June 3, 2026 • 39 mins
In a continuation of last week's episode, Robert welcomes a new fake sponsor with David Letterman and Jim Downey. Then Robert and Jim connect Burak with legendary late night writer Steve O'Donnell and find out how Burak's fan letter turned out.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Humor Me. I've brought in a couple of
people who have worked with Steve O'Donnell. It's that's Jim Downey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Oh my god, by Barack.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Now, I brought one other person who worked on the
This Late Night with David Letterman show. Can we pan
and show him there? That's this is Dave from Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Can you tell the three of us here a little
bit about yourself? For example, do you have a family, Barack?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I have a brother, Emma, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Are you currently appearing on Broadway?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Steve O'Donnell his entire life from childhood has been tormented
for people accusing him of looking like crackle.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Really, oh, I kind of remember that.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Maybe just stay away from the whole. I would even
stay away from Kellogg's breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Or any rice product.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
I want to hear something about air to wan.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Go ahead. Oh so you guys, you're arrested.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I guess okay, yeah, that's the whole purpose of the afternoon.
We would like to see you zip tie and take
it away.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
You're playing the long yeah, Dave, Dave flash your badge
a long time, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
His entire career has drove.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Cuban me, I need to make some people slap their knee.
Speaker 7 (01:36):
Humor me.
Speaker 8 (01:38):
My wit lacking to the nth degree.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So you guys, besides being brilliant comedy minds, you love dogs, right.
Oh yeah, you've had Bob the dog, going back, Bob
the dog, my dog a dog.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah. I remember one time we brought Bob up to
the office and you said, this is a really cool
old dog.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
And he I think he appreciated it.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
I think he did. He said good things about you.
By the way, right back at you, Bob, thank you
and Jim.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Have you ever experienced a lack of confidence from your dog?
Absolutely when he's among other dogs?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How does that manifest?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
No crawl under the bench, and it seems like maybe
he's scared.
Speaker 7 (02:25):
But I'm not. I'm not the dog. That's some of
these other dogs.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I think there's you know, we take for granted, alwa,
he's just scared. But no, there's more going on. And
you've used this product.
Speaker 7 (02:36):
Use it.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It's from the people at manscaping. It's escaping. It's what
I call twenty first century grooming, shaving equipment and ointments
that allow your dog to have confidence. I mean grooming
is all well and good, but you know, being fluffy
and having a bandana doesn't necessarily cut it.
Speaker 7 (02:56):
Not going to cut it things?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Yeah, oh really that won't work anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
No, like I'm going to cut it.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
A French bulldog named Luther with a and Luther had like,
you know, impressive barrel chest and.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The six pack.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
It's buried under tons of fur.
Speaker 7 (03:15):
The kit that Robert turned me onto.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, petscaping, the ointments and stuff, you know, and the
ointments are very special about my dog.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And it's fortuitous that I'm here today because much of
this is new to me. My dog when we picked.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Up my dog, uh tiny than I thought he was
going to And by the way, when he takes a leak,
he will squat as opposed to a leg.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Have you ever heard of that?
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, that's embarrassing.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, that's where you want, That's where pet scaping comes in.
That's what I'm wondering, because much like the way we
trim the gardening down there, put it gently to make
me intimate look bigger and more substantial.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
But as a pet owner, am I allowed to go
there or not?
Speaker 7 (04:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, they're they're very discreet about this service.
Speaker 7 (04:04):
That's part of you, don't they have.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
They actually have additional for people who are squeamish about it.
You can attach a pole so that you can hold
it from as much as three feet away.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well you use a good way, squamish, but.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
For your dog's sake, like Jim said, he wants people
to see his.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
Natural If you think about it, I mean, you remember
my being Louis.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right, of course, I remember you're being Louie.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
He just didn't have the riz that you know. Yes,
he needed to attract the female dogs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Some dogs have it naturally, this charisma as the kids
call it, riz.
Speaker 7 (04:43):
And he was help, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
We take him to the dog park and suddenly, you know,
thinks in the corner. A couple of weeks into this.
Not only do the the female dogs just take notice
to present themselves, but I have seen and you'll say,
I'm nuts, but I've seen the animals of other species,
(05:06):
like you know, the mourning doves. I guess, yeah, yes, yeah, yes,
that they will sort of, Louis, Yeah, walk down the
street and you can sort of it's as if they're saying, like,
you know, I'm a pigeon.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He's a dog.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But if I could work.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And Louis and by the way, Louis knows it too,
he can feel Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Think that's true about dogs.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
They can sense other things that humans just are completely oblivious.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Right, yeah, which brings me to another point. A lot
of times, you know, you'll be in your living room
looking through a window watching your dog mount another dog,
and you know you don't want other people to see
you looking because you're enjoying it too much. Whatever. The
reason is, never bothered me, never bothered you.
Speaker 9 (05:59):
Okay, but you see I've had that happen at Thanksgiving. Wow, okay, okay,
I should have family with the family. They caught you
looking at so they were oh good.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
My point is, when you're watching your dog mount another dog,
it all happens pretty quickly. But in terms of what
you're talking about empathy.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
What do you what do you suppose that means that
it can be overquick Well? I mean that is it biological?
What is we're getting at it? It's partly it could
be it could be a lack of confidence.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I think it's just the dog walks, you know, he
does his business, he walks away, and you get you
just assume that, oh, it's all natural. But we know
that dogs are empathetic, you know obviously when we're feeling down,
my dog will snuggle up to me, that kind of thing.
Why why are we presuming that they don't have empathy
(06:58):
for a female if they're not performing properly for Am
I right? Am? I right? Am I right?
Speaker 7 (07:06):
And I think.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Okay, because that's why the people at Landscape have an
additional product called k ten uh and this is a
performance enhancing takes your dog from a K K ten yes, yes, yes,
(07:28):
and and because to a K ten and it enhances
your dog's stamina in the proverbial bedroom let's call it,
but you know, in this case the backyard. And and
it's a performance enhancer. And you're I've seen dogs. My
(07:51):
dog lasted a half hour, really lasted a half hour
after K ten.
Speaker 7 (07:58):
I watched my Louis the beagle, the mounting mounting Pekanese.
He looked over, he gave you a little.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
And that's confidence, that's confidence off. Yeah, that's the thing.
It's like certain dogs are just have it naturally and
more power in them, but some dogs not NET helps
to get that, you know, they don't have any game,
natural game.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
He's definitely got game now.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
For Louis, I'm very happy for you. But the case,
the problem we're having with our new pupp is just
random humping.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
Random humping rand I mean really well, well humping of
what other dogs or my mother in law?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Well, you know, has he been out enough with other dogs?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Because maybe he's just frustrating we have been We've been
told that it's asexual. Humping would be sexual myself guilty of.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Do you do it as a form of high school right?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean didn't we all?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
But so are you doing Were you doing it as
a form of dominance?
Speaker 5 (09:19):
I know you're trying to be you know, I had
nothing to do with my behavior. It's just something that
the puff does. Now that's annoying. You know you come
to the house, Okay, you're gonna get humped.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Well, I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I think he's probably releasing a lot of frustration.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
But the point is, does manscape of the k ten
Does that help the humping?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It will help the humping in that he will want
to go after actual dogs and hump them. My dog's
problem was aggression with you know, very common with with
people coming into the house and ever since he got landscaped.
When he he's the mailman, he doesn't attack him anymore.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
That's just huge.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
All he does is just like he like Jim says,
he just kind of gives him a knowing look, like
my man, who you know.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
That's that's huge.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
So because you take down one mail man and you
are marked.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's true. It's true. He doesn't he doesn't hurt mail
man anymore. He just kind of shares, shares the confidence
they have.
Speaker 7 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
That's delightful, what a good story.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, So listen, if you if you, if you're interested
in this product, you can use the code which is
this is a scam three seven nine six for a discount,
This is a scam three seven nine six seven.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
For everybody loves three seven seven for God, God blusher.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Thank you, thank you. That's uh. We'll be right.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Back, get my hand and get out of here.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Got a thing that needs to be funnier. Tell us
about it at speakpipe dot com slash humor me welcome back.
It's a few weeks later, Brock successfully sent a letter
to Steve O'Donnell, who, by the way, we are here
(11:30):
with Jim Downey again. As you can see and right
here in the middle. Just I want to just clear
something up right right top of this, the obvious elephant
in the room now that Jim brought up. This is
not Crackle from this is the greatest one of the
greatest late night comedy writers in history, Steve O'Donnell. This
(11:53):
is not Crackle, the mascot from Rice Krispies. Can we Jim,
you'll back me up on this because Steve's not going
to want to advocate for himself, but you can back
He's not Crackle.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I can't. I cannot overstate he is not Crack or
snap or pop.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He has he probably did. I don't know. I don't
want to be I don't want to get presumptuous. But
I don't even know. If you like Rice Crispies, yes,
I like him fine.
Speaker 8 (12:29):
And in my childhood I resembled Crackle. I won't deny that.
But that was long ago.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That was long ago.
Speaker 8 (12:35):
Water under the bridge.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Milk you would have thought you would have thought milk, milk,
whatsy milk under the crispy Okay?
Speaker 8 (12:45):
I like in the in the nineties and early two thousands,
if I had to meet someone who'd never seen me
I would say I look like Conan if he'd been
bombarded with gamma radiation.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
That is true.
Speaker 8 (12:59):
That is true, holds true today.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Canard that Jim that I resurrected but he resurrected. I
guess it was overly concerned and protective. Yeah, it was
being protective.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And I probably should have just kept my mouth shut.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I love the idea of having Steve o'donald, one of
the greatest late night writers on ever, and spending twenty
minutes disputing that he resembles. Okay, okay, so we've resolved
that this is Steve o'donald, and Steve o'donald's here because
(13:38):
Barack wrote him a fan letter. Barock's here as well.
Dave's not here, by the way, and he's not coming
any thoughts, any any any.
Speaker 8 (13:46):
It's like the Cheech and Chunk classic. Dave's not here.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Dave's not here. You know. Sometimes everybody comes back or
they're on zoom, but Dave's not here. Any theory's white.
All I heard from his assistant was he's busy doing
anything else.
Speaker 7 (14:03):
I'm sure he has a very good reason.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
Yeah, yeah, he would be here if he didn't have
a Robert Robert, No, he would, he would be here
if he would.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
I'm sure it's something really urgent.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Really urgent, like a crisis, you promise.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
I'm like ninety nine point certain.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
I am touched enough that Letterman showed up for the
first half.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
That's how I felt that instrumentous.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
Because he doesn't do just anything.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
No, I was. I was blown away that he showed
up at all. And then he spent like two hours
here and did a commercial about animal manscaping. So I
have no complaints. God bless you, Dave Steve. You took
over Jim's job, yes, as haad writer.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Yes, partly by default because almost the entire writing staff
departed for the news show seemed like greenier pastures. Andy
Breckman went to Saturday Night.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Live, right the Dick ever saw Era, Jim.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
And George and Amellex Prostley all and all.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Why do you think there was such a mass exodus?
All because of the new show? Primarily just drawn. It
was because in nineteen eighty two or three when this happened,
anybody watching both Letterman and SNL was, I mean Letterman was.
I was obsessed with it.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
I have to say, almost immediately after we left, the
show became super hot.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
It was like, yeah I ran in.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I see that's right. You you were there when like
it was really cult it was it was.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
A lady who dressed her parrots and costumes and stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I remember we had some nightclub singer who had what
we thought was an astonishing two hundred pairs of shoes, and.
Speaker 8 (16:00):
We had the socialighte of some kind.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, and and and we we had them on a
conveyor belt.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Gat she agreed to bring in.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And she was a chantus as I remember it will
come to me her name.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
Halorius ring to it.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It was like a MAINI van doorin kind of it
was Monique van Vooren. Yeah wow, so just but yeah
we did.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
But but immediately but under Steve's uh leadership that the
show became probably because Steve wrote the entire show, which
he was close to doing even when the rest of
us left.
Speaker 8 (16:37):
I think it took a little longer than that for
the show to catch up. It was three plus years
in when we started finally booking chair and stuff like that.
I remember that was a big deal, which.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To me, it was the biggest thing imaginable. I I
but I did. I remember the first year I would
like videotape every show because I literally thought, what if
it gets canceled. I want to have I want to
have these shows to rewatch.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Well, it actually is true that they were embargoed NBC, remember,
locked them up in New Jersey somewhere, and it was
it was only recently that oh, the original.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
It wasn't for Don Giller, the guy Giller you should have.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
He wouldn't be searching for Monique van Voray.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
At the tip of his tongue.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
He'd say show one twelve, right.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Don Giller has a website, has a YouTube page that's
filled with Letterman clips.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
Yes, and I think he's a consultant on the Letterman YouTube.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean I haven't cut him a check or anything,
but he deserves. I mean I have a couple of
times emailed him to go this is not I mean
you would Is there any way you could identify I
think it was eighty two or eighty three, but some
specific like viewer mail segment, and he will like five
minutes later you get an email saying like, oh Jesus, yeah,
he's a cake.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
I want to give you something.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
You think it took like all this time for NBC
to cool down and let him, or did they.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
There is a little bit of that because they actually
they were pissed off. They didn't want to over intellectually
thirty years later.
Speaker 7 (18:11):
At this point I know, but it didn't Steeve. Didn't
it take until like twenty twenty one or yes.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Before they released that stuff?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yes, and before he did he'd been trying all those
years to get that stuff released. Had he been attempting?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Well, I knew, Well, certainly the general public was allowed
access to it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Well, I remember this is one of the creepiest moments
when we were taking over Conan and we were I
think at an NBC upfront, the topic of intellectual property
came up and an executive said, we just want to
make him sweat.
Speaker 8 (18:41):
Yeah, I'm sure that was the attitude. I feel that
whenever I walked through the lobby of thirty Rock, they
had the big murals on the wall of all the
talk shows and stuff. No Letterman ten years he was
on the network. There's but I think what I noticed
they had definitely loosened up is by the time Letterman
CBS show was wrapping up up and they were doing
a lot of tape packages it was easier to get
(19:02):
him from NBC, but it was also we discovered they
didn't have everything, and they didn't have the correct date
and show number for a lot of them. And again
this is where that the DoD Giller the archive. When
there was a Mark Twain Awards and the Lincoln and
the Kennedy Center Awards that Letterman was involved in the
need Eclipse done, he gets a credit at the end
(19:24):
of those shows he deserve. Like the Irish monks in
the medieval times, he saved civilizations.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Preserved it. Steve, did you ever want to do sketch comedy?
Speaker 8 (19:38):
It wasn't really my strong I've written sketches.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You did a little work for me on the Dana Carvey.
Speaker 8 (19:45):
Oh yes, that's right. What a wonderful show that was.
That should have succeeded. And Data was a delight.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
To work with.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
He was always such a good I think you get
to know class clowns over the years from different schools
and stuff. He's the only of a person who sort
of claims to have been a class clown who actually
turned out to be a pretty funny adult.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
That's a good point. Yeah, class clowns almost never age well.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
But also just kindly and generous and oh yeah, no,
I would say too for a letterman, he's cranky as
he could be about things. When something really went south,
he could be sort of yah, that was kind of
giddy about it, like what.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
We never came And also after the show, we never.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Deliberately put him in that situation, but it was fun
when it happened, and it's funny.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
I remember, Steve, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
This was you did one of my favorite jokes I've
ever seen on television where we did this thing which
completely died.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
Can we talk about this? I mean, it's just go ahead,
he Barock's good.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
But we'll get back in a minute.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Anyway, it was we used to do these desk pieces
where we just we just were doing them out of scraps,
like was ever. It was like when you you cook
a Poplin dinner, whatever is in the refrigerator, whatever, it's
going to be some hamburger meat and.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Photos you have volume business.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So anyway, this was a thing where we needed a
desk piece and it was the premise was like excuse me,
like you know your tax money at work. You know,
it's like like what just this place we had Dave
to the adject of and can you believe this? Our
government spent and so on, and the whole thing as
(21:27):
a group just completely ate it.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
So spectacularly from it.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
And it's just the audience hated everything we're about it.
But then Andy Breckman and I kept bringing out more.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
Like and Day would go, well, I've.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Just been given a couple more of these items, and
I'm sure this is and then and then when he
said the last thing, and they got a huge ovation,
of course, but Steve had won that a lot of
the jokes. I could see white ice for land, but
this is one of my favorite things ever, and it was.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
It was.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
And how about this you've heard about the new you know,
space station, new space station. NASA spent two hundred and
twenty million dollars on a camera that will take pictures
from space, and of all the pictures it took, this
is the only one that came out. Now you just
(22:25):
edit in the picture. It was still of Noah Berrie
Junior and Ken Curtis from a show.
Speaker 11 (22:36):
Show.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
It was just a publicity yellow Rose or something, but
it was.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
It was not only was it these two cowboy actors,
but it was clearly a studio portrait for promotion purposes,
and it was just such a brilliant man a.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Joke and I go, okay, assholes, audience.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
The other stuff I could see were but this joke
is just absolutely fucking genius.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Maybe they don't walking. Maybe the show was so obscure
that they didn't even know what they were looking at.
Speaker 7 (23:08):
It didn't matter, clearly, I understand that.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You know why I would have asked, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well anyway, that's one other things that do you remember
when the very first time they became like he became
like a very popular returning guest, but the very first
time when Peter O'Toole did the show and it was
completely ship faced and comes out of it.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Like, I'm sorry, what is your surname? I do well?
Speaker 8 (23:37):
Also one thing Richard Harris and they were all these
actors that would come out and say, oh, my drinking
days are done. But they then would tell stories about
acting bombed at the Old VIC and stuff. They would
just make everybody the audience go, I wish I was
an actor and could drink for forty eight hours straight.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
In terms of him reveling in failure as it were,
so I was before we did our show with Dave.
I watched the first anniversary of Late Night. It was,
like I think it was. It wasn't primetime, it was
on at twelve thirty, but it was their first anniversary show,
and right up at the top of the show was
(24:15):
a montage of interviews that went bad that like really
like the guy who was the British guy who was
the son.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Of Clement Freud, Yes, Clement Freud.
Speaker 8 (24:26):
He offered to help Dave with the interview. It's one
of the few moments when I when a guest seemed
to get to be a teasing Dave and a cruel.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Right up front. It's like, here's all this stuff that
went badly, here's a montage of it. Because like Frank
and I experienced, you know, the Conan Show, and there's
no way, like Frank, that Conan interviewing Earth a Kit
would have ever been in a montage, not on our
anniversary show.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Instantly that that that montage of bad interview moments was
all of them were produced by Morty.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Okay, there you go, Mordy slander right here on Humor
Me with Robert Smiggling friends.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
But there is a good aspect to that, because I
think the show for years. The idea was it wasn't
an extravaganza. It wasn't it wasn't everything. He wasn't up
to Carson burbank quality level. It was a little more
putting on a show in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, anyway, I guess we should bring on Barack. Barack,
you're back, How are you?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah? I am, I'm great. How are you good?
Speaker 1 (25:35):
We're great. Steve O'Donnell is here, Barrock.
Speaker 8 (25:38):
I was so delighted to get you out, excited to
see him, and same here Rock.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I'd like Steve to read your letter and then you
may do you have Steve's response? Yeah, I do, okay
here would you like to read it on? Well?
Speaker 8 (25:55):
But sure, why not big bat paper? The paper more
than phones. Sure to the Steve O'Donnell. It may concern
already Clever. I am a giant fan of your comedy,
not physically in that sense. I am the most ordinary proportions.
I am from Istanbul, Turkey, and of all the comedy
(26:16):
writers in the world, you are the one with an
email address Odd Liede through NYU or something. And yet
my motives in writing you are not arbitrary. As a
national debate champion in my country. I think I'm a
good judge of many things, and one such thing I've
deemed sublime is your winning smile. I saw a video
(26:41):
of you on a show called Live at Five, and
your gleaming teeth and glowing cheekbones lit up the studio
and provided welcome relief from the unsettling, imposing colossus that
was your interlocutor.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That would be Al Roker.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
By the way, I also want you to know how
much your work has meant to me. When my great
grand aunt was in hospital with stage seven lymphona, it
was touch and go for months as she went through
punishing treatments, and in those dire moments, the only thing
that could make her happy was when I played her
the video of the individually wrapped cornflakes. That's hard to believe,
(27:21):
but that's touching if it's true. A few years.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Later, after my stepsister in law was the victim of
a hit and run by a momentarily derailed funicular, she
was hanging by a thread in the hospital.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
She is only alive today because of Tom Jones singing
with Wojibur and Siri Jule, which I played for her
daily to lift her spirits. And take her mind off
the funicular which is still at large. Several years ago,
my beloved second mother, once removed, was said to be
seen in public railing against the government. President Ertigan was
(27:58):
duly notified, and she was invited as a guest of
honor to a state dinner. Just as they were about
to confer her with the order of the Republic, they
dragged her out of the building, zip tied her, and
she was nowhere to be seen. She tells me only
now that what sustained her with an unyielding resolve in
the deepest dungeons of that Turkish prison, what even became
(28:20):
her mantra was the expression husky idlers from elsewhere. Had
she not had that turn of phrase to amuse and
inspire her, she would not be alive today. In fact,
she is not alive today. I'm sorry about that, but
she was alive for several hours more thanks to your work.
Without her mantra, she'd never survived the persecution of those
(28:45):
untrusty libelers. Untrusted libelers is as good as husky idlers
in my book. Needless to say, I am not only
grateful for what your words and deeds have done for
my family. I feel empowered, secure in the knowledge that
in challenging time, I could always call on the top
ten numbers list noodles, the wet dog drying off in
(29:05):
slow motion, or dog jacks. We indeed have bologna here.
That's or bologney. I don't know how they say it
in Turkish. To pull myself or a loved one through
the worst conditions imaginable. I'd be honored if you would
write back, and if it's not too forward, debate me.
I'll go anywhere, anytime, anyplace. You can pick the venue
(29:28):
and I'll pick the topic which is resolved. Steve O'Donnell
is the funniest man in America. I'll take the pro side.
I'll gladly take the negative. Thank you for considering this.
Sending love from Turkey the Country. Sending love from Turkey
the Country. I also have a pet Turkey, but he
(29:48):
hates your work. You don't look like crackle, Barack Cobas,
thank you. Wow, we talked about the crackle parts, so
there's been some background.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Done that for anybody who hasn't listened to we know
they have balloons the tiny section about crackle. So there
you go. Barack.
Speaker 6 (30:09):
Yeah, it was amazing to hear you read. You're not
only a great writer, but also a great reader.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
I think, oh, well, you can read anything great.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
I'm seventy one, but I read at a seventy five
year old level.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So, Barack, what was your ultimate goal?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
My ultimate goal was to establish it, just to correspond
us and just say my thanks for the work, and
maybe hopefully ask a question.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Oh, this is your chance.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I am all ears, so it's more of a comedy question.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
And I have a promising group of writers in front
of me, so it should be fitting.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I think promising, we've got a future.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I was wondering.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
I noticed this pattern about my favorite comedians and comedy
writers that they all love to make references the things
outside of comedy to like literature, like philosophy, et cetera.
So I was wondering if you had any external to
comedy references or just things of interest in fields of
(31:13):
thought or philosophy, et cetera.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
I think there are comics who do refer to philosophy
and classics and stuff. Steve Martin used to do a
lot of jokes about philosophy. One of the things I
bonded with Letterman on was a love for like middle
brow brand names, the seers diehard battery and you know
some object that is from your grocer's dairy case.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Go ahead, Jim Well, I was just going to say, Barack,
that one thing that I'd always observed. There's a couple
of things I've observed about interests that are common to
comedy writers, or at least not necessarily every comedy writer,
but way this way more prevalent among comedy writers in
the general public. One of them is is an ability
(32:01):
to do little cartoon caricatures.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Is about half of all the comedy writers I've known
are pretty good at that. I don't have to be.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
But the other thing is an interest in serial killers.
That's extremely common, to the point where I've been involved
with writing tables at Saturday Night Live, for example, where
when we would take a break from doing rewrites and
(32:31):
we would just talk about different serial killers and people
could chat very knowledgeably about the current state of the
Zodiac investigation. And there were half of the writers at SNL.
We're very up to date on that sort of thing. So,
I mean, they're great.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
So that's comedy writers and boardouse wives share that.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yes, I got a.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Question, Kevin Curran who worked at the Simpsons and letter.
He actually owned a painting by John Wayne Gacy. The
serial killer who would often dress is a club named Pogo.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
So any of those compent, Like any of those books
by the different FBI profils like Robert Wrestler or Jack Douglas.
I would recommend you picking up one of those books,
and you'll instantly have something in common with at least
half the comedy writer that I know.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
If you want to bond with comedy writers, Jim saying,
if I get it, you know, be up on your serial.
Speaker 7 (33:36):
To help your game when it comes to serial killers.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
If you actually yourself became a serial killer, Wow, you'd.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Be that's yours.
Speaker 8 (33:44):
That's your movie.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
We'll talk about time. Yeah, Rock, would you like to
read Steve o'donald's response to.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
You, Yeah, I'll go okay, Hello Rock. Thank you for
your very kind letter. It was quite remarkable. I'm barely
aware of any particular fans of mine for an or domestic,
let alone one from Asia Minor. You certainly are well
versed in comedy history, and if I may offer a
professional compliment, your note was really really well written. The
(34:13):
stories about your colorful family members were very funny, and
if they are based on real life heartache, more spectacular.
For that, I'm glad that the Internet provides so many
podcasts and programs, old and new for the pleasure of
people like you and I. It helps make life bearable.
Good luck to you. You seem destined to be a writer. Yes,
a wonderful and god awful life. My best to all
(34:35):
your family, even there are various predicaments and problems seem hilary.
So I suspect you were putting me on a wee
bit your fan too, Steve O'Donnell.
Speaker 8 (34:44):
Oh, that's that very nice. I should explain that I
wasn't quite aware of the premise of this podcast. I
really was your note, So the fact that I could
praise it's I'm sure it had many inherent in trends,
great qualities, But the fact that you had a an
all star team helping you I noticed it. But I
(35:06):
would say that from my perspective, it's like getting Lennon
and McCartney to help write a fan letter to Ringo.
Speaker 7 (35:12):
Well, we didn't really give Barack much content.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
It was more like guideposts would Oh, well, well done
in there.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Barack is very funny in his own right and did
contribute multiple jokes here, and he also wrote some very
funny weekend update jokes for real. Yeah, yeah, he did.
He read to us, and I think it's only right
that Barack bombard you with update jokes for days to come.
Speaker 8 (35:39):
I would love to hear some.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I don't think he's prepared today, Barack, thank you for
coming in. Do you have any other last wishes Before
Steve changes his email address, I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
Just keep it accessible for just a couple of weeks
more and I'll just try to send you some jokes
and then you can just block me for all the time.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Steve teaches.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
Yes, I think that is partly why you were able
to get the email. But that's that's wonderful. By the way,
I used to give my n YU students when I
was trying to give them an assignment that would be provocative,
like they would do mountain out of a molehill, but
I like doing molehill out of a mountain, And I'd
give them the Change Bank commercial, which is so low
key and so reasonable and so calm, and it was
(36:29):
just a different way of doing comedy and very very
downy esque rock.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
What was the first type of comedy that got you inspired.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
When I was twelve or thirty thoirteen, like, the YouTube
algorithm was very different, and it would just randomly recommend
me sketches that Monty Python did. I think that was
just a moment that broke my brain.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I think mm hmm, yeah, I would say right that.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
For me was always it was always the act me.
I mean, I'm old enough that I actually knew beyond
the fringe before Money Potat came along. Those guys beyond
the fringe. In terms of the use of language, well
you should. You should look up a sketch called The
Great Train Robbery by Beyond the Fringe. It's Peter Cook
(37:19):
and Alan Bennett.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
That's just a to me. That's the Rosetta stone.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Of of of comedy for me.
Speaker 7 (37:28):
And all the Money Python stuff is Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
That's it. We did it. We did it again. Thank you, Barack.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
It was a great letter, Barack.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
You dare to try something.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
You could say I had a little help, but I
could just read it.
Speaker 8 (37:48):
Yes, I was pleased to get it from all of you,
even if it was a sort of sideway slap for
being obscured.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Hey, he started.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
It from the other side of the earth.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I'll just say on the record that sketch sketch comedy
writers are the most unsung writers I think there are,
because they write for a collective and they never their
material is never identified individual. The only reason I became
at all well known was because of my cartoons, because
they put my name next to something and this guy,
(38:26):
this guy over here. Now, finally you're getting your due,
thanks in part to Paul Thomas Anderson. And you'll see
when we go downstairs and he walks into his limo,
girls just waiting screaming thanks for listening, or whatever the
(38:46):
hell you did, and see you next time. Humor Me
with Robert Smigel and Friends is a production of iHeartMedia
and Big Money Players, created by Michelle Sachs Smigel, who
executive produces with her loving husband Robert. Produced by Frank
Stinky Smiley, Executive.
Speaker 13 (39:01):
Producer for iHeart, Janet Cagele, video producer Daniel Goodman, Edited
by Robert Ash.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Humor Me theme song composed and sung by Taizon Day
special thanks to Worldwide Pants and Walter Kim.
Speaker 13 (39:12):
Don't forget to subscribe and follow to get new episodes
of Humor Me each week, and while you're there, rate
and review the show.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
That is, if you liked it, If you didn't, this
conversation never happened, and we'll see you next week.
Previously on Humor Me. I've brought in a couple of
people who have worked with Steve O'Donnell. It's that's Jim Downey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Oh my god, by Barack.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Now, I brought one other person who worked on the
This Late Night with David Letterman show. Can we pan
and show him there? That's this is Dave from Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Can you tell the three of us here a little
bit about yourself? For example, do you have a family, Barack?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I have a brother, Emma, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Are you currently appearing on Broadway?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Steve O'Donnell his entire life from childhood has been tormented
for people accusing him of looking like crackle.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Really, oh, I kind of remember that.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Maybe just stay away from the whole. I would even
stay away from Kellogg's breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Or any rice product.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
I want to hear something about air to wan.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Go ahead. Oh so you guys, you're arrested.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I guess okay, yeah, that's the whole purpose of the afternoon.
We would like to see you zip tie and take
it away.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
You're playing the long yeah, Dave, Dave flash your badge
a long time, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
His entire career has drove.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Cuban me, I need to make some people slap their knee.
Speaker 7 (01:36):
Humor me.
Speaker 8 (01:38):
My wit lacking to the nth degree.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So you guys, besides being brilliant comedy minds, you love dogs, right.
Oh yeah, you've had Bob the dog, going back, Bob
the dog, my dog a dog.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah. I remember one time we brought Bob up to
the office and you said, this is a really cool
old dog.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
And he I think he appreciated it.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
I think he did. He said good things about you.
By the way, right back at you, Bob, thank you
and Jim.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Have you ever experienced a lack of confidence from your dog?
Absolutely when he's among other dogs?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How does that manifest?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
No crawl under the bench, and it seems like maybe
he's scared.
Speaker 7 (02:25):
But I'm not. I'm not the dog. That's some of
these other dogs.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I think there's you know, we take for granted, alwa,
he's just scared. But no, there's more going on. And
you've used this product.
Speaker 7 (02:36):
Use it.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It's from the people at manscaping. It's escaping. It's what
I call twenty first century grooming, shaving equipment and ointments
that allow your dog to have confidence. I mean grooming
is all well and good, but you know, being fluffy
and having a bandana doesn't necessarily cut it.
Speaker 7 (02:56):
Not going to cut it things?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Yeah, oh really that won't work anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
No, like I'm going to cut it.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
A French bulldog named Luther with a and Luther had like,
you know, impressive barrel chest and.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The six pack.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
It's buried under tons of fur.
Speaker 7 (03:15):
The kit that Robert turned me onto.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, petscaping, the ointments and stuff, you know, and the
ointments are very special about my dog.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And it's fortuitous that I'm here today because much of
this is new to me. My dog when we picked.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Up my dog, uh tiny than I thought he was
going to And by the way, when he takes a leak,
he will squat as opposed to a leg.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Have you ever heard of that?
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, that's embarrassing.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, that's where you want, That's where pet scaping comes in.
That's what I'm wondering, because much like the way we
trim the gardening down there, put it gently to make
me intimate look bigger and more substantial.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
But as a pet owner, am I allowed to go
there or not?
Speaker 7 (04:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, they're they're very discreet about this service.
Speaker 7 (04:04):
That's part of you, don't they have.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
They actually have additional for people who are squeamish about it.
You can attach a pole so that you can hold
it from as much as three feet away.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well you use a good way, squamish, but.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
For your dog's sake, like Jim said, he wants people
to see his.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
Natural If you think about it, I mean, you remember
my being Louis.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right, of course, I remember you're being Louie.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
He just didn't have the riz that you know. Yes,
he needed to attract the female dogs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Some dogs have it naturally, this charisma as the kids
call it, riz.
Speaker 7 (04:43):
And he was help, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
We take him to the dog park and suddenly, you know,
thinks in the corner. A couple of weeks into this.
Not only do the the female dogs just take notice
to present themselves, but I have seen and you'll say,
I'm nuts, but I've seen the animals of other species,
(05:06):
like you know, the mourning doves. I guess, yeah, yes, yeah, yes,
that they will sort of, Louis, Yeah, walk down the
street and you can sort of it's as if they're saying, like,
you know, I'm a pigeon.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He's a dog.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But if I could work.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And Louis and by the way, Louis knows it too,
he can feel Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Think that's true about dogs.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
They can sense other things that humans just are completely oblivious.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Right, yeah, which brings me to another point. A lot
of times, you know, you'll be in your living room
looking through a window watching your dog mount another dog,
and you know you don't want other people to see
you looking because you're enjoying it too much. Whatever. The
reason is, never bothered me, never bothered you.
Speaker 9 (05:59):
Okay, but you see I've had that happen at Thanksgiving. Wow, okay, okay,
I should have family with the family. They caught you
looking at so they were oh good.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
My point is, when you're watching your dog mount another dog,
it all happens pretty quickly. But in terms of what
you're talking about empathy.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
What do you what do you suppose that means that
it can be overquick Well? I mean that is it biological?
What is we're getting at it? It's partly it could
be it could be a lack of confidence.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I think it's just the dog walks, you know, he
does his business, he walks away, and you get you
just assume that, oh, it's all natural. But we know
that dogs are empathetic, you know obviously when we're feeling down,
my dog will snuggle up to me, that kind of thing.
Why why are we presuming that they don't have empathy
(06:58):
for a female if they're not performing properly for Am
I right? Am? I right? Am I right?
Speaker 7 (07:06):
And I think.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Okay, because that's why the people at Landscape have an
additional product called k ten uh and this is a
performance enhancing takes your dog from a K K ten yes, yes, yes,
(07:28):
and and because to a K ten and it enhances
your dog's stamina in the proverbial bedroom let's call it,
but you know, in this case the backyard. And and
it's a performance enhancer. And you're I've seen dogs. My
(07:51):
dog lasted a half hour, really lasted a half hour
after K ten.
Speaker 7 (07:58):
I watched my Louis the beagle, the mounting mounting Pekanese.
He looked over, he gave you a little.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
And that's confidence, that's confidence off. Yeah, that's the thing.
It's like certain dogs are just have it naturally and
more power in them, but some dogs not NET helps
to get that, you know, they don't have any game,
natural game.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
He's definitely got game now.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
For Louis, I'm very happy for you. But the case,
the problem we're having with our new pupp is just
random humping.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
Random humping rand I mean really well, well humping of
what other dogs or my mother in law?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Well, you know, has he been out enough with other dogs?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Because maybe he's just frustrating we have been We've been
told that it's asexual. Humping would be sexual myself guilty of.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Do you do it as a form of high school right?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean didn't we all?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
But so are you doing Were you doing it as
a form of dominance?
Speaker 5 (09:19):
I know you're trying to be you know, I had
nothing to do with my behavior. It's just something that
the puff does. Now that's annoying. You know you come
to the house, Okay, you're gonna get humped.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Well, I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I think he's probably releasing a lot of frustration.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
But the point is, does manscape of the k ten
Does that help the humping?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It will help the humping in that he will want
to go after actual dogs and hump them. My dog's
problem was aggression with you know, very common with with
people coming into the house and ever since he got landscaped.
When he he's the mailman, he doesn't attack him anymore.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
That's just huge.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
All he does is just like he like Jim says,
he just kind of gives him a knowing look, like
my man, who you know.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
That's that's huge.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
So because you take down one mail man and you
are marked.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's true. It's true. He doesn't he doesn't hurt mail
man anymore. He just kind of shares, shares the confidence
they have.
Speaker 7 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
That's delightful, what a good story.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, So listen, if you if you, if you're interested
in this product, you can use the code which is
this is a scam three seven nine six for a discount,
This is a scam three seven nine six seven.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
For everybody loves three seven seven for God, God blusher.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Thank you, thank you. That's uh. We'll be right.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Back, get my hand and get out of here.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Got a thing that needs to be funnier. Tell us
about it at speakpipe dot com slash humor me welcome back.
It's a few weeks later, Brock successfully sent a letter
to Steve O'Donnell, who, by the way, we are here
(11:30):
with Jim Downey again. As you can see and right
here in the middle. Just I want to just clear
something up right right top of this, the obvious elephant
in the room now that Jim brought up. This is
not Crackle from this is the greatest one of the
greatest late night comedy writers in history, Steve O'Donnell. This
(11:53):
is not Crackle, the mascot from Rice Krispies. Can we Jim,
you'll back me up on this because Steve's not going
to want to advocate for himself, but you can back
He's not Crackle.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I can't. I cannot overstate he is not Crack or
snap or pop.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He has he probably did. I don't know. I don't
want to be I don't want to get presumptuous. But
I don't even know. If you like Rice Crispies, yes,
I like him fine.
Speaker 8 (12:29):
And in my childhood I resembled Crackle. I won't deny that.
But that was long ago.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That was long ago.
Speaker 8 (12:35):
Water under the bridge.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Milk you would have thought you would have thought milk, milk,
whatsy milk under the crispy Okay?
Speaker 8 (12:45):
I like in the in the nineties and early two thousands,
if I had to meet someone who'd never seen me
I would say I look like Conan if he'd been
bombarded with gamma radiation.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
That is true.
Speaker 8 (12:59):
That is true, holds true today.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Canard that Jim that I resurrected but he resurrected. I
guess it was overly concerned and protective. Yeah, it was
being protective.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And I probably should have just kept my mouth shut.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I love the idea of having Steve o'donald, one of
the greatest late night writers on ever, and spending twenty
minutes disputing that he resembles. Okay, okay, so we've resolved
that this is Steve o'donald, and Steve o'donald's here because
(13:38):
Barack wrote him a fan letter. Barock's here as well.
Dave's not here, by the way, and he's not coming
any thoughts, any any any.
Speaker 8 (13:46):
It's like the Cheech and Chunk classic. Dave's not here.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Dave's not here. You know. Sometimes everybody comes back or
they're on zoom, but Dave's not here. Any theory's white.
All I heard from his assistant was he's busy doing
anything else.
Speaker 7 (14:03):
I'm sure he has a very good reason.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
Yeah, yeah, he would be here if he didn't have
a Robert Robert, No, he would, he would be here
if he would.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
I'm sure it's something really urgent.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Really urgent, like a crisis, you promise.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
I'm like ninety nine point certain.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
I am touched enough that Letterman showed up for the
first half.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
That's how I felt that instrumentous.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
Because he doesn't do just anything.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
No, I was. I was blown away that he showed
up at all. And then he spent like two hours
here and did a commercial about animal manscaping. So I
have no complaints. God bless you, Dave Steve. You took
over Jim's job, yes, as haad writer.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Yes, partly by default because almost the entire writing staff
departed for the news show seemed like greenier pastures. Andy
Breckman went to Saturday Night.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Live, right the Dick ever saw Era, Jim.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
And George and Amellex Prostley all and all.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Why do you think there was such a mass exodus?
All because of the new show? Primarily just drawn. It
was because in nineteen eighty two or three when this happened,
anybody watching both Letterman and SNL was, I mean Letterman was.
I was obsessed with it.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
I have to say, almost immediately after we left, the
show became super hot.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
It was like, yeah I ran in.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I see that's right. You you were there when like
it was really cult it was it was.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
A lady who dressed her parrots and costumes and stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I remember we had some nightclub singer who had what
we thought was an astonishing two hundred pairs of shoes, and.
Speaker 8 (16:00):
We had the socialighte of some kind.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, and and and we we had them on a
conveyor belt.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Gat she agreed to bring in.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And she was a chantus as I remember it will
come to me her name.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
Halorius ring to it.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It was like a MAINI van doorin kind of it
was Monique van Vooren. Yeah wow, so just but yeah
we did.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
But but immediately but under Steve's uh leadership that the
show became probably because Steve wrote the entire show, which
he was close to doing even when the rest of
us left.
Speaker 8 (16:37):
I think it took a little longer than that for
the show to catch up. It was three plus years
in when we started finally booking chair and stuff like that.
I remember that was a big deal, which.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To me, it was the biggest thing imaginable. I I
but I did. I remember the first year I would
like videotape every show because I literally thought, what if
it gets canceled. I want to have I want to
have these shows to rewatch.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Well, it actually is true that they were embargoed NBC, remember,
locked them up in New Jersey somewhere, and it was
it was only recently that oh, the original.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
It wasn't for Don Giller, the guy Giller you should have.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
He wouldn't be searching for Monique van Voray.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
At the tip of his tongue.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
He'd say show one twelve, right.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Don Giller has a website, has a YouTube page that's
filled with Letterman clips.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
Yes, and I think he's a consultant on the Letterman YouTube.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean I haven't cut him a check or anything,
but he deserves. I mean I have a couple of
times emailed him to go this is not I mean
you would Is there any way you could identify I
think it was eighty two or eighty three, but some
specific like viewer mail segment, and he will like five
minutes later you get an email saying like, oh Jesus, yeah,
he's a cake.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
I want to give you something.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
You think it took like all this time for NBC
to cool down and let him, or did they.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
There is a little bit of that because they actually
they were pissed off. They didn't want to over intellectually
thirty years later.
Speaker 7 (18:11):
At this point I know, but it didn't Steeve. Didn't
it take until like twenty twenty one or yes.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Before they released that stuff?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yes, and before he did he'd been trying all those
years to get that stuff released. Had he been attempting?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Well, I knew, Well, certainly the general public was allowed
access to it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Well, I remember this is one of the creepiest moments
when we were taking over Conan and we were I
think at an NBC upfront, the topic of intellectual property
came up and an executive said, we just want to
make him sweat.
Speaker 8 (18:41):
Yeah, I'm sure that was the attitude. I feel that
whenever I walked through the lobby of thirty Rock, they
had the big murals on the wall of all the
talk shows and stuff. No Letterman ten years he was
on the network. There's but I think what I noticed
they had definitely loosened up is by the time Letterman
CBS show was wrapping up up and they were doing
a lot of tape packages it was easier to get
(19:02):
him from NBC, but it was also we discovered they
didn't have everything, and they didn't have the correct date
and show number for a lot of them. And again
this is where that the DoD Giller the archive. When
there was a Mark Twain Awards and the Lincoln and
the Kennedy Center Awards that Letterman was involved in the
need Eclipse done, he gets a credit at the end
(19:24):
of those shows he deserve. Like the Irish monks in
the medieval times, he saved civilizations.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Preserved it. Steve, did you ever want to do sketch comedy?
Speaker 8 (19:38):
It wasn't really my strong I've written sketches.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You did a little work for me on the Dana Carvey.
Speaker 8 (19:45):
Oh yes, that's right. What a wonderful show that was.
That should have succeeded. And Data was a delight.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
To work with.
Speaker 8 (19:51):
He was always such a good I think you get
to know class clowns over the years from different schools
and stuff. He's the only of a person who sort
of claims to have been a class clown who actually
turned out to be a pretty funny adult.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
That's a good point. Yeah, class clowns almost never age well.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
But also just kindly and generous and oh yeah, no,
I would say too for a letterman, he's cranky as
he could be about things. When something really went south,
he could be sort of yah, that was kind of
giddy about it, like what.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
We never came And also after the show, we never.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Deliberately put him in that situation, but it was fun
when it happened, and it's funny.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
I remember, Steve, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
This was you did one of my favorite jokes I've
ever seen on television where we did this thing which
completely died.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
Can we talk about this? I mean, it's just go ahead,
he Barock's good.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
But we'll get back in a minute.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Anyway, it was we used to do these desk pieces
where we just we just were doing them out of scraps,
like was ever. It was like when you you cook
a Poplin dinner, whatever is in the refrigerator, whatever, it's
going to be some hamburger meat and.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Photos you have volume business.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So anyway, this was a thing where we needed a
desk piece and it was the premise was like excuse me,
like you know your tax money at work. You know,
it's like like what just this place we had Dave
to the adject of and can you believe this? Our
government spent and so on, and the whole thing as
(21:27):
a group just completely ate it.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
So spectacularly from it.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
And it's just the audience hated everything we're about it.
But then Andy Breckman and I kept bringing out more.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
Like and Day would go, well, I've.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Just been given a couple more of these items, and
I'm sure this is and then and then when he
said the last thing, and they got a huge ovation,
of course, but Steve had won that a lot of
the jokes. I could see white ice for land, but
this is one of my favorite things ever, and it was.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
It was.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
And how about this you've heard about the new you know,
space station, new space station. NASA spent two hundred and
twenty million dollars on a camera that will take pictures
from space, and of all the pictures it took, this
is the only one that came out. Now you just
(22:25):
edit in the picture. It was still of Noah Berrie
Junior and Ken Curtis from a show.
Speaker 11 (22:36):
Show.
Speaker 8 (22:37):
It was just a publicity yellow Rose or something, but
it was.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
It was not only was it these two cowboy actors,
but it was clearly a studio portrait for promotion purposes,
and it was just such a brilliant man a.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Joke and I go, okay, assholes, audience.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
The other stuff I could see were but this joke
is just absolutely fucking genius.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Maybe they don't walking. Maybe the show was so obscure
that they didn't even know what they were looking at.
Speaker 7 (23:08):
It didn't matter, clearly, I understand that.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You know why I would have asked, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well anyway, that's one other things that do you remember
when the very first time they became like he became
like a very popular returning guest, but the very first
time when Peter O'Toole did the show and it was
completely ship faced and comes out of it.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Like, I'm sorry, what is your surname? I do well?
Speaker 8 (23:37):
Also one thing Richard Harris and they were all these
actors that would come out and say, oh, my drinking
days are done. But they then would tell stories about
acting bombed at the Old VIC and stuff. They would
just make everybody the audience go, I wish I was
an actor and could drink for forty eight hours straight.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
In terms of him reveling in failure as it were,
so I was before we did our show with Dave.
I watched the first anniversary of Late Night. It was,
like I think it was. It wasn't primetime, it was
on at twelve thirty, but it was their first anniversary show,
and right up at the top of the show was
(24:15):
a montage of interviews that went bad that like really
like the guy who was the British guy who was
the son.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Of Clement Freud, Yes, Clement Freud.
Speaker 8 (24:26):
He offered to help Dave with the interview. It's one
of the few moments when I when a guest seemed
to get to be a teasing Dave and a cruel.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Right up front. It's like, here's all this stuff that
went badly, here's a montage of it. Because like Frank
and I experienced, you know, the Conan Show, and there's
no way, like Frank, that Conan interviewing Earth a Kit
would have ever been in a montage, not on our
anniversary show.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Instantly that that that montage of bad interview moments was
all of them were produced by Morty.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Okay, there you go, Mordy slander right here on Humor
Me with Robert Smiggling friends.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
But there is a good aspect to that, because I
think the show for years. The idea was it wasn't
an extravaganza. It wasn't it wasn't everything. He wasn't up
to Carson burbank quality level. It was a little more
putting on a show in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, anyway, I guess we should bring on Barack. Barack,
you're back, How are you?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah? I am, I'm great. How are you good?
Speaker 1 (25:35):
We're great. Steve O'Donnell is here, Barrock.
Speaker 8 (25:38):
I was so delighted to get you out, excited to
see him, and same here Rock.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I'd like Steve to read your letter and then you
may do you have Steve's response? Yeah, I do, okay
here would you like to read it on? Well?
Speaker 8 (25:55):
But sure, why not big bat paper? The paper more
than phones. Sure to the Steve O'Donnell. It may concern
already Clever. I am a giant fan of your comedy,
not physically in that sense. I am the most ordinary proportions.
I am from Istanbul, Turkey, and of all the comedy
(26:16):
writers in the world, you are the one with an
email address Odd Liede through NYU or something. And yet
my motives in writing you are not arbitrary. As a
national debate champion in my country. I think I'm a
good judge of many things, and one such thing I've
deemed sublime is your winning smile. I saw a video
(26:41):
of you on a show called Live at Five, and
your gleaming teeth and glowing cheekbones lit up the studio
and provided welcome relief from the unsettling, imposing colossus that
was your interlocutor.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That would be Al Roker.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
By the way, I also want you to know how
much your work has meant to me. When my great
grand aunt was in hospital with stage seven lymphona, it
was touch and go for months as she went through
punishing treatments, and in those dire moments, the only thing
that could make her happy was when I played her
the video of the individually wrapped cornflakes. That's hard to believe,
(27:21):
but that's touching if it's true. A few years.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Later, after my stepsister in law was the victim of
a hit and run by a momentarily derailed funicular, she
was hanging by a thread in the hospital.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
She is only alive today because of Tom Jones singing
with Wojibur and Siri Jule, which I played for her
daily to lift her spirits. And take her mind off
the funicular which is still at large. Several years ago,
my beloved second mother, once removed, was said to be
seen in public railing against the government. President Ertigan was
(27:58):
duly notified, and she was invited as a guest of
honor to a state dinner. Just as they were about
to confer her with the order of the Republic, they
dragged her out of the building, zip tied her, and
she was nowhere to be seen. She tells me only
now that what sustained her with an unyielding resolve in
the deepest dungeons of that Turkish prison, what even became
(28:20):
her mantra was the expression husky idlers from elsewhere. Had
she not had that turn of phrase to amuse and
inspire her, she would not be alive today. In fact,
she is not alive today. I'm sorry about that, but
she was alive for several hours more thanks to your work.
Without her mantra, she'd never survived the persecution of those
(28:45):
untrusty libelers. Untrusted libelers is as good as husky idlers
in my book. Needless to say, I am not only
grateful for what your words and deeds have done for
my family. I feel empowered, secure in the knowledge that
in challenging time, I could always call on the top
ten numbers list noodles, the wet dog drying off in
(29:05):
slow motion, or dog jacks. We indeed have bologna here.
That's or bologney. I don't know how they say it
in Turkish. To pull myself or a loved one through
the worst conditions imaginable. I'd be honored if you would
write back, and if it's not too forward, debate me.
I'll go anywhere, anytime, anyplace. You can pick the venue
(29:28):
and I'll pick the topic which is resolved. Steve O'Donnell
is the funniest man in America. I'll take the pro side.
I'll gladly take the negative. Thank you for considering this.
Sending love from Turkey the Country. Sending love from Turkey
the Country. I also have a pet Turkey, but he
(29:48):
hates your work. You don't look like crackle, Barack Cobas,
thank you. Wow, we talked about the crackle parts, so
there's been some background.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Done that for anybody who hasn't listened to we know
they have balloons the tiny section about crackle. So there
you go. Barack.
Speaker 6 (30:09):
Yeah, it was amazing to hear you read. You're not
only a great writer, but also a great reader.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
I think, oh, well, you can read anything great.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
I'm seventy one, but I read at a seventy five
year old level.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So, Barack, what was your ultimate goal?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
My ultimate goal was to establish it, just to correspond
us and just say my thanks for the work, and
maybe hopefully ask a question.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Oh, this is your chance.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I am all ears, so it's more of a comedy question.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
And I have a promising group of writers in front
of me, so it should be fitting.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I think promising, we've got a future.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I was wondering.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
I noticed this pattern about my favorite comedians and comedy
writers that they all love to make references the things
outside of comedy to like literature, like philosophy, et cetera.
So I was wondering if you had any external to
comedy references or just things of interest in fields of
(31:13):
thought or philosophy, et cetera.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
I think there are comics who do refer to philosophy
and classics and stuff. Steve Martin used to do a
lot of jokes about philosophy. One of the things I
bonded with Letterman on was a love for like middle
brow brand names, the seers diehard battery and you know
some object that is from your grocer's dairy case.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Go ahead, Jim Well, I was just going to say, Barack,
that one thing that I'd always observed. There's a couple
of things I've observed about interests that are common to
comedy writers, or at least not necessarily every comedy writer,
but way this way more prevalent among comedy writers in
the general public. One of them is is an ability
(32:01):
to do little cartoon caricatures.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Is about half of all the comedy writers I've known
are pretty good at that. I don't have to be.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
But the other thing is an interest in serial killers.
That's extremely common, to the point where I've been involved
with writing tables at Saturday Night Live, for example, where
when we would take a break from doing rewrites and
(32:31):
we would just talk about different serial killers and people
could chat very knowledgeably about the current state of the
Zodiac investigation. And there were half of the writers at SNL.
We're very up to date on that sort of thing. So,
I mean, they're great.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
So that's comedy writers and boardouse wives share that.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yes, I got a.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Question, Kevin Curran who worked at the Simpsons and letter.
He actually owned a painting by John Wayne Gacy. The
serial killer who would often dress is a club named Pogo.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
So any of those compent, Like any of those books
by the different FBI profils like Robert Wrestler or Jack Douglas.
I would recommend you picking up one of those books,
and you'll instantly have something in common with at least
half the comedy writer that I know.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
If you want to bond with comedy writers, Jim saying,
if I get it, you know, be up on your serial.
Speaker 7 (33:36):
To help your game when it comes to serial killers.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
If you actually yourself became a serial killer, Wow, you'd.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Be that's yours.
Speaker 8 (33:44):
That's your movie.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
We'll talk about time. Yeah, Rock, would you like to
read Steve o'donald's response to.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
You, Yeah, I'll go okay, Hello Rock. Thank you for
your very kind letter. It was quite remarkable. I'm barely
aware of any particular fans of mine for an or domestic,
let alone one from Asia Minor. You certainly are well
versed in comedy history, and if I may offer a
professional compliment, your note was really really well written. The
(34:13):
stories about your colorful family members were very funny, and
if they are based on real life heartache, more spectacular.
For that, I'm glad that the Internet provides so many
podcasts and programs, old and new for the pleasure of
people like you and I. It helps make life bearable.
Good luck to you. You seem destined to be a writer. Yes,
a wonderful and god awful life. My best to all
(34:35):
your family, even there are various predicaments and problems seem hilary.
So I suspect you were putting me on a wee
bit your fan too, Steve O'Donnell.
Speaker 8 (34:44):
Oh, that's that very nice. I should explain that I
wasn't quite aware of the premise of this podcast. I
really was your note, So the fact that I could
praise it's I'm sure it had many inherent in trends,
great qualities, But the fact that you had a an
all star team helping you I noticed it. But I
(35:06):
would say that from my perspective, it's like getting Lennon
and McCartney to help write a fan letter to Ringo.
Speaker 7 (35:12):
Well, we didn't really give Barack much content.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
It was more like guideposts would Oh, well, well done
in there.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Barack is very funny in his own right and did
contribute multiple jokes here, and he also wrote some very
funny weekend update jokes for real. Yeah, yeah, he did.
He read to us, and I think it's only right
that Barack bombard you with update jokes for days to come.
Speaker 8 (35:39):
I would love to hear some.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I don't think he's prepared today, Barack, thank you for
coming in. Do you have any other last wishes Before
Steve changes his email address, I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
Just keep it accessible for just a couple of weeks
more and I'll just try to send you some jokes
and then you can just block me for all the time.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Steve teaches.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
Yes, I think that is partly why you were able
to get the email. But that's that's wonderful. By the way,
I used to give my n YU students when I
was trying to give them an assignment that would be provocative,
like they would do mountain out of a molehill, but
I like doing molehill out of a mountain, And I'd
give them the Change Bank commercial, which is so low
key and so reasonable and so calm, and it was
(36:29):
just a different way of doing comedy and very very
downy esque rock.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
What was the first type of comedy that got you inspired.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
When I was twelve or thirty thoirteen, like, the YouTube
algorithm was very different, and it would just randomly recommend
me sketches that Monty Python did. I think that was
just a moment that broke my brain.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I think mm hmm, yeah, I would say right that.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
For me was always it was always the act me.
I mean, I'm old enough that I actually knew beyond
the fringe before Money Potat came along. Those guys beyond
the fringe. In terms of the use of language, well
you should. You should look up a sketch called The
Great Train Robbery by Beyond the Fringe. It's Peter Cook
(37:19):
and Alan Bennett.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
That's just a to me. That's the Rosetta stone.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Of of of comedy for me.
Speaker 7 (37:28):
And all the Money Python stuff is Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
That's it. We did it. We did it again. Thank you, Barack.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
It was a great letter, Barack.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
You dare to try something.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
You could say I had a little help, but I
could just read it.
Speaker 8 (37:48):
Yes, I was pleased to get it from all of you,
even if it was a sort of sideway slap for
being obscured.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Hey, he started.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
It from the other side of the earth.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I'll just say on the record that sketch sketch comedy
writers are the most unsung writers I think there are,
because they write for a collective and they never their
material is never identified individual. The only reason I became
at all well known was because of my cartoons, because
they put my name next to something and this guy,
(38:26):
this guy over here. Now, finally you're getting your due,
thanks in part to Paul Thomas Anderson. And you'll see
when we go downstairs and he walks into his limo,
girls just waiting screaming thanks for listening, or whatever the
(38:46):
hell you did, and see you next time. Humor Me
with Robert Smigel and Friends is a production of iHeartMedia
and Big Money Players, created by Michelle Sachs Smigel, who
executive produces with her loving husband Robert. Produced by Frank
Stinky Smiley, Executive.
Speaker 13 (39:01):
Producer for iHeart, Janet Cagele, video producer Daniel Goodman, Edited
by Robert Ash.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Humor Me theme song composed and sung by Taizon Day
special thanks to Worldwide Pants and Walter Kim.
Speaker 13 (39:12):
Don't forget to subscribe and follow to get new episodes
of Humor Me each week, and while you're there, rate
and review the show.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
That is, if you liked it, If you didn't, this
conversation never happened, and we'll see you next week.
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Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.