Speaker 1: If you had uttered one thing that Dave gave an idea,
Speaker 1: he would change the whole show. Let's cancel that, let's
Speaker 1: Martha said that. Let's bring in a horse, can we?
Speaker 1: How fast can we get a horse? And everything would
Speaker 1: just change on the drop of a dime, or whatever
Speaker 1: you said. I don't know if the other shows really
Speaker 1: are like that. Paul Shaffer is best known as the
Speaker 1: musical director, Band leader and sidekick for both David Letterman's
Speaker 1: late night talk shows, which ran from two to two
Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen. Outside of television, Paul is a talented singer,
Speaker 1: a composer, an actor and a comedian. Paul and I
Speaker 1: got to know each other during my close to fifty appearances.
Speaker 1: Can you believe that with David Letterman over the years?
Speaker 1: Some Call Paul the greatest sidekick and television and it's
Speaker 1: a pleasure to have him here with me at my farm.
Speaker 1: Welcome to my podcast, Paul. Martha, I couldn't be more
Speaker 1: thrilled to be here at your modest little pad that
Speaker 1: you have up here. It's absolutely fantastic and I was
Speaker 1: just saying that I'm thrilled to see that all the
Speaker 1: buildings are in Bedford Gray, so I can confirm that. Yes,
Speaker 1: she actually does use the color exclusively. Now it brings
Speaker 1: me to a question, and I know I realized not
Speaker 1: my show. You could ask me all the questions. It's
Speaker 1: been fascinating me since I read that you have opened
Speaker 1: a restaurant on the Strip in Las Vegas called the Bedford. Exactly. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: first question. Is it Bedford Gray? Much of the Interior
Speaker 1: is Bedford. It's a replica of my house, my house
Speaker 1: that you haven't come in yet. You you were invited
Speaker 1: for coffee, but we we kind of ran out of time.
Speaker 1: You'll come back up there. Thank you, Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a really fun project and I would
Speaker 1: love to replicate a smaller version of it here in Bedford, Bedford,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if that will happen. Happen or not.
Speaker 1: What kind of menu is it? Oh, it's all my recipes.
Speaker 1: It's recipes that you would love, recipes that I've served
Speaker 1: at my homes forever, all perfected for restaurants service, of course.
Speaker 1: And Uh, and it's doing well. Yelp gave it five stars. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're all exciting. Anyway, congratulations on thank you. Well, anyway,
Speaker 1: I just want you to know that, Um, the greatest
Speaker 1: sidekick in television. How did your tenure with David Letterman, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, is and was my favorite late night host,
Speaker 1: and I shouldn't really say that out loud, but but
Speaker 1: you know, I love all the other guys too, but
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do is David Letterman. I always
Speaker 1: had fun, I always loved seeing you and your and
Speaker 1: your band and I always, I always talked to you
Speaker 1: and I always waved to you and, yeah, and your
Speaker 1: music was always just like, so invigorating and so uh,
Speaker 1: such a great introduction to each segment on David Letterman.
Speaker 1: So Um, so it was. We probably played you on
Speaker 1: with Martha, my idea, by the sometimes you did dolls. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: you know, ob but how did your tenure with David Begin?
Speaker 1: This is a long story. Just like you, it was.
Speaker 1: It was so much fun because he, I agree with you,
Speaker 1: although he and I both idolized Johnny Carson, of course,
Speaker 1: and that was David's model and he didn't make any
Speaker 1: secret of that. Johnny showed us all how to do it,
Speaker 1: but David, I think, in combining it with him, more
Speaker 1: of a Saturday night live type of nuttiness. Um, took
Speaker 1: it to another level. You know, I never got to
Speaker 1: be on Johnny Carson, so I never got to experience
Speaker 1: that that genius. I was on Merv Griffin, which was
Speaker 1: like the competitor to to Johnny. But but I regret
Speaker 1: that so much because I loved watching his show too.
Speaker 1: And what we what do, he used to say, and
Speaker 1: it was true, if you watched it, was that, uh,
Speaker 1: if he made his guests look good, people would be
Speaker 1: talking about his show the next day. You know, did
Speaker 1: you see who Johnny had on that? And to him
Speaker 1: that was the key, of course, so important. And the
Speaker 1: key is of those late night hosts and make the
Speaker 1: guests look good, sound interesting, make sure that they're promoting
Speaker 1: their latest work and uh, and I it's a hard
Speaker 1: job because because you have to, you have you do
Speaker 1: have to make them look good and David always made
Speaker 1: me look good and we always had fun and I think,
Speaker 1: I think he helped really build my brand in his way.
Speaker 1: That's nice of you to say he would be proud
Speaker 1: and thrilled and I think it's true too. You were
Speaker 1: such a presence on the show. You were his certainly
Speaker 1: one of his favorites, his favorite, but you were his
Speaker 1: favorite sidekicks. Well, you know, he just Um, are you
Speaker 1: the first really famous band leader or what's the genre?
Speaker 1: Look back and when we see you know, Johnny Carson's
Speaker 1: last was doc Stevenson, but before that, who did he have?
Speaker 1: He had got sketched Henderson. These guys all had names because,
Speaker 1: after all, they were on every every single night. But
Speaker 1: I want to be not I sort of was sketch
Speaker 1: and ed at the same time, because he didn't have
Speaker 1: an ED, he didn't have an announcer sitting white by.
Speaker 1: So I used to say I'm a combination doc and ED, I. E. Dead.
Speaker 1: But that was just a terrible joke and I'm still here. Um.
Speaker 1: So I got to talk and I got to banter
Speaker 1: with him, as they say. It wasn't written in the script.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the first time I tried
Speaker 1: to say something on my mic it wasn't even turned.
Speaker 1: I had to go to the engineer and say, you know,
Speaker 1: you should turn my microphone. Well, I don't think they
Speaker 1: wanted on while I had to of course they wanted on.
Speaker 1: I had to get sort through that and when I
Speaker 1: got it on and finally said a couple of things,
Speaker 1: David was very encouraging and he said he did more
Speaker 1: of that. That was funny and I used to know
Speaker 1: what was this two when? Okay, so that was that
Speaker 1: was on. That was on NBC. You followed. You were
Speaker 1: the late, late show, after the late we were. We
Speaker 1: were called the late show because Johnny was called it
Speaker 1: tonight night show. That we followed Johnny. We were the late. No,
Speaker 1: we were called late night, late night with David. Let
Speaker 1: him in, late night with David, and that's what the
Speaker 1: Seth Seth is doing. Now. Seth Myers has that and
Speaker 1: he follows Mr Fallon, who, of course is doing the
Speaker 1: tonight show. So we were the late show. David wanted
Speaker 1: that tonight show really badly. I remember that, and he
Speaker 1: deserved it. And then all of a sudden this upstart
Speaker 1: called Jay Leno gets the job. Why? What happened there? Um,
Speaker 1: we were there. You were there. Well, I was there.
Speaker 1: I wasn't really privy to all those things. I did
Speaker 1: see that crazy movie that they made about the late show.
Speaker 1: Wars Um awfully accurate. I thought it was what I knew,
Speaker 1: except Dave said they had a scene of me throwing
Speaker 1: a football at a target. Who would ever throw a
Speaker 1: football at a tar you throw your bowling Arrow order talk.
Speaker 1: That's what really upset Him. I don't not throw a
Speaker 1: football otherwise. But didn't you throw eggs into a fan? Well,
Speaker 1: and I stood in front of the damn. Oh you did,
Speaker 1: and you got eggs. You Got Egg on your face,
Speaker 1: egg on my face, literally, and I had to be
Speaker 1: a good spot, but really I was just soaking and
Speaker 1: wanted to get out of that thing. But got a
Speaker 1: big laugh, of course. That's when I started to realize.
Speaker 1: You know, right there, Jeez, if you you know, if
Speaker 1: the people laugh, it's a good feeling, it sure is.
Speaker 1: And especially at late night when you've had a hard,
Speaker 1: horrible day, you get into bed and you turn on
Speaker 1: the TV and you want to be entertained. And you
Speaker 1: guys were the ultimate entertainers, I mean really, and you
Speaker 1: were a part of it too, and Dave. What Dave
Speaker 1: wanted from a guest to someone who was dependable and
Speaker 1: would come on with having done a little preparation. That's
Speaker 1: all he asked. And of course you were prepared. Well,
Speaker 1: I was always over prepared. Do you remember? I got
Speaker 1: cream all over Dave's suit? Well, he wasn't crazy about that,
Speaker 1: I know, but they said I could do it. The
Speaker 1: producers said I could do it and I think I
Speaker 1: was the first person allowed to sully his outfit. You
Speaker 1: may have been the first and last probably. It just
Speaker 1: strucks me you're talking late show and stuff. I've got
Speaker 1: a story about King Charles, our current king, the new
Speaker 1: King of England. He was prince then. Right, okay, so
Speaker 1: telling us what I mean. Well, it was right in
Speaker 1: the eighties, after the led him in show had started
Speaker 1: and I had to ask day for a day off
Speaker 1: because I got invited to when when it was Prince
Speaker 1: Charles and lady die they were in Vancouver, BC, Canada,
Speaker 1: opening the world's fair, and the two guys in the
Speaker 1: Prime Minister's office were let him in fans and they
Speaker 1: said Paul's Canadian, let's send him an invitation just for
Speaker 1: kids whose I accepted it and Dave gave me the
Speaker 1: day off and I was calling in. I think you
Speaker 1: know a Dave. I forgot my formal socks, my silk socks.
Speaker 1: I've got to go shopping for them. No, nobody ever.
Speaker 1: My Dad taught me that. And and the Prince and
Speaker 1: the princess were there and they were there to open
Speaker 1: the thing and there was a state dinner and the
Speaker 1: guys running at the logistics for them were so thrilled
Speaker 1: that I was there. They said we're going to get
Speaker 1: you a picture with your Canadian too. So you belonged there.
Speaker 1: You were like you were like a favorite son of
Speaker 1: Kenna exactly, and I was well, I had a lovely
Speaker 1: uh email, a conversation with Justin Trudeau just the other day.
Speaker 1: You did, yes, because at all I had to sort
Speaker 1: of UH politic him about the we're all conservatory of Music.
Speaker 1: Can they have a little more money for their budget
Speaker 1: and stuff? And when I wrote in a form letter,
Speaker 1: as you know, asked the doctor Simon who runs this
Speaker 1: conservative I got a lovely letter right back from the
Speaker 1: prime minister, Justin. Of course, his father had been my
Speaker 1: prime minister when I was in college here. Trudeau. Anyway,
Speaker 1: back to they wanted to get a picture of me
Speaker 1: with Lady Dye. They said we're going to get this picture.
Speaker 1: I said you don't have to, but I feel a
Speaker 1: tap on my shoulder. I'm sitting at the state dinner
Speaker 1: with all Canadians, strangers. They said, come with us. They
Speaker 1: take us into a room. They take me into a
Speaker 1: room where there's a receiving line going on and the
Speaker 1: prime minister is introducing the two royals to all of
Speaker 1: their all of the premiers of the province. They're like
Speaker 1: the governors, I guess, that we have here. So they're
Speaker 1: coming down the line and the prime minister and here's
Speaker 1: the right honorable premiere of Manitoba. He is, you know,
Speaker 1: construct how? Why? And they get to me and it's
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Mulrone. He doesn't know who I am and
Speaker 1: he looks at me and nobody he doesn't say anything,
Speaker 1: and nobody says anything and all I know is you
Speaker 1: don't talk and listen until the royals talk. At least
Speaker 1: I know that. But nobody was talking, so I had
Speaker 1: to talk and I said Hello, your Highness. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: Paul Schaeffer from the late night with David Letterman show
Speaker 1: from New York. And he said who did it? How late?
Speaker 1: I said well, and this is a first, Guy said well,
Speaker 1: you know, we followed Johnny Coast at the twelve thirty
Speaker 1: and count me out. So there, Martha, was my conversation. Well,
Speaker 1: the King, how about that? Now? The King? Yeah, funny,
Speaker 1: I was thinking. You know, they said we'll get you
Speaker 1: a picture with lady dot because she was, of course,
Speaker 1: the big celebrity. Then he should have realized he's going
Speaker 1: to be the king. That would have been a shot,
Speaker 1: but I do have a shot. How Great? Yes, it
Speaker 1: is great. Well, that's a sad story. Hair was as
Speaker 1: good as yours. As far as the people who have
Speaker 1: the best hair and show, I think it's you, then.
Speaker 1: Lady Dot Paul, is totally are you totally bold now? Totally. Well,
Speaker 1: but you look great. You Look Great. You know what, Martha,
Speaker 1: thanks for saying so I never had the right hair
Speaker 1: and when I had here, yeah, and here. You know,
Speaker 1: since the Beatles it was always so important for guys,
Speaker 1: but this is better for me. Yeah, you look great,
Speaker 1: you know, and you were and you don't look exhausted.
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't late night just the most Austin thing
Speaker 1: on earth? How do you know that? Oh, well, I
Speaker 1: worked till late at night. I worked from early Morn
Speaker 1: till late at night, so I know how exhausting it
Speaker 1: is doing the show every night. I didn't realize it
Speaker 1: until it ended and it took me about two years
Speaker 1: to get readjusted. My Body clock was such that screwed up.
Speaker 1: There was, and there's, a show every time every day.
Speaker 1: So five am might be up. Bang. What time is
Speaker 1: the show? You know my show time. I'm exhausted. I
Speaker 1: was always tired, absolutely just like you said you were.
Speaker 1: You rehearsed every day, you and the rehearsal was really,
Speaker 1: really important, but also extraordinary. Great production and very little time.
Speaker 1: And the only producer I really got to know on
Speaker 1: your show was Robert Morton. Yeah, morty or Morty Pie,
Speaker 1: he was notorious. Yeah, how how long was he a producer? Well,
Speaker 1: quite a few years. He took over as producer just
Speaker 1: before we made that big move to CBS, so he
Speaker 1: was part of that. So let's go back there first
Speaker 1: of all. So what year was it when CB and
Speaker 1: when NBC said sorry, Dave, it's going to know, it's
Speaker 1: going to Jay left, I think. Well, I think we
Speaker 1: were twelve years on CBS, so that would take us
Speaker 1: in to about ninety four. Okay, so then they said
Speaker 1: no to David and they gave him one more year
Speaker 1: and then he moved straight to to CBS in the
Speaker 1: time slot, in the time slot that he wanted anyway,
Speaker 1: eleven thirty and uh, and that was called. And then
Speaker 1: he was followed by Conan, yes, and that's when he
Speaker 1: became the late show, late show with David Letterman of
Speaker 1: late night, and had beautiful theater, which I loved. I
Speaker 1: loved going there because the dressing rooms were so nice
Speaker 1: and they each had a private bathroom. You didn't have
Speaker 1: to go down the hall and Uh and it was
Speaker 1: and there was always nice things to eat and drink
Speaker 1: in the in the dressing rooms. Have you. Nonetheless, it
Speaker 1: was short of the same way it was when Etzel
Speaker 1: and was doing this show. The plumbing was Old New
Speaker 1: York kind. That's okay, as long as it worked. Cold
Speaker 1: beart show. Yet, Stephen Cole, I love the cold beart show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do too. Backstage, so and I was, I was
Speaker 1: lucky enough to be a guest. Um, it's like a
Speaker 1: cool club he's got going on. Yeah, it is. Backstage.
Speaker 1: The lighting is yeah, it's so fun. It's so fun.
Speaker 1: Bathrooms are now sort of like the Morrigan hotel or something,
Speaker 1: you know, everything redesigned. It's amazing. Now. Well, he has
Speaker 1: a great taste and he's and he's a funny he's
Speaker 1: a fun person to be on with. But the most
Speaker 1: fun right now, I would get. Who Do you like now?
Speaker 1: I mean who do you watch? You Watch everybody. I
Speaker 1: watch a little bit of everything. I missed Conan O'Brien,
Speaker 1: to tell you the truth, I loved kind on, you know.
Speaker 1: He really was the guy who laughed when things were funny. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I well, I got him to dress up
Speaker 1: and ride a horse with me. Had put a red
Speaker 1: wig on in an open satin shirt and he rode
Speaker 1: uh on on my black steed and he was so
Speaker 1: he was up for anything. Did you come up here
Speaker 1: to do that? Yeah, wow, good for him. He was great.
Speaker 1: Red Wig, though his hair is like no, but he
Speaker 1: he wanted to. who was he looking like he was?
Speaker 1: He was emul emulating Fabio. It's such an obligation to
Speaker 1: be a late night host like that and also to
Speaker 1: be the sidekick and the musician of the show. So
Speaker 1: so it started with it started with Johnny Carson. Did
Speaker 1: he bring the music to late night? Is that what
Speaker 1: he did? Well, he had a big band, sketch and doc,
Speaker 1: whom we were just mentioning. How many? Howe? How many
Speaker 1: you have? I had started with four. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: know when I learned afterwards, just from launching those late
Speaker 1: night shows, movie about the late night wars and stuff
Speaker 1: that Johnny Corson had a meeting with Dave and his
Speaker 1: original producer. Said now I want the show to be different.
Speaker 1: You can't have the same guests, you can't have dom deloise,
Speaker 1: because that's who I had, and David Fine with that.
Speaker 1: You know, we want to have our own restaurant and
Speaker 1: you can't have a big band. I have a big band.
Speaker 1: You'RE gonna have four pieces. So so that's so. Johnny
Speaker 1: made a four piece span. That was great with me
Speaker 1: because I grew up doing rock and roll bands and
Speaker 1: four piece bands and I didn't really wasn't so comfortable
Speaker 1: with horns at the time. So this is perfect for me.
Speaker 1: And I got three guys who just knew all the
Speaker 1: songs that I knew. So if Martha Stewart was got
Speaker 1: Markam my dear Rochy of a, and I didn't have
Speaker 1: to write it out. We all just bump, Bom, bom boom,
Speaker 1: we hit it. You knew it, you knew it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that that when I had the most fun. So
Speaker 1: so now of all the bands, who do who do
Speaker 1: you like the most? Now on the late night Z uh?
Speaker 1: You know, they're all good for some reason. Of course,
Speaker 1: quest love and the roots. Fantastic to see, you know,
Speaker 1: them taking really kind of what I did. I I
Speaker 1: brought it the thing into the Rock and roller did
Speaker 1: they have brought it late night into the hip hop era,
Speaker 1: and it's striking. And he with food too. I mean
Speaker 1: he writes cookbooks. Now he's he's a he's making a brand.
Speaker 1: He's a Foodie, you know, and he was doing it. Well,
Speaker 1: you started this whole branding thing, didn't? Well, I'm one
Speaker 1: of I'm one of the starters of it. You know,
Speaker 1: Pete Davidson, he goes out with Kim Cadati. Well, he did,
Speaker 1: he did. That's broken up now. Yeah, but the brand,
Speaker 1: oh no, he he is now Pete Davidson. He's Pete Davidson.
Speaker 1: All Right, I'm he's he's so cute. He's a he's
Speaker 1: a cute, Young, Nice Guy, but but he's uh, Kim Kim,
Speaker 1: I think, has moved on, swallowed up by the DASHIANS.
Speaker 1: Spit out right. What are you gonna do? Um, so
Speaker 1: when you're on Letterman, UM, every night is different and
Speaker 1: guests are so different. Who is your favorite guest on Letterman? What? What? What? What?
Speaker 1: What are your fondest memories? Of course, you know, as
Speaker 1: the band leader, Mike. My thoughts would go to the
Speaker 1: music and James Brown. The very first time he did it.
Speaker 1: I never got over it and I my little four piece,
Speaker 1: but he brought two horns and played with my four
Speaker 1: piece ban and we never played so well in our lives.
Speaker 1: But once he started singing and dancing and shaking that,
Speaker 1: you know what it was just you had to play.
Speaker 1: And he did it many times after that and every
Speaker 1: time was like a music lesson. So he's charming, isn't he?
Speaker 1: He was charming and won a performer and he didn't know.
Speaker 1: I mean he couldn't read or write music, but he
Speaker 1: just sang. You know, he was singing the hip of
Speaker 1: stuff and the band had to just whatever he's sang.
Speaker 1: You play, you know, and if he didn't, he find you.
Speaker 1: That was, I think, the real deal. If he made
Speaker 1: a mistake in James Brown's band, he would find you ten, five,
Speaker 1: ten bucks. Yeah, I never got fine, luckily I never got.
Speaker 1: You know, he has to see me after the first
Speaker 1: time he did play because it was such a smash
Speaker 1: and when I went in there knocked on the door,
Speaker 1: he was under the hair dryer. Uh, after the show,
Speaker 1: with that, with that hairdrew of his yes, but not
Speaker 1: a blow dry. I'm talking about a full helmet on
Speaker 1: a chair the carriage, right, because he was sweaty or
Speaker 1: wouldn't well, his hair all would come down. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's very important to him. You know, hair got he
Speaker 1: used to say, hair and teeth. If you have those
Speaker 1: things you can be a star, and I think he
Speaker 1: was right. But talking to me under the head right,
Speaker 1: he's like he's hard to understand anyway, but with this
Speaker 1: I'm down there are, you know, trying to listen to
Speaker 1: I was down on my knees in front of him
Speaker 1: and it was like he was on a throne and
Speaker 1: that hair dryer. But that's the way it should have been,
Speaker 1: I really so. Who Else? Who? Um? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: when Robin Williams did it, you could relax and you
Speaker 1: wouldn't look forward to the show because he you know,
Speaker 1: he took over. He was on my show too once
Speaker 1: and boy, I mean he just he had the fastest
Speaker 1: mind in in the comedy, in the comedy world, the
Speaker 1: fastest a computer mind right, yes, and he was like
Speaker 1: how on on on the spaceship? Yes, he was. One
Speaker 1: thing would set him off and he'd go into a
Speaker 1: whole different, whole different Vive and and a different language
Speaker 1: and a different accent. And I mean he was the fastest,
Speaker 1: but I loved him. I loved him. Do you remember
Speaker 1: any disasters on Letterman? Well, sure there were some disasters.
Speaker 1: I certainly had my share of disasters. One time, Um
Speaker 1: Anthony Newley, whom I loved, and he buto and fool
Speaker 1: a man. That's only one of the great as song.
Speaker 1: As he wrote it and we had him he was
Speaker 1: going to do a big favorite for us and sing
Speaker 1: our little theme for the viewer male segment. View a male,
Speaker 1: view a male, and then I wrote a little thing
Speaker 1: in for him. Everyone laughs, said to view a male clown,
Speaker 1: because he was he could just make any but when
Speaker 1: when I went into the to the big ending view
Speaker 1: a male, I was in the wrong key. I took
Speaker 1: him up about a good fourth or fifth higher because
Speaker 1: I hadn't written it down. I thought it was so
Speaker 1: smart I could just remember and his ear was so
Speaker 1: good that he followed me into the Doo key and
Speaker 1: saying this note that was higher than any human had everything. Oh,
Speaker 1: I felt so bad and after he went off from
Speaker 1: backstage and we can swear you could just say this
Speaker 1: is what I heard after you went out, saying, Oh
Speaker 1: my God, I felt so terrible, but I wrote him
Speaker 1: a long letter. You always heard the one you love,
Speaker 1: and he he wrote a lovely letter back. There was
Speaker 1: my one of my worst is. Let's see, you see
Speaker 1: the the ordinary viewer has no idea what goes on
Speaker 1: in those shows, how difficult, how difficult and how how
Speaker 1: intense they are. They are really just because you're one
Speaker 1: hour to get everything in that has to get in
Speaker 1: and make everybody look good, sound good, feel good, blah, blah, blah. Right.
Speaker 1: I think that you know Martha from doing it so
Speaker 1: much that if you had uttered one thing that Dave
Speaker 1: gave an idea, he would change the whole show. Let's
Speaker 1: cancel that, let's Martha said that. Let's bring in a horse,
Speaker 1: can we? How fast can we get a horse? And
Speaker 1: everything would just change on the drop of a dime,
Speaker 1: or whatever you said. I don't know if the other
Speaker 1: shows really are like that. Oh, I loved when you
Speaker 1: went to the Delhi. Did you ever go to the Horse? Yes,
Speaker 1: Ruper G and May, and they were so great because
Speaker 1: they weren't trying to beat yeah, they weren't trying to
Speaker 1: be funny on camera or got the laughs, but the
Speaker 1: laughs just came naturally and I went. I participated. The
Speaker 1: city awarded them a lovely thing. They're being a you know,
Speaker 1: a small business, and honor. I was there to honor
Speaker 1: Ruper G and May. So what about the Oprah stuff?
Speaker 1: That was crazy, wasn't it? Yeah, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: They didn't always tell me the whole story, but my
Speaker 1: recollection is that we were in Chicago doing a week
Speaker 1: of shows. Oprah came on and the audience was kind
Speaker 1: of mean to her. The audience was waiting for Dave
Speaker 1: to insult her, and that's my recollection. And somebody even
Speaker 1: said ripper Dave or something like that. Wow, yes, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't Dave's fault, and then it just explodes. But
Speaker 1: she took it as Dave's fault. Maybe, yeah, maybe. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: because I I never knew the story and I was
Speaker 1: always wondering why, why? What is this controversy and and
Speaker 1: why WON'T OPRAH COME on? David Letterman, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: a good feud as always, as we know from Jack
Speaker 1: Benny and Fred Allen. You had a good feud. Is
Speaker 1: Worth Ratings. And when they finally did reconcile and I
Speaker 1: think they did a super bowl add together. It was fabulous.
Speaker 1: Everybody was throwing Leno to everybody was thrilled to see
Speaker 1: them all together. But did anybody else in your recollection
Speaker 1: refuse to come on your show? Sure people. Some people
Speaker 1: were afraid of Dave. They didn't want to come on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: kind of a sad story. Come reminds me the Great
Speaker 1: Don Everley of the everly brothers did. He just died recently,
Speaker 1: like last year, but before the year before I had
Speaker 1: done an award show with him in Nashville and he
Speaker 1: was talking to me any about his brother. He's still
Speaker 1: kind of resented his brother Phil Everley, and said, well,
Speaker 1: one of the things he says, you know, he wouldn't
Speaker 1: do let him and he wouldn't let us do let him.
Speaker 1: When I was dying to do it. He was afraid
Speaker 1: day was going to bring up something from our past
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't do it. And so there are one
Speaker 1: example of people who wouldn't you know, we would have
Speaker 1: had a great time playing with the everly pethers. Boy
Speaker 1: Did I love the everly brothers growing up. That's high
Speaker 1: school music. Wow, they were so, so influential, even on
Speaker 1: the Beatles. Yeah, they were Beatles stuff. Yeah, guitars. Some
Speaker 1: of those mergey beat guitar stuff that they played came
Speaker 1: right from the everly brothers. I loved listening to them
Speaker 1: and and I think, I think I actually saw them
Speaker 1: play live someplace, someplace in New York. How often do
Speaker 1: you see dave now? I seemed quite a bit very
Speaker 1: um and I'm very touched by the fact that he
Speaker 1: really wants our friendship to continue. So we speak on
Speaker 1: the phone often, we get together when we can. Well,
Speaker 1: he's live in the same hood. We're basically in the
Speaker 1: same hood. Yeah, he's a little bit farther away from
Speaker 1: the city and you and I are. I live in
Speaker 1: close to you, Martha. Yeah, I know you don't know,
Speaker 1: but the people may not know, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: an here here right around Bedford, Bedford, uh and Bedford village,
Speaker 1: is five little towns that make up Bedford. I don't
Speaker 1: think people know that. Cross the River Bedford, Bedford Hills,
Speaker 1: Katona and UH, MON CISCO. Yeah, we're all in the
Speaker 1: same little area and UH and so dave is up
Speaker 1: a little farther north, but I do drive up there
Speaker 1: once in a while and we have at dinner and
Speaker 1: talk about the old times and the same things, the
Speaker 1: same jokes. I still enjoy I'm enjoying all his interviews
Speaker 1: that he does too. It's really just really fascinating. So
Speaker 1: you're a band leader for for how many years? Then
Speaker 1: then with the two net she was thirty three. Thirty three,
Speaker 1: that's a lifetime of work, it really is. It is.
Speaker 1: And what about your band were? They were all everyone
Speaker 1: doing different things. Um, Felicia Collins, my female guitarist, you remember,
Speaker 1: spending most of the time with their mother in Albany,
Speaker 1: but she and I both sat in with a great
Speaker 1: band that we love called King's x during the summer
Speaker 1: and I got to see her. Willie von, good looking
Speaker 1: bass guitarist, busier than ever worldwide, and then getting on
Speaker 1: the Internet and playing Bass for people over the Internet
Speaker 1: and everything in between. Some guys kind of retired, other guys, uh,
Speaker 1: it never works harder. So Nikki Schwartzberg's my makeup artist
Speaker 1: and this is her dad, knows you, very old friend
Speaker 1: of mine, Nikki Schwartzberg. She got married, though, didn't? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: she's now. She's now Nicole Toy t o y. She
Speaker 1: married this fabulous Chinese hairdresser. Well, Alan, her father was
Speaker 1: one of the Great Studio Drummers, having played on so
Speaker 1: many records it's hard to count, from tie a yellow
Speaker 1: ribbon through the disco era and never can say goodbye.
Speaker 1: And he's still playing and he still play and he's
Speaker 1: still playing and somebody just sent me a record by Sharone,
Speaker 1: the the French drummer, that he and I played on together. Anyway,
Speaker 1: he told you know, and I've known both of his daughters,
Speaker 1: Nicole and Simona, since they were born, and he told
Speaker 1: me what it was like when you came over during
Speaker 1: Nicole's house. Do I think that Susan, his wife, cleaned
Speaker 1: up a little bit? Oh my God, you before you
Speaker 1: got they were they were still cleaning when I got there,
Speaker 1: coming to their house. That must have been something. Well,
Speaker 1: that embarrasses me when people don't think they have to
Speaker 1: clean for me, because I don't care. I'll clean for them,
Speaker 1: I know, I will all Polish their corner. But you've
Speaker 1: got a brand and a cred you know, and a Rep.
Speaker 1: so you grew up in Canada. A lot of show
Speaker 1: is comes from Canada. It's funny. A lot of people
Speaker 1: come from there. As currently right now with the Saturday
Speaker 1: night live wave of comedy. A lot of comics in
Speaker 1: that genre. But you started. You were on Saturday night
Speaker 1: live also. Yes, what I was as a pianist for
Speaker 1: Howard shore. He was the band leader. I was a
Speaker 1: writer of special musical material because I knew a lot
Speaker 1: of the kids, like Guilda, Belushi, Billy Murray. I knew
Speaker 1: them from before. Some of them were Canadians, like Danak right.
Speaker 1: I knew very natural for me to start working with
Speaker 1: them and writing with them and by the fifth season
Speaker 1: I even became a what they call the featured player.
Speaker 1: I was in sketches. I was dying to get on
Speaker 1: camera all through that time, sneaking on and Lowen was
Speaker 1: amazing in that, just the piano player, I had all access.
Speaker 1: He would everybody does him now, but he would say, Paul,
Speaker 1: come on in, you know it's Paul Simon and on
Speaker 1: and Trevy. We're trying to figure out the opening for
Speaker 1: next week and I'm just a piano but I'm in
Speaker 1: there with them trying to figure that stuff out. It
Speaker 1: was it was fantastic. I'll always be great for the Lord. Well,
Speaker 1: Chevy is also a neighbor and so you get to
Speaker 1: see him off quite a bit and I officiated recently
Speaker 1: at his daughter's, his second daughter's wedding. For fifteen dollars
Speaker 1: on the Internet, I became a minister and then I
Speaker 1: was able to buy a clerical caller for another seven fifty,
Speaker 1: I think, and I conducted this wedding and I haven't
Speaker 1: played so many weddings as an organist. I knew what
Speaker 1: to do. How great it was? Pretty good, of course,
Speaker 1: you're very good. What are you talking about? And then
Speaker 1: Tom Leopold, who was a friend of a friend of your.
Speaker 1: I don't know if she's your Matt Production Manager or
Speaker 1: what out here, but he gave me a line to use.
Speaker 1: The groom went to Chevy to ask for the bride's
Speaker 1: hand and Chevy said Hell, take the whole girl. So
Speaker 1: that went over very well. How do I s you're
Speaker 1: so you're you're very busy. I mean not like I
Speaker 1: was five shows a week. I'll never be that busy,
Speaker 1: thank goodness. Yeah, but still keeping up things, doing, Um,
Speaker 1: some symphony shows. This is my latest passion. Really like.
Speaker 1: What's what's The symphony show? Well, it's when I appeared
Speaker 1: with a symphony orchestra. I've done for so far. Started
Speaker 1: with the one in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a great symphony. More
Speaker 1: recently did Long Beach, California, and I do all pop
Speaker 1: stuff in R and B. I started out with Barry White.
Speaker 1: Love Unlimited Orchestra. I have the Great Valerie Simpson, who
Speaker 1: wrote to you're all I need to get buy and
Speaker 1: so many issues. My special guest and that I just
Speaker 1: got a new agent and I'm hoping to get some
Speaker 1: more bookings. Well, that's very interesting. Yes, I love it.
Speaker 1: I'd love you to come. I'd love to if I
Speaker 1: play around here. Yeah, it's really a big kick for me.
Speaker 1: Can you play a caramore? I would. I would sure
Speaker 1: love to do yeah, why haven't you played there? Let's
Speaker 1: make a call after them. Well, I'm I'm very friendly
Speaker 1: with whole operation there. For for those of you listening,
Speaker 1: Karamour is a music festival that is directly across the
Speaker 1: street from my driveway and uh and I can just
Speaker 1: sit in my yard out of my terrace and listen
Speaker 1: to the concerts at night. I can hear them here.
Speaker 1: It's so nice, but I do go. Also, living by
Speaker 1: the Hollywood bowl. UH, in a way it is um
Speaker 1: and they have lovely, lovely performances. I went to hear
Speaker 1: Yo Yo Ma this year. That was wonderful. Yo Yoma
Speaker 1: is an amazing performer and he was on Letterman a
Speaker 1: few times. Quite yeah, very wonderful, wonderful, normal kind of guy,
Speaker 1: but he likes all music, which I was really not
Speaker 1: just classical. He really loves all kinds of music. and
Speaker 1: Uh so, who are your favorite musicians, other than other
Speaker 1: than yourself, of course, but who do you who do
Speaker 1: you listen to on a regular basis? So many. I
Speaker 1: still like listening to the soul music of my youth
Speaker 1: and on Saturday and Sunday morning Sun the jazz station
Speaker 1: WB G O, they play all soul music and I'm
Speaker 1: in heaven, whether it's Wilson Pickett or Salmon Dave or
Speaker 1: the supremes, the four tops. I love those voices and
Speaker 1: I'm still digging that. That all soul music and still,
Speaker 1: you know, in my I do a lot of it
Speaker 1: in my symphony show too, and which which is particular
Speaker 1: musicians saying the instruments. We just lost Ramsey Lewis last
Speaker 1: week and he was a big influence on me in
Speaker 1: ninety six, I think, when he came out with instrumental
Speaker 1: version of I'm in with the in crowd, playing very
Speaker 1: simply and soulfully on the piano, and that's I picked
Speaker 1: that up when I was a kid from him. He
Speaker 1: was one of my favorites. Um, Jimmy Smith on the organ.
Speaker 1: I love the Hammond Jazz Oregan. Um. We lost another
Speaker 1: one of those greats to Dr Lonnie Smith. Uh, the
Speaker 1: greats are, one by one, leaving US greats of this era,
Speaker 1: you know, and and with them I think goes wrong.
Speaker 1: Can Roll the shout out to say I think maybe dad. Well,
Speaker 1: we have what's coming up. We have hip hop and rap.
Speaker 1: I'm listening to rap. Yeah, you know where I listened
Speaker 1: to it most? In traffic jams on the on the Sawmill.
Speaker 1: You just open your window and every car is playing wrap.
Speaker 1: Everybody's wrapping. Kind of might make you too excited and
Speaker 1: I want to get out of that traffic, of course.
Speaker 1: And you start keeping started, keeping your horn. You're associated
Speaker 1: with brings things down at a very relaxed level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he does. He's really we love snoop and and I
Speaker 1: just got I just got a picture of you know,
Speaker 1: you can't even believe that I'm I'm actually friends with
Speaker 1: these people. Okay, I do believe, I know, I really have.
Speaker 1: They know how to trick you know when they see
Speaker 1: Dre just sent me pictures of his garden yesterday and
Speaker 1: the garden is all marijuana and that the largest bushiest
Speaker 1: plants I have ever seen. And I asked for the strains.
Speaker 1: He didn't send me the names of the strains that
Speaker 1: he's growing. But it's so fun to to see what
Speaker 1: people do, I mean what you great, great musicians are
Speaker 1: up to. And did you watch the Super Bowl with
Speaker 1: those guys? Fantastic. Yeah, they were great, right, fantastic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was out there and listen what, I went to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. It was a lot of fun. They
Speaker 1: adhere to the same principles of show Biz, and they do,
Speaker 1: and they're all fine musicians and they know a lot
Speaker 1: like you. I mean you know music inside and out,
Speaker 1: which is what what astonishes me is that during your
Speaker 1: education you really did learn music, you did learn instruments,
Speaker 1: you did learn how to play. So who encouraged you
Speaker 1: and did you have to? Did you have to persuade
Speaker 1: your parents to let you do show Biz? Well, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they were the kind of Jewish parents, even
Speaker 1: in northern Ontario, Canada. We had them Thunder Bay, Ontario
Speaker 1: and they said that kid is meaning me. He's going
Speaker 1: to learn how to play piano if it's the last
Speaker 1: thing I do. You know, wanted you to play and
Speaker 1: they had a strange duality. They loved show business and
Speaker 1: they loved music. My mother show tunes and Chopin and
Speaker 1: my dad the greatest jazz vocalist. He really turned me
Speaker 1: on to Billy Eckstein and even Ray Charles, my file.
Speaker 1: And so they had a secret. You know, boy, if
Speaker 1: Paul was ever a musician, but really too far fetched.
Speaker 1: They really would have wanted me to have a real profession,
Speaker 1: and I was. I graduated from the University of Toronto
Speaker 1: and sociology, which leads, you know, not exactly anywhere, but
Speaker 1: I said, you know, the sociology is good. I mean
Speaker 1: it came in handy, especially I was a band leader.
Speaker 1: I absolutely interpersonal relations. Right, sure, but when I said
Speaker 1: to my dad, I think I got to take a
Speaker 1: year after graduating and just see if I can you
Speaker 1: know what music is like, he said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't surprise me or your mother, and I
Speaker 1: think they were secretly your only child. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: they were secretly thrilled and, of course, very proud of
Speaker 1: me when I got on Letterman, and they could bet
Speaker 1: they were. They could tune in every night or at
Speaker 1: least the next day. How often did they come down
Speaker 1: to see you? Quite a bit, they did quite a bit,
Speaker 1: and they would come to the show. I remember the
Speaker 1: first time. My boss, Letterman, didn't know my parents yet.
Speaker 1: My mother sitting in the audience with a big mink
Speaker 1: code and Letterman is out there doing an audience piece
Speaker 1: and he and my mother Wright to his left and
Speaker 1: he said to her, are you in the right studio,
Speaker 1: because she seemed like she was dressed for a night
Speaker 1: of a thousand stars. Anyway, that was my mom and
Speaker 1: dad and yeah, they sure her proud of me. So
Speaker 1: you've written music to you write music, you play music,
Speaker 1: you perform, you're you're you're all around performer. So not
Speaker 1: so much writing. Um, I wrote one song. It's raining man.
Speaker 1: I co wrote that with a great Paul Trebar, who
Speaker 1: was no longer with us, but what a talent, and
Speaker 1: he won an Oscar for writing last dance for Donna
Speaker 1: summer and then sure as and after that he called
Speaker 1: me up and said let's write one now for Donna summer,
Speaker 1: you and me. How about the title? It's reigning man,
Speaker 1: and I said I'll be right over, I'm going to
Speaker 1: go out and letting myself get absolutely so king wet.
Speaker 1: And it was, Um, you know, a sort of a
Speaker 1: fantasy that was set. Worked for the gay community very well.
Speaker 1: That seemed to be something that they related to. Imagine
Speaker 1: men reigning out of the sky. If you were the
Speaker 1: kind of guy who liked men, that's perfect, you know.
Speaker 1: And so it was kind of written for that crowd.
Speaker 1: But then it crossed over. It turned out to be
Speaker 1: the perfect temple for Aerobic exercise and women used to
Speaker 1: use it in their classes and they they got to
Speaker 1: like it too. So it became, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: still got legs fifty years later, I think. May, no,
Speaker 1: maybe forty. Forty years later. And then your paths crossed
Speaker 1: with the rat pack, Sammy Davis Jr, those guys just that.
Speaker 1: He was one of my favorites, and I of the
Speaker 1: rat pack. I to work with Sammy. He may have
Speaker 1: been the only one that really that. I really did
Speaker 1: work with Joey Bishop briefly, but Sammy again, a music
Speaker 1: lesson every single time. Um, and he didn't want to rehearse. UH,
Speaker 1: he wanted it to be spontaneous really, but my wife
Speaker 1: was booking the show at the time, Kathy Vassipoli, an
Speaker 1: old show town co editor from the seventies, and she
Speaker 1: said you make him rehearse, and when he did, he said,
Speaker 1: you know how much fun this would have been if
Speaker 1: we hadn't rehearse, and I said, Damn, I U was right.
Speaker 1: You know that? That's how he was. Very spontaneous. Spontaneous. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, I'm very handsome, very handsome man too.
Speaker 1: He sure was. So do you have any experience with him? No,
Speaker 1: just just watching him, because I found him of that
Speaker 1: of that genre that that grew. He was just the
Speaker 1: most most appealing to me. Yes, he was. And of
Speaker 1: course the stage patter so elegant. It was almost British. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. He was very gentleman. With your compermission. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very dapper. Yeah, I still say that with your confirmission.
Speaker 1: People think I'm nuts, but it's not. You know, it's days.
Speaker 1: It's nice to do that. So what about Broadway? Do
Speaker 1: you go to you go to Broadway? Do you go
Speaker 1: to see shows? What have you seen? Did C Billy
Speaker 1: Crystal on Broadway. Yeah, fantastic. He lived next door to
Speaker 1: my daughter, so I got to see him quite often. No, no,
Speaker 1: he wasn't try back and he was so, such a
Speaker 1: delight all the time, always funny, always just as the
Speaker 1: daughter that said. Whatever, Martha Right, every day. That's right. Yes,
Speaker 1: I remember her, of course. Yeah, I knew her, partner
Speaker 1: to Jennifer. Yeah, the two of them bad girls. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to tell tell you about my daughter though, because, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: how was your daughter? She's got Martha's got to hear
Speaker 1: about this because she she'll be interested. My daughter is
Speaker 1: is twenty nine now, living in California. I got a
Speaker 1: son twenty three too, but my daughter has her own
Speaker 1: rescue association, Dog Rescue, called pop culture pup, and she
Speaker 1: works twenty four seven on it, rescuing animals, rescuing dogs sometimes,
Speaker 1: but in California, in Los Angeles, Um, and she wrote
Speaker 1: a book which I sent you, I think some time ago,
Speaker 1: my wife sent you anyway, talking about her experiences at
Speaker 1: rescuing and she reminds me of you because she really
Speaker 1: has the energy to make it into what I think
Speaker 1: you might call a brand. She is really what's the
Speaker 1: name of her company, pop culture, culture. Yeah, okay, Jocelyn.
Speaker 1: We have Jocelyn here, one of our producers, and Jocelyn
Speaker 1: is our pet expert and she's uh, and she so
Speaker 1: remember about pup check. Check her out. Check her out.
Speaker 1: What's your son doing? She's funny too. My son is
Speaker 1: in the second year of a Master's program which will
Speaker 1: hopefully lead him to medical school on net. He's applied.
Speaker 1: He's in Boston now, Boston. You doing this program and
Speaker 1: he's applied to forty different schools and we, you know,
Speaker 1: we only asked again. You need more doctors. We definitely
Speaker 1: need more doctors. He is a type of doctor who
Speaker 1: wants to help everybody. How Great. So two kids on
Speaker 1: their way to my wife shows all the credits. You
Speaker 1: did a great job of raising them right up here
Speaker 1: in bed. How Great. How Nice? And the schools were great. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: we have covered a lot of ground and uh, and
Speaker 1: I think that your career is one memorable. I mean
Speaker 1: we'll never ever forget the letterman show with Paul Schaefer
Speaker 1: right there in the headlines. And I and I really
Speaker 1: love talking to you and being with you this morning.
Speaker 1: I have had a gas and good to see your
Speaker 1: operation up here is is breathtaking and you were always
Speaker 1: so nice to me all through the many years and
Speaker 1: let him in this and you were nice to me.
Speaker 1: We're the we're the ones. We're scared stiff going on
Speaker 1: that show. Find to get over here and now be
Speaker 1: on your show with you. Thank you, Paul, thank you.