The Letterman Podcast

After a 32 year run, Rupert Jee and May Chin have sold the Hello Deli. Their culturally relevant tiny restaurant was equipped with only a couple of tables, perfect for lucky customers to occupy and get a front row seat to Late Show staffers, Late Show guests, or Late Show fans showing up to visit Rupert. He dispensed wisdom , superior listening skills, and of course, sandwich's. Rupert enterta...

John Filo is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and has shot groundbreaking events in the world of news, sports and entertainment for over 5 decades. For over 20 years, he was a photographer for CBS, and much of that time he was dedicated to photographing Late Show with David Letterman. John and Mike have a fantastic conversation about John's career, and he gives us the inside scoop on some...

Joanna Jordan is the owner and founder of Central Talent Booking, one of the premiere celebrity firms in the world. Go to Centraltalentbooking.com for details. Among the many services CTB provides, Joanna and her team book the guests of the very highest regard for top-tier shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and Marc Maron's wildly successful podcast. But before that, Joanna was the booker for Lat...

Dick Cavett is one of broadcasting and entertainment's living legends. Dick is an incredible talk show host and conversationalist of the highest level, as well as an author and writer, thought leader/provoker, mental health advocate, stand-up comedian, and entertainer. He was also master of the pommel-horse once upon a time. Dick and Mike have a lovely conversation that goes in all sorts of di...

Don Giller is the pre-eminent historian and archivist of the productions of David Letterman and Company. For forty years Don has amassed a knowledge base and collection of Letterman material that is unmatched by anyone else, and includes every single episode of David Letterman's broadcasts among many, many items from the shows and additional footage, much of which has never been aired. After L...

Tom Yang is currently a specialized motor vehicle mechanic who's expertise is fixing/maintaining Ferrari's built before 1970. Before that, he was an audio engineer for Late Show with David Letterman for 12 years, and has a plethora of anecdotes that straddle both of his colorful careers. Tom and Mike have a fantastic conversation about he got into the television business to begin with, how...

Chris Schukei served as the music coordinator and was a key member of Paul Shaffer's staff from 1993 until 2003. After that he moved back to where he grew up in Nebraska, yet still worked for Late Show remotely, making sure musical acts were organized and properly papered until the show's end in 2015. Chris has an excitable personality, so Lord knows Mike was especially energized for this...

Molly Sweet interned for Late Night with David Letterman in the summer of 1991. She was 19, living in New York, wide eyed and excited, and going to 30 Rock everyday to work in the chaotic and totally fun environment that was Late Night. She also stole a potato from the commissary. (We think more than once) Mike & Molly (not to be confused with the show of the same name) have a delightful conve...

David Plummer was an intern for Late Show with David Letterman and has all sorts of fun stories to show for it. That experience also spring-boarded him into a really cool gig...working for Siskel and Ebert, staying with the franchise to it's very end, serving as it's last executive producer. David and Mike have a really fun conversation talking about his time in the Ed Sullivan theater, an...

Chris Harris just came off writing the new season of Frasier, and before that came off being a writer on the smash hit 'How I Met Your Mother,' and before that was a writer on Late Show with David Letterman for more than 5 years. Pretty good right? Right! and He and Mike have a fantastic conversation about all of it, and much more! The Letterman Podcast is brought to you by Rupert Jee'...

Who doesn't love bonus episodes? Our summer intern series continues with our special guest, Mike Summers. Host Mike and former intern Mike have a lovely conversation about how former intern Mike got the gig, and what it entailed at the time. Spending the majority of his run in the talent department, former intern Mike enjoyed a fantastic adventure in New York after his final semester in colleg...

Vinnie Favale returns to The Letterman Podcast and we could not be more excited! The network exec that got to watch virtually every Late Show from the control room for 20 years, Vinnie has so many stories, and from a perspective that is unique to say the least. He and Mike talk about their friend Rick Scheckman and his influence on the show, including when he found the video footage of Harry Smith...

For over 5 decades, Harvey Goldberg has worked deep in the music business. He began his career as a studio audio engineer working with major acts and the best studio musicians around. In the mid 90's he started collaborating with Late Show with David Letterman helping out with the rehearsal, production, and mixing of the musical performances on the show, and by the turn of the century he was t...

A longtime staff member of Late Show with David Letterman once told Mike that we need to make sure we have plenty of conversations with the folks who spent time as interns on the show. The exact quote was 'The interns have all the great stories.' This episode certainly helps make a case for that statement. Tige Rodgers is a successful, well loved morning radio personality with a career spa...

It's safe to say that Matt Roberts got the entire Letterman experience. He started out as an intern, made his way to segment producer and writer, and finished his Worldwide Pants tenure as the last head writer Late Show would ever have. Oh, and of course he was a monster fan to begin with. To say Matt's career working for David Letterman was a dream come true is quite the understatement. H...

For 20 years, Andy Carson has been the weather man as well as segment host for the popular regional program, 'Good Day Oregon' which can be seen on Fox 12 KPTV every weekday. So why is he a guest on The Letterman Podcast? Well, this very popular television personality began his career in broadcasting working for Late Night with David Letterman. His post? Paul Shaffer's intern. Andy and...

Tom Dreesen is back and we couldn't be more excited! One of David Letterman's running buddies from his days at The Comedy Store, Tom Dreesen's run as a comedian is unique beyond measure. One of the last vestiges of show business past, Tom happily engages Mike, as well as Don Giller, in a conversation that ranges from the comedy scene today, to stories about Frank Sinatra, and of course...

Billy Kimball's career in entertainment has taken him on some interesting journeys and allowed him to experience being a part of some amazing projects as both a writer and producer. Some of those credits include Veep, SNL, The Oscars, The Simpsons, and he has a close connection with comedy legend Al Franken as well. Billy also helped assemble, and served as the executive producer for the Late...

Matt Larkin has a successful career in television. He has worked on some of your favorite cooking competition shows as a producer and helped write for Tosh and George Lopez, but he got his start working for Late Show with David Letterman. Going to New York City to chase his dream, Matt did all he could to get on as an intern for Late Show, became a faxer, and got hired on in the audience coordinat...

The Letterman Podcast went back to New York and lived to tell about it! Unfortunately it was for Shecky's memorial. Mike spent 4 days in New York exclusively hanging with Letterman folk, and this episode is dedicated to recounting some of the major events that took place. Prying the stories out of him like a crowbar from a sardine can is Mike's much, much better half, the crowd-pleasing Ca...

David Letterman's productions employed a very special stage manager who worked on all Dave's network television programs. Beginning with the morning show, continuing on to Late Night, following Dave to CBS and working all the way to the end of Late Show in 2015, Biff Henderson is a Letterman & Company Institution. His countless on-screen appearances, whether in the studio during show t...

Craig Thomas, along with his writing partner Carter Bays, are known in some circles as the King's of the CBS mailbag. For years they wrote dozens and dozens of mailbag bits on Late Show with David Letterman before moving on to create one of the most successful situation comedy's of the modern era, 'How I Met Your Mother.' They also happened to write one of our host's favorite L...

When Jill Bayor was only 19 year old, she became one of David Letterman's assistants, during one of the most important era's of Late Night with David Letterman's history. Jill opens up to Mike about many of the lessons she learned during the fun, exciting, wild ride working for Dave & Company. A combination of structure and surprise, every day seemed to bring something new to Jill...

Josh Robert Thompson is a brilliant voice actor, comedian, impressionist, writer and creator who played Geoffrey Peterson, the robot skeleton sidekick (and much more) on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Having similar influences growing up, Josh and Mike have a fantastic conversation that includes many topics ranging from Star Wars to characters Josh has developed over the years and of cour...

This is the continuation and conclusion of The Letterman Podcast's first conversation with Robert Morton. In this episode, both Mike and Don Giller get the chance to ask Morty all sorts of questions and discuss many points about Late Night/Late Show, and the business that surrounded the programs. What was it like during the negotiations leaving NBC? Who at one time was considering buying World...