hi I'm Sheila Rogers I started working for Dave at Late Night with David Letterman in
1991 and then I moved with Dave to EBS and I was there till 2015. I was a segment producer
a producer and a supervising producer one of the most memorable moments of my time at
Letterman was my very first day on the job they wanted to do a sketch of Dave showing
the new employee around the office so when I walked off the elevator I was greeted by
a camera crew and Dave saying hello to me it certainly let everybody know that I had
a new job Sheila do you like frozen yogurt oh man I love it here's how you can get it
free if the commissary is not too crowded
[Music]
I don't know if anybody talked to you about your pay your salary or your annual uh take-home
fee but this is where we determine and give me your code Rose bring me the shot put well
you get the idea this is how I started go ahead good luck one shot here we go
oh oh down just under 10. so we'll start you around 8-5 if that's okay in addition to the
remote I did appear occasionally in other sketches on the show one day I had to wear
a coat of cheese I can't remember why another time I was in a game show called towel off
it's time to
[Applause] okay contestants you know the rules so without further Ado ready set and time
foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]
one very memorable and wonderful moment was when Dave had announced that he was leaving
late night and there was a lot of planning and discussion about who our last guest would
be of course our Dream scenario was Bruce Springsteen he was somebody we'd always wanted
to have on the show and he was a tough get he agreed to come on the show he wanted it
to be a surprise it was wonderful to go into Dave's office and tell him that Bruce was
going to do the last show it was a proud moment for me
[Music]
you're moving on up
if I had known that I'd have gotten on the piano years ago okay another memorable moment
from late night was not a fun moment I had finally booked one of the Rolling Stones I
was so excited it was Charlie Watts and he had a jazz side project everybody who performed
on Late Night performed with our house band who were magnificent musicians everybody was
agreed to do it and it was fine and so Charlie showed up he had his entire band with him
when I mentioned that our band would be performing with them he said oh no love this is where
Jazz whatever quartet and that's not how we do it and I said well that's that's what we
had agreed to he was so gentlemanly and he said that's fine love and he just packed up
his things and left ladies and gentlemen we got a pretty good program Gary Busey will
be with us and also Orville Redenbacher will be here and Charlie Watts so the Rolling Stones
will be joining us Charlie Watts will not be here Charlie Watts will not be here ladies
and gentlemen let me ask positive I saw Charlie Watts here about a half an hour ago he was
he was built to appear he will no longer appear we'll not be on the pool will not be on the
program will not be on the program tonight no I'm confused Charlie Watts we'll be here
Charlie Watts will not be here oh Charlie all right later that night I happened to go
out with some friends to a bar and Charlie Watts was there and he very kindly bought
me a drink so it wasn't a total loss Prince was such an amazing performer we were so thrilled
to have him on the show but he had some idiosyncrasies he didn't want to be addressed by our staff
he wanted you to go to his people but I didn't know this so in the elevator on the way down
I was telling him something about what was going to happen in the show and he just kind
of looked up at me and looked to his person and then his person told him exactly what
I had just said and he nodded okay [Music] foreign
[Music] there's some other you know silly things that have happened Carly Simon beautiful
voice great singer had notorious stage fright getting her to perform in front of an audience
at that time she hadn't for a long time she was really scared nervous and just before
she was about to go on she turns me were in the wings before Dave's introducing her and
she said hit me I said what and she turns she gives turns her butt to me and she says
smack me on the ass as hard as you can right before I go out come on I need it to help
me forget that I'm nervous so I smacked her and she went out and sang beautifully Lou
Reed was always I think he was a little tough on the sound guys but he always left happy
which is a credit to our our audio department Lou was really into Tai Chi and one of his
last performances on the show he wanted to have his Tai Chi master master Ren perform
while he sang and you know we were open to it was Lou whatever we wanted to do Lou could
do it was a bit odd but it was well received but the writers first thought they came up
with a funny comedy idea the next day there was a viewer mail letter something about asking
Dave what he did during the musical performances uh what do you do in the dark when your guests
are singing on stage Mary goodre Batar Rouge Louisiana it's a good question because we
had last night the downtown Lou Reed was on and while Lou was singing he had a I do in
Tai Chi remember that Paul just last night yeah it was fascinating and I I admit that
sometimes I sit there and I enjoy the performance but it was a little different watch the tape
from last night's show [Music] brings the dawn in
it's just a Restless feeling
by my side [Music] early Dawning all right [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] it's just the way it is one of the most memorable performances in
my opinion was when the Beastie Boys did the show for the song check it out and they had
a concept of what they wanted to do and it was pretty magnificent they emerged from the
subway it was shot really well by our director and and they had their creative input and
it was a big success you check he's a TV addict I mean it this don't mean to bring status
or you cling on to your grandma's house grab your best defense
[Music]
Future Islands well I will say we didn't know Dave would be so taken with the performance
we saw the rehearsal but he really gave it his all during the actual performance and
Dave was so taken by that and amused by it that it did become a viral sensation we had
no idea it would take off the weight it did pasta
[Music]
cause I've been away [Music] come on hey thank you very much thanks George how about that
I'll take all of that you got Future islands that was wonderful when Pearl Jam song Black
was out Dave was really taken with that Melody that
and he started doing it every night on the show we're gonna hear the little Eddie better
later a little Pearl Jam little black got it wow yeah it's my favorite part of the song
when Eddie does this wow I have no idea what Eddie's saying and then you do what right
it's a great song it goes on for about an hour wow I'm starting to get on my own nerves
but one day I gotta call it and it was Eddie Vedder saying I just want to put this to rest
but what can I do it's freaking me out that Dave's doing this every night and I said well
you could come on the show so he agreed to come on it was amazing I mean that never happens
a huge star calling saying they want to come on the show it just and that was really fun
and then Pearl Jam had subsequently did the show a couple times and we've had a great
relationship with them wow oh
you know what uh do you want to really know how that's done yeah have it done do it for
me do it for me okay Eddie huh wait a minute no [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
[Music]
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life [Music] [Applause] [Music] getting Paul McCartney
on the show took probably years in the works he agreed to do the show he wanted to do something
special to us having Paul McCartney on the show was special but he wanted to make a big
statement and since the Beatles had made their network television debut on Ed Sullivan it
was appropriate for him to come to the theater but we put him up on the Marquee so he was
performing on Broadway and it was just an amazing performance and just a wonderful celebratory
event and he came and listened to the mix beforehand and afterwards and he was a joy
to work with [Music]
he wants me [Music]
another band that we had a wonderful relationship with was the Foo Fighters Dave loved their
music they're the nicest guys in the world Dave was out for a period he had heart surgery
of course when he just was able to come back we wanted to do something special he had a
request he wanted the Foo Fighters to perform the song ever long he loved that song and
I spoke with their managers and said Dave would really love for them to be the first
musical guest back management was like I know they'd love to but you know they're they're
on tour they're going to be in South America but let me see what I can do and really shortly
thereafter I got a call back saying yep they'll do it so they literally canceled some tour
dates flew in to be on Dave's return show that relationship continued because they were
our choice for our final musical guest in 2015. we asked them to perform on our final
show to perform ever long because it was such an important song to Dave and we all loved
it on our final show we were going to have a montage of everyone who'd been on the show
Etc so basically I asked this huge band to be on the show performing but they would be
performing behind a screen showing all the other guests on the show with a couple shots
of them at the beginning and once again because they were such cool guys they're like yeah
no problem we get it there was no like oh I need x amount of camera time and it was
wonderful and memorable and the perfect way to end the show [Applause]
foreign
[Applause]
's favorite musicians was Warren Zevon and he was a regular musical guest on the show
and he would also sit in for Paul but sadly in the early 2000s Warren was diagnosed with
a type of cancer and he was not going to recover and we were all devastated by the news and
I was in touch with Warren's people and they said he wanted to come on the show and perform
and when Dave heard this he said well if Lauren's coming to do the show we should give him the
entire show it was really one of the most moving I thought memorable episodes of the
show it was real life it was heartfelt and Warren was such a pro and he was funny humorous
and poignant from from your perspective now do you know something about life and death
that maybe I don't know no
not unless I know how much how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich you know
and after the show equally poignant was uh Dave went up to Warren's dressing room afterwards
and they were in there for a long time and I just Dave came walking out holding a guitar
case with clearly very upset and moved and Warren had given him his guitar [Music]
get out of here
[Music] [Applause] other performances were not always as well received after one performance
of a band I'll I won't name Dave came up to me at the end and he said I hope they enjoyed
their nap as much as we did [Music]