Name: Staff Favorite Moments: Producer Nancy Agostini | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-01-31T16:08:01.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Staff Favorite Moments: Producer Nancy Agostini | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-01-31. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Staff Favorite Moments: Producer Nancy Agostini | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-01-31. Transcript available.

Hi, I'm Nancy Agostini. I worked for Dave for over 23 years. I started as an
intern when he was still
at NBC and I finished as co-executive producer at CBS when the show ended in
2015. When I was
writer's receptionist for the show, sometimes I got to fill in and help in like
PA duties. Jimmy
Smith was a guest when he was still on NYPD Blue and I don't remember how it
happened or what happened
but somehow he ended up in a hotel room around the corner and he ended up like
doing naked push-ups
and he ended up in the shower. It was all completely bizarre but I remember I
had to go over there with
them and I had to go to a store on the corner and buy new underpants for Jimmy
Smith so that he could
go home when it was over. You know when you left your hotel, you know somebody
else is in that hotel
right now. Oh, who? Well here, Hal, turn on the hotel camera. This guy right
here, Jimmy Smith is in the
hotel freshening up. Did you guys leave a giant blue dot in the room? Because
we apparently found it for you.
Alright, stop it. And then there was the time we did the week of shows in Los
Angeles and I was still receptionist and there was a change in the top ten list.
Dave crossed off a few of the jokes and Rob wrote the new jokes in on the blue
card.
Handed it to me and I went to Chiron to go fix it. I messed up and I
misunderstood which jokes were wrong. So when Dave read the jokes that night on
the show,
he got to like six, five, four and the audience went, whoa, because what he was
saying was completely different than what was all in the Chiron.
And of course, when we aired the show that night, they fixed it and made the Chiron
match what he said. So then it made no sense at all that, like regular jokes,
the audience just reacting, whoa, because what he was saying was completely
different than what was all in the Chiron.
And of course, when we aired the show that night, they fixed it and made the Chiron
match what he said. So then it made no sense at all that, like regular jokes,
the audience just reacting, whoa, whoa.
But it was all because I messed up. Offering free upgrade on Next Hertz Rental.
Yep. Number four, ladies and gentlemen, trying to lure them out of hiding with
Carload of Tacos. Yeah!
Number three, ask the Menendez brothers to get in touch if they hear anything.
Number two, before sinking putt, takes a good look in the cup to make sure they
ain't hiding there.
And the number one way O.J. is searching for the real killers, watching "Real
Killer Night" on "Jeopardy!" There you go!
Somehow I think it's the dog's fault. Must be.
The dog got into the file and got out the wrong list. It happens every time.
For the last maybe 10 years of the show, I somehow became Barbara Gaines'
permanent sub at the podium.
But we did a piece that was, you know, what you do to end the summer. And one
of the jokes was that, you know, don't eat the charcoal briquettes.
And for some reason, the way they made the charcoal briquettes was they used
brownies and with black food dye.
And I guess no one tested them beforehand and I didn't think to ask anyone to
test them beforehand.
But then on camera, Dave took a bite of the brownie and his whole mouth just
turned black, like black, black, black.
And I was at the podium thinking, "Oh my God, I've killed Dave."
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette.
That's the charcoal briquette.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette.
You know, I...
I, uh...
I, uh...
I, uh...
Oh no.
That's a...
That's a...
Talk about a good look.
That's a good look.
How you doing?
How you...
How you doing, sweetheart?
Come over here and help Daddy flip the burgers.
Hey, hey, hey. I'm running a fever. Hey. Does it look okay to you, Doc?
The one person who always made me feel comfortable talking to them was Tom Hanks.
He was always game to do anything, so one time he came on for a Christmas show,
and he did this bit where he had a piece of mistletoe that he held up over the
camera lens
and pretended he was giving everyone at home a kiss for Christmas under the
mistletoe.
At the commercial break, I remember he was telling a story about Germany
and the architecture in Germany, and he had these art cards, so I brought them
up to Dave.
As we were coming to the end of commercial, Tom Hanks started doing this thing,
and he motioned me over, and I thought, oh, my God, what did I not put out here?
What did I do wrong? What did I forget? For Tom Hanks, our favorite.
And then this is what happened.
Sometimes I would tell a story up in the dressing room or up in the offices,
and then the story would end up on the show, too.
I told Dave a story about when I came to Hawaii, and we went to see Don Ho,
and we did a meet and greet at the end, and somehow at the end of the show,
Don Ho, like, hugged me in this creepy, creepy way,
and, like, laced his fingers through my fingers.
It was bizarre.
The whole time I was in there just thinking,
Someone, please get Don Ho off me.
And then every so often on the show, just out of the blue,
Dave would be in the middle of the monologue and go,
Someone get Don Ho off of me.
So we're pulling out all of the stops for the February ratings period,
and we are doing something called, it's a very popular segment,
the late show, a secret mystery word phrase.
And nobody got it tonight.
No one got it again.
No, so we added another $5,000 at the jackpot.
Tonight's secret mystery word phrase was,
Somebody get Don Ho off me.
No one got that.
So once again, nobody got that.
Tonight's secret mystery word phrase.
Somebody got that.
Somebody get Don Ho off me.
Yeah.
So we added another $5,000, and we'll be playing again tomorrow.
The board goes back.
I think you fweeky, and I like you a lot.
Now that is the phrase.
We did this one piece on the show called,
It's better to have Lou Rawls and not need him
than to need Lou Rawls and not have him.
And that was the whole bit.
Like, there's a whole thing about it.
But now, in my family, that's our short end now for like,
you know, oh, we might go to the beach,
we bring a towel, we might go to where it might range,
we bring an umbrella.
And we always just say, let's Lou Rawls it.
And that means bring it just in case.
Yes.
Can I interrupt you just for a minute?
What is it, Alan? I'm sorry.
I want to introduce a special guest
that we have sitting in the green room tonight.
Oh, really? Oh, sure. Go ahead, Alan.
Ladies and gentlemen, sitting in the green room
all night long, Mr. Lou Rawls.
Wow. Hey, there he is.
Because it's better to have Lou Rawls and not need him
than need Lou Rawls and not have him.
Back to you, Dave.
Thanks, Alan.
Whenever it would snow in New York,
Dave would always want like a bin full of snowballs
behind his desk that he would throw at the camera,
throw behind the window and things like that.
One day when it was snowing,
he called me over to the desk and this is what happened.
We do this whenever it snows outside.
One of the stagehands is thoughtful enough
to go out and get me a bucket of snowballs.
Oh, boy.
Do that?
And late this summer, horsing around on a skateboard,
I fell off and damaged my shoulder so badly
as to immobilize it even to this day.
So I can't throw.
Can't throw the snowballs.
Can't throw a snowball.
But our producer, Nancy, has volunteered.
Agostini Kim, she said,
I'll be happy to throw a snowball.
She will snowball.
All right.
That's good.
That's now.
Just now you get in your range.
Yeah!
Oh, my God!
Whoa!
That's unbelievable!
Yeah!
One of the really sweet traditions at Letterman
was Dave would always announce major life events,
marriages, births, things like that.
So I remember when he announced our wedding
and he announced it right before the viewer mail
and we were so excited backstage,
like, oh, my God, this is so amazing.
And then he started asking people
if they were going to the wedding
and he asked Paul, who said,
oh, I wasn't invited.
And then he asked Jerry Mulligan,
who was the character,
and said, oh, I wasn't invited.
I was just like, it went from this amazing moment,
like, oh, my God, he's talking about my wedding
to hopefully he's not talking about my wedding.
I have an announcement to make.
Let me see if you know this.
You know who's getting married tomorrow?
Uh, tell.
Huh?
Tell.
You know?
Please tell.
No, do you know or you're just playing dumb?
No, I don't.
What do you mean you don't know?
How can you not know?
I don't know.
Well, it could be, is it someone on our staff?
Yes!
Not only someone on our staff,
two members of our staff,
and not only that,
the late show's cutest couple ever.
Getting married to each other.
That's right.
Yeah.
You don't know this?
No, I know it.
I know it.
I didn't know it was tomorrow.
Are you going to the wedding, by the way?
Um, yeah.
Gerard, are you going to the wedding?
Uh, I wasn't invited today.
That seems about right.
There was an opportunity to go with Biff Henderson
to Eagle Base in Bosnia
for a Christmas special.
I remember a few things from the trip.
I remember every soldier there
thanking Biff for his service in Vietnam.
I remember getting a challenge coin,
which is something the military gives you.
If an officer gives you the coin,
you have to be able to produce it
whenever you see him or her again
out in the world.
Otherwise, you owe them a drink.
But I remember being able to come home
and tell Dave about that story,
about the challenge coins.
And then I remember Dave making his own
and we all had World Wide Pants challenge coins.
Do you have someone special back home?
Yes, my wife, Kirstie.
Do you have a picture of her?
Yes, I do.
I have someone special back home, too.
You want to see?
Sergeant, tell me, what do we have here?
What we have behind me is an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.
And how much does it cost to operate this thing?
Sir, that would be a whole lot of money.
If I promise to only say nice things,
can I yell at you like drill sergeants do?
You are a very attractive man!
You hear me, soldier?
You are a very attractive man!
You feel good, soldier!
I want to be your friend!
You hear me?
Those pants are very flattering on you!
When I was at the podium,
this year would be the control room
and this year would be Dave on stage.
Dave, for some reason, got it in his head
he wanted to play some Eagles music,
which it turns out is very expensive
to clear music rights
and that they're very litigious.
But I just remember being at the podium
and just hearing this year was just,
no, no, no, don't let him play it!
And this year was Dave and Paul
and everyone on stage being like,
let's play something, let's play something!
And then I'm just trying to talk to Dave
and be like, no, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
It was insane!
How expensive is it?
It's too expensive!
Well, like how much?
What are we talking about?
Well, I don't know!
It's like every time we...
Like if we play one song,
what's it going to do?
One song?
One song?
Probably like $1,000.
All right, pick your favorite Eagles song
and we'll hear it!
Hold it, hold it!
How much is it?
So if we play an Eagles song,
we'll get sued, is that correct?
Yeah, they don't want...
They just don't want to...
They just said no.
But for the Eagles music,
you know what they want?
We can play it,
but you know what it'll cost us?
Take a guess.
For what song?
One song, take a guess.
It must have got to be
more than $1,000 then.
Oh, yeah.
Is it $5,000?
More than $5,000.
Really?
$10,000 for I can't tell you why?
More than...
Up, up, up, up, up.
$100,000?
Up, up, up, up.
Half a million dollars.
Half of half a million.
Really?
A quarter of a million dollars
to play I Can't Tell You Why
on this show.
Right, right.
I'm just dying.
Paul, aren't you now
just really dying to play
an Eagles song?
I wish I could play
some Eagles song.
Jerry, help us out here.
We're having a little argument
about Eagles licensing rights
and such.
What do you say?
You're the director.
You're the captain of the ship.
What do you think?
I say we should play the music
and see what happens.
That's what we're actually here.
Yeah!
You know what?
I'm not that interested anymore.
When I first got hired at CBS,
I was the writer's receptionist
and I didn't make a lot of money.
Jill Davis, one of the writers,
pitched a remote where Dave
would try to find me a roommate.
None of it worked out, let's say.
So then after that,
they tried to find me an apartment.
We realized quickly
that the apartments I could afford
were too terrible to show on TV.
They decided, well,
they had to do something.
They wanted to, like,
pay this off somehow,
make me actually get something.
So they did one more remote
where Dave bought me a coat.
I still have the coat
and the best part was
each of those remotes
at the time paid $500,
which paid for a month's rent.
So between those three remotes,
I lived in New York
for three months.
Nick, hang on just a second.
How about this hat?
Just slip into one of these, Nancy.
Suddenly it's the crazy neighbor lady.
All right, Nancy and I
are going to do
the oldest clothing store joke
in the world.
And you just go get that Nick guy
and bring him by, okay?
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you just go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
And you go get that Nick guy.
Moments ago, I was rocked to the very core.
I was out there telling jokes to the audience.
Came to a joke.
And I just I fumbled it.
And I hear our producer Nancy do this.
Oh, it's like the sound of the crowd.
You go to a Rangers game.
And then somebody pulls the trigger on a surefire goal.
And he's wide of the net.
Oh, ouch.
Over here, over here.
He's like, not what he had in mind.
Not what he had in mind.
Not what he had in mind, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.

Staff Favorite Moments: Producer Nancy Agostini | Letterman

Hi, I'm Nancy Agostini. I worked for Dave for over 23 years. I started as an
intern when he was still
at NBC and I finished as co-executive producer at CBS when the show ended in
2015. When I was
writer's receptionist for the show, sometimes I got to fill in and help in like
PA duties. Jimmy
Smith was a guest when he was still on NYPD Blue and I don't remember how it
happened or what happened
but somehow he ended up in a hotel room around the corner and he ended up like
doing naked push-ups
and he ended up in the shower. It was all completely bizarre but I remember I
had to go over there with
them and I had to go to a store on the corner and buy new underpants for Jimmy
Smith so that he could
go home when it was over. You know when you left your hotel, you know somebody
else is in that hotel
right now. Oh, who? Well here, Hal, turn on the hotel camera. This guy right
here, Jimmy Smith is in the
hotel freshening up. Did you guys leave a giant blue dot in the room? Because
we apparently found it for you.
Alright, stop it. And then there was the time we did the week of shows in Los
Angeles and I was still receptionist and there was a change in the top ten list.
Dave crossed off a few of the jokes and Rob wrote the new jokes in on the blue
card.
Handed it to me and I went to Chiron to go fix it. I messed up and I
misunderstood which jokes were wrong. So when Dave read the jokes that night on
the show,
he got to like six, five, four and the audience went, whoa, because what he was
saying was completely different than what was all in the Chiron.
And of course, when we aired the show that night, they fixed it and made the Chiron
match what he said. So then it made no sense at all that, like regular jokes,
the audience just reacting, whoa, because what he was saying was completely
different than what was all in the Chiron.
And of course, when we aired the show that night, they fixed it and made the Chiron
match what he said. So then it made no sense at all that, like regular jokes,
the audience just reacting, whoa, whoa.
But it was all because I messed up. Offering free upgrade on Next Hertz Rental.
Yep. Number four, ladies and gentlemen, trying to lure them out of hiding with
Carload of Tacos. Yeah!
Number three, ask the Menendez brothers to get in touch if they hear anything.
Number two, before sinking putt, takes a good look in the cup to make sure they
ain't hiding there.
And the number one way O.J. is searching for the real killers, watching "Real
Killer Night" on "Jeopardy!" There you go!
Somehow I think it's the dog's fault. Must be.
The dog got into the file and got out the wrong list. It happens every time.
For the last maybe 10 years of the show, I somehow became Barbara Gaines'
permanent sub at the podium.
But we did a piece that was, you know, what you do to end the summer. And one
of the jokes was that, you know, don't eat the charcoal briquettes.
And for some reason, the way they made the charcoal briquettes was they used
brownies and with black food dye.
And I guess no one tested them beforehand and I didn't think to ask anyone to
test them beforehand.
But then on camera, Dave took a bite of the brownie and his whole mouth just
turned black, like black, black, black.
And I was at the podium thinking, "Oh my God, I've killed Dave."
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette.
That's the charcoal briquette.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette right there.
That's the charcoal briquette.
You know, I...
I, uh...
I, uh...
I, uh...
Oh no.
That's a...
That's a...
Talk about a good look.
That's a good look.
How you doing?
How you...
How you doing, sweetheart?
Come over here and help Daddy flip the burgers.
Hey, hey, hey. I'm running a fever. Hey. Does it look okay to you, Doc?
The one person who always made me feel comfortable talking to them was Tom Hanks.
He was always game to do anything, so one time he came on for a Christmas show,
and he did this bit where he had a piece of mistletoe that he held up over the
camera lens
and pretended he was giving everyone at home a kiss for Christmas under the
mistletoe.
At the commercial break, I remember he was telling a story about Germany
and the architecture in Germany, and he had these art cards, so I brought them
up to Dave.
As we were coming to the end of commercial, Tom Hanks started doing this thing,
and he motioned me over, and I thought, oh, my God, what did I not put out here?
What did I do wrong? What did I forget? For Tom Hanks, our favorite.
And then this is what happened.
Sometimes I would tell a story up in the dressing room or up in the offices,
and then the story would end up on the show, too.
I told Dave a story about when I came to Hawaii, and we went to see Don Ho,
and we did a meet and greet at the end, and somehow at the end of the show,
Don Ho, like, hugged me in this creepy, creepy way,
and, like, laced his fingers through my fingers.
It was bizarre.
The whole time I was in there just thinking,
Someone, please get Don Ho off me.
And then every so often on the show, just out of the blue,
Dave would be in the middle of the monologue and go,
Someone get Don Ho off of me.
So we're pulling out all of the stops for the February ratings period,
and we are doing something called, it's a very popular segment,
the late show, a secret mystery word phrase.
And nobody got it tonight.
No one got it again.
No, so we added another $5,000 at the jackpot.
Tonight's secret mystery word phrase was,
Somebody get Don Ho off me.
No one got that.
So once again, nobody got that.
Tonight's secret mystery word phrase.
Somebody got that.
Somebody get Don Ho off me.
Yeah.
So we added another $5,000, and we'll be playing again tomorrow.
The board goes back.
I think you fweeky, and I like you a lot.
Now that is the phrase.
We did this one piece on the show called,
It's better to have Lou Rawls and not need him
than to need Lou Rawls and not have him.
And that was the whole bit.
Like, there's a whole thing about it.
But now, in my family, that's our short end now for like,
you know, oh, we might go to the beach,
we bring a towel, we might go to where it might range,
we bring an umbrella.
And we always just say, let's Lou Rawls it.
And that means bring it just in case.
Yes.
Can I interrupt you just for a minute?
What is it, Alan? I'm sorry.
I want to introduce a special guest
that we have sitting in the green room tonight.
Oh, really? Oh, sure. Go ahead, Alan.
Ladies and gentlemen, sitting in the green room
all night long, Mr. Lou Rawls.
Wow. Hey, there he is.
Because it's better to have Lou Rawls and not need him
than need Lou Rawls and not have him.
Back to you, Dave.
Thanks, Alan.
Whenever it would snow in New York,
Dave would always want like a bin full of snowballs
behind his desk that he would throw at the camera,
throw behind the window and things like that.
One day when it was snowing,
he called me over to the desk and this is what happened.
We do this whenever it snows outside.
One of the stagehands is thoughtful enough
to go out and get me a bucket of snowballs.
Oh, boy.
Do that?
And late this summer, horsing around on a skateboard,
I fell off and damaged my shoulder so badly
as to immobilize it even to this day.
So I can't throw.
Can't throw the snowballs.
Can't throw a snowball.
But our producer, Nancy, has volunteered.
Agostini Kim, she said,
I'll be happy to throw a snowball.
She will snowball.
All right.
That's good.
That's now.
Just now you get in your range.
Yeah!
Oh, my God!
Whoa!
That's unbelievable!
Yeah!
One of the really sweet traditions at Letterman
was Dave would always announce major life events,
marriages, births, things like that.
So I remember when he announced our wedding
and he announced it right before the viewer mail
and we were so excited backstage,
like, oh, my God, this is so amazing.
And then he started asking people
if they were going to the wedding
and he asked Paul, who said,
oh, I wasn't invited.
And then he asked Jerry Mulligan,
who was the character,
and said, oh, I wasn't invited.
I was just like, it went from this amazing moment,
like, oh, my God, he's talking about my wedding
to hopefully he's not talking about my wedding.
I have an announcement to make.
Let me see if you know this.
You know who's getting married tomorrow?
Uh, tell.
Huh?
Tell.
You know?
Please tell.
No, do you know or you're just playing dumb?
No, I don't.
What do you mean you don't know?
How can you not know?
I don't know.
Well, it could be, is it someone on our staff?
Yes!
Not only someone on our staff,
two members of our staff,
and not only that,
the late show's cutest couple ever.
Getting married to each other.
That's right.
Yeah.
You don't know this?
No, I know it.
I know it.
I didn't know it was tomorrow.
Are you going to the wedding, by the way?
Um, yeah.
Gerard, are you going to the wedding?
Uh, I wasn't invited today.
That seems about right.
There was an opportunity to go with Biff Henderson
to Eagle Base in Bosnia
for a Christmas special.
I remember a few things from the trip.
I remember every soldier there
thanking Biff for his service in Vietnam.
I remember getting a challenge coin,
which is something the military gives you.
If an officer gives you the coin,
you have to be able to produce it
whenever you see him or her again
out in the world.
Otherwise, you owe them a drink.
But I remember being able to come home
and tell Dave about that story,
about the challenge coins.
And then I remember Dave making his own
and we all had World Wide Pants challenge coins.
Do you have someone special back home?
Yes, my wife, Kirstie.
Do you have a picture of her?
Yes, I do.
I have someone special back home, too.
You want to see?
Sergeant, tell me, what do we have here?
What we have behind me is an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.
And how much does it cost to operate this thing?
Sir, that would be a whole lot of money.
If I promise to only say nice things,
can I yell at you like drill sergeants do?
You are a very attractive man!
You hear me, soldier?
You are a very attractive man!
You feel good, soldier!
I want to be your friend!
You hear me?
Those pants are very flattering on you!
When I was at the podium,
this year would be the control room
and this year would be Dave on stage.
Dave, for some reason, got it in his head
he wanted to play some Eagles music,
which it turns out is very expensive
to clear music rights
and that they're very litigious.
But I just remember being at the podium
and just hearing this year was just,
no, no, no, don't let him play it!
And this year was Dave and Paul
and everyone on stage being like,
let's play something, let's play something!
And then I'm just trying to talk to Dave
and be like, no, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
No, don't play it!
It was insane!
How expensive is it?
It's too expensive!
Well, like how much?
What are we talking about?
Well, I don't know!
It's like every time we...
Like if we play one song,
what's it going to do?
One song?
One song?
Probably like $1,000.
All right, pick your favorite Eagles song
and we'll hear it!
Hold it, hold it!
How much is it?
So if we play an Eagles song,
we'll get sued, is that correct?
Yeah, they don't want...
They just don't want to...
They just said no.
But for the Eagles music,
you know what they want?
We can play it,
but you know what it'll cost us?
Take a guess.
For what song?
One song, take a guess.
It must have got to be
more than $1,000 then.
Oh, yeah.
Is it $5,000?
More than $5,000.
Really?
$10,000 for I can't tell you why?
More than...
Up,