Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - ICYMI: David Letterman

Episode Date: August 18, 2019

Four years ago, David Letterman signed off his show for the last time, after 33 years that revolutionized late-night television. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist chats with the iconic TV host about his relatively quiet lifestyle since leaving that role, the second season of his hit Netflix show "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction," and the state of comedy in today’s political climate. (Original broadcast date: May 19, 2019) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down Podcasts. And I'm going to take the liberty of calling this a very special episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast because my guest is an American icon, a guy you haven't heard much from or seen much of since he left late night four years ago, the legend David Letterman. Dave is getting ready for the second season of his Netflix show called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. You might remember in season one, he interviewed people like, President Obama, Jay-Z, Tina Faye, Malala, George Clooney, among others. Another season coming now with guests like Kanye, Ellen, Melinda Gates, Tiffany Haddish,

were some that he's announced. So the way this happened, the way this came to be, was a simple email from Dave's rep, who said, I'm going to put Dave out for an interview for the second season. We'd love to do it with you. You know what? I said we can find probably some time in our schedule. For David Letterman, for God's sakes. So what we did was figure out what Dave wanted to do.

And what Dave wanted to do was to go fly fishing. We went up in Westchester County, New York, about an hour outside New York City, north of Manhattan. And we first went to the great bait shop, the Bedford Sportsman in Cross River, New York, where my buddies Charlie and Todd, who also happened to be Dave's buddies. We share a bait shop, Dave and I do. We went, got baited up to go fly fishing. Then we went and we stood in a stream for about an hour and fished and fished and fished. And I'm just going to go ahead and tell you right now, we didn't catch a damn thing, not a single fish. But when you got the waiters on, you're standing in the stream, shooting it with David Letterman.

It's kind of okay that you're not catching fish. Once we finished, we just had a couple of Adirondack chairs to paint the picture for you, right next to the stream. You might hear the stream in the background when we're talking during our conversation. you'll also hear Dave time and again laughing but then a little frustrated because behind me fish are jumping brown trout surfacing and going back under wondering where were all these fish when we were just standing in that stream for an hour outside chance our big camera crew who was also in the water with us might have scared them off can i blame the crew for us not catching fish Dave while we were fishing blame the fish he said Willie we're doing our part the fish have to live up to

their end of the bargain. Dave and I talked about his life since late night. As I said, he left four years ago. We talk about what he's been up to since then. His 16-year-old son Harry has been at the center of what he's been up to since then. Also his discovery of Costco. It's funny talking to Dave, you'd think, for 35 years during his career, he was in a bubble that took him from home to the office and back home. He wasn't aware of things like telephones he gets into. Just an amazing bank front conversation with the great David Letterman right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Dave, thanks for doing this. Thank you very much for doing this.

And thank you to everybody in support and production. It's very nice. I appreciate it. I just have a disclaimer here. I'm so embarrassed because people who actually know how to fly fish will look at this and say, well, what's that? You just put him in the waiting pool. I know I made a fool of myself.

I know I embarrassed myself. But, you know, here's the important thing, Willie. I had a fun. I had a fun day. And isn't that the story of fishing? For me, it is, yeah. I think it's for most of us. So all of those purists out there, too bad, you know,

you're not having as much fun as we are. You had fun, right? Oh, did I? That's all it counts. Where else you stand in the middle of a stream with a buddy? That's right. Throwing a fly in there. Yep, yep.

And, you know, who knows? We may still get a fish. I think we're not finished yet. There's plenty of sun out here still. What's your analysis of... That's high noon here. What's your analysis of what went wrong out there on the water forest? I always believe it's my lack of ability, my lack of patience.

There's a certain amount of intuition that is eventually woven in to the fabric of fly fishing. I've seen guys. One time at a stream in Montana, I said to my buddy, I said, we hadn't caught anything all day. It was just like this. And, you know, me, it's the way I cast, oh, this one just rose right out there. Gosh, dang it, yeah. The minute we step out of the stream. Yeah, well, we wouldn't have gotten them anyway.

Unless we had one of your boat paddles. I said, it was a bust of a day, and I said, just get me a fish. And so he cast about the 30 feet away. way, bang, first cast, beautiful brown trout about like that. And I said, come on, you're something. That's it. Do it again. Second cast, bang, same place, same result. Two fish, brown trout about like that. So there's people like that. Then there's people, you know, like you and me. Yeah. But I mean, you may evolve into one of the great fly fisher of the world. It seems unlikely. It seems unlikely. It seems very unlikely. See, I always thought it was me and my dad always thought it was

him. So I think all... There's another one. Holy crap. They're really starting to come up now. Yep. Anyway, no, I think there, I think there is something about that attitude. Because if you have confidence or indifference, I think you're going to have better luck than if you're wired for success there. Clearly, we're not wired for success. So, first thing I've got to ask you, Dave, is the beard. The first thing, when I said I was going to come talk to you, they said, does he still have the beard? And I said, I don't know

If he has the beard, I'll report back tomorrow. Okay, well, I don't know. Here it is. Do I have it? It appears you do. Yeah. So tell me more about the beard. Well, you tell me about your toupee.

You know, I've been waiting to use that line for four years. I wish I had a story. It started out. I was just tired of shaving. And then now I'm afraid to see what's under there. So, you know, there it is. That's it. That's pretty much it.

Not a statement, not a protest. No, initially it was just pure. I'm tired of shaven. And then the longer it went, the, you know, I wake up and I forget that I have it, honestly. Really? Yeah. Are you aware of the frenzy that ensued when the first photograph of you came out a couple of years ago? You were jogging or something. Yeah, no. The hell is that? Yeah, well, first of all, photos of me jogging would cause a frenzy and then a guy had a beard. But I liken myself to, you would remember this, Howard Hughes comes stumbling out of the desert in Las Vegas and is picked up by Melvin Dumars. And it's that Howard Hughes stumbling out of the desert look that I'm going for. Wow, there's a deep reference.

Yeah. That's impressive. Thank you. So people who love you, you've been off the year four years now coming up here, just about four years. wonder what does Dave do? Like, what's his day to day? Yeah. What is your routine? Is it about your son? Is it about fishing? Well, on a good day, it's all about my son and fishing. Every day is about your kids, of course, as you know. But practically speaking, and I'll tell you something, Willie, when I was on the air, I didn't really have a sense of any sort of greater experience

than just being on the air. And since I stopped being on the air, people are really, really nice to me. And I find it so gratifying, whether they're lying or not, it's just a wonderful thing to have people come up and express what I believe to be is semi-realistic sentiment.

And it's delightful. Were they not previously nice to you? Well, as I'm fond of it, saying it used to be a lot of, there he goes, get him! Get him! He's over there! But you don't expect it to be a factor this far out. But like today, I got up early and started looking for a deal on walk-in tubs, and now here I am with you. Walk-in tubs. Yeah. Like the infomercial tubs? Those are nice. And you know they're not going to leak. Well, that's Always been my question.

A tub with a door. There's another one. Holy God. This, all of a sudden, it's like we're in the Yellowstone. Like the skilled fisherman we are. We get out just to start fighting. That's right. Well, you know these things.

We have those instincts. Yeah. The instincts of a fisherman. So let's talk about the show, the Netflix show. Season two coming back. Incredible lineup the first time. President of the United States, Barack Obama, J. Z. Tina Faye.

Malala. Howard Stern. the whole list. Who can we expect this season? Well, I think equally impressive to me. And it's, I don't know what order they happen in. And Tiffany Haddish, a woman I did not know, and found her to be delightful. And what a horrifying story. Yes. And has survived and beyond survived has prevailed and has a huge heart and and crazy funny and and just really smart you know it's it's magnetic yeah I was from from not there's another one man are you putting me on I'm not you want to turn around she was great Kanye West I really

when I was done with Kanye I kind of felt like I want I wanted to you want to kind of father him. And I think he's in good hands. And I think he's so artistically smart. Yes. So what's that experience like for you? You're going to go do an interview with Kanye West. What do you want to get out of that? How do you approach something like that? Well, I was frightened, honestly, because I had only met him a couple of times on the show. And I knew that, you know, depending on the day, you weren't quite sure which path you were going to be on. But the thing we started out with was he was working on what he calls his Sunday service. And I didn't know what to expect.

And we, the group of us didn't know what to expect. And we went to it early in a sound studio in Burbank. And it was remarkably spiritual. This the choir. Yeah. Yeah, and not expect, not knowing, really. I mean, it was called the Sunday service, and so we knew Sunday morning it was church, of church.

But it was beyond that. It was quite moving. So Kanye West, as you go through and you think about the sort of cast of characters that you want to have on Netflix, how do you sort of size it up and pick the people that you want to have on the show? Because anybody would come and sit down across from you. Well, I don't know about it. wind up. Well, it's interesting because Netflix has been great and it's fun not to be in network

television because Netflix is, you know, it comes out of space or something. And they used to mail you films and then you would mail them back. In the red envelope. Yeah, and it was strange. But still, you know, it's a worldwide organization. Every show that we do is dubbed into like 40 different languages. And so this guy that we're doing now is the world's most famous movie actor star, Shah Rukhan, an Indian actor. And I had not been familiar with his work, but apparently everyone in the world is. So the nice thing about these things for me is I get to know people I didn't know before and I get to know things about the world that I didn't know before. And Melinda Gates is also this.

And you talk about an experience or a series of experiences that she has as everyday experiences and memories. It's just remarkable. The, you know, look at this. Look at what we're doing. But, you know, you and I don't represent the world. We don't represent the population of this planet. We're lucky. We're so lucky.

And everybody we know is lucky. And she is with people who have not been lucky. But, you know, they're breathing the same air that you and I are breathing. And they have the same hopes and same dreams for themselves and their families. And those are disconnected. And she's doing her best to connect them. just a little boost, just a little lift up. Not a ladder, just a stepstool, anything.

But when you realize the inequity of this, it's, you know, just God bless people like her and what they're doing. And she's been doing it for a long time. Yeah, yeah. It's very admirable. And I think they've been good with their money, too. They seem to have invested well.

Ellen is on the list. Oh, Ellen. Ellen was fantastic. You know, I only knew her again from the show. I came earlier than did Ellen in kind of the classes of comedians, and she was great. Again, the nice thing, everybody that I've talked to in this miniature series, these two abbreviated seasons, are so much smarter than I am. And that's, it's humiliating, of course, but it's, you learn stuff.

You learn stuff about them, you learn stuff about the world. You get a different perspective. My perspective, a sad but true at this stage of my life, is muted. And I wish it wasn't. I wish there was a little more enlightenment in this perspective. But I think you can condition that by talking to people who, I mean, it's not going to happen here today talking to you. No, no. No.

But you didn't expect that. I expect that we would be catching fish like crazy. We get the professionals out there still throwing the lines out. Man, I think we're getting into prime time here. This is it. What's it like to sit across from another comedian? In other words, when I watch you and Jerry together, there's some magic to it. You and Howard together.

You know, I've got to tell you something. Howard was very entertained. And I've known Howard. And in the case of most of these people, I have known them. or known of them. But you sit down and you talk for an hour and 10 minutes or so forth, and you realize you don't really know them. And that was true with Howard.

And I think Howard is a brilliant communicator, like very few people of this generation. Of course, he has that specific platform. But he's so good, you know. And I know people have detractors. He has detractors of what he was up to early on. understandably so, and he understands that. But a decent guy, and again, really smart, and I enjoyed him.

So I don't consider him necessarily a comedian so much, but a brilliant communicator. So are you a different interviewer, Dave, on this Netflix show than you were in late night? Obviously, the time is completely different. It's a little different. And the thing of it is, I wish I was smarter because I watch other interviews and sometimes they think, wow, this is captivating or wow, this is dull. And I'm not sure what makes the difference between something captivating and something dull. Like you listen to Howard talk to anybody and it's pretty good. I saw a thing the other day, a couple of movie stars talking to another person, and it was dull.

And these are, these are, you know, recognizable, beloved movie stars. And so you wonder, what is the difference? Is it the guest? Is it the questions? Is it the research? Is it the person? Is it the personal dynamic? I don't know.

Well, I think it's the forum. I mean, like your show was and is now on Netflix, same with Howard. when you walk into that room, you know there's a certain set of rules that no longer apply. In other words, they can ask anything. And you did that on the late show and Howard does that on his show. So to me, it's the person asking the questions. Well, maybe, maybe. Yeah, maybe, maybe.

But having this format, I find in my old age, something to go wrong with my pituitary and I can't stop talking. and so to have an endless amount of time. And the second the audience starts to leave is when I wrap it up. Because I'm not going to let those bastards ruin the day for me, by God. Just another one down there. Now, come on. It's pretty exciting here.

Not so much over here. So are you, do you feel like, you know, after, One season in the books of Netflix, did you do something differently for season two? Does the show look and feel different? Yeah, it's a bit different. And we had some changes. We had different approach. We had six.

When we started out, we weren't quite sure what we're doing. And we're still not quite sure what we're doing, but we think what we're not quite sure of is better than what we weren't quite sure of before. Does that make sense? It's a better version of not knowing what you're doing. Yeah, I tell you, the Lewis Hamilton, who is, I think, five-time Formula One World Champion. And he's just a kid. He's like 34 or something. And a very nice kid.

And he and I were at Silverstone in England. And I think this is my favorite experience of the last couple of years. We get in this Mercedes-Benz station wagon, AMG, twin-D, twin. turbocharged V6 V8, I don't know what it is, 700 plus horsepower. I don't know what the top end of the thing is, but it's a screamer. It's, you know, an auto bond cruiser. If you and the family need to go 180, this is what we got. So we get in this car and we're on Silverstone, which is the ancestral home of Formula One racing in England, if not in Europe. And I've known of this track and seen this track on television, but never been there in person.

And Lewis Hamilton is here, and I'm here behind the wheel. And so we're out on the track. And I had taken a couple of get acquainted laps on this track. I mean, get acquainted. I might as well have been blindfolded. And we come down, I think it's hangar straight, which is the longest part of the track. So you're flat out. Right.

And then you can kind of make out a series of, well, something's going to happen at the end of this. And Lewis is sitting over here and he's saying, okay, don't break, don't break, don't break, don't break, don't break. And every fiber of your being is screaming, break, you dumb bell, you're crazy, break. And Lewis is just, don't break, don't break, don't break, don't break, don't, don't, come on, don't break, don't break, don't, come on. Don't break, don't, go, harder, harder, harder. and then the next thing, you know, you're just sliding into the ground. And he was laughing like crazy. And at one point he said, do you smell that?

And I said, yeah. And he says, the brakes are on fire. Let's get out and take a look. And I said, sure, let's do that. Let's get out. And we get out on the front wheels, there's flames coming off. No. And he loved it.

He couldn't stop laughing. He was howling like a little kid. And then we started doing donuts. And he, he, he, he loved it. He completely disabled this $150,000 car. And he was delighted. And it was, oh, God, it was fun. So top end, and that straightaway, are you going 180?

Are you full out? You know, I think, you know, I think, you go back and look at the tape. We were probably 2.2.20. I don't know. To me, it might as well have been the speed of sound. But the habit Lewis say, okay, don't break. Everything's fine, don't break. And then all of a sudden, he's begging you to break.

It was fun. Catching the car on fire for sport. Yeah. So I mentioned four years since you've been off the air. Yeah. As you sit here today, Dave, do you miss doing late-night TV? You know, the first year I sure did. And, you know, when they wise up and let you go, you'll go through it.

Because, you know, you get into a rhythm. Whatever job it is, if you're a barber or a barber. computer programmer or television else, you could, you don't need a clock because everything happens. You know the eternal rhythm of it all. And so I missed that. And then I realized I don't know how to do stuff. So it took me about a year to re-educate, you know, like, how do these phones work? Because they're not, I used to have a phone where I just, oh, the old rotary. And then you have a big thing that, so I couldn't place my own phone calls. And, and, And I would, I would, stores are different.

I, I would go into these, I went into a, what do you call it, it's one of these big old Costco. Sure. Big box store. Wow. Have you ever been into a Costco? Oh, have I? Yeah. Oh, my God.

Oh, yeah. It was crazy. But first, there's a lot of paperwork and you have to have your picture taken. That's right. And they, they sign you up. And, and I got like the gold premium membership because I don't want them to think, you know, I'm a piker, you know. So, and then you walk around and I went in there looking for socks. At Costco, a lot of socks.

That was judgmental, wasn't it? No, I just, not where I go for socks. No, no, I heard that that you were judging me. Well, how many pair did you need, I guess is my question. We ended up with close to 100 pair. Close to 100 pair, but that's all right. And for a great price. Yes.

And then the next thing, you know, I bought a, right next to the socks, there's a book called Trump about Donald Trump. And I thought, heck, I'll get that. And it's like a nickel. And then there's a big box of candy that, the kind of thing you see in stores, except it's right there. You can take it home.

Right. So I bought that. And then I had to get out. They've got tires in there, all-season radials at the checkout as an impulse buy. I had to get out of there because I bet people have had psychotic breakdowns where they just can't stop shopping. Sure.

Yeah. Absolutely. Have you been back? No. No. Concerned about the potential addiction, maybe? I just haven't been back. But it was a great experience.

It was a great experience. I enjoyed it. So you kind of got back in touch with the world a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And boy, it's changed. Yeah. But the best part is, you know, I get to do stuff with my son, who is now 16.

And how old are your kids? Nine and 11. 9 and 11. Yeah. And they're both boys, right? The 11-year-old's a girl. 9-year-old boy, 11-year-old girl. Oh, good.

Yeah. And tell me the difference there. What is it like because they're two years apart. Yep. And they're going to be different in personality, going to be different in attitude. What are you perceiving now is the difference? We're lucky that they're good buddies, for one thing. I think maybe that's a boy-girl thing.

You got another trout behind me? So they're pals? They're pals, which is good. Yeah. But I always say all the stereotypes are true. She is a girl through and through, and he's a boy. He's coming out of knots on his head that he can't explain where he got them and wants to throw things. And whenever I get home, Dad, let's wrestle and he'll just tackle me under the bed.

And I think that's an instinctive thing that my daughter doesn't necessarily do. Right. And so what is their buddieship like? Do they, I mean, do they go and do stuff together? Well, they're not competing for anything. I think that's part of it. Yeah. You get different sets of friends.

And they, yeah, they'll play basketball together. That's great. They're just kind to each other. Yeah, that's fantastic. Which is all you can ask for at this point. And I suppose at some point that friendship might be strained a bit. Yeah. But I'll bet if it is, there's no guarantee that it would be,

that it'll come back together and cement for life. life, which is about the best gift you could leave these kids. I've got a sister. There are two of us. She's my little sister. We had just that. Same thing. Go out.

And then you come back and you've got no better friend in the world. It's great. I wish Harry had a sibling for that. And people always say, well, you know, you're not going to be the kid's best friend. You're going to be. And I said, screw that. I, you know, look at me. How much longer am I going to be around?

I want to be the best friend. But, you know, he's not keen on me. That's right. Like, oh, my God, this bird, what is it? Oh, it's a goose. Never mind. It's a goose. Relax.

False alarm. Yeah. False alarm. So Harry, as he moves into his teen years, is not as keen on hanging out with dad as you'd hoped? That's right. Neither is his mother. But, yeah, and I think I've mentioned this before, Harry and I are alone one Saturday morning, and it says breakfast.

And I like to cook for Harry, but Harry doesn't like me to cook. He likes mom to cook for him. And I keep saying what my parents used to say to me, you know, Harry, this is not a diner. We don't have a menu. Right. You just can't run down the specials. You're going to eat what we have to eat.

And so I said, Harry, have you had breakfast this morning? And Harry says to me, I'm not sure. And I just thought, oh, Lord, what have I done? The kid, the kid doesn't know if he's had breakfast. Is that? And you, you know, as a parent, you think, is this, is this a sign? I don't know. He doesn't know if he's had breakfast.

Oh, Lord, it's crazy. Well, now they're actually jumping. Come on. Nope. Buskowitz, keep your eye on the water. Yeah. Get the waiters, get the waiters ready. Is he funny?

Is Harry funny? Yeah, he's very funny. Is he? Yeah, he's very funny in a sneaky way. And, yeah, he amuses me. He's great entertainment. But I recognize when I was his age, my dad and I, you know, like once a month, we'd do something together, you know. But he was working six days a week and, you know, barely making enough money to feed three of us.

And it was a different deal. I think you and your dad probably had a pretty close relationship. We did, but he was working too. Yeah, yeah. I think, yeah, I mean, I work hard to be there for our guys. Yeah, it's, and I tell you, the only, at my age, and, you know, this is no breakthrough revelation, but the most secure I ever feel is when I'm around myself. Yes.

And I didn't expect that. There's two things I didn't expect. I sure didn't expect that. And the other thing I didn't expect when he was born, just how funny these kids are. Just endless entertainment. That's what I say. The best date at dinner are my two kids.

That's the most fun you have, the most comfortable you are. They start rattling off some story about some kid at school. And they're just funny. Not funny because they're your kids. They're actually funny. No, and their little activities and stuff are, yeah. Yeah, it's good. Thank you for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

Stick around to hear more from David Letterman, including how he would approach the topic of Donald Trump if he were still on late night TV. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now for more of my conversation with David Letterman. Now, you've obviously since you left late night, as we talked about, whether or not you miss it. There's a new president of the United States. noticed. Do you miss being on late night for that fact? No, because first of all, the people who are in charge now do a really good job of it. And as I've said before, it's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, you know, as soon as you're done, you've got to start all over. And it

would be the same night after night after night after night after night. And I'll tell you what, As an American, I don't like this man as a president of our country. I love being an American, but I don't feel he represents me, and I don't like that. I mean, even with other presidents that I've disagreed with, politically, I felt like, okay, I can live with their representation. But I'm sick and tired of everybody wringing their hands about this. Oh, my God, did you hear what he did, and this and that? Yeah, okay. we have we've all heard it I mean there's there's cable news networks that 24 hours a day

telling you what silly dumb pointless hurtful thing he has done okay let's just settle this at the next election you know let's just stop yacking about what a goony is let's just get it done you know I have to believe that the people who care about their families and and this country will take care of it, uh, 2020. I think you speak to the exhaustion of a lot of the country. Oh boy. Yeah. A lot of the country. Yeah. I mean, at first it was amusing, you know,

because we, we couldn't imagine it really hanging on this long. But I, the only way to handle it now is just let's stop yacking about it and, and get oppositional candidates with a, with a platform and a connection and, uh, somebody that actually has the country in their heart. Yeah. How would you approach it? Because there have been sort of competing ideas in late night. Your successor, Stephen Colbert, taking the president head on,

people like Jimmy Fallon, sort of not taking him head on and doing it something else. How would you address him as a late night host or address this time? Well, I think it's interesting that they've both found successful ways to maneuver this. I think because each day something unbelievable occurs, you can't ignore it. So I think my approach would have been head on and probably ineligent, probably really ineligent. And I would say things, the worst that can happen is now you would have to say, you would say something for which you would have to apologize because that seems to be the A and B of life.

and I would never forgive myself if I said something so ugly that somebody would say, you know, she got a pot. I just, you can't apologize to this guy. But I think I would be head on confrontational,

but boy, you know, God bless the guys who are doing it, it has to be, it has to worry out. And the same with people like yourself who are in a position to comment on it. It must be like wearying. It can be.

Yeah. It can be. But it's also an important time, so you step up and you do it every day. It's interesting. When you listen to, if you can find a regular news outlet where there is little editorial content, you get an entirely different impression than listening to or watching cable news outlets that may have a decided editorial policy. And there are many of those left? As a matter of fact, anymore, down the middle. What do you think, Dave, when you hear people like Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, all the way down the line, to a man say, David Letterman is the reason I'm in late night. David Letterman taught us how to do this. I grew up on David Letterman. Does that flatter you?

It's hard to believe. It's hard to fathom. It's hard to fathom because if this is true and I haven't accepted that it is true, it's very nice of the them to say, but in all of those years that this may have been taking place for them, we were just in Studio 6A. So while these guys, men and women may have been watching and finding this experience formulative, we just had our heads down doing a show. And we never knew of it really ever actually left the studio. And being in broadcasting as long as you have been in broadcasting, you know that experience. Because for you,

it's a bit of a factory job. We're going in. We do it. We go home. We come back the next day. We do it. We go home. But the ripples, the residual effect of it,

can result in what these people are talking about. But it's flattering, but I can't, I just can't let myself accept that. Well, they all say it. They don't need to say it. I know. I know. It's embarrassing. And God bless them.

They've been very, very nice to me. So you don't have a sense, let's say, in 1982, three, and four that you're doing something much different than has been done before? Well, we knew we were doing something different because nobody was watching. And every now and then we'd have to have a talk with the people at NBC. And then, you know, what really happened for us was, well, following the Tonight Show is always a good thing. And then NBC put together a powerhouse Thursday night lineup that was meteoric ratings-wise. And that swell of viewers followed us right on into 1230 and beyond.

And that boosted our ratings to unexpected proportions. And that's when people started treating us differently. And it was it was great fun to be in that position. for a while. So you're not even giving yourself credit for that. You're giving it to L.A. law or something. Yep. Yep. You know how television works, for heaven's sakes. Anyway. But when you're, you know, when you're putting on the Velcro suit and jumping into the wall and you're doing the Alka-Seltzer into the pool, you know you're doing something that no one else on TV is doing. Well, I stole a lot of this stuff from Steve Allen.

He did stuff like this. And he had that effect on me that others allegedly claim that they got from watching me. But a lot of it came from Steve Allen. A lot of the attitude, which was everything can be on TV. Put anything on there you want. I can remember one time when we were in 6A and we, I don't even know where these ideas came from, but we had a drum like a big oil drum. And in 6A, the audience is at a rake like that.

And there was two rows of stair steps down. I don't know how many steps there were, 50, 60, 100. I don't know. But the rake was, you know, like you're going up to find your, like at a ballpark of the steps. And I don't know how we explained it, but I went up to the top of the steps and there were guys. And this oil drum, this barrel made of steel. And I got in it. And then they had a top that they,

with a power drill or power wrench bolted me into the barrel. And then they tipped it on its side and just shoved me down the steps. And I was in there thinking, you know, I could, I could really hurt myself here. Absolutely. But it was interesting because it was dark in there, there was absolutely no sense of this equilibrium. Oh, that's interesting. And they unbolted the thing and I climbed out and it was, yeah, we'll be right back. Even I didn't know what we were doing.

Maybe it was better that way. Probably. Yeah. So where Dave does that sense of humor come from, that kind of stuff? Well, like I said, Steve Allen was a huge influence on me. Johnny Carson was a huge influence. This is as a kid in Indianapolis? Yeah, in Indianapolis.

And Jonathan Winters, he would walk out on the end. Sullivan show the curtain would open he come out and he hadn't said a word and I would start laughing and it's still that Determined rock hard devotion to stupid behavior that it just drops me every time just the confident dumb guy The confident goofball You know who's as Fred Armisen They get his dad Red Armisen, yeah. Yeah. He's really good at that. Yeah. He's very good at that. Yeah. And so was that rewarded in your house being that guy and being funny?

Yeah, my dad and I, he and I loved comics and I was always proud that he and I loved Bob and Ray. This is a radio combination that was of their day just that blind devotion to ridiculous thought and behavior. And we loved them. And then later, I had the great opportunity to work with Bob and Ray together had a son named Chris Elliott. I can't anatomically, biologically, I don't know, but they had a son. And we worked together with Chris Elliott.

And Chris saved our show all the time. People loved Chris. Yeah, he was great. He was great and still is great. And so for the fact that that comedy team was important to my father and myself was great. And then later to work with their son was also great. So was there ever a chance you were going to be something else? I know you were the meteorologist for a while.

Not a meteorologist. Just a weatherman? Just a stooge. Okay. Just a stoo. But that, in your mind even then, it was, this is a stepping stone, get on TV and go be funny somewhere? Yeah, I can remember I would sit at home. after I'd gotten out of college, graduated,

and you would watch the Tonight Show. And like once a week, there would be a comedian on. And I got to thinking, where are these guys coming from? And it's always somebody different. And then six months later, it'd be somebody you'd seen before. And then there'd be a whole parade of men and women you hadn't seen before. And I thought, she, many, how? I got to do that.

And all you had to do was get to California, and then you would go to the comedy store, and you would be lucky enough maybe to get on the Tonight Show. And that's exactly how it worked for me. I just, you know, it was sort of like, look, we found a map, and we know where the treasure is buried if we just, and that's what it was.

Do you have ideas, Dave, still have things you want to do with your career? The Netflix shows, the here and now. Do you still have things ahead of you? Yeah, I have nothing, but I didn't see one when we were out there. Are these coming up everywhere now? Thank you. Are you seeing them too? Yeah, we are.

Really? I think we're a couple of dopes. It was us. Yeah, the timing. Who scheduled this? It was us. Oh, great. No, it wasn't.

The scheduler. I forget the question. We were talking about what else you want to do, yeah. Yeah, and I always thought, you know, I did this for 30 years, which was way too long. Because seriously, the last 10 years, I was just loafing. And what you want to do, I would tell people, pick out what you want to do and do it as hard as you can. And then stop doing it and save some energy for something else. Because you don't have to be, like you, you've got like six shows.

and each of them different in a sense. Quantity over quality, yes. No, no, no. Volume sales. No, no. People tell me... It's like Costco. And then take that energy that you have remaining and devote it to trying to make the world a better place.

And I feel like, and maybe I'm just using this as an excuse for not making the world a better place. But I feel like, you know, 10 years ago, I wish I would have... Of course, 10 years ago, the world was fine. Yeah, so why blame myself? You backed off that pretty quickly. Yeah, sure, why not? That's an easy thing to say, but it's a hard thing to do when you're going 100 miles an hour succeeding to stop and go give of yourself. But see, that's the problem.

That's all selfishness. You know, that was all I cared about and was the show. And when you look at it, that's pretty tight focus on life. and, oh, man. And now you talk to Melinda Gates about this, and there's somebody, my God, is making a difference, you know, in the world. She's feeding hungry people. She's helping elevate women's rights and women's position in the world where women are, you know,

I don't need to tell you the way women are treated around the world. poverty is a horrible thing, lack of education is a horrible thing. And she's doing something. You know, however much longer we have as a planet, a viable planet, Melinda Gates and her foundation, and I guess to a certain extent Bill, will have made a difference, you know. And so does that mean that's something you're looking toward now? Oh, no, I don't have that kind of time.

Just citing other examples. Yeah. I mean, of course it would be nice. You know, when I'm dead, it will be, oh, stupid human trick, whatever walked in front of a bus. But when Melinda Gates goes, it'll be a litany of the way she elevated the human existence. So you've had some time now to look back on those 33 years of late night TV. you take time and think that was pretty good.

Are you happy with what you did? No. You know what? I don't even know how to begin. Do you feel differently about it now than you did when you walked away? Yeah, yeah. Better? Yeah, I feel much better about it now.

When I walked away, I was, you know, lost. Now, I don't want that to be in capital. letters. But if you take away a routine of 30 years, suddenly it's like the lights have been turned on in the house. It turned off in the house. And you're, you know, feeling your way downstairs, which I still do for fun. Do you have pets? No, we don't actually. Yeah. Tight quarters. New York apartment. Yeah. Oh, New York apartment. Yeah. Yeah. But you feel better about it now than you did then? Why? Again, the question seems to have evaded me. About your, you think about your career and your legacy. The legacy, the career,

look, I was on television as long as I was on television because nobody had the guts to fire me. And that's it. I just became, you know what it is? Like sometimes you think, geez, what's your wife's name? Christina. Christina looked at you and she said, Willie, geez, look at the refrigerator. Let's get a new refrigerator. That's what it was. I was the refrigerator for 33 years. That's not true. Well, I don't know how else to think about it.

Maybe your show was good. Maybe you were good at it. Oh, I remember the show. I mean, ask Buskowitz. Oh, he bad mouths you all the time. And well, he should. Should we make one more run at the fish, Dave? What do you think?

I'm freezing. Okay. I would like to see Charlie pull one of these out of here because they're just asking for it now. Let's have somebody else do it. And we'll hold it up for a photograph. Let me ask you a couple of things about you. Your grandfather is in the Hockey Hall of Fame

and won for the Detroit Red Wings, two Stanley Cups. Herbie Lewis. He was the captain of the Red Wings in the 30s, 36 and 37 back-to-back cups. Wow. Now, that was the original six. That was the original six. Wow.

There's a great photograph I'll show you of him holding the cup in his uniform in the locker with a cigar on his mouth. And no man has ever looked or felt more triumphant than my great-grandfather in that moment. He's the coolest guy. Yeah, well, that's a lovely thing to have. He really is. And you're still a hockey fan? I'm a hockey fan, not a play. I never, I didn't pick up the hockey jeans. But you were captain of your high school basketball and football team. What is you? We're on Wikipedia today? Yes. Yes, I was. What's it to you? I was in rigid New Jersey. Yeah. Oh, this is good. This is like being on your Netflix.

show. Oh, that ain't going to happen. Are we done? Yeah. Unless you got more to say. Listen, and, you know, God bless you. And God bless you again. You're a gift to the American viewing public. Thank you. And I felt the same about your father. Thank you very much. I feel that way about you. This is a thrill for me. It is. No, it's not. Okay. Let's get out of here. My big thanks to Dave for an incredible conversation and a great day, about three hours standing in a stream, then chatting next to it. Despite our unsuccessful fishing adventure, it's a day I personally will never forget.

Season two of his show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, debuts May 31st on Netflix. And as usual, my thanks to you for tuning in to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. To hear more of the full-length conversations with all my guests, be sure to click. subscribe so you never miss an episode. And of course, don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.