Name: Parents' Night on Letterman, February 25, 1986
Uploaded: 2016-01-29T03:25:42.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Parents' Night on Letterman, February 25, 1986' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-01-29. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Parents' Night on Letterman, February 25, 1986' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-01-29. Transcript available.

Parents' Night on Letterman, February 25, 1986

Hi, I'm Dave Letterman, and welcome to Parents Night, and now here to get
things started with a special Parents Night greeting is the NBC Network's
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Grant Tinker. Grant,
take it away.
Thanks, Tom, and good evening, late-night staffers, late-night parents, and you,
the American viewing public.
Tonight, we are happy to welcome you to the 14th floor offices of the Late at
Night Show, and we hope you will make yourselves at home for the entire hour,
though, of course, you are welcome to stay longer if you help with the cleanup
afterwards.
No pay, of course, Tom, they're not going to get paid.
Yeah, why don't you just go ahead and tell them what we're doing.
Well, Tom, it's only fitting that NBC Play hosts to these marvelous moms and
outstanding dads.
With hit shows like Bill Crosby, Little House on the Prairie, we are synonymous
with wholesome family fare.
Yeah, you know, Grant, Little House on the Prairie is no longer on the air.
Isn't this some other Michael Landon thing?
Yeah, Highway to Heaven.
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's it. Boy, the kids love that talking car, too.
You get a kick out of it, too, don't you?
Yeah, okay.
It's a great prime time lineup, but I feel we have a tremendous show right here
for you.
Tonight, folks, you're going to get to meet the Late Night Parents.
Hey, Tom, there's some pretty good-looking babes here tonight.
No, just don't make a fool of yourself, okay?
From New York, where the sidewalks are thick with moms and dads, it's Late
Night with David Letterman.
Tonight is Parents' Night with the fathers and mothers of people who work on
this show.
And with guests, Susan St. James and Howard Cosell.
Plus, a sampling of talent from visiting parents.
And now, the man who's just sick about the way Parents' Night has gotten so
commercialized,
David Letterman.
How are you doing?
Thank you.
Thanks for being here.
Here's the deal.
Well, for a long time, we thought it would be a lot of fun.
Fun for you folks, and, of course, fun for us, if you got to meet the parents
of the Late Night staff.
And that's what we're going to do.
And I must tell you, it was fun today as I walked from room to room here in our
14th floor offices.
And I could overhear snippets of conversation between parents and their
children, young men and women.
And I think the most frequently heard comment by the parents to their kids was,
why don't you get a real job?
No, no, no, that's only a joke.
So, okay, this is it.
This is our back hall where you don't often see too much of this.
Let me show you something interesting here, and then we're going to meet all of
the Late Night parents tonight.
Look at this.
We didn't know exactly what this was.
There's a lot of wiring, a lot of circuitry there.
And see this wiring here?
A couple of weeks ago, we spliced a pocket calculator right into that,
and we were able to vote in the Philippines elections.
Oh, gosh.
Okay.
We're going to meet the Late Night parents here.
Look at these walls covered with awards and plaques and certificates and so
forth.
We're pretty proud of them.
This, folks, is the talent department, right?
This is the talent department.
Let me introduce you to the folks who keep this show rolling every day.
This is Kathy Vasopoli.
Kathy, nice to see you, and Sander Furton.
And they're literally on the phone like 24 hours a day, and your parents are
here.
Kathy, introduce your folks for us.
These are my parents from Arlington, Virginia, Joe and Sukhin Vasopoli.
Joe, nice to see you.
Sukhin, nice to see you.
Did you have a nice trip?
Yes.
Are you having a good time?
Very.
Are you proud of Kathy?
I think so.
You think so.
It's still up for discussion.
Well, thank you very much for being here.
Now, Sander, introduce your family to us.
This is Fran and Judy Furton.
Hi, Fran.
Nice to see you.
How are you, sir?
Good to see you.
Judy, nice to see you.
Hi, David.
And you folks have come from where?
We came from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Guadalajara, Mexico.
Now, I brought you something special.
Oh, okay, great.
What is that?
Brought us a little something special.
And we've encouraged all the parents to bring you gifts today, by the way.
Well, it's a piñata.
It's a piñata, and we brought it all away.
We had quite a time.
But, David, I want you to know, okay?
Uh-huh.
A lot of us lay eggs.
But this tells you.
I certainly know that feeling.
That's right.
That only hens lay eggs.
Only hens lay eggs.
This proves it.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
I'll treasure this.
Can we bust this open a little bit later?
Oh, sure.
All right.
All right.
I'll tell you what.
Can I leave it in here for safekeeping?
Okay.
Have you ever seen a piñata?
I don't think so.
I don't know.
Okay.
Somebody take it.
All right.
Now, these people came from Guadalajara, and they are the parents who actually
came the
farthest to be on the show.
We have a lovely, it's a trophy.
It's a cup.
You can put this anywhere you like.
Go ahead, Judy.
Read the inscription on that, if you can, for us.
Let's see.
Parents who came the farthest.
Parents' night.
February 25th, 1986.
That's right.
Oh, but for you, David, we'd come.
You're mighty proud, aren't you?
We'd come around here.
We're proud of her.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
She's a little chatty, isn't she?
Okay.
Well, that's it for tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh, we've got plenty more parents to meet, and here's some folks.
Hi.
We'll see you folks a little bit later.
Nice to see you.
And come on down the hall.
We'll show you where the program is being directed from tonight, and you'll
probably recognize
our friend, Hal Gurney.
This is our director, Hal.
And Hal's parents are not here tonight, but Hal, you have a member of your
family.
This is my father-in-law, Ted Ewing.
Ted, nice to meet you.
How are you?
Nice to meet you.
Fine, sir.
Where'd you come from, Ted?
Long Island.
Long Island.
You know, we just gave away a trophy.
Some folks came from Guadalajara.
Pretty close.
Yeah.
You're not eligible.
Okay.
Nice meeting you.
Nice meeting you.
You ever watch this show?
Yeah, I love it.
And are you proud of Hal?
I'm very proud of him.
All right.
He's never seen it, Ted.
Okay.
How about you, Hal?
Have you ever seen it?
Sure I have.
We're almost getting a picture now.
Okay, good.
Thank you very much.
Nice meeting you, Ted.
Thanks for coming.
This is the office of our producer, Barry Sand.
And there is Lori Guthrie and her parents, folks.
Nice to see you.
And Larry is serving them drinks in there.
Larry, have you washed your hands today?
I certainly have.
Okay, good.
All right.
We'll see.
Thank you very much for coming from Chicago, right?
Okay.
We'll talk to them a little bit later.
Let me show you another office we have here.
This is the, what do we call this?
Researchers office, right?
Talents, researchers.
Come on in here a second.
And let me introduce you to these folks.
This is Lori Leonard.
Lori, nice to see you.
Hi, Dave.
Who's on the phone there?
It's my mom.
Is it really your mom?
Yeah.
Let me speak to her for just a second.
Hello.
How are you doing?
Well, don't worry.
No, no.
Parents' Night is next week.
It's not a problem.
Go back to sleep.
Okay, bye-bye.
All right.
Lori, nice to see you.
This is Nina Beaver.
Nina, how are you?
Introduce your folks and where they're from.
This is Chuck and Joyce Beaver from Miami.
Chuck, nice to meet you.
You know, we were just in Miami.
Well, it's a nice place to be.
Very nice town.
And Joyce, nice to see you.
Hello.
Are you having a pleasant stay?
Well, I'm delighted to be here and see how you're treating Nina.
Uh-huh.
And how does she say we're treating her?
Well, her office looks a little small.
Oh, yeah.
It's because we're redecorating her actual office.
It'll be fine.
We'll come back in a couple of years.
Oh, it's the Beavers.
Okay.
Thank you very much, kids.
Bye-bye.
Now, this is the office of our associate producer, Jude Brennan.
Come on in here and let me introduce you to Jude and her family.
Jude, nice to see you.
Hi, Dad.
Introduce us to your parents.
This is my father, Bill Brennan.
Hi, David.
Nice to see you, sir.
How are you?
This is my mother, Jean Brennan.
Jean, pleasure to meet you.
Thank you very much for being here.
You folks live where?
Westport, Connecticut.
So it was not too far a drive for you tonight.
Are you happy with Jude's recent promotion?
Oh, wonderful.
Great.
And, Jude, I know you have a little memento there you'd like to show.
Yes, I do.
I do have a little memento here.
Okay.
Can we see this, Carl?
It's a picture.
This is Brandon Tartikoff, president of programming for NBC.
This is Meryl Marco.
Here's your lovely daughter, Jude, and, of course, her escort for the evening,
Don King.
You might like to have that in your den.
I think you saw cats that night, didn't you?
Yeah.
Okay.
Nice meeting you, folks.
Nice meeting you.
Come back again.
Okay.
That's Jude and her family.
We've got to keep moving.
We're running out of time, aren't we?
For the evening's festivities, we've organized a little something for the
fathers.
This is the film room.
This is where Rick Sheckman works and Ed Hall.
And you're showing a little film tonight, aren't you, Rick?
Yeah, we're showing our cheerleaders on vacation, Dave.
Oh, that's nice.
What happened to Notre Dame Highlights?
Well, we had them a little earlier, but the father's got restless, so we
switched it over.
Thank you very much.
Howard, you having a good time?
This is the best I've seen.
Nice to see you.
Thank you for being here.
All right, boys.
And Kathy Michalsik and her parents, nice to see you, folks.
Thank you very much for being here.
This is Larry Jacobson.
Are your folks here, Larry?
No, they live in L.A., so they'll be doing a tonight show.
Your idea of a joke, isn't it, Larry?
Chris Elliott, who you see on our show all of the time, his parents are here.
We're just going to take a second to go in and...
Come on inside.
Let's see Chris.
Chris, how you doing, buddy?
Chris Elliott, how you doing?
Can you turn that down just a little bit?
Chris, where are you...
Sorry I don't have any Kate Smith for you.
Where are your folks tonight, Chris?
Oh, they're not here.
Uh-huh.
Why?
Are they busy?
Well, they had other things to do.
It's no problem.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
Oh, it's no problem.
I'm going to party all night.
Yeah!
Yeah!
How about the old folks?
Enjoy yourself.
Okay.
See you later.
That's Chris Elliott.
Gee, I don't know.
That doesn't seem like the Chris Elliott I know.
Let's just take one more look at it.
Oh, Chris.
Chris, what's the matter?
They could have called.
Oh, no, Chris.
It'll be all right.
We'll phone them.
Thank you anyway.
It's very high-strung, this kid.
Now, here's another writer's office.
Fred, nice to see you.
There's Fred Graver and her mother.
Hi.
Also from Chicago.
Nice to see you.
Let me show you this.
When we found out the parents were actually coming, we cleaned everything up
and threw it in this closet.
Look at this.
Look at this.
See this box?
Give you an idea how seriously we take this.
All right.
That's that.
Now, on into my office.
Okay.
Hi, folks.
How are you doing?
Hi.
Make yourselves at home.
Enjoy the punch.
Nice to see you, Sophie.
We'll be back.
All right.
This is my office, and this is my assistant.
We met Laurie Diamond before.
Any messages?
Yes.
The dermatologist called.
It's nothing.
Oh, good.
Again.
Oh, good.
Thank you.
Is my mom in here?
Yes.
All right.
All right.
We're going to meet my mother here.
I'm a little nervous.
All right.
Come on in.
Come on in.
Hi.
Here I am.
Oh, here's my mother.
This is my office.
Hi, Mom.
All right.
Stand up and say hello to the folks.
I want you to meet my mother.
This is Dorothy.
What are they doing?
Paul, let her go.
Release this woman.
This is my mom, and she came all the way from Indianapolis.
Do you have a nice trip?
Beautiful flight.
And are people being nice to you?
Very nice.
Even the musicians?
Even the musicians.
Well, I'll tell you what, Mom.
We're going to introduce you to everybody here as the