Name: Salute to Bill Wendell on Letterman, April 18 1985
Uploaded: 2019-01-06T02:22:04.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Salute to Bill Wendell on Letterman, April 18 1985' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-01-06. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Salute to Bill Wendell on Letterman, April 18 1985' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-01-06. Transcript available.

very nice Paul thank you so much coming up in this half hour Danny Ayala will
be here and also
comedian Will Durst Monday on this television program Billy Crystal will be
here comedian
John Witherspoon and author Charles Panotti at this time before we get any
farther out of hand
let me ask our good friend Bill Wendell to come over here Bill come here a
second yes Bill come
over here let's have a seat Bill don't don't be so stunned now you know we got
a there's this is the
NBC newsletter this is a newsletter of New York employee activities and
programs and it comes
out how does it come out once a month once a week we don't know you don't know
anyway the April 4th
issue informs us that William Wendell has been with NBC for 30 years
that's very impressive very impressive is that correct 30 years now how old
were you when you
started here oh my 20s unbelievable well Bill because we didn't feel we could
let such a
milestone go unnoticed I'll bet we have we have prepared put together oh come
on oh don't pull
yourself together we have prepared the following tribute to your career here at
NBC ladies and
gentlemen a tribute to our own Bill Wendell oh 1955 Churchill resigns as Prime
Minister of England Eisenhower
steers a steady course in the United States and Bill Wendell joins the national
broadcasting company 1956
Bill Wendell first enters the limelight as an announcer performer on the
legendary Ernie Kovacs show in 1958
Wendell changes the face of television forever when he invents the game show
his tic-tac-dough gives
millions of Americans solid entertainment and their first look at a young man
named Elvis Presley
Wendell hosts the first of many Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades in 1959 this
time with Grace Kelly the day
is marred by a slight incident when the future princess makes an on-air mistake
and Wendell decks her 1960 young Jack Kennedy builds a new frontier and Bill Wendell
joins the best and the brightest as the official White House announcer
in 1967 President Lyndon Johnson calls for an all announcer battalion to
conduct a secret mission in Vietnam
he names as its leader Colonel Bill Wendell giving him one order let's get this
damn thing over with
Bill is quickly disillusioned in Vietnam especially with the poor quality of
the army audio transmissions he returns to the United States to do the
announcing on a film that mirrors the discontent of a generation
Easy Rider
Bill spends the next 15 years leading a shadowy existence on the top floor of
the Canton, Ohio Thunderbird Motel
his penthouse is sterilized his microphones are boiled and nightly he stumbles
to the cocktail lounge where he performs a one-man tribute to Abraham Lincoln
In 1982 Wendell comes out of seclusion when he attempts to purchase the
National Broadcasting Company
Unsuccessful he settles for a position as the announcer on Late Night with
David Letterman
Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell
a broadcasting legend
an American hero for 30 years
Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell
Congratulations
Thank you for everything
It's a pleasure to work with you
We have to do a commercial
We'll be right back folks
We'll be right back folks