Dave Edits Out a Joke on Letterman, March 25, 1987

[@andyrose5616]

I recently bumped into Fran Cimino in a Facebook group and asked her about this. Here is her response: "yes.. actually that was one of the last days i worked on letterman.. i was pregnant with my second son and this was dave's "gift" to me, as we were paid for speaking appearance.. needless to say, i am terribly afraid of "on camera" appearances..."

[@sadiehallinger1401]

This is what Television should be. I'm glad it existed in my lifetime. Thanks for sharing!

[@danieldougan269]

Dave was a maniac. I feel like he lost a lot of his edge when he moved to the 11:30 timeslot on CBS and had to appeal to a broader audience. His NBC show was a work of art.

[@davidmeichner8346]

Dave was unlike anything on TV.

[@tastyjay]

I just LOVE when they take the camera around 30 Rock. It give a permanence to the time and place of the show. Really fascinating. Also love how he set him up for the "cold shoulder and hot tongue" joke. Goddamn, I loved this show.

[@voidgap]

I'm glad Dave confirmed that he show always sticks to the tape.

[@RichfilmsRL]

Saw it when it aired, never forgot it, found it trippy. Great post...

[@singlesideman]

This is so meta my brain hurts.

[@mikeavguy]

I really enjoyed that, Don. You're a tremendous archivist. Thanks for posting it.

[@dongiller]

I dunno about that, but thanks. :)

[@ericpark8784]

@@dongiller you’re a f’n master archivist, sir

[@voicetube]

This really illustrates how INCREDIBLY REVOLUTIONARY… nonlinear editing ended up really changing the industry! Now, yeah, one could actually cut AUDIO tape with a razor blade (in some instances) & splice, but with a videotape, I think because the heads are so delicate (WERE so delicate, sorry… LOL!) you couldn't really splice videotape but would have to bounce to ANOTHER tape - CRAZY just thinking about the difference between then and now.

[@AlBundyOz]

Yep! Needed about 500kg of equipment just to do a location stand up.... Now all you need is a mobile phone - which is more powerful than the $50,000 ENG kits!! Robotic studio cameras.....it's all gone to hell.

[@Nicedesk]

Actually you could cut videotape and make a frame accurate edit that would maintain video sync, I believe it was possible on 2" formats because they were not helical scan. You needed a magnifying glass or microscope(or something..I forget) to see where the frame was recorded onto the tape and literally sliced the tape between the frame infomation "blocks" and taped the backside of the videotape together. Later video formats were helical scan, meaning the frames of video were laid down at angle (so more information would fit onto a given height of tape), so cutting straight across the tape would destroy a frame of information, and probably create other problems. An experienced video engineer explained all this to me when I first started in television production.

[@voicetube]

@@Nicedesk wow, I did not know that. Fascinating. I seem to recall that most editors would use multiple machines and do the copy/transfer technique etc.

[@Nicedesk]

@@voicetube kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIOVe32Kj7mHf9U maybe interesting for you. This footage was shot on film, then transferred to video tape and physically cut for edits.

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

I wrote an article about the Dutch TV Archives and how workflow has changed over the years since, and I just had to share this one little video on there. Thanks Don 😄

[@michaelstein7850]

I worked for a small station in Canada in 2005, and the station still had this type of tape recorder in use.

[@albertdesigncompany6964]

Pete doesn't understand that things work even better for Dave when things don't work.

[@jamessmithe5490]

K Mart remnants; he had a genuine grudge against GE

[@johnnyballenatl]

These days, everything is recorded onto drives, which makes editing out any jokes that bombed (even if it’s minutes before broadcast) a breeze. But for posterity’s sake, they’re still archived to tape.

[@GENETICANGRY]

Don this footage you have been posting is amazing. Always loved Letterman but missed the Late Night show completely. Too young I guess. Thanks alot.

[@dongiller]

I've been hearing that a lot these days -- folks either too young or too far away to have been aware of Dave's NBC years. I find that amazing and am gratified you and they are now seeing this stuff. It's what made Dave famous, and it's what got him to his CBS show.

[@GENETICANGRY]

it's so good. hope to see more weird stuff like this coming...fits my humor perfectly and i can see why conan kept that style while on late night. seemed like when dave went to cbs the show changed, or at least i'm assuming that. guess that's growin up tho

[@sk8terboi10003]

I vaguely remember Dave on NBC as a very young child I'm 32 now

[@helgedell]

@@dongiller You're also creating a vault of treasures for the ones of us who are borned and live in countries that didnt air these show and only knows Lettermans shows from the last 10-15 years. Thanks.

[@clickr73]

Classic Dave on remote camera 📹!

[@richardyoon4209]

Dave in his sneakers was always peak Dave to me.

[@dianewinters8628]

Cool process

[@sayhibobbi]

2:59 There's a news team: Chuck Scarborough, Jack Cafferty, Sue Simmons, and Pat Harper.

[@jeffreyfletcher1780]

I downloaded the video, edited it on iMovie.

[@kathleenlovett1958]

OMG - 35 YEARS AGO, and I remember it like yesterday (can't remember that either)🥸❤️

[@VillemarMxO]

Just like the Palace of Versailles!

[@JackRainfield]

Thanks for your work Don. I wonder if the Fugitive Guy idea came from Pete Basil?

[@Nicedesk]

Doing a segment like this was so technically complicated in 1987 that it required smart people at most levels of production and lots of money to execute. Not so much nowadays.

[@USALeonHeart]

Yeah, thinking about this being filmed live to tape and then EDITED in real time as well is just sickeningly complex to consider. My dad worked in this field for USAF broadcasting and I'd imagine this shit blew him away at the time.

[@janjohansenmusic]

Fran’s baby is 34 now 😀

[@voicetube]

That's science fictiony!

[@JDtheEE]

Her baby has probably graduated College and well into it's career.

[@jpetes9046]

The “baby” is now 35 years old!

[@RageTVHTX]

Damn dude youve got it all! I remember watching this and i noticed the skip in the video and soon afterwards we're taken down into the videotape room to see exactly what happened. What confused me was that were seeing this all unfold as its being recorded but Fran was able to wind back the tape and edit out the joke. Wasnt all of this being recorded onto the same tape?

[@dongiller]

I asked Brian McAloon, who sat next to Pete Fatovich about this. He told me that they had 4 videotapes going to make sure this little bit worked.

[@RageTVHTX]

Cool. Thanks for that info

[@dontrockwobble]

Ah, at first I thought Dave called an audible here but it makes more sense that the bit was pre-planned. Just curious though, what would have happened if the joke didn't tank?

[@johnnyballenatl]

So one of them is the “master tape” with the bombed joke and another is the “edited master” (the one that was broadcast) without.

[@dunebasher1971]

It took careful planning and rehearsal to make this bit look spontaneous. Of course, anyone who worked in TV would have known what was involved.

[@funeralbillii9172]

Fran's Baby is now 31!!

[@EricJMontoya]

Fran's baby was a still born

[@Longshot_NYC]

Cold shoulder and hot tongue OMG... 4:06

[@StevenTorrey]

The "baby" would be 34 by now,

[@jnadle1]

Were there other times Dave had to go to the control room or any other place backstage?

[@dongiller]

Many, many times.

[@sk8terboi10003]

Dave could go wherever he wanted thats what was great about letterman you never knew what he'd do

[@jasonburchett3531]

I just realized when Dave was talking about Bob Villa making screen doors that this was the same episode where Chris Elliot did his epic Paul Shaffer impersonation. Well worth a viewing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJLGnJ-VqrqdfdE

[@dongiller]

Shaffer; Paul Shaffer.

[@asadashraf2128]

Who are they editing out for? 😆

[@jnadle1]

What date was about the first time the intro to the show started with a zoom-in of the building instead of an overhead shot of the lights going out?

[@dongiller]

Fifth Anniversary Special, February 7, 1987.

[@jnadle1]

So it was from that point on that the intro was simply zooming through various buildings as well as various other places. Was the 10th Anniversary show the first time we saw 3D computer graphics that would be reworked slightly for most of the final season?

[@dongiller]

I plan to put up a compilation of every different LN opening montage. Will document dates then.

[@jnadle1]

OK, thank you.

[@NP-ip3nj]

Do you have a compilation of Pete Fadovich saying "Who gives a rat's ass!" ?

[@dongiller]

I don’t, nor do I see a need for one.

[@NP-ip3nj]

@@dongiller Ah well. Thanks for replying.

[@abe_froman8360]

Cold shoulder and hot tongue LOL