Name: Tom Snyder with David Letterman, September 22, 1980
Uploaded: 2019-01-27T02:10:29.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tom Snyder with David Letterman, September 22, 1980' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-01-27. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tom Snyder with David Letterman, September 22, 1980' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-01-27. Transcript available.

Tom Snyder with David Letterman, September 22, 1980

Music.
Thank you.
Hello again, everybody.
I wish that were the smallest problem in the New York City subway system,
trying to put the coins in there.
Last week, as we began our expanded show at 12.30 Eastern Time,
we were mentioning some of the affiliates that have joined us now because we
are on at an earlier hour.
And I neglected to mention one of our most important affiliates, KTVL in Medford,
Oregon.
We did not mention them in the greetings last night or last week to the rest of
the stations,
and I'm told that Marvin Rhodes, their program director, was highly upset and
threatened to cancel Laverne and Shirley,
which is not even on this network.
But welcome to KTVL in Medford, Oregon, one of the newest members of our
Tomorrow Show family.
Incidentally, since we came on the air at 12.30 last week, the mail has been
pouring in here to our office.
Today, two or three letters poured in, and the nationwide audience is unanimous
in their appreciation of this show.
Dear Tom, I can't stand your new program.
That's from Chicago, Illinois.
Also from Chicago, we're not doing very well out there.
This has been a very bad night for me.
I just watched your new show.
And finally, going out to Texas, get back to the old format and do it fast.
So thank you for all those cards and letters.
They're extremely, extremely encouraging.
A couple of years ago, David Letterman first appeared on this show.
He was a member of a panel.
We had some young, rising comedians who lived in Hollywood at the time,
and we asked them to our studios, and they talked about the difficulties of
breaking into the business.
As it turns out, David Letterman is now starring in his own show on NBC
television here every morning at 10 o'clock.
He has often been called Johnny Carson's heir apparent.
He's had some ups and some downs with the new show at 10 o'clock in the morning.
He is still, however, one of the brightest comedy stars and talk show stars in
this business,
and we're very happy to have David here tonight.
Now, when we had him here the last time, we did not have a studio audience.
As a consequence, nobody laughed when David said something extremely funny.
We have found over the years that if we have comedians here,
it's important that they get some kind of feedback from the studio audience
so that they can continue with their timing.
You know, what's the most important thing in comedy?
Timing.
This studio is equipped, and I think we have the only one in the business right
now,
with a laugh sign.
I don't think you can see it because it's over the head here.
Can you grab a shot of the laugh sign?
We'll have it up for you in a second.
I have in my hand the switch down here, which controls the laugh sign.
All right, now watch this.
Watch this.
Okay, there it goes.
See?
All right?
A little higher.
There you see it.
Laugh, all right?
When Letterman comes out here, no matter what he says,
I mean, good evening, it's nice.
You want to rehearse it now?
All right.
I'll be Letterman.
Well, Tom, it's nice to be with you.
They got it, okay?
So, be ready for that.
Make him crazy, huh?
He'll want it on his show all the time.
David Letterman is here tonight.
We also have some clips from the David Letterman show.
A little bit later on, from Salem, Massachusetts,
we will all have a chance to meet via two-way link,
Killer Kowalski.
He is from the Killer Kowalski...
I guess you know we're going to have lady wrestlers, too, huh?
From the Killer Kowalski Institute for Pro Wrestlers
at the YMCA in Salem, Mass.,
we'll meet the killer himself,
and we'll have two of the killer's prize students,
Vicious Venetia and Lori Nephew,
who will demonstrate some of the killer's techniques.
Watch that stuff there, ladies.
And then to close our show tonight,
about 45 minutes from now,
we have four child stars from the 50s and the 60s
who are being reunited for the first time in 20 years.
I don't think necessarily...
Well, yeah, here,
because the show that they're in
will be on the air tomorrow night.
They will appear together
on an NBC movie of the week,
which is called Scout's Honor.
That'll be on at 8 o'clock Eastern time tomorrow night.
We have Angela Cartwright from Make Room for Daddy and Lost in Space,
Jay North, who starred in Dennis the Menace,
Paul Peterson, who was a former Mouseketeer
and later appeared as the teenage heartthrob in the Donna Reed Show,
and Lauren Chapin from Father Knows Best.
Angela, Jay, Paul, and Lauren
have all experienced the celebrity status
of being childhood celebrities,
the trauma of unemployment when their shows were canceled.
Each has handled it differently,
and they're here tonight to talk about
how their lives have changed since then,
how television has changed,
their lives have changed,
their careers have changed,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And do we have pictures of them
when they were kids, little kids, later on?
It's all later on.
I hope we have time for those pictures.
Now, last week here,
we tried something which didn't work,
and we're going to try it again tonight,
which members of the audience
attempt to ask old Tom a couple of questions
to see if he has anything of importance to say.
So who would like to be first in our audience tonight?
Yes, ma'am, right there, if you find me.
What is your name, ma'am?
My name is Lisa Corman.
Hi, Lisa.
I was wondering,
when you interview somebody
who doesn't share your specific view on a subject,
do you ever find any problem
interviewing them objectively?
What's objective?
That's like what's fair.
I have trouble, as you probably know,
hiding my feelings.
If I don't like somebody,
it probably creeps through here,
even though I don't mean for it to.
Recent example,
Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.
I did not like this man when I met him,
and it became very, very apparent.
Some years ago,
David Duke from the Ku Klux Klan.
I disagreed with him,
and that came through.
But it really doesn't get in the way.
I think when you do something like this,
if you try and mask your feelings
behind objectivity,
you don't do a very good program.
It gets bland,
and I don't like to do things that are bland.
Okay?
Thank you.
Who wants to be next up there now?
Yes, sir, your name.
Yes, Eddie Jacobs from Long Beach.
I'd like to know if you miss
your old format of your show
when you didn't have an audience,
and I thought it was much more intimate.
I miss it,
but don't ask me what I'm doing here.
Well, what are you doing here?
That's an interesting question.
Doing it for seven years
with nobody in the studio,
and now doing this.
I will tell you,
it's uncomfortable here.
It's not pleasant sometimes,
because I have the feeling
that audiences come to television shows
for two things,
to win a washing machine,
or to laugh uproariously.
And we don't have that going on
all the time here.
And sometimes when it's very quiet here
and very quiet out there,
it's uncomfortable.
But I will get used to it as best I can,
and I hope the people
who are watching at home
get used to it.
However, if we get many more telegrams
like I read tonight,
we're going to have to have a meeting.
But thank you for asking the question.
Anybody else?
Yes, sir.
Yes, I'd like to know
how you ever got to be the host
of a nationally telecast talk show.
Thank you.
Do you think I should not be?
And if you don't think so,
say it in front of all these people.
Be brave.
No, I'm not saying
you don't do a good job at it.
I'd just like to know
how you got there.
Outlasting a lot of other people.
True.
Just outlasting many, many people
who are out in the hallway now
saying,
why is he in there
and we're out here?
And being lucky
and being in the right place
at the right time.
It's really the reason.
Time for one more
if anybody else wants to.
Yes, ma'am.
My name is Molly Francis
from New York City.
How would you like to trade places,
time slots
with David Letterman?
Let's see how it goes here
for the next 25 or 30 minutes
and I'll let you know.
I don't think so.
I'm comfortable here
and David, I think,
is better in the morning.
We'll ask him about that
when he comes out, all right?
Thank you all
for being here tonight
and thank you all
for being with us at home
and we'll meet David Letterman
right after these words
from our sponsors
and the NBC television.
I have a bone in my throat.
Warming up the audience
as he does every morning
from 10 to 11 o'clock
here on NBC,
here's my first guest
of the evening.
Would you welcome
Mr. David Letterman?
David?
Did you happen to watch
the presidential debates
at all last night?
I'm actually too upset
to talk about that, Tom.
It looks now
like my best friend
is dying,
so it's kind of...
What have you got here?
Let me...
No, you know what it is.
No, did you see
the debates at all?
I saw 10 minutes
of the debate, Tom.
I'll tell you,
do this at 10 o'clock
in the morning,
there'd be no...
So, yeah, this is...
Well, this is mostly
my staff, as it turns out,
in the loyal group
that they are.
I know, I see all those
help-wanted signs
in the seat.
Let's get this
out of the way
rapidly without any
darts being blown down.
There was a story
here in the New York Times
on, I think it was
last Friday,
that the future
of your show
was in some jeopardy.
Could you clarify that?
Have you had any meetings
with the people
here at NBC
or any conversations
with your people
that would shed
further light on this?
I called the Times
principally about
my subscription.
In addition to other things.
There were no meetings,
per se, phone calls,
but as of today now,
I was informed
that the show
had not been canceled.
Fantastic.
And that's...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It probably means
it's been picked up again.
I didn't say that,
nor did the person
I talked to say that.
But they said
it had not been canceled
at this point.
Remember when you were
first going on the air
and you had the move
to New York
from your home
in Los Angeles
and the pressures
of a day-in,
day-out show
five days a week.
How is it different
from what you thought
it was going to be
when you moved in here?
Well, the city alone
is a major adjustment.
I had moved from
a place in Los Angeles
which is about
the nicest place
you can live,
real neat,
near the water,
horses going by the streets,
people on them.
I don't mean to give
the impression
of horses running wild
out there,
but here it's
a little different.
We used to go down
and watch the whales,
the California gray or blue.
It's hard to tell
from that distance.
Colorblind, yeah.
Yeah.
They would migrate
near my home
and then you move
to New York
and of course
it's the psychotics
migrating.
So that was
a major adjustment
and the noise
was a problem.
When I first moved
to New York City
I was living
at 55th and 6th Avenue.
Now, for those of you
watching Medford, Oregon
for example,
it's the busiest,
loudest, nastiest
intersection in the world.
It's where the Army
does their tank testing
and General Motors
works on the new
diesel equipment there.
So that was unpleasant.
Every day would start
with a fist fight
and end with a fist fight.
So that was tough.
And it took me
about three months
to get used
to just living here.
And putting on the show
has been better
and worse
than I thought
it was going to be.
When everything goes great,
it's about the best feeling.
Isn't it fantastic
though when it really clicks?
Well, you've had it too.
Yes, I have.
Not tonight, but...
But then when it comes apart
there's nothing you can do.
It just goes lower
than you ever thought
it was going to go.
Don't you find though
that even if you do a dud
on Tuesday,
you know you're going
to come back in there
on Wednesday
and you can kind of forget
about what went on
on Tuesday.
That's the beauty
of doing a daily show
and I like doing
a live show.
I just don't have
the patience
to rehearse
the barroom sketch
all week
and then do it
and tape it
and that's it.
I like to go in
and rehearse it once
and do it as hard
as you can
and then go on
to something else
and forget about it.
And the beauty
of knowing you're
coming back
the 