Lee Ellenberg Part 2

all right y'all thought that I might be fibbing this is proof right now the Letterman podcast we have one sponsor one sponsor only but it is in the hello Deli thank you very much for sponsoring our show Rupert it's my honor Mike welcome once again to the Letterman podcast as always I am Mike Chisholm as always I am excited to be here uh this is our first Christmas episode that's right all you detractors who back in April of 22 said oh what the heck is this thing it's not gonna last whatsoever well ha ha ha joke's on you we made it to Christmas and we're real excited about it what a Christmas it is what a time it is um to be a letterman fan in 2022 we did not think that we were gonna say that back say in 2014 say the very very last Late Show uh Christmas episode the last time Darlene Love came out on stage and uh and and you know we've we've talked to so many people who who um didn't know what was going to happen after when Dave left the airwaves the terrestrial Airwaves or the the cable Airwaves in um you know 2015 but at the end of the day at 2022 it's really nice to be able to say that it's it's a good time to be a letterman fan and it still is one of the reasons why we started this show and we've said this from the very beginning uh our very first episode had a letterman Enthusiast Community member uh as our as our guest and of course most of the shows that we've done this year have included and have been uh former staffers uh of of Dave and and folks who worked for the show but we want to make sure that the Letterman podcast always has members of the fan community and the Enthusiast Community um tonight and uh if we have our way here every uh holiday season every Christmas time uh we put out an episode it's going to include uh some very special treats from our community members and I can't think of one that will be more special than what we're going to have happen tonight we've got a very special guest tonight Maryland Sergeant isn't she's okay first off she's an afler now we haven't had a lot of the um the old Letterman folks on here yet but we're going to talk a lot about that because especially when the show was still running there was some very cool things that would have Dave con we haven't talked about davecon on here other than a couple little moments here and there we finally have some context to do that now Maryland has been um inside that Letterman fan base for a long time she's no Don Giller and people like that for a long time had a phenomenal experiences from the Enthusiast perspective and we could do an entire podcast on just each one of those experiences because they are so encompassing and we remember them now but this is a Christmas episode and we're gonna we have something very special tonight here we're actually going to play a piece of footage uh near the end of the episode of Dave actually reading one of the poems that Marilyn had submitted for years and years and years and years to the show uh it was uh my my night at the late show and we're going to talk about that here in a second I'm I'm very excited to have her on here very excited to talk about um to someone else who had a very similar moment to mind you know my my moment of of of immortality as far as I'm concerned talking to Dave at the Q a Marilyn had one that was equally as special equally as customized to her and that will be represented in the video we showed tonight lots of stuff to do and it's happy holidays from the Letterman podcast Merry Christmas from the Letterman podcast without further Ado we would like to invite Marilyn Sergeant to the show Marilyn thank you so much for allowing me to to pry my way in there and convince you to say yes you will be our Darlene Love For The Lettermen podcast thank you so much for this welcome to the Letterman I really love but I am very pleased to be here Mike thank you it's awesome it's awesome that you're here you're in your jacket fantastic you're wearing the colors representing um let's go back to the beginning and it says were you how long have you been a fan of David Letterman for I've been a fan for a very long time but sort of toward the end of the late night era so I am like I've heard you say before one of those people who is really late show oriented has been there from the beginning and The Late Show was really always spoke to me only because I really didn't see a lot I was raising my kids uh you know early on and late night I just you know wasn't as tuned in I would I would love Dave I'd see him toward the end you know I got very excited about it and his his you know move over but yeah I'm a I'm a late show girl and uh you know the poems that I had written for Christmas had always been um Late Show just strictly Late Show you know starting back with the very first one you know and all the way up yeah okay so so your very first incarnation of this poem and it's of course it's a take on Twas the Night Before Christmas it is um and perfect it's got that beautiful melodic setup and and I mean you can you can tell so many very very clever stories humorous stories with that uh with that set up and people universally kind of know what it is it's a it's a very very um you know smart way uh to do this the first year that you sent in that poem was in 94.

first one actually was in 1998 98 Okay so we've been at CBS for a few years he gained the power he was you know our Generations Tonight Show um you know at that point Dave's at that point he's bigger than the guest beside him and um your very first year that you sent it in what now I mean obviously there are all sorts of ways that we can reach out to these Productions that we adore so much what was it about the idea like where did the the Genesis of of coming up with a with a Christmas poem where did that come from well actually it had nothing to do with sending it in at all this was part of our our community and I'll fan Letterman I wrote this poem for the rest of the fans so it never really was something that I was you know giving the show the show probably could care less about it it was it was for the fans in my Letterman group and so from the very beginning they were always very sweet about it they all you know enjoyed it they would say you know as it would roll around in December oh it's Christmas now you know Marilyn put the poem up and every year it would have a little something to do with what was going on but I do want to share the first one with you because we have you know the last one which was really like a jumble of all kinds of names and all the people but you have to understand the first one before you can understand the last one so I was wondering if I could read that to you oh of course now before you read it to me like let's let's set the stage here but like right now alt fan Letterman is basically on Facebook that's where I discovered it it's been you know back in 98 if I would have known that this thing existed I would have wanted to be a part of it so much I mean what was it at that point was it a website was it a use group what how did you guys connect there back in the day this would have been Usenet before Facebook we migrated over to Facebook at a certain point when it just became all trolls and you know Usenet kind of going down the tubes it wasn't good it wasn't a pretty scene so uh you know one of our one of our fellow you know gals was nice enough to get us all set up over there and you know it really took off on Facebook but first we were on Uconnect and that is you know the Forum was all fan Letterman and that's where and Don Giller was there at the time right like like I mean folks who who were around now were around then like yourself like this is 25 years of hanging out together on the internet talking about David Letterman and Company uh and other things too I mean when you get you know you become friends you get you develop bonds and relationships with these people over the years absolutely we share recipes you know we get a kick out of that and we know what was going on a little bit in each other's lives and we admired each other's work we have a lot of very talented people and people from all over you know people from other countries are in there and they have been there for years and it's you know that people would joke and just you know it's just such a nice community and I'll see it now in different you know groups like in a in a group for say Fitness you know that I belong to I will see wow these people know each other these people have been together for a while that hasn't happened to me except in AFL you know AFL is my my you know it's it's over now a little bit not really over it's never over I mean but uh you know it's evolved for sure when we watched the show you know we would riff off each other and we would share what we saw and it was a great community and you know a certain group of us would get together uh and go to the show we were welcomed there annually and had a really great time so yeah it's it was it was an important part of my life really it really was and I know that sounds cheesy but it still is obviously to so many that are there and I just I love that so much and I'll tell you this too um I was so grateful when I was invited into that community and to watch um the people have been around forever interact with each other what not it's such a beautiful thing to see I love it so much um before we get to your first the first uh poem that you wrote and you know for the AFL or that just makes it even that much sweeter had you seen the show live yet at that point by that point probably definitely yeah I'm quite sure yeah I mean I've I've been there many many times and it's funny I have like a stack of tickets and stuff but I I've never been organized enough to really write down who I've seen and it's a pretty impressive group I remember Hootie and the Blowfish early on you know that was what it was hootie's first appearance I think in the book um and I was there for the pharah episode where she was like you know and that that was something I was there for let's go looking for swedes and I mean there's just been so many things that I've seen and so you know Pop I mean I can't even begin to tell you that you know I've been lucky enough to really see a lot yeah well we'll get into that another day um you know I can't wait to do we're gonna do some episodes of of uh uh you know some of the big moments that people got to see live we're gonna do definitely um we're gonna focus on that there's so much meat on the bone for what we can do with this show and what we're going to do with this show uh lots of exciting things obviously this is a Christmas episode we're focusing on that so you're part of the AFL um and and and people contribute uh to these things and it always feels good to contribute to these communities um you putting up a poem the first time you put up the poem was there do you remember can you go back to that place I mean a 98 was a long time ago but but were you nervous putting the poem in there to see what people would think or was it I'm excited let's do this no I'm never nervous no I was never nervous no we were Shameless no one's ever nervous you know if anything it would be like what's done gonna do you know not about yeah you know but we would be silly and we would start going off topic and Don was like you know this is about Letterman you know he put up with with us and yeah I I I suppose some things don't change they don't they don't and of course we dragged him down with us so you know he's he's he loves his people on there as much as anyone else and don't let him get into it oh he certainly does and the and the video that we are going to uh to play later on in this episode I mean of course it was cut uh Dawn did such a masterful job cutting it we'll talk about that actually um the way that uh the way that it was presented was so so beautiful and I love the other thing about the video is is we see your we see um your moment represented and it was what a thing to be represented to culminate and you're about to kind of start that process right now by talking about the first one but then we get to see you almost in an identical setting reading the very poem that Dave um uh Dave references and and and and highlights uh on the video so it all started with this one here so um right away you're like okay twas my night at The Late Show let's do this 1990 88 do you remember when you started writing it like with this was this a stream of conscious thing where you like wrote it in December put it out the next day honestly that's the way it is every year and and the last one was really the most important one to me obviously but that didn't take more than a couple of days and when I did do it I you know I bounced it off of Dan like you know should I include this or should I include that and things like that and you know I actually had a uh New York Times um a the word escaping one of my friends from The New York Times edited it yes editor again but yeah editor New York Times editor went through it she made sure that I kind of had you know things right in the way that I you know put them and so it was it was fun to say that it was that but she's a member of our group of course yeah and uh you know I was like should I add Meryl Marco should I not mention Merrill Marco I'm so glad I mentioned Merrill Marco because when he read it at the beginning he talked he didn't get into it but he resonate and it wasn't me yeah yeah there's a there's there's there's so much that I would take from that moment where if you and I had to switch places with our moments where I can just see that the feelings must be very very similar uh well for me it was when I made him laugh you know making me laugh on stage was like and it was only for a second because he you know he laughed and then he immediately shot right back at me like it was just that's one of those feelings where it's like oh my gosh I can't believe this is happening uh your poem let's get to let's get to the first one so the very first Incarnation uh was my night at The Late Show please please it was my night at The Late Show this is 1998.

it was my night at the late show and all through the end not a creature was sleeping unless it was dead the cameras were hung by the desk in each chair in hopes that Dave Letterman soon would be there the audience was nestled all snug in their seats while visions of Letterman made their hearts skip two beats with caliber and a kerchief and Rupert in his cap we knew we were in for a one-hour nap Eddie the warm-up guy was ready to go and I knew in a moment it was time for the show I guess band introduction time must have came because he whistled and shouted and called them by name now Sid now Felicia now Anton Al will on Bones on Bruce and at the top of the bill at the top of the Bandstand with no red nose at all now clap away clap away here comes Paul and then in a twinkling I heard on the stage the Prancing and plowing of each CBS page as I drew in my breath and was turning around downstage David Letterman came with a bound he was dressed in Armani from his head to his foot now that later changed to suhami it was dressed by suhan but I don't think she was there yet but it did change he was dressing Armani from his head to his foot his Peninsula hair piece the color of sub with a bundle of jokes thanks to Inky's hard labors and I thought wake the kids phone up the neighbors his eyes how they twinkled what a gap to his mouth in a tie that was headed all the way to the South a can of a hand he held can of a ham he held the height in his hands and he tossed it a bit before all of his fans Leonard Tepper came out of right Jolly Old elf and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself then with a toss of a pencil and a shake of his fist he proceeded to read us his top 10 list he finished his list and went straight to his work interviewing celebrities who may think he's a jerk then laying his pencil aside of his nose and giving a nod the show came to a close he sprang to his feet to his staff gave a whistle and off flew his jacket like the down of a thistle but I heard him exclaim as he walked out of sight thanks for being here come again and to all a good night there it is the first one I had to mute myself because I didn't want the speaker thing to flip back and I was believe I have I haven't heard the first one intentionally I didn't want to hear it I didn't want to know it before this episode that was delightful well thank you I know it's a little cheesy and I know I take liberties with the pro you know the way I form a poem but it was just fun and obviously you know it was well received and and then it started to change and take you know just looking down memory lane at these poems I'm able to remember the things that happened in those years so that's 98 for example we go to um 99 yep and it says we knew in our hearts we were lucky to go to the millenniums official Emmy winning Late Show so there we are that's 99.

then 2 000 we have the massive heart attack yeah yeah we knew it was a gift just to be here because of this scare we had earlier this year and I was especially thankful for TV boys Health we were ready to share in the comedy wealth okay so first off before we go to the next year and the next incarnations the thing I love about it so much is how how inside it already is like like like you know this is a fans fans fan poem like it really is it has a lot of you know like little things like TV boy to me that there's so much care in that because you're pulling direct vocabulary that hit the uh the emotional heart strings of people who appreciate this stuff so much he's such a linguist and and and and and these little phrases um unique phrases that he would pull I just absolutely love how much care you put into these things well this is why I can't really share it with anyone else except the Late Show fan I mean even the writers would be like you know well I don't remember that you know you know the writers oh yeah so to share it with a fan who really watched the show they're the only ones that get it and of course I could take it more inside with my AFL people and once in a while we joke you know like somebody was on Jeopardy you know he was a Jeopardy contestant so I would stick that in there you know and all kinds of funny things that you know may have happened through the years but really in keeping mostly with the show for example now we had the heart attack now we've got uh 2001 obviously 911 had just occurred uh so that was Dave's sweet gift of laughter in a difficult year made my love for TV boy even more clear so there's TV board again but yeah that was that was the uh to that one now we go to 2002 we've got the over log remember the ocean he stoked that over and it wasn't wasn't a Christmas overlock it was just no flag all year long and so yeah not to add that the theater was cool but I was warmed by the NOG and the radiant Sparkle of Dave's Opera log 2003 came along and that was the birth of Harry so his eyes how they twinkled he was especially Mary I knew his eye twinkle must be a little hairy you know things like that okay so at this point are you also submitting the poem to the show or is this just for the the like obviously some of the AFL is like like you know Inky like Tony Mendez was very well aware of this stuff you have people who were obviously you know there's cross-pollination happening the aflers are obviously very well known to uh made into the show at one point and I got a nice little note that was dictated from Dave to his assistant maybe you know that just said that it was very you know thankful for the poem or whatever and they sent me like well they didn't know it existed at this point yeah but I'm not sure again that anybody you know really pays much attention to it but you know that I would make sure to get it there um or at least send it off but I don't know honestly that they paid that much attention you know not until the last one when I yeah brought the hymnal that they've called yeah but we're gonna get to that I want to hear all about that um let's keep going what are some of the uh and and adaptations you did for each year we went from 2003 with the birth of Harry to 2005.

that was the year of bird flu and hyperphasia do you remember the Late Show bear so gladly show bear that year so it wasn't my night at the late show and all up in my view interns clapped in the aisle like they had the bird flu if you're at the show Boy they they're a little bit over enthusiastic and we used to laugh about that because eyes how they twinkled his cheeks of Fantasia I felt I was in a comedy comedy hyperphasia to bring in the Late Show bear a little bit Yeah 2006 so that was fun this is uh pervy big red this is when big red was really getting into it you know one of my favorite so funny oh I loved I loved Alan and big red was just one of the greatest yeah so included Was Then Came some words from Big Red that were so terribly lewd we were all in agreeance that's a that's an inside joke instead of agreement that's agreeance that they were even rude he can't say that on TV there have to be laws he can't do that with sugar plums and Dear Mrs Claus you have to put it in the big red he was nice too he was he's one of those you know staff members who always knew we were there when we were all there as a group and you know even when I wasn't with a group I remember him handing out like a hand warmer to me and a girl that I had gone with and so that was that was neat yeah uh 2007.

it's the writer strike now so no audience was nestled all snug in their seats just visions of riders out hitting the streets no skink in a kerchief or Rupert and a cap producers have dealt us a one hour nap um not right there my friends supporting of the writers right there if nothing even in your in your poem supporting the writers here we go oh that was beautiful you bet 2008.

um there's a video version of this one um yeah which we have online which was read from I sat in my child care was there and I was reading from the fun fact book um and that was the year that um George W bush had the Iraqi press conference where he had shoes thrown at him and you know the shoe came flying so I had all my daycare after I read it they were whipping shoes at me so that was that was fun to film um but in that one it's uh that was uh when McCain canceled and Lyle I love Lyle so Lyle always yeah when out in the Green Room there were Rose such a clatter staff ran up to Gaines to see what was the matter guests must have canceled and with all of the strain and the econ the economy imploding it must be McCain when what my wondering eyes came instead but Keith olberman and his big giant head again obviously I would never say such a thing about Keith but that's that's a Dave joke um okay and then we have 2009 and that's the fire day version and we have um a live version of that on YouTube as well with the daycare oh thanks for putting it behind you had your set there it is fun yep there she is the whole reason people are like why do you care that Sarah Palin is gonna endure like why do you care that she's gonna say something about the podcast it's right here it's right here it was a big deal that year 09.

shenanigans it was my night at the late show and outside the end normal creatures weren't stirring there was a rally instead 12 Palin worshipers mostly retired had hopes that Dave Letterman soon would be fired so it is a little walk down memory lane um 2010 the Joaquin Fiasco with Joaquin Phoenix and the Super Bowl commercial both of them took place that year yep so what to my wandering eye should appear Dave and Oprah with Leno trying to save his career this was not even wikileaked I needed a pinch I guess Conan declined to appear with the Grinch laughs shout out to Jay I hope he's feeling good absolutely nice to see you hey we want him feeling good so we can make fun of him right there you go his eyes how they twinkled what a gap to his grin he had a squeaky impression of the guy with the chin you up Mike Singletary I'm not sure what he said he says strange isn't this is that thing on Donald Trump's head then I heard a ringing a Jeff Altman phone call and the mood in the theater was cast with a Paul out came Joe Grossman with a bizarre interjection who is weirder than him always the horn section Joaquin Phoenix Phoenix strolled out a right freaky old elf and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself a difficult interview for my TV boy hero I guess it could be worse it could be De Niro all right we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna stop there for a second because uh you just in one Fell Swoop shouted out four guests of the Lettermen podcast this year uh so we're gonna say happy holidays Merry Christmas to Art Kelly you know Mr Mark Singletary on the show yeah Joe Grossman Who We Love We Adore You Joe absolutely so so happy you're working for The Tonight Show this year that's that's uh congratulations on that uh you mentioned the horn section so of course uh Tom bones Malone and uh and our boy Jeff Altman who you know four guests on our on our in our inaugural year so far um of the Lettermen podcast all mentioned in one Fell Swoop well done that's an accomplishment I think oh man yeah I mean it just shows how we all sort of think on the same like this is a family and it's it's I'm so grateful to be part of of kind of unearthing some of these things and talking to other people who feel the exact same way who have never met on from different sides of the continent but are united with these things and feel this way you know talking to Joe again talking to Joe a few weeks back it'll be a month or so by the time this thing airs but like it was trippy it felt so crazy awesome weird talking to him about this stuff and being able to deconstruct some of this stuff because these are people who are poem inspiring like just on screen you know and uh oh and anyway years over and over and you know right through the years because yeah he was important I loved him oh me too we're making with him there and of course you know I knew that he wasn't going to be smiling so I did the same you know I treasure that one as well like some of my older ones one of the things with with Joe in particular like I mean you know we take Jeff Altman well we saw him acting funny and crazy with Dave since we were literally since we were kids right but then Joe you see him show up in the early 2000s and you're like wait a second this guy is like our age you know and this guy is part of the fun and it it the RH thing I kind of get a kick out of because I'm quite a bit older than you are you well quite a bit older than you on 60 this year so are you really yeah I would not have called that well um certainly your disposition in your heart uh does not show it and and can I will say this this is something that I used to describe myself on my best day my inner child has his grubby little hands on the wheel um sir like you are you have this energy about you that it just feels so vibrant youthful all of this stuff playful uh you know and and I think a lot of Letterman folk have that uh also there are some who have you know Crotched this but that's okay you're certainly in the former but but I'm saying the energy that that uh um that we have towards these things come out in different ways these poems are absolutely delightful where are we now 2011 yes we are and that's Jeter's house and the fat law I have to look that up I had to do a little research because I'm like you know I remember Larry David really got into that on Curb Your Enthusiasm but it wasn't no but with Dave it was not a joke Dave David Letterman had a fatwa on him uh hey with it he had so much fun with it he would come out and you know he came out one night and said to the audience that um that you guys are more than an audience to me you're a human shield your human shield something to that effect I mean he worked with that but um that was that was that was a joke that he told to the audience before the camera started rolling I can't I don't know that because I wasn't there but I read about it so that's a beautiful job oh that's a that's such a good joke sorry about why sorry I was late coming out here he said I was checking about my life insurance policy like you know that probably made the air you know I don't know what he kept but anyway um towards my night at The Late Show at Sullivan Theater 12 000 feet smaller than the home of a cheater's house I did research on that too it's about 12 000 feet smaller in the theater because it was a big house his eyes how they twinkled what a gap to his grin why would anyone want to Fat why him what Newt would do that why the metal detection then three hands went up always the horn section love them I love them I love when they did that yep it was so special to me um Joe Grossman wandered out unusual elf I heard on his honeymoon he threw up on himself now I'm not I'm not telling Tails out of school he said this on the show and I was like oh boy okay so now we are in 2012 2012 was a big one to me why oh it was a weekend Late Show oh my God a weekend Late Show remember the weekend lady oh so it was I know somebody who has a mug from that and I am really jealous about that wow that's a that's that's one of those things that I'm like oh I would really like to have that that is a very cool prop gag I have so the poem started twas my night at the late show and all through the Ed not a creature was stirring the theater was dead the set was all decorated in poinsettia and Spruce imagine my shock out walked Linda and Bruce Bruce's wink of his eye and Shake of his head soon gave me to know I had something to dread I've made a mistake it was the weekend Late Show I sprang from my seat and knew I had to go Bruce spoke of avoiding online Christmas tree scams and Linda did macrame on orange juice cans I tried to run stuck in gum and then awoke with a scream in my nightcap in kerchief for it was only a dream so that's how I started that one that I was in the wrong place uh then it's towards my night of the Late Show I was so pleased to enter and see the new honoree of the Kennedy Center oh that was that that year a little bit of heartfelt there Marilyn I love it band um reindeer Spiel here yep so and then one by one band introduction came and he whistled and shouted and called them by name now will now Felicia now Anton and Sid on Bones on Frank on Aaron but God forbid two reindeer were missing I hoped they weren't hurt swiftly I issued an antler alert I called up Len Easton I suspect Dave's dog Sully I fear they're funked up taken down in a gully I hope they'd be harnessed brought back to the band the horn section would once again raise the right hand and tell them how much I miss seeing them play what's that oh I'm being told they're okay that was alchez and Bruce Kepler left the band and yeah so that was a very nice little nod to them right there by the way the weekend the weekend Late Show hey Walter if you guys haven't we need a compilation of that that yes that and and uh Tales from the old west the Tim tomerson uh I I want to see more of that and and and some explication of that I want to get Tim on here and talk about that but yeah Linda or Bruce if you're out there and you want to talk a little bit about weekend late show that gig yeah we're here for you buddy uh come on out either one of you so that's good so we're on to 13.

we are and this is uh Graham Fenwick Jones do you remember him yes absolutely I'm out with Justin what you know and it was great so it was a fortnight till the late show Keen as mustard the house from Ipswich to bendingo a bit of a big girl's blouse the cameras were hung Tootie picked to their rocker in hopes that Scotty Skyler will be as black as new Gate's knocker so I was just kind of doing his thing for a little bit oh yeah wow but then I awakened chilled to my bones I had dreamed of the spirit of Graham Fenwick Jones and then it went on to his eyes how they twinkled what a wonderful sight 20 years at the network still the stooge of the night no more weekend Late Show to add to the drama and no more celebrum thanks a lot Obama the lumber gum had ended then and uh Steve gave it up but that was a then obviously that wasn't part of the show either that's another inside joke that was sort of staff and you know we kind of supported well we've talked about it on the show we had Steve Young obviously we talked about it that when in his uh his first appearance here we celebragum if you haven't gone and seen it yet go find it uh genius genius piece of uh of of Comedy so simple um and yet at the same time clever uh beyond words so good and great that it was included in uh in 2013.

uh now we get to 2014 and um you're not gonna the way that you the viewer are going to hear this is by watching the video that we're gonna finish this episode with that's how it's gonna go um and we're gonna wish you all a Merry Christmas but before we do that we need to talk about you getting there and uh like this is you know we'll talk about your other appearances another time that you come on the show see I'm presupposing You're Gonna Come Back this I have never had any appearances but this was amazing this was a you know a friend of mine at when they had this it's hard to get in there you know yeah you just randomly be able to see a Christmas show especially the last one but yeah I think the staff had um you know so this was the night of the Darlene Love episode yes and it wasn't my first Darlene Love episode either I've been there for this book wow but this was you know the last one the very no this is the absolutely this is a culmination episode the last meatball the last the last everything um did they throw footballs that night yeah that that was everything you know on the Christmas Late Show episode again it's just they were always special but this one here the very last one I I remember tearing up I remember watching it on the other side uh of of the screen knowing it was the very last one and um you know the gravity of that was just um you could feel it now you knew how how long in advance before you uh before the show did you know you had tickets for that night gosh I think it was only about a week that Cheryl's Cheryl got tickets and said will you come with me we were I was so excited we wanted to get lost we were going to buy mops and we wanted to go with mops but I couldn't find them you can't really find a muff these days yeah you know all kinds of stuff closed five years ago I think so you know I had put together them and this is this is going to be hard to believe but I put together the poem we put it on the hymnal here you know and I brought many copies so I got to the show I saw hello belly I gave one to her I gave one to Rupert I gave one to every staff member that I could find um but I really didn't think about trying to get Dave's attention and giving it to Dave for the pre-show until I kind of started to go in there and I'm like lining up and I said what if you know because you know and I think you talked to another AFL or about when when you're in the audience and you you kind of oh send me the doo-doo that he'll call on me like and then you just put your hand up Suddenly and if you're lucky enough there's a couple aflers who've had a lot of luck with it me and Bill you're preaching to the choir like no it was a sandwich just like an energy you're positive about it and you just you know oh my God I love talking to you about this because I've tried I've told the story so many times when I do this when I did that the night with the salmon jacket and uh and and and you know he talked to the guy at the end of the Row first and I'm like oh no if it's only one question I'm screwed and as he's talking you know I've got my hand up like a like a teacher's pet who thinks that the first kid that was called on is given a wrong answer and I'm ready to go you know and you know you see them look at you and you feel there's an energy there like there just is he finishes with the dude on the end and okay yes sir what's your question and then suddenly like you're at it's an out of body kind of experience and and there's an energy to it like you just said and you exactly understand the feeling that I'm trying so desperately yet horribly to communicate like two times other direction yeah you got me a couple of times and once he told me I looked like his sister Gretchen he actually was you look like my sister you know wow oh you know but this time this time it was just like you know the hand shot up he called on me I told him and and you'll see this that I had a poem that I've been writing for 16 years oh better be good you know but it's like no I haven't been writing it for 16 years it's only been a couple days but um yeah and I think it was such an experience because you talked about making Dave laugh I didn't personally make Dave laugh but Dave got my name wrong on the show live and he doubled over and you you know it's on the show the 2014 Christmas show where he called me Carolyn yeah instead of Maryland and I think it was Will Lee was like it's Maryland it's Maryland what Marilyn oh but he's like whatever you know but and another thing that we didn't make it to the the pre-show tape that you're you're going to show yes was that when it was all said and done he took the poem he gave it to somebody and he said go throw it out or so go throw it in the garbage or something like that and it was just like a joke you know and no just kidding just kidding it was cute and you could hear sort of a laugh and that's why um because he was going to toss it out but I think and then he's obviously he sat down with it during the segment that I hear that you like after the monologue and he just started to peruse it live you know going through it wasn't reading it really on on air at all this is only the free show only your secret tape yeah yeah well and I'm gonna ask you about that so what we're going to show here is we're going to show a video that was um masterfully put together uh by Don Giller and and so you don't see Dave actually reading the poem but you see footage of Dave and then we hear the audio now did you hear the Audi I guess you must have heard the audio before that video was was ever conceived right how did it feel the first time you realized that your moment that was so special and in your heart was immortalized somewhere and you got to actually relive it a little bit that feeling for me personally that feeling was like shock ah so grateful to the universe for that I never thought that I would hear it yes no because the pre-show you know generally you wouldn't think it's taped or if it is you're not gonna see it you know so when did you hear it for the first time like when did you know did you know it that holiday season or was it years after January probably January or so of that year that I heard it existed I'm not sure when I originally heard it I mean it was you know and if I did it was sort of like down low I couldn't share it you know it was until you know the powers that be allow it to be shared but because I asked who told you that it existed or is that is are we still keeping people's confidences no no I mean it was done that that you know spoke to people obviously about who had it if if it was allowed to be out you know and that sort of thing and I don't think it was for a while but uh yeah certainly certainly not like I mean they're still uh you know we're years the show's been over for years and there's still some of these unaired episodes and clips and things like that that some of us have been lucky enough to hear but aren't able to be made it out make out for public consumption yet hopefully hopefully in the audience that night I was wearing I don't know if you can see this here this is there's a meatball on this tree is my pen with a meatball and I I was like you know wanting to tell Dave about that and he's like just put the jacket on I can't hear a word you're saying so okay all right put it on yeah but it was it was great and I came home that night because I I it was Cheryl and I so my significant other is here he doesn't know anything about it I leave the jacket in the car I kept it all nice and quiet and I'm like we gotta watch it live because I was there and then all of a sudden it's like very clear that something's gonna happen and he's like hey did you write a poem about the late show too and that was how we opened this up and it was it was just to have that and I made it to the top ten it's like then there was the uh World Series of dreidel that was on that show so they show this commercial for the world series of dreidel and that's when it came back and he's like not too late to put that in your poem Carolyn and that so I mean I was Carolyn from then on in AFL and you know well and I didn't get the joke at first not at first anyway but Don uh you know when I came up with this idea a long time ago to have you on here it was like within the first few weeks of the of the uh of the podcast um you know this idea of to have you on here to to do this um and and so anyway Don would periodically message me back and say have you heard from Carolyn yet and I didn't get it at first but now obviously now I completely understand which is funny because my night before Dave finished our exchange um he was making fun of my salmon jacket which is what the Callback he came out to the moment the show started which was great but the last line beforehand though he was like that jacket that's a nice little jacket what what color is that jacket and I said it's salmon he goes salmon who told you that it's my wife she she picked it out that's your wife right there yeah and uh the the thing I love about it and it makes her laugh every time I say it too um this is my wife Candace nice nice to meet you Janice okay Paul let's go and he called my wife Janice yeah it's hilarious right like it's the funniest thing oh yeah but anyway so okay so you've heard this you now know that it exists it's out there the video shows up you've got this beautiful Coda to a memory that that the universe is whatever giving you this permission to to see it forever and to view it forever um it still clearly brings Joy I can feel the joy coming through the yeah through the computer having a Christmas gift that year from from night um and he he took this and at the bottom of my stairs this has been framed and then the pictures of me on the show are framed so I come down the stairs and I see it right there in front of me you know so yeah it was it was a special moment and you know I I hope that they've known at that moment too that he means a lot to a lot of people because he tends to play that down but as he sat there and was reading this it was fun too because in part of the poem at the end um let's see now I don't know if you're going to to have the whole poem because what you're talking about doesn't have it um it just has sort of that pre-show thing unless you know the video I have has the pre-show and then it has you looking in that room with the jacket on the entire goal of that year but I just wanted to share that he started to read and you'll hear him yeah now I'd better not cry and I'll try not to pout as I now thank the person the whole show is about you filled our comedy stockings night after night our worldwide pants will no longer fit right and then it went up but as he started to read he got to about another thing the person on the show is about or you know Dave no no compliments no no you jump you jump to something else yeah but yeah as we've talked about the different things that he saw it was neat it was neat to hear him share yeah it was a great experience it's a such a special moment Marilyn and I'm so so grateful that for you that you get to have this and you and I'm really grateful you're able to talk about it and you still feel the way that I hoped you would feel about it it's it's it's identical to mine mine was April 20th you know so it was four months after you know it was it was it was you know literally the month before we retired that was when my night happened and and I mean it's such a it's got it literally has a place inside my heart that it lives and when I when I actually start talking about it to somebody and I will let's face it I'll talk to anybody who will listen about it um it's it's it's still vibrant and alive and well and talking to you about this um first off I'm so grateful that it you get to still live it as well and you have the memories of it and it is so special to you um it's such a beautiful moment to be able to meet people that you admire and have a treasured experience in that so that's awesome but second this is exactly why we do this show um you know we started this show here and I'm gonna we're starting to to wrap we're going to finish with the video there's nothing better to finish with you already uh you know alluded to how the poem finishes um I don't know any other way that we can wish uh the enthusiasts to the the community whatever you want to call it anybody who is uh has stumbled across this uh you know Christmas episode after a night of drunken debauchery perhaps on YouTube I don't know but anybody who has been a part of our journey here at the Letterman podcast so far hasn't even been a year won't even be a year till April but it is our first Christmas um there's a lot of love and care out here and having a Community member come and share her story uh we want you to do this again next year maybe hey maybe next year there might be a uh a verse or two talking about my next guest or something like that we'll throw that at you see who knows who knows what that's going to be before we do get going though A new year is coming um I'm hoping that there's going to be a new slew of my next guests um is there anybody I always say is there three people but I mean whatever we're doing it's Christmas time however uh if you're if your Christmas wishes of anybody for Dave to talk to on my next guess would come true we were a couple names that you would throw out there it you know it's funny because I I tried to come up with something I watched her Steve Young episode and I'm like oh I'm gonna say Winston Churchill I'm gonna say the same ones he did that's what I'm gonna do um because no I don't I don't know like if somebody that's my favorite movie and I'm not good at those those questions yeah no maybe AFL how about that you can talk to the people who can tell him how much that you know he meant to us and oh you're not dead but you know he doesn't give himself enough credit for how he entertained and you know and you know a lot of it is the community that you know it's just it's just great um well we with what we're trying to do here we've been accepted as a show into the AFL Community if we can do whatever it takes to build uh exactly what you were talking about I mean if 15 years from now we can say that there are people who are here right from Ground Zero of our first episode and and and and our we've already had people who have met um I would love to see that continue uh this is a phenomenal inspiration I appreciate you so much before we move to the video other than a Merry Christmas is there anything else that you wanted to say Marilyn not really but I did want to say Merry Christmas and uh that's it um I appreciate you so much thank you very very much for uh for sharing and and being a part of this uh going through the story of this beautiful beautiful poem that you have told um my name is Mike Chisholm this has been uh the Christmas edition the very first Christmas edition of the Letterman podcast we're gonna finish it off with an um yeah yeah I have one thing I think you might be interested in yes yes this this was a gift that was under the Late Show Christmas tree that day okay there's one thing awesome and how'd you get that who got that for you I I I kind of stayed in the theater afterward yeah and I should also say that people saw that I stayed in the theater afterward because you know we were talking to the staff and things and they're like you're you were a plant weren't you like this was really good they couldn't get over the fact that no it absolutely was not here's some asbestos oops Yeah so that's the snow from the theater and then oh shout out to Glenn borders Glenn borders is very proud of that Snow Well Done brother that's that's awesome this is an ornament that was on the tree and if you look carefully I didn't want to get up without forgetting I don't know if you can see this but there is sauce on this that's meatball sauce meatball either from the meatball or the pizza shout out to Rupert G there you go there you go got Angelo's did the pizza I think in rupergy did the meatball shout out anyway I just needed you to see that before no that's fantastic that's fantastic uh Marilyn you and I are gonna do this again and talk about some of the other uh live experiences that we've had there and and some of the different experiences thank you so much for uh everything that you've done to our audience happy holidays whatever your uh persuasion whatever your holiday looks like I hope that there is joy for you for your family everyone around you whatever community that you're a part of merry Christmas happy holidays from The Lettermen podcast and uh without further Ado one of the greatest moments for an Enthusiast that they could ever have for Maryland Sergeant Merry Christmas from the Lettermen podcast everybody anybody have any questions about what's going to happen here yes ma'am right there what is your name please my name is Marilyn Marilyn where are you from Southington Connecticut good to have you here what can I do for you Maryland for 19 years I've been writing a poem um while it was my night at The Late Show it's about Christmas and I would like to give you a copy oh God bless yes Alice can you retrieve the book for 19 years that would be good what do you do for a living I am a child daycare provider wow look at this are you going to read some of it my hand I looked with Nostalgia at the desk of the chair that soon would be taken by Stephen Colbert some piece of work I last night at The Late Show went all through the end memories were stirring in my heart in my head I looked with Nostalgia at the desk in the chair the silver would be taken by Stephen Colbert the audience was wistful and snug in their feet to show and tell Visions when they're in the theater I started to chatter the folks gathered around to see what was the matter more rapid than bingos so I whistled and shouted and thanked them by names thanks Dorothy thanks Chucky next time you're at Corona football try not to whip thanks Gerard Mulligan you've done it in style thanks to Sue and Iggy and I can't forget Lyle thanks to the writers like Steve Matt Bill and Joe games Nancy Maria and girls who I hope thanks Hal Harold George Clark for all that you do and thank you Mike mcinty you've made us Wahoo Eddie Brown and the Spangles Sarah Jewel and the CVS Orchestra past and present all rule thanks digital media guys Walter and Jay stuck in the web but I'm being told you're okay to the whole staff and crew thanks for the laughter with Sally for Valley and good luck Hereafter thanks to the interns who made the show greater laugh about that now think about it later thanks hey Ray and Bethany thanks Dr oroni Rupert thanks for the meet and that's known below me thank you Chris Elliott always good for a help thanks Michelle and Kathleen thanks Gene take time off thanks Todd for the cue it couldn't be easy feeling big Cuban shoes thanks Dave Dorsett cameraman extraordinaire we made this show Rob and The Late Show there thanks Johnny and Meryl for their inspiration thanks Graham Fenwick Jones the king of translation thanks Pat and Kenny for each transcripts booth and all of the things you have thrown off the roof thanks Gary for Manning the genius switch thanks thanks Marv and Jack Hanna a wacky wild site those guys I mean am I right friends Reed Randall Murray they were non-kinder and thanks Johnny dark and the girl with the grinder Martin Short and Steve Martin wore a big show Amigos thanks Darlene and Jay Thomas for the Traditions thanks to the guests the comics and the musicians makes less holy Tepper and Cal hurt the forest and thank you to Letterman's lemon tree florist thanks Wendell then called her big red warm-up announcer I think I was too loud because then came the bouncer for there like a man on fire right in my face was the unabused presence of one bill delays get out he shouted and stop all that thinking I was one stupid human trick away from a spanking I drew in my breath but I deal with this Foo I thought is this anything and then I thanked him too and thanks to the fans for although the show ends I know for a fun fact we'll all be like friends because no charts and graphs no quiz machine two would measure the top 10 things we've all been through we know our cuts of beat and if they'll sing or float we've all watched Paul shaper in a cape and a coat we need no intuitive like that Deborah Lynn to be certain it never was lands on ash when now I better not cry and I'll try not to pout because I now think the person that will shows about who filled our comedy stockings night after night our worldwide ants will no longer fit right from Warren to pharah to Drew on the desk even in times of trouble you were the best no more dog and pony show to delight and Inspire but we wish you much happiness as you retire so please hear me exclaim As you move out of sight thank you David Letterman and to all a good night foreign