With all of this talk about Steven Colbert taking over for David Letterman I quoted Steve Allen on a thread about it as saying that doing a late night talk show is an easy gig, noting that even I had done one, and if I could do it, how hard could it be. That got me thinking about the one I had done and I thought I remembered that at one point we had a very short compilation of things from those shows, (which were shot almost 30 years ago), transferred to digital. After scouring old hard drives for a while, I got lucky and I found it. Its just the opening sequence, one joke from the monologue, a top 5 list, (as we had zero budget we couldnt afford a Top 10 list), a comedy sketch we did about Iran-Contra figure and very hot number, Fawn Hall, and I guess to show a more serious note, a very rare, in depth interview with TV News anchor Monica Kaufman. Monica did a million personal appearances but was almost never interviewed. I remember that she couldnt be there for the live show, (it was on at the same time as her newscast), but she agreed to come over to the studio during the day one day. So when I learned she was on her way I put on my tuxedo and raced over the studio, pushed a desk and a couple of chairs against a back drop and off we went. Believe it or not we sold the show to Channel 5 here in Atlanta but the program director who wanted it got fired before the deal could close. The program director at channel 11 was very nice about it, saying that I had a considerable talent for what I was trying to do, but pointing out that he had something called Studs in that time period and it was beating David Letterman 4 to 1. :-) As hokey as it is for a 30 year old, zero budget cable show, there are some things there I actually like. The music under the opening sequence is a Disco version of Night Train I produced with studio musicians at Doppler Sound during the Disco era, the Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons knockoff Fawn Hall song Rick Dovi and I recorded for the Fawn Hall bit is a pretty good melody and a darn good little record and I remember Monica Kaufman and my time with her very fondly. She told my producer she thought I was really good and, as Im sure you can understand, that stuck with me. Late Night Atlanta baby! https://youtube/watch?v=sCzWyQRrcAY&feature=youtu.be I never said it was any good - I just said it was easy. :-)
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 03:19:20 +0000
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