Name: Don Giller Profile on KGW-TV, November 9, 1995
Uploaded: 2014-07-17T03:25:37.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Don Giller Profile on KGW-TV, November 9, 1995' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2014-07-17. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Don Giller Profile on KGW-TV, November 9, 1995' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2014-07-17. Transcript available.

I'm David Gillen. Coming up next, I'll show you a David Letterman fanatic who
knows everything
there is to know about the late-night superstar. And we're trying out a new
restaurant in town.
It's French. Good evening is next.
Tonight on Good Evening, if you think you're David Letterman's number one fan,
you've never met this guy. Do me a favor, keep it for yourself.
He's collected this incredible rare footage and more than 1,800 shows.
And together to memorize.
We sent our own favorite Dave to New York to meet this extraordinary expert.
Then, C.W. Jensen, police officer, local celebrity, master chef.
This is called C.W.'s The Only Thing He Can Make.
There's no copping out when Helen Raptus uncovers more local celebrities'
favorite recipes.
Plus, don't tell C.W., but if Policeman Pizza isn't for you...
We have some little nooks and crannies to get away from the hubbub of the lunch
crowd.
...tag along on a tasty tour of three incredible Northwest restaurants.
Also, Ed and Mary Alice pile their plates at a new Portland hotspot.
Those stories and more tonight on Good Evening.
Ed, Ed, do you think you can get us in?
Yeah, we're in.
Get us a table?
Table for two.
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to the show.
I'm Ed Wilde.
And I'm Mary Alice Roscoe.
We're taking you along on our table for two, or however many there are of you,
to Toulouse, the new hot restaurant in town specializing in French provincial
cooking.
Yeah, I don't know a lot about French fruits.
I'm actually kind of excited here to sample.
It's supposed to be very good.
We'll find out, won't we?
It smells wonderful.
Yes, it does.
I can tell you that much right now.
We'll try it a little bit later, but our first story tonight is about a guy.
You could call him a fan.
You could call him a fan addict.
Fan addict.
I think that applies to this guy.
He is such a David Letterman expert.
He collects all the shows.
Oh, yeah.
And you're about to see some early vintage David Letterman footage.
It's pretty funny looking.
Great stuff.
This is the collection.
Don Giller has a thing about David Letterman.
Is this an obsession for you?
Sure.
Nearly everything Letterman has done on TV, Don has on his shelves.
From the famous Madonna mouth-off...
You are a sick...
To the quickly aborted daytime talk show...
Today, September 9th, Tuesday, is our Christmas show...
To stuff so obscure, even Dave might have trouble recognizing it.
Hey, that's right.
And say if your organization has any activities coming up, do me a favor, keep
it to yourself.
This is, I believe, from 71.
This is when he was still in Indianapolis.
Welcome to the Dave Cave, Don's cramped one-bedroom apartment on New York's
Upper West Side, where the walls are stocked floor-to-ceiling with tapes of
David Letterman.
I have Dave Letterman's shows, late night and late shows, about 1850.
Shows on tape.
Shows on tape.
And, yeah, there's a memorizer.
Then there's his computer.
Want to know who changed the light bulbs on Dave's set 12 years ago?
Don can tell you.
Here are all the lighting directors that I've so far logged in.
In short, Don Giller, a 44-year-old freelance music inscriber, is a walking
Letterman encyclopedia.
I've always liked to collect things that I felt were important for reasons that
would be unknown to anyone else.
And this came along and said, oh, this is worth preserving.
Don started faithfully taping Dave's shows 10 years ago.
But his collection goes back much farther, to 1971, and this rare footage of
Dave hosting a midnight movie show in Indianapolis.
The Norumby Fez.
It was made for Prince Norumby Norfolk of...
Oh, my gosh.
And check out this video, also from 71, of Dave as an honest-to-goodness TV
weatherman.
It's going to be just like it was yesterday, and just like it is today, and it's
going to be like that tomorrow, and again on Tuesday.
Because nothing's going on.
I like him because he's not... he's himself.
He's not hip.
He's not... he's not showbiz.
Let me straighten out my time pressure system up here.
There we go.
By scanning Don's tapes, you can track Dave's whole career, including his
biggest failure,
a morning talk show on NBC back in 1980 that lasted just five months.
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
It's Tuesday, September 9th, and this is our Christmas show.
Let's quickly take a look outside.
Boy, look at the snow coming down, will you?
It didn't belong in the time slot in which it was assigned.
It lost affiliates within weeks, and it was pretty much doomed within weeks,
but they went on with it anyway.
This is the opening montage.
Don has not only watched more Letterman than probably anyone else,
he's also kept meticulous logs on what he's seen.
Linda from CBS News holds cue cards for one joke, takes SNL jacket.
When time allows, Don enters the info into his computer, which contains
possibly the largest Letterman database around.
For example, show 285 from September 21st, 83, there are two lighting directors.
And to all those people who think Don should, well, get a life.
I'd, you know, I'd say, well, you know, offer some suggestions.
I'm not going to argue with him.
Four times, Don has left his computer and his tapes and made a pilgrimage here
to the Ed Sullivan Theater to watch the Late Show in person.
Once he even got to meet Dave, though the encounter didn't exactly go as he had
hoped.
The person who was with me gave him a Christmas gift, and it was chocolate, a
chocolate bunny.
So I figured I'll offer him some floss.
And I said, and for the chocolate, here's your floss, either wax or unwax.
And he said, no, thank you, sir.
I had my own floss.
I purchased it.
And when he called me, sir, I said, oh, that's it.
I'm a geek, you know.
Whenever he calls you, sir, that's it.
You're dead.
Despite the perceived brush-off, Don Giller is still a fan and hopes his probe
of letter mania will one day lead to a book project, perhaps with Dave's
blessing.
Until then, he'll continue his mission, cataloging the career of America's
foremost gap-toothed comedian.
These are the Late Show trash bins.
That guy's going to run out of place to store his tapes pretty soon, I think.
It's a two-bedroom place.
Oh, yeah.
Now, if you have an obscure question for him.
Like, say, who did the cue card writing in their second season?
There you go.
Something like that.
I'm sure you'd have the answer.
It's on the Internet, actually.
You can reach him at alt.fan.letterman.
And those of you who are Internet savvy know what that means.
And if it's to be known, he knows it.
Yes, he does.
We know that much.
Stick around.
When we come back, we'll find out what there is to know about French provincial
cooking.
That's right.
And another kind of cooking, part two of our celebrity recipe.
Yum.
Well, I do everything with these nails.
Is this master of mascara also the queen of quiche?
A little pinch of salt.
This is where the nails come in really handy.
Witness Darcelle's egg-cellent adventure in the kitchen.
But if you're thinking about going out to eat, we've got some serious food for
thought.
A lot of young couples that come here and have dinner here.
Discover three incredible Northwest restaurants next.
Thank you.