WEBVTT - These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, Part 2 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.880 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.560 Talking to people who talk to other people for a 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:15.160 living can be challenging, especially if that person is David Letterman, 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.239 a legendary comedian and late night talk show host, is 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.759 always somewhat guarded and never assuming the faux familiarity that 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.400 some of his contemporaries do, so when he sat down 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.880 with me to do my show, I wasn't sure what 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.040 to expect. However, early in our talk, Letterman discussed his 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.040 college years in the nineteen sixties and now once the 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:42.080 draft was changed, Letterman avoided going off to Vietnam. In 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.400 those days, you get the student deferment, and Balsa was 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.120 prinsipally a teacher's college in those days, and so they 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.760 wanted teachers. He was chock full of guys who wanted 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.400 that student deferment and also the teaching deferment. I was 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.800 not studying teaching, so the minute I graduated was reclassified 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.640 one A went for my pre draft physical in April 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:06.160 and they said, okay, we'll call you. And then in 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:10.200 the meantime before I was called, Nixon announced the National 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.959 Lottery they were going to end the draft. They were 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.080 trying to step down the Vietnamese War. My birthday was 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:18.960 three forty two or something like that, at A three 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.399 undred fifty six, So that meant even though I was 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.720 one A and had my pre induction physical and was 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.160 ready to go, it was over for me. At the time, 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.319 I didn't know how lucky I was. I felt guilty 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.480 because I had friends who had gone, and I had 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.800 friends who had been in the Marine Corps, and I 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.040 just felt like, well, why met these guys went, Why 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.600 shouldn't I go? And then it dawned on me pretty quickly. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.479 I had been among the really really lucky. Yeah, what 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.840 was the political landscape like at Ballston when you went there? Well, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.400 it was just starting to Uh. I used to make 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:49.360 jokes that they would have student protests, but it was 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.200 to get the cafeteria cooks to wear hairnets. But it was. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.560 It was creeping in. It was not a hot bed. 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.360 It was not Madison, Wisconsin. It was Muncie, Indiana. But 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.680 it was starting and there were sit ins and demonstrations, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.640 and you know, Bobby Kennedy had spoken on campus, so 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.760 it was starting, but I wouldn't say it was. It 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:09.919 wasn't quite lit up the way it might have been 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.519 in other regions. You mentioned booth announcers, and I remember 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.280 I did a YouTube search. I wanted to find this 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.920 guy that was literally the voice of my childhood w 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.440 r Andy come on and say, you know, uh next 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.440 on Million Dollar Movie, Barbara stan mctells Gary Cooper where 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.720 he Can Go? And Ball of Fire and he just 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.079 said this voice, it was just it just haunted me. Well, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.440 that's interesting. You mentioned that guy I had the little 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.160 kid voice from Indiana. I wasn't that guy, but I 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:40.960 still had to do the job. And I can't impress 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.000 upon you enough how tedious it is to sit there 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.160 for eight hours watching programming and logging everything that happens. 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.320 If you lose audio, you have to log that. If 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.080 you lose video, you have to log that. You have 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.680 to log sign on, sign off, every commercial, every station break. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.240 And at first I was scared, silly, but then, like 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.480 everything else, you get accustomed to it and you become blase. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.480 And so I would just start wandering the building. You know, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.639 it was so embarrassing. They would will the booth announcer 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.679 please report to the announced booth, and oh my god, 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.720 I've missed the so and so. The main announcer was 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.320 a guy named Rob Stone. Tremendous voice and hopeless alcoholic, 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.079 I mean a real alcoholic, go hand in hand, yeah, 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.360 kind of. Certainly in those days it was not uncommon. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.440 He would come in and he would bring a point 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.760 with him. And so in the spirit of this, we 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.440 who were working the sign off shift, we would always 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.680 send somebody out for beer, and we would be at 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.480 the station late at night signing off, and myself and 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.640 the director and whomever else was there, we'd be drinking beer. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.560 Oh my, with this fun. In those days, you would 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.000 do a five minute new summary before sign off nightcap news, 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.600 and then you would do the the broadcast statement. You'd 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.840 read that over the slide of the station, and then 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.520 they would go to the national anthem with the waving flag. 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.760 One night, a guy in the props department said, I 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:01.120 can reconstruct exactly the station is pictured on the slide. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.080 We can make it blow up. So as you're as 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.520 you're reading the thank you and good night and why 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.320 not tune in w LW overnight and blah blah this 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.960 and so until tomorrow, good night and good luck, I 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.760 have the thing come home. And so we did. Oh god, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:17.600 we were proud of ourselves. You know, we really thought 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.720 we had done something. Geez. Nobody ever said anything. No, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.160 it was bizarre. Nobody got fired. Nobody asked a question 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:25.960 about it. You know. It was this cult of four 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.800 or five guys who had pulled this off, and we 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.280 just thought, well, this is one. It was fun, but 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.280 too you wanted but no, nobody nobody said anything. But 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.000 but what's interesting is from school and then doing the 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.839 job and so forth in the booth thing the comedy 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.920 gland is secreting through the entire time. What are you 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.440 doing for that? Meaning? Other than blowing up the studio 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.320 and in the sign off or yes, I was looking 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.039 for any outlet, and it came for me doing the weather. 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.039 I knew nothing about whether you'd go downstairs and I'd 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.920 have the A P machine and the map would come over, 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.000 the national map, and you would go to the big 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.800 magnetic board in the studio and you put the low system, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:03.200 and you put the high system, and you put the 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.640 occluded front, and you put the rain showers, and so 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.960 it told you everything any time at all that I 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.560 could monkey with that, I was very happy. I can 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:15.800 remember two episodes. One I was had forecast sunny and 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.359 dryet and we we go off the air and blah blah, 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.400 and I go outside this this is horrible thundershower. The 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.760 rain is coming down in sheets, and I was just 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:28.560 twenty ft away, just oblivious of this. This uh dangerous 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.560 is coming through this one of these violent Midwestern summer 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.800 thunderstorms coming attacking the station. I got to be well 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.800 known because this Sunday Night show was on after the 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.680 ABC Sunday Night Movie, and in those days that was 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.800 big programming. Yeah, we got a bunch of complaints. And 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.000 this was when people were wearing a bell bottom pants. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.640 I don't think he could buy regular pants. Got a 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.960 lot of calls about he's either not wearing underpants or 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.880 he needs to wear underpants. That's how I distinguished myself. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:59.520 Do you want to clear that up now? Were you 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.760 wearing a pan? Of course I was where it was Indianapolis. 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.080 We were not talked to go out without our It's 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.120 whatever problem was perceived was not mine, I assure you. 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.280 And then where do you go from there in terms 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.480 of underpants, and well, if you wish. I got tired 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.200 of sitting in the booth and tired of working weekends. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.280 And also they didn't. They didn't want me there. They 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.680 would keep bringing in auditions for my job. That really 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.160 hurt my feelings, but I couldn't argue with them because 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.800 I didn't know what I was doing. But the cumulative 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.520 effect of being on TV a lot there, we get 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.720 this memo once from the search department and of all 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.159 of the people, the the anchor team and whomever else, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.640 I had the highest queue rating of anybody there, and 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.159 it was only by accident, really, So I started looking 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.440 for a job, couldn't get hired out of the market. 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.000 Some people I knew were coming in to start up 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.760 a talk radio station, so I went to work at 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.600 the new talk radio station in that format. It was 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.160 news talks for us w NTS. When I resigned to quit, 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.280 give my notice to the general manage, the guys ad 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.440 and it chilled me at the time. He said, really, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:04.880 you're leaving this TV station to go work for a 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:06.919 brand new radio station. And I said yeah, and he 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.680 said you will never be heard of again. So I 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.320 went to the station, worked there for a year, realized 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.800 that I had to make a move. Nobody would would listen. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.840 It was a daytime station. This was tremendous. They had 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.000 a daytime license, which meant the radio station come on 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.200 when the sun came up and went off when the 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.600 sun went down. Literally. Yeah. And then the winter we 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.360 were off at three in the afternoon. I had the 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:30.960 midday shift, and I come in at noon and two 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.840 hours later I'd be going home. It was it was afternoon. 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.120 And then in the summer. Conversely, you were on the 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:42.880 like nine thirty or ten. It was awful. It was Watergate, 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.720 and and people assumed, well, the guy's got a talk 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.080 show on the radio, but he knows everything there is 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.679 to know about Watergate, and I knew nothing, and people 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.720 wouldn't call in, and I'd have to read endless pages 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.040 of wire copy. I remember reading it sorry about Gordon 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.960 strachan str A c h A N. His name kept 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.160 I'm going up a special counsel, so and so Gordon 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.840 Stratch and adviser of the White House, Gordon Stratch. And 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.720 finally the phones light up and I, thank god, did 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.440 I say yes, He says, it's not Stratching, it's Strang 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.960 You're mispronouncing the guy's name. I said, okay, thanks you everything, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.600 no click buzz, So there you go. Were you ambitious 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.720 during this time? Did you have an ambition. Yeah, I 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.000 wanted to. I really thought, Um, I really thought I 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.320 could write half hours situation comedies. I thought I could. 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.560 What did you watch one? In my childhood it was 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:32.200 completely different. It would have been stuff like Saturday Morning Nonsense. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.320 Then as I grew older, you get Mayberry, the Andy 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.560 Griffs Show, Ozzie and Harriet, Nelson and Nelson's and that 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.440 kind of stuff. And then later on and in those days, 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.240 it was all the Mary Tyler More things, the Bob 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:46.240 Newhart Show, on the Mary Tyler More Show. And I 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.560 really thought, oh, I can write one of those Mary 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.040 Tyler Moore shows. And it turned out I couldn't. As 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.480 you know, there's a template for writing those things. They 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.800 used the template because it's successful. And if you don't 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.800 know the template and you think you can make a 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.360 or version of it, it's a very foreign object to them. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.600 To you, you think, look, I've improved on the template, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.960 but they don't want that. They want something to Yes, 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.240 that's right. I mean we're talking about Mary Tyler Moore. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.040 That's pretty good stuff. Smart and you're in l A 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:16.800 at that time. No, I'm still in Indianapolis, and I 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.880 would be sending scripts and looking for an agent. Finally 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.199 a guy said, yeah, if you come to Los Angeles, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.040 he said, I'll be your agent. So with that encouragement, 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.040 I just left. And I don't know about you, but 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.200 you know your friends say, okay, here you can meet 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.560 with so and so, and and you can meet mel 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.200 Blank's son, you can meet with him and and I 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:35.840 know this one, and I know that one, and so 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.040 you go out there with high hopes. I guess it's 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.319 like the Pioneers and the kind of Stoga wagon and 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.280 they run out of beans. You know, they're in Salt 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.960 Lake and they got nothing need. So within the first 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.040 week you run through all of your appointments and then 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.320 you've got nothing. Then your Shanghai. That's right on the 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.200 show was there in l A. Remember when I went 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.600 to l A. I did a soap opera at thirty Rock. 0:09:58.320 --> 0:09:59.720 The show is about to go off the air and 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.679 on every forget this guy that was the producer. Here, 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:04.280 we're in the hallway and they asked me to extend 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.880 my contract for a few months, and he says that 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:08.200 line to me. He says, what do you think you're 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.240 gonna do? Go out the Hollywood, become a star in 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.720 the movies. I'm walking down the hollies going do listen 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.959 to me? Come back here? You you don't walk away 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:18.880 from me? And I walk away from the guy and 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:20.679 I go to l A. Now, were you ever haunted 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.640 by that? Did you? Honestly? Did you? Did you? Because 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.120 in my case, I thought the guy was. I said, oh, yeah, 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.000 I haven't considered that. Of course you do. Did you 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:31.480 ever think you were going to be? I mean, I 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.880 don't want to get you know, crass about it, but 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.400 you live a very very good life. You've been an 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.160 enormously successful man. Did you ever dream you would be 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.120 as successful as you are? Never? No, And I'll tell 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.360 you the same for you, same for most people in 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.840 this uh in show business. You're just lucky enough to 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.160 get to do exactly what you want to do all 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.360 your life. So that's the success, you know. I always 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.760 thought there was some commission that was going to come 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:58.400 to my door of my apartment I was living in 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.320 and West Hollywood, and there were not. They're going where 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.320 the Motion Picture Acting Commission? And we've got the reports, 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:04.840 Mr Bob. We're gonna take it to the airport. By 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.560 the way back to me. I think you're not gonna 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:08.960 get into. I know the origin of this is is 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.560 your personal fear, But I think that commission is not 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.040 a bad idea long overdue, honest to God. Can we 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:16.679 get that up and on its feet? Can we get 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.720 a bill? I remember there was a guy, a writer 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.720 for the Old Tonight Show, somebody calling his His listing 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.880 in the white pages was it's Marty Cohen. It was 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:31.040 not Marty Cohon, Marty Cohen, president of show Business. Just 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.640 oh that's lovely. So were you? Were you doing stand 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.480 up every in Indiana? Uh? No, never did. In fact, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.320 one of the things that I didn't like doing was 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:42.720 when I was at the radio station. Part of the 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.880 deal was we just sold a thing to Kroger grocery stores. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.360 But part of the deal is we want you to 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.200 go out there and m see the song songs. And 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.520 I hated it, and I finally told the guys that 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.800 I can't do this. So one of my big built 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.680 in fears was getting up in front of people that 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.480 I didn't know and trying to, you know, hold their attention. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.280 Let alone be funny, But for me, the road map 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.480 to pursue was handed to you via Johnny Carson and 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.840 The Tonight Show. They would have comics on it would 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.920 be David Brenner and they would say, and there will 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.280 be appearing at the Comedy Store. And it seemed to 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:16.160 be that the connection between the Comedy Store and the 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:20.160 Tonight Show was pretty close. So even though I mind 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.800 that facility that particularly, it was the farm system for 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.760 the Comedy Store, and great guys were coming out and 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.120 getting on and Steve Landisberg and on and on. I 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:31.959 say on and on because I can't remember the name, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.640 so I just yeah, even though I wanted to be 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.360 a writer, because I didn't have the courage to tell 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.440 my family and friends that what I really want to 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.520 do is, you know, somehow get famous and beyond TV. 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.600 So when when I went out there the first monday 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.920 I was in California when I moved in, I wrote 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:50.439 down some stuff and went to the Comedy Store and 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:54.160 got on stage. It was it was awful. I've never 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.320 been in a darkened room with the spotlight and it 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.200 was just like a train coming at me. So I 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.720 did my little five minutes from route left and then 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.560 the owner of the place, yeah, you should come back 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.920 and do some more. So I thought, are you kidding me? 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:13.040 And she's no, you can mc so I came back 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.959 and I was the fantastic Yeah, Derek. So that was 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.680 nine seventy eight. Three years later I was on the 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:27.160 Tonight Show. That worked so much better than it should have. 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:29.920 I think it must be harder now, Beau wasn't three 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:31.920 years of just work in that room and work in 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.439 the mic and working stand up. But it was. I 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.040 mean it was fun because every night you go there 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.960 and you were hanging around guys Jay Leno and Robin 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.160 Williams and George Miller and Tom Greson and Jeff Altman 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.400 and anybody now who's you're aware of you would see 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.680 every night. And it was great fun. I mean, my god, 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:51.720 it was great fun. Didn't make any difference what you 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.520 did during the day. You knew that when it got dark, 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.160 you'd be on Sunset Boulevard. The place would be packed. 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.520 And in those days, the only room she had was 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.800 this tiny, little original room and it was next door 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.600 to U Art Labelle's. He would have a fifties dance 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.320 party in the next room on the weekends and you 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.360 would get a lot of gang guys going to Art Label's. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:22.240 Guys non U barrio. Um is that all right? Yeah? 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.560 Low Riders. Yeah, and uh, one night, a friend of mine, 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.680 Johnny Dark, is on stage and a guy comes up 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.960 and he's got a gun and he's standing next to 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.760 Johnny while Johnny is doing his little singing impressions of whomever, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.320 and and he had to quietly, you know, talk his 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.520 way out of the guy using the gun. And it 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.240 was exciting. Sivan Richard Pryor would come in, and Freddie 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.400 Prince would come in, So you say, yeah, night after night. 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.320 But still in all, how could that not be fun? 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.120 So did Carson find you there? Well, they had a guy, 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.000 you know, they had a team of guys when I 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.440 was there that would come in. Uh. And in the meantime, 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.480 I got on this Mary Tyler Moore show, uh to 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.040 write and perform and that was it was me and 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:07.640 Michael Keaton, Jim Hampton and Dick Shawn and Susy Kurtz 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:12.120 and uh, Julie con Judy con Judy con thank you 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:16.520 very much. So from that show, uh, they said, oh, 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.840 well we'll put you on because you're on that show. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:20.640 You can come out and do stand up and then 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.280 you go sit down and talk to Johnny. And without 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.680 that you never know what the formula is. You could 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:27.200 be on nine times and never get to sit on 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.480 with Johnny. You could be on for six years and 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.560 every or you could be bumped forty times never But 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.720 because of this, Oh and he's appearing on the so 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.640 and so Show, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, I got 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.720 to sit down with Johnny and and that was again, 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.920 that was craziness. That was That was another one of 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:46.640 those you know what. Oh yeah, it's such a jolt. 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.600 The material is so committed. You don't have to think 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:52.640 about anything, You just have to start talking and it 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.000 all comes out. The adrenaline takes days to burn out 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.080 of you. Holy God, you're sitting next to Johnny Carson. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.400 I mean, you just can't believe it. I mean to me, 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.240 and I think most guys my age who were out 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.440 there doing that one. The fact that it worked. You know, really, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.960 I drove in a pickup truck with my wife to 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:12.760 l A and three years later I'm sitting next to 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.320 Johnny Carson. That's not supposed to happen, you know, it's 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.840 just not supposed to happen, but it did. Do you 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.160 think that Carson was someone who do you think he 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:21.880 saw himself? And you do you think he saw the 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.520 midwestern boy. I don't know, Jean and you, I don't know. 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:26.400 I mean, it was so easy for other people to 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.840 make that comparison. Uh, and that seemed to be the formula. 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:31.320 But I don't I don't know if he felt that 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:36.280 way or not. Um, I don't. I can't answer that. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.840 And then what happened after that, Well, your life changed immediately. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:41.840 Suddenly you weren't just a guy who was at the 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.280 comedy store. You were the guy that had been on 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.160 with Carson. And then I was on I think two 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.360 or three more times, and then I started hosting the show, 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.320 and again that was another you know, you just feel 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.880 like it's like it's like winning the World Series or 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.040 your rookie season. What's the gap of time between when 0:16:58.120 --> 0:16:59.840 you first sat down with him when you started hosting. 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.280 The first time I was on was November of seventy eight, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.199 and I think I hosted. Uh. It was Monday night 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.000 opposite the Academy Awards. It was the Good Spring, Yeah, 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:15.040 in April, I have in April of March April, yeah, 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.840 and it was I was frozen. I was as frozen 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.439 as I can remember. Peter Losally coming up to me 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.280 during the commercial break and he said, you've got to 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:30.200 loosen up. You've got to loosen up. Thanks that tip page. 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.040 I remember the first night I was saw on the 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.840 Tonight Show and I'm I'm telling you, four guys at 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.399 the comedy store, this was it. This was like people 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:40.959 lining up to squeeze through a funnel, you know. This 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.760 was it the Tonight Show. Fighting in competition and backstabbing 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.760 in bad mouthing to get to the Tonight Show. It 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:49.560 is gonna make or break you if if you don't 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.440 do well, you'll never be heard of again. There's there's 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.320 no such thing as a guy bombings first time on 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.639 the Tonight Show and then having a delightful career that 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.000 just doesn't happen. You're gone. So there's a lot of pressures. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.640 So I am getting ready to go out there just 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.240 behind the curtain. And my manager at the time, Buddy Mora, 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.320 who was with Jack Rollins and uh Charles Joffey. They 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.159 handled Robin Williams and Woody Allen and Dick Cabint and 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.479 some other guys. So that was a big deal for 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.480 me to be with these people. And Buddy and I 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.560 nice enough guy, but we never I never saw Ey'd 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.359 eye on much. And I think a lot of it 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:27.920 was my immaturity about show business or just ignorance. Not immaturity. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.480 I you know, I had no time to be immature. 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.720 I was ignorant. So we're standing there and Johnny saying, 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:35.920 our next guest as a young blah blah blah blah, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.680 and Buddy says to me, and any Buddy always whispered. 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.320 Everything was a whisper it. But he says, Robin got popeye, 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.240 and I said, what are you talking about? His final 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.040 words to me, as I'm going on the tonight show 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.120 from the first time, telling me about a booking for 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.239 one of his other clients, you know, And I just 0:18:54.280 --> 0:19:02.840 never got over that. My thanks to David Letterman for 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:08.280 giving me some of his valuable time. Some talk show 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:13.320 guests arrived with a predetermined almost Arthur Murray asked pattern 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:18.119 of stories and anecdotes, and many shows in fact encourage 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.919 that on. Here's the thing. Some of my guests showed 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.480 up to have a genuine conversation and during that time 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:30.560 discussed very personal, even raw moments in their careers and lives. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.440 Such was the case with Audre McDonald, who spoke movingly 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:39.960 about the difficulties she found as an artist studying and 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.640 then launching her career in New York. This was my 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.760 third year and it had been just yet another year 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.240 of floundering and doing poorly in all my classes, and 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.080