i like to have my own show what kind of show would i have only thing i could do is show out you know and and so they says well come up with a concept or content or something so i figured well what the hell i said variety comedy so i have a little variety comedy show there uh on vigo which is like from 7 30 to 8.

i haven't done much with that because i'm just concentrating on the live stream um but you know as i get more into the couple upcoming months i'm going to put more emphasis on that because i got to get better guests because for that i don't want to have the same guests i have on my live stream right um okay so if people want to see this stuff where do they go to see it they have to download the app for be go live how do you spell that b-i-g-o okay big-o yeah yeah so you have to uh you know download the app and then you'll you'll you'll create the same thing like facebook you provide you know uh you know create your profile whatever it is and then the thing is you'll be able to find me uh there's a flyer that i posted on facebook um you'll be able to use my my id number because they changed before they had a set of numbers yeah it looked like it was a prisoner and and so they changed and they said well let's give you a name and so my id name is it's a part it's a partner because you are already the one man party yeah yeah that's it already the one man part i love that so much okay so big o uh people can see you there and uh what about what about the stand-up stuff because i mean when when you and i first connected um it was it was me kind of going oh my god it's the guy who played mike singletary this is amazing and i and i had it was full of questions and and immediately i said do you still perform anywhere is this something that you want to get into and you said yeah i want to get into stand up now this is right around the time the pandemic was sort of happening and all of that stuff and and so you would always said yeah i want to get into it you like to do you like the improv stuff it's not so much the uh the prepared material where you're going back and forth you love to just go up and make people laugh have you been doing that now that the the pandemic has uh has started to cease a little bit well i have not done as much as i like i'm hooking probably maybe next month in august and maybe do one or two local places yeah i've been working with the comedy lemonade people um you know doing the improv uh comedy with them because uh they they're those that's a group that i met back in 2020 on facebook yep and asked me you know to join them even though they asked me before you know to send some material like well what do i send coaches for i figured i said that to them and they thought that was wonderful they said oh my goodness would you like to join us sure why not so i joined them in 2020 and uh then after that you know then last year the you know they didn't do much in terms of taping and so this year they can't ask me would i like to rejoin them this year and i said sure why not so i've been working with them now and they're going to start taping in august this is they'll be the third season so i'm concentrating on that plus the whole thing but i'll probably pop my head on the stage somewhere you know around i only did one stand up you know um yep yeah that was in 2019 yeah i don't even know why i just went up there i said what the hell am i going to do you know people looking at me just and automatically click boom and it just went you just let it go and you started doing stuff on facebook uh you were doing the already the one man party videos we're gonna take some of them and we're gonna share them into the the letterman podcast group because it's just i mean i love it because i love you and i know you and i know that's just you just letting it go and the improv and all the stuff that comes from and then and then you know suddenly you're shouting starting to shout people out and things because uh there are people who are looking at what you're doing going what is it what i i don't i don't really get it and but at the same time you can't really look away because it's it's so funny i mean the get-ups you would come up with uh whether you go to the the 99-cent store whether you go to wherever you go to uh to get some of these things some throwback stuff from the 90s music all this sort of stuff and then artie's just there being arty um you love putting smiles on people's faces well yeah that's about it you know because i realize that we're in a society now you're probably more likely to find someone to bring tears to you than joy you know it's very free really that when we're in that state now that people are angry so the thing is if it's it's kind of difficult for people to find someone that's going to bring something that's positive and joyful because we always expect to see the worst of human beings and we and we're probably experiencing that so my thing is because i'm not in that kind of way of thinking so i bring what i am and who i am you know like it or not and and and the one man party thing was an accident once again everything i do was an accident sure what was the reaction when you started doing those videos because i mean you know you've got uh i mean i don't even know how to say it properly uh you know in this day and age without without getting people you know you've got the urban background and and folks around you and all that uh the old neighborhood all that kind of stuff when you started throwing that stuff out there what were people's reactions uh for who grew up around you and who knew yet well the people that i knew growing up they were all negative especially the guys even the women because the thing is but through them is when they saw me put on the lipstick and the fingernail polish oh okay here we go so that okay yep so the thing is you know that's weird because people never seen me in a different way they've always seen me you know just being the guy that i am and they couldn't make the difference between the comedy of it all you know and looking at it from a different angle so you know and then there's the negativity that comes like well man don't you think it's too you're too old to be joking around like that but that's to be expected because i understand the mentality you understand the people sure and then i understand that you know uh as you know before working for someone that when you're doing your thing there's going to be people that's not going to like what you're doing they're going to find fault they're going to say negative things but it never deterred me you know and it was pretty much like like i said it came up out of accident one day i bought a new iphone and and i never recorded myself so i'm like doing a little playing around and i hit the record button and i see myself on camera and i'm thinking well what do i do now so i start playing around in front of the camera and then i i played it back and i looked and said wow this does this thing's if i'm going to do this it's going to be doctored up so that's when i start putting the music in and dancing and jingling all over the place and then i started altering your parents but you know what what you know party stuff um and it made me feel good i enjoyed doing and then when i started watching i said well this is not too bad let me just keep doing it and it's probably that's how i started fun fridays right um i love fun fridays i miss i miss uh fun fridays and how you had it here's here's a wish that i would have for you i wish a funk band and i'm talking like a throwback funk band from the late 70s early 80s like like a real with horns and the whole nine yards i wish that a funk man would see you discover you and say okay there's our hype man there's our guy who's gonna because i mean you'd be wearing the tuxedo but the glitter and all the stuff and and just the energy that you put out even in those two or three minute videos and and i love that you use the word joy because that's what i got from it and and and you and i are both similar creatures in the fact that we we love joy like we just love fun joy uh is it it's such a it's such a great thing and i think you'd hit the nail on the head man in the the time and place and culture that we live in right now boy is the joy getting sucked out of it sometimes isn't it well most definitely most definitely because everything that you even with with comedy there's the you know it was you know built on you know fun and entertainment but now it becomes controversial you know so if you go on stage and you say well um something about tissues you know um then that becomes an issue for people who who have you know some other thing with tissues so everything now becomes an issue you know and and and and and and and you have to just ignore all that and just go out there and do what you do and let it the chips fall away back sure and shout out to the anti-tissue uh authority out there no no everything you're right everything everything for whatever reason yeah even small simple things like tissues you know it's like why are you not knocking kleenex yeah i mean hell oh let's let's start something here let's start a war between the tissue folks and the uh and the toilet paper folks toilet paper is just fine that's all you need to say um well i appreciate that about you i i i do because i think that you are a light in the darkness and certainly i mean i'm not going to go into some of the some of the other personal stories that you've told me about folks around you and and some of the folks you grew up with and and and and still have you know kind of a foot in that world uh but but the fact that you are a light in the darkness for so many people uh that are just in your world and i think if we just did that we don't have to all be david letterman who you know the entire world sees we can be that little bit of light in the darkness that little bit of laughter in a world that needs more laughter we can do that locally with our local group and just do things for the sake of doing them and you never know suddenly big bigo uh bigo suddenly says okay yeah let's give this guy a show um i just love that about you and and uh yeah man yeah yeah cause you know on that on that app you have some real heavy hitter host you got uh nicki minaj she's the host and then you've got so many others but these are people who stand out nicki minaj and then you have uh perez helton you know your gospel congress so the thing is you've got so many different people that are real top host that's on this app you know and and and and and i'm thankful that i've got the opportunity to join that that that you know group yeah um so it's not a matter of uh you know oh what do you think you ever gonna become famous in that are you ever gonna no no that you don't you don't get it you don't get that the exercise it's like me with this show i'm so grateful and and and again uh flabbergasted is the word that i i use every single day because every single day i have somebody asking me about this i didn't do this to get an audience per se um i did this because i'm a really big i hate how fast johnny carson was forgotten and i'll be damned if that happens with dave because because everything that you guys did that dave and company did that's you included um has created wiring in between my temples and and and um i think it's the greatest body of work in broadcasting history i'll say that you know i'm like a broken record i did this because i wanted to be a torchbearer for that to throw that information out there and to pass it on i didn't do it to get an audience and thank goodness because the audience that's coming now and being a part of what we're all doing i include you in this too you're a part of this you're part of our community already you're already part of our family we're not doing it to get an audience but the bonus on top the cherry on top is this audience is coming and now they're adding extra dimensions to what it is that we're doing and it's such a beautiful thing but the act itself scratches the itch if nobody would have watched this show just you and i talking that very first time where i stepped all over you uh that scratched such an itch in me to do that and and i think that if people out there would scratch some of those itches that they dare not scratch uh they would probably find some extra satisfaction that might not be in their lives currently that's absolutely i agree with you 100 yeah so you know the thing is you know you have to just if if you have that desire to try something you know like the coach's corner thing yeah that was unexpected you know i didn't think i was going to really you know do much out of it you know after the first time i figured they said oh my god why did we bother why did we waste our time yeah and i was extremely nervous because i and then you know when the pressure that's applied on you you know because now you're performing in front of a live audience and then you're working with the host you know so now you're trying to concentrate and then like i said i've never done this before so just imagine if somebody takes you onto in front and out to the uh the ocean and say jump right and you never swam before yeah you know so once you're in the water you just well well i got to figure out something that's how i did it while you're flailing about in the water uh certainly did something it resonated with a lot of people uh it was it was it was so funny um let's talk a little bit about that so so so let's say you know you're three or four episodes in you're starting to get your feet under you a little bit doing the coach's corner thing and um uh uh who is it like how okay you've got cue cards i know it's scripted but at the same time did you also have writers throwing lines at you that you would just throw out there as well who were the writers that you you dealt with uh for that material because some of it was just plain crazy it was awesome well yeah yeah the first time around was real crazy because uh i remember bill sheff was in the wings somewhere and i was repeating what he was saying it was horrible performance i look back at it now was probably compared to what i was doing later on probably the most horrible performance because you know you would he'll hear bill chef you know saying something then i'm just repeating what he was saying so you know it was really not good but yeah the cue cards and bill chef was one of the writers and and the stengel brothers they were writers and then i understand the host was also contributing to the writing um and and and is there any feeling like when you know i mean i don't know if you if you would say to yourself because you were you were off in another section of of the theater when you were doing this right it was it was kind of off a little bit um and and does it go through your mind that you know six million people whatever it is are watching right now uh never mind the audience in front of you and and and did you get a rush from it like when you finished your performance were you kind of did was the adrenaline going all through you every single time or did you get to the place where you were kind of rock solid and man yeah no no let's just do this well no never rock solid you know because every time i when the camera went off i was like oh you know then i was like how did i do how did i do you know but the thing is um it never dawned on me you know because i know the audience was watching so you know in the studio but the thing is later on at night um and i never watched it be honest with you the only after in 2015 uh it was the first time i started watching some of the coaches corners um because i parted i was petrified of watching myself wow um and so i'll tell the real quick story so you know what what i would do at night is come home and turn the television on and go into another room and listen listen to what was going on but not watching and so when i heard the audience laughing i said wow this this thing must be working but i never really watched it i never really paid much attention to anything other than just doing it you know i'm like i'm a robot you know like i was pretty much like let me just give you an example you know every day was like the late show that's it i'm a machine so the thing is you know i didn't really think much about you know anything other than just doing the work and making sure i did it correctly and making sure that the audience enjoyed it and the host like that and staff so because the thing is the key thing was to make people laugh if i didn't hear people were laughing i thought i didn't do a good job um we're gonna we're gonna ps that what you just said there you doing a good job there's a there i know how i want to finish the episode here uh because there's something very sweet that happened that i i want to get you to repeat um uh the first thing i want to do though before we do that um i know when you and i do this it gets it's get time gets i always say time gets slippery um we're already 40 minutes into this and then first off assure the audience you're going to come back you got lots of stories at coach's corner lots of stories about in the in the theater that we can talk about and and and you can just you're going to be a member of our community already are a member of our community we're going to have you back okay um but uh i i gotta talk to you about this jacket a little bit um because i haven't addressed it really on on on the the letterman podcast yet you know i've got a decent uh letterman uh collection so far always adding to it always adding to it of course got some scripts got some some postcards and things like that uh we just had one of the bridges arrive so that's gonna be part of our set soon uh very excited about that but um this night in 2015 the exchange that dave and i had uh i was being a bit of a brat um and and and i got him i got some good reaction out of dave and i made him laugh and that was all good but one of the questions i did ask for i asked for one of these jackets because these jackets i mean if you're an enthusiast of the show um these jackets you see the staff wearing them you see every once in a while dave gives one to somebody uh you you recognize what it is exactly and and that night even though i had uh you know really one of the greatest experiences of my life that night um you know with my wife and i getting our picture behind the desk having the encounter with dave all of that stuff was amazing i never did get my jacket and it was kind of funny that way it was it was a good life lesson um but now that being said time moves forward all sorts of hits the fan you know the stuff with my granddaughter children's hospital all that stuff we've talked a little bit about that um i come home i had while she was at children's hospital i had written out my experience um you know you and i connected shortly thereafter i think it was in rob cates's letterman fan group uh shout out to rob yeah he's coming back on rob cates is going to come back on the show um and then you and i started connecting and we became friends and all this sort of stuff and then there was a day in january um i think you tried to get it here for christmas but it didn't it was about a week later in early january a big box shows up it's from new york and um and and and i see it's or from new jersey i should say and i see that uh oh god i think i might know what this is my wife gets the video camera out and it's the sweetest moment ever i pull out this worldwide pants jacket from you um and it's from you and you wrote a note to me that said mike welcome to the family and i it was it was one of the most thoughtful things uh to put a smile on my face it brought out child like i can only describe it as childlike joy when you did that for me and uh i i i hate that it took this long even though we're only you know 12 13 episodes into this i hate that it took only uh 12 or 13 episodes that's 12 or 13 episodes too long to have you on here but at least we've got an audience coming and stuff now so now i can say it so other people can hear it and i know that's not why you did it but artie thank you from the bottom of my heart for this thing it means the world to me um do you know you know it's my pleasure you know one when i realized that you are a friend of of the show and then and and and and i thought you were deserving of of a jacket because i had other jackets that i've never worn before because i have like at 15 of them but there's one particular jacket i would never ever park i don't care if anybody offered me any amount of money i will never apart from this particular uh jacket okay and i'll tell you what that jacket is if you don't mind please oh yes please uh the the jacket was dedicated to a staff man who had passed away oh my god yeah and and that's that jacket will always stay with me i will never ever part with that jacket um and so that's it but yeah listen i'm glad you have and i'm glad you enjoy it um and uh yeah so that's it welcome to the family it's just like a game it's like a gang you're in for life oh i love it i i'll be in the i'll be in the letterman gang that sounds good to me um okay so i i don't wanna again i'm not telling tales out of school ultimate respect uh for the family okay i have that but i wanna probe a little bit different a little bit deeper on what you just said because that is astounding to me there was a jacket that was dedicated to a staff member who passed um can we know who and which jacket it was or could we if you want to keep who it was private we keep it private can we tell which jacket it was no i don't think there's going to be much of a problem with that her name was michelle or callahan she was a makeup person for the day and the show wonderful lady nice lady um and she unfortunately passed away from cancer um and and the thing is when we received the jackets i looked at i saw a in the symbol where the emblem where it normally would say worldwide pants it had i saw an m which was her first initial and that's why i discovered that jacket was dedicated to her wonderful idea wonderful person um and unfortunately she's gone wow um you know we've had a lot of tidbits come out already on this show uh that's one i've not i've not heard about that one and i mean i hear about a lot of stuff you know i mean obviously not a secret to the staff and things like that but that's a beautiful thing it's a beautiful testament to the fact that you guys are guys and gals are a family with all the stuff that happens in it and and uh uh hey man if i got to be a third cousin uh you know twice removed that married into the friggin place i'm okay with that and and as far as i'm concerned when you when you sent that to me that's how i felt uh and it was it was a beautiful feeling um we're we're already 45 minutes we're gonna get we're gonna finish this up right now but there was a moment and i i hope that you know you and i didn't do a pre-interview because we just we you and i can just go we're like jazz uh you know you're harry belafonte and i'm the i don't even know what i would be but um either way um there was a moment there's a movement that you told me in the past that um that i loved and it was it was one of i asked you and i think you're gonna pick up on it right now i asked you if there was ever a time specifically where dave gave you a note or said anything to you about any of your performances on coach's corner and there was one that was really special and i would love if you would uh tell us that one reaction that dave had oh yeah so this is kind of weird this is crazy so one day after the big uh coach's corner performance he comes up off the elevator you say hey he said you saved the show and i'm looking at like what the hell is he talking about you know and um once again i'm thinking this guy is joking on me but he said that to me you know he said i saved the show normally i'm more likely to tear your business down um but the thing is when he said that it never i didn't know if it's a joke or if it didn't serve but i think it was it seemed kind of sincere because he didn't have to say that you know he said that i saved the show because i don't know what was going on prior to me poking my head on the camera um but hey when he told me that you know i never shared that with anybody i shared that with you because it never really resonated me and still does it when he mentioned it to me i don't know if he remembers in a minute i'm quite sure he does because he remembers everything um but it was a very unusual experience and i appreciate him you know taking a moment to either say it sincerely or just job um thank you for for for saying that again i from everything that i've learned and i mean who am i um but but from everything that i've learned he wouldn't say something like that if he didn't if if there wasn't uh a measure of sincerity to it um what a thing to have that legend say to you and again even that it's like that moment that i made him laugh it was like oh my god that's one little like and it seems to me that still there's a lot of folk there's a lot of folks i'm talking to in the background that are a little bit unsure about coming on the show because all of y'all are so protective of dave and and and and it's beautiful to see it's beautiful to see this dedication to him uh you all have it you've got it um and to have that guy come and say to you you know not not good job in the office today because i mean you know obviously you're all a part of it it was the show it was the show you saved the show the most important part of what it is you guys do and to say that to you it must have gone right i mean once you once you kind of accepted it it must have gone right to your heart well you know there was times after performance would come up with a good job you know and i'm like okay you know but when that one particular thing you said i saved the show i i i i'm like jesus what is he talking about you know because i you know i didn't think i was saying anything i wasn't anything that was probably pretty much taking it wow but listen i appreciate the the uh you know the compliment um you're gonna come back right most definitely yeah i mean you and i okay good i appreciate you so much um uh okay so i'll say it it's a bit of a different way you saved this show this show wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you again a major major major uh part of the trail that led to this thing you saved this show too arty if if your kindness in when um this guy who just was watching from outside and wanted to be a part of things and and and and wanted to contribute um you you didn't just turn me aside you opened up your your heart to me and i appreciate that so much i love you my man i just i love you so much artie thank you for everything that you've done thank you for the inspiration uh of doing this show thank you for the inspiration of going out there being uh the one man party for everybody and putting smiles on people's faces thank you for being you artie all right man thank you very much mike much love um much love for the entire worldwide pants family the family before at nbc and uh and and all of dave's family from the comedy store and and everyone in between we are excited about what is going on with this show um lots of stuff coming down the pipe and uh we're just getting started so thank you very much my name is mike chisholm that is another episode of the letterman podcast with mike chisholm thank you and good night thank you and good night