hi my name is Mike Buczkiewicz I worked for The Late Show with David Letterman for about
10 years I came in first as a talent coordinator then I was a segment producer and I finished
up as a senior producer so one of my first jobs at The Late Show was to look for human
interest guests you kind of knew it when you came across it I remember one time I was reading
uh the Miami Herald I'll never forget and there was a little article that talked about
an old lady who was making wigs for dogs as a rule do the dogs enjoy wearing the hair
pieces
to enjoy it when I get this on her you'll see be hard to prove though wouldn't it now
let's take a look that's
I remember being online and I came across a video on a German website there's two guys
in lab coats playing around with Mentos and Diet Coke and I remember thinking this is
the strangest thing I've ever seen
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all right
let's go
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we've been looked for a lot of creative things to put on the show big over-the-top stunts
on 53rd Street were always great we would shoot people out of cannons we had the globe
of death with motorcycles ATV jumps over school buses we also looked for individuals had truly
unique talent there was a guy we found who impersonated baseball players but not their
looks not their mannerisms not their speech it was their batting stances Cal Ripken Jr
this is this is going back a little bit Cal Ripken Jr I think our segment is not going
to be long enough to do the 21 different stances that he's got a certain point yeah he had
he had he had ones that started up high like this then went like this right he did the
violin at one point where he would go like this back and forth he had one time like this
he had one time like this that's not true okay but the swing was always the same yeah
all right perfect lovely Ricky Henderson oh really that that I stretched upstairs just
in case you asked yeah let's see a little Ricky Henderson so Ricky came into play right
about the time that I started watching baseball he would wear a really colorful batting gloves
and then he would get really really low like this and then he would delay a little bit
as if to say I'm so fast that you can't even throw me out on the ground if you go
you start another one of my responsibilities at this show was to try and go after all the
big news stories I think the first big news story that we went after was the New York
City Subway Hero Wesley Autry this was a man who saw another New York City passenger and
he had a seizure and he fell on the tracks and there was a train coming down the tracks
he jumped down and put his body over the passenger having the seizure and essentially save the
man's life and he's kicking his legs and his legs and hands going all on the train tracks
and I'm like yo this guy gonna lose limbs or something of his life if somebody don't
help him yo fool you got to go in and help him and I'm like you know what I'm saying
yeah that's exactly what I said to myself you know so you get down on top of the guy
in the trough and the train comes and and the the guy the conductor the engineer who's
operating the train is breaking he sees that they're trouble but he can't stop it he can't
stop he's tuning his horn and you can hit a brakes creaking and but by the time he came
to a Full Stop five calls grades of course five cars went and then I got this guy he
steady you know trying to you know and I got him locked down and I'm like yo excuse me
sir I don't know you you don't know me sir sir you know we got young men's and women
over in Iraq who fight for our freedom so that we can have the the choice to make the
right choice and how you gonna walk by someone who's ill and just look oh well I'm busy I
got to go to work you know I mean
the human thing to do for another big news story that we went after was the crew of flight
1549 that flight that landed safely in the Hudson River one of the things that helped
us land that story was the flight attendants Union they were really proud of how Dave stood
up for the writers during the writer strike a couple of years earlier and I believe that
was one of the reasons they chose our show over anybody else is to come and share their
story so what was the first thing you heard from the cockpit brace for impact brace for
impact now uh ever hear that before coming out of a cockpit no no
um ever hear that in any other aspect of your lives
I don't know were you guys in shock are you still in shock is there a post-traumatic stress
we're dealing with here you know each of us all five of us have experienced some of those
typical symptoms it's just human nature you you have trouble sleeping you have the flashbacks
the distracted thoughts all those things yeah Jeff how are you doing oh absolutely but of
course going to the inauguration in the Super Bowl and of course David Letterman helped
you get over it it's a big three one of the biggest news stories we went after was a global
news story in 2010 when 33 Chilean miners were trapped for nearly 70 days underground
one of the miners in particular Addison Pena had agreed to come and do our show the only
hitch was he didn't speak a lick of English the first time I walked into a mine um I wanted
to turn around and get out but that wasn't really an option so I just kept going deeper
and deeper into the mine and I just kept saying couldn't we just turn around but it didn't
work out that way well a lot of people feel the same way about appearing on the show
was there a a guy that was uh got on everybody's nerves like oh that guy
if you don't believe me [Applause] [Music] together
and we can feel that suspicious
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throughout my time at this show I also produced all the news anchors that we would have on
regularly it became a running joke to get the news anchors to do something unexpected
one of our longtime favorites was Brian Williams who was always up for literally anything we
pitched him what a great guy a smart guy knows everything in very very funny very amusing
sorry and here's the other thing he comes over here he leaves NBC which is like eight
blocks away and he's got to get back because they they turn on the Nightly News and he's
got to be there right so for him to come over on late notice and then he's got to race back
over well there he is and look there is and it's raining right now so he can't get a cab
he's got to get down there he's going to be all damp and out of breath walk all the way
over there so we really appreciate Brian Williams coming by oh maybe he had a what is that oh
this is a car I guess get out of the damn car what get out of here look at what he's
got to do well now that's wow hey he's stealing that kid's hey look at that wow well I guess
when you're broadcaster of the year I remember booking John McCain to make his first visit
to The Late Show as Republican nominee back in September of 2008. this was at the height
of the financial crisis and McCain that fateful day called us up about 45 minutes before the
show was the tape to say that he was postponing his own campaign and heading straight to Washington
about a half hour after that cancellation Randy in our control room noticed John McCain
sitting down with Katie Kirk on the CBS Evening News the same time he was supposed to be sitting
with Dave let's just see what he has to say here this would be interesting I wonder if
he'll mention me hey John I got a question you need a ride to the airport
after facing a near constant barrage from Dave Senator McCain finally relented and three
weeks later agreed to appear in The Late Show I remember that day he was in Philadelphia
and his flight got canceled and he was so nervous about canceling on Dave they rented
a helicopter to make sure they got to New York in time I see you John thank you very
much for being here thank you for the bus tour sure and a little trip down memory lane
can can you stay yes sir depends on how bad it gets uh well I have a shot in the Marine
Corps and uh I asked him to FedEx his helmet and flat in his jacket uh but it didn't get
here I think you'll be all right well now what exactly happened
see here I thought I was doing my can I saved the economy and then and then later I get
to think well maybe I'm just not important enough okay can I give you an answer please
okay I screwed up
in 2013 Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was in the news a lot and Dave talked about
him a lot on the show and it quickly became apparent that he wanted him to be a guest
on the show The Writers inevitably came up with a joke for Governor Christie I remember
going into the green room and casually asking him if he minded putting a powdered donut
in his pocket the governor looked at me didn't smile or anything thought for a moment and
said do you have two donuts and he put one in each pocket uh I've made jokes about you
not just one or two not just the ongoing here and there intermittent but
okay
all right I didn't know this was going to be this long
one of the things I always remember is producing Norm MacDonald's last sit-down interview with
Dave Norm showed up that day the taping a couple hours early which usually doesn't happen
he had Bits of Paper he had cocktail napkins literally cocktail napkins with bits written
out he had notebooks he was still refining what he had been working on for what must
have been two or three months and it wasn't like he was screwing around he was earnestly
saying this will work better this way this will work better this way and it was truly
amazing to see him work on his craft and also was truly touching to see how much that last
appearance meant to him Las Vegas the oddest slogan I've ever heard what happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas they say of course it's not true he can't kill a person leave they'll
follow you across state lines and bring you back and you'll face a jury of your peers
so I said what does that mean what does it mean like what are they getting at you know
I started ruminating about it what it means is you can have sex with a prostitute in Las
Vegas and she will not tell your wife
there they're very disgraced in Vegas they're not like these gossipy small town [ __ ]
you know
these blabbermouths have the beauty parlor with that pale blue thing over their head
wherever that is go you're Hank Johnson's husband but I gotta I had sex in exchange
for cash last night with them
small world one of our favorite guests of all time was First Lady Michelle Obama it
was always a thrill to work with her she would sit with me in the green room and run through
a myriad of topics that he wanted to discuss and no matter what was on his mind that day
she would stop our conversation at the end and say and then Dave wants to talk about
parenting advice right that's really why I'm here I'm uh retiring in a few weeks no kidding
[Laughter] and and I know that uh your time at the White House in a couple of years same
sort of thing you won't be retiring though no but do you ever Glimpse down far that far
down the road but like whether I'm gonna be running for president or anything I heard
you I was watching you
that's something to consider I mean anybody I think we should hang out together I think
you'll have you'll have it don't say that if you're kidding I'm not we could do things
I would love to do something I would help you raise your children
[Laughter] [Applause] that's both delightful and pathetic isn't it did you hear what the
president's wife is doing now you seem so challenged I it's a scary thing for you I
can walk you through it take you down that road that Grumpy Cat Road I can get you out
on the other side you're going to be finding all the problems will be for the stepfather
oh laughs one of the highlights of working at The Late Show obviously was booking President
Obama and producing that interview he came on twice as president which was a thrill for
everybody involved President Obama would make a point of showing up ahead of the taping
because it was important for him to watch Dave's monologue he always wanted to work
in one or two bits from the monologue into his interview with Dave later on press secretary
came in some of his Advanced staff came in and one of them handed the president an iPad
as he walked in and he did some work on the iPad and then he turned and watched a bit
of the monologue and then he turned and spoke with me about a couple of the topics for the
interview and I was always curious what was on that iPad was he working on some top secret
negotiations was he writing a speech for a future campaign stop turned out was Scrabble
I know you like Michelle a little bit more than me oh my God which is okay she was here
last night I know which and and uh I assure you you are not alone but uh but I'm not going
to let her uh have all the fun and and mainly I came by to to say goodbye to Biff and Paul
um [Applause]
says goodbye thank you thank you but they said I couldn't get on the set unless I also
spoke to you fair enough in coming up with ideas for the final Late Show we had a thought
of getting all the living U.S presidents together to do something for the show I remember reaching
out to President Obama's staff saying hey we have this idea do you think you'd be game
for it they replied immediately that they were it was a little trickier for the other
presidents I remember reaching out to presidents Carter Clinton and Bush to see if they would
be game and I didn't exactly get any calls back right away which made me really nervous
I remember getting President Clinton's guy on the phone and remember him saying to me
well who else do you have and I quickly said well President Obama's in if you're in he
said what about President Bush I said well I haven't heard from him yet but he goes that's
okay we've already talked we're all gonna do it my fellow Americans are long National
nightmare is over our long National nightmare is over our long National nightmare is over
hour long National nightmare is over our long National nightmare is over Letterman is retiring
you're just kidding right
hey Bruce
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