Late Show UK

David Letterman

Dave has been on late-night TV for over 20 years, which includes 10 years at CBS with the Late Show With David Letterman. Dave started off with Paul Shaffer on NBC - on Late Night With David Letterman. They both defected to CBS afterwards, when Dave lost out on the job to host The Tonight Show on NBC when Johnny Carson retired from the job (Jay Leno was chosen instead, and Dave defected to CBS as they would not offer him an 11.30pm slot on NBC - only his original 12.30am slot). When Dave moved to CBS he renamed his show to the Late Show With David Letterman. The show on CBS has been going since 30th August 1993. It is one of America’s favourite chat shows. His morning show on NBC lasted for three months in 1980, and that was called The David Letterman Show. When Dave moved to CBS, NBC claimed “intellectual property” of many of the assets from Late Night With David Letterman, so he had to rename several things - including renaming Viewer Mail to the CBS Mailbag and renaming the band as the CBS Orchestra. Dave has won 13 Emmys and had 74 Emmy nominations in total with both Late Night With David Letterman and the Late Show With David Letterman.

The David Letterman Show on NBC won 2 Emmys and had five nominations in total. Dave was one of the regular guests on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with 22 appearances in total. Johnny was the person Dave looked up to the most for his comedy act - the segment Stump The Band on the Late Show With David Letterman is from The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. Dave has become a national institution in America and beyond, with the Late Show going from success to success. Dave is widely speculated to have been Johnny Carson’s choice for hosting The Tonight Show when Johnny retired (even though Dave didn’t get a chance to host the show), and Johnny Carson appeared on the Late Show - seen by some as a display of support for Dave. Johnny never once appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno - which led to speculation that Johnny wasn’t a fan of Jay. One of Dave’s favourite quotes is “I wouldn’t give their troubles to a monkey on a rock” and “Will you be there when the big door swings open?” Dave is a well-estabilished humorist and standup comedian, and is well respected by other chat show hosts Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno - even though it is said Dave and Jay haven’t spoken to each other in years.

The often mentioned “feud” between Dave and Oprah Winfrey has been subject to many moments in Late Show (and Late Night) history. More recently this “feud” has been resolved - Oprah appeared on the Late Show on the 1st December 2005, they did an TV advert together during the Superbowl in 2007, and Dave appeared as a guest on Oprah’s show on the 10th September 2007.

Paul Shaffer

Paul has been working with Dave for 21 years as his musical director. He has been on such shows as Saturday Night Live and has been on Broadway, as well as TV work for CBS. Paul is the frontman for the Late Show band - the CBS Orchestra and has been a good friend of Dave’s for a long time - including when the show was at NBC, when Paul used to be the musical director of Late Night With David Letterman.

Paul Shaffer has hosted the Late Show a few times himself, including when Dave went in to have his quintuple heart bypass surgery a few years ago. Paul has proved himself to be an accomplished musician and compliment’s Dave perfectly. They make a top team.

Alan Kalter

“Hi, I’m Alan Kalter - TV’s Uncle Jerry”. Alan has been on the Late Show as the announcer since the show began. He introduces who’s on the show every night over the opening titles. Alan also has his own segments on the show including “Oh No, You Didn’t” and “Are you f***ing kidding me?”, and plays a part in announcing the fake prizes for “Will It Float” and the now defunct segment “Ape Or Artist Or Elephant”, as well as a lot of other things in the show. Alan is constantly getting himself into fake fights in his segments with an hilarious slapstick element to his comedy style. One of the best bits he does is when he tries to interview someone but Dave ’steals’ his guest and interviews himself. “The Late Show is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. This is Alan Kalter saying ‘Goodnight and drive safely’”.

Biff Henderson

Stage manager for the Late Show. Often appears in segments, including one-off segment, “Where In The World Is Biff Henderson”, where Biff would go somewhere and tell us where he is. He also did a segment at a laser eye clinic, and said “They said I could possibly be a candidate for laser surgery… when I saw what they do, I changed my mind… I realised I can see just fine”. Biff has also had an appearance on CSI: Miami, in 2002, for which he was uncredited for.

Stephanie Birkett

Stephanie is Dave’s assistant, and appears handing out prizes in segments such as “Stump The Band”, “Audience Show And Tell” and “Know Your Current Events”. She usually fits in a few jokes when she comes out into the audience during these segments. She has been known as Vicki, amongst other things, by Dave. An ongoing thing she used to do was calling Dave “Mr Carney”.

Rupert Jee

Owner/Proprietor - Hello Deli. Features regularly on the Late Show, in segments like Guess The Puddle and other segments. Rupert goes outside to find people to play games in the Deli. Rupert first appeared on the Late Show in the “Meet The Neighbours” segment way back when the show first started. Rupert does regular games on the Late Show, including “What’s on the iPod?” and “May We Shave You For Spring?”. One of the best segments with Rupert is “What’s on the iPod?” where he puts on his iPod and screams out the song for someone to guess. Rupert isn’t an official cast member of the Late Show, but is a long-term friend of the show. Rupert jokes that Dave’s the “clever one” coming up with new ideas for the Hello Deli. Dave came up with the idea of Rupert getting a slush machine for the Deli in the summer, which proved a huge success. Rupert also participates in the Late Show Christmas tree meatball tradition.

Hula Hoop Girl and Grinder Girl

Hula Hoop Girl is Anna Jack and Grinder Girl is Kiva Kahl. Quite self-explanatory, Hula Hoop Girl has hula hoops around her and Grinder Girl uses a grinder on her metallic clothes to create sparks. They appear in several segments and various times on the Late Show - including on Will It Float and Is This Anything.

The Late Show Girls

They’re involved in such segments as Will It Float, and the Hello Deli segments (they present the deli platter to the contestant). The models change every now and again - so it varies who’s there, but one of the Late Show Girls is Andrea Sande.