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David Letterman's past......

N

NeonKnight

Guest
About a week ago David Letterman acknowledged his anniversary on CBS. He and Paul Schaffer talked briefly about the daytime show on NBC. Paul was not yet on the show. I remember it very well. What I'd like to know is, has David brought over any characters that were on the morning show to the evening when he switched to CBS? Two that standout easily was Mrs. Marv Mendenhal (yes, uh huh, uh huh) and Brother Theodore - the intellectual colossus.
Or would NBC own the rights to everything from the past? Just wondering.
Thanx.
 
> About a week ago David Letterman acknowledged his
> anniversary on CBS. He and Paul Schaffer talked briefly
> about the daytime show on NBC. Paul was not yet on the
> show. I remember it very well. What I'd like to know is,
> has David brought over any characters that were on the
> morning show to the evening when he switched to CBS? Two
> that standout easily was Mrs. Marv Mendenhal (yes, uh huh,
> uh huh) and Brother Theodore - the intellectual colossus.
> Or would NBC own the rights to everything from the past?
> Just wondering.
> Thanx.
>

Just a wild guess, but, The Peacock would most likely claim "intellectual property rights" on ANYthing...ANYTHING...Letterman created while at 30 Rock.

(The guy who invented the delay-windshield-wiper system, while working at General Motors, had to sue GM to even receive a pittance from GM...and, then only after YEARS of litigation.)

There are "intellectual-property" codicils to contracts today and those points are negotiated today; back in the day, I bet Dave was just happy to be out of Indiana and on TV in Da Big Apple.

You can bet that Dave owns the rights to EVERYthing...or, gets royalties from CBS...before he jumped into The Eye.

Speculation, at best, but...
 
> Just a wild guess, but, The Peacock would most likely claim
> "intellectual property rights" on
> ANYthing...ANYTHING...Letterman created while at 30 Rock.

Where the daytime show was concerned -- Dave owned that lock, stock and barrel. It was "Late Night" that was under NBC ownership, and which resulted in a short-lived tiff over "intellectual rights" after Dave moved to CBS.

As a matter of fact, the tiff was short-lived, thanks to Dave's ownership of the daytime show.
 
> > Just a wild guess, but, The Peacock would most likely
> claim
> > "intellectual property rights" on
> > ANYthing...ANYTHING...Letterman created while at 30 Rock.
>
>
> Where the daytime show was concerned -- Dave owned that
> lock, stock and barrel. It was "Late Night" that was under
> NBC ownership, and which resulted in a short-lived tiff over
> "intellectual rights" after Dave moved to CBS.
>
> As a matter of fact, the tiff was short-lived, thanks to
> Dave's ownership of the daytime show.
>
Viewer Mail was featured on the daytime show which was carried over to Late Night. It's now known as "the CBS Mailbag". The Top 10 List originated on Late Night. I've noticed that Dave managed to get the rights to some of the stuff that Carson did on The Tonight Show(the bird callers & stump the band).<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P>
 
> About a week ago David Letterman acknowledged his
> anniversary on CBS. He and Paul Schaffer talked briefly
> about the daytime show on NBC. Paul was not yet on the
> show. I remember it very well. What I'd like to know is,
> has David brought over any characters that were on the
> morning show to the evening when he switched to CBS? Two
> that standout easily was Mrs. Marv Mendenhal (yes, uh huh,
> uh huh) and Brother Theodore - the intellectual colossus.
> Or would NBC own the rights to everything from the past?
> Just wondering.
> Thanx.


Speaking of David Letterman's past...

What was the name of Paul Schaeffer's band when Letterman was on NBC?

I can't remember the name of the band.

I've been so used to seeing them called "Paul Schaeffer and the CBS Orchestra" since 1993 when they moved to CBS.

DeanSB<P ID="signature">______________
Dance Music RULEZ!! :)</P>
 
> Speaking of David Letterman's past...
>
> What was the name of Paul Schaeffer's band when Letterman
> was on NBC?
>
> I can't remember the name of the band.
>
"The World's Most Dangerous Band".

They had to change their name to "The CBS Orchestra", due to NBC's preoccupation with intellectual rights.
 
> You can bet that Dave owns the rights to EVERYthing...or,
> gets royalties from CBS...before he jumped into The Eye.

Yep, IIRC that was the deciding factor in Dave signing with CBS. He owns The Late Show and the show after it, and got a prime-time development deal, which gave us Everybody Loves Raymond.
 
> > Speaking of David Letterman's past...
> >
> > What was the name of Paul Schaeffer's band when Letterman
> > was on NBC?
> >
> > I can't remember the name of the band.
> >
> "The World's Most Dangerous Band".
>
> They had to change their name to "The CBS Orchestra", due to
> NBC's preoccupation with intellectual rights.
>
Paul & the band released a CD under the name "The Party Boys Of Rock & Roll" in 1993. I believe the CD was titled "One Dangerous Party". BTW, I have a five minute aircheck of Dave from his college radio days in 1969. The aircheck features Dave doing a bit with his then wife. Yes, Dave was married once.<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by MegoMan on 09/11/05 08:27 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> > You can bet that Dave owns the rights to EVERYthing...or,
> > gets royalties from CBS...before he jumped into The Eye.
>
> Yep, IIRC that was the deciding factor in Dave signing with
> CBS. He owns The Late Show and the show after it, and got a
> prime-time development deal, which gave us Everybody Loves
> Raymond.
>
If I'm not mistaken Ray Ramano(SP?) made his network TV debut on Late Show.<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P>
 
>
> They had to change their name to "The CBS Orchestra", due to
> NBC's preoccupation with intellectual rights.
>

Also, I believe there has to be a certain number or type of instruments used to qualify as an "orchestra" rather than a "band".

At NBC, it was just Paul, Sid, Will (both Sid and Will on guitar) and Anton on the drums. In moving to CBS, the horn section was added (those 3 or 4 guys behind Paul) as well as Felicia, the only female in the orchestra. She plays guitar (electric guitar? whatever) along with Sid and Will.

It's been mentioned in the past that only Paul and Will Lee have been with Dave since the beginning at NBC.
 
additional...

> > > Just a wild guess, but, The Peacock would most likely
> > claim
> > > "intellectual property rights" on
> > > ANYthing...ANYTHING...Letterman created while at 30
> Rock.


NBC also owned the rights to the "Larry Bud Melman" character.
The inidividual who played that character was on the CBS show a few times under his real name, but, for some reason, did not carry over into the CBS version.

Dave has said before that when he used to do local radio, he would "make up" the readings he was supposed to take. Take THAT FCC!

His current production company, Worldwide Pants,not only was involved with "Raymond", but the recent NBC show "Ed", and current CBS show "King of Queens".
 
Re: additional...

> NBC also owned the rights to the "Larry Bud Melman"
> character.
> The inidividual who played that character was on the CBS
> show a few times under his real name, but, for some reason,
> did not carry over into the CBS version.

Calvert DeForest lasted for a few years before being dropped.

Come to think of it, when was the last time we saw Mujibur and Sirajul?<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Re: additional...

> Calvert (Larry Bud Melman)DeForest lasted for a few years before being
> dropped.

I remember hearing something about Calvert's workplace (a homeless shelter, or similar) being inundated with phone calls after he appeared under his own name...
Although there were a few occasions after that where he did a brief walk-on, sometimes not speaking at all.

> Come to think of it, when was the last time we saw Mujibur
> and Sirajul?

Yea, I remember one bit with both of them wearing business suits and rubber waders, standing in the middle of a stream somewhere, fishing. Too funny!

What about Chris Elliot as "The Guy Under the Seats" (making your life a living hell), Meg who was in the building next door, Manny the Hippie (or was that in the early days of the CBS show?), Dave's dog Bob
 
Re: Additional Questions About Dave....

I had always thought that Paul Shaffer had been David Letterman's bandleader ever since the short-lived NBC daytime show.

And I also thought Bill Wendell was the announcer for Letterman's NBC daytime show, NBC late-night show, and the first few years of the CBS late-night show until Wendell retired (Did Wendell passs away a year or two back??).
 
Re: Additional Questions About Dave....

> I had always thought that Paul Shaffer had been David
> Letterman's bandleader ever since the short-lived NBC
> daytime show.

Paul was never part of the morning show. He used to be associated with Saturday Night Live. (he did a dead-on impression of Don Kirshner, who was very big at the time), as well as play with the SNL band.

> And I also thought Bill Wendell was the announcer for
> Letterman's NBC daytime show, NBC late-night show, and the
> first few years of the CBS late-night show until Wendell
> retired (Did Wendell passs away a year or two back??).

I don't believe that BW was part of the morning show.Yes, he did make the transition from NBC to CBS, and passed away a while ago. I remember that shortly after BW died, Dave said something about it on the air. I got the impression, at the time, that they did not really get along well.

See imdb.com for information about all things show biz - be they movies or TV. A very comprehensive site with links all over the place...
 
Re: Additional Questions About Dave....

> See imdb.com for information about all things show biz - be
> they movies or TV. A very comprehensive site with links all
> over the place...
>

Bill Wendell passed away on April 14, 1999 in Florida. Alan Kalter is the show's current (and damn funny!) announcer.
 
Bill Wendell

> Bill Wendell passed away on April 14, 1999 in Florida. Alan
> Kalter is the show's current (and damn funny!) announcer.

Wendell was Ernie Kovacs' announcer for most (if not all) of his programs for NBC as well.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Re: additional...

> Come to think of it, when was the last time we saw Mujibur
> and Sirajul?


They always appear every year when it's time to decorate the Late Show Christmas tree. At the top of the tree:

--Mujibur and Sirajul place a model of the Empire State Building

--The guy who owns the pizza place (Joe G, maybe?) places a large pizza

--Rupert Jee tops it all off with a giant meatball with sauce over the ESB model.
 
Re: Bill Wendell

Letterman's former producer (or maybe it was director) Hal Gurnee also passed away a few years ago and also followed Dave from the NBC days.

Occasionally, when getting ready to show a guest's film clip, you'd always hear "Roll it, Hal". In fact, when someone like Chris Elliot occasionally guests on the show, he'll STILL say "Roll it, Hal"...sort of an inside joke.

The great majority of NBC Late Night staffers (except for NBC union employees) followed Dave over to CBS.
 
Hal Gurnee

> Letterman's former producer (or maybe it was director) Hal
> Gurnee also passed away a few years ago and also followed
> Dave from the NBC days.
>

He was most definitely his DIRECTOR. I have a sketch on tape where the staff of the control room challenge Dave to come and find them (aired on September 30, 1994). Along the way, he turns down the studio thermostat, runs through the hallway (and slows when he sees a CT state trooper standing nearby!), bumps into Calvert DeFroest (referencing the box of chocolates from "Forrest Gump"), wakes up Mujibur and Sirajul sleeping in a nearby room and coming up to CBS News anchor Dan Rather with a priceless and goofy bug-eyed expression. All of this was on his way to the control room. Lastly, when he finally gets there, he asks the director (who's off screen) "Are you our director, Hal Gurnee?" Cut to a shot of the guy from the series of beer ads in the 1990s who held the "Galaweicz" sign at the airport ("Gal-E-WEEK-itch"..."You mean DOCTOR Gal-ACK-o-witz?") It all ends with the trademark line of "YEEEEESSS I AM!" Funny stuff!
 
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