Name: Bill Carter on Tom Snyder's Cable Talk Show, February 2, 1994
Uploaded: 2018-07-08T05:25:06.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Carter on Tom Snyder's Cable Talk Show, February 2, 1994' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-07-08. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Carter on Tom Snyder's Cable Talk Show, February 2, 1994' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-07-08. Transcript available.

Bill Carter on Tom Snyder's Cable Talk Show, February 2, 1994

Next on the best of Tom Snyder, the outrageous George Carlin.
I was playing music during the day that I was making out to at night.
You know, Carlin, you're funny.
Plus, Bill Carter dishes dirt on the late-night talk show.
Next on the best of Tom Snyder.
Cross over the bridge, cross over the bridge.
Change your reckless way of living.
Cross over the bridge, leave your fickle past behind you.
And true romance will find you, brother.
Cross over the bridge.
Yeah.
My first duet with Clooney.
Yeah, perfect.
And I'm drooling.
Hi, folks, I'm Tom. Welcome back.
This is the Color Cast Now for Wednesday night.
It's the 2nd of February, 1994.
On the program tonight, George Carlin,
the man who has gained lasting success both in stand-up comedy,
in motion pictures,
and now a new sitcom on television,
which, from what I understand,
is a runaway bestseller.
Very funny show.
We are especially flattered because George is coming over tonight
from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno across the street,
and he will join us shortly.
Speaking of Jay Leno,
I went to bed a little early last night.
I mentioned that I'd had several color teenies the night of the anniversary
show,
and I was just slightly out of whack.
So I went to bed about 10.30,
and I awakened this morning,
my little phone machine is, you know,
the lights flashing,
and I check,
and it's Jay Leno called.
Apparently, what they did over at Channel 4 here,
the NBC station in Los Angeles,
is they ran a segment of our conversation here Monday night
in which Leno talked about listening in
while various NBC executives voted for he or David Letterman
to host the Tonight Show.
And so he wondered, you know,
are they allowed to do that?
And as it turned out,
I think they put this on the newswire or newsline
that goes to all the stations across the country,
so God knows where it ran last night.
And I spoke with him this morning.
I said, you know,
yeah, they're allowed to do that.
I mean, once it leaves our lips, Jay,
it becomes somebody else's property.
That's the problem with what we do for a living.
So tonight,
to further explore the adventures of Leno and Letterman,
we have a gentleman coming on here
named Bill Carter.
Bill Carter is the chief television writer
for the New York Times.
He has a marvelous book out,
which I'm two-thirds of the way through.
It is called The Late Shift,
and it's the story of the battle waged by,
I shouldn't say Leno and Letterman,
but their camps,
their agents,
their mentors,
their trusted lieutenants
as to who would host the Tonight Show
after Johnny Carson left
in May of almost two years ago.
So Bill Carter joins us tonight
from Fort Lee, New Jersey,
to talk about The Late Shift,
and then we have George Carlin.
You know what's amazing about this story is,
as I read this book,
I know all these people.
You know,
I know Warren Littlefield of NBC,
and I know Bob Wright of NBC,
and Dick Ebersole,
and Jay Leno,
and David Letterman,
their producers,
Debbie Vickers,
and Robert Morton.
I know these people,
and it's interesting to read about them
and what they all went through
as this gigantic battle went on
to settle once and for all
the post-Carson days of the Tonight Show,
realizing that the people that you know
that have been part of your life,
in my case,
for the last 25 years,
went through a bit of television history.
You know,
as all of us have.
I've confided in you here
the words that changed my life
when Brandon Tartikoff said to me,
we have a deal with David Letterman.
It changed my life,
in many ways for the better.
So that's our show tonight,
and I hope you like it,
as Guy Lombardo used to say.
One of the great things about being
a television person,
a media person,
is that if you've been doing it for a while,
your old self comes back at you
from people who remember when.
One of my listeners sent in here,
and I've forgotten her name,
or I misplaced the letter,
and I apologize for that,
this was TS back in 1975,
on the cover of Flightline,
which at the time was the in-flight magazine
for Continental Airlines.
I think this also was on Ozark Airlines,
and I think it was also on North Central Airlines.
Interesting to note that all three
are now no longer flying.
It's like when you hear a friend has died,
you kind of go like this.
You know?
Man.
But on the inside here,
they captured a picture of moi,
and if I can hold it in such a way,
you see the fellow who is to my right
as I look at it with the glasses on?
I don't know if you can come in on that.
That is Joel Tater,
who continues a friendship with me
and a professional relationship with this program
as the picture pilot.
And I know you're all saying,
what's that?
And it's a secret.
But that was he and I 20 years ago.
Oh.
Studio audience on the 40th floor of the building here.
But anyway,
that was he and I on the set of The Tomorrow Show on NBC
back in New York in 1975.
And then the inset picture is some guests,
and I don't have my specs on,
so I can't tell you who they are.
But thanks to the listener that sent this in
for bringing back memories of the good old days.
What are we selling on the back here?
Oh, Jay Simpson.
Oh, it hurts.
Man, wait until the next time I get to the counter, huh?
Hello.
Yeah.
Hey, there's old Tom.
Now, wait.
Put up the picture one more time.
Then.
Now.
Get that off there.
Come on.
Okay, on to Bill Carter from the New York Times,
who, by the way,
was mentioned in the TV column in the Washington Post today.
I have a cruddy Xerox of it here in my hand.
But the, uh, the, the,
you know what I love about the newspapers
is they're always whining about television
and why don't they do what they're supposed to do?
And, and I think I know who wrote this,
but I'm not certain, so I won't say.
But he says, uh, interestingly enough,
uh, CNBC or NBC has not booked Bill Carter
to talk about The Tonight Show
and Jay Leno and David Letterman.
Well, Mr. Wiseguy, TV columnist in Washington,
hold on to your hats, pal.
Here comes the color cast.
Watch Bill Carter
as his picture flies through the air.
We'll be right back.
This is CNBC.
Uh, Chuck, if I could,
I'd like to just give you a few, um,
words of wisdom about your talk.
Some swivel.
The way to really please the viewers.
Give them things.
Um, coffee cups with rhino heads on.
Score big.
Rhino heads.
Whatever you do,
when people call you on the toll-free exchange,
don't hang up on people.
No.
Don't hang up on them.
No.
And wear the same color striped shirts as I do.
Charles Grodin premieres January 9th on CNBC.
First in talk.
You're watching CNBC.
Home of the talk all-stars.
We are back and joined from Fort Lee, New Jersey,
by Bill Carter,
who is the chief television writer for the New York Times,
back in Manhattan,
and the author of a splendid new book
called, uh,
The Late Shift,
Letterman, Leno,
and The Battle for the Night.
Bill, thanks for coming on,
and welcome to this program.
Appreciate you being here.
Great to be here, Tom.
Uh, why did you call the Tomorrow Show
an eccentric talk show?
I can't,
I can't imagine why.
Uh, I guess that was your reputation
in those days, Tom.
Okay, anyway,
let me ask you here
about your own feelings
after talking with all the players involved.
Uh, I,
I'm only three-fourths of the way through your book,
and we just booked you here this afternoon,
so I haven't finished it.
But it seems to me that,
that despite the battles behind the scenes,
Letterman and Leno in public
conducted themselves as gentlemen.
There's no question about that.
They are gentlemen,
and, uh,
I appreciated that tremendously.
I found that,
as I've had a lot of experience
covering people in show business,
these are two classy individuals.
Uh, they did not in any way
do anything cutthroat personally.
Uh, they didn't take any steps
that I would consider to be unethical at all.
Let me ask you here
about the first mistake
and a long line of mistakes
made by the management at NBC
that ultimately led to the departure
of David Letterman.
Would you say it was the,
the, the, the promise of the Tonight Show
to Jay Leno
before consultation with Letterman
that really sent this barrel over the falls?
Yes,
but I think the dominoes
were actually set in motion,
oddly enough,
by CBS.
because CBS first approached,
uh, Leno.
They attempted to, uh,
hire him away from NBC,
uh, back in about 1990.
And at that point,
NBC didn't want to lose Leno
and sort of began to make more promises to Jay
that he would eventually get the Tonight Show,
although there was no overt promise at that point.
Mm-hmm.
I'd also argue that
their mistake with Letterman
might go back a little further
because they didn't really have
a relationship with the guy.
He was a gigantic star for them.
He was producing enormous revenues.
And yet,
they didn't really have a relationship.
He, he was, you know,
uh, at odds with the management of NBC.
And I think that's a mistake
when you have a star of that, uh, caliber.
You have to do your best to keep him happy.
Let me, let me just fill in
from a personal experience
with the NBC television network
lasting better than 12 years.
There used to be a man
who worked for the company
named David Tebbit.
Right.
Whose job was vice president for talent.
And his job was to keep us happy.
If there were a problem
with Johnny Carson
or with, uh, uh, uh,
any of the NBC stars,
Carson would find out
what the problem was
and attempt to solve it
and most times did so successfully.
When he left
to go to Carson Productions
back in the 1980s,
all of a sudden,
there, there, there was nobody,
uh, available
to handle the kinds of problems
that Letterman had
with the network
in the mid-1980s.
There was nobody assigned
to keep David Letterman happy.
Yes, you've cited
a crucial problem
because, you know,
NBC, when the management changed,
when GE came in,
the talent relations department
was one of the things
I think that was drastically cut.
And I think that came back
to haunt them eventually.
I think there was nobody
who really knew
how to, you know,
keep those people happy.
And, and it's not because
they had big egos or whatever,
but people who were
on the Air Horse Stars,
they do have certain needs
and I think you have
to pay attention to them.
And they fell down
on that badly, I think.
Okay, we have Don
in Kokomo, Indiana.
Hello, Don.
You're on.
Hey, Tom.
How are you doing, buddy?
I'm doing fine, Don.
How are you tonight?
I'm driving, man.
Uh-oh.
Be careful now, Donnie.
I'm on 465.
It circles Indianapolis.
It's an access road.
Yeah, gotcha.
And I got cruise control hooked up.
I'm doing 95 miles an hour.
Geez, Don.
I got the lights off.
How you doing, buddy?
I'm okay, buddy.
How are you?
Hi.
Are you a big man, Tom?
Uh, 6'4", Don.
Yeah, I'm big myself.
I'm 5'10", 290.
Hey, Tom.
Hey, Tom.
Yeah, yeah, Don.
You know, the other night you was talking about them, uh, model trains.
Yeah.
And, uh, here's something you might enjoy.
I bought me an actual train myself.
I got a 46, uh, 680 Vincent diesel.
Oh, hell of a locomotive.
Hell of a loc.
80,000 pounds.
Yeah.
Uh, it's in parts.
Now I'm putting her together.
And, uh, I'm going to run it around the yard in the spring.
Hey, Don, before we go ahead here, did you want to ask this guy from the New
York Times
anything, or should we just have him sit here?
Who's your guest, Tom?
This guy's named Bill Carter, uh, Don.
He's with the New York Times.
You know, I, I didn't vote for him, but I thought...
Hey, hey, Tom?
Yeah, Don.
You know who you ought to get on that show?
Who's that?
You know, uh, uh, uh, Lee Armstrong, first, uh, man on the moon?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon.
Listen, a buddy of mine that works at the county says, uh, when he landed, he
had a
deal with a, uh, Japanese thermos company.
And he stepped out on the moon and started drinking soup.
And they run that commercial in Japan, and, uh, Armstrong makes $2 million a
year off it.
Is that right?
Well, you know what they say about the thermos, Don?
Huh?
You know what they say about the thermos?
No.
Yeah, well, 