Paul Shaffer: Behind the Music

 

A classic bit from the Late Show.

I watched this a million times on the Late Show website, back in the day. This is the first time I'm seeing it in actual video rather than the horror that was RealAudio/RealMedia over slow internet. Remember RealAudio?

Why Prince "Fainted" on the Late Show

 

The Charismatic Voice - The Hook

 

Weird bit of synchronicity here, I was just thinking of "The Hook" by Blues Traveler recently.

I don't remember Paul Shaffer being in this video.

It's such a great, perhaps a perfect pop melody. It would be the perfect pop song except for the lyrics. Writing lyrics to say that lyrics don't matter is a waste of time. Hate that.

The harmonica brings me back though.

Happy Festivus (War is Over)

December 23rd is officially Festivus so get out your aluminum poles!

Just a reminder that tonight is the last Late Show before Christmas so it's the Late Show Christmas extravaganza show. I went through all the details last year so I won't do that again but also last year they forgot Paul's Cher impression so I'll be interested to see if that makes it back in.

Joaquin Phoenix Returns

Joaquin Phoenix returned to the Late Show last night for the first time since his infamous interview. It looked something like this:

I hope you watched the show or a full version of the interview turns up online because the clip above is an extremely cut down, edited version of the real interview which was entertaining and enlightening from start to finish.

I found it interesting that Dave claims he knew it was an act at the time. In the full interview they show a clip from the original interview which kind of "tips the hand" that it was an act. For most of the last half of the segment, Dave talks (seemingly quite seriously) about a possible impending lawsuit. It really ratchets up the tension but also I couldn't help but wonder (since that isn't normal interview behavior) if he's turning the tables - he's "playing a character" back at Joaquin.

At the end of the interview as the show went to commercial, Paul and the band played Sly and the Family Stone's song "Thank You". The lyrics to the chorus are "Thank you for lettin' me be myself again". He's still the master.

Late Show Christmas Edition Epilogue

The Late Show does the same Christmas traditions year in and year out over and over and the FIRST TIME I write a blog about them, something different happens. Gutting. I can at least take some consolation in the fact that nobody listens to me anyway.

CUT, yes CUT from the Late Show (due to time, pffff) was Paul's Cher Impression. Nevertheless you can see it here. A classic that never gets old.

As of this posting, CBS hasn't uploaded the full show onto the web. You can check here. But because CBS's web video kinda sucks anyway, I'll go through the list and post segments from Christmas Past.

1) Topping of the Christmas Tree - Like I had warned earlier it looks like this is no longer done on-air anymore. Fair enough. See the very first one here.

2) Paul's Cher Impression - Cut from the show. See THIS YEAR'S as a "web exclusive" here.

3) The Lone Ranger Story - This one was a little flat, I thought, owing partly to the fact that Jay Thomas took a comedy risk and insulted the audience when he came out. Nevertheless you can see one of the past tellings here:

[Broken Video Link Removed, Here is the 2009 Version]

4) The Late Show Quarterback Challenge - This year there was a bit of a surprise. Dave got the idea to do a recreation of the first Quarterback challenge (see Origins in Previous Post) where he would throw a couple and miss and they Jay Thomas would run out and throw a bomb right on target. Dave throws one... miss, throws another... hit's the meatball right off the tree. The Challenge is over without Jay even throwing a single ball. Here's what it looked like in the past:

5) Darlene Love Performs "Christmas Baby (Please Come Home)" - This is one tradition that was as great and rock solid as ever. Just fantastic. Here's one from the past.

[Broken Video Link Removed, Replacing with Compilation]

You won't see anything that good anywhere, I guarantee.

And that about wraps 'er up.

VCR ALERT! DANGER! LATE SHOW!

Tonight is the "Late Show with David Letterman" that the entire Late Show with David Letterman year revolves around. Be sure to tune in / set your tivo / start the VCR / mark it down in your social, political or otherwise daily planner / call the neighbors / wake the kids / call the cops, etc.

It's the Late Show Special Christmas Edition! They do hundreds of shows each year but this is the biggey, this is what it all builds up to, it all comes down to this. If there was just one Late Show to see this year, it would be this one. There are a number of special Christmas Late Show traditions, some ridiculous (okay, most are ridiculous), some emotional, which have gradually and organically built up over the years and now you too can anticipate and look forward to them because I'm here to tell you what they are (hopefully without spoilers).

1) Topping the Christmas Tree

What to Expect: Most people put a star or an angel on top of the Christmas tree. That isn't the Late Show way. In order to represent the city of New York and at the same time bring in people who are part of the "Late Show family" in a creative way, the Christmas tree is topped first with a pizza (from Joe G's Pizza, a former neighbor of the show) then a small model of the Empire State building is placed on top of that (from Mujibar and Sirajul - also former neighbors of the show and frequent correspondents) and finally with a giant meatball with tomato sauce (from Rupert G's Hello Deli, a long time and current neighbor of the show). Traditionally "the topping of the tree" is meant to be done at the beginning of the week but I haven't seen it this year so it's either not shown on-air anymore or it'll be on tonight.

Origins: This tradition goes back to 1993, the first year of the Late Show. It was the first Late Show Christmas tree and they just decided to ask Mujibur and Sirajul to bring items from their shop to commemorate their friendship. They brought an American flag, a commemorative "U.S. Presidents" plate and a figurine of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty conveniently fit the top and so it was kept. The pizza and meatball were added later as the show met more neighbors and I believe the Statue of Liberty was changed to the Empire of State building at some point. See the first ever topping here.

2) Paul's Cher Impression

What to Expect: During desk chat, every year, Dave requests and Paul recalls a famous Christmas moment from the old "Sonny and Cher" show where Cher sang "Oh, Holy Night". It always ends with Paul doing a musical impression of what it sounded like that brings down the house. I don't want to give too much away but the word "muff" WILL be mentioned and it gets a laugh ever year.

Origins: This goes back almost to the dawn of Dave History. Paul first told this story in April of 1983 on Late Night. Dave enjoyed it so much that it was later retold at Christmas time of that year and has subsequently become tradition. No link so as to avoid spoiling the fun.

3) The Lone Ranger Story

What to Expect: Jay Thomas comes on and tells the "Lone Ranger Story". Pretty simple, just a man telling a true story from his past. Except to say, (and I won't give anything away) that the reason for this tradition is that it's the greatest true anecdote ever told on a late night talk show ever, in the history of all things. Oh, yes, prepare thyself, citizen.

Origins: This story was first told like every other story. Jay came on the show as a guest and simply told it. Dave describes it as perhaps the best story he's ever heard as a host of a talk show and he's brought Jay back every year since to retell it. I think this became a tradition basically as a Christmas gift that Dave gives himself and in conjunction with the fact that Jay has to be on the show anyway for #4.

4) The Meatball Quarterback Challenge

What to Expect: With the Christmas topping all in place (see #1) Jay Thomas and Dave get a giant vat of footballs and throw the footballs at the tree. The goal is to bullseye the giant meatball head-on and knock it off the tree from a distance of about 20 yards. It's something of a competition although Jay hits it almost ever year. These days, with over a decade of throws gone by, the Challenge is usually preceded by a montage of all past years.

Origins: In 1998, Dave had NFL quaterback Vinny Testaverde on the show and at the end of the segment they played the "Holiday Quarterback Challenge" (trying to throw a football and knock the meatball off the tree). Attempt after attempt, Vinny and Dave missed. Finally, Jay Thomas, who was scheduled as the second guest that night, got so mad that he ran out on stage, grabbed a football and knocked it off on his first throw. He's been back every year since. Recent editions have been preceded by the montage (mentioned previously) and have also incorporated the Late Show Hula Hoop Girl and Late Show Grinder Girl - although I think these two were just temporary and not actual additions to the tradition.

5) Darlene Love Performs "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

What to Expect: If you're like me you might not be familiar with the artist or the song. But if you're like me, you'll instantly recognize both once you hear them and go "oooh". Coming at the end of the show, it's meant to be the finale that gets you right into "The Christmas spirit" and it works. I get goosebumps every single time and if you're not dead you will too.

Origins: In 1993, Paul and Darlene were doing a play together about the life of Phil Spector and invited Dave to see it. After the show Dave said to Paul, "We need to get Darlene Love down here to sing that Christmas song. That's the greatest Christmas song I've ever heard." And so they did. Originally, it was just Darlene and the band but each year it gets "bigger" as they try to top last year's performance. The number of instruments grew, the number of back up singers grew, the production grew etc. Until today where they have a full band, full orchestra, full choir, fake snow, costumes, the works. Last year (or a few years ago) they even had a saxophonist descend from the ceiling to do a solo.

And that's your Christmas Late Show. Know it. Watch it. Enjoy it.

Paul Shaffer on Late Night

Remember how much fun it was when two tv shows "crossed over"? Like "Scooby Doo Meets Batman and Robin" or "The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones"? Sure, we all do. But what's infinitely more enjoyable, to me, is when a talk show host is a guest on another talk show. Not only because of the cross-mojination that happens and the colliding of worlds, but also because the change in roles where the interviewer becomes the interviewee.

Jay Leno and David Letterman were both on Johnny Carson. Letterman was on Conan and vice versa. Craig Kilborn was on Letterman but not the other way around (though he did have Paul Shaffer). Conan was on Carson Daly's show and vice versa. Jimmy Fallon was on Letterman and Conan. And on it goes into the night.

And so it's a huge event for me that Paul Shaffer was on Jimmy Fallon's show recently. It was a great interview. You can see the full interview here starting at 21:24 but only for a limited time! As it's only available within the context of the full show, it'll be taken offline in a few days. In particular Paul confronts the Roots on Questlove's quote in Rolling Stone magazine that when thinking about which song to play for guest intros, he thinks, "What would Paul Schaffer do?" and then does the opposite. OUCH. It's so on.

[Broken Video Link Removed]

Paul's on to promote his new book which is a collection of anecdotes from his experiences in show business over the past 5 decades. I have a pretty strict rule that I only buy books that are educational but I'm thinking of making an exception for this book. Talk about a life worth reading about - he's been a song writer and studio musician for years, he was in the SNL band from the first season so he has stories about that era, he's been on Letterman for the past 30 years, he was in Spinal Tap and, oh yeah, he's the musical director for the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame so he's played with, met or worked with EVERY SIGNIFICANT MUSICIAN OF THE PAST 50 YEARS. And that's not an exaggeration. I want to make a list but if I do, I'll leave out about 30 other giant stars.