David Letterman
We're both big fans of David Letterman, and the first time we went to New York, we were lucky enough to
have gotten tickets in advance by mail. This time we weren't so lucky. When we went by the Ed Sullivan
Theater we were told that the best chance we had of getting in was to call for standby tickets the next morning starting at 11am.
They told us just to keep calling until we 1) got through, or 2) received a message saying there were to more standbys available.
Well, you see, this is where it pays to have a spouse who gets out of bed before noon. My wife, to whom I owe a huge debt
of gratitude for this, grabbed the phone at exactly 11 o'clock and began dialing. For nineteen minutes straight she dialed,
got a busy signal, hung up, and so on, until finally she got through and was allocated some of the last standby tickets available.
Although having standby tickets is no guarantee you'll get in, it's a necessary step. We eventually did get in, however, with not
much room to spare. Only one person got in behind us!
The geek waiting in line in the NYU shirt is me. At this point, we still don't know whether we're going to get in.
(For those who may not be aware, the The Late Show is taped at 5:30pm, which is why it's so sunny in the picture.)
Those of you who watch Letterman at all know who the guy in the middle is. Rupert Jee, owner of the Hello Deli on
53rd Street (same building as the theater is in), makes very frequent appearances on the show. As a matter of fact, this picture was taken just after the taping
of the show we had attended. At many points in the show, Rupert had been on the roof of the building kicking (or, more
accurately, trying to kick) soccer balls off the roof. He actually succeeded on only one attempt out of about six. I
asked him about it when this picture was taken, and he said the balls were hurting his toe.I think the Letterman show is the best thing that's ever happened to this guy. His place is tiny, but he now has a huge billboard on Broadway, right across from the theater, and even has his own website now! Check it out!
We happened to pass by the theater again that same night and got an excellent pict.