Late Show Backstage - Norm MacDonald, Don Rickles

During the period when David Letterman was still recovering from quintuple bypass surgery, CBS the Late Show filled time with special "Backstage" shows where a guest host and a former guest would relive past Late Show appearances.

These shows amount to something usually unheard of in talk shows... a "best of" compilation. Hosted by former Late Late Show host Tom Snyder with first guest Norm Macdonald, the segment "Dave and Richard Simmons go Door to Door" and Don Rickles, this show is the best of the best - one of the classics.

Part 1 - Best of Norm (1/3)

Part 1 includes Norm's famous appearance right on the heels of the announcement that he was fired from SNL.

Part 2 - Best of Norm (2/3)

Part 2 is the best segment I think. It's Norm's "growing" up in Canada stories. Some of the best story telling ever. Plus, Dave makes him do a "David Letterman impression" right in front of the man.

The best part of it is Paul playing himself. If you've seen the skit on SNL (no link available) you'd know that the Paul Shaffer impression on SNL is basically just picking a word or phrase out of what Dave says and repeating it in a slightly whiny monotone. Paul is obviously aware of this because when Norm asks Paul to play himself, he doesn't play himself. Paul does an impression of the SNL guy's impression of him. It's genius.

Part 3 - Best of Norm (3/3)

Another classic, classic, Norm story - "Old Harold Delaney".

At the end Norm mentions Robert Blake's appearance on the Late Late Show where he told that "huge bull sh** story". I always wonder what that refers to. As far as I could tell, Robert Blake's appearances were all the same and all involved long amazing stories about "old Hollywood". True or not, they were amazing; he was the absolute best guest on that show.

Part 4 - Best of Norm Epilogue / "Dave and Richard Simmons go Door to Door"

Norm tells a great story about when he worked with Don Rickles on "Dirty Work".

"Dave and Richard Simmons go..." is one of the all-time classic Letterman bits and I'm lucky to have it on tape. Every time Dave went outside the walls of the studio to tape a bit, it was legendary which makes it all the more tragic that he never does it anymore. The standard pattern is followed for all segments involving these two - it's one of the only certainties in life:

1.) Richard starts out excited and loves Dave.

2.) Dave mocks him.

3.) Richard gets mad at him.

4.) They argue like an old married couple.

Then, next time, Richard is happy again as if he doesn't remember what happened last time. He's like that guy in "Memento". You can set your watch by this pattern (though I don't know how you would).

Also, you can see a prime example of the "Late Night" editing style (I don't know a better name). This is quick, short, cuts; quick flashbacks to odd moments and most of all creating artificial reality. By "artificial reality" I mean they'll take a shot of a person acting or reacting in some way and splice it into a different moment in time to make it look like they're acting or reacting to something else. As far as I know it was invented in the 80's by "Late Night", perfected by the time this segment was shot around 1993, and you can still see it occasionally today. More and more often though, it's becoming just a cheap "reality television" device.

Part 5 - Don Rickles

On top of all this, there's Don Rickles who's a legend.