Inside Late Night with Mark Malkoff - Wally Feresten Part 2

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Wally Feresten joins Mark to share more Saturday Night Live stories, working on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Cue Cards By Wally. Buy: Cue Cards By Wally Follow on X (Twitter): @cuecardwally Follow on IG: @cuecardwally_official “Back Stage with Wally” on LateNighter

Hi, I am Mark Malkoff, and welcome to Inside Late Night, presented by latenighter.com. This is part two of my conversation with Wally Ferrist, and he has done Q-Carts at Saturday Night Live since 1990. We talk SNL, Late Night with Seth Myers, and Q-Carts by Wally. Now, it's time to go inside late night. How often do the musical guest ask for Q-Carts for the music? their lyrics. Oh, my God. When I first started, like the first 10 years, we did it almost, we did it all the time. I didn't know that. I remember, I remember Sting, when Sting hosted that famous run of Jagger, Sting. Oh, that was the best. That was, yeah, who was the third?

It was Luke Perry, Mick Jagger, and then McCartney and Alec Baldwin, and then the third was Sting and Bill Murray. I remember Sting. It was a new album, and he just hadn't memorized the songs yet. It was, it was really new. So we had all three of his songs on cards. So we would print them on cards. I would usually be just somewhere in the middle. And it wasn't, the band performances weren't like they are now, nowadays, whether the cameras are moving around, the crane swooping in. So I just sit on the floor somewhere towards the middle or the front,

and they'd like the cards and have all the lyrics there. And it helped them out. Now, they'll throw, some of guys will throw a prompter down there. But once in a while, you know, they're like, oh, I don't know that song. Can we get it on cards? And I'll have one of my guys do it or I'll do it. But back in the day, they won. Back then, it seemed to be a lot.

Like, they just wanted that safety, is that, have that safety of it, you know? Speaking of Bill Murray, when you see him, do you ever say, my brother Spike says hi? No. Inside joke. No. Spike has talked about that.

What was his Bill Murray story? He said a couple times, I've heard him say it, that I guess he was right when he was writing for Letterman, that Spike was writing for Letterman, that he wrote something for Bill that didn't, and they were, Spike was at an afterpart in, Murray was there. And Murray would always sit with the crew and, you know, it just really, I've only been around him maybe once or so, but he, but Murray, they were in the bathroom and Spike's like, you know,

why didn't you do my bit or whatever I wrote? And Murray got very upset. Really? And, yeah, he got very, very upset at Spike. And then I guess a couple years after one of Spike's friends said, do you want to hang out with Bill, um, and with Bill Murray, you should join us. And Spike's like, I do not think I'm welcome. He's like, that's crazy.

There's no way. He's not going to remember this. And then Spike's like, okay, you can try. And then friend calls back Spike and he's like, you were right. Did you not know that? I did know that because I had a different relationship with Bill Murray because he came in and hosted. And I was such a huge fan of his. Oh, sure.

Do you remember you're, you're, you know, I love these quizzing here. Oh, well, he's hosted a bunch of times. But like, I'm trying to think. Like he took from 90 to after 90. When did he host? Oh gosh. 93. And then he came back after that one was with Will and Molly.

They did the Yatsy piece. And then, um, I think he was the 93 one. I think it would probably just start to take it over. And, um, that was my first year doing it. That was fun. That was like the Whitmaster.

And then they did, um, yes. It was that one. Yes. So I remember, I remember going up to him at the party and I, which like I always do with the host and saying, hey,

it was great working with you. And usually they give me a hug or something like that. He asked me to sit down to this. table for a while and he introduced me to everybody at his table and it was Mike Ovitz who was the power freaking agent of all these famous people that he introduced me to and he told him who I was and it was really he was very nice to me and then I get the thing I'd want been wanting to ask him in the courage to ask him uh I said so um you know I'm an avid golfer you know I'd love to you know play around with you sometime and uh he looked at me and he smiled and he was like all right

he was like well but he's like first of all um it's February it was like there's no not playing golf right now he's like no I know when it gets warmer out and he was like all right well he's like I'm gonna call your bluff he was like here's my number um give me a call in the spring and we'll see if we can set up a game together gave me his number and I was like gitty I was like oh my god I Bill Murray just gave me the number and I you know I know I called that a couple days later just to see if it was his number and I was him on an entry machine I was like oh boy I got Philomari's number was it the 1-800 number I think it I don't think it was it was a two-on-two number it was a New York apartment number and I think at the time at the time

he was married and then by the time spring was he was not married and that number was no longer he moved out or it was disconnected and I never was able to call him up for a game. Rob Schneider did an update piece and I'm guessing they changed it for the West Coast but he was doing a commentary as himself about cartoons and he he said something on the cards and it was it didn't make sense to the studio audience and he actually said he said he took a pause and he said that's what it says. Kevin Nieland is that's, that what it says? He's like, yes, that's actually.

Do you recall that? And how often would that happen that maybe the joke or a punchline might not be on the cards? How does that happen? It doesn't. I mean, so they were basically saying that we missed something wrong on the cards, right? And he just. Schneider, yes. Like that's what Schneider and Nieland was like, that's what, yes.

That's not verifying for him. No, we try very, very hard for that not to happen, obviously. I've never seen it before. Like I said, you know, we're not perfect. It's a live show. We're flipping a thousand cards a show. I, you know, I really strive to make everything perfect. And we have all these checks and balances, so stuff like that doesn't happen.

And if it's going to happen, please let it happen on dress where we can fix it for air. Oh, yeah. Some of the funniest moments are in dress when things like that happen and no one will ever say. Other than Mike Myers, Marcy Klein mentioned unfly on the while that Mike Myers was sick during the show. And I believe Steve Carell was sick one time. do you what is that like for the host what what do you witness have you seen that a lot when a host is like you don't know if they're going to be able to go out and do it how often does that happen wasn't spade david famously he was like throwing up yeah i think spade was was yes i think spade was throwing up as well it's only to my knowledge it's only happened a few times yeah we'll you know i mean again that's the talent department that's you know talent department deals with all that stuff they deal with it really well i mean sometimes you know um a host will be whispering you during rehearsal because they're saving their voice or their voice has already gone and they're trying to get it back so they're whispering or they'll do it once and if it's something easy

then they'll have a stand-in go in there so they can go and relax like things like that if they're not if they're not feeling well but um i think wasn't there a show that we had a host and they get sick and we had to get another host like on a wednesday wasn't there some i think there's a story like that but i don't remember who it was and and who filled in but i think I thought Joe Pesci was announced once and then Hanks came in. Maybe. But I don't remember anyone else who, I'm trying to remember. I should know this.

Anybody that's listening to the show, if you know this, let me know. And McCauley Calkins, the only one that didn't use cards because his father didn't want him to. That was the only host that didn't do cards. Right. That's a funny, it's funny because he tells the story that there weren't any Q cards for that episode. That's what, you know, when I heard that, I was like, there's no way. They couldn't do the show. That is not true.

we would never not we would never do that to the cast so yeah his dad wanted him to memorize everything so he we he didn't read any of the cards but we had cards there we had to put him in place for him just in case because he was a kid and just in case he didn't memorize it perfectly but man i don't think he read one of the cards because he had them all memorized but yeah we had cards there for the rest of the cast and he was great you know i remember fred savage drew bearmore they used to have kids on they you know macaulay colkin that was what 92 and they've not had a kid on to host since. Yeah.

Do you have any, I mean, they could do, I mean, you know, the child laws where they're not supposed to work past a certain time, but they can definitely, if they wanted to do it, they can make it happen. Do you know any idea why in over 30 years, 32 years, they have not had another McCulley-Culkin-type person? I think with the child labor laws, I really think that they couldn't work around. I really don't think you can work around that. With the schedule they do with the pre-tapes they do now and stuff like that, it's really

a rigorous schedule for these hosts. So I really think it would be really hard to get someone on like that. When did this happen that the cold open, when I used to go to the show, and it was really interesting with the switches because the cold open could be any place in the studio. It literally was not on home base every single time. And at one point, was it that they, even when it's like, there have been times I've been at the show where there's a person sitting next to me is like they're not going to be able to get that clear this for the host because it's like literally 10, 20 seconds before the host is

supposed to come out and they're still clear in things. When did that change? I don't know when it changed, but Lauren likes to get as much stuff on home base as possible. And in that changeover, it has almost become part of the show too. If you're sitting there for the first time watching S&O in the studio and you're seeing this big political thing on home base and you know the monologue is coming right up of it, I mean, that's almost as fun as watching this. sketch, watching these stage hands, you know, clear it and then, you know, build it, build another set or whatever. It's fascinating. It's really, really fascinating. I just don't know, because the pieces would play in other parts of the studio fun. I mean, if you're playing for the

studio audience, yes, home base. And I'm sure that they've had success with that. It's an interesting, it is an interesting question. And especially sometimes, like, if they cut the cold open, which is rare, and they replace it with other sketch and that other sketch was in a different position, they'll try to change that, put that position on a home base. And they'll say, okay, it's going to be the cold open and it's going to be on home base now. It's not going to be over where it was, kind of thing. I was going to the show when they were doing where the audience could barely see like all the way to the left. You could kind of see some stuff.

But it's interesting. Now, when Dana Kirby would do his bush cold opens, it got to the point where he was so comfortable. He said that sometimes he would ad lib a little bit and play around what necessarily might not be in the cards. Number one, is that true? And how is there anyone else in the history that's ever kind of played around like? that with their words that weren't maybe necessarily on the cards, exactly? Dana could do that because, and Seth does it a lot on late night when I'm holding his cards, but these guys are smart enough to know, you can add lib on the card. Just don't, just make sure

you say that last sentence on the card, because then I know where to pull it. You know what I mean? You can add lib and I know it's not there, but if you then pick up again with the bottom of the card, then I know when to flip it. If you're just ad libing and you're going to, you're going off like I don't know what you're saying that I don't know when to flip it I don't know if you know what you're doing they were always really smart Dana was really smart Seth does that Bill when he was doing that Vinnie Videtti character we would have that all written out in Italian that gibberish in Italian on on the cards and I man I would just try to listen to follow along and that was he would throw in words that were not we're not on there and you're like oh

man what am I doing but you know you just kind of like you just kind of have to get a feel for kind of thing, you know. At one point did you notice that the majority of the laughs if you go to the show are all from the right side of the bleachers, the worst seats? That's the standby, usually. When did that start? I always noticed Seth Myers when he would leave the stage, would always like kind of acknowledge them because they, I mean, for your cast member, I mean, it was so invaluable to have that. They didn't have that for a bunch of seasons. And it was really affected the show. And then the worst seats too. So, yeah, a lot of cast, I remember would point at them and say, hey, you guys, you know, you guys are the best.

Sadecas would make fun of them and Norm McDonald when he was doing that would make fun of them. Well, the worst seats at the house, but they, yeah, they got big laughs. And whenever we do a sketch over by that section, it usually did really well, especially because they're right on top of those people. Yeah, I mean, those are the true fans, but it's hard to, you know, again, it's, I, those are the people, it's funny when I go, when I walk out that I get, I get cheers from when I walk out. Oh, they recognize you. No, I know.

You're famous. People ask for your autograph and they ask for photos. I mean, yeah, I mean, you're a big deal. I mean, it's like you, Mark, it's crazy. I mean, I know I've been working here 35 years and I've, you know, I think I'm considered part of a small part of this show. But when stuff like that happens, it's, it's crazy. It's, I think it's really crazy.

Yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. And just the fact that, like, you and Lauren talking about the Yankees, he'll give you his Yankees seats. I know, right before the, right before the show, yeah. Yeah. When did they take away the best? boom, Mike, because that was always, it's not there anymore, is it? Oh, no, it's there. They're there.

It's still there. The only reason I say that, as I haven't been to the show in a long, long time, and I never see it in the shots, because back in the day, you would see it sometimes get in the shot. Yeah. And I never, almost never see the boom. There's still two boom booms in every, in every sketch, but they are doing, they do, it's, the sketches are getting so much more complicated now that they use everything. And I think maybe the booms sometimes are just back up in case a mic goes down. That would make sense. I just never see it in the shots. We're back in the day.

It would be like, oh, yeah. What were your thoughts on that the Chris Smith, New York Magazine, 1995 cover with Farling, the Saturday Night Live dead? It was such a strange time to go to the show. I was going to the show. There were good sketches that were getting in. You know, I've heard people like Al Franken and Smigel and other people. You know, it was just the cast and the writers maybe just didn't jail you it.

you know, Ginny Grafellow, Chris Elliott over there, and Phil Hartman was gone. I was this first year gone. It was a very challenging time for the show. Obviously, the next year, you know, you got Will Ferrell and Sherry and all these in your back. But what was that season like? And what stands out about that article? It's a bummer when something like that comes up, because everyone's working so hard on this show and it's such a hard. It's a hard show. It's a bummer. But it didn't, I didn't see it affecting people. You know what I mean? I mean, it was my fifth or sixth season working there. And, you know, people would come up to me and ask me specifically about that.

Like, you know, what do you feel about that? You know, you guys are, you guys aren't going to be around. And this is there. I was like, look, I just do the Q cards in the show. I'm not writing any of this stuff. That doesn't affect, you know, it doesn't affect me. But these are still the same people that would come up and say that. Like, oh, your show's not funny anymore.

And it's because this article points out all this great stuff. And then the next sentence would be like, hey, but can you get me tickets? I'd really love it. I swear to God. You know, I mean, that was the season, like Sandler's Hanukkah song. They did some great pieces. John Travolta, when he hosted, when he came in, they did Welcome Back. They did that cold open where Travolta was walking in the halls and the Saturday night fever.

So great. There's always funny things on there. Just someone is going to try to make a name for themselves by saying something's bad. Yeah, it was definitely a tough season, but they rebound. Now, I've been to the show where they were supposed to have a famous person make a cameo, and the dress rehearsal, they couldn't be there. So they would, you know, try to cover with something. Does that still happen sometimes where the person won't come on into the live show?

And it'll be kind of confusing, right, for the people addressed, like, what's going on? Does that ever happen? And if so, who were some of those people? Yeah, it happens quite often because they try to get, you know, cast, no, try to get special guests last minute sometimes. And I think the last time we did it, like, was with John Hamm. It's usually someone that's been on the show and is comfortable doing, you know, we wouldn't, they wouldn't do it with someone that hasn't been on the show and isn't used to the process. I think last year we did it with John Hamm, and either he was flying in or he had something,

he was in a show that he, something he had a previous engagement. He couldn't make it for dress. But with him, you know, he's such so good. So he'll show up like at 1030, 1045. I'll go in there with cards. They'll have the script with him. Higgins will talk to him and I'll show him cards. And he's like, yeah, I'm good.

And he's fine. But for dress, they'll just write around it, I guess. or someone will play that part. Like, it's John Ham playing, you know, a character. So it'll, it's not John Ham, or they'll just make it somebody else, you know, character, you know, doing it as somebody else, you know. I remember being at the show. I was there for both Dress and Live, but they were doing super fans.

It was when John Goodman hosted with Ackroyd and Tragically Hip, and they did the superfans and Brian Denehy on Air made a cameo, but they couldn't get him for dress. So I think they just got an intern to, like, walk on. And it was like, everyone's like, what is, what is, what? is this? That was like the payoff and everyone's just like, I had no clue. Yeah, I mean, usually it would be a writer or not a cast member. You know, they'll ask them to do it. You know, say, hey, you're not going to be on for air, but can you mind doing this? And usually, they'll be like, yeah, it's, it's rep time. You know, getting reps and then and doing something. But yeah, if it's somebody big and they want

and they sometimes, and they like a surprise too, they don't, sometimes they don't want to show it at dress because there'll be a real big surprise for everybody if they show it just on air. Yeah, there's certain guests that just had trouble. Jason Patrick was one. That was Blind Melon. That was January of 94. It was one of those things. Norm has talked about it a little bit. He came in. He's like Jackie Gleason's my grandfather or something like that. I do remember one of the writers telling me a little bit later that it was not, he just didn't seem like he maybe wanted to be there. What stands out about him and just that whole monologue? I mean, it just died. I mean, what is that like? being there for that. I don't have any memory of this mark. I'm sorry, but I mean, I will say like just for the, for going, like sometimes it's, you know, it's not the right. It's not the actor. It's the writers just have trouble writing for that person. I remember you had somebody on that was talking about like having like six white guys on in a row and a row and a row and a row and a row and it was like, you know, after this, you know, so you can pitch a sketch to one, but oh, you know

what, I'll save it for this next white guy that we're having. It's hard to write. If someone doesn't have anything maybe specific about them or talent or something that they've done that they can make fun of, it's hard to write for that person. You know, it's hard to put them in that position, you know? I would say, though, that in the last 20 years or maybe a little bit less, I mean, sketches don't bomb anymore. 10 to 1s. After update, if you scored on a sketch, it was a big deal, and now everything scores. I mean, it's completely different. So I think that that host has a cushion where if they get up, they're still going to get something. Yeah, yeah. They're Yeah, we try to, I mean, you don't, I mean, the host is giving you a week of their, of their lives for this process, and you don't want to let them down. That's why, you know, I try not to make mistakes so I can, you know, they can focus on their array. But most of them are really excited to be there. Most of them are like, this is a dream come true. I've always wanted to be here. And they're really excited and it shows. And their enthusiasm shows. Yeah, sometimes if a host is not that enthusiasm about it, yeah, it can come through. But I don't have a specific memory of that. Could you tell when you're doing the Martin Lawrence monologue that it just was not maybe suitable.

for air. I know that they had to edit it for the west coast, but when something like that is going on, or are you just focused on your own job and you're not really thinking about what maybe the guest is saying? It seemed like Martin Lawrence wasn't sticking to the cards from what I've been told. Again, I mean, I think if he was,

he was doing stand-up, right? He was, so maybe just bullet points. Either had bullet points or he didn't have bullet, or he didn't even have anything. He was just going. Like, a lot of times, some comics will do a monologue for dress, and then for air, it's completely different. Dave Chappelle commonly does that. That's amazing that he can do

that. What he does undress, not one joke is the same one he does on air. And that must be terrifying for the higher-ups. That's unbelievable that he can do that. I've talked to people that worked on the show about this, but how many hours does it take you to come down from the show? Because it is so much adrenaline for the people that are doing that show. About what time, are you still, Do you still go to the after parties, I'm guessing, every week or most weeks? I go, I go get drinks somewhere, but yeah. About what time can you, do you, does it, how long does it take you these days, would you say to calm down from all that adrenaline?

If I get home, usually, like, between four and five, I'll still lie in bed for me, sometimes till seven. My ears are ringing because of all the, you know, the music, the loud music, in the um and you're like if there was a god help you if there was a sketch with a catchy song that i've heard that i've heard play it's i'm lying in bed at six o'clock in the morning and that song is still and i'm seeing that song or humming that song and i'm like going oh get it out of your head um it's just hard yeah it's hard to come down it's really really hard no matter i could be the most tired of

every bed in my life before the air show like at 10 30 when the dress airs and i'm like oh i'm not going to make it i'm not going to the party and then as soon as So as Zader is over, I'm up and everything's forgotten and I'm going out and I'm going to have a drink and a couple drinks and wind down and talk it through and then go to bed. You're one of the founders of the after after party, which starts after four o'clock. Do you still go to that? Once in a while, a lot of times I'll go check the place out. I don't have nothing to do with them anymore.

I wouldn't be on record as saying that. It seemed like Professor Tom's was your place. That was like, yeah. One of my buddies, Pete, who worked for me was the owner, one of the owners of Professor Tom's. I remember that a bunch of times for the after-afters. Back in the day, do you know the history of the after after parties? All they know is that was it was it, was it you and Sandler and a couple people after the four o'clock after party would just go to somebody's apartment and just keep it all going. Is that it? It was never cast members. They might have had their own little thing, but we would

always do staff. We would always, me and a bunch of people would be like 10 of us and we would decide whose apartment to go to that wanted to do it. It was like I said, 10 or 11. And they would leave early. They'd leave it like 3.30. Grab a couple cases. a beer, whatever, we go and hang out their place. Because, you know, you're not getting to the party until 1.30, it's two hours later and you're still jacked up. So, so that's how it started getting, from 10, it went to 20, and then it started to get to 30. And Jimmy and Erratio took it over. Jimmy Fallon and Erasio Sanz took it over and started printing tickets and renting. It was their idea to get bars because it was getting too crowded

at people's apartment, so you couldn't do it anymore. So it was their idea to start renting out bars. Have they always had a password? Is the password thing been since day one? We had passwords when Jimmy and Horatio took it over. They had like a pass. They would write that we're on yet and yet used that to get in. We always had passwords. We thought it was funny and cool to do passwords. The funny thing was one, so one Sunday, I'm trying to remember when this was. I was living in Farallon. So it had to be early 2000s, like 2001, 2002. So we must have been still doing it then. And I woke up and I always get the, I always get the Sunday Times and a couple of other papers.

And I open up the Sunday Times in the front page of the style section, there's this big expose about the after after parties. And it talks about the passwords and it talks about this. It talks about that. And I was like going, oh, no, this is not good. My first reaction was, this is really cool, but this is like, oh, this could be really bad too, you know, but nothing it became of it. I remember you giving me a hotline number at one point.

And it would say, where the after after party was. and I'm guessing it was the password as well. Yeah, it was the password. It was the address and then there was the password again. Listen, so when I started my company in 2004 going forward and I was involved in those after parties and it wasn't really involved. I just helped kind of find a place and I had a very, very nice NBC lawyer come up to me and say, hey, I just wanted to chat with you about something.

And I was like, yeah, what's up? And he was like, you're involved in these after after parties? I go, yeah, I am a little bit. He was like, just want to give you a little warning. He's like, you own your own company now, right? I go, yeah. He was like, is something where to happen to somebody at one of these parties? You could probably be sued.

And, you know, that wouldn't be good for us, wouldn't be good for you. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's true. He's like, just want to pass that on. So that's when I stepped aside. Smart, man. It's fun. You know, you still want to stay out and have some drinks. They try to do it at different places now.

we did want it to stand last year where it was like in the basement and it was they had like a DJ and you know they try to do fun things like they do live band karaoke at cutting room um things like that when it's there it's kind of fun but yeah it's it's for the younger people you know I'll go and I need to go I'm going to get in trouble if I stay out later you know I was going to ask about in the writer's strike which was it 2008 they had a show for the writers at UCB were you doing cue cards For that, they had Michael Sarah that was hosting this. And this was just in a basement.

This is a really, really good question. I was there as a technical consultant because either I couldn't or they didn't want me to do cards for them. They had to print their own cards and hold the cards for their own sketches. The writers did for each one? or writers each writer for whatever sketch they were doing they i gave them their pens and the in the ink now they know what it's like and after that week they when they all came back they were like we have so much more respect for what you did because we had to do for that one show and i was there just kind of like giving them advice and stuff like that but for some reason i think maybe because

for the union stuff they had to do everything they're on their own i couldn't help out um and i was thrilled to just give them advice watch them do it i didn't hold the cards i think i think i position make it easy for them. I think I'd get a chair and we put the cards on the chair and then they just pulled each card kind of thing like that. I tried to make it as easy as I could for them. But yeah, it was really fun. Yeah, I wish they had a tape of that. I know. Would you go along sometimes to the Jim Singarelli commercial parody shoots to do Q cards? Yes. What stands out? Because I wasn't sure if they would just kind of memorize those because they only would do maybe like six a year at one point or seven a year. Yeah, it would just depend. It would depend on what it was.

If it was a host heavy one and they had a lot of dialogue, we would usually go to help the host out. And it would be me or one of my guys. And back in the day, it was they shot it. I'm trying to think, did they shoot them on Friday mornings, maybe? The Singarelli commercial parodies were like shot even before like the season premiere. Sometimes they would have a couple of them shot. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Right. So yeah. So I wasn't working. And I wasn't working on any other shows at that time. Yeah, it would be just a day of work and I'd go and you'd shoot. I didn't love them just because you're there you know you're there for you know sometimes eight nine hours there's a lot of there's a lot of downtime where there's something I like the

you know the just get in rehearsing get out kind of thing but um I just remember yeah I remember doing a whole bunch of them I don't remember anything specific from them it's just like another another work day and then the digital shorts and those sometimes you would go to once in a while again if it's if the host has a lot of lines and to help the host out they started having guys like PAs hold them like we would print cards for the for the like the last few years um We would print the cards and they'd have PAs hold them if they needed them, you know, like two sets and they'd have cards there in case someone wanted them for one thing. They didn't rely on them too too much. And they have prompter there as well for some stuff.

But now my guys joined the union last year. My guys are I. Etsy, Local 1. And only union guys now can hold you cards. So if they really, really want cards on a shoot, then I have to send one of my guys to do it. Tell me a story about Dave Wilson. Dave was the director from 75. and then they had, I believe, I did, Paul Miller did it a little bit here and there, but for the, I'm, I hope I have that name, right? Yeah.

But mostly it was Dave Wilson. Yeah. What was Dave like? What was that? I just learned that, a pal, Paul Miller fact, because I thought I'd worked with every director at SNL and I hadn't worked, I'd never worked with him. Davey was old school TV as you get, smoke, chain smoking cigarettes in the control room. I remember it was a constant battle to get positions for cue cards. And Bob Van Rye, like, I had no say in any of this stuff.

Like, I was like, this is where I want to be. And there would be a camera there. And Van Rye, Bob Van Rye was a stage manager, would get on his radio and say, Davy, you know, cards needs to be here. Well, he needs to be here. And Dave, he was like, I don't give a shit. I need a camera there. You know, and he's like, come on, work with us here. And we'd usually end up working it out.

Or if I get into a shot, he wouldn't yell my name. He'd yelled, cards, cards. Like, you know, he was like, it was just like, this gruff director, but I loved him. He was just so, it was just, it was like, in my mind, it was like, that's what a TV director is. Like, that's what you see in a movie kind of thing. And it was thrilling. Even when he yelled at me or we were fighting for positions, I loved it because it was just that he had such passion and Van Rye has passion. So it's usually those two yelling at each other. Van Rye's sticking up for me and him saying, no, he can't be there.

He needs to be somewhere else, figure it out, you know, kind of thing. I loved it. He was great. Other than Michael Jordan, who was hit up? And I know that there was a sign that I know autographs, but some cast members got, or some people got. I did. Yeah, I got a famous one. I was going to ask you. It must have been early in the week. Must have been on Thursday.

And I knew it was going to be tough. It was my cousin who was, I think, probably eight at the time or seven at the time. It was his birthday that week. And he was a huge Jordan fan. So I bought a birthday card. And he signed, he said, happy birthday. birthday Tommy Mike and signed it for me and I sent it to my eight year old cousin who obviously flipped out he still has it and I was like dude that card's probably worth a lot of money I know smigel still

has a basketball signed somewhere uh yeah that that definitely to get he was so good on that show yeah as a host it was um it was absolutely phenomenal is there anyone else like that though that sometimes the the writers or the cast or anybody will go up to and stuff or like the host pretty good about doing photos if they're asked or music. Oh, yeah. I mean, it just, it's just, you know, knowing the right time to do that kind of thing. You know what I mean? They're all super nice. And, you know, I'm working with them, you know, for three days helping them out, you know, I used to, I used to bring in DVDs and have people autographed DVDs. I stopped doing that because I stop, you know, I don't, I don't ask for pictures unless they want a picture with me.

Sometimes I, isn't that nice? I'm sure Adam Driver and Barclay went photos with you. You're friends with, like, so many people. I know. It's so much fun. That relationship that I build with these people, especially if they come back at host multiple times, is such a great thing to build that bond with them and then be able to talk to them outside of work. It's one of the cool, really, really cool parts of the job that I really, really like. Yeah, and then they come on Seth's show and you see them. So it's great when that happens. When Lovett's hosted, John Lovett's hosted, he said that after the show, none of the cast members except Will Ferrell would come up to him

and he thinks that it might have been during the week a writer was pitching him a sketch and he's like, that's not a sketch? And he might have upset some people. I know when Norm hosted that one point, nobody went up to him at good nights. Sometimes during the week, can you kind of tell that there might be a disconnect

between the cast and the host? Yes, yes. And again, I don't blame it on anybody, the cast or the host. sometimes it's the cell phones. The cell phones are to blame. You know, if the host is on their phone all the time. Or the cast is on their phone all the time, yes.

Either or both are happening. It's hard for them because we have a lot of downtime where our block is catches. You know, Liz is figuring out shots and she's talking to the caroman and there's, sometimes you're sitting waiting to pick up like five or ten minutes. If everybody's on their phone, and I'm guilty too. I'm on my phone playing freaking candy crush to make the time go by fast. You don't get that chance to get to know them and ask them questions and say, hey, you know, you have a family come and stuff like that.

So I've seen more of an effort, like people try not to be on their phones. But yeah, if a host is on their phone all the time, then it's kind of hard to get to know them, you know. I never thought that the host would have their phone, uh, I just for whatever. Yeah, they're just like anything else. I mean, there's a lot of downtime in, and they've got text messages. This is an exciting week. I'm sure people are texting them, hey, can I come or, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on. And they're, and they're famous people.

So there's stuff they're dealing with with other projects probably, I'm sure. Molly Shannon once told me that when she would go on Friday nights, she would leave. She'd go home and these are her words. She would say she would go home to memorize her lines. Now, how many cast members try to do that? And is Molly, I never really asked her about it more, but is that some cast members actually do try to memorize lines? And what would that purpose be since things change? Molly did it because she memorized all her sketches.

And then if she had, maybe she had one or two lines or not a sketch, you know, she could either memorize them or she would read them up cards. But it's, it really hurt her when she came back to host. She came up to me and she was like, Wally, I don't know how to read Q cards. And I was like, what do you mean? You bet you're on the show. She's like, I memorized everything. I don't know. So she was really nervous about reading the cards.

And I really had to work with her. The first time wasn't as nervous. Surprising, the second time she hosted she was even more nervous than the first time. But it really, it hurt her in the long run. I mean, some cast members, if it's their sketch, it's. It's really important to them. They're going to memorize or memorizing the point of being really familiar with it. And even if they change a couple lines, they're fine with that. You know what I mean? They can get that part. Maybe they just use the cards as like a guide to when their cue line is coming

up. You know what I mean? But she memorized all her stuff. And then, you know, I couldn't tell when she hosted. I thought she did amazing. She did great. She was just really, really nervous. It was just during the week. It was a little harder. I had to work with her again, helping her out and showing her where they were. know for every sketch. This is where they're going to be. And this is where you should look. I tell them a lot, you know, it's confusing because sometimes there's three sets or four sets all around them and like, which one do I play? And the rule I kind of tell them is whatever the person you're talking to, it's that set of cards that's over that person's shoulder. That's,

you know, closest to that person. So I try to give him that guy, you know, kind of. Was Mike Myers another memorizer and stuff a little bit with his wife? Robin would go in with him and just run lines? I think so, yeah. But he did read the cards, but I mean, he wrote all his stuff, which was, he was a faithful. I know. It's, it's unbelievable. That guy, and he, he was such a sketch writer, such an amazing sketchwriter. Yeah, I think he, he read the cards. He was a good card reader, but he knew it, again, one of the guys that you knew it really well. He knew it really, really well. I got to see him a couple times backstage, and like the moment the wig is on him, he starts doing the character. Yeah. And he's like going through the hall and stuff, like,

whoever it is and stuff, that process. He was, he was so much fun. He was so much fun of the confusing. What happened, to your knowledge, what happened to Jeff Richards? He disappeared mid-season. He did a Howard Dean cold open that did not do very well, and then he was gone. Yeah, I don't know, but that stuff happened a lot more. You know, in early days, like they'd bring new cast members on in January, and then someone would be gone. You'd rate for Christmas, and you come back in January and there'd be a new person and then be, the person's gone. You're right. Early on, I remember Melanie Hutzel coming in mid-season, and then I think Beth Beth Cahill and, yeah. Yeah, again, these are questions. You're going to have to get producers from S&L and ask, maybe, you know, Mike,

you need to interview Mike Schuemaker. I know, do you think, like, see, he's on my dream list, but do you think Michael talked to me? I mean, I'm going to ask him. Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe he doesn't work at us now. He's been very nice to me. No, he's like the nicest guy. I mean, it's proof that you can be an EP on one of those shows and still, you know. He's the greatest. Now, so him, so Mike Shoemaker, Jim Pitt, and my brother Spike were all working around the same time. Mike Shoemaker gave my brother the nickname Spike. I didn't know that. Well, because it was Mike Shoemaker, Mike Ferrisden, and Mike Myers,

and they were like, there's too many mics, so you're Spike. You did Carson Danley, and it was Carson the one that was instrumental in you getting your own company? Is that how it worked? He was one of the shows that went with me. I started the company in 2004, and at the time I was doing cards for Carson and S&L and I had guys working on Conan as well late night when it was Conan. We were not being treated very well. We were bouncing our paychecks and things were, it was almost out of a necessity kind

of thing. So he was, yeah, I went to all three shows and they all said that they would switch over if I started a company. And I ended up buying out the company that I worked for. I ended up doing a five-year buyout plan. So they got some money back for me. But yeah, it was not a necessity. And all the people that were working on their shows were friends of mine at that point.

One person that I feel like there should be more out there about, because she was so instrumental in the show was Marcy Klein. What stands out about Marcy? Oh, man. Marcy was the talent department. I mean, all these questions are asking about the inside stuff, Marcy knows. I will say one thing, from people that I've talked to completely fearless. I mean, oh, yeah. When I say fearless, I don't know a lot of other people in the industry that just have the confidence that she would have sometimes to talk to certain people to get what she wanted.

Yeah, she ran that talent department and she was dealing with egos and hosts and agents and stuff behind the scenes that we have no knowledge to, but you have to be, you'd have to be tough. And she was tough. And she got whatever, you know, she was Lauren's right-hand man. And she did the stuff that needed to be done to get that show on the air and get the stuff that Lauren wanted. And stuff. It was pretty impressive, pretty impressive. I want to talk about Q cards by Wally. Tell me how it started. And I know that this is a big thing. And you've been interviewed all around the U.S. for this. Yeah. Cuc cards by Wally came out during COVID. I had the idea in 2020. And I went to my wife who is in the business world. And she loves entrepreneurs and loves starting companies. She was instrumental starting my New York City Q cards. We just celebrated 20 years. And she helped her dad with his company and her brother with his company. And I went to her and I said, I get this idea about like doing personalized cue cards for people. And she looked at me.

She looked at me and she's like, no. And I was like going, all right. And then COVID came and I was sitting on the couch next door after like three months of not working and doing nothing. And she was working from home. She said to me, she's like, I'm kind of bored. I think I need to start another company. And I was like, how about this personalized cue card thing? And she looked at me, thought for a second, she goes, yes.

It's like, now's the time to do that. People can't go to weddings. They can't go to birthday parties. This is the perfect time. So I was like, okay, but I don't want to do a lot of work. I don't want to, like, do a big business plan. And I don't want to do anything that's going to be, you know, just like, can we get started easy?

And she said, she introduced me to minimal viable product. You know, it is an MVP. And it's just, she's like, we'll get a Instagram account for you and a Venmo account and just start and then see what you can do to publicize it. And that's how I started it. That's fantastic. What's the website? It's Q cards by Wally.com, and you go there, and I will do a personal message on the

same cards we use on Saturday Night Live and late night. They're the real cards, and I write them all out. I'll do videos for a little bit extra money. I can't do anything live from New York and Saturday night. That's what everybody wants it, but I can't do anything copyrighted. So I had to work with NBC and Lauren approved this, and I had to talk to the lawyers and say, you can do this, you can't do that, and this is make sure that people know this is you, not us doing this.

You've been very transparent for that and people love it. So it's worked out so much. It's been fantastic. I mean, in doing it during COVID, what I didn't have anything to do and I was make, these people were so, so happy to be getting these things to give us gifts. It's an original gift. And, you know, I don't know anything about companies and businesses that provide a product. But when I tell people that I've, you know, maybe I've done like maybe 3,000 cards, you know, maybe so 2,500 customers. I've had not one person say, you know what, this isn't what I thought of, I've got to have my money back. It says a lot about you and everybody. It's a 100% guarantee. And yeah, it's just, it's been a really great thrill for me all. I just love it.

I got a kick out of the fact when you're over at Seth's show that their audience members are like holding up High Wally Q cards because there's such. It's crazy. What was that like when you first started up late night with Seth? Because it's one of those things now. I mean, everybody loves the show, but at first, people do not like anything new. Conan took a while. I don't think people remember Colbert, certainly the first year was losing to everybody.

And then, Seth, just for, I'd say maybe a year, maybe 10 months, it was just like, you know, I don't know, it took maybe a while for people to get it. But after they got it, it was like, it's them finding their path creatively, you know what I mean? It just takes a little time, but he certainly did it. But what was that like the early days when you were all kind of like experimenting this? Do you have Shoemaker? Oh, so much fun because they would write sketches from me, these writers. And they were like, they would be, I would be the focus of the sketch.

I'd have like 30 lines, you know, and I was going up, you know, I loved that they trusted me. And I wasn't that good of an actor back then, but it was, they, it still was, it was like, it was getting good response. And the writers, Seth loved it. And the writers really liked it. I, the more and more I got on camera, the more and more I got comfortable. Now it's, oh, you're great on it. It's so much fun.

And I learn, you know, Mark, I'm there to do Q cards. So we're printing closer look. We shoot the show at 4. We get closer look sometimes at 2.45. And that's when I learn if I'm in or not. I look through it and say, oh, I've got two lines. So while I'm printing the sketch, I have to look at my lines and kind of get a feel for them to learn them.

So I really don't have a lot of time. And then I'm holding the cards and I'm still thinking in my head, okay, you got lines coming up. Don't screw this up, you know? But it's so much fun. It's great. I have to say, Alex Bays, I got to interview him and he was an update guy, just in terms of being over there and stuff, it's a collaborative effort, but just in terms of how much he gets on and how valuable he is over there, can you talk about Bays a little bit? Oh, my God. Bayes is, I'll see him in the room. We run, so we run monologue before the show. We run closer look. We run monologue. And he'll be sitting there. We'll do monologue. And he'll be sitting there. We'll do monologue. And he'll be.

to be running close to look and says like, I don't know if that joke's going to work. What can we do instead? And it's like two seconds. And Bays has like the perfect joke coming out of his mouth. Like I don't know how he does it. And it gets a huge laugh. We're all laughing. And it's just like, he's like, yeah, okay, great.

That's it. Perfect. I don't know how many times he's done that. And it's just like, that's just a talent that I don't know if it's, I don't know what it is. It's crazy. But he's so fast. I mean, Seth is fast with the improv and you see the stuff like that, but Bays with monologue jokes or a joke for a certain thing, it's unbelievable how quick he is. There aren't a lot of people that can necessarily do that at the late night shows. Tom Purcell, when I worked at the Colbert Report, and now he's at Stephen Colbert show is like that. To watch somebody like that, that lightning fast is. It's amazing. It's pretty amazing, unbelievable to see that. I know that they're very excited. Late Nighters are really excited for you to be writing in the columns. You've done three so far.

the column is backstage with Wally. You did one with your pal, Charles Barkley, and then another one with Betty White, which was such an amazing thing to have her on the show. And then another one with Chris, Christopher Walk,

and you have some really, a great story about him. I love that you're doing these. Have you done writing like this in the past just maybe for yourself or just to write jack down these stories as journals to maybe one day go to them to do something with them?

My, I mean, I've got a book in me. Oh, you've got several. Let's back on you. Well, this I'll go too far, but I've got a book in me in my wife for like the last 10 years has been like, you need to start writing these stories down. You're going to forget them. And as a writer, you know how hard it is to sit down and write something that might happen 10 years down the road or, you know, so when this opportunity came up, you know, I made

sure that I retained the rights, which they were great about and say, yeah, these stories are still yours. We're not going to do, we're not going to try to sell them or do anything. anything like that. So I'm basically getting paid to start writing my book. And I'm, you know, telling all the stories that are perfect for this site that I think are interesting for people. And then there's still going to be 15 or 20 that I'm saving for the book that I can't really release right now because I'm still working on the show. Maybe the few controversial ones that I have in me that will be more fun. Right. But so yeah, so this is just giving me that chance to write

these things down, make a little bit of money. But again, I was a writer. That's what I wanted to do. Oh, yeah. And I mean, you were writing for Nickelode. He wrote for Mark Wiener, who almost was a Saturday Night Live cast member, but he was observant and couldn't do the Fridays. Yeah, so it's really, I'm bringing me back to my younger days when I would write jokes. And I mean, when I was in high school, I wanted to be a calmness. So it's kind of like coming around full circle to writing stuff. And I'm really enjoying it. I'm really having a great time over it. The late-nighters amazing. I really love what they're doing. I'm honored to be a part of it for sure. Wally, you've been interviewed a bunch and I was just like, I want to try to talk about stuff Wally maybe not have been asked before. How did this go? How was this? Oh, this is fantastic, Mark. I was nervous about not knowing the answers to some of your questions because you know so friggin't much about the boarders. Oh, you're very nice. No, I mean, you know so much. It drives me like, it's like, like, you're like, like, you're going to dress and air some weeks. And I was like, oh, how is he doing that? How was he going to dress and air? When I was talking to Streeter, it was the funniest thing, because he mentioned the Jim Carrey. I think that was the last time I was there, like 10 years ago. And he was talking about the dress. And I was like, that was the last time I was with the show. And that's why I was like, oh, he was the Pete Davidson sketch. And the timing was just on that. But it's an illusion.

Come to a show, come to a podcast party this season. Oh, I'd really love to. It's been forever since I've done that. Yeah, it'd be like old days. Wally Ferrisdon, thank you so much for doing this. This was so much fun. Mark, this is fantastic. It's very good. And it's leading me into the 50th season

coming up, so you're getting me in the mood. I'm really happy about the 50th season. I'm really excited. Oh, I can't believe it. It's going to be, I think it's going to be one of the greatest years of a lot of people over there's lives. One of the greatest. I mean, just everything that's going to go down and stuff and it's history and then the movie coming out and Lauren's book coming out about Lauren in February.

Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's finally coming out. So there's a lot of fun stuff that's happening. But I'm so honored. I'd love for you to come back. And this was a good time. Thank you, sir. You need to give me, I have your number now. So if I hear something I can add to, I hear a story, you're talking to somebody. Oh, yeah, please. I will text you and give you my impression or my side of that story. Oh, I really appreciate that. Thank you, sir. No, no problem at all. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening.

Please subscribe so you never miss an episode. On Apple Podcasts, please rate it and leave a review. Be sure to go to late-nighter.com for all your late-night TV news, and you can find my podcast at late-nighter.com forward-slash podcasts. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you next Tuesday. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I don't know.

Thank you. Thank you.