Name: Staff Favorite Moments: Director Jerry Foley | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-03-08T14:54:12.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Staff Favorite Moments: Director Jerry Foley | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-08. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Staff Favorite Moments: Director Jerry Foley | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-08. Transcript available.

My name is Jerry Foley, and in the spring of 1995, I succeeded Hal Gurney as
the director of Late Show.
Prior to that, I was the show's technical director for five years.
You do the math on this, it's 25 years of late-night television working for
David Letterman.
So one of my responsibilities would be to cue people on and off during a comedy
segment or a talk segment.
And on this particular day, we had the actor Anne Heche talking to Dave.
And backstage was a guy named Richard Hatch, who was one of the original
contestants on Survivor,
and he was distinguished by his desire to walk around naked.
So the writers had the idea that during the Anne Heche segment, we would send
out a naked man to interrupt her.
So we're learning.
And how is Alec Baldwin? Is he great?
Holy cow! Holy cow!
I am a married woman! I am a married woman!
This is too much! This is, help me! Help me! Help me! Help me!
Get out of here! Get out of here!
Oh my gosh! Someone can't!
Get out of here! Get out of here!
Please! Oh no!
Get him out of here!
Oh, help me! Oh!
Get him out of here!
Too much!
Holy cow!
Woo!
Woo!
Woo!
What are you doing to me?
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
Woo!
Woo!
Woo!
Woo!
Excuse me, sir. I thought we were on a proper show here, for goodness sakes,
alive! I didn't
know you did that kind of thing.
There's your popsicle.
In the stunt category is Philippe Petit, the wire walker, who most people know
from walking
in between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Philippe had the idea of
walking on
a cable across Broadway on a cable across Broadway, which is as good as it
sounds. The city of
New York was not high on the idea of a guy walking across Broadway on a cable,
because
if he fell on the street, it wouldn't be good for tourism. And they insisted on
an airbag.
Philippe didn't want the airbag, and as a director, I didn't want the airbag
either, because what
the fun is that, if there's no suggestion of danger. So there was a big blowout
meeting
with the city, and the authority figure, the commissioner, said no walk without
an airbag.
And at that moment, where it got really tense, she had to take a call and left
the room. And
when she left the room, Philippe leaned over to me and said, "Give them zibeg.
It will do nothing if I fall."
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
So, one of the great things that Dave was able to do is find ordinary, everyday
characters
and turn them into celebrities or recurring characters on our show.
And two of my favorite people are Pat Farmer and Kenny Sheehan, who are actual
Broadway stagehands.
And two of our writers, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, at the time figured out
that you could get written transcripts of the Oprah Winfrey show.
And what's really interesting is when you take the written word and have it
read by two Broadway stagehands, well, then it takes on an entirely different
life.
Woo-hoo.
Woo-hoo.
We've been in a tizzy around here preparing for our special guest.
The queen of good things is here.
Please welcome Martha Stewart.
Martha, Martha, I understand you have two charming new centerpiece ideas that
are easy and inexpensive.
All you need is an old sugar ball or a French jelly jar.
That's brilliant.
Take something like a gardenia, just put it in water.
It's so easy.
Yee-haw, yee-haw, yee-haw.
I'm having a Martha moment.
Now, when it comes to appreciating the good things in life, nothing lifts your
spirits more than your cuddly companions.
My pets are fluffy, furry, and lovable.
That's beautiful, Martha.
If you'd like to order a written transcript of Pat and Kenny Read Oakwood
transcripts, write to us at 1697 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019.
And be sure to look for P.K., The Pat and Kenny Magazine, on newsstands
everywhere.
In 1994, Johnny Mosley won the gold medal in Men's Moguls.
And he was nicknamed by David Letterman, Johnny "Big Air" Mosley.
And we set up a ski jump on 53rd Street with an airbag full of soap suds.
And Johnny Mosley went down this ski jump into the airbag, and it was a lot of
fun.
A couple of years later, we tried the same idea with a snowboarder named Tara Dekitis,
but it had a different result.
I was watching them set up this ski jump for Tara Dekitis, and it dawned on me
that some of the people involved were a little sketchy.
And I got particularly concerned later in the day when I realized that instead
of snow, they were just going to run a hose down the ski ramp and make it ice.
Now this, I believe, is the one where you had the problem. Are you ready for
this?
I am.
You've seen nothing of this then, right?
No.
Just some still photographs?
Yeah.
Okay.
I think I kind of hit the cameraman.
Yeah.
Well, you were not aware of the fact that when I saw something going wrong, I
ran out there and tried to catch you.
Oh.
That was me.
What happened?
Where were you?
I don't want to talk about it.
Okay.
So here we go now.
This is your second attempt, and the trick you were doing is a what?
A backside 360.
Backside 360.
All right.
Here we go.
Let's watch this.
Who is that guy?
He.
He threw me off.
Oh, .
Oh, my God.
You see, that looked very, very bad.
Very bad.
Did any of that come back?
Yeah.
I remember that.
Oh, .
Yeah.
The workday could be stressful sometimes, and I think all of us in the American
workforce would
have a fantasy about bitching out our boss.
And on occasion, Dave would encourage this for comedy.
We had a series of people who would tell Dave what they really think.
One of them was our scenic designer, Kathleen Anchors.
And here tonight with a fresh batch of hilarious new library books is our very
own and beloved Peggy,
the foul-mouthed CBS librarian.
Oh.
Hi, Peggy.
How are you?
off, you illiterate, faced bastard.
Yes.
It's very nice to see you too, Peggy.
Thank you for the books.
Oh, my God.
Shove...
What?
Shove the goddamn books up your...
You...
You skinny...
Overpainted...
And then there was an actor named Jody Ebert, who we refer to as the fuck you
guy.
Hey!
Let me...
Hey!
What?
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
I'm sorry.
Yes, sir?
I want to play.
Well, we're out of time.
Out of time?
You're out of time?
I drove all the way here from Philadelphia.
I paid $100 to park my car.
I stood in that line for two hours, and now you're telling me you're out of
time?
Yeah.
Well, you!
No, wait a minute.
And you!
And you!
And you!
And you!
And you!
Oh!
What?
So maybe my favorite would be our cue card person, Tony Mendez, who would work
himself
up into a real frenzy and let Dave have it.
And he used a word that we all loved.
Mamaracho.
Dave!
What?
Dave!
What?
What is it, Tony?
Tony?
Tony Mendez, our cue card boy, ladies and gentlemen.
Yes, Tony.
Thank you.
I, um...
Thank you very much.
Sir, I'm sorry.
I don't want to interrupt, but did you see Morning Joe today?
Oh, the Morning Joe show on the Morning Joe program?
Yes.
Ben Affleck was on.
Ben Affleck was on Morning Joe.
Yes.
And he had very nice things to say about me, Tony Mendez.
I see what you're doing.
That's very cute.
But we all know that he's talking about the character in the movie Argo, whose
name, coincidentally,
is the same as yours.
It's not you.
There's no way...
Even if you took a hot iron and poked it up his nose, there is no way Ben Affleck
would
be talking about you on anywhere.
I'm sorry, but it's...
No.
It was me.
No.
It was me.
No.
It was me.
No.
Why can't you play along?
It's not you.
Okay, that's the end of the monologue.
What?
What?
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
So one of the best parts of the job was being a fanboy.
Getting to meet people you never ever thought in your lifetime you'd get to
meet.
And in this case, Paul McCartney.
He was returning to the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
And somehow it evolved that Paul McCartney was going to be playing live on the
marquee of
the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
But what normally would have been soundcheck and the camera rehearsal was
compromised because
the police department didn't want crowds forming too soon and getting too big.
And they insisted on a black curtain to be in front of Paul McCartney before he
could rehearse.
And at the end of the soundcheck, we got word that the city was shutting us
down, which
was pretty deflating considering how far we got.
And it turned out that there was a police official whose father was on the
original detail
of the Beatles appearing in 1964 and wanted a picture with Paul McCartney.
And magically, once that picture was approved, the curtain came down and we got
to do Paul
McCartney on the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
Thank you very much.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much, Paul.
Paul McCartney, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Great job.
Thank you very much.
And don't forget Angelo's Pizza, by God.
By God.
That's it.
We got to go.
Craig Ferguson is next.
Thanks for watching.
Good night, everybody.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
Thank you.