Name: 10th Anniversary Special on Letterman, February 6, 1992 (stereo)
Uploaded: 2020-08-24T17:45:25.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video '10th Anniversary Special on Letterman, February 6, 1992 (stereo)' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-08-24. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video '10th Anniversary Special on Letterman, February 6, 1992 (stereo)' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-08-24. Transcript available.

10th Anniversary Special on Letterman, February 6, 1992 (stereo)

Next week, Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, and that man with a winning smile.
David Letterman, next week on Today.
The Happy Network.
Thank you.
From always gorgeous and exciting San Antonio, Texas, where something is always
happening.
Good. Back to Katie in New York.
Thanks, Willard. Love the sound effects. Thanks.
Thank you.
It's hard to believe that David Letterman has been answering viewer mail and
presenting the latest in stupid pet tricks for 10 years now on his late night
program.
To begin our observance of this important milestone, Dave made the trip three
flights down to our studio for some coffee and a little chat about his big primetime
anniversary show, which airs tomorrow night here on NBC.
It's the David Letterman interview, featuring startling revelations from 10
years of late night, gravity defying dogs, and some low-cal cooking tips for
better health.
And now, from Studio 3B in New York's famed GE building, it's Katie and David
Letterman.
Ten years, a decade of late night with David Letterman.
Does it feel like ten years?
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.
In one word, why we've been on the air ten years.
In one word, Johnny Carson.
Actually, that's two words.
But that would be the reason.
Explain.
Well, as I've pointed out, I think that when we went on the air in February of
1982, we followed The Tonight Show, and it's on, as you know, from 11.30 to 12.30,
and then it would be us.
And I think, especially in those days, you could put squirrels mating in a cage,
and they would get about the same...
You have, haven't you?
Well, oh, so you've seen the tapes.
I think you would get about the same audience.
Maybe the demographics would be a bit different, but I think in terms of pure
numbers, they would be about the same as we have been able to generate.
Oh, come on.
Well, no, all right.
Obviously, you're not putting on squirrels mating.
You're doing a lot of different kinds of things.
What do you look for when you put together a show every night?
You know, we like the show to be, you know, meet the press, is really what we're
after.
Very funny.
If we can do like a 12.30 version of meet the press, then we say to ourselves,
yes, yes, another job well done.
We're going to finish our chicken here.
The crawls are expensive, ain't they?
It's very expensive.
It costs like $600 a pound.
Wow.
And, you know, everybody asks me what they smell like.
I always tell them it smells like sex to me.
You just try to smell them.
Jeez, what have you been doing?
Actually, in Austria, they pronounce it Schwarzen Ecker.
Schwarzen Ecker.
Yeah, so just to confuse you a little bit.
Does the name mean something?
It means Black Plowman.
Black Plowman?
Plowman, yeah.
Wow.
Tell me about the wedding and your relationship with the Kennedy family.
What do you want to know?
Well, now, how do they feel about having a Black Plowman in the grocery?
Hey, I'm going to enjoy a beverage now, if you don't mind.
No problem.
In our lovely Today at 40 mug.
Did you know it's the Today Show's 40th anniversary?
No, really?
Like I've been in a trunk in a rental car at LaGuardia.
No, I had no idea.
Oh, and I see it's in color now, too.
Wow.
That's right.
Isn't this lovely?
But see, there you go.
Talking about relative terms of success, 10 years seems meager.
Seems like no accomplishment whatsoever.
It seems like a trifle when you compare it to a show that's been on the air
long enough
to have their own coffee mugs.
That's right.
Pretty impressive, huh?
Yeah, there's a breakthrough.
I understand that you make fun of this revered historic institution known as
the Today Show.
I've made fun of the show.
Yeah, I've made fun of the show.
This is one of my favorite things about being on the air this long, to have
this kind of an association.
We share crew members, our show and the Today Show.
And one of the shared crew members had overheard a conversation where Bryant
was supposed to have said,
I'm going to go up there and just hit him.
Not our Bryant.
Yeah, yeah.
And it was because they had this primetime version of the Today Show.
And the producer in those days, who I don't remember his name.
Steve Friedman.
That's right.
He came to us and he said, we're going to do this primetime show.
And he said, between you and I, it's sort of going to be dull and plodding.
So we need some heat.
We need something to pep it up.
We need to stir up.
We need a little controversy.
Can you do something?
And we said, sure.
We'll try and interrupt the show.
We'll scream at Bryant with a bullhorn.
Let's see what we can do.
Go ahead, Carl.
Take a look out there.
Attention.
Attention, people of New York City.
My name is Lawrence Grossman, the president of NBC News.
This primetime program was my idea.
And I'm not wearing pants.
Nobody told Bryant.
You know, Mr. Friedman, Mr. Big Shot, Mr. Vince McMahon of the World Wrestling
Federation
didn't mention that to Bryant.
So it all comes as a surprise to him.
And he was very angry.
And I don't blame him.
And for years and years and years, he wouldn't speak to me.
And he was really, really quite upset.
But now you guys have kissed and made up.
See, the thing of it is, I always regretted it because I like him.
And I think he is one of a handful of people.
And I think NBC is lucky enough to have most of these people who are really
good communicators
and pure broadcasters.
And so I always respected him for that.
And so I was never mad at him.
But he always wanted to come up and just, you know, do some work on me.
And then later we were able, by the way, I could take him.
I don't think that was ever.
I don't think that was ever in question.
But once again, I've forgotten the question.
Yeah, borrow a Kleenex.
Oh, sure.
Not the one that you used.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
See, another one popped right up.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Yeah, my nose is a little bit running this morning.
I don't know why.
You said when you were a young lad growing up in Indiana, you said, all I ever
want to
be is a talk show host.
Is that for real or is that just according to a press release?
I mean, do you think that that's the case?
I would hope not.
When you're like 11 years old and mom wakes you up in the morning, Dave, what
do you want
to do when you're 40?
I'd like to be a talk show host, mom.
It's amazing when you think of the people who are coming out with their own
talk shows.
I mean, Jane Whitney is a former NBC Central American correspondent.
I don't know Jane Whitney.
Whoopi Goldberg.
Whoopi Goldberg.
Dennis Miller.
Dennis Miller.
I mean, we're being inundated with these gab fests.
What do you think of all this?
The real reason is they're very cheap to produce.
I was going to say, isn't it?
Very inexpensive.
Yes, very inexpensive to produce.
And we do four shows a week for under $20.
Just to give you a rough idea.
And the folks at GE, they're very proud of you, aren't they?
In fact, you do like to poke fun at those pinheads at GE you work for.
Do you ever hear from any of them?
The only time I heard from them, and I always thought this was a really telling
story,
and I enjoyed it when it happened, and it kind of put me in shock for a bit.
And it took me a couple of days to kind of ingest this information.
It wasn't a dry skin thing again, was it?
No, no, no, no, no.
We had an anniversary party, and I don't know what year it was.
It was, I don't know, six, seven, I don't know, whatever the year was.
And there was a party, and Jack Welch, the Mr. GE, the man who...
Big kahuna.
Yeah, the guy who invented the...
He lived next door to Edison or something.
Anyway, he comes running up to us at this party, me and my friends at work and
so forth,
and he's got this big, silly fruit basket, you know, and he comes running up,
and he shoves it into my arms, and he says,
keep making fun of us.
We love it when you call us pinheads.
And I just thought, wow, what does this tell you?
Here's some insight into the corporate world.
And then I saw the other day where their gross revenue for 91 was $63 billion.
$63 billion.
With a B.
So I guess if you're turning that kind of cash through a company,
you don't care what people call you.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, Bryant, what do you think?
You think you could take him or he could take you?
No, no, no, we're probably in different weight classes.
Hmm, maybe.
I like when he said NBC is lucky to have you, Bryant.
Dave, Dave.
What a brown noser.
Yeesh.
Tomorrow morning, Dave will be back to reveal the identity of the guest with
the gravity-define hair
and what he thinks of the big to-do about Jay Leno getting the Tonight Show job.
David Letterman is back this morning celebrating his big primetime 10th
anniversary show tonight on NBC.
He's conjured up some fond memories for us and some valuable insight
into how this little TV experiment called Late Night with David Letterman
has survived for the last 10 years.
It's the David Letterman interview featuring exclusive late-night interviewing
techniques,
personal hygiene of the stars,
and some hairdo news you can use.
And now, from Studio 3B in New York's famed GE building,
it's Katie and David Letterman.
Good morning, but all of that seems of little importance
once you take a look at the cloud cover photograph made earlier of the United
States today.
He started out as a local weatherman.
Why did you do that?
What do you mean, why did I do that?
I mean, how did that opportunity present itself?
I was, again, really very lucky.
I've been very lucky all my life as far as getting pretty cool jobs.
And I was a junior in college,
and a friend of mine's brother worked at this television station in Indianapolis.
And he said, we're looking for a vacation announcer.
Just come on down, and there's going to be like eight guys that are going to
audition.
And, you know, audition, and we'll see what happens.
Well, not only did I audition, but I got the job.
And so part of the duties of the vacation announcer,
you would be the weekend weatherman and fill in in various positions when folks
were on vacation.
And that's how I got the job.
Is that when it sort of became apparent that your real future was in comedy?
I don't know.
I'm not sure.
I was so excited that, because in those days,
it seemed like a miracle that you could be on radio or television.
You know, this was like in the late 60s.
And television hadn't been as accessible to lay people at that time, I don't
think.
It seemed like now anybody, there's so much television.
And if you really want to be on television, or even if you don't want to be on
television,
you can get yourself on.
Get into the fountain.
Get into it.
Come on, get in.
If you get fired, I'll get you a job.
Honest.
Just stand in the fountain.
Come on over and just stand in there.
Come on.
All right.
Put the phone down, for God's sakes.
All right, now just get in.
Let's do it.
Come on.
Yeah!
Yeah!
I felt at times that you was living in two worlds.
That's right.
You know why?
I was raised by poodles.
That's the truth.
Who are those women out there, by the way?
Neighbors.
I'll get rid of them.
Hey.
Excuse me.
Just keep it moving.
Come on.
Get out.
Just hit the road, will you?
Both you and Johnny Carson have had some fun with this whole controversy over
the Jay Leno
thing on The Tonight Show.
Is that sort of behind you?
A lot of people really do want to know, how ticked off were you when that
happened?
I was never angry, really, about that.
I was, you know, disappointed, obviously, but I was never, never angry.
And it's interesting to me that somehow the story was that I was angry and that
I was mad
at The Tonight Show and mad at Carson and mad at Jay and on and on and on.
But that aspect of it was so tiny in what was a bigger story.
And it was just a matter of having worked for a network for a long time and
things usually
being great.
And then suddenly, within the last year and a half or so, there were some
problems.
There was some trouble.
And The Tonight Show just occupied, it was kind of another item on a list.
Well, we had troubl