Eddie Brill

now so this is going to be fun um because um I'm starting now we've got a sponsor since you've been on uh you were number three I think the third guest and and uh in my opinion uh one of the people that that helped give us some credibility on this thing it's like holy crap you got Eddie Brill on right away and it's like yeah you know um but we've got one sponsor um we're we're saving ourselves uh from from from the other pressures of or or opportunities of of sponsorship um I'm not gonna do you know dick pills or mattresses or anything like that I'm not gonna do it we would go together you know dick pills and mattresses well they do and you know that's right purple in uh Bluetooth or whatever the companies are whatever they are they should uh they should link up um we're not doing that because uh we wanna we wanna get deputized we want to be the official Letterman podcast and and we want that to happen so we're not going to do anything sponsorship stuff uh We've made that decision but there is one we do have one sponsor it's gonna be fun to have you on here because uh the Letterman podcast is brought to you in part by the hello Deli Rupert G and the hello Deli our only sponsor uh if you want Late Show with David Letterman merchandise guess what you can still get it at hello deli.com Rupert will uh pack it himself t-shirts I got one here look at this I know and me and Eddie are big hockey fans and hockey season's about to start so I wore my Kings jersey but you won a Late Show with David Letterman's shirt there it is you want uh you you want a mug you broke your mug hey Rupert still got him go to hello.com they have those double-ended pencils he doesn't no he doesn't he doesn't have them anymore but we're gonna as this thing starts to roll um we've got a lot of ideas and and and uh you know I I look at some of the jackets from back in the day there's some patches on them that would make really cool t-shirts and things like that there's some really good ideas that we have um and as this thing rolls and if it starts getting bigger we want to start pitching some of these ideas but uh I mean how many times how many times have you eaten something or walked through the doors of the hello Deli in your life it must be so many times yeah of course I mean it just you know just to see Rupert in May you know the two of them it's you know I mean they're friends so you know and even after the show was over and it was Colbert I um of course went to see the some of the production crew from CBS stayed on because they're working for CBS so I visited this the studio see some people and I stopped by hello Deli I mean you know they're they're very good people and our friends and uh I don't know I I was there for 17 years I guess 17 years worth of popping in and saying hello and a couple of times I was very sick and I you know there was a 14-year period where I didn't have one day off and that was I would go on whether I was sick had the flu laryngitis whatever and they would make me a special drink to soothe my throat maybe you know they put herb they'd had all this this stuff and and they were I mean they were you know they're supposed family like you said and they took very good care of me and then like halfway through the show they get me another one of these elixirs you know with all kinds of natural herbs and honey and stuff like that so yeah no I I I love them I spent a lot of time there with them even if I didn't go into eat or whatever I I appreciate that so much and and so many of the guests have had a little anecdotes here and there about Rupert and and his business partner May and and uh we've had Rupert's girlfriend Irene on a couple times already on this show she's a big you know they're they're we're all they've graciously invited me into this family and that's what it was I have a um I have a theory that I don't think that I think on many days in New York City that uh there aren't people who take more selfies with strangers than Rupert G um I mean it's like God took the word kind and turned it into a man he's so sweet and so kind and we just I love my friendship with him and uh it's so cool that to say that we're we're we're we're we're kind of in a little partnership here I love that so much Eddie Brill is back everybody we are at a place in the Letterman podcast now where uh I love this part because we've done the initial interview with some of these folks Eddie number three and now we're just back to kind of shoot the [ __ ] a little bit I love what are we doing now you I'm number four as well oh no yeah that's right number three and number four so um you know lots of good things happening I think by the time this comes out uh it'll be number 27 28.

uh we just said young back to do bathtubs Over Broadway that'll be out uh for his second episode that was really really good um and just yeah a lot of fun stuff it's a good time to be a letterman fan we talk about that Eddie I'll tell you this uh the the number one question that I had uh of people uh almost borderline frustrated after our first episode uh was that I didn't ask you about stories about you going to the desk because I mean so many times watching that show we would see like during the commercial break where it would come back for a second Alan Coulter might say something funny or whatever and it would show the desk uh or show the crowd but then it would show like Bill shaft and you at the desk talking with Dave or so many times and and and I mean really unique perspective because you must have done that thousands of times over your career you know early on early on there were a couple of people I you know I went to Emerson College in Boston it was the school that uh eventually produced a ton of Comedians and also incredible stars like and like way back like Norman Lear and Bill Dana and then after that Jay Leno and Henry Winkler and then the next one was like Andrea Martin in that group and then it was our group with Steven Wright and Dennis Leary and Mario Canton and Lauren Dombrowski and and then after us it was Bill Burr and David yeah and you know so it was a really cool place and you'd run into people in the industry all the time I got my first warm-up gig for Saved by the Bell from one of the guys who was a when I was living in La for a short time uh who went to Emerson was one of her friends and he was the producer over there and yep and so you know we always hook up so um there's a guy Mike Goldsmith who was the camera um one of the camera Tech Guys on this on the stage he was you know from my freshman class we our freshman year we lived next door to each other he worked there but Dave's assistant Lori Diamond had gone to Emerson and you know that you know brought us together and she and I became very close and yeah she was very good to me and made it you know really nice uh and a nice comfortable you know I guess in a way I don't know what went on behind the scenes but she obviously said nice things and uh she said come with me to the to the um the desk in the commercial break and that was very early on it was maybe a year and a half in and then I was the every night so okay hold on so you were there a year and a half as the warm-up uh before this is before you're the booker and it was about a year and a half before the first time you came to the desk trying to think of when it was it was the fifth anniversary at CBS okay um around that time the fifth anniversary yeah so 98.

yeah I started in 97.

yeah oh 97 okay so there you go wow it was about a year and then so and then I was there every night and we you know it was it was fun and nice and you know we talk about a million different things either the show and what maybe ideas for what to do in the next segment yeah um you know I remember there was uh you know one time there was this thing with this ping pong guy was on the show playing ping pong and they kept adding him to things and you know I would come up with ideas for that at the desk and also there was a a lot of times when they would go out to the audience and he was looking for the the kind of jokes where it was like you know um you know my cousin's in town from Ohio and Dave would say to Stephanie uh Dayton and she'd go no it's my cousin you know you know like those corny jokes so I would write a ton of them and then give it to Dave to use out in the audience and then there was a time when Bill Chef left the show and he was he was writing a book and doing other things and so it was just me and Dave at the desk and all the commercial breaks so that was even cooler you know and uh got to hang out and and uh of course go to hockey games and things like that but we uh you know it was really nice and then when Dave got sick you know all of the guests who like Elvis Costello and yes all those people were on the show I'd come up to the desk and just you know try to be a calming influence and you know sense if they're you know there want me to be up there if they're too nervous or whatever and also at the same time let them know they're doing well I mean it was crazy dream come true stuff and I and I we talk about the Beatles or we talk about uh what will happen in a sporting event the night before I mean it was never consistent but it was just a nice group me Bill and Dave talking in the commercial breaks and there are little skits that are in there with me and Dave and Bill are eating ribs and and uh and they showed it and they said Paul you know did you get to try those ribs uh and Paul's playing is no we're playing and that's the other thing they they would say hey what music do you want to hear right now you think of a song and he'd say uh Run Away by Adele Shannon or something and I go over to Paul and hand him a note and said they would like to you know Del Shannon run away and then we come back to the next commercial break and Paul you know in the band who were amazing and funny and great they'd play the song so you know there was all that kind of stuff going on at the at the desk and I was so proud you know just to be up there I mean to hear what was going on and to see all the stuff and again you know to be up at the desk and like that's how I bet Paul McCartney you know I was I would go I went up to the desk and Dave actually first uh a minute or two got up and walked over to I think Gaines or somebody and started talking uh and so I'm on the I'm at the desk with Paul McCartney Oh Paul's just sitting there yeah and so we had an incredible conversation and uh talked about Michael Jackson recently dying and um the night before I had told Dave he said you know he of course has a big staff of writers and he said to me and I think what Chef was there during that time and said uh any uh stories that you think I should ask Paul and I remember I said you know the first thing I thought about when Michael Jackson died which was literally a week or two before what's going to happen to The Beatles music the publishing yeah yeah so they you know Dave was ready for that the next day and that actually became a question at the show so you know it's it was really nice to you know sometimes say oh like I tell him a joke like I I remember telling him this joke that I remember from laughing and it was Ruth Buzzy and already uh what's his last name I forgot his Artie Johnson okay and he's like a little old man and she's a little old lady and and she goes would you care to dance and he goes I'm a little stiff from bowling and she goes I don't care where you're from will you care to dance you know so so Dave left out loud came back from the commercial break and he he did that joke on the air and you know it made me proud or sometimes I just say something and he'd laugh and then come back to the grocery break you know Eddie said he'd tell the the that I'd say it said my name and everything and it just was so nice that what a kick what a kick making that guy laugh the guy who you adored and worshiped yeah I uh I want to go back to the Paul thing for a second here because um I I mean since the last time you were on there's been all sorts of stuff that have come out I've actually mentioned you a couple of times on a couple episodes um we talked about Rupert's girlfriend Irene one of the things she had she had been to the show I think it was something like this is before they were together um and a little bit maybe after but but like it's like 40 something times so she saw you a lot uh she talked about how she sat with your parents one time beside your parents one time and and stuff but but one of her favorite memories as is of you uh warm-up and Paul and the band uh would play uh Sly and the Family Stone dance to the music a lot and you would come in with the bass part and sing along with it and I do for will Lee was so generous and we became great friends it was just his birthday the other day and this will be out of place but he gave him me before no you know measures to go Wheels gonna add some bottom so that the dance Rhythm just fall and to be able to sing on that stage with that band every night yeah that's just it that's just it like and then and then when we had um was it Tom was it bones no you know who it was it was Steve O'Donnell uh Steven Arnold told us that Paul would hear about certain artists that might be going through hard times um sometimes and they would intentionally take some of their music and put it into the show to get that to get that group a small paycheck or or to help them I wouldn't doubt it in a second Paul and like Dave very generous yeah incredibly generous and uh and caring and looking out for musicians and you know comedians do that for each other as well and yeah but uh yeah you know Paul they were very generous people and it you know it's like if it's like anything that starts at the top and filters down and you work for Dave and you know the integrity and the generosity and the and the goofiness and all that kind of stuff it's all part of it excuse me for burping no no it's uh a culture that was built and I mean I've got a whole bunch of um first off there's a bunch of things for folks who were in Dave and Company's family uh for an extended period of time or even folks who were there you know a few years um there are certain things that have filtered down and traits that make it recognizable number one is the Loyalty you all had for each other and still to this day have which is amazing um the the just the respect and and I mean it is a family of course you know things happen in a family but but don't mess with the family because you're all the the Loyalty that's there oh my God uh we've used some God we've used a lot of Godfather analogies on this thing have you seen the um the show uh about the Godfather on people I'm saving it I'm I'm waiting for that next season to come out I'm I I'm waiting probably an offer yeah the offer yeah plan episodes and it is spectacular yes I've heard yes yeah I cannot wait uh it's literally a president waiting for me but there's no other um Seasons there's this one season of ten episodes and that's it oh they're not gonna do another Oh I thought another one might be coming so I was gonna well this is just yeah this is just the story of uh the making of The Godfather yeah yeah okay okay okay okay okay okay I thought I'd be able to tell you that until you don't wait a year well that that's just it I I I I want to stay away from the spoilers as much as I can but I thought that they were doing another one that had to do with one of the sequels or something like that I thought that there was a uh a coda are coming uh but but no if I'm wrong now then I'm some other group but this one was a 10 episode yeah I can't wait and by the way I didn't I don't even like hockey stuff is put away and I've of course gained a million pounds since then but I found this just to show you uh this hockey jersey I got I don't know if you could see it oh man tell me the story behind this thing well when when we perform at the Cam Neely benefits in Boston that Denis Leary hosted all the time uh they would give us jerseys and I I we got a brick from the Boston Garden you know every one of us because they you know the Boston Garden was gone and they gave us each a brick and this one doesn't have it but you usually get your name put on the the jersey and they had all kinds of cool jerseys but this was my favorite Comics come home let's see I'm trying to I want to talk about uh uh the the your social media presence and how how you are in my opinion a philosopher um in in the post that you write you're such a beautiful writer uh and and and whatnot you you wrote a post recently about that event I want to talk about so that event um how many years did it go on it wasn't just the one going on it's still going on and the the town like I think this year they had Roy Wood Jr I don't know if it's happened I think it's it might be like in another week or something but it's rorywood Junior and Jimmy Fallon and uh there's a ton of people on it uh samjay I can't remember I saw the list but I don't remember there's always Lenny Clark and Adam Ferrara or yeah but um yeah it's been going on for a million years since the 90s yeah well Cam Neely is um okay so so I have a gigantic Kings fan but again Fame well not famously infamously perhaps from western Canada uh everybody around me are Vancouver Canada fans like I my whole life surrounded that Vancouver ever made there you go yeah so Cam Neely uh there's a special place in the heart of almost everybody around me for Cam Neely because he started as a Canuck uh the fan base was incensed when he was traded to the Bruins but they still have this loyalty all these years later they've got this loyalty for Cam and uh and I mean you talk about uh what a uh you know as Kevin Smith would say what a big bucket of win that guy's had within the Bruins organization and and and the The Roots he has built out there uh there's a classroom right there he's a tremendous guy in that sort of Paul Shaffer Letterman the person who puts out does charity work and uh Cam and his brother I think his name's Steven I don't know why I can't remember his name but might be Steven uh they put this benefit together and you know Dennis is a big hockey player and not Dennis Leary and they Cam and him met and uh this whole idea came about and it just gets bigger and bigger every year and it's good I did I think four of them or whatever but there's been a ton of them and I did the first two years it was it was really fun I saw some photos recently of the first year and Chappelle and Jon Stewart and you know all and everyone's so young and fresh thing has bird done it I mean he must have Uber must have done it I'm sure he has I'm sure he has like that just that's that event screams Bill Bird I mean yeah yeah and it's a lot of Boston guys you know it's Tony B and Nick depaolo and those kind of people and then big stars like you know uh like I had said uh you know Jimmy Fallon and those people would come by and and Roy Wood Jr who's from on The Daily Show is one of my great friends and one of I think one of the best Comics around and uh yeah you know just smart and terrific and uh and you know it's raises a ton of money it went from being at the Orpheum which is a pretty big theater in Boston too and legendary as well a lot of sentimentality with the Orpheum yes and now it's a the Jiva when then it went then then it went to the Jiva hockey arena yeah which was where um there was College Hockey being played and then it got even bigger and now it's at the Boston Garden it's amazing yeah you know to bring it back to Letterman on that regard uh I love what Walter is doing um you know and and Don of course all all hail the dawns uh in the background as well and and and showing these moments of amazing um history and and and the fact that that you know Dave went quiet after late show ended but but now we're looking back and going oh hey look look at these uh very first television network uh appearances by some of these artists like lizzo or or or some other ones but then Comics like going back and showing some of these Comics like a tell David tell oh my God him putting up that that that uh clip um and and you know uh Chappelle of course and so many Comics got their start and now look at these Legends I love seeing that stuff you must love seeing that stuff too you booked some of that stuff so you must just love uh the the history now that you were up part of yeah well I love all that stuff and I've been through it so it has great memories but I love what Don does when he puts together like a video series of like say someone passes away or yeah um or not like Michael Keaton who's a brilliant actor uh don put this thing together of all the Michael Keaton appearances and David and uh Michael you know they're both stand-up comics and we show The Comedy Store and all that and it's just it was really fun to see Michael Keaton's career grow through these clips and to see the laughter that you know Dave have especially the very first time you could just see Dave enjoying the hell out of it and then you knew that this guy was coming back often I mean there's a lot of little things but uh you know the the work those guys do are are terrific and uh yeah it's really fun to watch you know I I recently had it was a 25th anniversary of the my very first appearance on Letterman uh recently it was uh September 1st um 1997 was my first spot so here we are in you know just a week ago it was my 25th anniversary of the first time I did the show and I've gotten bumped a lot because even though I was scheduled I you know work there so like if one guest went over and they're like we're gonna keep this guest on I will put you on next week or whatever you know it's the easiest thing in the world at that point for them yeah not for the comedians if you work and you're preparing you and you tell your friends and your family yeah but eventually I learned better not to tell anyone until I was sure it was gonna be oh that's smart um we just had uh uh Casey St on on and and that was a that was a really really good episode she talked about how uh you know I asked about the prince Story the infamous Prince story and I think that probably was just before your time but yeah it was but but uh you know there's rumors about the story and she just felt you know and she she said it from her or her standpoint and and the Rumor was uh you know when Prince left um you know there was there was anger and all that and she said oh no the only frustration was now we're short and and it's so funny how the the little things um are the things that are the frustrating oh we're really long on this we're really short on this having you as the uh as the guy that they could they could could massage the the time with is very convenient for them obviously inconvenient for you but yeah it's uh yeah it only happened once where they said that somebody's uh I think it was uh Eli Manning was coming back from Denver from the Super Bowl yeah and it was bad weather and they said put a set together we needed to go out there it only happened once but I had a lot you know I had a lot of people I'd prepare you know Brian Kiley I don't know if you know who he is Brian Kiley uh grew up with Conan O'Brien and they uh he was the head monologue writer um Ford Conan uh up and although all through the years and a brilliant writer and one of Dave's favorite comedians and a brilliant comedian and I would have sets worked out with him because he was working at Conan down the street so he had so Brian would have a suit and Ty ready hanging in his office and I called O'Brien get over here and um and we'd work out the set already and get it approved by standards and practices and the producers and yeah all the paperwork ready to go and uh you know because like I'll give you an example the night that Dave got uh didn't come because he had uh you know that was sick he uh Bruce Willis ended up hosting the show now Bruce Willis was one of the guests on the show he ended up posting it and they called me and said get uh get a comedian and I had get Brian Kiley did the show and you know and the cool thing for Brian Kylie was that uh you know he'd be on television and uh he loved the Letterman show you know since the NBC days yeah and you know and it was a very nice paycheck it wasn't ridiculous but it was a network paycheck at the time yep yeah and if for some reason they fill the time and didn't need the comedian Brian would still get a paycheck for very very very nice but Brian you know told me years later he said you know I would be there and I'd be so nervous because am I going to make the cut am I not going to make the cut it's very there's a lot of anxiety there and I know it's you know that a lot of times that happened to me many times if I said Eddie you know um you're on the bus you know yeah um you know we're okay we're not we don't need you tonight I'm like okay I love this very very much from a nostalgic standpoint because it is something that wasn't intentional but um was just it was an evolutionary uh uh similarity from Johnny I mean you know we've had driesen on we've had Altman on they talk about you know being bumped on Johnny Dave was you know uh bumped I believe on on Johnny once or twice as well and and the idea or maybe Dave wasn't maybe that was maybe that's what it was I'm remembering it wrong but anyway I don't know that that story Tom certainly but I think the idea they hated bumping the comedians they hated it but you know you get 44 minutes and you know they don't say well here's another five you know that's right again that yeah that's exactly it and it's funny how I love it it it's almost like um in the big time show business the greatest uh you know this this in my opinion the greatest show on TV went from The Tonight Show to The Late Show uh especially when it came to Comedians and one of the things is you don't want to bump them but it's that double-edged sword of it being the greatest opportunity that a comedian could ever have but at the end of the day your placement is near the end of the show you could get bumped and it could be three or four months before you actually get your opportunity on the show and there's a special kind of nervousness with that right but it never was three or four months it would be a lot quicker turn around because oh really you try to get the person on you know you're preparing your set you're all ready to go and uh you know it would be you know hopefully later that week or you know the following week or whatever you know always try to not you know yeah thing for the community because it would suck um you know things happen and you uh adjust it but you don't know no one had to wait three or four months okay that's very cool to know because this is where we're getting into your you're wearing your booking hat now and and I another another criticism I took uh from our first episode I I didn't ask you this and it's a it's it's I love this question I wish it was my question uh uh did you ever have any conversations with Jim McCauley um yeah I knew him I met him in Montreal during The Comedy Festival okay and so he had you know was just done you know the Johnny Carson with Johnny and they were done yeah and I don't know if Macaulay was saying this just because it was easy and he couldn't couldn't wriggle out of it if it wasn't true or if she said you know Eddie sing your comedy tonight I can't believe that I never saw it before because I would have had you on the show with Johnny a bunch of times yeah so like that could be [ __ ] and he could just be saying that to be because he was very nice to me he was very that's a very nice thing to say it's a beautiful sentiment either way I mean but yeah who knows you know you never know people say things because they have to um but or not that's not a situation where you have to but anyway he was he was very nice to me and I I met his son and you know and he uh wasn't one for the Earth after I had met him but he was uh he was very nice to me and we talk about comedians you know and uh it was kind of fun and um and that was a compliment but I never got on The Tonight Show with Johnny and it was also at the same time it was kind of like ah too bad you know well I don't know so so uh the the way that the godfather has come up on the show a few times um almost to some people's annoyance but but I still will say it uh I look at I look at uh at Johnny as as Don Vito and I look at David's Michael and and you know it's the it's the next phase of things um that now when you met McCauley uh for those who are uh catching up that says Johnny Carson's uh gatekeeper in many respects the guy who'd be down at the comedy store the guy who would uh be nurturing and massaging these different acts to get them on uh Johnny's Tonight Show and For the First Time comic could make a career out of it yeah that was the difference between Letterman and Johnny I mean Letterman made some you know their first Ray Romano and Jim Gaffigan just a few examples Chappelle um you know but but when they made their Network television debut they would make it if they made it on Letterman it was also Jon Stewart was on and uh and Conan was not not Conan but there was a Hope on in the when I was there in CBS Letterman wasn't the only game in town on television and there was cable TV and there was network television going on sure so it would you you could have a career out of your spot but it wasn't like when Johnny Carson and Dave and I had talked about this you know the uh you know you there were no choices in the Johnny Carson days you know you want the Johnny Carson show or you you know you were asleep somewhere you know but that was it so if you did The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as a young comedian and Johnny would always say you know I'm glad you guys are in a good mood that was his thing that Johnny would say always when he had a comedian on because I'm bringing on a comedian making his first appearance and um and then you had uh you know 20 five million people watching you where in the Dave Days there was five million people watching I think you know and it's great that's amazing and it's a dream come true and to be considered one of Dave's Comics kind of thing it's another thing but uh it wasn't the same exposure and also people with people with VCRs and people with uh you know um I mean after VCRs and the what do you call them the cable box DVR yeah yeah DVR that's the letters I was looking for and uh oh my God and uh so the uh you know there was ways you didn't watch at you know with Johnny if you didn't watch it at 11 30 at night you missed it yep you know there were no really very few reruns and when they were reruns you know it's you you know barely it wouldn't get everyone wouldn't be back on again it wasn't like that well yeah but it was a different time too where you also had you know 60 or 70 phone numbers in your head memorized and the folks who you know back then it it translates over to because if you watch Johnny and you saw a comic and then you saw that comic was coming to town or something like that that's one of those things that just like the phone numbers you you remembered that because these things weren't there and we had different skills in our minds you said something there that was amazing I want to go back to Jim McCauley for one second because when you met him were you the booker at that point um I think I was I'm trying to remember it was yeah I I'm pretty sure I was but I was there I was there mostly As I was there as a Booker and a comedian I was there working as a stand-up and uh and also you know I was able to look at Comics you know and it was interesting because the the Montreal Comedy Festival you know very incredible best relapse is gigantic yeah it's it's a huge event in the people who run it are you know uh Bruce Hills and all these people are just amazing at what they do but I I didn't find many comedians there because they didn't they didn't book a lot of you know stand-ups in the sort of stand-up thing they booked a lot of personalities like if you do well at the Montreal Comedy Festival you're going to get a sitcom because you're an actor and or you do Impressions or you do this and you know I remember one year being there and out of the nearly 800 comedians I saw Roy Wood Jr and uh uh Tommy johnagin were the only two Comics that were at the whole festival were the kind of comics that we would put on The Late Show with David Letterman because they were both great writers and great uh you know smart silly combination so you know I didn't always find a lot of great comedians in Montreal the way I found great comedians is other great comedians said hey I worked with this guy or this girl in you know some Club somewhere and you gotta check them out and they would fit your sensibility of what you're looking for right plus like say I did you know I worked a lot of comedy clubs I mean almost every weekend and I'd fly to some City so I'm say I'm in Denver and the first uh few nights it would just be the show that I was on and then always the last night the club owner would put on 10 local comedians for me to watch so that's cool um I would close the show but I would watch they would have like 10 comics on doing 5 to seven minutes before and and then I take notes and you know if these comedians wanted any of the notes that I had we'd go over there but the comedians didn't want to hear my notes they wanted to hear you got the show but that's interesting this is the part where I'm I'm fascinated about Macaulay because you know you talk about Johnny to Dave uh in many respects McCauley to Eddie Brill and and and similarities no no Zoe Friedman Zoe Friedman is a big um you know a big conduit that you've missed there Zoe without a doubt Ray Romano and Jim Gaffigan you know she um you know she found a lot of great Comedians and uh she you know had was following me and eventually I got on the show but I was already on working there but before I was working there she you know she was working with me I also um you know what's his face Bob uh what's the producer of the show Robert Morton Robert Martin yeah you're trying to call him Bob when you were looking for Morty is what it was yeah right exactly that's the problem and uh and but he was a you know the booker I remember him coming to see me a catch a rising star and and way back in the day yeah you know so um so yeah so there were other people it didn't go um no I'm not saying it went in that order but I am saying that it was that role to that role and the question was uh gonna be and and we can actually throw Zoe into this as well um did did did did Jim or Zoe give you any advice when you took over that role like like when you met Jim if you were in that role at all was there any you know kind of sage advice hey you know watch out for this or watch out for that um because I mean you see comedy Comics uh that like Chappelle is a good example of this where it's like okay you go see them in the club and their act is significantly more blue than what would be necessary if they were going to show up on your guys's stage but were you able to kind of discern through that and say yes they have a hunk that is clean that is perfect exactly for our sensibility like was there any advice that say that that the Macaulay or Zoe gave you when you took that role and and not that I remember yeah not that I remember I mean you know I watched what they did and paid close to 10 attention and understood and you know when it's interesting when uh when you say the comic was blue and that you know cursing just cursing is lazy it's not it it can be funny if that's your character but yes any comic who cursed on stage um you could put them on television they don't you don't have to curse on the thing you know uh blue didn't mean edging you know blue we have edgy comedians on the show like absolutely Nick Apollo you know um and they were Jim Norton you know like yes they are edgy but they're brilliant comedians who were smart and funny and that's all that matters so like if you have a set to do on a comedy club 45 minutes to an hour if you can't find four and a half minutes of stuff that you could do on television I mean like for instance I had one joke where I did it was very innocuous about the weather and I used the word prick and they said you can't use the word prick on television I was like why they did it on NYPD Blue I said you know where late night they go you just you can so I changed the word to jerk yeah and it still had that k sound that magical comedy k sound automata poetically it still worked and it worked like a charm yeah and uh so you know there's certain things and you know I remember there was a uh you know I had a joke that was comedians loved it and it was about it was word play and it was like adding insult to injury and what would that mean and I'd look and I go hey [ __ ] nice tie it would be right so that was that joke but I couldn't say crippled right because first of all he wouldn't allow that up obviously yeah and you know so I said hey you with the crutches nice tie and it's still got a big laugh like a big big laugh not as big as the other one but uh you know but look at it Richard Pryor was on you know the Ed Sullivan Show great example Pryor was on the Tom Jones Show and was provocative and it's not about language it's about intention and you know the comics that we would put on Letterman had the qualities mostly of smart and silly you know Jake Johansen and Brian Regan Caroline ring you know those are the kind of comedians we had on the show they were smart and silly and there are a lot of them incredible comedians um you know that were were just not right for the show and it was hard for me because there are thousands of comedians in say 15 spots and 12 of those spots are Comics that are on every year you know though I wasn't always there was one year where I had seven new comics on the show um that had make oil making their network television debut yeah but then again there was a million shows so like I was working with Hannibal Burris a really hard to get to get him on the show not only did I work with him as a comedian but I used to sit him in the green room and let him and I said I want you to get comfortable here so that when you come to the show that you already know what it's like to be backstage and then you know uh they didn't they we didn't get tickets for the um for the show but every once in a while a comedian would be on the show and they'd get the four tickets that a guest would get and they were only using two of them or three of them I would ask that comedian do you mind if I give a young comedian your extra tickets so that they can be in the audience uh you know to uh to so they can see what it looks like see the spot where you stand so I got Hannibal Burris oftentimes so you know he and he ended up he ended up doing another show I think the Fallon show before he did ours and I was like well I was grooming you to be networking view with our show and he goes no they asked me and I did it you know you want to you want them to do that but you know Hannibal does Letterman and Letterman loved him and and Hannibal crushed and you know obviously he's a great comedian but I spent a lot of time as quote unquote grooming him so that he would be comfortable and he was kind you know it doesn't mean that what we did made him comfortable it's more comfortable if you've been in that theater if you stood on that spot if you hung out in the green room and and met Biff Henderson and all the crew um backstage and that's what I do for a lot of comedians I've had them come and hang out and uh and Lori Diamond once said to me you know uh you know that was very cool that would you know I I guess Dave knew that I was it got noticed yeah it got noticed that I was really treating The Comedians with respect and integrity I'll tell you this is another part of the the culture within pants you know the idea there are other ones too like most of y'all can't take a compliment to save your lives uh which is so funny because that's right from Dave down like hard to give Batman praise I I mean I've had Steve Young on the show trying to give him a compliment it's like trying to it's trying to wrestle a fish it's just you can't do it it just goes um deflection deflection deflection deflection oh yeah they all get deflected and it just some of these culture things and and one of the things is um certainly within the writers but all it just seems to be with all of the Departments the the willingness to give a helping hand to somebody coming up like you know Casey talked about how how her resume came off the reject pile um Steve Young talk about oh don't I mean oh my God we've had O'Donnell on and and he and I are uh uh you know we're gonna have him on again and and this stuff and and how many of the writers are Callison you know and others another guy who booked stand-ups before I I was booking him oh there you go as I say yeah the segment producer and then and also yeah there you go and and how willing you all are to give each other hands up I can't tell you how many times have people have even just to use O'Donnell as an example said Steve O'Donnell uh plucked me out of obscurity and and and nothing to help and and just offered that hand and I've heard so many stories and this is another example of that you didn't have to do that and I don't know if Macaulay did that I bet you he didn't do that um the the fact that you would invite people into the culture to get uh an understanding of it because really at the end of the day it's like you know you know our big hockey fans it's like going from Junior to the pro league uh there there there's a there's an adjustment period that happens and but also another another thing is that you know I'm a comedian I know what it was like as Buddy Hackett would say I know what it was like to walk the last 30 steps yes you know that's yes you know to go from Backstage on in front of the mic and if you've never done that you you know you're a slight disadvantage of being able to share that with people who have done that yeah you know so I I know what it was like I know what it was like to have that dream to be on the Letterman show I know what it was like to be on the show what it was like to walk the last 30 feet to do that kind of thing and I was able to help other Comics Camille nanjiani same thing I saw him as a young young comedian he um and uh I worked with him very early on way before he did the show just because I said you know you have what it takes there's something you could feel it you could feel it there's a certain thing in people you could feel and it's just a magic and I knew he had that way before he was ready and eventually he did the show and I just got a message from someone who said they were listening to Camille now A Thousand Years Later talking on the Conan O'Brien podcast about how I helped him when he was a young kid and it made me that is cool remember you know it's always nice to uh and here that the people remember that forgive me for not knowing this off the top of my head now but it's all kind of blurring together here and I know you can appreciate that because you've had Decades of the show blurring together for you and all that but so so it's happening to me already have you had your staff moments uh yet with with no you know I I'm not it's kind of interesting because being the warm-up you know I was more like the crew so I wasn't in this group or this group and so you know I wasn't like best friends with the the other producers or you know I mean yeah we were very polite we worked together so I don't think they're approaching me for that which is crazy but they might they might they might I don't know we'll tell you my favorite my favorite thing ever on the show was the Fresh Step do you remember that yeah okay well what happened was just one of the writers had uh had an idea to create a boy band and uh out of out of actors and they put they they wrote Us in you know uh what's his face Matt uh Roberts who's genius still is a genius okay yeah yeah and he is a great writer and hilarious and and they you know they wrote a song called uh do the Fresh Step and the way they came up with the name Fresh Step it was kitty litter that the writers had in his house and uh to me that's one of the greatest uh things ever on Letterman because you know we had it worked out there were the band of course didn't exist yeah and they even put some of the um employees up in the balcony screaming like there it was the Beatles like they knew who the group was to add that effect so the audience is looking around we've never heard of them but obviously they're great because their people are screaming for them and the next day they had like a couple of million hits on this website that you know it's it was you know just such a smart clever brilliant one of the many brilliant moments on uh you know on the on the show well and and uh and and and you know right now I'm gonna throw it out there uh Walter Dawn we've just had two examples of moments that uh our goal to get onto the official Channel there um and and uh we want to deepen that relationship that much more as we as as uh this thing moves forward those are those are phenomenal moments I had completely forgotten about that and it took me a beat but then I'm like oh that's that boy that was a really uh if if YouTube was then what it is now there's there's right there the next day that's a that's a 30 million hit 40 million hit video that that's that moment that that the Jimmy's and and and and and Colbert and everyone else uh out there is hoping for as they do their show every night that was that would have been one of them for sure that was a genius you know there were a million incredible times uh there and uh you know it was just you know it's just the way the show handled things you know uh it was always really clever and you know as you know you're doing a live show and some things go wrong it's not live like live to tape but these things go wrong and you you know you solve them and then the show's over and you can't be in your glory like I remember um there was a comedian and I can picture him and I just his name is not coming but you know in my head he's getting huge props but he um they needed a comedian that day and I called him up in the morning and said we're putting you on tonight and because we've been working on a set and so I put him on and uh it was a lot of work it was hard work and it was making you know this guy the day before you know didn't know he was going to be on National Television yep so you got to get him not only the material approved and all of the you know there's so many hands it has to go through producers uh Paul Schaefer had to know when the last you know words were being said so he can be ready with the music yeah I mean a million people have are involved with this comedian set and we pulled it off and it was great and the comedian was great and um then it's over the show's over and you forget about that incredible day and now it's time to get the next day ready in the show exists that's the whole reason the show exists you guys would come up with and again I've used this analogy so much that it's going to annoy people too but it's okay it's a perfect analogy and I'll come up with another one later to freshen it up but you you you would mind you guys were miners and every day you would find a diamond or you'd find a massive gold nugget or you'd find a a a depository of of whatever it was you were mining you would find them and then you would drop them on the ground forget about them and move on to do to mine a new part of the Quarry uh the next day and and every once in a while you'd come up with something that would become reoccurring and things like that but I mean at the end of the day every day you were mining for new things the reason this show exists is because those diamonds and that goal that's valuable [ __ ] and let's pick it up and let's celebrate it again and uh you know that's why we're doing this here and I'm so grateful that uh there's there's such an audience for it and you guys are all excited about it that's what we're doing here um you said something about the comedians um earlier that really struck a chord with me it reminds me of something young told me um it wasn't enough just to be funny for the writer's standpoint uh you had to be able to write in Dave's voice Dave's sensibility the show's sensibility and the same thing with comedians um you know it wasn't a matter of do they just have a four-minute hunk that's that that is applicable for National TV in some ways or many ways even though the comedians were so different from each other like the the one that keeps coming to mind is Norm Macdonald we've talked about him a lot on this show um you know St his stage show very different from when he shows up on Letterman uh I think about when he was on Comedians and Cars Getting Coffee with Seinfeld and and they they had this little moment where where Norm was like you know what clean is the superior form it's the harder form and and and being able to do both and walk in both worlds but then there's that X Factor and this is the question I have for you it's a long way to get to this question if you talked about earlier the idea that comedians would be have the sensibility of the show as well and you're looking for a comedian that matched that sensibility what were some of the attributes of a comedian that would match the sensibility of late show and I said it before smart and silly I think it's the good combo there was one audition that sticks out in my mind there was a guy who wanted to be on the show very badly and I said you know you're not in the style of the show and you know I'm sorry about that but yeah what can I do and um and it hurt he it hurt for him of course I understood it and he wrote me the nastiest letter are the most horrific letter I've ever gotten ever and instead it goes right in your heart because you're a sensitive [ __ ] you're a sensitive that goes right right to your heart but you you learn I knew reading the letter that how this guy felt and why he felt the way he did yeah and I instead of yelling at him or ignoring him I called him and I said I just want you to know that um I understand where you're at I'm not taking this personally I am forgetting about this letter yep and uh we became you know we weren't best friends but he respected me for you know coming to him and letting him know that he it wasn't it wasn't right for the show I remember there was also there were times when a comedian I remember another one a show where the a comedian just the audience went nuts and I'm watching the set and I'm going there's nothing in this set that would fit on our show and uh and knowing how disappoint this comedian gets off the stage and The Crowd Goes Wild yeah because it was very pandering and it was like hey how about those old folks or how you know all of that because pandering doesn't it's not really a respected trait in stand-up comedy no or in life you know um so the this comedian was pandering pandering pandering and the crowd was like oh my God it's like and I always call it's like cereal box comedy because it looks pretty on the outside but there's no nutrition on the inside there's nothing valuable on the inside great analysis and this person was you know a human being with feelings and was successful uh in the world that that person was in but I just knew that person was not going to get the show and I knew how disappointed they were because they probably walked off the stage going I killed and I'm gonna be on Letterman yesterday or tomorrow so I had I found the guy and I said look you know and I talked to down in a way it wasn't he wasn't thrilled but you know I gave him the respect because he came to do the audition and as a comedian I respected all the comedians who would come there unless you were you know they're very very few people had done things that uh elicited uh disrespect on their part and um I don't even know if that's correct English but they um yeah yeah you know you know what I mean absolutely and uh I just had you know it only happened like twice and I just you know moved on from there with you just have to understand it's uh you know comedians look out for each other all the time and when I first got the job I was handed like you know 15 boxes of VHS tapes and I watched every one of them every one of them wow it took me weeks and I only found two comedians in those 15 boxes full boxes uh that would be on the show was Nick Griffin and Karen ronkowski but other than other than that those are the only two comedians from those boxes and Nick became a favorite and was on the show all the time yeah like I'm working with him soon I don't know when this is gonna air but um but he you know the it's just just how it goes and there's you know just because these Comics are funny or they the you know I could have made a a tape of some of the craziest auditions that there ever were but out of respect for these comedians I didn't but I didn't put it you know I should have well the meta part would be really cool because it's it would be entertaining but a different type of entertaining than that they were probably going for and and you got to be careful with that I'll tell you one I'll tell you one that was funny because I don't remember the person's name or whatever sure and this person was in their home and in their home was also the father and the baby baby brother like a crawling on his knees baby brother and So what had happened was this comedian set up the camera and the camera I mean set up the stage and it was his living room and he took sheets and put it over the television and the other Furniture there and uh he grabbed a brush because he didn't have a microphone and he was up there and his father was videotaped now the funny thing about the father is that he was laughing so the thing would Shake every once in a while and he was smoking while he was doing it so smoke would be in the keep coming in the screen and this guy you know he's a brand new comedian didn't really have blue you know he didn't have it yet if he ever he might be a superstar comedian I don't remember who he was but you know he really you know he set this up but the funniest part was the father you know you didn't see him but you saw his smoke and the camera would shake and the kids holding a a brush and talking into the brush and just like at the right moment the little baby brother crawls across the screen you know drinking his bottle and it was just it was so perfect yeah you know but again I you know it's funny to talk about it because I haven't in a long time but I I didn't really share it with people because I didn't want this kid to ever you know you didn't want to laugh at them the way that that yeah and I get it but but in a sense if you look at the meta kind of of it it's almost a little Andy kaufmanish like it's almost performing art like and that's where it's funny like but if you're not going for that or can't accept that that's what it is then you don't want to highlight that and and that is an interesting another interesting line that that that you had to walk um and again it's it's Dave you know you Dave would have you know you know how Dave reacted to things um that he thought weren't right for the show and how he reacted things they were right for the show yeah so you you get to learn that and it becomes second nature and you understand that and you're not always right and no but you know you tried and you played on it up you tried to do everything up to that level so I didn't want to as much as it would have been fun to share that video and I'm sharing the story now but this is you know 30 well and we're not naming names and all that kind of stuff you're so respectful at how you're doing and I appreciate that about you I appreciate how respectful you are uh you know what bit that what bit it would have fit in the same um Spirit of on Late Show I mean obviously the bit didn't do this it did it via live performance but this that would have been a perfect if you guys had a video component to is this anything all right that would have been a perfect kind of spot for that is this anything like it's showing it you know that would have been really really good yeah it would have been that to show that uh you reminded me of another bit too talking about that comedian who killed um like okay so so the way that money comes into our house is I'm a financial guy a financial advisor guy I've got a modest little little firm here and I go to conferences right and I go to these conferences and sometimes you get somebody who's on stage and you hear people in the audience going that person is so magnetic they should be a stand-up and maybe maybe they have some of the tools that are necessary for it but the audience they're telling Financial jokes they're telling you know that's kind of what you're talking about there they're pandering to the crowd they're doing other other techniques that that aren't you got you gotta see past that in a guy in your position I'll tell you this I don't know if you were with the show at this point I think you must have been I think it was done a couple times where where uh there was a bit on the show um where and I just remembering it now for a long time I don't know if it's even on YouTube anywhere or not but where they had like scientists or mathematicians come in and tell jokes that kill in their Community but like I think I was there during were you there for that that was a genius genius bit because the punch lines they would say the punchlines like it was a joke but nobody would understand the meaning of it yeah I'm pretty sure I was there because you know I watched the show anyway sometimes it's in line between was I there then or I know when it's NBC I wasn't there but I know yeah well this was CBS for sure I I remember being on the the Sullivan Theater um again again the show started August 30th you know and it was 1993 and I started February 17th of uh 1997.

there are so many of you former staffers that know your dates like like like know them to the day uh you know it was a Monday they know the weather they know it was it that's that's fascinating to me as well and it just uh again one of these little these little uh patterns that are emerging as we do this show and the further we we go down the path um you know we're already an hour and and one of the things that I wanted to do with you Eddie was I gotta tell you um you know we we've interacted here and there what not since the first episode but one of the things is uh on your Facebook and I would just right now recommend everybody out there follow Eddie on Facebook and watch uh what look at his posts because I I just have to say um I appreciate so much yeah it might be a little joke that you throw out there here or there it might be just a just a headline joke that people can react to yeah a little word or build upon um combining bands I love that one fresh DJ Jazzy Jeff and the fresh fresh prince of the Revolution that was the one I post I love I love that um no what was your yeah it was Earth Wind and uh no it was uh Emerson Lake and fire Emerson because I had was just looking through online and Emerson Lake and Palmer where like they were doing some tour or something because these guys have mostly gone yeah here and I thought well if you needed a replacement who would you get and I already thought of I had a joke years ago at Earth Wind and Fire like fire was sick so they had sand earthquake and sand something like that and that's so long ago and so the other day I just came up with it and I said I didn't know what to call it yeah when combining bands and then I got like uh you know hundreds of people coming up with stuff and then oh yeah it was so collaborative and so fun to read all of the comments and Felicia Collins uh you know that came on this morning and wrote a couple in there you know yep I saw it and it was so cool so you you put those up but then I just have to tell you how much I appreciate and this you know I reached out to you again the other day say okay we got to do this sooner than later because you put up a a hockey story and and I mean we've alluded to it already in the show here a little bit but you know it's the picture of ore the iconic picture of Bobby Orr flying through the air like he's [ __ ] Superman after just winning like like the score of that goal and and it's just oh my God it's crazy what's interesting about that is like here I have a story about it really came out of a story of the with the Detroit Red Wings and yes my my friend Dave Strader who which you told on this show the first time you were on so this is the continuation yeah I don't remember that I did but I just you know Dave was you know look I get you know you I talk so much anyway I don't know I'm talking to someone you just told that story it's great no this is perfect because it's a continuation to to get to where we are now I love it it's right so you know the straighter story and I was just thinking about him I it was his family is my family and and we became really really close and he was a huge Letterman fan and he I brought his whole family to sit at the desk and it was just such a thrill and I I really miss him a lot as I miss a lot of my friends and uh and so the story kept going into that um a whole realm of then well I did meet the Red Wings on that trip and then I would work my schedule around them and and I again you know started working with the Rangers with my team and then I started just the story unfolded for it by itself of how it was you know how all these different relationships I had with hockey players um and I the main thing was to show that they're the most down to earth you know people and you and I both we love hockey and it's such a small audience and comparatively absolutely but those of us who get it get it right so that was the whole thing and I had written about three years ago a story where I just said you you don't like hockey you marry it that was what I wrote and that's all I wrote and then I found that and then it reminded me of that story and then I just pieced them together and created the story that I do and I love writing and I love you know you know I I I the pandemic kind of messed things up for everybody and everything but for me I was trying to get a publisher for my book and my stories I have 320 325 stories now that I've written and uh and people that I respect like yourself like you know like uh friends of mine that are just famous stars have called me up and said your stories are amazing you should write a book I go well I need a publisher to to um to be able to do it and I don't want to self-publish because I don't want to carry the books around and yeah and you know hey I'm Eddie would you and I have to go to the airport with six cases of books and each Comedy Club I I don't know about that my wife and I wrote a book I don't even need to make money I just need to I just want it out there so there are a lot of them are on Facebook and they come out of you know things that happen during the day or whatever so you're always you know I don't have enough that much room on Facebook but you can follow yeah it would be a Facebook friend because I think I have all I'm completely yeah it limits that but people can follow you and they see those posts all the stories and this is so good yeah and then I I also love photography and it's become my new little Hobby and on uh you know uh Instagram which I'm under Eddie comic on Instagram uh I have a lot of great uh you know photos that are both uh put on Facebook or whatever sometimes there's a story attached to it so if you want to try to become friends there or even just say hello um please please ask questions or come by or you know you could do it so Twitter I'm Eddie underscore Brill yep at Twitter and there I don't get in political discussions ever oh you're the one that doesn't actually talk about that stuff on Twitter wow yeah everyone else says you can't win I mean thank you yes and why try because it's not worth it because I don't respect politics anyway yeah you know um so you know or most politics I don't respect well it's a polarization like why like life is too short and I mean that's I appreciate it I'd rather you laugh and cry exactly exactly cry maybe my laughter will help you out of the cry yeah well and that's the thing about your stories that I just want to exclamation point a little bit they're so um insightful but delightful at the same time like they they they they they hit both those nerves where you can tell it's a comic writing it but it's a comic who uh has insight and and and and really really loves to get into the feelings of things and I love I love that as well it's powerful but it's also I appreciate it and it's like anything like with my stand-up you know you get that you can't help but getting better if you do it every day and I'm always writing something every day just to get better and better at it and I you know you I look at uh some old stories and I'll rewrite them yeah because now my use of the language is a little bit better uh or the story can be more succinct or there's another part that I remembered that I didn't remember the first time when I wrote it or things that I can attach to it because a lot of times like with the the band thing that you were talking about the band name yeah I had to come up with all those names and I didn't know how to what to do so I wrote so when I wrote um you know whatever the title was it put it all together the photo in the hockey thing I only I didn't choose the photo for that hockey story but then I was realizing well maybe I should put the Detroit Red Wings because that's the biggest part of the story sure put a picture of Dave straiter on there and then I said you know what I'll just go to the most exciting hockey play because what's going to lure people in you know not many people like hockey so one of the I figured I'd put that picture in and you know bring in the best hockey fans because you know my friend Vince moranto and and Chicago he wrote he's a huge Blackhawks fan he said look I love your story but I just you know I can't get into the Red Wings putting pictures of them I last minute chose the Bobby Orr thing and I have a couple of Bobby your pictures I don't know where they are right now there's probably but people know how much I love Bobby Orr yeah um and two different people brought me they met Bobby Orr and their what came out of it was getting Eddie bro uh an autograph from Bobby Orr so I have a few of them yeah you know from people who never met each other or whatever you know Isn't that cool so the the picture what I was trying to get to was talking so much is the photo um or the title of something oftentimes comes last yeah I'll write the story I'll rewrite the story I'll tighten it up and then I'll come up with the title or the title might already be there in my brain and and then as far as the photos like what's good like when I didn't put photos with my stories I had less people following but when you put a picture like I put something about names recently yeah on there and I just found a little photo of the word names but by putting that I had you know I know I got more followers on that story because people love photos or pictures or you know easier you know they people are not going to just jump into a story unless there's some kind of other Allure good friend uh mutual friend of ours uh CeCe Harrison when she puts up photo or when she puts up her writing she always has a photo on top of it and it draws you in at first and then you start then you start reading and I think that the photo actually like when you see somebody put a whole bunch of text on social media whichever platform is your persuasion um I think that there is a connotation that happens but when there's a photo on top of it that kind of sums up or at least sets the table a little bit for uh that following text um it's a completely different um connotation a very very interesting what you just said though how the things evolve and all that you could overlay all of the descriptors that you just said sometimes the title comes last uh I rewrite I do this I do that uh yeah you could you could overlay uh the evolution of a bit over top of that as well isn't it exactly the same damn thing like yeah how how how this the punch line now becomes sort of the setup and then it turns into this whole thing yeah you know Comedy Works you know you it's mathematics and oftentimes you come up with a punch line and then you work backwards to write it like I think it's funny that um let me see if I can remember the word it's uh you know oh damn it you know it's a shame because I I think it it's one of my favorite lines and okay you can buy anything you want in the store oh the word patronize like patronize is a very interesting word because the word patrons in it yes and when you hear Patron you think of someone buying something yes patronize is not a very pleasant uh term no no I thought of the word Patron and patronize and there there's my beginning of the joke so now I write backwards yes so how do you get to it so I ended up having some guy who owns a store saying look you can buy anything you want in my shop just don't patronize me let's see so that makes the joke it gives it uh it gives it depth and that's how the joke came about but that's how most Comedy Works it's like a plus b equals c well what's C or you know eight you know the you find out the punch line is X and you write back mathematically to create the joke it's not the only way but it's a very popular way to come up with a really great joke is you come up with a punch line you know where you want to go yeah and then work backwards like the patronize it you know took a while and I do that a lot with wordplay yeah it's like uh there's so many words like with the word non in front of it or D something like um like and that's how I wrote this joke a million years ago and that's a whole other story but about you know people being nonchalant is a very mellow way to be but if you were chalant you'd be really uptight and nervous and and that kind of stuff so that's how this is why you were Dave's guy by the way is because that's the exact type of uh of of of of uh broadcaster he was the the word plays and the different vocabulary and and and uh you know we think about writers out there like Aaron Sorkin who who almost cares about how the word sounds rather than the the word itself he writes it he writes it almost like a symphony he writes that way um you know Dave being a an autor a word Smith um you know you have having to walk the line of the the traditional comedian but again looking for those things I I think you're right now really opening up as to uh why you were the right guy for the job and you lasted so long at it um I I I just I can't tell you the thrill that I have that uh that we've got a dynamic here and this is happening more and more and I can't wait to have you on again um this is a very different episode than the first one the first one I was like holy [ __ ] what's going on now we're at a place where we can just shoot the bull and have some fun doing this uh thank you so much for taking time out of your day again we're an hour and 10 minutes I want to be very uh cognizant because I have I actually I you know have a thing I have to do in about 40 minutes so okay um I could talk for hours with you but we'll you know we'll separate them and you know into different uh things or whatever so well I appreciate the hell out of you um hey Walter Dawn let's get Eddie uh doing his uh his his favorite moments and stuff soon um and uh let's get some of the moments we talked about here at least out there so people can see them uh I love it so much this has been such a thrill so already and it's been four months I can't believe it and we've had so many memories and so much more as as Johnny would say more to come uh I appreciate Eddie Brill so much follow him um if you're if he's coming to your local town do you have any spots uh how now are you yeah September 30th I'm in Saint Pete with Nick Griffin and Caroline Ray okay this will be all before that for sure so that's you know there and then uh you know usually every birthday in October I get to uh you know go to Alameda California because there's a comedy club called The Alameda comedy club that I helped design and I opened the club the very first weekend and it happened to be my birthday and now it's a tradition um I put this will be the third year in a row and it's booked but you know I might have to change it but I'm not and then I just got an offer yesterday that I'm trying to put together and I don't want to jinx it but it's it would be it would be Fiji and I'd be able to go with my son which is the key because he's a comedian I was going to say would you perform together as well yeah we're we're into it it's just a lot of travel yeah for just a couple of days you know it's two days of shows two days to hang out but you know I mean just the idea to be able my son and I are very tight good friends he's hilarious fun to hang out with I love him my son you know yeah and uh and so we might I have I have we're trying to work that out today and tomorrow to try to figure out how to pull up this Fiji thing the only problem is we have to pay for our own flights from New York to LA which you know nowadays the flights are so expensive yeah oh yeah that you know we might break even but then again we'll be on the beach in Fiji it'll be an experience and and I mean yeah that's that's that's beautiful uh this has been an experience for me and I appreciate you so much Eddie uh if Eddie's coming to your town go see him uh if you if if you're a Booker if you're a comedy Booker out there what's the best way to get hold of you just go you know um at uh Instagram at you know any comic and Instagram contact me there you know I mean my website I have an email address from a million years ago that uh you can write to me at is Eddie comic Eddie c o my C at AOL I have other ones but the that's the one that I still get a ton of mail at oh yeah it's vintage aols vintage I know been done so yeah you're welcome to write to me and ask questions and I'll be more than happy to answer them um thank you so much I'll do a quick outro here and we can say our goodbye privately um that is a another this is why we do it obviously the you know the show's finding its voice like like crazy uh all these little nuggets that we picked back up again and and uh I mean there's a guy right there who helped mine for a lot of them um Eddie Brill uh once again Hey listen I'm gonna say this until I don't have to say it anymore and hopefully that happens sooner than later if you've watched this program please whether you like it or not doesn't matter like share subscribe please do all of that stuff I cannot wait for the day that I don't have to ask you guys to do that anymore uh and hopefully it's coming sooner than later we really appreciate that we appreciate so much the uh the world of David Letterman and Company that's why we do this show that has been another episode of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants