It seems like every intern from my semester on The Late Show With David
Letterman has been posting long nostalgic posts on Facebook about the
end of Dave's tenure as host of The Late Show. I almost envy them their
emotional response to the show's ending. I was far more sentimental
when Craig Ferguson went off the air recently as host of The Late
Late Show, finding myself involuntarily wondering if I had taken that
internship instead of the Late Show one, would I just now be finding
myself without a job, would I be happier and more successful, less happy
and more successful, some place entirely different that I can't imagine
right now, would I still be in L.A. or would I have come here and wound
up right where I am anyway.... But I hate what-ifs, and I didn't take
that internship; I took The Late Show here in New York.
And as I see the tidal wave on Facebook of everyone's memories of
their time on the show, memories that somehow don't match up with my own
experience even though they were concurrent to mine, I did think of my
favorite moments.... So for sentiment's sake, and because no one else
has listed any memories that have anything to do with the guests, here
they are:
Amy Sedaris being warm and funny, chatting with us in the hallway
backstage on our first day as we were about to be used in a sketch. She
asked us how we were enjoying it so far, made some jokes, and offered
some words of encouragement. Though her interview ran long and we were
cut that day, it made for a wonderful first day on the job.
Craig Ferguson (by far my favorite comedian) signing and
personalizing my copy of his novel when he was on the show as a guest.
To prevent people who work on the show from asking guests for
autographs, if an intern or staffer wants something signed, they all
give it to one person who will sometimes try to get them signed. My
entire time there he was the only guest I asked for an autograph from
(and his is the only autograph I've gotten since I was 11 and got a letter
back from figure skater Victor Kraatz with his and partner Shae-Lynn Bourne's autographs on a
photo of them... still a prized possession...), and I was told I was
the only one that day who asked for his. Also, watching some old video
tape another intern dug up of him on a British comedy TV show called something like
Red Dwarf years and years before he was famous.... As funny as any
skit he's done...
Watching Liza Minnelli's rehearsal from the front row of the house.
I've never felt one way or the other about her, but watching her
rehearse, I was struck by the incredible amount of stage presence she
had. That woman knows how to perform, and she could probably do nothing
but growl and hiss and bring down the house. She had everyone eating
out of the palm of her hand, and it was incredible fun to watch.
Watching the fabulous Technical Director, Tim Kennedy, work in the
control room during the show. I still think of him sometimes when I'm
calling a particularly complicated show, because I thought it was
amazing how fast his brain and hands had to work to anticipate what was
coming up next and have everything ready in standby. It was like
playing a video game that's being broadcast to millions of people.
Seeing the multi-page rider for a guest who was somewhere around
C-list, and then seeing how the much-more-talented cast of Jersey Boys
was thrown in the basement and one of them had to ask me for a bottle of
water.
Criss Angel in the control room. I can't expand on that because I
signed something like three pages of "never tell a soul what you saw here
today or we'll have to kill you," but... yeah.
Being one of the only interns with a pass for the series of locked doors beneath the stage, and therefore periodically doing sweeps of those halls right before Dave would come through on his way backstage, to rescue any interns who were trapped between two doors like boats trapped in a lock and dam system.
Being sent up to the balcony to find some old tape, realizing Tom
Hanks was up there shooting a skit, and taking a reeeeeaaaally long time
to find the tape so I could listen to Tom Hanks work.
Standing on the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater and thinking I
was standing exactly where The Beatles stood in their famous Ed Sullivan
appearances that launched Beatlemania in America.
Walking through pouring rain to go to a Mets game with some other
interns, when obviously the game would be rained out. Of course, we got
there, were told the game was rained out, went to some diner soaking
wet, and came back completely drenched.... For some reason that's a good
memory to me....
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