“From the exact midpoint of the Chunnel...”

It is Episode 6,014

April 30, 2015

“And now . . . here to fool you once again . . . David Letterman.” Dave comes out with a call back to Monday’s show, starting with, “There will be no milkshakes.” Topics include New York’s subway, Michelle Obama, and, in a videotaped piece, “Bernie Sanders: 60 Words per Minute.”

Jill Goodwin: Bernie’s hand motions looked like a typewriter. So we added the sound effects of a typewriter. We didn’t have packets of videos of the top news. Any story you could find you could use. Everyone else was watching a debate to hear about the policy, but I was watching the news for a very different reason.

The Top Ten is “Complaints About the Apple Watch.” The best-of clip, “Pop Up to Short,” from 1997, is Dave running to Yankee Stadium to take a swing at bat for the home team, with music from the Randy Newman score for The Natural. It is all about the build-up, and then Dave hits an easy out.

Rick Scheckman: The close-ups of the crowd are all staffers and were shot in the theater. It must be a Rob Burnett piece, because his wife is holding his daughter on her lap in the close-ups.

The first guest is the First Lady of the country (at the time), Michelle Obama. She receives a standing ovation as she heads over to greet Dave. Dave starts the conversation on a typical topic for the two of them—parenting. He asks about Malia and Sasha. Michelle talks about Malia learning how to drive and going to parties. Dave says, “It is virtually impossible to raise normal kids anyway, but when you are raising them in the White House that makes it a billion times more pressure.” Michelle responds, “We treat them normally. We don’t let our circumstance become an excuse for them.” Dave follows up with, “See, I do. My son thinks he’s being raised in the White House.” They continue talking about the perils of parenting teenagers. 

   

   Mike Buczkiewicz: You go to the green room beforehand to greet the guest, walk them through their pre-interview, and spend a little more time with them to get an idea of how the interview will go. The First Lady was wonderfully attentive and receptive to talking about the segment. I had worked with her several times. She makes you feel like you are the only person in the room. I said, “We will touch on this and we have a couple questions for you on that.’” Then she looked at me and said, “And then we get to the point of the interview where I am Dave’s therapist, right? And he turns to me for parenting advice?” I shut my folder and said, “Exactly.” She said, “He is going to have a thousand parenting questions for me.” I said, “Who better to ask than you?” She doubled over with laughter. She said, “I am well prepared. I am ready to help him.”

In the second segment, they talk about Michelle Obama and Jill Biden’s initiative, Joining Forces. The program, celebrating its fourth anniversary, helps veterans get the training and resources they need to transition back to civilian life. The First Lady says, “When leaders ask the country to step up on behalf of our men and women in uniform, they do.” She also talks about the number of veterans who are homeless and how this program assists those soldiers who defended the United States in times of need. She continues, “I hope that whoever is in the White House next sets the bar higher even higher than we have. This can never be a problem in this country again.”

[The website was shut down in 2016, only hours after the president who followed Barack Obama was sworn into office.]

They discuss the importance of a college education, with Michelle Obama noting that while athletes are lauded for signing with a college, academic students who make it against great odds aren’t celebrated in the same way. Dave asks how people can help; she suggests mentoring and helping students perform tasks like filling out financial aid forms. She says, “If you’ve gone to college, you can help a kid in your area get to college.” Education, homeless veterans, parenting . . . these are the topics covered in this interview. The topics are not female centric. They cover general American politics. Dave is not asking the First Lady to dance, lip sync, or play a game. This is another intellectual conversation laced with one-liners at just the perfect time.

Jerry Foley: I share with Dave a sincere affection and respect for tradition and the service of the military. The sanctity of the office of the president and the importance of government, tradition, and patriotism—that runs through Dave’s veins, and I share that with him. With the Obamas, there was a genuine affection that they had for Dave, and to everyone associated with Dave. That was a big factor in our lives, people who appreciated Dave appreciated us. That was a pretty charmed existence for a long time. 

Eddie Valk: He still has a close relationship with Michelle Obama. I think she was at the Mark Twain Awards. He always seemed like he had a fondness for her and President Obama.

Mike Buczkiewicz: The First Lady has a unique ability to switch gears from something serious to lighthearted. It is almost a trick on the audience, where they learn something on the way, but they have fun doing it.

Photo courtesy of @letterman. 

Barbara Gaines: I am a woman, a gay woman, a parent. I love the Obamas, so you are gonna get a slanted idea from me. I am going to be for them. Dave loves them, has a fondness for them, and has done things for them since we went off the air. They are lovely and funny people. Michelle came on for the Joining Forces Initiative. What isn’t to like?

Bill Scheft: Look, forget the ideological trappings of the internet. I have met Michelle Obama three times, and I find it fascinating that someone as bright, independent, and modern as her could put up with the First Lady gig, which still carries with it a lot of nineteenth-century hostessing. 

Michelle Obama has a surprise for Dave. She says, “I’m here because you are leaving. You have been a tremendous support to me and my family, but mostly to our men and women in uniform and our veterans. You have been such a huge supporter. So we decided to pay tribute to you. We have here with us today The President’s Own United States Marine Band. In honor of you, David Letterman.” A drum major with a huge bearskin hat comes through the back doors of the Ed Sullivan Theater. He is carrying a mace on a five-foot pike as he leads the band through the back doors. They stream through the audience, which leaps to its feet, clapping as the band fills every inch of the stage floor playing “The Marines’ Hymn.” When the song ends, Dave says, “Thanks so, so much. Couldn’t have been anything better. Absolutely lovely.” They embrace on stage, with The President’s Own behind them. 

Mike Buczkiewicz: I remember asking, “How long is this song? Are we going to run out of song before they get to the stage?” The musical director very nicely said, “We have done this before. We can fill if we need to. We have to keep playing until the president walks out. We can do this.” Then I remember, “Oh, right, you guys are really good at what you do.”

Eddie Valk: Dave always had a special space for Marines and serviceman. That was incredible to see all that. It was chaotic to block and see which moving parts were gonna move in from which section. You can see Dave was touched by that kind of stuff. It was pretty emotional to see that. 

Jerry Foley: For those musicians to be on stage, that pageantry, that tradition, for all of that, I feel sorry for anyone who didn’t observe it. 

Mike Buczkiewicz: The First Lady wanted to do something special for her last appearance. We had known “The Marines’ Hymn” and The President’s Own was near and dear to Dave. He had been at the White House for an event, and he came back and would not stop talking about The President’s Own. The First Lady’s office said, “We could do The President’s Own. We know Dave really likes that.” I said, “Do that.” [Laughs] 

Jerry Foley: The dealings we had with the Obama administration were very collaborative and creative. I think the Obamas did know Dave well enough to have the sense of what kind of gift he would appreciate. Dave’s appreciation for the military has been a part of the CBS show from the beginning. Every year during Fleet Week we would have representatives of the Navy in the audience. Dave interviewed many Congressional Medal of Honor winners. We did demonstrations with the Navy SEALs. We did a very ambitious project with the Army when they were in Bosnia. Dave, Paul, and Biff did trips to Iraq over the holidays that were underpublicized.

Barbara Gaines: We had done things like that in our history. It was meaningful to Michelle to offer that up to Dave. The Obamas liked Dave, and he very much liked the Obamas. 

Bill Scheft: Michelle Obama brought the Marine Band with her to serenade Dave for all he’s done for servicemen since 9/11. It was a nice touch. When he received the Kennedy Center Honors and went to the reception at the White House in December 2012, we snuck upstairs after and Dave said, “Let’s see if we can get them to play ‘The Marines’ Hymn.’” I asked, they stand up and play it. Dave was stunned by that. The irony was we had to wait until they finished playing the Late Show theme.

Jerry Foley: The Obamas knew optics. I don’t think you roll that out for a small-town mayor. It was a big deal. That is an amazing front-row seat that I get to be a part of for a couple of minutes on a given day. It was thrilling. As a director, you have this theater and technology and skilled people and you are looking at a band that you’ve seen on television your entire life and you’re collaborating with them and interacting with them. It is this giddy party thing—“Aw, man, I get to be part of this.”

Bill Scheft: Dave loved the military, and it’s the type of love that you had for the military right after WWII. His weeks off were sacrosanct for him and yet he went to Afghanistan, went to Iraq. So it was a big deal when she brought the band. It meant a lot to him.

Mike Buczkiewicz: They came in from D.C. early that morning for rehearsal. We were trying to think of a way for them to enter in a grand fashion to try to surprise Dave. We decided on the back of the house and have them walk through the aisles, get up on stage, and play. The drum major’s hat is a huge headpiece. There was a long conversation of whether that hat would fit through the door. We were concerned he was going to clip the doorway and chaos would ensue. It went off without a hitch. Dave was as pleased as punch to be able to pull that off. Look, you have the First Lady, The President’s Own, you’ve got Dave there, I think it was something that he remembers. It was nice to have a small part in that.

Musical Guest

Hootie and the Blowfish are the musical act. They return to sing their hit “Hold My Hand.” In Dave’s introduction, he reminds viewers that they made their television debut with this song in 1994.

Sheila Rogers: Hootie was so closely associated with the show. We had them on so much in the nineties. They made their debut on the show and then they were so widely popular in the era. We thought it would be an interesting nod to that period. We certainly had played a part in their initial popularity and attention.

Bill Scheft: This was a great touch by Sheila Rogers and the talent department. Dave had them on a good half-dozen times to promote their debut album, Cracked Rear View. When you write the history of the Late Show, and the music it discovered, you must lead with them.

Sheryl Zelikson: As you hear certain artists, it becomes a soundtrack to your life. I remember the Hootie phenomena; every guy had his baseball cap on. It was a timestamp for me. Knowing the ages of people that grew up with Letterman, they would remember when they were in college.

Brian Teta: I was a big driving force for the Hootie and the Blowfish booking. I think I had to convince some people to get Hootie on our list. As a fan of the show, I remember in the nineties that was the first place I ever saw Hootie and the Blowfish. They became such a big deal. In interviews, Darius Rucker has attributed the success of the band to appearing on the Late Show. I begged Sheila and anyone who would listen, “You’ve got to have Hootie back on doing one of their original songs.” They had broken up at this point. For fans of a certain era of the Late Show, this is meaningful. The staff was excited about it. I wanted Hootie and John Popper to come back and they both did.

Eddie Valk: They had something on their drum kit that had our logo on it. They might have done that the first time they came on. I remember people being excited about that. To see it up close while we were setting up was fun.

Worldwide Pants Tag: “Dear sweet pants.”