The Letterman Podcast

The Letterman Podcast's host Mike Chisholm asked if I might put something together to help commemorate his 100th episode.
Rather than select highlights and best-of conversations, I decided to try to craft a behind-the-scenes narrative of Dave’s talk show history as told by many of Mike’s podcast guests — the writers, producers, musicians, and network executives who worked for and with Dave throughout his 35-year tenure at NBC and CBS.
Part 2: The transition from NBC to CBS, 1993
The roster of the guests selected include:
Amy Cherin Humes, Assistant to the Director
Bill Carter, Author
Carter Bays, Late Show Writer
Chris Harris, LS Writer
Chris Schukei, Assistant to the Music Director
Craig Thomas, LS Writer
Daniel Kellison, Late Night, LS Producer
Dave Rygalski, LN Writer
Felicia Collins, LS Musician
Fred Graver, LN Writer
Gabe Abelson, LS Monologue Head
George Schweitzer, CBS Chief Marketing Officer
Gerard Mulligan, LN Writer and Segment Producer, LS Writer
Jeff Martin, LN Writer
Jeremy Weiner, LS Writer
Joe Grossman, LS Writer
Jonathan Green, LS Writer
Lee Ellenberg, LS Writer
Matt Roberts, LS Head Writer, Executive Producer
Paul Shaffer, LN and LS Music Director
Robert Morton, LN Producer, LS Executive Producer
Rupert Jee, Proprietor, Hello Deli
Stephen Winer, LN Writer
Steve O'Donnell, LN Head Writer, LS Writer
Steve Young, LN and LS Writer
Tim Kennedy, LS Technical Director
Tom Malone, LS Musician
Tom Ruprecht, LS Writer
Vinnie Favale, CBS Vice President, Late Night Entertainment, East Coast
Will Lee, LN and LS Musician
Some details become blurred from long-dormant memories — a Viewer Mail letter is actually a separate, stand-alone comedy piece; a timeline might be off by a year or two. But the substance of those memories are precise and vivid, and they offer a heretofore untold look into the creation of material as well as fresh perspectives from the personalities that helped mold a culture-defining legacy.
Great thanks to Worldwide Pants for granting permission to share some of its owned and licensed content and to Mike for soliciting so much essential history from his guests.

To Celebrate our 100th episode, we brought in a ringer. The foremost David Letterman Archivist Don Giller has pieced together a 4 part look back at the first 100 episodes of The Letterman Podcast. From Don:

Before Janice Penino went to work for #worldwidepants to head up their #hr department she worked for #wnbc during the #howardstern years, and ultimately heading the #nbc Page program.

When #davidletterman moved to #cbs Pants needed to create entire departments to administer the show, such as ticketing and HR. Janice did all that and more, and was a major force in developing those departments, evolving into running the famous #lateshow internship program.

Janice and Mike have a delightful conversation about where she came from, how her role evolved as the company did, and of course, the interns she hired, many of whom went on to have unbelievable careers in entertainment.

#thelettermanpodcast is brought to you by #rupertjee and hello-deli.com your only source for Late Show with David Letterman official merchandise. Head over there right now and purchase a plethora of shirts, mugs, hats for you and your friend. Please #like #share #subscribe and leave a nice comment about our show. We have it on good authority if you do, a real honest-to-goodness unicorn will actually be born on this planet in the next 4 months. #thanksdave #latenight #comedy #talkshow

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Please Like and Share, and Ring the Bell and Smash the Subscribe button. After all, who doesn't like to smash a button?

Dan, who is still working for CBS and hoping to get a full-time gig for Colbert, takes time out of his extremely busy, many times unpredictable schedule to join Mike on The Letterman Podcast and tell the story of how he came to work for Late Show and talk about the behind the scenes of some of the legendary things he got to capture for us, the viewing audience, to collectively see.

The Letterman Podcast is brought to you by hello-deli.com and Rupert Jee. Your only source for official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise, Hello-deli.com is ready to get shirts, mugs, hats in your hands. We highly recommend you do all you holiday shopping at hello-deli.com no matter your celebration persuasion.

Please like and share and leave positive comments for this show, both on and offline. Gas Station walls are our personal favorite.

The Letterman Podcast is brought to you by hello-deli.com, the only source for official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise. Rupert Jee packs these purchases himself, so give him some love while you give him some business and get some sweet Letterman apparel for your family and friends. Get yourself something nice too while you're at it.

Please like, share, subscribe, ring the bell, wake the neighbors, yadda yadda yadda.

In this episode of The Letterman Podcast, Sue is back to talk to Mike specifically about the spooky tradition, and give our audience insights as to the conception, planning, and creating of these fantastic costumes. Who came up with the ideas? How long did they take to make? How expensive were these works of art?

These questions and many, many more are discussed in this episode, where Sue also shares with us some of her original sketches, many which have never been shared until today.

The Letterman Podcast is sponsored by Hello-Deli.com which is run by Rupert Jee. There you and your friend can buy official Late Show with David Letterman Merchandise. Make sure you tell them.

Please spread the word about The Letterman Podcast by subscribing to it, and sharing it as well as leaving positive comments for the show. If you do, every child that comes to our door this Halloween will get an extra piece of candy. And if you don't? Pennies. We'll give the little punks pennies.

Steve Mazan is an Emmy award winning stand-up comedian as well as the host and ringleader of the 'Mazan Movie Club' which can be found on the major podcast platforms, at https://mazanmovieclub.libsyn.com and on The Facebook.

Back in 2011 Steve was the focus of the documentary 'Dying to do Letterman,' which chronicled his quest fulfill his dream to do a stand-up set on Late Show with David Letterman after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Steve and Mike have a fantastic conversation of their mutual appreciation of Letterman's shows, the behind the scenes details of the documentary that took over 5 years to make, and what Steve is up to now.

They also talk about how Steve nearly got his ass blown up in the middle east entertaining the troops.

The Letterman Podcast is brought to you by hello-deli.com and Rupert Jee. Want official Late Show with David Letterman merchandise? Well, you're in luck! Head over to the site and you will find the only place to purchase official Late Show shirts, hats and more! Rupert packs each order personally, so make sure to send him a friendly greeting with your order!

Please Like, Share, Subscribe and leave positive comments for this channel and shows yadda yadda yadda.

The Letterman Podcast is brought to you by hello-deli.com and Rupert Jee, your only source for Late Show with David Letterman Licensed products. Head on over there and get some merchandise for you, your family, friends, and romantic interests.

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