Dave shouldn't feel bad. Mark Knopfler became "uninterested" in dealing with " TV" appearances over 25 years ago. Doesn't do them. Wasnt a "Letterman only" thing. He doesn't like "celebrity". Same goes for Joe Jackson, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Those are not 'happy campers". Now for musicians who actually DO hate Letterman... Ladies and Gentleman Miss Stevie Nicks and MADONNA!!
Dave comes off like a nice guy. Of course many entertainer fear Dave's sarcasm. Paul's story was just a bit too long, just sayin'. Prince's music turned bad after his heyday, not sure if due to some religious experience or not.
I love how growing up as a dumb teenager I always saw Paul as Dave's comedy sidekick but in actual fact Paul Shaffer is an unmatched musician and a blues legend. I feel privileged and almost spoiled to have been able to see him night after night on the Late Show.
YES! I was a teenager learning to play guitar in the 90's when my uncle pointed out all the house bands on TV at the time are amazingly badass musicians. I adored G.E Smith on SNL and Paul and his band.
Dave should have realized the musicians' connection. Not to mention, Prince could have had Paul for gigs or sessions. But who knows why he didn't like doing Dave's show.
I just want more Letterman originals. I Love seeing Dave once in a while but I miss seeing him regularly. Seeing Dave every day growing up was the best the world could be for me. I'm so glad you're doing this stuff cause the world feels just awful these days, and every familiar bit of laughter makes a huge difference...at least for me.
I’m so in agreement with you If I didn’t have Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel right now I think I’d go insane. Laughter is the best medicine. That and gummies 😆
@@cbotten106 I was obsessed with Dave from the very beginning on NBC until 1995 and then switched to Leno. It was pretty great that we had these two humongous franchises operating side by side. With the most amazing origin story going all the way back to the Comedy Store.
Dave was a genius in the early years, but he went political when GWB was elected. Dave began to add hate to his show, hate for any conservative. He began to go nuts around that time.
Prince was an unbelievably talented musical genius and a brilliant performer who was also regarded as being a little bit crazy, but I never would have guessed that he was "prefers-Leno to Letterman" crazy.😲
He was no genius of any kind. That's just jumping on a tiresome 35-year long bandwagon slogan that people say in order to "fit in". The 70's had musical geniuses. Prince sounded like a dog that got hit by a diesel engine semi that was running on low-lead gasoline. "SCREEEECH" (his voice). "Rattle rattle" (whatever instrument that was in literally every song). Sounded like shaking a box of rocks.
@@firstnamelastname8060 Well, genius IS thrown around a lot in the music fields, but the guy was certainly prolific, experimental, and you are judging him based on his singing voice, which really isn't a fair way to judge 'genius' because of course we're born with our vocal chords, no way around it. Lets just say then the guy was certainly original and could at least play a number of instruments pretty well. I think the word 'genius' should be chucked from the vocabulary altogether. The fact is that a 'musician' does this for a living, an entertainer is doing a job. How to isolate genius in that is pretty tough. But as I say, even from this clip you can see how far he goes for entertainment, this is almost Peter Gabriel in a hemmorhoid suit trying to sell a story level commitment, which is rare in the jeans and t shirt crowd where the best they usually get is a lead guitarist who runs around the stage while they play. But I thik the guy meant thats a LOT of effort to put into your late night prefence. Hell, at the time much of the world thought the US was going to erupt in civil war, over whether you were a 'dave' person or a 'jay' person, which actually not THAT many americans ever watched late night to begin with.
If you ever watch Prince's interviews with Jay Leno, you will see the difference. He lets more of his personality and humor show. He was definitely comfortable with Jay.
@@firstnamelastname8060 I'd say the same about David Bowie. He has an absolute cult following in the UK. He hit a chord with them. Average person would be hard pressed to remember any of his songs, despite being regarded as "one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century." 🤦🏻♀️
So here is the real story about Prince on David. The world didn't know what Prince was going through at that time, if you watch his performance on Letterman. Prince has the word "slave" on his face, he was fighting for his musical rights & masters against warner bros & that fight was very emotional for Prince. The music industry feared Prince because he was attacking their wallets by waking up so many artists to own their masters. So much so that mainstream radio stations stopped playing his music & younger artists were told by managers not to even mention Prince. So when you watch him on letterman, letterman makes fun of Prince's symbol & the media was already calling Prince crazy for changing his name to a symbol. Which was his way of freeing himself from warner bros because they literally owned his birth given name Prince & i think Prince being hyper sensitive & rightfully so at that time, he went through hell. I think he was just so super protective of his energy, you also have to understand at that time Letterman was a lot more bold during that time lol but i have a feeling older Prince might've changed how he felt in his 50's about Letterman.
I heard the story that Prince was mad at Dave for making jokes about changing his name to a symbol. And he didn’t want to talk to Dave afterwards, so he preplanned being dragged off the stage.
There's the reply I was looking for! Letterman kept making fun of Prince throughout the show. His symbol name and the fact that he was promoting an album that wasn't even available at the time. (The Gold Experience)
Probably. The truth is that Dave is acting a bit coy here. He made fun of Prince's name change both times he introduced Prince on his show (in 94 and 96) and his tone sometimes seemed a little irritated/critical when he did it. He might have meant nothing by it other than just poking fun and believe it or not, Prince could take a joke at his expense... (he was on Muppets and there were lots of jokes about the name change and he didn't mind) but something about Dave doing it rubbed him the wrong way. Leno never did that to him. They teased each other sometimes but not about that. Also, Dave Letterman is from my neck of the woods, and that Indiana stoic humor can sound sarcastic sometimes rather than light-spirited. Prince's little sign was just some pushback.
@@Fenster74 Now everyone looks dumb, he changed his name for a reason. He outsmarted WB since anything he put out with the symbol versus the name Prince they couldn't make money on. Checkmate.
Prince used to put on a fake beard and a set of oily coveralls with the name “ARTIE” embroidered on them and go over to Leno’s hangar and gap the points and set the dwell on each DeSoto in the collection. Every Tuesday, for years. It was never talked about.
I used to work security in the area of st. Clair and Yonge street in Toronto. Part of my job was conducting exterior patrols of the office/retail building I was working at. I walked into the newspaper stand early one Saturday morning, and there was Prince. Out of the 3 people in the store, I felt like I was the only person that recognized him. I gave him this “is that really you?!” look, and he gave me a nod, smiled and walked out. I went up to the store employee and said “ummm…that was Prince!!!” to which he said “of what country?!” I’m like “noooo, the SINGER!!!” to which he replied “Yeah, and I’m Michael Jackson…why would Prince be in here of all places?” I really didn’t have an answer for that, nor did I know he lived in Toronto at the time. Now, this predates the smartphone era and I didn’t do patrols with a digital camera on me (although one was available to me to document graffiti, damage to property or water leaks lol)….but this is all I have 😂
The reminiscing by Paul and Dave is a great show in and of itself. The inside knowledge that they share is very interesting to us all. I hope that Barbara can get the two of them together for many more short stories and interviews.
P.S. Prince actually went on The Late Show again after the performance discussed in this vid (which was from '94). He made his second (and last) appearance on the show in '96.
@@RobLives4Love And didn't he run off at the end? I seem to remember something weird happening. Love you Prince where-ever you are! We all miss you like crazy.
I thought Prince was just making an artistic expression from the lyrics of the song. Don’t know it was his way to get out of an interview. Prince was so good. Miss his presence here on earth. 🌍
First time I heard Prince's "Dolphin" was when he played it live on Letterman back in like '94 or '95, a head of his Gold Experience album release. Such a great song! The song's coda has those Revolution era vibes. For a stretch of time, Letterman had the best musical guests of late night. Love seeing this -- Letterman was the best of the late night talk show hosts.
I have every one of your appearances on cassette tape. When I'm feeling blue I pop them in and it just perks me right up. Your cover of Brand New Key is sublime. And your cover of Sublime is magical.
I love how random this whole episode was. Paul wasn't plugging anything, Dave wasn't either. They just wanted to talk about Prince and Jay for no reason other than it was interesting. ;)
Prince was notoriously shy. He rarely ever played on talk shows and didn't like to do interviews much. I guess he clicked with Jay at some point and just felt comfortable there so stuck with it.
When Prince did American Idol he walked off the stage rather then absorb the gushing effusions of Ryan Seacrest. Letterman never really tried to make anyone comfortable and a lot of stars didn't get his shtick, I guess.
Some guests didn't like Dave because he was more unpredictable. Leno was the king of asking the softball questions and Dave would occasionally challenge his guests and might even try to get personal. This is why Dave was the best talk show host.
@@cbotten106 He pressed Shirley MacLaine on the reincarnation thing, she protested, but he kept going, ''well it's in your book," as he briefly held it up. Very early years he asked Valerie Perrine about her dogs. They had just DIED. She was so surprised, she started crying. Gawd I miss those NBC days.
More Paul Shaffer .. the man is a delight. Dwight Yoakam was another who preferred Leno. Letterman used to razz him about always wearing his hat ( was balding and had a 'hot shot' cowboy image. ) Remember one episode where Dave was mocking him before he came on, sitting there with Alec Baldwin. "How much you wanna bet this next guy is wearin' a cowboy hat?" Yoakam was always humble in return, never quite got the reason for Letterman's quips.
I didn't realize Letterman had a channel on UA-cam: Letterman was once funny; he was a favorite of mine. After his move to CBS, he seemed to become a bitter and angry man. Perhaps it was appropriate toward NBC but not his guests and audience. His ego went crazy, and I stopped watching long before he retired. As you mentioned, Yoakam was always humble and above Letterman's quips. Letterman could use a dose of Yoakam's humbleness. Maybe he might lose that bitterness/angriness and become the funny man he once was.
@@brettweaver9608perhaps you need to loose the bitterness. Dave was a legendary 8:01 original whose comedic style is unsurpassed. Late Night is comedic history.
@@garypaquin9571 . Nope......"brett" has it EXACTLY right! There's NO doubt Dave was a talk show legend, who did still have some great moments at CBS after leaving NBC.....but there's also NO doubt that his losing out to Leno for Johnny's 'throne' hurt him DEEPLY......eventually leading to more and more of the spiteful, bitter part of his personality to surface on his show during the latter part of his CBS run..... .
To: I totally am there with you, I was a huge fan. He just lost me when he went angry and bitter (much like what we see on comedy today at late night). I want those Johnny Carson days when you went to late night to laugh again. I'm not bitter, I'd hug ya over an old episode of Letterman back in the day@@garypaquin9571
Gosh, I can’t thank Dave enough for putting this stuff on UA-cam. Some of my favorite stuff from letterman was in the late 90s while I was in college. All of the Clinton jokes and trump or monkey, true classics. Keep up the great work!
David, Barbara and Paul... I just watched (again) your very last show, and it was so awesome, and if it didn't win an Emmy, it should have. I remember the show... but as you all, I'm way older now... I laughed so hard, and it brought me much joy. Was wondering if you could show here those many moments you had with the audience each night before the show started. It would be great to see that which the TV audience didn't get to see. Thanks David
Prince’s drummer, Michael B said that Prince told the band on the day of the show that they were going to cut the last verse and Prince was going to pretend to shoot himself so he could be dragged off stage to deny Letterman the end chat. But I can’t remember the reason
Have they ever answered what building they are shooting this in? Is it a public library? Dave's presidential library? Barbara Gaines' house? What are those red objects in the room beyond the doorway?
Don’t be offended Dave, I think it was just that Prince was very shy and didn’t want to be interviewed. I loved your Show (wit Paul) & find myself watching old clips on UA-cam… Maybe I’m biased because I live in Fairfield Connecticut 😊 ✌️
"HE HAD SOME SORT OF A SEIZURE..." Only Dave can make a story about a possible seizure sound hilarious lol. I remember the end of that performance and Prince being dragged off like a corpse. Beautiful artistry from the master artist himself!
Here’s some inside info… The set designer had a blast building the stage for Prince performances on Leno. No limit. One night after Prince was on the show I went to see him at a venue in LA and he had the exact same set in his background. Leno let him take it. They lived close to each other in BH.
Mark Knopfler was on there quite a few times. He visited 1985 and sat in the band. He got to playing Expresso Love. Knopfler came around with a solo record and played Cannibals 1996. He sat down for an interview. He swung by with Emmylou Harris in 2006 and did This is Us. I would say Paul McCartney was someone who said he didn't like the show. Idk if he changed his mind after appearing on. Cher was hesitant at first. Letterman had a particular reputation.
I think the thing that makes Barbara Gaines great is the way she is able to get even the most reticent guests to talk. Watching this you'd almost think these two are naturally Chatty. She's an absolute legend.
I remember prince being on singing dolphins. It was part of his act he didnt have a seizure. Listen to the lyrics. Id rather be dead than you tell me how to swim.
You're all missing what the actual drama was there. Prince performed Dolphin on your show, which was from the Gold Experience. Warner Bros had told Prince that the Gold Experience was unreleaseable, that it had no singles. He asked them if he could release a single from it on NPG records, and they were like "sure, try your luck." That was The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, that hit number 1. Then he asked if he could release the Gold Experience on NPG, and WB was like "are you kidding?!? There's a number one song on this record!" That's why the Slave on the cheeks stuff happened. That's why the pantomimed suicide. He was protesting something larger than himself or you, and he wanted to do it in a melodramatic way, because he was him.
@@horrorpowerfilms9481 He might have had his bodyguard pull him off to avoid talking to Dave, but the reality is that the fake suicide was already part of the act. He filmed the Dolphin video in summer of 1994. It's release was in September of 1994. The Letterman performance was in December of 1994. And he returned in 1996. Plus, after a fake suicide, getting up and doing light hearted chit chat might have killed the mood (no pun intended)
Dave and Paul still have such great rapport (and clearly affection for each other), if they did a weekly podcast, talking about things like this without filters, it would be (easily) be a #1 hit for as long as they’d want to do it. It would also be an extraordinary chronicle of a show beloved by countless millions that’s never really had a look back commentary. They need a good facilitator for their discussions (maybe Barbara) and a small team to make this easy for both to want to participate. Dave probably thinks no one wants to hear about this…everyone over about 35 (the entire total podcast demographic) would want and love this.
I think this is one instance where Prince had it all wrong. Dave was such a champion of great music and actively involved in choosing guests for the show. He really loves music, and though he did book a lot of big names, he chose to raise the profile of many lesser-known eccentric artists. If you’re a musician, that should be the guy who has earned your respect. It’s also baffling to me that Prince, whose material usually challenged his audience, would prefer Jay, who was always the safe late-night comedian.
Jay never mocked his name change before introducing him. Dave did. And before people assume he couldn't take a joke at his expense, he proved that he could. But Dave was sort heavy handed about it. Both times he introduced him, he made comments about the name change that sounded less silly or irrelevant than critical in tone.
@@behavioristbusiness7372 Prince himself did not respect the name change! He only changed it to that symbol because he was trying to become enough of a nuisance to his label that they would release him from his contract. He did it _because_ it was ridiculous, so your theory doesn't add up.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616No, since Prince was fully aware of how he was coming off and knew that it would be a PR disaster, it does not. He was trying to be unreasonable and hadn't explained to anyone at the time why he was doing it, so he wouldn't have expected any late-night comedian to support his weird behavior.
@@WaitingtoHit Seems like a somewhat saintly attitude you see him as having. It seems like a basic human tendency to want people to like us and say nice and respectful things about us.
this is just great. Dave is droll and funny and never offended and Paul - well this guy needs to write another book.. the first one was hilarious and chockful of showbiz anecdotes
This really is a slice of Dave’s humor. They have Paul on, and talk about musicians that hated being on the show.
Nobody else does that.
Dave shouldn't feel bad. Mark Knopfler became "uninterested" in dealing with "
TV" appearances over 25 years ago. Doesn't do them. Wasnt a "Letterman only" thing. He doesn't like "celebrity". Same goes for Joe Jackson, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Those are not 'happy campers". Now for musicians who actually DO hate Letterman... Ladies and Gentleman Miss Stevie Nicks and MADONNA!!
Dave comes off like a nice guy. Of course many entertainer fear Dave's sarcasm. Paul's story was just a bit too long, just sayin'. Prince's music turned bad after his heyday, not sure if due to some religious experience or not.
@@Piggy-Oink-Oink Cher was not a fan of Dave's either.
I love how delighted Dave is at learning that Prince didn't like him. This just makes me miss the Late Show so much.
He likes that it was an act
Nice talking about Prince and Jay Leno!
Nice to see you, David and Paul sitting together talking! I miss your show!
Who’s Jay Leno?
@@dabsafe he used to be a talk show host like David Letterman!
@@cherylf.4616
Not quite. Dave Letterman is funny. Jay Leno...not so much. I suppose you missed the subtle irony in my previous comment.
@@dabsafe check out jay lenos garage youtube channel. Great show about cars. He's great at it!
“Speaking of chins…”. Out of nowhere.😂😂😂 He still has it.
Yea he wore that joke out 30 years ago.
These are priceless stories from the show I watched for 33 years...love it!
I love how growing up as a dumb teenager I always saw Paul as Dave's comedy sidekick but in actual fact Paul Shaffer is an unmatched musician and a blues legend. I feel privileged and almost spoiled to have been able to see him night after night on the Late Show.
The band was killer too. Nothing against Leno's band intended here. 🤣
YES! I was a teenager learning to play guitar in the 90's when my uncle pointed out all the house bands on TV at the time are amazingly badass musicians. I adored G.E Smith on SNL and Paul and his band.
He's a versatile professional musician who's worked with almost everyone in the biz for decades, but most definitely NOT a blues legend.
@@jjryan1352He DID play with the Blues Brothers.
Then again, he is also the guy who wrote the song "It's Raining Men".
😬🤷
Dave should have realized the musicians' connection. Not to mention, Prince could have had Paul for gigs or sessions. But who knows why he didn't like doing Dave's show.
"Hey, are those your drums?" I love how Paul threw that in haha.
I just want more Letterman originals. I Love seeing Dave once in a while but I miss seeing him regularly. Seeing Dave every day growing up was the best the world could be for me. I'm so glad you're doing this stuff cause the world feels just awful these days, and every familiar bit of laughter makes a huge difference...at least for me.
I could have written your comment. Well said. My mom never missed his show and I used to watch it with her sometimes. I miss those days!
I’m so in agreement with you If I didn’t have Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel right now I think I’d go insane. Laughter is the best medicine. That and gummies 😆
Completely agreed. I loved Dave more on NBC than CBS, but we're not getting enough of him.
Same here! I also grew up without a dad. I used to pretend Dave was my dad. I adore him. He was a great pretend dad. Lol
Dave, you're not everyone's cup of tea and that's part of the reason we love you!
My dad hated Letterman and loved Leno's monolog. I always preferred Dave.
@@cbotten106 I was obsessed with Dave from the very beginning on NBC until 1995 and then switched to Leno. It was pretty great that we had these two humongous franchises operating side by side. With the most amazing origin story going all the way back to the Comedy Store.
Love this. Dave and Paul always had the best chemistry. And of course Dave still has that wonderful wit. Miss his show!
These videos are like comfort food for my soul. We know you don't have to do these so we really appreciate them.
I liked learning about this. I like like how both Dave and Barbara listen to Paul without interrupting him. I now look forward to winning my car.
Fantastic to see you guys tonight. What a gift. Great story, Paul. Thank you! Barbara and Mary: Happy International Woman's Day!
I'll say it once and I'll say it again for the gazillinth time,I MISS DAVE and PAUL on late night T.V they were BEST❤.
Yeah but everyone knows if you could wave a magic wand we all want Craig Ferguson back ! 😂
Dave was a genius in the early years, but he went political when GWB was elected. Dave began to add hate to his show, hate for any conservative. He began to go nuts around that time.
@@gymshoe8862 Hating modern American "conservatism" is a sign of sanity.
Love it when the 3 of you get together.
Prince was an unbelievably talented musical genius and a brilliant performer who was also regarded as being a little bit crazy, but I never would have guessed that he was "prefers-Leno to Letterman" crazy.😲
He was no genius of any kind. That's just jumping on a tiresome 35-year long bandwagon slogan that people say in order to "fit in". The 70's had musical geniuses. Prince sounded like a dog that got hit by a diesel engine semi that was running on low-lead gasoline. "SCREEEECH" (his voice). "Rattle rattle" (whatever instrument that was in literally every song). Sounded like shaking a box of rocks.
@@firstnamelastname8060 Well, genius IS thrown around a lot in the music fields, but the guy was certainly prolific, experimental, and you are judging him based on his singing voice, which really isn't a fair way to judge 'genius' because of course we're born with our vocal chords, no way around it.
Lets just say then the guy was certainly original and could at least play a number of instruments pretty well. I think the word 'genius' should be chucked from the vocabulary altogether.
The fact is that a 'musician' does this for a living, an entertainer is doing a job. How to isolate genius in that is pretty tough. But as I say, even from this clip you can see how far he goes for entertainment, this is almost Peter Gabriel in a hemmorhoid suit trying to sell a story level commitment, which is rare in the jeans and t shirt crowd where the best they usually get is a lead guitarist who runs around the stage while they play.
But I thik the guy meant thats a LOT of effort to put into your late night prefence. Hell, at the time much of the world thought the US was going to erupt in civil war, over whether you were a 'dave' person or a 'jay' person, which actually not THAT many americans ever watched late night to begin with.
@@firstnamelastname8060 I'm pretty sure that the "shaking... box of rocks" you're hearing is coming from the inside of your head.
If you ever watch Prince's interviews with Jay Leno, you will see the difference. He lets more of his personality and humor show. He was definitely comfortable with Jay.
@@firstnamelastname8060 I'd say the same about David Bowie. He has an absolute cult following in the UK. He hit a chord with them. Average person would be hard pressed to remember any of his songs, despite being regarded as "one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century." 🤦🏻♀️
This was awesome, many thanks to Barbara, Paul and Dave!
My favorite part if these is when Barbara steps in to say, "No, they don't."
Same here! She's funny!
@@marge201 She's Jewish and gay.
Thanks to Paul’s show biz anecdotes, the Barbara Gaines Show has been renewed for another season 🎉👏
@Genious. I’ve already got my Betamax programmed to tape it 👍📼😉
it must be nice to eat as a musician when you have cornballs like U2 and bono fuggazzi$...god bless the phones
yea, I think she earns about 80 million a year.
@Genious. Where's the laugh emoji??!!
@@pigmeatmarkham898 good one!
This was cool. I'd love to hear more stories from both Dave and Paul about appearances from people they had on the different incarnations of the show.
I could listen to Dave and Paul talk for hours
Feel lucky this channel exists. Thank you all.
So here is the real story about Prince on David. The world didn't know what Prince was going through at that time, if you watch his performance on Letterman. Prince has the word "slave" on his face, he was fighting for his musical rights & masters against warner bros & that fight was very emotional for Prince. The music industry feared Prince because he was attacking their wallets by waking up so many artists to own their masters. So much so that mainstream radio stations stopped playing his music & younger artists were told by managers not to even mention Prince.
So when you watch him on letterman, letterman makes fun of Prince's symbol & the media was already calling Prince crazy for changing his name to a symbol. Which was his way of freeing himself from warner bros because they literally owned his birth given name Prince & i think Prince being hyper sensitive & rightfully so at that time, he went through hell. I think he was just so super protective of his energy, you also have to understand at that time Letterman was a lot more bold during that time lol but i have a feeling older Prince might've changed how he felt in his 50's about Letterman.
Love and miss you guys! ❤
I heard the story that Prince was mad at Dave for making jokes about changing his name to a symbol. And he didn’t want to talk to Dave afterwards, so he preplanned being dragged off the stage.
There's the reply I was looking for!
Letterman kept making fun of Prince throughout the show. His symbol name and the fact that he was promoting an album that wasn't even available at the time. (The Gold Experience)
Probably. The truth is that Dave is acting a bit coy here. He made fun of Prince's name change both times he introduced Prince on his show (in 94 and 96) and his tone sometimes seemed a little irritated/critical when he did it. He might have meant nothing by it other than just poking fun and believe it or not, Prince could take a joke at his expense... (he was on Muppets and there were lots of jokes about the name change and he didn't mind) but something about Dave doing it rubbed him the wrong way. Leno never did that to him. They teased each other sometimes but not about that. Also, Dave Letterman is from my neck of the woods, and that Indiana stoic humor can sound sarcastic sometimes rather than light-spirited. Prince's little sign was just some pushback.
@@Fenster74 Now everyone looks dumb, he changed his name for a reason. He outsmarted WB since anything he put out with the symbol versus the name Prince they couldn't make money on. Checkmate.
@@chica4530 That was a brilliant strategy.
@@behavioristbusiness7372 plus Letterman is a psychotic liberal with unhealed issues underneath it all.
Prince playing one of my favorite songs of his “Dolphin”
I’ve heard the green room at The Barbara Gaines Show is a real wild scene.
Story time with Paul is the best !
So good!! Dave looks so cute, so handsome in his trimmed beard. Yay, Dave! Paul is super interesting as usual and Barbara is a riot. MORE MORE MORE!!!
Prince used to put on a fake beard and a set of oily coveralls with the name “ARTIE” embroidered on them and go over to Leno’s hangar and gap the points and set the dwell on each DeSoto in the collection. Every Tuesday, for years. It was never talked about.
Prince showed up in the strangest places! I knew someone who lived next to a relative of his and he'd just be out in the front yard talking to people.
I used to work security in the area of st. Clair and Yonge street in Toronto. Part of my job was conducting exterior patrols of the office/retail building I was working at. I walked into the newspaper stand early one Saturday morning, and there was Prince. Out of the 3 people in the store, I felt like I was the only person that recognized him. I gave him this “is that really you?!” look, and he gave me a nod, smiled and walked out. I went up to the store employee and said “ummm…that was Prince!!!” to which he said “of what country?!” I’m like “noooo, the SINGER!!!” to which he replied “Yeah, and I’m Michael Jackson…why would Prince be in here of all places?” I really didn’t have an answer for that, nor did I know he lived in Toronto at the time.
Now, this predates the smartphone era and I didn’t do patrols with a digital camera on me (although one was available to me to document graffiti, damage to property or water leaks lol)….but this is all I have 😂
bs
@@Hemant.swhat year?
@@jaypee42 2002
Prince on Leno during the Musicology tour was incredible
Absolutely.
Got to see this tour in the round here in Portland. God, he was magnificent...
I watched that night and as usual, I was like WOW. 💜 trickster.
Wow! Great to see you Dave and Paul!!!
I smell podcast potential! Dave + Paul = greatness
They better not try to tske over Conan's podcast!
@@E-d1d3 Dave Needs A Friend.
Dave was brilliant on Strike Force 5 ⚡
PLEASE don't stop. I LOVE this. Paul and Dave have magic together. Thank You
I love this show so much.
The reminiscing by Paul and Dave is a great show in and of itself. The inside knowledge that they share is very interesting to us all. I hope that Barbara can get the two of them together for many more short stories and interviews.
P.S. Prince actually went on The Late Show again after the performance discussed in this vid (which was from '94). He made his second (and last) appearance on the show in '96.
yes, he did Dinner with Delores with the long cape
@@RobLives4Love And didn't he run off at the end? I seem to remember something weird happening. Love you Prince where-ever you are! We all miss you like crazy.
His biggest genius period was from 1982-89 anyway.
More of these stories from Dave and Paul please!!
I thought Prince was just making an artistic expression from the lyrics of the song. Don’t know it was his way to get out of an interview. Prince was so good. Miss his presence here on earth. 🌍
Especially since the song was about dying and reincarnating.
"you shouldn't be laughing at it, because the man's dead."
I love them both so much,
Dave and Paul. Two of my favorite people. Revere them both for different reasons. Both look really good.
The three most important "presbyters" in the industry! lovely, hopeful and inspiring...
First time I heard Prince's "Dolphin" was when he played it live on Letterman back in like '94 or '95, a head of his Gold Experience album release. Such a great song! The song's coda has those Revolution era vibes. For a stretch of time, Letterman had the best musical guests of late night. Love seeing this -- Letterman was the best of the late night talk show hosts.
Letterman is the best of them all.⭐
I also refused to play on Dave's show. I would only do the Chevy Chase chat show.
I have every one of your appearances on cassette tape. When I'm feeling blue I pop them in and it just perks me right up. Your cover of Brand New Key is sublime. And your cover of Sublime is magical.
David should write a book about his life and showbiz. I am sure he has great stories.
Dave & Paul should have a regular show like this, just reminiscing of the acts/guests that have appeared on 'late show/night'!
I'm so glad this little dog and pony show is available.
GREAT stuff! Thank you! Letterman was my favorite. From day 1. Will never forget ...the Whirling Bowl of Chili. 😂🤣😂🤣😂
Lets hear Pauls memories of Brother Theodore and Bob Dylan
Yes, Brother Theodore!!
Compared with Trump, BT was sane.
😂@@treetopjones737
@davidwalsh2447 O Brother where art thee?
@@treetopjones737 rent free in your empty head
I love how random this whole episode was. Paul wasn't plugging anything, Dave wasn't either. They just wanted to talk about Prince and Jay for no reason other than it was interesting. ;)
Where do the fish hide, Dave? This has been stuck in my brain for 30 yrs. Your the best man!
Prince was notoriously shy. He rarely ever played on talk shows and didn't like to do interviews much. I guess he clicked with Jay at some point and just felt comfortable there so stuck with it.
When Prince did American Idol he walked off the stage rather then absorb the gushing effusions of Ryan Seacrest. Letterman never really tried to make anyone comfortable and a lot of stars didn't get his shtick, I guess.
Paul’s book, We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives, is a fantastic read
Thank you for the fun story! ❤
Some guests didn't like Dave because he was more unpredictable. Leno was the king of asking the softball questions and Dave would occasionally challenge his guests and might even try to get personal. This is why Dave was the best talk show host.
Watch him interview Amy Adam and start to ask her about Scientology. Oh my!
@@cbotten106 He pressed Shirley MacLaine on the reincarnation thing, she protested, but he kept going, ''well it's in your book," as he briefly held it up.
Very early years he asked Valerie Perrine about her dogs. They had just DIED. She was so surprised, she started crying.
Gawd I miss those NBC days.
Also, Jay is just such an entitled a**hole. What he did to Conan was ridiculous
More Paul Shaffer .. the man is a delight. Dwight Yoakam was another who preferred Leno. Letterman used to razz him about always wearing his hat ( was balding and had a 'hot shot' cowboy image. ) Remember one episode where Dave was mocking him before he came on, sitting there with Alec Baldwin. "How much you wanna bet this next guy is wearin' a cowboy hat?" Yoakam was always humble in return, never quite got the reason for Letterman's quips.
I didn't realize Letterman had a channel on UA-cam:
Letterman was once funny; he was a favorite of mine. After his move to CBS, he seemed to become a bitter and angry man. Perhaps it was appropriate toward NBC but not his guests and audience. His ego went crazy, and I stopped watching long before he retired. As you mentioned, Yoakam was always humble and above Letterman's quips. Letterman could use a dose of Yoakam's humbleness. Maybe he might lose that bitterness/angriness and become the funny man he once was.
@@brettweaver9608perhaps you need to loose the bitterness. Dave was a legendary 8:01 original whose comedic style is unsurpassed. Late Night is comedic history.
@@garypaquin9571
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Nope......"brett" has it EXACTLY right! There's NO doubt Dave was a talk show legend, who did still have some great moments at CBS after leaving NBC.....but there's also NO doubt that his losing out to Leno for Johnny's 'throne' hurt him DEEPLY......eventually leading to more and more of the spiteful, bitter part of his personality to surface on his show during the latter part of his CBS run.....
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@@brettweaver9608….Agree…..”Late Night” was the best of what he did.
To: I totally am there with you, I was a huge fan. He just lost me when he went angry and bitter (much like what we see on comedy today at late night). I want those Johnny Carson days when you went to late night to laugh again. I'm not bitter, I'd hug ya over an old episode of Letterman back in the day@@garypaquin9571
Jeezus, I only watch the Barbara Gaines Show in hopes I get a Shaffer-Sighting. Keep 'em coming, gals . . . and guys.
All three of you are the best!! miss you lots!
Gosh, I can’t thank Dave enough for putting this stuff on UA-cam. Some of my favorite stuff from letterman was in the late 90s while I was in college. All of the Clinton jokes and trump or monkey, true classics. Keep up the great work!
I'd love for Paul to come back regularly to tell Dave things he didn't know about his own show. He probably has a million!😂
Have to disagree with Prince on this one. Dave will always be the best!
David, Barbara and Paul... I just watched (again) your very last show, and it was so awesome, and if it didn't win an Emmy, it should have. I remember the show... but as you all, I'm way older now... I laughed so hard, and it brought me much joy. Was wondering if you could show here those many moments you had with the audience each night before the show started. It would be great to see that which the TV audience didn't get to see. Thanks David
cus you all didn't let him wear his assless chaps.. Darling Nikki is a BANGER
He sang 'Dolphin'.
What a charming trio
Such a good chemistry between them
How nice that was to watch
I will pray for America.
Please pray for me.
God Bless you.
Barbara: “don’t forget to slam and watch and subscribe” 😂😂😂
Michael Jackson, Prince, and Lenny Kravitz are the three musical prodigies of my lifetime. Just love hearing you guys recollect, that is the best.
Prince’s drummer, Michael B said that Prince told the band on the day of the show that they were going to cut the last verse and Prince was going to pretend to shoot himself so he could be dragged off stage to deny Letterman the end chat. But I can’t remember the reason
Sure
That’s why the backup is dressed as an angel. Too funny!😁
Have they ever answered what building they are shooting this in? Is it a public library? Dave's presidential library? Barbara Gaines' house? What are those red objects in the room beyond the doorway?
I love Dave's new beard. It is more manageable.
I love you guys. Love you Paul. Love you Dave.
Prince getting out of talking to Dave! Lol
Prince had it right.
Don’t be offended Dave, I think it was just that Prince was very shy and didn’t want to be interviewed.
I loved your Show (wit Paul) & find myself watching old clips on UA-cam… Maybe I’m biased because I live in Fairfield Connecticut 😊 ✌️
Please,Please,Please - More of these 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I just got my hot-wheel in the mail -- thanks Dave!
"HE HAD SOME SORT OF A SEIZURE..." Only Dave can make a story about a possible seizure sound hilarious lol. I remember the end of that performance and Prince being dragged off like a corpse. Beautiful artistry from the master artist himself!
Love the Barbara Gaines show! And this was a brilliant little insight, thanks for sharing :)
Love both of them
Prince and Bowie were so talented. Unbelievably good.
I just want to point out that Dave's input to the story is that he had no input.
Here’s some inside info… The set designer had a blast building the stage for Prince performances on Leno. No limit. One night after Prince was on the show I went to see him at a venue in LA and he had the exact same set in his background. Leno let him take it. They lived close to each other in BH.
Mark Knopfler was on there quite a few times. He visited 1985 and sat in the band. He got to playing Expresso Love. Knopfler came around with a solo record and played Cannibals 1996. He sat down for an interview. He swung by with Emmylou Harris in 2006 and did This is Us.
I would say Paul McCartney was someone who said he didn't like the show. Idk if he changed his mind after appearing on. Cher was hesitant at first. Letterman had a particular reputation.
Leno might've won the rating battle, but his legacy is nothing compared to Dave's.
That is a great observation! 👍
I think the thing that makes Barbara Gaines great is the way she is able to get even the most reticent guests to talk. Watching this you'd almost think these two are naturally Chatty. She's an absolute legend.
I remember prince being on singing dolphins. It was part of his act he didnt have a seizure. Listen to the lyrics. Id rather be dead than you tell me how to swim.
I love and miss Dave ❤
You're all missing what the actual drama was there. Prince performed Dolphin on your show, which was from the Gold Experience.
Warner Bros had told Prince that the Gold Experience was unreleaseable, that it had no singles. He asked them if he could release a single from it on NPG records, and they were like "sure, try your luck."
That was The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, that hit number 1.
Then he asked if he could release the Gold Experience on NPG, and WB was like "are you kidding?!? There's a number one song on this record!"
That's why the Slave on the cheeks stuff happened. That's why the pantomimed suicide.
He was protesting something larger than himself or you, and he wanted to do it in a melodramatic way, because he was him.
Great backstory. Thank you!
Wow. You should go on the Barbara Gaines show to explain this.
@@keymusic well the whole pantomimed suicide was on the music video before he did the Letterman show, it was part of the act.
@@horrorpowerfilms9481 He might have had his bodyguard pull him off to avoid talking to Dave, but the reality is that the fake suicide was already part of the act. He filmed the Dolphin video in summer of 1994. It's release was in September of 1994. The Letterman performance was in December of 1994. And he returned in 1996. Plus, after a fake suicide, getting up and doing light hearted chit chat might have killed the mood (no pun intended)
@@behavioristbusiness7372 so that's my point, IT WAS PAR T OF THE ACT!, can't you read?
Pound for pound Letterman and Schafer had the best late nite show I've seen...equal to Carsons Tonight Show.
god bless this youtube channel.
Dave and whole band reunion show!!!
YES!!
Dave and Paul still have such great rapport (and clearly affection for each other), if they did a weekly podcast, talking about things like this without filters, it would be (easily) be a #1 hit for as long as they’d want to do it. It would also be an extraordinary chronicle of a show beloved by countless millions that’s never really had a look back commentary. They need a good facilitator for their discussions (maybe Barbara) and a small team to make this easy for both to want to participate. Dave probably thinks no one wants to hear about this…everyone over about 35 (the entire total podcast demographic) would want and love this.
How funny, Dave took the Prince news like a champ.
This info has been available for years...im sure Dave was already in the know.
lovely! Love a Price story!
More! Love these clips. Dave, please come back to late night tv!
I think this is one instance where Prince had it all wrong. Dave was such a champion of great music and actively involved in choosing guests for the show. He really loves music, and though he did book a lot of big names, he chose to raise the profile of many lesser-known eccentric artists. If you’re a musician, that should be the guy who has earned your respect. It’s also baffling to me that Prince, whose material usually challenged his audience, would prefer Jay, who was always the safe late-night comedian.
Jay never mocked his name change before introducing him. Dave did. And before people assume he couldn't take a joke at his expense, he proved that he could. But Dave was sort heavy handed about it. Both times he introduced him, he made comments about the name change that sounded less silly or irrelevant than critical in tone.
@@behavioristbusiness7372 Prince himself did not respect the name change! He only changed it to that symbol because he was trying to become enough of a nuisance to his label that they would release him from his contract. He did it _because_ it was ridiculous, so your theory doesn't add up.
@@WaitingtoHitPrince was being ribbed by Dave for doing something seemingly pretentious, so, yes, it does add up.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616No, since Prince was fully aware of how he was coming off and knew that it would be a PR disaster, it does not. He was trying to be unreasonable and hadn't explained to anyone at the time why he was doing it, so he wouldn't have expected any late-night comedian to support his weird behavior.
@@WaitingtoHit Seems like a somewhat saintly attitude you see him as having. It seems like a basic human tendency to want people to like us and say nice and respectful things about us.
this is just great. Dave is droll and funny and never offended and Paul - well this guy needs to write another book.. the first one was hilarious and chockful of
showbiz anecdotes
PAUL ROCKS
Where is this show done at, THE PUBLIC LIBRARY!? So davidesk if I may say so myself. Its good to see the 2 of you together again.
Thanks for the car, Dave. I really needed one.