1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Sing us a song. Steve, all right, let's see mmm, 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: how to sell an air conditioner? That's un lesson for today, 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: Mrs housewives coming to the door. Let's hear what you're 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: gonna say? How to do nice day work? Happen to him? Now? 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: It's hot. What you gotta sound? Bye chance, it's air 6 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: conditioning doing pretty well. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening 7 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 1: to here's the thing. I saw a documentary last year 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: called Bathtubs Overbroadway. It's so beguiling, so funny and charming, 9 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: that I had to meet its subject, Steve Young. Young 10 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: is the world's foremost collector of recordings of industrial musicals. 11 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: One model that Steve Young may not be a household name, 12 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: but his work was certainly in my household. On the 13 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: David Letterman Show, Young was the brains behind such bits 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: as Todd the Intern and Strong Guy, Fat Guy Genius. 15 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: It was at Letterman that he discovered the joys of 16 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: the industrial described for people what was an industrial An 17 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: industrial show or industrial musical was a live musical theater 18 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: production that, in many ways resembled a full fledged Broadway show, 19 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: privately staged for an audience of salesman or executives within 20 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: a corporate industry. People. Yes, it might be a show 21 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: written for Coca Cola bottlers and the entire audience is 22 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: Coca Cola bottlers. But then once you're in there, oh 23 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: my god, it's a dazzling, enormous production with singing and 24 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: dancing and props, and often a full book and storyline 25 00:01:50,880 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: and characters about the business that you were in. I'm 26 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: a bottler, but believe me, it's no bed of roses. 27 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: But with all the different sized packages on the market today, 28 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: they keep me on the hot seat. It's a rough seat. 29 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: It's a hot seat. Here we sit and daily tangle 30 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: with problems, really rough to wrangle with, yet we can't 31 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: see any other way. With all management decisions, making day 32 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: to day revisions, it's here you'll find dust each and 33 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:36,399 Speaker 1: every day. Recall it a hot seat. It's as dazzling, 34 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: enormous production with all the singing and dancing and props, 35 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: and often a full book and storyline and characters about 36 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: the business that you were in and how your daily 37 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: struggles were noble and and the purpose of it was 38 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,519 Speaker 1: what it was usually to introduce new products and get 39 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: you excited about them and get you in the would 40 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: have that engine, that that's going to be a great seller. 41 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: And these lyrics about here is the new suspension and 42 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 1: here's the fenders do turn up a lot, but it's 43 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,239 Speaker 1: also about here's the marketing plans, and we're going to 44 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: have great advertising. And the better versions of these things 45 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: were just high octane, great songs and great production value. 46 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm listening to it decades later. I have 47 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,679 Speaker 1: no skin in this game. I'm not going to try 48 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: to sell a tractor. I don't care how good the 49 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: new engine is really. But I was so drawn to 50 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: it because this seems so improbable. How could this have 51 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: ever existed, how could it have been recorded? And how 52 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: could I have found it? And then we're down this 53 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: rabbit hole of improbability on top of improbability. Describe what happened. 54 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: So when I first started finding these souvenir record albums, 55 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: when I was working on Dave's Show, collecting material to 56 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: put on the Dave's Record Collection segments, just anything that 57 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: that was your I got assigned to that early on 58 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: and turned out to be a good match for me. 59 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: I would go to record stores and try to find 60 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: something that seemed ridiculous that we could make a joke about. 61 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: But I found these souvenirs from corporate events, and by 62 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: the time I've had like six or seven of them, 63 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: I thought, is this actually a genre? How can this 64 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: possibly be? It's weird enough that there's one or two 65 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: of them, but I keep finding them, not every time, 66 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: but I keep finding them. And then it's years later 67 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: now and we've uncovered this enormous stealth part of American 68 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: history and culture that really was in danger of just 69 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: getting away from us entirely because it was never something 70 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: that the public would Is that what you did? You 71 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: feel some aspect of that? Is there a custodial aspect 72 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 1: of stewardship? You feel, oh, absolutely not that the world 73 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: will rise or fall on whether we know much about 74 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: industrial show are not. But then you start meeting the 75 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: people who wrote them and performed in them, and they 76 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: had long since resigned themselves to being anonymous in this 77 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: regard and no one will ever know what this stuff world. 78 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: And just the feeling that I could bring them out 79 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: of that complete darkness and say someone cares about what 80 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: you did and it was really good and it's worth hearing, 81 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: even outside of its original context, because you do such 82 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: great work that it holds up even though it shouldn't 83 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: hold up because it's about diesel engines, but still it 84 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: I find it compelling. So I was thrilling for me 85 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: that I was able to find so many people from 86 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: this world who expected never to hear from anyone about this. 87 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: And then I was the guy calling and saying I'm 88 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: a big fan of your fluorescent light Fixture show, and 89 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: they would say, how did you know about that? No 90 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,479 Speaker 1: should know about that. There was a point which I realized, 91 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: I'm not interested in this for the show anymore. I'm 92 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: interested in this for me. And at one point I 93 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: put together a list of all the albums I had 94 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: bought with the show's money, and I noted down what 95 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: the titles were and how much I had paid for them, 96 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: and I asked the show, I would like to own 97 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: these myself. Can I buy them from the show? And 98 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: they were very kind and they just said, oh, you 99 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: can keep them. But I felt like that was a 100 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: turning point at which I realized this was this was 101 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: my own project. Now what year did all this kind 102 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: of commence for you? There was a little bit pre 103 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: Internet when it was just like cold calling record stores, 104 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: just like, al right, here's one in Boston. I've managed somehow. 105 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: I had a CD ROM that had like millions of 106 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: phone numbers of businesses or something. I don't even remember 107 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: how I got started, but I would just cold call 108 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: record stores and you sleep at night, do you're up 109 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: all night with this stuff? I haven't slept in years, 110 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: just cold calling places and trying painfully to explain what 111 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: I was looking for, which was always a very high 112 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: hill decline because it's just so off the radar of 113 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: what people have ever heard of. Once in a great 114 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: while I would get lucky. But when eBay started. I 115 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: got on eBay around nineties seven, and it wasn't well 116 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: categorized at first. It was just like records stuff. Every 117 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: kind of record, from classical music to the Beatles to 118 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: everything else where, was all just in one category, and 119 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: you'd scroll through thousands of listenings and again, once in 120 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: a while, the needle in a haystack would work, Oh 121 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: my god, the ed Cell show. But eBay became a 122 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: huge source. But I also just worked connections with record 123 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: dealers that I would meet and say, if you find 124 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: anything like this, give me a call now, because I 125 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: want to mention what I've experienced has taken its place 126 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: and my participation. Okay, when I was in the business 127 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: in the beginning, I come into New York and I'm 128 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: doing voiceovers and things and starting out in and it 129 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: was the end of that era. And I remember driving 130 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: around the country hotel you know, welcome phil Co Dealers, 131 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: you know, and the big sign on the marquee there. 132 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: But what's replaced that is this thing I do now, 133 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: which is they've replaced the show with just performances, like 134 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: musicians come and play. They bring me in to do 135 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: the tired kind of celebrity Q and A. I still 136 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: do a few of these a year, but this is 137 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 1: what we placed that organized production. Yeah, I have a 138 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: DVD I think of like eighty nine and Anheuser Busch 139 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: convention show. And they got Frank Sinatra, they got lizam Man, Nelly, 140 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: they got Sammy Davis Jr. And I was watching this 141 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,719 Speaker 1: thing saying, please start singing about beer distribution, and they 142 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: never did. They just were doing there. So you could 143 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: do well in this business. I think you have a 144 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: flair for it. But everybody who was doing these shows 145 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 1: during what I would call the Golden Age, has remarked on. 146 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: It was excellent money by the standards of struggling to 147 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: mid range singer, actor, dancer. You got treated beautifully, oftentimes 148 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: flown around, put up an excellent hotels, and you worked 149 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: with terrific people. They hired a list directors and choreographers 150 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: and big orchestra. Yeah, these people would shuttle back and 151 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: forth between Broadway and a lot of performers, doing this 152 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: as an alternative to waiting tables or driving a cab. 153 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: It was not what you thought you would be doing 154 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: necessarily when you decided you wanted to go into show business. 155 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: But it was an excellent training ground because you had 156 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: to be really good at a big set of skills 157 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: and keep getting better well knowing that it's private, knowing 158 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: that there's a little likelihood this thing is going to 159 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: see the light of day. I wonder if there are 160 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: people who just to grab the money, the short end 161 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: money where some performers you noticed that we became industrial 162 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: whoors who showed up again and again. Well, there were 163 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: people I'm talking about lower lights, like names. Yeah, there 164 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: were people who became reliable midrange people, and then once 165 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: in a while they would vault out of that like 166 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: how Lindon was doing a lot of this stuff in 167 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: the sixties. He's on Broadway wins It Tony, and then 168 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: he's then he's Barney Miller. He has graduated from industrials. 169 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: But at some point Ford Motor Company decided, you know what, 170 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: we want how Linden to be the MC for our 171 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: big introduction show in the early eighties. So he is 172 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: lured back. And I don't know whether it was because 173 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: he had a sort of residual fondness for Oh, I 174 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: remember the old days. But uh. And Cheetah Rivera when 175 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: she was starting out, she was doing shows as just 176 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: a sort of background dance or featured player, and then 177 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: she got really famous. And then sometimes companies would say, 178 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: let's let's see if we can dangle enough money in 179 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: front of a big star to have them come in 180 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: and be our famous person in our industrial show. So 181 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: obviously collecting anything is challenging in New York. Where does 182 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: Steve keep all this material in his New York home? 183 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: And I was get a locker somewhere well, luckily for me, 184 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: living in a modestly sized apartment, I, through accident or 185 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: subconscious impulse, decided to collect one of the most compact 186 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: forms of things that you can collect. I have my 187 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: collection of two hundreds something records and also now stack 188 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: of films, and then it just fits in a couple 189 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: of cabinets. I decided not to collect antique gas pumps, 190 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:59,199 Speaker 1: which I think would have been a problem. Yeah, World 191 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: War to helica ways, those are those are heating up 192 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: in the marketplace. I can put you in touch with 193 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: somebody if you want to come. Well, it's funny the 194 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: collecting thing. I'm I'm in a market. I'm in a 195 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: flea market in in Paris, and I stumble around this 196 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: market there and I see a yeager lekutra or they say, 197 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: let um folding travel alarm clock beautiful with the air 198 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: mez case. Which is the which is the this is 199 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: the this is the the great quest is the in 200 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: the kuta vein you want the me And I find 201 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: this thing which is the size of this phone, smaller, folding, 202 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: travel longer beautiful, and I go, oh my god, this 203 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 1: thing is I mean, I don't know what it was. 204 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: And know you talk about I'm a clock nut. I 205 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,839 Speaker 1: collect clock so I'm like in I collect weird a 206 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: little winding clocks and travel alarm clocks, not big, you know, 207 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: fancy expensive clocks. I should send you a tape of 208 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: the West t Clocks show. You should and uh and 209 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: I start that was the beginning. I picked up that 210 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: clock clocks are you know I've got clocks? My wife Laria, 211 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: she literally wild look at me, like, you know, like 212 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: what's wrong with me? Like what's what's what? What is 213 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: the manifestation of this mental illness I have with all 214 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: the clocks everywhere, and I still collect him. I just 215 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,559 Speaker 1: brought a small little bachelor the other day. But there 216 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: you go. There are a million little categories like that 217 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: with passionate experts, and they lead seemingly normal lives and 218 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: then they have this little uh side area of their life. 219 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: My brother, my father, and mother, everybody in my family 220 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,599 Speaker 1: has gotten very deeply into different collecting. What's the weirdest 221 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: collection you've come across? You hear about weird little things 222 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: like um, miniature ceramic thimbles. Uh, But I can't think 223 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: that any of this is weird, because if if what 224 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,839 Speaker 1: I think is interesting is has all the depths that 225 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: I've found to it, there may well be that for 226 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: for everything that seems weird to me. Whenever someone's hunting 227 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: for something. Whenever they're involved in a process, a hobby 228 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: of vocation, with his hunting involved, as I believe you're 229 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: thing that's a component of it, they're really hunting for 230 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 1: something else. What are you hunting for? Well, I've read 231 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: and it does seem true to me that collectors are, 232 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: in some symbolic way, trying to impose order on a 233 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: chaotic universe. Even if it's just all right. I can't 234 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: fix most of it, obviously, But if I take this 235 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: tiny little corner of human endeavor and say I'm going 236 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: to get this part straightened away, then I can feel 237 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: like I can relax, because not everything is chaos. If 238 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: we can understand and categorize and absorb what has been 239 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: done in some tiny sliver, then that will symbolically help 240 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: me feel like life is not pure chaos. How does 241 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: the film happen? Bathtubs over Broadway? Bathtubs over Broadway. When 242 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: I heard the title, I was like, what that? For 243 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: the life of me, I couldn't even figure it. Can 244 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: you know me? I could maybe get it? What the 245 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: hell is that? Well? I think that's good because it 246 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: made you curious. Well, the film is wonderful films fantastic. 247 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: The title's great Bathtubs over Broadways. It says bathtubs over Broadway. 248 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: Then you show up people like, wait a minute. And 249 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: then by the end you're convinced, hopefully that we're gonna 250 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: talk about the end. We're gonna get to that. The 251 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: end is mesmerized. The end is like you are the 252 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: Tony Randall of industrials men. You are incredible. So so 253 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: who approaches who? Who decides this is a film? Did 254 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: you decide to write it? No, well, I'm I'm not 255 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: the writer or director or producer or anything. I'm I'm 256 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: the guy who you follow. Now we're heading up to 257 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: Buffalo Grove to track down the elusive Sid Siegel. I 258 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: had tried to find said many times over the years. 259 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: I thought I had missed my chance, wrote the immortal lines. 260 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: My bathroom is a private kind of place, they say, 261 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: don't meet your heroes, said. I had written a book 262 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: a few years ago with a friend of mine on 263 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: this topic, and we decided, all right, we think this 264 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: is the time, and we have a great publisher who's 265 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: going to do a great job with this, and we 266 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: wrote this book called Everything's Coming Up Profits, which is 267 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: actually the title of a floor tile companies show h 268 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: and it kind of tells you the whole story there. 269 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: It's a Broadway reference, but it's been twisted for some 270 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: internal corporate infotainment purposes. So we put out this book. 271 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: It was late two thousand thirteen. It was well received. 272 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: It's a beautiful book. We're thrilled with it. A couple 273 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: of people started approaching me to say, this seems like 274 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: it could be a good area for a documentary film. 275 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: And by this point I had been friends with Deva, 276 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,919 Speaker 1: the director, Dava wizened as the director that's right. So 277 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: I asked, Dava, can you tell me if these people 278 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: who are approaching me seem like they'd be a good 279 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,440 Speaker 1: match for this, because you're now in the documentary world 280 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: and I don't know anything about it. And she said, well, 281 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: if there's going to be a documentary film, I would 282 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: be interested in in working on it. And I said, 283 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: oh my goodness, that would be better than I could 284 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: have hoped for. I didn't even think that would be possible, 285 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: but that's that's what we ended up doing. How long 286 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: did it take to make the movie. It's just about 287 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: four years, which is not that extreme. I guess in 288 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,399 Speaker 1: the world of indie, it's a lot of time for 289 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: film film, you know, but it took a long time 290 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: to get all the pieces in place and find all 291 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: the people that we needed to talk to. Do you 292 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: see any parallel between yourself as an individual and industrial 293 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: musicals themselves. Yeah, the majority of these shows were never recorded. 294 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,199 Speaker 1: I think, even though I have this big stack of 295 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: them now, it's I would guess probably one percent of 296 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: what was ever done. Most of it just disappeared into 297 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: the ether and was gone forever. Working on the Letterman Show, 298 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:26,680 Speaker 1: most of what was written never sees the light of day. 299 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: So you have to keep pushing out new material and 300 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: hoping inspiration strikes and doing your best. But most of 301 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: it you have resigned yourself to accepting is not really 302 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: going to ever make a mark anywhere. And the people 303 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: who were doing these industrials really also had to resign 304 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:48,119 Speaker 1: themselves to this maybe an astonishingly tuneful, catchy show, and 305 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: the only people who are ever going to hear it 306 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: are these three hundred people here at eight in the morning, 307 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: and then it's going to be gone forever. So I 308 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: felt empathy for these creators who had to keep working 309 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: on stuff that they knew was going to be forgotten. Wow, 310 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: let's go. I'm told you say we're gonna do some songs. 311 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: So we have a couple of clips that I edited 312 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: off of actual may the assumption that the keyboard out 313 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: there someone I thought you were gonna get the pay No, 314 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: we don't want that. The first clip will have is 315 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,880 Speaker 1: from a show called Diesel Dazzle Detroit Diesel Engine Division 316 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 1: of General Motors en sixty six, beautifully produced show. The 317 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: music is by a gentleman who I am friends with 318 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 1: and we have collaborated together on music. He's ninety one now, 319 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: but this is right Hank Babie Hank. He's in Portland, Maine, 320 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 1: and uh, I've become very close to him. He's a 321 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: great friend and mentor. And just one of the thousands 322 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: of thrilling aspects of this for me is that I've 323 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: found people I've really developed a deep connection with. This 324 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: is a song called One Man Operation, and it's the 325 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 1: lament of a woman whose husband is overworked at his 326 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:12,360 Speaker 1: diesel engine operation. He did it all alone, keep books 327 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: and and ten the fool eighteen hours every twenty fool. 328 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: But now the one man in my life He's no 329 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: one man operation anymore anymore. Now he has two mccandis 330 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: a parts and servicemen, a girl to take the clothes 331 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: and keep the boor. Now there's a lushness to that. 332 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: This feels like a list people, and it actually is 333 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: a very affecting song. Finally things turn around. He hires 334 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: a new mechanic, he hires aparts and serviceman. Those things 335 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: shouldn't be in song lyrics, and yet there they are 336 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: and actually pulling on our heart streng Yes, I'm not 337 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: a diesel engine salesman, but I feel at lump and 338 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: might throat about it. Coming up, Steve Young tells his 339 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: own story from blue collar New England to Harvard to 340 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: the top of the comedy writing heat. I'm Alec Baldwin 341 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: and you're listening to Here's the Thing. A working class 342 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: kid from the outskirts of Boston. Steve Young didn't believe 343 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: at first he could make a living from writing jokes, 344 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,399 Speaker 1: but he got his big break almost right out of 345 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: Harvard with a job on the David Letterman Show. You 346 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: started working with Dave and you showed up there when 347 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:55,199 Speaker 1: you were twenty four. Yes, it's a spring of and 348 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: you were at the Lampoon. I had been on the 349 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,640 Speaker 1: Harvard Lampoon that was a few years earlier, kicked around 350 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: it was a bartender for a while. Conan was the 351 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: editor in chief of the Lampoon when you showed up there, 352 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,959 Speaker 1: that's right, was the president of the Harvard Lampoon. And 353 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,439 Speaker 1: that was a really influential thing for me to encounter 354 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 1: because I felt like, for the first time I met 355 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: somebody who was at a level I had never personally 356 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: witnessed before. Just like he walks in a room and 357 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 1: oh my god, I don't know how or why, but 358 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: everything is instantly hilarious. Right he was funny? Oh yes. 359 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,800 Speaker 1: What was the pipeline between the Lampoon and comedy writing, 360 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:36,919 Speaker 1: particularly in New York? You know s and l Laurens 361 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: a big he minds that quarry if you will, for 362 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: a writer's Conan and uh uh and beyond into Hollywood. 363 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: What is it about the lamp when you think that 364 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: they've got that pipeline in it to show business? Well, 365 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 1: part of it is just once you're there, you become 366 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: aware that there have been people who have gone before you, 367 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: and for the first time, maybe in your life, you think, oh, 368 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: this is something people for a living, because they are hilarious, brilliant, 369 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: funny people all over the place who maybe never have 370 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: that revelation of, oh, people do this for a living. 371 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: So it was very fortunate that I got that, uh 372 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: since early on, that people go to Letterman and S 373 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: n L. And they are comedy writers and it can 374 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: be your career. Where did you study at Harvard? I 375 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: was an English major, and I don't really know why 376 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,400 Speaker 1: now I think I seem to have turned into more 377 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: of an amateur historian. And you grew up ways outside Pepperrell, Massachusetts. Yes, 378 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: your dad worked at Logan. Oh my gosh, you have 379 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,439 Speaker 1: done your work. Yes, aircraft mechanic for USAir or it 380 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,639 Speaker 1: was Alleghany at first. He commuted in an hour to 381 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: Logan Airport. But we were out sort of the border 382 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: line of suburbia, verging into the countryside. It was you 383 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: were somebody else. I was reading about what you said. 384 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: You you didn't quite even know where Harvard was. That 385 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,159 Speaker 1: is true. I mean it was a different era in 386 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: the early DS. I thought I was gonna, Okay, I'm 387 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 1: going to apply to some colleges, and I had the 388 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: vague notion that Harvard was probably in New York City, 389 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: because that's seemed to be where important people get important 390 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: things are there. I bet Harvard is there, and I 391 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: get the application it says Cambridge, Massachusetts. Holy crap, this 392 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: is in my own state. Yeah. It wasn't a goal. 393 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't like a burning golf. I mean, if you 394 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: did well enough to get into Harvard, but you weren't 395 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: scheming about academia an advancement. No. It was just such 396 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: a golden naive era when people weren't necessarily groomed from 397 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: birth for things like that. Not. I mean, there were 398 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: smart people coming out of Pepper and doing great things, 399 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,160 Speaker 1: but no one had gone to an Ivy League college 400 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: for a dozen years or some. Wow. So as a child, 401 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: what was entertainment for you? What was comedy for you? TV? 402 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: You're a few years younger than you're born, so you 403 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,880 Speaker 1: what was what were you viewing? What were your viewing habits? 404 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: They were very eclectic. Gilgan's Island reruns and oh it's 405 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,919 Speaker 1: the late seventies and look it's uh it's Dallas and 406 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: it's a heart to Heart and things like that. I 407 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: missed enormous chunks of pop culture that everyone assumes I 408 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: must know. Like, until I was starting to teach a 409 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,479 Speaker 1: course at n y U about TV history, I had 410 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,040 Speaker 1: never seen Mary Tyler Moore. I had never seen Dick 411 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: Van Dyke. I was not like a comedy nerd. Now 412 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: the same thing is true for me, Like I remember, 413 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 1: I turned off TV when I went to college. I 414 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,399 Speaker 1: went to college and seventies six, and prior to that, 415 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: it was really it was everything dopey and silly and stupid. 416 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: It was Mr Ed and F. Troop and the Adams 417 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: Family and Beverly Hill Billies, which I adored at age five, 418 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,680 Speaker 1: and I imprinted on me a little bit. I still 419 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: find it maybe a little more amusing than I should, 420 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: just because I had this bedrock exposure to it and 421 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: early age. But I was even in college. No, I 422 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: think we had a small black and white television. But 423 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: this image of the eighties and everybody in college watching Letterman, 424 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:11,879 Speaker 1: I think there were people that were doing that, but 425 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: I wasn't watching the Letterman Show. Now, when they hire you, 426 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: you said you knocked around for a couple of years 427 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: before when you graduated, when you showed up in New 428 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: York to the show, Yeah you weren't. You weren't writing 429 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: I had a couple writing jobs. I worked on, not 430 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: necessarily the news out in l A for about six weeks. 431 00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: That was actually my first I stayed on a friend's sofa. 432 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 1: Very kind and how did they find you? I didn't 433 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: have an agent at that point. Who I guess got 434 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: my packet on someone's desk and they said, ah, yeah, sure, 435 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: we'll give him a try. And that was great. And 436 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: I don't think I wanted to live in l A. 437 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: So it was probably for the best that after six 438 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: weeks they said, yeah, we're having budget problems. I'm afraid 439 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: last hired, first fired. You gotta go. Why didn't you 440 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: want to live out there? I have always felt I'm 441 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: just more of an East Coast for and I'd like 442 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: to go visit l A. But you know, as my 443 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 1: friend said, you know New York millionaires and horrors on 444 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: the same taxi seats all day long, which is it's 445 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,160 Speaker 1: so democratic. Yeah. I like the feeling of walking down 446 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: Lexington Avenue or Broadway or whatever, and it doesn't feel 447 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: like we're all probably scrambling around in the same business. 448 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: It's just a thousand different occupations swirling all around you 449 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: in the city, and you don't have to feel like, oh, 450 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: the entertainment business is what I need to think about 451 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: all the time. Once you do something that has any 452 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: residence in the business and you're considered any kind of 453 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: a star or whatever pedigree, you're always a star out there. 454 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: So like I'd be at a table in a restaurant 455 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: and I'd be with a friend of the they go, oh, wait, 456 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: there's my friend Jeff. Jeff. Jeff was in that mini 457 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: series Leave It All on the Fields. He was very 458 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: good at that. He was so good, Jeff. And it's like, 459 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 1: if you did one job, you know you were you were, 460 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 1: you were in the firmament forever out there. That's right, 461 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: that's your anchor. Now you're you're in the club. But 462 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: I did a Simpsons episode in the mid nineties and 463 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: that was fun. Was out there for a few days 464 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: and and the Simpsons people said, Hey, if you want 465 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 1: to move out here, we'd love to have you on 466 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,880 Speaker 1: the staff. And it was thought provoking. But I just thought, 467 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,199 Speaker 1: I don't really think I'm fundamentally wanting to go to 468 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 1: l A and do that. Married Yes, what was your um? 469 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,640 Speaker 1: She had? And I had moved down from Boston, which 470 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: was a smaller upheaval than going to another world like 471 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: Los Angeles would have been. But we both have family 472 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: in the Northeast, and by nineties six we we had 473 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: our first child, and it felt like The Letterman Show 474 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: is going to be the good place to stay for 475 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: for a long time. How did they find that was 476 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: early after one of their anniversary shows, like within the 477 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,959 Speaker 1: space of three weeks, six writers announced that they were 478 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: leaving the show. Anniversary show I think had been in 479 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: l a and all the writers had gone out and 480 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: secretly started to have meetings out there, and they were 481 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: the opposite of you. Yeah, and they were well they Simpsons. 482 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: They had been in The Letterman during the glory years, 483 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: and they were ready to do something else. So there 484 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: was suddenly a bunch of slots opening up, and the 485 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: comedy grapevine around New York was awful of buzz about, Oh, 486 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: now is the time to send in your stuff to 487 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,840 Speaker 1: the Letterman Show. And I had a few good samples 488 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: by this point, and I sent some stuff in and 489 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: I got a call one day from Steve O'Donnell, who's 490 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,239 Speaker 1: the head writer. I said, Oh, well, we'd like you 491 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: to come up and visit, and I'd like to chat 492 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: with you and maybe we'll have a little talk with Dave. 493 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: It was not a done deal, but it felt like, 494 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: oh my goodness, I've I've crossed some sort of milestone here. 495 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: And I went up and chatted with a few people 496 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: on the staff and Mr Letterman and I chatted amiably 497 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: for a couple of minutes, and then the next day 498 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 1: I got the call, oh, well, we'd love to have 499 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: you come join us if you're interested. I accepted. Now 500 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: when you tell that story, three things come to mind. 501 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: One is do they get it wrong? Is their turn 502 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,120 Speaker 1: over there? Or are they pretty good at discerning? You 503 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: get fired for what? Did your your bits are getting 504 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: on the air. It's it's a very strange subjective thing. 505 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: There were so many people at that show who were 506 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,720 Speaker 1: there for a very long time. I think they've liked 507 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: the sense of a solid core group that all knew 508 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: what they were doing and we're comfortable with each other. 509 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: And so I think the hope is that we build 510 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: up this long term team of people who believe in 511 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: the show in the mid fit and there are wonderfully 512 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: talented comedy geniuses who have been tried out at the 513 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: Letterman show didn't work out there weren't picked up after 514 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: twenty six weeks or whatever and went on too huge 515 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: success on other ventures. So it's not a barometer of 516 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: whether you're funny or not. It's just such a weird, narrow, 517 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:51,239 Speaker 1: arcane window of what you need to hit and if 518 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: you can. We have the people already who can do 519 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: what we do. We need somebody who can enlarge the 520 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: what the show does a little bit. Yeah, and that 521 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: that that's a very hard thing to be able to 522 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: be pretty good at what the show already did, but 523 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: also have a little extra flare of something the show 524 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: had not seen before that Dave would respond to and 525 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: want to do you started there what year? And you 526 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: were there for how many years? And then the to 527 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: the end, Yes, the very last day, and Letterman was 528 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: on NBC and moved he moved to CBS what year? 529 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: So you were with him during the transition. Yeah, okay, 530 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: so this is perfect. So, uh, you know Letterman, who 531 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: I adore and I love. We ran around the city 532 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: with cameras and did these stand ups and we're in 533 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: front of Dad Steaks and we're Alec Baldwin is riding 534 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: a snowmobile on the roof of the building, that's right. 535 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: I remember that it was a legendary one of those 536 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: great nights where just some spontaneous thing takes off and 537 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: it's beautiful. So when I meet you in the film, 538 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: you know you you you are of a type. And 539 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: all the most like Ninja eighth degree black belt comedy 540 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:11,959 Speaker 1: writers that I've met either have or create the They 541 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: put on the demeanor that you have, which is you 542 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: can't guess they're either an actuary at an insurance company 543 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: or they're like one of the funniest people you've ever met. 544 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: They keep the soda in the can, you know what 545 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: I mean. So when I meet you, it might be 546 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: a might making sense. It's got to go on the page. Yeah, 547 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: I don't think I come across as at insurance company. 548 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: Well I dabble in that on the side and it 549 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: it's more fun than you might think. But I do 550 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: think that, Okay, yeah, I have this very subdued, dead 551 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: pan flavor. And then for people who are just meeting me, 552 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: I may uncork something completely bizarre and they because it 553 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: is not playing as stereotypical comedy in the delivery. In 554 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: my I'm not making wacky faces and gestures and all that. 555 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: It takes a minute for people to readjust to what 556 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: am I hearing? Is this person actually having a stroke 557 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: or did he mean that? Or it's like New Heart, 558 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: there's the very new hard ass. Did you love New Heart? 559 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: Because I wasn't a comedy nerd. I knew who he was, 560 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: but I don't think I ever watched any of those shows. 561 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: No comedy albums for you when you were young. I 562 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: listened to Dr Demento for a while late at night, 563 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: but I don't think I ever bought any comedy albums 564 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: or anything like that. Letterman, so he changes over time. 565 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: Did you see that in the two thousands he had 566 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: been doing it for so long, he decided, either consciously 567 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: or not, I just want to not worry as much 568 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: every day about how the logistics of this are going 569 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: to work. And we all found ways to make it 570 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,680 Speaker 1: work like that. For him. Just bring him material, he'll 571 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: look at it, he'll pick it. He doesn't have to 572 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: read scripts in the morning. We'll just give him various 573 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: completed pieces late. You notice the shift. He seemed to 574 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: be having more fun in the last few years again, 575 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: and he realized he was enough he would make it 576 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: one of those magical nights that you couldn't have planned. 577 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: But it was brilliant, spontaneous of the guests, he had 578 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: everything in his pocket, was good to go. Now, what's 579 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: the other clip you have? This is from the nineteen 580 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 1: seventies seven Massey Ferguson Tractor and Equipment show, which was 581 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:31,799 Speaker 1: called World of Winners. This is a rousing, country tinged 582 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: anthem of excitement about the Massey Ferguson company and what 583 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: it's like to work for them. And this is called, uh, 584 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: We're Massey Ferguson. Hit it. When he's work in a 585 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: field with a record held, he wants to pick it 586 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: clean and when harvest comes, he's got to have a 587 00:34:49,480 --> 00:35:05,160 Speaker 1: dependable machere where number one? Yeah, So stand up round 588 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: to say it loud for five minutes. I will I 589 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,600 Speaker 1: will feel the thrill of being on the Massey Ferguson 590 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: team which is headed for glory. But I just have 591 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: this image of you and you you have two daughters 592 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,239 Speaker 1: and your home and your daughters are like your dad, 593 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: can we talk to you about something? And you're and 594 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 1: they're listening to, you know, some jaunty song like that, 595 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:32,400 Speaker 1: like go god, Dad, stop, turn that record off? Dead Well, 596 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: they didn't necessarily fully understand what I was doing for 597 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: a long time. And when the book came out a 598 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: few years ago, and I was on The Letterman Show 599 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,399 Speaker 1: as a guest, and we were playing some clips, and 600 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 1: Dave held up the Bathrooms are Coming record and started 601 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: we started playing the clip of this beautiful anthem my bathroom. 602 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:58,440 Speaker 1: And my younger daughter's eyes widened because all her life 603 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 1: she had heard that song around the house and I'm 604 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:03,880 Speaker 1: just singing it or my wife is humming at or whatever. 605 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,359 Speaker 1: And she said, oh my god, this song that I've 606 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,439 Speaker 1: heard around our family all my life. That's from one 607 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: of your weird records. The two enormous pieces suddenly clicked 608 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,800 Speaker 1: in together for her that had not connected before. Before 609 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,920 Speaker 1: you go and before you return my jacket, could we 610 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: hear just a little of the Bathrooms are Coming just 611 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 1: a little? All right, let's just take another listen. Oh 612 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: my God, really brings back memories, does it, Ladies and gentlemen, 613 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,359 Speaker 1: The young mc gifted Steve Young. So the movie ends, 614 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:52,880 Speaker 1: and I must say that you are a dreadful musical 615 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: comedy performer in terms of the quality of voice. We 616 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: share that trade, and yet it doesn't matter. You show 617 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,120 Speaker 1: up on camera, and we've fallen in love with you 618 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 1: by now, this is the genius of the thing. You 619 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,840 Speaker 1: have to earn that performance. You can't just have anybody 620 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:07,200 Speaker 1: do that, and you do it because we've fallen in 621 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: love with you in the film. And I haven't been 622 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,960 Speaker 1: so smitten by a guy in a musical number since 623 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: I saw Bobby Morse to Brotherhood of Man in the 624 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 1: original How to Succeed. You're just there and you're so winning, 625 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: you just take over. Whose idea was that? Well? As 626 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:27,920 Speaker 1: the movie came together over the last I guess a 627 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:31,840 Speaker 1: couple of years, it felt like, I think the director 628 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: and her co writer and other producers felt like we 629 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:41,240 Speaker 1: have spent all this time establishing that musical theater has 630 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,320 Speaker 1: a certain unique power even if you're not a Broadway 631 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: musical fan. We believe we have now made a case 632 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: for this stuff being able to really reach people like 633 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:07,200 Speaker 1: this with the twist not open that you may find 634 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:12,399 Speaker 1: you're doing jazz hands when someone says that always oh 635 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:24,280 Speaker 1: maybe you start dancing, And when you hear it, seemed 636 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,440 Speaker 1: like the only card left to play was a all right, 637 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 1: we have to step out on that ledge and do 638 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: it ourselves. Now, I loved it. It was like, it's 639 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,760 Speaker 1: like you see a movie and the guy and the girl. 640 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: It's the getting closer they get. By the end of 641 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,239 Speaker 1: the movie they have to kiss. This is the guy 642 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: and the girl kiss at the end of the movie 643 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,840 Speaker 1: moment for this movie, I don't want you to do 644 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:48,840 Speaker 1: any more of them. Well, the finale was movie magic 645 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,640 Speaker 1: of a magnitude that I never had dreamed of being 646 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: involved with. It was thrilling on every level. The song, 647 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:59,760 Speaker 1: which I co wrote with my dear friend Hank Babe 648 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:04,759 Speaker 1: years old. He pulls this this melody out of his 649 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:07,960 Speaker 1: subconscious somewhere. In the first time he played it for 650 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,759 Speaker 1: me over the phone, I realized, I think we have 651 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:17,719 Speaker 1: a hit. This movie Bathtubs over Broadway is it's a 652 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: fantastic movie because it's it's like any good movie. It's 653 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:24,279 Speaker 1: a well made movie. It's well cut, it's it's paced up, 654 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:26,520 Speaker 1: it's got all the good things. You know, cinematically wanted 655 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: a dock and but the topic is just so crazy 656 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 1: and the people involved, it's so eclectic. And you're such 657 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: a wonderful protagonist in the film. You're the perfect protagonist. 658 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,800 Speaker 1: You guys did an amazing job. He did a great job. Well, 659 00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: it was the dream of a lifetime to get to 660 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:47,239 Speaker 1: be involved with something like this, and Dava and her 661 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: team took at places I could not myself have even 662 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,359 Speaker 1: dreamed of. Thanks for doing this with me, It was 663 00:39:53,640 --> 00:40:00,440 Speaker 1: my extreme pleasure. Thank you. Letterman, writer, collector, and savior 664 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: of the industrial musical Steve Young. The movie about his 665 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:11,439 Speaker 1: project is called Bathtubs Overbroadway. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're 666 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: listening to Here's the Thing, M