“From the Illinois State Fair Poultry Barn...”

It is Episode 6,008

April 22, 2015

“And now . . . the last man to set foot on the moon . . . David Letterman,” begins an Earth Day-focused monologue. Even the first joke begins with Dave announcing he is doing the show with no energy. Dave, in his later years on the show, was deeply interested in the environment and global warming. His first television project after the end of the Late Show was the series Years of Living Dangerously (2016), in which he travels to India to explore solar energy. 

Bill Scheft: I think Dave is remarkably self-taught. He had a lot of interests that he developed late, and he pursued them. The planet was one of them.  

Randi Grossack: He is so smart. I learned just listening to him talk sometimes in the later years, when he became so involved in the environmental stuff and feeding people. 

The desk piece is a best-of video of astronaut Buzz Aldrin at the 2000 Daytime Emmys. The Top Ten List is “Things You Don’t Want to Hear from Your Receptionist.” It is Administrative Professional Day, so the list is read by Worldwide Pants receptionist Art Kelly.

Bruce Willis is the first guest. This is his sixty-first appearance with Dave. His normal bit was to come out with some sort of comic hairpiece. Tonight he arrives dressed as he did on his first appearance, on December 9, 1985. They found the same shirt and vest and a wig to match that David Addison hair he had back in ‘85. Bruce Willis was always loyal to the Late Show. His sixty-one appearances prove that. He was always game to do a pre-taped bit, usually tied to a fad of the moment. 

Brian Teta: Bruce is always one of those guests you get nervous for. Maria Pope [former executive producer] and Matt Roberts did most of Bruce’s segments. I started doing them the last couple of years. This was Mike Buczkiewicz and I working together. There is just a high bar and expectation level for a Bruce segment. The idea of doing the last one was intimidating. Bruce was game for anything, to his credit. He went for the idea of re-creating his first appearance right away. 

Joe Grossman: There were some guests who would come on and want some prepared material, like Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey. The writers would pitch some ideas, and the segment producers would pick the ideas that they hoped the guests would pick. One of the better Bruce Willis pieces was him pretending to be an intern for a day at the show, and it was done as an action movie. I think Lee and Jeremy wrote that, and it was a very good piece. 

Kathy Mavrikakis: We needed a big lead-in time for Bruce, because usually a wig needed to be created. Usually a suit needed to be purchased, some unusual prop or an exploding thing. 

Photo courtesy of Brian Teta.

Jim Gaffigan is the second guest. A fellow Indiana comedian, he answers questions from Dave that allow him to do bits from his stand-up routine. Gaffigan would appear on CBS Sunday Morning three days before the end of the Late Show to explain how much Dave meant to him.

Musical Guest

Dawes is the musical guest. Dave introduces the group’s performance of “Things Happen” with: “If you are looking for a rock ’n’ roll band, this is all you want.” That is the song that aired on the show, but they also performed a bonus song for an online exclusive for CBS.com and YouTube.

Rick Scheckman: Dave would often ask a musician to play a bonus song if it was one he liked. Then it would only be aired on the internet.

Dawes’s bonus song is a song written by one of Dave’s favorite songwriters, Warren Zevon. Dave takes his suit coat off and stands in front of Dawes and addresses the studio audience about how much the late Warren Zevon meant to him. This video was posted on YouTube.

Dave says Dawes “is doing a huge favor for me. I can’t thank you enough, because this is very meaningful to me and Paul. Warren would come on when Paul was off for holidays. We grew fond of his music. Warren became ill . . . He was nice enough to come on our show before he died. And he said, ‘What songs would you like me to do?’ I asked for a couple. . . . The one I really wanted to hear, but was uncomfortable pressing Warren for doing nine or ten songs, was called ‘Desperados Under the Eaves.’ Dawes said, ‘Hell, we can do that for you.’ This is for Dawes, myself, and Warren Zevon. Thank you.” 

The song starts with a beautiful strings arrangement played by Paul on the synth. The lyrics are heartbreaking, as the narrator of the song watches the world come to an end in a hotel bar in California. Understandably, there is only so much that can be fit into an hour of broadcast television, but this is a performance that should have made the on-air cut.

Sheryl Zelikson: Dawes had a new album to promote, but Dave wanted to hear “Desperados Under the Eaves.” Sometimes he just wanted to share with the audience. So they were kind enough to do the song.

Jay Johnson: We had digital exclusives peppered in there. Sometimes Dave would ask a band to do a specific song, and they would agree to do it if they could do it as a bonus song for digital. It was always great when Dave would do an intro like that for the bonus songs. He would kind of wing it. I always enjoyed seeing Dave do something off broadcast.

Sheryl Zelikson: Dave really appreciated Warren’s songwriting abilities. Dave was sharing his view of what people should be watching. That’s the best part about music: you get to see it for the first time, and get to share it, and see people react.

Barbara Gaines: Dave loved Warren’s music and he got Warren to fill in when Paul was out. Warren had a quirky sense of humor. They developed a relationship. Dave really loved him as a musician and a person. Warren never got the props he deserved. 

Warren Zevon on his last appearance on the Late Show, October 30, 2002. He died eleven months later of lung cancer. Photo courtesy of @Letterman, CBS publicity photo.

As the song says, “Heaven help the ones who leave.” After the song, Dave finishes his tribute to Zevon: “The last night Warren was here, it was beyond an emotional evening. I didn’t know what to do except try to enjoy what we had there with us. I went up to his dressing room . . . He opened his guitar case . . . Here is a guy who is getting on the bus and not coming back. He puts the guitar in the case and snaps it closed, picks up the case, hands the case to me, and says, ‘Take care of this for me.’” The audience gasps and applauds. 

Worldwide Pants Tag: “Which one’s Dave?”

“From somewhere along the Continental Divide...”

It is Episode 6,009

April 23, 2015

“And now . . . here to share the moonlight . . . David Letterman.” Dave’s topics are garbage in New York, the Pope, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. The desk piece is a best-of from November 1995, when they broadcast from L.A.—Fun in a Car. Dave drives around town in a car filled with 1,200 tacos and smashes things at a local Midas. No Top Ten in this episode.

The first guest is Robert Downey, Jr., who is promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron. The baseball card shows Downey from August 1, 1990. The second guest is Sirius XM sports host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. He has been on the show thirty times, starting in 1991. Dave loves to talk sports with Russo. He thanks Dave, saying, “You’ve been great to me. I’m a little radio guy. Thank you.”

Jay Johnson (Media Content): We had this ongoing feature online where we asked guests to write on these white cards anything they wanted to put on our social feed. On the later days of the show, they started to write things on their cards that were very heartfelt, sweet, and funny. That was an effective way to wrap things up digitally for us.

Brian Teta: I produced Chris Russo’s segments for eleven years because I was the sports booker. He was a bigger deal in New York than anywhere else. Dave just enjoyed his mannerisms and how worked up he would get. He made Dave smile every time he was on. He was someone who would come at the last minute if we had an opening. This is someone we wanted to put in there because he had been good to us.

Musical Guest

The musical guest is Elvis Costello. His baseball card is from August 23, 1982. Costello, in his twenty-seventh appearance on the show, performs with the Quills a cleverly themed medley: “Everyday I Write the Book,” his own composition, and “When I Write the Book,” by Nick Lowe. 

Sheryl Zelikson: Elvis Costello has a longstanding history with the show. Sheila booked Elvis and is very friendly with him. It was somebody that is on the no-brainer list of who you would want on the show, with their history.

Worldwide Pants Tag: “Nice shoes big shot.”