late show with david letterman

When we initially planned our return to NYC, we sent in a request for tickets to see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. We heard nothing from the show until a few days before the taping. We followed their strict instructions, and made our way to the historic Ed Sullivan Theater by mid-afternoon on the day of the show.


Arriving early, we decided to do the requisite complement to a Late Show taping: a visit to Rupert! For those not familiar with American late night television, Rupert is the proprietor of the Hello Deli (located adjacent to the Ed Sullivan Theater). During the first year of his show (1993), host David Letterman interviewed characters from the neighborhood surrounding his theater as a sketch. Rupert's sheer lack of charisma and affability quickly made him a favourite of both the viewers and Letterman. He still spends his days selling reasonably priced sandwiches, and now poses for pictures with tourists.

Partially because we were hungry, and partially out of amusement, we bought a Regis Philbin sandwich (roast chicken, muenster cheese, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing on a baguette) and I posed for a photo with Rupert.


After eating, we lined up to be given our tickets and a pre-show briefing (no hats, no photography, etc…), and warned about the near freezing temperature of the studio (allegedly Dave's idea to improve sound and keep the audience from dozing off), before being told to return in an hour for seating.


We spent the time in nearby Central Park, and made our way back to queue up for seats. At this point in time, an intern runs through the rules and fire safety details with the audience. They also imply, in a joking tone (yet with a sense of seriousness), that you may be asked to leave if you are not enthusiastic enough with your clapping and laughing (seriously). Somewhere along the line we were told our guests for the show were going to be Sarah Jessica Parker and The Black Keys. For your viewing pleasure, an arbitrary clip from the show of SJP being purposefully verbose:

The experience was similar to seeing Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, except everyone at Letterman seemed to hate their jobs and our hands hurt from clapping for fear that we'd be thrown out if we didn't. While not being as interesting as The Roots, Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra are incredibly well rehearsed and talented, and Mina was trilled to see the Black Keys live because she's a fan of the band.

Leaving the theater, we headed to the side street with hopes of taking some paparazzi style photos of the guests leaving. Unfortunately, we were beat by the pros, who were busy taking pictures of the Salahis (who made an uninteresting cameo during Dave's monologue). If you don't know who they are, consider yourself a better person for it.