Name: Willard Scott Collection with David Letterman, 1981-1998
Uploaded: 2021-09-05T04:28:17.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Willard Scott Collection with David Letterman, 1981-1998' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-09-05. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Willard Scott Collection with David Letterman, 1981-1998' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-09-05. Transcript available.

Willard Scott Collection with David Letterman, 1981-1998

This guest is a friend of mine from New York City.
He's making his first appearance on this television program.
He began reporting the weather on NBC's Today Show about a year ago,
and he joined that program after having performed the same duties for 12 years
at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
Before that, he did it at North Hollywood High.
Would you please welcome Willard Scott?
It's Willard.
Willard Scott, ladies and gentlemen.
What a guy, Willard Scott.
Have a seat, Willard.
I have one, thank you.
How are you?
This is a thrill, and you talked about New York at the beginning of the program,
and I know you miss New York because you lived there for quite a while.
Lived under you for a while.
And they kid about the small guy out here in Los Angeles.
I brought you some New York air, and I bottled this this morning.
Here, take a look.
Oh, boy.
Hmm, like sleeping under a bus, yes.
Whoa, Willard.
Having worked in New York only for one year, here's your wallet.
Oh, thank you very much.
You know, these are things I thought I'd never see again.
Well, and for those of you at home who think this is a high-class program,
this is my first appearance, right?
Yes, sir.
Biggest moneymaker for all of NBC, right?
This show.
This show, right here, Johnny Carson's show.
Okay, this is what they serve you for hors d'oeuvres back in the green room.
Oh.
Isn't that right?
Oh.
Mmm.
Delicious.
You know, Willard, in all the time I've been hosting this show as a substitute,
you're the first person who's ever brought meat out here.
But nonetheless, a distinction.
How are things on the Today Show, now that you've got a lot of spam in your
mouth.
That same screw that you had on the soap bar, brother, yeah.
How is Jane?
Terrific.
Ms. Paulie?
The loveliest lady in all of television.
Mm-hmm.
Really a beautiful lady.
And there's Jane in the audience there saying she's a lovely lady.
And Mr. Brokaw?
Tom is meeting frequently with his contract manager, and Tom is with his agent,
his analyst, his psychiatrist, his doctor.
The free clinic, Tom is doing beautifully.
Now, you, uh...
You, I guess you're out here to drop off some resumes, huh?
So, uh...
Every show's an audition, David.
Don't forget it.
You know, I was stunned.
Not stunned.
I mean, it's not like world famine, folks.
But I was, uh...
I was interested in noting here that you've only been on the show a little over
a year.
Is that possible?
Seems longer.
No, it...
No, I don't...
I mean that as a compliment.
You seem like an institution of the Today Show.
Now, I understand that when you started, things were a little bit rocky.
Yeah.
Well, I was the first guy that they'd ever hired over 40 on the Today Show.
And, I mean, look at it this way.
I'm bald-headed.
I'm over 40.
I have no talent.
And I'm on Geritol, and I've been a hit.
So, I mean, it's got everybody baffled in New York.
They can't understand.
But what kind of reaction did you get when...
Now, I know the people love you now, but what was it like when you first
started?
In the beginning, it was wild.
I got the first...
One of the first fan letters that I got on the program after I'd been on for
two months.
It was a postcard.
And it simply read,
Good morning, Tom.
Good morning, Jane.
Good morning, Gene.
Good morning, Willard.
Goodbye today.
Good morning, America.
That said it all.
Oh, heavens.
Not a confidence builder.
I went on vacation.
I came back.
The card said,
Hope you enjoyed your vacation.
We sure did.
Wait, there's more.
Okay.
I got a write-up in the New York Daily News from one of the biggest fans that I've
ever had in the newspaper business.
He said that Willard Scott is the kind of person that if he gets on an airplane,
you hope he won't sit next to you.
Now, that was a nice...
But now you have overcome this sort of thing.
No, it's still rotten press.
No, no.
There's no audience.
The ratings are down.
No, Willard.
No, no, no.
None of that's true.
And we're going to take a look at some of the things that the folks send in.
Is that correct?
Yeah, I brought a few little goodies on the plane with me this morning.
First of all, I want to share this...
We have to pause for a commercial message while Willard takes inventory.
Are you going to have anything?
Hi there.
Welcome back to the tonight show.
Willard Scott is here.
Every morning, when you see Willard do the weather, he has a memento that
someone has sent in from around the country.
What have you here, Willard?
Well, this is from the University of Arkansas.
And, you know, they call...
They call themselves the Razorbacks.
And this is a hat that all the kids that go to school, they're wearing this.
Would you like to put the songs right out?
Yeah.
I bet the parents are mighty proud of their kids, too, aren't they?
There you go.
Yeah.
Can you imagine...
Yeah.
Who says these kids today don't know what they're doing, huh?
Can you imagine an RCA stockholder just tuning in as you put that hat on?
Oh, there he goes.
No, they'd like that.
They'd say, now we got something.
All right, now.
These were sent to us, and I don't really know quite what you do with these,
Dave, but you can figure it out after the show.
I think these are doilies of some sort, or tea cozies, perhaps.
Hello, doily.
Now, to show you what they think of you in New York at the network at the top,
Fred Silverman spent the last six months knitting this for you.
And if you'll help me hold this up, I'll show you what this is.
Because this is really quite nice.
Are you ready for this?
Oh, this is lovely.
Is that lovely?
That's very nice, yeah.
A woman, I don't mean to, a viewer knitted that, is that correct?
Yeah, a lady in Stewart, Florida knitted this for us.
That's very nice.
And it's that sort of thing.
We got a 40-pound Maui fish sent frozen from Guam one day.
Those are fun.
Yeah, we had fun.
We sent it to the cafeteria, and they made salad out of it.
Or on a hot day, just sit on it.
That's what they did for three weeks.
And the whole company did the cha-cha-cha, the electric mambo.
Now, before you got into weather, weren't you a clown, Ronald McDonald?
Yeah, I was the original Ronald McDonald.
I started, isn't that, you were just a baby.
Before Chicken McNuggets, I was Ronald McDonald.
Now, what were your responsibilities in those days?
I was Richard Nixon for two years.
I was Bozo the Clown for a year and a half.
I did many different jobs in Washington.
But as Ronald McDonald, now, back in those days, it was like over a hundred
sold.
I remember it was not a big thing.
First sign.
And would you go out on public appearances and stuff?
Yeah, I went out and sat on the top and fished for fish sandwiches on the top
of McDonald's
with a fishing rod.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then the greatest thing that I probably in my whole career, I started
early and peaked
and should have quit when I was a head.
But I worked at WRC in Washington with Jimmy Henson, who later on did the Muppets,
of course.
We had a show called Sam and Fred, and Jimmy had these Muppets, and he had this
little
green frog named Kermit.
And Kermit, I was sort of the Fran Allison of the group, and I fed Kermit Schindler's
peanut butter.
Kermit would open his little mouth, and I'd take a big wad of this local peanut
butter
and slap it in there, and Kermit would go, and it'd disappear.
And that was a hot act, believe me.
That was early television, you've got to remember.
So Kermit goes back a few years then, doesn't he?
Yeah, Kermit, about 53.
Yeah, I was under the impression he was a newer, but he's been around for a
while.
Sam was the bald-headed puppet, and he was the star of the show.
Sam never met him.
Now, Willard, you mentioned something earlier that I find difficult to believe.
You said you're bald, but you seem to have a healthy head of hair there.
Yes, well, show business.
It's amazing.
We'll, we have to do something, but we'll.
You never know who you got to run into on the streets here.
For instance, you might run into Gregory Peck.
You might possibly run into Richard Hare.
I don't believe it.
Hi, Willard, how are you?
I don't believe it.
It's David Letterhead.
Thank you.
He's the idol of the, you're starting your new production win.
February 1, but before we get into that, I just wanted to congratulate
everybody affiliated
with your show, The Today Show, for being on the air for 30 years.
And I know that means a lot to everybody, coming from a guy whose own show
lasted 18 weeks.
So, it's a commendable anniversary.
I don't know of anybody in that room and anybody in the show business that hasn't
had the same
experience one way or the other, but we wish you the best.
I happen to be your biggest fan at 260 pounds.
Thank you very much, Willard.
And thanks for the opportunity of letting me get up at dawn.
I appreciate that.
I do a great, watch this.
And now, here's David.
We have your resume.
Thank you.
David Letterman with Willard Scott on January 14th, 1982, the 30th anniversary
of The Today Show.
My next guest started his career at NBC in 1950 as a page at WRC in Washington.
Now, the weather reporter on The Today Show and just a fun guy to have around,
please welcome
Willard Scott.
Thank you very much for being here, Willard.
Thank you very much for being here, Willard.
I would have been here earlier, but there's all sorts of worm castings up in
the green
room.
I had to get it off my shoe.
There's two piles of worm castings right there.
You've got to watch your step.
That is a class act that you have on that show.
I must say.
That's what's the...
Let me get right to it.
Now, you are a revered American television figure.
Yes.
But at one point, is it true that you were Commander Retro?
I hate to admit to that, but that was probably the shortest lived television
show in the history
of the world.
It drew fewer people.
There it is, Commander Retro.
There he is.
And that is the Dear Departed Basset Hound, Dr. Strange Dog, who was very
active in the
show.
That show lasted six weeks.
We showed old Buster Crab movies and Buck Rogers shorts.
Is this a weekly show?
Daily show?
It was once a week on Saturday morning.
It had the lowest rating of any show in Washington.
Now, you were also Bozo, is this correct?
I was Bozo.
You know, they had Bozo's in every major market.
They have a couple here at NBC.
They call them Vice Presidents.
And one has 300 kidneys.
And he's in the green room right now.
But, now, Bozo was a syndicated show that started out in California, a fellow
named Larry
Harmon, who used the old Circus Clown as a bass.
And then out of Bozo came Ronald McDonald.
And you, but you developed Ronald McDonald, didn't you?
That's right.
Where's my briefcase?
It's funny you should mention that.
Now, how does that happen?
You were Bozo on TV.
We didn't mention that.
Look what I have here for you.
I wanted you to have this as a token of my esteem.
This, I don't think I can.
This is the first Ronald McDonald suit that was the commercial suit.
Now, the first original Ronald McDonald suit looked a lot different from this.
Looks like you used some spotting on that one.
Yes.
I took it over to Dirty Harry and he said, no way would he touch this thing.
But, now, tell me how you, from being Bozo to Ronald McDonald, and if you, in
fact, created
Ronald McDonald, you get plenty of dough every time they move it.
Oh, you would be surprised how much.
Have you ever worked with big corporations?
Well.
It only hurts when I laugh.
I'm a veteran, too, folks.
I mean, over the years, I worked with them.
I worked with the Bozo, the clown show, as I say, and out of that came Ronald
McDonald.
And it was one of those things where, you know, I was 23 years old.
What did I know?
You know, they said on the casting room couch, they said, sweetheart, baby,
when the thing
goes national, you're going to be the national Ronald.
Don't worry about it.
And I didn't.
Yeah.
And it did.
Yeah.
And I didn't.
But, I mean, now, in retrospect, you created a highly identifiable logo.
Well, I guess, oh, my goodness.
There you are.
There's the family of clowns.
That's Mary Clown ov