Name: Meryl Streep Reveals The Real Reason She's Never Been On The Show | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-10-23T22:00:35.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Meryl Streep Reveals The Real Reason She's Never Been On The Show | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-10-23. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Meryl Streep Reveals The Real Reason She's Never Been On The Show | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-10-23. Transcript available.

Our first guest, a two-time Academy Award winner who has been called the finest
actress of her
generation. Her new film is entitled Music of the Heart, and it opened today.
It's a pleasure
to welcome to the program the lovely Meryl Streep.
What was that? What was that?
Are you making a joke? Is that what that was?
You sat in the wrong seat, for heaven's sakes.
I've never been here before. I don't know how to do it.
Yeah, you know, we've been, this is not our first night on the air. We've been
around for quite a while.
You know, you must know this about yourself. You're one of those people
in show business, in the world of entertainment, everybody wants to have on a
television show.
So when we started, like 20 years ago, well, let's try and get Meryl Streep.
And finally, here you are. I guess your number was busy or something.
It was now, was there a problem? I know a lot of the big stars have a problem
coming on the show.
I have a lot of problems. Well, like what?
I don't want to go into it, but I, I mean, I, I was working. I mean, I, I
really was. We were.
Well, I, I know you're, you're busy making films.
But that isn't the real reason.
Really? That was just a ploy?
Well, you know why.
No, I don't know why, honestly.
I just felt awkward coming on the show.
Oh, please. No, no, come on.
So soon after our affair ended.
Please keep your mouth shut about that.
I'm begging you.
Wouldn't that be something, though?
Well, that would be a sure sign that you had lost your mind.
Did you hear about Meryl Streep?
She's nuts.
Well, it's a real treat to have you here.
Oh, it's not.
Yeah, I've admired you for years and years and years.
I, I just think you're, well, you're the best.
Well, thank you.
You're the best actress of your generation.
Thank you.
You know, we have the, uh,
we have the world's largest pumpkin here.
Is that, does Halloween mean anything to you?
Was that the largest pumpkin?
The one back in the States?
Yeah, well, maybe.
What did you see?
No, no, come on.
It was, wasn't it?
No, no, not that one.
That was just a warm-up.
Do you and your family go nuts for Halloween?
Yeah, we, we have a lot of fun.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know what?
My, my brother lives in the town where you live,
which shall remain unnamed.
Mm-hmm.
But, um, those kids, uh, my nephew came to your house
and tried to get in and, you know, for candy.
Oh, came by trick-or-treating?
Yeah, last year.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And there was a...
I know, I know what this is.
How old a kid is he?
No, that's really true.
How old a kid is he?
Well, he's 17, but...
That's right.
See, I get the oldest trick-or-treaters in the world,
and last year, and this is the God's honest truth,
first of all, I don't like it when trick-or-treaters
drive themselves.
And as they're getting out of the car...
Getting out of the bus.
Oh, really?
And, and last year, we had a guy dressed up like a sailor.
Turned out it was an actual sailor.
So, what did he do, your nephew, when he shows up?
Well, you know, he, he asked for candy.
And you didn't give him any.
No, no, I usually give out.
I'm pretty generous with the candy.
No, because you were whining that they didn't have costumes on.
Well, you gotta have costumes.
You know, if they're not, I just assume they're here to rob me
if they don't have the costumes.
Yeah, they wanted to, to, uh, take a ride in the car.
They said the car was cool.
Oh, they wanted to ride in the car.
Oh, that's right.
We either give them candy, or I take them for a ride.
It's a traditional old kind of...
When you were a kid, did you go out trick-or-treating?
Yeah, my mother was very into it.
She was very into costumes, and, uh, she, um,
one year she made me a costume of the Statue of Liberty.
That's great.
And then she made me hold my arm up all night.
Well, that's not so good.
That was not that fun.
I forgot all about that.
When you're a kid, walking around like that all the time.
That's no good.
I know, because the bag is here, and the thing is here.
Yeah, you're pretty much screwed.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And, and what about, uh, your kids?
They, they go nuts for this?
Yeah, they, they used to.
Now they're much too cool, you know.
Yeah.
But, um, yeah, the little one is gonna be, uh,
one of those pink ladies from Greece.
The musical Greece.
Oh, oh, oh, I, I didn't, I thought you were talking about
the country.
I thought, pink ladies from, Grecian pink ladies.
I don't know.
I think that's what they're called.
She's eight.
And the other one, the 13-year-old, um, is going to be, uh, Spice.
One of the Spice, uh.
Spice girls, yeah.
Baby Spice.
Baby Spice.
Yeah.
Well, excellent choice.
I guess, I don't, I don't know.
I don't know either.
Uh, uh, you know what, uh, it just, uh, has occurred to me here that, uh, uh,
when, when
you, uh, decided to come on the show, I have no idea what I'm talking about now.
I've completely lost.
I had, I had an excellent question for you and now it's just gone.
I've forgotten.
Uh, I, I'm going to try and regroup here and then when we come back, I'll try
and, I had,
it was a pretty good question.
Yeah, I'll have a drink.
Yeah, please do.
And, and before the, uh, break, I had an idea of something I wanted to ask you
and then I,
I just forgot it.
And I used kind of like a stage trick.
I thought, well, I'll just keep talking here and maybe it will come to me.
Well, it didn't come to me.
Has that ever happened to you when you're working?
You get stuff going on and you just can't remember anything?
Yeah, I go line and then they tell me what it is.
Somebody hollers it in.
Yeah.
But that's fine when you're working, uh, uh, for the silver screen.
Yeah, right.
But if it's live theater, what do you do?
That's why I haven't done it for 20 years.
Really?
When, when you were a kid and you, and you, you're in school and you're doing
productions
and stuff, there was something called, uh, the, the frog or the frogs.
Is that ringing?
Oh, oh yeah.
Yeah, that was that.
I don't know.
I don't, I'm trying to remember what that was.
It was a musical at the Yale.
I was at the Yale School of Drama.
This was a great big all college production that, uh, Stephen Sondheim wrote
the music for.
It was performed in the gym.
And it was called the frogs that was the name of it?
It was, yeah.
Based on Aristophanes, the frogs.
I see.
You know that.
Oh, of course.
Yeah.
And, um, I don't know.
I can't remember anything about it except there were all these boys in bathing
suits.
It was in the pool.
It was performed in the pool.
Really?
Yeah.
It was wonderful.
Wait, was this a theatrical production or a kegger?
It was.
And you made some kind of a noise.
You had some kind of a, you had to make a noise.
Yeah, we were the chorus, uh, the girls from the drama school.
And we, our lines were, it doesn't sound like a frog to me, but it's Stephen Sondheim.
I understand.
You can't beat those Ivy League educations, can you?
Um, you know, one of the great things about this is I'm, I'm like two feet from
your face.
Your face is unbelievable.
You have just, just the best face ever.
Just absolutely, without a doubt.
Paul, you get a chance.
Later, get a look at her face.
I'd love to, yeah.
Yeah, best face ever.
No, but I mean, like, right, it really is.
Well, you know, you've got a great chance.
Yeah, now, um.
Your face is really good, too.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I look like I need a drink.
But you look like you needed a shave on that big billboard out there.
Oh, that's silly, isn't it?
Um.
But, but what I was going to say to you, now, as, as a, do you find yourself
sometimes just acting?
You can't help yourself.
You're just in, in certain situations, like around the house, or you go to the
store, and you, you just can't help it.
You're acting?
Or I guess that's just part of life.
We all do a little of that, don't we?
Yeah, I get, I don't know.
I don't feel like, sometimes when I'm, um, home and I, I lose it with the kids
or something.
Some tension?
A little bit, sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'm, I'm screaming, and I say, you know, you know, and I slam a book down,
and the kids say, ooh, so dramatic.
It's like, you can't win.
Oh, that's pretty good.
Yeah.
How annoying would that be?
It is.
You know, but they don't really, I don't get any respect at home.
I have to come on the show, and you say, my face looks good.
I don't get that at home.
Oh, well, you ought to, maybe, because this is a face not to be taken for
granted, my friends.
I want to tell you, right here.
You know what, I was watching your film the other day, Music of the Heart, and
this is a great movie.
But, you know, it's just nice.
It's just a nice, kind of honest, solid film.
And a good thing about it is, in addition to the cast, who directed this, by
the way?
Wes Craven.
Now, Wes Craven doesn't normally direct movies like this, does he?
No, yeah, yeah.
It's a horror film, scary stuff.
But he's not a scary guy.
Yeah.
Not at all.
Now, did you know at the time what his background was, the kind of films?
Yeah, I knew that he had made those Scream movies, but I never had seen any of
them.
Never seen them?
No.
Now, you're busy at the house.
No.
I, um, no, I never had.
But, you know, my son had seen them.
He said, you know, he's a really good director.
So, anyway, the other nice thing about the film is it's based on an actual
woman, an actual woman's life and her story here in New York City.
And you can tell them what it is.
Or a woman finds herself, her life has changed, needs a job, goes to a school
in Harlem,
and kind of invites herself to be a violin instructor.
Right.
That's where it begins, more or less.
Right, right.
She kind of pushes her way in.
And it's a great story.
And the program she started is still functioning today.
What's the name of the group?
She's still teaching.
It's the East Harlem School's Violin, what is the name?
East Harlem Violin Program.
Yeah.
And her name is?
Roberta Gaspari.
Yeah.
And it's just, I don't know, I just, I cried like a baby.
Oh, that's good.
You know, you can't help yourself because it's a sweet, decent story.
Yeah, but it's not sappy, do you think?
Oh, no, it's not maudlin, it's not manipulative, but it's just an honest, and
you think, well,
yeah, there is some good in the world, because, you know, we're here in New
York City, and
between you and me, it's a cesspool.
That's why we live in Connecticut, yeah.
But yet, there is something really good, really positive, and there is no more
indomitable
force, as we know, than the human spirit.
Yeah.
So, let's take a look at a little bit of the film.
Do you know what we're going to see?
Yeah, they told me, but I forget.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Way to sell tickets.
Did you play the vibe?
Oh, I know, I know, I know, I know.
This is when I, I'm always yelling at the kids.
I'm typecast in this part, I guess, and they're, I'm yelling, yelling, yelling,
and the principals
called me and said, you know, you've got to be, the parents are getting upset,
so this
is a scene where I'm trying to be nice.
Okay, here we go, Meryl Streep.
Music of the heart, Meryl Streep.
It opens today in the morning?
Is that what it is?
Tomorrow, I think.
Tomorrow.
Yeah.
Yeah, today.
Open today.
Yeah.
And I think, are we going to have some of these kids on the show in a couple of
weeks?
So that'll be exciting.
Oh, that's great.
So, would you like to come back the night we have the kids?
Well, I'll see.
Yeah, we will see.
Yeah, we'll see in 20 years is what we'll see.
But it's a, I don't know, I was very touched by the movie.
I thought it was very nice.
I'm glad.
Very nice piece of work.
Thank you.
What are you going to do now?
Going out to dinner?
Big party?
What are you going to do?
Well, I'm free.
I mean, I mean, I'm, you know, I don't have a job.
What do you mean, tonight?
Oh, yeah, tonight.
We're like a big party or something like a Donald Trump kind of deal?
No, I'm going to drive two and a half hours home.
Oh, good for you.
We'll be very careful on the roadways.
I always do.
I can't tell you what a thrill it was to sit this close to your face.
Honest to God.
Thank you.
It's just terrific.
You're very nice.
Thank you.
We're all straight, ladies and gentlemen.
We got to hear with you.
Natalie Merchant of the World's World's Country.
Nice job.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.

Meryl Streep Reveals The Real Reason She's Never Been On The Show | Letterman

Our first guest, a two-time Academy Award winner who has been called the finest
actress of her
generation. Her new film is entitled Music of the Heart, and it opened today.
It's a pleasure
to welcome to the program the lovely Meryl Streep.
What was that? What was that?
Are you making a joke? Is that what that was?
You sat in the wrong seat, for heaven's sakes.
I've never been here before. I don't know how to do it.
Yeah, you know, we've been, this is not our first night on the air. We've been
around for quite a while.
You know, you must know this about yourself. You're one of those people
in show business, in the world of entertainment, everybody wants to have on a
television show.
So when we started, like 20 years ago, well, let's try and get Meryl Streep.
And finally, here you are. I guess your number was busy or something.
It was now, was there a problem? I know a lot of the big stars have a problem
coming on the show.
I have a lot of problems. Well, like what?
I don't want to go into it, but I, I mean, I, I was working. I mean, I, I
really was. We were.
Well, I, I know you're, you're busy making films.
But that isn't the real reason.
Really? That was just a ploy?
Well, you know why.
No, I don't know why, honestly.
I just felt awkward coming on the show.
Oh, please. No, no, come on.
So soon after our affair ended.
Please keep your mouth shut about that.
I'm begging you.
Wouldn't that be something, though?
Well, that would be a sure sign that you had lost your mind.
Did you hear about Meryl Streep?
She's nuts.
Well, it's a real treat to have you here.
Oh, it's not.
Yeah, I've admired you for years and years and years.
I, I just think you're, well, you're the best.
Well, thank you.
You're the best actress of your generation.
Thank you.
You know, we have the, uh,
we have the world's largest pumpkin here.
Is that, does Halloween mean anything to you?
Was that the largest pumpkin?
The one back in the States?
Yeah, well, maybe.
What did you see?
No, no, come on.
It was, wasn't it?
No, no, not that one.
That was just a warm-up.
Do you and your family go nuts for Halloween?
Yeah, we, we have a lot of fun.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know what?
My, my brother lives in the town where you live,
which shall remain unnamed.
Mm-hmm.
But, um, those kids, uh, my nephew came to your house
and tried to get in and, you know, for candy.
Oh, came by trick-or-treating?
Yeah, last year.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And there was a...
I know, I know what this is.
How old a kid is he?
No, that's really true.
How old a kid is he?
Well, he's 17, but...
That's right.
See, I get the oldest trick-or-treaters in the world,
and last year, and this is the God's honest truth,
first of all, I don't like it when trick-or-treaters
drive themselves.
And as they're getting out of the car...
Getting out of the bus.
Oh, really?
And, and last year, we had a guy dressed up like a sailor.
Turned out it was an actual sailor.
So, what did he do, your nephew, when he shows up?
Well, you know, he, he asked for candy.
And you didn't give him any.
No, no, I usually give out.
I'm pretty generous with the candy.
No, because you were whining that they didn't have costumes on.
Well, you gotta have costumes.
You know, if they're not, I just assume they're here to rob me
if they don't have the costumes.
Yeah, they wanted to, to, uh, take a ride in the car.
They said the car was cool.
Oh, they wanted to ride in the car.
Oh, that's right.
We either give them candy, or I take them for a ride.
It's a traditional old kind of...
When you were a kid, did you go out trick-or-treating?
Yeah, my mother was very into it.
She was very into costumes, and, uh, she, um,
one year she made me a costume of the Statue of Liberty.
That's great.
And then she made me hold my arm up all night.
Well, that's not so good.
That was not that fun.
I forgot all about that.
When you're a kid, walking around like that all the time.
That's no good.
I know, because the bag is here, and the thing is here.
Yeah, you're pretty much screwed.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And, and what about, uh, your kids?
They, they go nuts for this?
Yeah, they, they used to.
Now they're much too cool, you know.
Yeah.
But, um, yeah, the little one is gonna be, uh,
one of those pink ladies from Greece.
The musical Greece.
Oh, oh, oh, I, I didn't, I thought you were talking about
the country.
I thought, pink ladies from, Grecian pink ladies.
I don't know.
I think that's what they're called.
She's eight.
And the other one, the 13-year-old, um, is going to be, uh, Spice.
One of the Spice, uh.
Spice girls, yeah.
Baby Spice.
Baby Spice.
Yeah.
Well, excellent choice.
I guess, I don't, I don't know.
I don't know either.
Uh, uh, you know what, uh, it just, uh, has occurred to me here that, uh, uh,
when, when
you, uh, decided to come on the show, I have no idea what I'm talking about now.
I've completely lost.
I had, I had an excellent question for you and now it's just gone.
I've forgotten.
Uh, I, I'm going to try and regroup here and then when we come back, I'll try
and, I had,
it was a pretty good question.
Yeah, I'll have a drink.
Yeah, please do.
And, and before the, uh, break, I had an idea of something I wanted to ask you
and then I,
I just forgot it.
And I used kind of like a stage trick.
I thought, well, I'll just keep talking here and maybe it will come to me.
Well, it didn't come to me.
Has that ever happened to you when you're working?
You get stuff going on and you just can't remember anything?
Yeah, I go line and then they tell me what it is.
Somebody hollers it in.
Yeah.
But that's fine when you're working, uh, uh, for the silver screen.
Yeah, right.
But if it's live theater, what do you do?
That's why I haven't done it for 20 years.
Really?
When, when you were a kid and you, and you, you're in school and you're doing
productions
and stuff, there was something called, uh, the, the frog or the frogs.
Is that ringing?
Oh, oh yeah.
Yeah, that was that.
I don't know.
I don't, I'm trying to remember what that was.
It was a musical at the Yale.
I was at the Yale School of Drama.
This was a great big all college production that, uh, Stephen Sondheim wrote
the music for.
It was performed in the gym.
And it was called the frogs that was the name of it?
It was, yeah.
Based on Aristophanes, the frogs.
I see.
You know that.
Oh, of course.
Yeah.
And, um, I don't know.
I can't remember anything about it except there were all these boys in bathing
suits.
It was in the pool.
It was performed in the pool.
Really?
Yeah.
It was wonderful.
Wait, was this a theatrical production or a kegger?
It was.
And you made some kind of a noise.
You had some kind of a, you had to make a noise.
Yeah, we were the chorus, uh, the girls from the drama school.
And we, our lines were, it doesn't sound like a frog to me, but it's Stephen Sondheim.
I understand.
You can't beat those Ivy League educations, can you?
Um, you know, one of the great things about this is I'm, I'm like two feet from
your face.
Your face is unbelievable.
You have just, just the best face ever.
Just absolutely, without a doubt.
Paul, you get a chance.
Later, get a look at her face.
I'd love to, yeah.
Yeah, best face ever.
No, but I mean, like, right, it really is.
Well, you know, you've got a great chance.
Yeah, now, um.
Your face is really good, too.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I look like I need a drink.
But you look like you needed a shave on that big billboard out there.
Oh, that's silly, isn't it?
Um.
But, but what I was going to say to you, now, as, as a, do you find yourself
sometimes just acting?
You can't help yourself.
You're just in, in certain situations, like around the house, or you go to the
store, and you, you just can't help it.
You're acting?
Or I guess that's just part of life.
We all do a little of that, don't we?
Yeah, I get, I don't know.
I don't feel like, sometimes when I'm, um, home and I, I lose it with the kids
or something.
Some tension?
A little bit, sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'm, I'm screaming, and I say, you know, you know, and I slam a book down,
and the kids say, ooh, so dramatic.
It's like, you can't win.
Oh, that's pretty good.
Yeah.
How annoying would that be?
It is.
You know, but they don't really, I don't get any respect at home.
I have to come on the show, and you say, my face looks good.
I don't get that at home.
Oh, well, you ought to, maybe, because this is a face not to be taken for
granted, my friends.
I want to tell you, right here.
You know what, I was watching your film the other day, Music of the Heart, and
this is a great movie.
But, you know, it's just nice.
It's just a nice, kind of honest, solid film.
And a good thing about it is, in addition to the cast, who directed this, by
the way?
Wes Craven.
Now, Wes Craven doesn't normally direct movies like this, does he?
No, yeah, yeah.
It's a horror film, scary stuff.
But he's not a scary guy.
Yeah.
Not at all.
Now, did you know at the time what his background was, the kind of films?
Yeah, I knew that he had made those Scream movies, but I never had seen any of
them.
Never seen them?
No.
Now, you're busy at the house.
No.
I, um, no, I never had.
But, you know, my son had seen them.
He said, you know, he's a really good director.
So, anyway, the other nice thing about the film is it's based on an actual
woman, an actual woman's life and her story here in New York City.
And you can tell them what it is.
Or a woman finds herself, her life has changed, needs a job, goes to a school
in Harlem,
and kind of invites herself to be a violin instructor.
Right.
That's where it begins, more or less.
Right, right.
She kind of pushes her way in.
And it's a great story.
And the program she started is still functioning today.
What's the name of the group?
She's still teaching.
It's the East Harlem School's Violin, what is the name?
East Harlem Violin Program.
Yeah.
And her name is?
Roberta Gaspari.
Yeah.
And it's just, I don't know, I just, I cried like a baby.
Oh, that's good.
You know, you can't help yourself because it's a sweet, decent story.
Yeah, but it's not sappy, do you think?
Oh, no, it's not maudlin, it's not manipulative, but it's just an honest, and
you think, well,
yeah, there is some good in the world, because, you know, we're here in New
York City, and
between you and me, it's a cesspool.
That's why we live in Connecticut, yeah.
But yet, there is something really good, really positive, and there is no more
indomitable
force, as we know, than the human spirit.
Yeah.
So, let's take a look at a little bit of the film.
Do you know what we're going to see?
Yeah, they told me, but I forget.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Way to sell tickets.
Did you play the vibe?
Oh, I know, I know, I know, I know.
This is when I, I'm always yelling at the kids.
I'm typecast in this part, I guess, and they're, I'm yelling, yelling, yelling,
and the principals
called me and said, you know, you've got to be, the parents are getting upset,
so this
is a scene where I'm trying to be nice.
Okay, here we go, Meryl Streep.
Music of the heart, Meryl Streep.
It opens today in the morning?
Is that what it is?
Tomorrow, I think.
Tomorrow.
Yeah.
Yeah, today.
Open today.
Yeah.
And I think, are we going to have some of these kids on the show in a couple of
weeks?
So that'll be exciting.
Oh, that's great.
So, would you like to come back the night we have the kids?
Well, I'll see.
Yeah, we will see.
Yeah, we'll see in 20 years is what we'll see.
But it's a, I don't know, I was very touched by the movie.
I thought it was very nice.
I'm glad.
Very nice piece of work.
Thank you.
What are you going to do now?
Going out to dinner?
Big party?
What are you going to do?
Well, I'm free.
I mean, I mean, I'm, you know, I don't have a job.
What do you mean, tonight?
Oh, yeah, tonight.
We're like a big party or something like a Donald Trump kind of deal?
No, I'm going to drive two and a half hours home.
Oh, good for you.
We'll be very careful on the roadways.
I always do.
I can't tell you what a thrill it was to sit this close to your face.
Hon