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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the

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Speaker 1: Thing from My Heart Radio. It's summer and that means

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Speaker 1: it's time for our tradition at Here's the Thing, where

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Speaker 1: the staff share their favorite episodes from our archives in

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Speaker 1: our Summer Staff Picks series. Next up is our producer

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Speaker 1: Kathy Russo.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Alec. Before Stephen Colbert, there was David Lehnerman. For

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Speaker 2: thirty three years, David hosted a late night TV talk show.

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Speaker 2: He is the longest serving late show host in TV history.

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Speaker 2: David is my pick because back in the day, when

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Speaker 2: I could stay up late at night watching TV, I

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Speaker 2: thought he was the best host. I loved his dry,

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Speaker 2: sarcastic sense of humor and how he paid attention to

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Speaker 2: the details. He was engaging, funny and original. When David

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Speaker 2: came on Here's a Thing, I met him in the

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Speaker 2: lobby of the building we recorded in that day, the

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Speaker 2: elevator happened to break down. David said, no problem, if

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Speaker 2: we have to take the stairs. He wasn't upset and

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Speaker 2: started asking me questions about myself. For a brief moment,

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Speaker 2: I felt like a guest on the David Letterman Show

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Speaker 2: as he followed me up five flights of stairs. Enjoy

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Speaker 2: the conversation with my two favorite host.

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Speaker 1: When David Letterman started Late Night in nineteen eighty two,

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Speaker 1: the New York Times said he was quote more of

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Speaker 1: an acquired taste than most comedians on a quote.

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Speaker 3: Now, it's time, ladies and gentlemen, for a segment of

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Speaker 3: this program that we like to call stupid petricks.

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Speaker 1: We grew up on Johnny, a true gentleman who could

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Speaker 1: deliver a smooth setup and punchline, occasionally helped by a wink.

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Speaker 1: But suddenly with Late Night, the ultimate punchline was the

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Speaker 1: fact that some gap toothed, unknown smart ass even had

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Speaker 1: a show. His pet tricks were stupid on purpose, and

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Speaker 1: so was he. Tune in and you might catch him

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Speaker 1: lowering himself into a water tank wearing a suit made

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Speaker 1: from three thousan four hundred Alka Seltzer templates.

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Speaker 3: We have the oxygen here, and I have been asked

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Speaker 3: about twelve times by various members of the staff to

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Speaker 3: remind you don't try this at home.

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Speaker 4: I know you have the nine hundred gallon tank, I

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Speaker 4: know you have the oxygen.

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Speaker 3: I know you have the suit of oxa Seltzer and

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Speaker 3: a staff of one hundred people.

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Speaker 1: Who Dave seized every opportunity to remind us that his

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Speaker 1: big network show was a ridiculous waste of time. But

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Speaker 1: if you were in on the joke, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of people were, it was also a stroke of genius.

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Speaker 3: Here's a little something the boys that Late Night R

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Speaker 3: and D have been fooling around with.

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Speaker 4: We call it sky bowling.

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Speaker 1: Today, David Letterman is an institution and has forever changed

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Speaker 1: American comedy. Before Letterman, the extended drum roll was sincere.

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Speaker 1: After Letterman, it would never be without at least a

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Speaker 1: hint of irony. His show changed America, and after thirty years,

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Speaker 1: Dave's changed as well.

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Speaker 4: I do a lot less work than I used to do.

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Speaker 3: I just got to a point where I have no

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Speaker 3: patience for meetings, so I don't go to any meetings.

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Speaker 3: I can't make decisions anymore. I don't like making decisions.

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Speaker 3: You know, we have a dozen producers. They can have

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Speaker 3: the meetings and they can make the decisions, and I'll

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Speaker 3: just come down and somebody tell me what to do

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Speaker 3: and we go.

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Speaker 4: And it was different before.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I used to be involved in everything big and large.

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Speaker 3: I don't think that was necessarily good, But at the

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Speaker 3: time I thought it was what was required when you

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Speaker 3: had your own show. You had to had to have

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Speaker 3: everything you know in your view and certainly influence each

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Speaker 3: little choice.

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Speaker 1: The guests that are on the show. Do you still

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Speaker 1: help select the guests throw or someone else takes care?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, people who select them.

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Speaker 3: Occasionally I will think of, Oh, I heard about somebody

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Speaker 3: that did so and so.

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Speaker 4: Could we look into that and this and that? Very little,

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Speaker 4: very little, I mean, these other people do that.

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Speaker 3: We've have the good luck of these people havn't been

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Speaker 3: together for a long, long, long long time.

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Speaker 4: They all know what the expectation is.

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Speaker 3: Of course, when you're in that situation, the bad version

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Speaker 3: of it is, oh God, it's the same thing. It's

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Speaker 3: the assembly line. We're just building the same car over

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Speaker 3: and over and over again. You feel that way sometimes

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Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm the biggest defender of that. I'm sixty five.

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Speaker 3: I don't have the energy I had when I was

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Speaker 3: thirty five. There are certain things I like about the

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Speaker 3: show now that I like more than before, such as

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Speaker 3: I like talking to people and the opportunity to learn something,

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Speaker 3: or if I have a natural curiosity about somebody, I

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Speaker 3: really look forward to that. Or if I have something

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Speaker 3: that I know is going to be silly and stupid

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Speaker 3: and I want my authorship out there on this something

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Speaker 3: silly and stupid, then I get eager about that. But

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Speaker 3: in the old days, we just were going twenty hours

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Speaker 3: a day. We'd be out on the streets, we'd be

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Speaker 3: going to New Jersey, we'd be up all night shooting,

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Speaker 3: and there would be contests, And I can't do that

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Speaker 3: show anymore.

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Speaker 1: The more successful the show has become, and the more

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Speaker 1: successful you would become, do you find that in terms

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Speaker 1: of programming the show you have to rely more on stars.

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Speaker 4: Is there a kind of person It's completely different.

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Speaker 3: In the beginning the Late Night Show at NBC, we

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Speaker 3: had a liaison between Johnny Carson and ourselves named Dave Tabbott.

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Speaker 3: He had worked at NBC and then had become close

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Speaker 3: with Johnny, and so Johnny hired him, and he was

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Speaker 3: a guy.

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Speaker 4: Who, honest to God, talked like this.

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Speaker 3: Dave came in to make sure there were no conflicts

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Speaker 3: between our show and the tonight show. He says, for example,

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Speaker 3: let's just say that Bob Hope is arrested for using

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Speaker 3: drugs and we just all just like, really, in what

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Speaker 3: universe is that a likelihood?

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Speaker 4: And he says you can't then do jokes about Bob Hope.

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Speaker 3: I said, okay, all right, we get that we were

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Speaker 3: not allowed to use to a monologue and we were

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Speaker 3: not allowed to have an orchestra, and we also felt

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Speaker 3: that a way to distinguish ourselves, since Johnny had the

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Speaker 3: big stars that people really.

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Speaker 4: Wanted, we would then kind of have fringe people.

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Speaker 3: That's exactly right, and so we we sort of mined

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Speaker 3: that veins, which as we could. It was sort of

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Speaker 3: a fortunate coincidence that we were prohibited in that sense

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Speaker 3: because we weren't really interested in having mainstream people on two. Again,

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Speaker 3: I don't know how effective it was, and in terms

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Speaker 3: of programming, I don't know if people noticed the difference

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Speaker 3: and appreciated it or just thought, oh, they can't get

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Speaker 3: very good guests. And now it's completely different. It's you know,

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Speaker 3: Broadway cavalcade of stars, and that's fine. I have no

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Speaker 3: problem with that. We're always fighting the Internet, and they

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Speaker 3: seem to be winning in terms of the small guests,

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Speaker 3: the kid that swims out into the East River and

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Speaker 3: saves a cat, or but We're always so far downstream

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Speaker 3: from that story by the time it's all over the

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Speaker 3: internet that there's no.

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Speaker 4: Point and putting it on.

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Speaker 3: You started in radio, Yeah, my first job was at

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Speaker 3: a radio station. You went to college, You went to

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Speaker 3: Ball State University. I studied a radio on TV.

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Speaker 4: Well, why did you study radio on TV? Academically?

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Speaker 3: You know, I went to Ball State in those days,

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Speaker 3: graduated with I think it's a bachelor of a Bachelor

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Speaker 3: of Arts or a Bachelor of Science.

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Speaker 4: I don't think that science probably back then.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, no language requirement and no math requirement. I

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Speaker 3: mean it really saved me because I was academically, I

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Speaker 3: was not very good early on.

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Speaker 4: I was very.

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Speaker 3: Lucky that I knew how to save myself. A sophomore

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Speaker 3: year in high school and I had signed up for

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Speaker 3: a public speaking course and the first day you were

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Speaker 3: supposed to get up and extemporaneously speak for five minutes.

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Speaker 3: You know, everybody's twitchy and sweaty and worried about this,

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Speaker 3: as was I. And then I got up there, the

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Speaker 3: nervousness and the twitchiness and everything dissipated. I loved it,

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Speaker 3: and I thought, oh my god, maybe this is a

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Speaker 3: way I can distinguish myself and I did you know.

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Speaker 4: But had you been the entertainer as a child in.

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Speaker 3: The household, Yeah, sure to what extent, And then my

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Speaker 3: parents wouldn't put up with it much. There was a

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Speaker 3: fine line between being always in the amusing and being

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Speaker 3: just a and being a wise ass, and we don't

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Speaker 3: like that.

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Speaker 4: I can remember my father was big and.

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Speaker 3: Loud and noisy and always had stuff going on, and

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Speaker 3: my mother completely non demonstrated. And I can remember every

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Speaker 3: Sunday night after dinner, my dad would make popcorn and

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Speaker 3: we would sit in front of the TV and watch

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Speaker 3: Ed Sullivan.

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Speaker 4: And Ed used to have this habit of walk, come on, now,

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Speaker 4: let's really hear it for him.

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Speaker 3: And my mom used to say, I don't like the

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Speaker 3: way Ed begs the audience for applause. So she was

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Speaker 3: just completely stand offish by the.

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Speaker 4: Notion she was a connoisseur of television hose and then Eric.

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Speaker 3: No, she was not a connoisseur. She resented the fact

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Speaker 3: that somebody had to be encouraged to support.

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Speaker 4: What they had just said, that Sullivan was houring himself.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right, exactly, So you go to ball stadiing

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Speaker 1: and you get this degree batcher of whatever, we don't

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Speaker 1: know you, and what do you do after that?

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Speaker 3: Well, through a friend of mine at the ABC affiliate

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Speaker 3: in Indianapolis where I lived, which was sixty miles away

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Speaker 3: from where I went to school and still is just

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Speaker 3: about sixty miles, I heard that they were auditioning for

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Speaker 3: They wanted a summer announcer. So I went down there

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Speaker 3: an audition, never having been in a television studio in

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Speaker 3: my life life, and got the job. I mean it

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Speaker 3: was a fixed fight because I had no business getting

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Speaker 3: the job. I wasn't very good, I didn't know what

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Speaker 3: I was doing, I had no experience, and they gave

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Speaker 3: me the job. And suddenly the bulb that was turned

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Speaker 3: on my sophomore year in high school now is burning

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Speaker 3: white hot because it's are you kid me? I'm nineteen

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Speaker 3: and I'm going to be on TV? I mean, it's preposterous.

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Speaker 4: What kind of job did you? I was the booth announcer,

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Speaker 4: So I can't believe you said that back when they

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Speaker 4: had booth announcers on CHEE. That's right, That's what I did.

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Speaker 4: These guys defined my childhood by the way.

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Speaker 3: These were the guys the principal responsibility was to keep

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Speaker 3: the program log.

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Speaker 1: There used to be a lot of technical glitches in television. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who had booth announcers who would pick up the slack

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Speaker 1: when something went wrong with tape the tape.

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Speaker 4: That's exactly right.

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Speaker 3: A station break was a huge process because you had

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Speaker 3: a control room, you had a director, you had two

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Speaker 3: or three sixteen millimeter projectors, you had a slide chain,

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Speaker 3: and you had the big two and a half inch

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Speaker 3: Ampex tape. Let's say you had four commercials in a

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Speaker 3: station break, then you'd have to roll the tape. Then

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Speaker 3: you'd have to count down and roll the film. Then

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Speaker 3: you'd have to go live to the booth to read

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Speaker 3: copy over a slide and went back to the film.

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Speaker 3: And it was an enormous thing. Periodically, the FCC would

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Speaker 3: come in and check your log. So it was a

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Speaker 3: big deal. At a summer job in nineteen sixty sixty eight,

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Speaker 3: I was making one hundred and fifty bucks a week.

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Speaker 3: I got to be the weekend weather man. I'd never

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Speaker 3: done that before. I got to read the news on

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Speaker 3: the morning kiddie show. And none of this would happen today.

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Speaker 3: You know, people are qualified to do that job now

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Speaker 3: much earlier than I. It certainly was, you know, like

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Speaker 3: this was Ryan Seacrest. University put him in any job

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Speaker 3: when he was nine or ten. He could have done

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Speaker 3: a better job than I'm doing now. But for me,

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Speaker 3: it was like, holy cow. So I go back to

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Speaker 3: school now, to my radio on TV studies, and all

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Speaker 3: of a sudden it's hey, there's Ducklips.

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Speaker 4: We've seen him on TV. And oh my god, what

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Speaker 4: a progression that was for me. Now that was what year.

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Speaker 3: I think I started there in sixty eight, and I say,

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Speaker 3: the war is going huh yeah, And you avoid drafts

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Speaker 3: and you avoid all in those days, you get the

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Speaker 3: student deferment. And Ballsy was principally a teacher's college in

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Speaker 3: those days, and so it wanted teachers. It was chock

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Speaker 3: full of guys who wanted that student deferment and also

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Speaker 3: the teaching deferment. I was not studying teaching. So the

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Speaker 3: minute I graduated, I was reclassified one A. Went for

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Speaker 3: my pre draft physical in April. They said, okay, we'll

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Speaker 3: call you. And then in the meantime before I was called,

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Speaker 3: Nixon announced the National Lottery. They were going to end

243
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Speaker 3: the draft. They were trying to step down the Vietnamese War.

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Speaker 3: My birthday was three hundred and forty two or something

245
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Speaker 3: like that, at A three hundred and fifty six, So

246
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Speaker 3: that meant even though I was one A and had

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Speaker 3: my pre induction physical and was ready to go, it

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Speaker 3: was over for me. At the time, I didn't know

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Speaker 3: how lucky I was. I felt guilty because I had

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Speaker 3: friends who had gone, and I had friends who had

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Speaker 3: been in the Marine Corps, and I just felt like, well,

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Speaker 3: why meet these guys went, Why shouldn't I go? And

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Speaker 3: then it dawned on me pretty quickly. I had been

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Speaker 3: among the really really lucky.

255
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Speaker 4: Course. What was the political landscape like at ball Stay

256
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Speaker 4: when you went through, Well, it was just starting too.

257
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Speaker 3: I used to make jokes that they'd have student protests,

258
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Speaker 3: but it was to get the cafeteria cooks to wear hairnets.

259
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Speaker 4: But it was.

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Speaker 3: It was creeping in. It was not a hotbed. It

261
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Speaker 3: was not Madison, Wisconsin. It was Muncie, Indiana. But it

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Speaker 3: was starting and there were sit ins and demonstrations, and

263
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Speaker 3: you know, Bobby Kennedy had spoken on campus, So it

264
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Speaker 3: was starting, but I wouldn't say it was.

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Speaker 4: It wasn't quite lit up the way it might have

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Speaker 4: been in other regions.

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Speaker 1: More after the break, you mentioned booth announcers, and I

268
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Speaker 1: remember I did a YouTube search. I wanted to find

269
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Speaker 1: this guy that was literally the voice of my childhood

270
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Speaker 1: w R. And he come on and say, you know,

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Speaker 1: next one million dollar movie, Barbara stan mctells Gary Cooper

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Speaker 1: where he can go in.

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Speaker 4: Ball of Fire? And he just said this voice it was.

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Speaker 4: It just haunted me.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's interesting you mentioned that guy I had the

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Speaker 3: little kid voice from Indiana. I wasn't that guy, but

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Speaker 3: I still had to do the job. And I can't

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Speaker 3: impress upon you enough how tedious it is to sit

279
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Speaker 3: there for eight hours watching programming and logging everything that happens.

280
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Speaker 3: If you lose audio, you have to log that. If

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Speaker 3: you lose video, you have to log that. You have

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Speaker 3: to log sign on, sign off, every commercial, every station break.

283
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Speaker 3: And at first I was scared, silly, but then, like

284
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Speaker 3: everything else, you get accustomed to it and you become blase.

285
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Speaker 3: And so I would just start wandering the building. You know,

286
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Speaker 3: it was so embarrassing. They would will a booth announcer,

287
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Speaker 3: please report to the announced booth. Oh my god, I've

288
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Speaker 3: missed the so and so the main announcer was a

289
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Speaker 3: guy named Rob Stone. Tremendous voice and a hopeless alcoholic,

290
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Speaker 3: I mean, a real alcoholic. I go hand in hand,

291
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Speaker 3: don't they, Yeah, kind of certainly. In those days it

292
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Speaker 3: was not uncommon. He would come in and he would

293
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Speaker 3: bring a pint with him, and so in the spirit

294
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Speaker 3: of this, we who were working the sign off shift,

295
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Speaker 3: we would always send somebody out for beer. And we

296
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Speaker 3: would be at the station late at night signing off,

297
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Speaker 3: and my off and the director and whomever else was there,

298
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Speaker 3: we'd be drinking beer.

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Speaker 4: Oh my, was this fun.

300
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Speaker 3: In those days you would do a five minute new

301
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,719
Speaker 3: summary before sign off night cap news, and then you

302
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,040
Speaker 3: would do the broadcast statement. You'd read that over the

303
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,400
Speaker 3: slide of the station, and then they would go to

304
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,120
Speaker 3: the national anthem with the waving Club. One night, a

305
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,080
Speaker 3: guy in the props department said, I can reconstruct exactly

306
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,880
Speaker 3: the station is pictured on the slide.

307
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Speaker 4: We can make it blow up.

308
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Speaker 3: So as you're as you're reading the I thank you

309
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,240
Speaker 3: and good night, and why not tune in WLW overnight

310
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Speaker 3: and blah blah this and so until tomorrow, good night

311
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Speaker 3: and good luck. I have the thing blow And so

312
00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,800
Speaker 3: we did Oh god. We were proud of ourselves, you know,

313
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Speaker 3: we really thought we had done something.

314
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Speaker 4: Jeez.

315
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Speaker 3: Nobody ever said anything. No, it was bizarre. Nobody got fired.

316
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Speaker 3: Nobody asked a question about it.

317
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Speaker 4: You know.

318
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Speaker 3: It was this cult of four or five guys who

319
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,440
Speaker 3: had pulled this off, and we just thought, well, this

320
00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,520
Speaker 3: is one it was fun, but two you wanted but no,

321
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Speaker 3: nobody nobody said anything.

322
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Speaker 1: But but what's interesting is from school and then doing

323
00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,080
Speaker 1: the job and so forth, and the booth thing the

324
00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:08,000
Speaker 1: comedy Gland is secreting through the entire time.

325
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Speaker 4: Yeah, what are you doing for that?

326
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Speaker 1: Meaning other than blowing up the studio and the sign

327
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Speaker 1: off writing.

328
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,560
Speaker 3: Yes, I was looking for any outlet, and it came

329
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,400
Speaker 3: for me doing the weather. I knew nothing about weather.

330
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Speaker 3: And you'd go downstairs and they'd have the ap machine

331
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Speaker 3: and the map would come over, the national map, and

332
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Speaker 3: you would go to the big magnetic board in the

333
00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:27,920
Speaker 3: studio and you put the low system, and you put

334
00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,040
Speaker 3: the high system, and you put the occluded front, and

335
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,880
Speaker 3: you put the rain showers, and so it told you

336
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,680
Speaker 3: everything anytime at all that I could monkey with at

337
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:35,680
Speaker 3: I was very happy.

338
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,040
Speaker 4: I can remember two episodes. One I was.

339
00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,200
Speaker 3: Had forecast sonny and dry, and we go off the

340
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,480
Speaker 3: air and blah blah, and I go outside this this

341
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,760
Speaker 3: is horrible thundershower. The rain is coming down in sheets.

342
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,320
Speaker 3: And I was just twenty feet away, just oblivious of this.

343
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Speaker 4: Dangerous monsoon.

344
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,360
Speaker 3: Yes, coming through, one of these violent Midwestern summer thunderstorms

345
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,600
Speaker 3: coming through, attacking the station. I got to be well

346
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,560
Speaker 3: known because this Sunday Night show was on after the

347
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,440
Speaker 3: ABC Sunday Night Movie, and in those days, that was

348
00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,520
Speaker 3: big programming. Yeah, we got a bunch of complaints. And

349
00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,920
Speaker 3: this was when people were wearing bell bottom pants. I

350
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,560
Speaker 3: don't think you could buy regular pants. Got a lot

351
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,840
Speaker 3: of calls about he's either not wearing underpants or he

352
00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,960
Speaker 3: needs to wear underpants. That's how I distinguished myself. Do

353
00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,080
Speaker 3: you want to clear that up now? Were you wearing underpants?

354
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:26,560
Speaker 4: DearS?

355
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 3: I was wearing underpants. It was Indianapolis. We're not talked

356
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,000
Speaker 3: to go out without our under Americans. It's whatever problem

357
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,520
Speaker 3: was perceived was not mine, I assure you.

358
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,040
Speaker 4: And then where do you go from there in terms

359
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,440
Speaker 4: of underpants? And well, if you wish.

360
00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,200
Speaker 3: I got tired of sitting in the booth and tired

361
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 3: of working weekends, and also they didn't want me there.

362
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,160
Speaker 3: They would keep bringing in auditions for my job. That

363
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,680
Speaker 3: really hurt my feelings. But I couldn't argue with him

364
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,880
Speaker 3: because I didn't know what I was doing. But the

365
00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,120
Speaker 3: accumulative effect of being on TV a lot there, We'll

366
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,320
Speaker 3: get this memo once from the research department, and of

367
00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,920
Speaker 3: all of the people, the anchor team and whomever else,

368
00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,399
Speaker 3: I had the highest Q rating of anybody there, and

369
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,960
Speaker 3: it was only by accident, really, So I started looking

370
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,280
Speaker 3: for a job, couldn't get hired out of the market.

371
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 3: Some people I knew were coming in to start up

372
00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,520
Speaker 3: a talk radio station, so I went to work at

373
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,359
Speaker 3: the new talk radio station in the format it was

374
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,679
Speaker 3: news Talksports WNTS. When I resigned to quit give my

375
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,280
Speaker 3: notice to the general manager. The guy sad and it

376
00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,000
Speaker 3: chilled me at the time. He said, really, you're leaving

377
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,040
Speaker 3: this TV station to go work for a brand new

378
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:33,199
Speaker 3: radio station And I said yeah, and he said you

379
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,760
Speaker 3: will never be heard of again. So I went to

380
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,399
Speaker 3: the station, worked there for a year, realized that I

381
00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:40,800
Speaker 3: had to make a move. Nobody would listen. It was

382
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,720
Speaker 3: a daytime station. This was tremendous. They had a daytime license,

383
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,240
Speaker 3: which meant the radio station come on when the sun

384
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:49,600
Speaker 3: came up and went off when the sun went down.

385
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:50,200
Speaker 4: Literally.

386
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:51,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, And in the winter we were off at three

387
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,800
Speaker 3: forty five in the afternoon. I had the mid day shift.

388
00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:57,360
Speaker 3: I'd come in at noon and two hours later I'd

389
00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:00,200
Speaker 3: be going home. It was joy afternoon, Yes, what was

390
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,679
Speaker 3: signing off? And then in the summer, conversely, you were

391
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,359
Speaker 3: on the like nine thirty or ten. It was awful.

392
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 3: It was a watergate and people assumed, well, the guy's

393
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,080
Speaker 3: got a talk show on the radio. I'll bet he

394
00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:13,840
Speaker 3: knows everything there is to know about Watergate. And I

395
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,119
Speaker 3: knew nothing, and people wouldn't call in, and I'd have

396
00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,680
Speaker 3: to read endless pages of wire copy. I remember reading

397
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,280
Speaker 3: it a sorry about Gordon stratchin str a c ch an.

398
00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,520
Speaker 3: His name kept coming up, a special Council, so and so,

399
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,960
Speaker 3: Gordon Stratchen, advisor of the White House, Gordon Stratchen. Finally

400
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,600
Speaker 3: the phones lighted up and I, thank god, did I

401
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 3: say yes? He says, it's not Stratching, it's Strawn. You're

402
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,880
Speaker 3: mispronouncing the guy's name. I said, okay, thanks you havnyanks

403
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 3: no click buzz so there you go.

404
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,400
Speaker 4: Were you ambitious during this time? Did you have an ambition? Yeah?

405
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,720
Speaker 4: I wanted to. I really thought. I really thought I

406
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,000
Speaker 4: could write half hours situation comedies. I thought I could.

407
00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:53,280
Speaker 4: What did you watch? Well?

408
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,000
Speaker 3: In my childhood it was completely different. It would have

409
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,480
Speaker 3: been stuff like Saturday Morning Nonsense. Then as I grew older,

410
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,600
Speaker 3: you'd get to Mayberry, the Andy Griffith Show, Ozzy and

411
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,719
Speaker 3: Harriet Nelson, the Nelson's and that kind of stuff. And

412
00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:08,720
Speaker 3: then later on in those days, it was all the

413
00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:10,720
Speaker 3: Mary Tyler Moore things, the Bob Newhart Show, on the

414
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,840
Speaker 3: Mary Tyler Moore Show. And I really thought, oh, I

415
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,880
Speaker 3: can write one of those Mary Tyler Moore shows, And

416
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,080
Speaker 3: it turned out I couldn't. As you know, there's a

417
00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:22,240
Speaker 3: template for writing those things. They use the template because

418
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,359
Speaker 3: it's successful. And if you don't know the template and

419
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,560
Speaker 3: you think you can make a better version of it,

420
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,040
Speaker 3: it's a very foreign object to them. To you, you think, look,

421
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,480
Speaker 3: I've improved on the template, but they don't want that.

422
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,679
Speaker 3: They want something to work. Yes, that's right. I mean

423
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,200
Speaker 3: we're talking about Mary Tyler Moore. That's pretty good stuff.

424
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,240
Speaker 4: Sure, smart And you're in LA at that time.

425
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,720
Speaker 3: No, still in Indianapolis, and I would be sending scripts

426
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,320
Speaker 3: and looking for an agent. Finally a guy said, yeah,

427
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 3: if you come to Los Angeles, he said, I'll be

428
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,879
Speaker 3: your agent. So with that encouragement, I just left. And

429
00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,280
Speaker 3: I don't know about you, but you know your friends say, okay,

430
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,320
Speaker 3: here you can meet with so and so, and you

431
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,240
Speaker 3: can meet mel Blank's son, you can meet with him,

432
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:01,680
Speaker 3: and I this one and I know that one, and so.

433
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,159
Speaker 4: You go out there with high hopes.

434
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,280
Speaker 3: I guess it was like the Pioneers and the kind

435
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,239
Speaker 3: of Stoga wagon and they run out of beans. You know,

436
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,200
Speaker 3: they're in Salt Lake and they got nothing to neat.

437
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 3: So within the first week you run through all of

438
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,480
Speaker 3: your appointments and then you got nothing.

439
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,840
Speaker 1: Then you're a shanghaied. That's right, You're just you're just

440
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,800
Speaker 1: on the shoals there in LA. I remember when I

441
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,320
Speaker 1: went to LA. I did a soap opera at thirty Rock.

442
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:25,440
Speaker 1: The show was about to go off the air, and

443
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,359
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this guy that was the producer. You

444
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 1: were in the hallway and they asked me to extend

445
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,600
Speaker 1: my contract for a few months, and he says that

446
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 1: line to me. He says, what do you think you're

447
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 1: gonna do? Go out to Hollywood become a star in

448
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,440
Speaker 1: the movies. I'm walking down the hallie, dude.

449
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,440
Speaker 4: Listen to me, come back here. You you don't walk

450
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 4: away from me and I walk away from the guy

451
00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:46,440
Speaker 4: and I go to La. Now were you ever haunted

452
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,560
Speaker 4: by that? Did you? Honestly?

453
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:48,840
Speaker 3: Did you?

454
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 4: Did you?

455
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,440
Speaker 3: Because in my case, I thought the guy was. I said,

456
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,440
Speaker 3: oh yeah, I haven't considered that.

457
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,679
Speaker 4: Of course you do. Did you ever think you were

458
00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 4: going to be?

459
00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,159
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to get you know, crass

460
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,080
Speaker 1: about it, but you live a very very good life.

461
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 4: You've been an enormously successful man. Did you ever dream

462
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:06,959
Speaker 4: you would be as successful as you are?

463
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 3: No? Never, No, And I'll tell you the same for you,

464
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,000
Speaker 3: same for most people in this uh in show business.

465
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 3: You're just lucky enough to get to do exactly what

466
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 3: you want to do all your life. So that's the success,

467
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:19,639
Speaker 3: you know.

468
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,239
Speaker 1: I always thought there was some commission that was going

469
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 1: to come to my door of my apartment I was

470
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:25,640
Speaker 1: living in West Hollywood, and they were not or they're

471
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: going to where the Motion Picture Acting Commission. And we've

472
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: got the reports, say mister balbmon, we're going to take.

473
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:30,480
Speaker 4: You to theirport.

474
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,439
Speaker 3: By the way, I think you're not going to get

475
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,960
Speaker 3: into I know the origin of this is is your

476
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,439
Speaker 3: personal fear. But I think that commission is not a

477
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 3: bad idea and long overdue, honest to God. Can we

478
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 3: get that up and on its feet?

479
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 4: Can we get a bill?

480
00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,040
Speaker 3: I remember there was a guy, a writer for the

481
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,639
Speaker 3: Old Tonight Show, somebody coin his His listing in the

482
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 3: white pages was say it's Marty Cohen. It was not

483
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,680
Speaker 3: Marty Cohen, Marty Cohen, president of show Business.

484
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:01,080
Speaker 4: I mean, oh, that's lovely. Were you Were you doing

485
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,879
Speaker 4: stand up ever in Indiana? No, never did it.

486
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,439
Speaker 3: In fact, one of the things that I didn't like

487
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 3: doing was when I was at the radio station. Part

488
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,480
Speaker 3: of the deal was we just sold a thing to

489
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,760
Speaker 3: Kroger grocery stores. But part of the deal is we

490
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 3: want you to go out there and m see the

491
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,119
Speaker 3: so and so on so, and I hated it, and

492
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 3: I finally told the guy, said I can't do this.

493
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 3: So one of my big built in fears was getting

494
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:22,040
Speaker 3: up in front of people that I didn't know on

495
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,720
Speaker 3: trying to hold their attention. Let alone be funny, but

496
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 3: for me. The road map to pursue was handed to

497
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 3: you via Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show. They would

498
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 3: have comics on. It would be David Brenner and they

499
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 3: would say, and there'll be appearing at the Comedy Store.

500
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 3: It seemed to be that the connection between the Comedy

501
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 3: Store and the Tonight Show was pretty close.

502
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,399
Speaker 4: So even though I mind that facility, that particular face.

503
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was the farm system for the Comedy Store,

504
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,080
Speaker 3: and great guys were coming out and getting on and

505
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,080
Speaker 3: Steve Landsberg and on and on.

506
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 4: I say on and on because I can't remember the name.

507
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 3: So I just yeah, even though I wanted to be

508
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,120
Speaker 3: a writer, because I didn't have the courage to tell

509
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,199
Speaker 3: my family and friends that what I really want to

510
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 3: do is, you know, somehow get famous and be on TV.

511
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 3: So when I went out there the first monday I

512
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 3: was in California when I moved in seventy five, I

513
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,120
Speaker 3: wrote down some stuff and went to the Comedy Store

514
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:16,919
Speaker 3: and got on stage.

515
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,480
Speaker 4: Had to go. It was it was awful.

516
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 3: I'd never been in a darkened room of the spotlight

517
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 3: and it was just like a train coming at me.

518
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 3: So I did my little five minutes from wrote left,

519
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,680
Speaker 3: and then the owner of the place.

520
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, you should come back and do some more.

521
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,439
Speaker 3: So I thought, are you kidding men? She said, no,

522
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 3: you can MC So I came back and I was

523
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 3: the mc fantas.

524
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,720
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, Derek great.

525
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,400
Speaker 3: So that was nineteen seventy five, nineteen seventy eight. Three

526
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 3: years later I was on the Tonight Show. That worked

527
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 3: so much better than it should have. I think it

528
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:54,919
Speaker 3: must be harder now too.

529
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 1: It wasn't three years of just working that room and

530
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 1: working the mic and working stand up.

531
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it was.

532
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 3: I mean it was fun because every night you go

533
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 3: there and you were hanging around guys Jay Leno and

534
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 3: Robin Williams and George Miller and Tom Dreesen and Jeff

535
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 3: Altman and anybody now who is you're aware of you

536
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 3: would see every night and it was great fun. I mean,

537
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 3: my god, it was great fun. Didn't make any difference

538
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 3: what you did during the day. You knew that when

539
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,800
Speaker 3: it got dark you'd be on Sunset Boulevard.

540
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:22,919
Speaker 4: The place would be packed.

541
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 3: And in those days, the only room she had was

542
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 3: this tiny, little original room and it was next door

543
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,760
Speaker 3: to Art Labelle's. He would have a fifties dance party

544
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 3: in the next room on the weekends, and you would

545
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 3: get a lot of gang guys going to art Labelle's

546
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 3: fifties guys.

547
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 4: No, it was gang then biker barrio. Oh okay, is

548
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,120
Speaker 4: that all right? Yeah, Lowriders, Yeah okay.

549
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,159
Speaker 3: And one night a friend of mine, Johnny Dark, is

550
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 3: on stage and a guy comes up and he's got

551
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 3: a gun and he's standing next to Johnny while Johnny's

552
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,640
Speaker 3: doing his little singing impressions of whomever, and he had

553
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 3: to quietly, you know, talk his way out of the

554
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 3: guy using the gun. And it was exciting, souse. I mean,

555
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 3: Richard Pryor would come in, and Freddie Prinz would come in,

556
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 3: So you say, yeah, night after night.

557
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 4: But still in all how could that not be fun?

558
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 4: So did Carson find you there?

559
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 3: Well, they had a guy, you know, they had a

560
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 3: team of guys when I was there that would come

561
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,200
Speaker 3: in and in the meantime I got on this Mary

562
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 3: Tyler Moore show to write and perform, and oh that

563
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,199
Speaker 3: was it was me and Michael Keaton, Jim Hampton and

564
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 3: Dick Sean and Swuusy Kurtz and Julie Khan.

565
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 4: Judy Khn, Judy Cohn, thank you very much.

566
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 3: So from that show, they said, oh, well we'll put

567
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 3: you on because you're on that show. You can come

568
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:46,920
Speaker 3: out and do stand up and then you go sit

569
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 3: down and talk to Johnny. And without that, you never

570
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:51,920
Speaker 3: know what the formula is. You could be on nine

571
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,919
Speaker 3: times and never get to sit down with Johnny. You

572
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 3: could be on for six years and ever, or you

573
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 3: could be bumped forty times. But because of this, oh

574
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 3: and he's a hearing on the so and so show

575
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,880
Speaker 3: to Mary Tyler Moore show, I got to sit down

576
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 3: with Johnny and that was again, that was craziness. That

577
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 3: was That was another one of those you know what,

578
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's such a jolt. The material is so committed.

579
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:17,399
Speaker 3: You don't have to think about anything. You just have

580
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 3: to start talking and it all comes out. The adrenaline

581
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 3: takes days to burn out of you. Holy God, you're

582
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 3: sitting next to Johnny Carson. I mean, you just can't

583
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 3: believe it. I mean to me, and I think most

584
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 3: guys my age who were out there doing that one.

585
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 3: The fact that it worked. You know, really, I drove

586
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 3: in a pickup truck with my wife to La and

587
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,640
Speaker 3: three years later, I'm sitting next to Johnny Carson. That's

588
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 3: not supposed to happen, you know, it's just not supposed

589
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 3: to happen, but it did.

590
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: Now do you think that Carson was someone who do

591
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:46,640
Speaker 1: you think he saw himself?

592
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 4: And you? Do you think he saw the midwestern boy?

593
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 4: I don't know, Jean and you, I don't know.

594
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 3: I mean, it was so easy for other people to

595
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 3: make that comparison, and that seemed to be the formula.

596
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 3: But I don't know if he felt that way or not.

597
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 3: I don't I can't answer that. And then what happened

598
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 3: after that, Well, your life changed immediately. Suddenly you weren't

599
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 3: just a guy who was at the comedy store. You

600
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 3: were the guy that had been on with the Carson.

601
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 3: And then I was on I think two or three

602
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,959
Speaker 3: more times, and then I started hosting the show, and

603
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 3: again that was another you know, you just feel like

604
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 3: it's like it's like winning the World Series or your

605
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 3: rookie season.

606
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,400
Speaker 1: What's the gap of time between when you first sat

607
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 1: down with him when you started hosting.

608
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 3: The first time I was on was November of seventy eight,

609
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 3: and I think I hosted it was Monday night opposite

610
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 3: the Academy Awards so.

611
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 4: It was the good Spring. Yeah, in April, April, March April,

612
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 4: y know, things to Do party, Yeah, and it was

613
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 4: I was just frozen. I was just frozen. I can

614
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,679
Speaker 4: remember Peter le Sally coming up to me during the

615
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,680
Speaker 4: commercial break and he said, you've got to loosen up.

616
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,680
Speaker 4: You've got to loosen up, and they get that. Thanks

617
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 4: for that tip Page forty.

618
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 3: I remember the first night I was on the Tonight

619
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,679
Speaker 3: Show and I I'm telling you, for guys at the

620
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 3: Comedy Store, this was it. This was like people lining

621
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,479
Speaker 3: up to squeeze through a funnel, you know.

622
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 4: This was it. The Tonight Show.

623
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 3: Fighting and competition and backstabbing and bad mouth to get

624
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 3: to the Tonight Show is going to make or break you.

625
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,440
Speaker 3: If if you don't do well, you'll never be heard

626
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,479
Speaker 3: of again. There's no such thing as a guy bombing

627
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 3: his first time on the Tonight Show and then having

628
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,359
Speaker 3: a delightful career that just doesn't happen.

629
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 4: You're gone. So there's a lot of pressure.

630
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:29,959
Speaker 3: So I'm getting ready to go out there just behind

631
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 3: the curtain. And my manager at the time, Buddy Moore,

632
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 3: who was with Jack Rollins and John Charles Joffey. They

633
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 3: handled Robin Williams and Woody Allen and Dick Cabot and

634
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,239
Speaker 3: some other guys. So that was a big deal for

635
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 3: me to be with these people. And Buddy and I

636
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,520
Speaker 3: nice enough guy, but we never never saw eyed eye

637
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 3: on much. And I think a lot of it was

638
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 3: my immaturity about show business, or just ignorance.

639
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 4: Not immaturity. I had no time to be immature. I

640
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 4: was ignorant.

641
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,040
Speaker 3: So we're standing there and Johnny saying our next he

642
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,560
Speaker 3: asked as a young blah blah blah blah, and Buddy

643
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 3: says to me, and Buddy always whispered. Everything was a whisperer, Buddy,

644
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 3: he says. Robin got popeye, and I said, what are

645
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 3: you talking about? His final words to me is, I'm

646
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 3: going to let the night show for the first time

647
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 3: telling me about a booking for.

648
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 4: One of his other clients, you know. And I just

649
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 4: never got over that.

650
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: This is Alec Boordman, and I'm talking with David Letterman

651
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:42,000
Speaker 1: more in a minute.

652
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 4: You know, you're a lot mellower now than you were.

653
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, And you'd say that when you did the show,

654
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: no matter how crazy or how wired you and the

655
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 1: whole experience was of the early show and you said

656
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 1: running around doing all the taking and all the other

657
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: bits and so forth, and contests and everything.

658
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 4: But I mean, just your own nature.

659
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: Seems like there was a kind of a an edge

660
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: to it that you've lost. But you seem like you

661
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: really just become like so much more. What's the word charming?

662
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know by the rule, but I know

663
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 3: exactly what you're talking about, And the fact that it's

664
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 3: noticeable by others is an indication that maybe I'm on

665
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 3: the right track because, to the exclusion of every other

666
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 3: thing in my life, it was the success of this show.

667
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 3: As a result, I waited to have a child twenty

668
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 3: years too long. I just didn't do anything else. It

669
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 3: was the show and it had to be the show.

670
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 3: And if it wasn't the show, then find out a

671
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 3: way to make it the show.

672
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 4: And did you come from that world?

673
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 1: Like Lauren, for example, says to me he lives a

674
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 1: life where his creator was work is play, Like we

675
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 1: have this interesting jobs, you know, you don't stop working

676
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 1: to so that's.

677
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 4: Part of it.

678
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 3: And that is one of the great residuals of you know,

679
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 3: you're around all these funny people and you have silly ideas,

680
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 3: and you have silly conversations in life yourself sick. But

681
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 3: for me, it was like, oh my god, you know,

682
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 3: if I fail at this, it's all gone away. You know,

683
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 3: if you fail at this, you get to get at

684
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 3: the end of the line, and the line keeps getting longer,

685
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 3: so to the exclusion of other important things, other aspects

686
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 3: of life. I pursued the show. Then that changed, finally changed.

687
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 3: Did you want it to change? No, at the time,

688
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't know there was another way to

689
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 3: live your life. I thought you had to keep banging

690
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 3: your head and banging your head and banging your head.

691
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 3: And I kept saying to myself, this is what they say.

692
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 3: It's like pushing a rock up hill. It's like pushing

693
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 3: a rock up hill, and one day everything will change,

694
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 3: everything will be great, you'll succeed, and everything will well.

695
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 3: It never it never quite worked that way for me.

696
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 3: I think, well, not too difficult to assume that this

697
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 3: is one of the reasons I had the quintuple bypass surgery.

698
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 4: Uh.

699
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 3: And then my doctor he said, you know, he says,

700
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,280
Speaker 3: you don't have to be this way flogging yourself. Yeah,

701
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 3: he said, you can delegate yeah, or you can. He says,

702
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 3: there are they've made pharmaceutical advancements. Here, you can help yourself.

703
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 3: And I said, no, no, no, no, I can't because

704
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 3: that would ruin this and that would ruin that. And

705
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 3: and then Regina got we were able to get pregnant.

706
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 4: I went into this stark, raving anxious depression when she

707
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 4: got pregnant. Yeah, why well I was fine with it.

708
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 3: I thought, if not now when you know, and she

709
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 3: had wanted to have kids, like I said, fifteen twenty

710
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 3: years earlier. And so this is a very complicated, uninteresting story,

711
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 3: and it has it has to do with being on

712
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 3: the shingle, having shingles, and being on exotic pain medication

713
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 3: for the shingles, and getting fed up with the exotic

714
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 3: pain medication and saying to the pain doctor I'm done,

715
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 3: I'm not taking it anymore. And he said, well, you know,

716
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 3: a lot of those things you can't just I said,

717
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 3: forget it. Click and I stopped taking these things, and

718
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 3: within a couple of days I just turned into this

719
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 3: twitching Unicell altered states.

720
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was very odd.

721
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,880
Speaker 3: And the guy said, well, you're in an anxious depression

722
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 3: and lucid you know, there are things we can do

723
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 3: here to help you out, and I said, I'll try

724
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 3: anything because I can't go on like this. And so

725
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 3: it was a small dose of an SSRI. Suddenly I realized,

726
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 3: I can have myself, my personality, the person that I've known,

727
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 3: and then lose what was detracting, what was hurting, what

728
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 3: was actually an impediment, groom.

729
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: Out the things that you wanted to groom out. And

730
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 1: when I came to the show business, and I was

731
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles sleeping, and I was like Gomer Pyle,

732
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I swear to God, I came to work

733
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 1: in this. I really I have trouble that you were

734
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: no really, but I don't mean in terms of lacking

735
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: any sophistication. But they would give me. I'll never forget

736
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,600
Speaker 1: the first job I got. I go to an audition.

737
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 1: I'd done that the soap in New York. And they

738
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 1: paid you, you know, a very small amount of money,

739
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 1: and I thought I was Rockefeller. They paid you four

740
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty bucks a day. I was the richest

741
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: member of my family. My dad was a school teacher

742
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 1: with six kids. He didn't make any money. And I

743
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: go out to LA and I'll never forget. But I

744
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: go to the old Lauramar, which is now Sony and

745
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 1: I go to the gate at Lauramar. I say, Alec Baldwin.

746
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: He's like, you know, here's your map. You're parking and

747
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: building sixty seven, ninth floor, slot red twelve.

748
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 4: And they sent me to like, you know, the Ukraine.

749
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,719
Speaker 1: I gotta go all the way and I go, Now,

750
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 1: where's the office I'm going to for the meeting? He

751
00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,359
Speaker 1: goes right over there, right next to me. So I go,

752
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: I park the car, trot all the way down, do

753
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,240
Speaker 1: an audition for the show. Not's landing. I get done

754
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 1: and I leave the thing and no cell phones. Then

755
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 1: this is nineteen eighty three, and so I pull up

756
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,319
Speaker 1: to a phone booth. I call my agent. It's late

757
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 1: in the afternoon. They're still in the office.

758
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 4: He goes, how did it go? I go, how did

759
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 4: it go? I think it went pretty well, pretty well,

760
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 4: you moron. They want to hire you, And I.

761
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,359
Speaker 1: Go, you're kidding me, he goes, He goes, yeah, of course,

762
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,080
Speaker 1: He goes, we're making a deal right now. We're closing

763
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: the deal right now. You're gonna get twenty five for

764
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 1: the pilot and twelve five an episode, and I swear

765
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 1: to God, coming from my background, I went go, wait,

766
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:48,799
Speaker 1: y'all won't pay me twenty five one hundred dollars for

767
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 1: the pilot and twelve hundred and fifty dollars per episode

768
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 1: every week. And he's like, no, you Maron, They're gonna

769
00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:57,800
Speaker 1: pay you twenty five thousand for the pilot and twelve thousand,

770
00:34:57,840 --> 00:34:58,800
Speaker 1: five hundred episode.

771
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 4: And I literally urinated in my trousers.

772
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 1: And I'm standing in a phone booth on the corner

773
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: of like, you know, Walker and Washington in Culver City,

774
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,320
Speaker 1: and the guy tells me this, and that's when my life.

775
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 4: Changed for me.

776
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,959
Speaker 3: It was always you were competing against yourself. We didn't

777
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 3: go out and do a lot of reading.

778
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 4: You know.

779
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 3: Sometimes I remember there was a the Jackson five had

780
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 3: a summer show, so they would say, we need comics,

781
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 3: and so they'd call the comedy store, and you know,

782
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 3: if Mitzie liked, you'd get to go beyond the Jackson

783
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:29,399
Speaker 3: five show. So it was never so much of one

784
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 3: guy over another. Or there would be shows like the

785
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,399
Speaker 3: Midnight Special or Don Kershner's Rock Concert that they would

786
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 3: routinely use comics. So there was plenty of work and

787
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 3: it wasn't I think as in acting as you describe

788
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 3: guys elbowing each other out and higher ups wanting to

789
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:45,400
Speaker 3: step on their hands and hurt their feelings.

790
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 1: But when you've done the show back from the NBC

791
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: days and now through the many years at CBS, it's

792
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,560
Speaker 1: a very hermetic situation for you, and nobody bothers you,

793
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,879
Speaker 1: and there's ever questions about your budget, and there's every question,

794
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: but nobody calls you. You't have to deal with that,

795
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 1: or do you have to fight with the network about

796
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 1: things like other shows too.

797
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,879
Speaker 3: Well, never a fight. It's a negotiation. But we don't

798
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:06,760
Speaker 3: have the fight. You know, if we want to do something,

799
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:08,839
Speaker 3: we can pretty much do it. And again, what we

800
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 3: want to do now is far different level in scope

801
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 3: than we wanted to do when we're because when we

802
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 3: came into this show, myself and Marilyn, the writers, we

803
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 3: just thought, oh, America has been waiting for us. We're

804
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:24,000
Speaker 3: going to change the face of television for America. And boy,

805
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:25,879
Speaker 3: it didn't happen that way, you know, it just didn't

806
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 3: happen that way at all. We did a sketch on

807
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 3: the old Late Night Show and it was with one

808
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 3: of the writers Tom Gamble and it was Dale the

809
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 3: Psychotic page. We had to set up nine holes of

810
00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 3: a miniature golf course. He would come in with an

811
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,959
Speaker 3: NBC page blazer and he would play miniature golf, and

812
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,240
Speaker 3: with each failing attempt on the whole, he would become

813
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 3: more and more psychotic. There's your comedy, America. This is

814
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,839
Speaker 3: what you've been waiting for. Yeah, aren't you glad we're here?

815
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:54,280
Speaker 4: Breath?

816
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: I love on your show. I haven't done this in

817
00:36:56,719 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 1: a while. I miss it because everything. I guess they

818
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 1: can't do this stuff all the time, and maybe this

819
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: bit is a victim of global warming. But I get

820
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 1: there one time and they want me to ride the

821
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 1: snowmobile on the roof of the building years ago. Yeah,

822
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: they're all very droll, you know. And Biff always calls

823
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,880
Speaker 1: me Alex. I love that you're on the roof and snowing,

824
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: and we're on the roof of your building at snow

825
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:15,040
Speaker 1: I'm best.

826
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,400
Speaker 4: Like, Okay, not Alex.

827
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:21,320
Speaker 1: You're gonna ride a snowmobile around the roof a few times.

828
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be man, I never can it and catch

829
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 4: you to keep you from going over the side. Is

830
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:26,640
Speaker 4: that all right?

831
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:27,279
Speaker 3: All right?

832
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:27,720
Speaker 1: Alex.

833
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm like, great, let me go. I have danger.

834
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 4: You know, I love it. Elements.

835
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 3: Well, I was thinking about a year ago I was

836
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 3: looking around the ed Solovo Theater. What a tremendous stroke

837
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 3: of luck that was. I used to love working in

838
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 3: the studio, and I remember one day running into Lord Michaels.

839
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 3: He said to me, how long did it take you

840
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 3: to get used to doing a TV show in a theater?

841
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,839
Speaker 3: And I knew exactly what he was saying, because to him,

842
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 3: TV comes out of a studio. And I always felt

843
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:58,360
Speaker 3: that way myself. But I've really grown fond.

844
00:37:58,160 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 4: Of the theater.

845
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 3: It's CBS the Theater for reasons like that and many more.

846
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 3: It's comfortable, it's fun, it's smells of decades and decades

847
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 3: and decades of show business there. There's tunnels and alleys

848
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 3: and rats. But it's fantastic. I mean, it's just so

849
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 3: versatile and so great. And also the way Hal set

850
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 3: it up in the beginning, it's fairly intimate. I mean,

851
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,239
Speaker 3: you can have a pretty reasonable conversation there in this

852
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 3: five hundred seat room, and so I think it works

853
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 3: fine as a TV studio.

854
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,319
Speaker 4: Now, what's a good show for you?

855
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: Now, well, it defines a good show for well, you know,

856
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,799
Speaker 1: I think the last time you were on, I say this,

857
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 1: of course it, you know, suck up.

858
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:42,480
Speaker 3: It was a very pleasant, easy give and take in exchange.

859
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 3: I love it when a good, smart, funny guy just

860
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,160
Speaker 3: comes right back at me, you know, in the beginning,

861
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 3: when he's so mean, why is he mean to everybody?

862
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 3: And I never thought I was being mean. I just

863
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:54,840
Speaker 3: thought I was, you know, goofing around.

864
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 4: Yeah.

865
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:57,839
Speaker 3: So when you were coming on and you were going

866
00:38:57,880 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 3: after me, ah, that was delightful.

867
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:00,040
Speaker 4: I love that.

868
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: For those segment producers who you work with, I mean,

869
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 1: it took me a while to be able to. I

870
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:05,040
Speaker 1: mean I would do the show with you a number

871
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: of times, and the segment producers would they would say

872
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:07,759
Speaker 1: that to you.

873
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 4: They'd say to you know, no, give it back to me. Yeah,

874
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:10,319
Speaker 4: he loves that.

875
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 3: Give it back to so many people, I think that

876
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 3: runs against their nature. Other people are ill equipped to

877
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,960
Speaker 3: do that. But there are a few like yourself, And

878
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 3: to me, that's you know. We heading him on a

879
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago, Sean Hayes, and I hadn't seen

880
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:26,479
Speaker 3: him in years. He had been across the street during

881
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 3: here we go high hoe promises or whatever that show was, Promises, promises,

882
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:34,760
Speaker 3: and the kid comes out and god, he was funny.

883
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,400
Speaker 3: I mean just from the jump he was funny, and

884
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:40,280
Speaker 3: I just thought, this is fantastic, This is just great.

885
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 3: You know, if you can't be entertained by your own show,

886
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:44,959
Speaker 3: you got the wrong you know, you get the wrong

887
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:45,880
Speaker 3: part of the channel.

888
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:47,280
Speaker 4: So that was good.

889
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 1: You live a pretty under the radar lifestyle. Do you

890
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 1: do that by choice? Well, a very quiet private life.

891
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 3: First of all, I don't get invited many places. Secondly,

892
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,399
Speaker 3: I just you know, you do the show and all

893
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 3: of that comes to you during the day. You know,

894
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,879
Speaker 3: you have the same people at the gala, the same

895
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:08,879
Speaker 3: people at the opening, the same people of benefit.

896
00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 4: Will be share with that expression of all that for you.

897
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,080
Speaker 3: So I don't feel the need to go seek that.

898
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 3: And secondly, like so many people, I'm uncomfortable with large

899
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Speaker 3: groups of strangers. I mean I think people are And

900
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:21,480
Speaker 3: what is your downtime like? Now?

901
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:22,200
Speaker 4: What do you like to do?

902
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:26,280
Speaker 3: Well, sleep is a precious commodity. There's virtually no sleep

903
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 3: between my eight year old son and my two year

904
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 3: old dog and my wife. My wife, honest to god,

905
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:34,759
Speaker 3: has not slept eight hours in eight years. I mean

906
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 3: she'll go to bed at midnight, get up at six,

907
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:38,880
Speaker 3: so that's six hours. You can do that once or twice,

908
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,960
Speaker 3: you know, like when you're eighteen and you're in the Marines.

909
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,279
Speaker 4: I'm doing that from insomnia. I have terminals. That's it.

910
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 3: Now, explain to me when you were in the audience

911
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,320
Speaker 3: back at six A and you raise your hand and

912
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 3: had a question.

913
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 4: What was that and how did that happen? When you

914
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 4: did the NBC show. Yeah, there was a woman and

915
00:40:57,760 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 4: she was a writer and she was.

916
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:02,520
Speaker 1: An associate producer on our show. She was friends with

917
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,000
Speaker 1: Ackroyd and Blue She and all that original Saturday Night

918
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 1: Live crowd. And this woman's name was surely something and

919
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:11,800
Speaker 1: she was a show. She's going to reach out to

920
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: us now when she hears this podcast. We have to

921
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 1: broadcast this section of it so we can get a

922
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: hold of her. And she was the one that came

923
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:20,759
Speaker 1: to me and through some connection said they want you

924
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 1: to come on. Let have been to do that thing

925
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: and ask but do you remember what the bit was?

926
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 3: I have no idea, but you were objecting to something.

927
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,399
Speaker 3: Something had rubbed you the wrong way and was register

928
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,200
Speaker 3: or complaint. That was a complaint about you and your

929
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 3: your taste.

930
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:38,239
Speaker 4: That's exactly right. Yeah, that was tremendous. That was just great.

931
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:40,360
Speaker 4: So when you're not fighting insomnia, what is do you

932
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 4: like to travel? Oh? Travel?

933
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:43,359
Speaker 3: You do things when you have an eight year old,

934
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 3: as you know, when you have a child, you do

935
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:46,919
Speaker 3: things you never thought you would do, and it's fun.

936
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 3: We went to Alaska a few weeks ago because it

937
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 3: was my birthday, and I was talking to my son

938
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,919
Speaker 3: and I said, well, you know, we're thinking about maybe

939
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 3: going up to Alaska. This guy tells me there's a

940
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:00,440
Speaker 3: place to ski up.

941
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 4: There, and he said, oh, let's go to Alaska.

942
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 3: And so I said, well, you know, we're still thinking

943
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:05,840
Speaker 3: about it and still thinking about it. And then I

944
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 3: hear from Regina that now Harry has gone to school

945
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:09,880
Speaker 3: and told everybody.

946
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,800
Speaker 4: That hey, daddy and me and mom are going to Alaska.

947
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 3: And I thought, holy crap, we're going to Alaska. So

948
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,800
Speaker 3: a lot of that stuff is kid driven. And you know,

949
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,080
Speaker 3: I'm all for no tennis, no golf, No no tennis,

950
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,759
Speaker 3: no golf, no movies. I see plenty of movies, see

951
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 3: all the Oh no, not at home so much it's

952
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:29,399
Speaker 3: it's all with the kid.

953
00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:31,720
Speaker 4: Do you find that your son. This is very common.

954
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 4: He pulls you into the world, into his world, and.

955
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: You have to show up at things right and show

956
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:38,560
Speaker 1: up at places, and everybody treats you very respectfully.

957
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 4: People are there as a dad. Yeah.

958
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,880
Speaker 3: The last time anything untoward happened was a Christmas party.

959
00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 3: My wife has his friends with a very famous couple,

960
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 3: and I have great admiration for the couple their family.

961
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,280
Speaker 3: Just I think more people should be like these people.

962
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 3: I just and and as a result, I'm afraid to

963
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,920
Speaker 3: be around them because you know, I'm I'm ducklips and

964
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 3: they yeah, oh, I make myself look bad. Went to

965
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 3: a Christmas party and it was so packed that you

966
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 3: couldn't move. It was all vertical. Nothing happened horizontally, and

967
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,320
Speaker 3: as people kind of from their positions about the apartment

968
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 3: spotted me, it was it was as though there was

969
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 3: methane gas leaking in the apartment. It was, oh no,

970
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,960
Speaker 3: and it's the holidays, and why is he?

971
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:29,800
Speaker 2: No?

972
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,479
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, come on, true story. People love you. People

973
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 4: don't love people love you. People love you? Yeah no, no, no,

974
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,320
Speaker 4: no people people. But the thing is is that that you.

975
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,719
Speaker 4: You get a lot of that quotion on the job,

976
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,000
Speaker 4: and then when the job's over, you want to go home.

977
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,400
Speaker 3: That's right, That's exactly right, And especially now with with

978
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,239
Speaker 3: the eight year old, because you know, and I feel

979
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 3: stupid talking about it because I'm like the fortieth billionth

980
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:55,120
Speaker 3: person to have a child.

981
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,600
Speaker 4: So I have I have no I have no insights.

982
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,239
Speaker 4: He might claim he has no insights.

983
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 1: But if David Letterman ever writes a book on parenting,

984
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: it's guaranteed to be a bestseller.

985
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 4: I want to thank you for doing this. Are we done?

986
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,120
Speaker 4: I don't want to be done. Isn't it time to

987
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:13,879
Speaker 4: be done? We're done?

988
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 3: Now?

989
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 4: Where would a person hear this? If a person wanted

990
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:16,400
Speaker 4: to hear this.

991
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:18,080
Speaker 1: This might be a good time to tell you that

992
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,759
Speaker 1: you can hear other conversations at Here's the Thing dot Org.

993
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 4: I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the Thing is brought to you

994
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:26,520
Speaker 4: by iHeart Radio.