Staff Favorite Moments: Producer Barbara Sheehan | Letterman

The Letterman producer looks back on her Fight Corner, Chris Elliott as Marlon Brando and more.
#barbarasheehan #chriselliott #letterman
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Welcome to the Letterman KZbin Channel, home to all your favorite clips from Late Night and Late Show - as well as conversations with the writers, producers and performers who helped make it all happen. The language may strike you as quaint & flowery, the clothing comically lacey & ornate - but that’s how things were back in this colorful and now bygone era.

[@dongiller]

Fun fact: The Mummenschanz cast were Late Night writers Gerard Mulligan (Fork) as either “Ingrid” or “Gretchen,” depending on the segment; Matt Wickline (in his recurring role as Hot Dog) as either “Helmut” or “Hans”; Sandy Frank (Spoon) as “Klaus”; and Chris Elliott (Toilet Paper) as “Gunther.” Someone told me there’s a Late Night Mummenschanz collection on some loser’s KZbin channel.

[@MegaPrincefox]

not a loser

[@pdempsey]

Array boss, where's the lighting cigarettes clip? My head is spinning!

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Not our channel. Must be some other loser.

[@rocketreindeer]

Ha ha ha!

[@clownnookie]

That 'loser' that you so crudely refer to is my hero and good friend, Don Giller. Stuff it, rude-guy !

[@elizabethlarson9655]

Her deadpan delivery is really pretty wonderful.

[@dongiller]

Fun Fact #2: The Larry Bud torch-lighting occurred on the 8th-Anniversary special, held at the L.A. Universal Amphitheater. Taped January 24, 1990, it aired at prime time on February 1. In that broadcast, Calvert ascended the steps but stopped two short of the top, then delivered his line nearly flawlessly. In the regularly-scheduled Late Night that followed Carson that same evening (taped earlier that day), the show ended with the botched outtake that’s shown here. In this take, Calvert climbed all the way to the top, where evidently the newly-lit flame obstructed his view of the cue cards. I’m guessing that the botched outtake came from the anniversary show’s afternoon taping, while the corrected take came from the evening taping, the solution for a better line-of-sight access to the cue cards lying in Calvert stopping two steps shy of the top, below the flame rather than behind it.

[@kstepko]

The best part of this was when she starts giggling at 15:20 and can barely get the words out. Thank you for including that!

[@royrowland5763]

Jim Belushi, the king of comedic talents, saying Chris Elliott's Brando is a bad imitation, sounds about right. That whoosh you hear is something actually funny going over Jim Belushi's head.

[@ronniechilds2002]

It might be the average amount of talent in the room rapidly dropping as soon as he enters it.

[@winonafrog]

“Im begging you, on my hands and knees like a Dog-dont put croutons in it!” 😂

[@qthelost]

Barbara, please give us a part two. We like you. We actually like you.

[@johnpelletier7641]

Barbara Sheehan is very charming, and also very talented. She doesn't give herself enough credit. So much legendary Dave stuff that you don't even remember because there were so many classic TV comedy moments.

[@gerrydooley951]

yes she was

[@LDBetaGuy]

What a treat to see Barbara Sheehan again! I always loved her appearances on the show.

[@Mo_Taser]

That may be the nicest, sweetest woman I've ever seen.

[@alancialino]

No argument here.

[@justinkoenig1706]

I'd love to see the episode of Letterman with Charles Grodin when shared his new interest in photography. His photos were absolutely terrible and it was hilarious.

[@clownnookie]

The lovely Don Giller has you covered. Just KZbin:Charles Grodin Collection on Letterman, Part 1 of 7: 1982-88 eNJOY!

[@Writebrain82]

The spot with Scorsese's mother was a real hilarious bit. More big-time directors should go on late-night shows with their mothers. :-D

[@lynnturman8157]

ha ha....the way she looked at Dave when he asked what he wore when he came over for dinner.

[@alewicke]

The musicologist, at 1:44, is David Fanshawe and the music is his "African Sanctus". We did it in college. AMAZING!!

[@UberNeuman]

I've never been moved by a Stingray. Until now. lol. Thanks for the memories, Barbara!

[@madderred69]

Chris Elliott as Brando:”If I may be so bold”

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

I love how Letterman's official team finally embraced Don Giller's entire Late Night archive; those Barbara Sheehan-intro's on the repeats, what a find 😁👏

[@scotta9735]

The stingray bit is a classic. The letterman golden years

[@proto-geek248]

Barbara, your stingray voice-over was poignantly hilarious. Never sell short your innate comedy talents.

[@oldmoviesinbwwithsubtitles3501]

I am so damn happy you guys are doing these look back segments.

[@jazzjokesjalopies]

The use of non-performers on the staff…it just worked. 😂

[@Redmenace96]

Nice lady, and her choice of segments was very much the zany, obscure bits that I enjoyed so much.

[@RichardHandal301]

Just too much. Excited to see the long departed David Fanshawe. He was promoting his album Musical Mariner, which was mostly his own recordings made traveling around islands of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, all made on 7" reels with his portable Nagra deck. He documented all this ethnographic music that would have otherwise been lost. It’s archived in Australia. I couldn’t believe when you had him on as I already loved his album so much. There had been a two-hour doc series on PBS. I wonder if Chris Elliott has any memories of the show that he might be persuaded to share with us? He could do one in each of his characters and have clips with his dad. “…ly Ballou, here.”

[@JackSilbert]

Ms Sheehan is a delight!! Thank you so much for this.

[@porcorosso999]

Love these segments! Endless entertainment.

[@hobodivine5776]

Barbara has a beautiful voice, kind of reminds me of the French Pop singers from the 60's (Yé-Yé). These were great clips thank you for sharing!

[@ScottSelva]

Another home run with the staff favorites! I can't imagine the work that goes into producing these and they're excellent every time. I also appreciate how the channel will post the longer version of a segment mentioned in the video. Keep all of it coming!

[@robclarkson5356]

Awesome Barbara, thank you!

[@hinthegroove9740]

I love every post, but this is one of the best ones 😊

[@stevencamilli9528]

Love you, Barbara!

[@Longshot_NYC]

I loved Chris' Brando impression. I thought it was great 'cause it highlighted Brando's unique mindset.

[@johnpelletier7641]

It's just too absurd that Jim Belushi didn't get that Chris's Brando was a bit and not an impression.

[@UberNeuman]

@@johnpelletier7641 Jim Belushi doesn't get a lot of things.

[@leebrock4783]

​@@johnpelletier7641 But it was an impression. And a bit. And hilarious. I'll bet Belushi has a different take on this now than he had then.

[@raymondm.9954]

The banana dance.

[@johnpelletier7641]

@@UberNeuman Yes, Jim has never exactly been his brother John talent-wise.

[@dorklyasmr6017]

She is as adorable now as she was then. She was always SO uncomfortable on each segment; yet so seemingly game.

[@danpatrick9080]

Chris elliot never breaks from sketch

[@mikemcf33]

that guy is so underrated. He’s a riot. remember his show “Get a Life”?

[@allendracabal0819]

I don't remember him once ever breaking. If he did he covered it well.

[@catherinegigliotti1368]

This was hysterical..thanks

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

It's always the quiet ones!

[@alancialino]

Legendary, inside stuff.

[@thelettermanpodcast]

Ok, look. Barbara is great. This package was great. The memories were great. However, we need to make perfectly clear, twenty Canadian Dollars goes to the first person to send us the clip of Shecky trying to light a cigarette.

[@JCO2002]

I'll kick in another 20 C$.

[@alancialino]

The Shecky rehearsal was what had the staff and crew in disbelief. Hilarious and stunning. The tape must exist somewhere.

[@chasscollard4254]

I’ll also throw in 1,000 Rubles and an autographed photo of Putin as he mysteriously falls off a 40 story building.

[@chenzenzo]

I've got every Letterman episode ever on betamax and VHS

[@thelettermanpodcast]

@@chenzenzo outstanding

[@Roy-G-Biv]

Love these videos from Letterman staff. They all seem to be living a nice life in some fancy digs. good for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheJuniorMints]

Thank you Barbara! I hope there's a Part 2...

[@qthelost]

Stingray -- "I am proud of my many offspring, some of whom I have cannibalized."

[@mattwcody]

Best one yet

[@KungEMuller]

Wow! Barbara has truly done a lot of great things despite the fact that she doesn't call herself great. That is a true legend right there.

[@allendracabal0819]

I am completely jealous of anyone who worked there in the early years. They were part of a remarkable moment in television history.

[@KungEMuller]

@@allendracabal0819 I know. Dave had a lot of people helping him out over the years, and those people helped him change late night TV.

[@bdwon]

Sheehan is so funny

[@winonafrog]

♥️ what a sweetie

[@pauld.172]

It looks like there were two Barbara Sheehan weeks. The first was definitely during the 1987 technicians strike. The red carpet seen in the other, I think, was there in 1989 but stand to be corrected.

[@allendracabal0819]

I know of one guy out there who can definitively resolve this. Hopefully he sees your comment some day, and sets us all straight.

[@lynnturman8157]

"I'm proud of my offspring, some of whom I cannabalized." Nobody ever said parenting was easy.

[@5454randy]

Yes, the stingray is back!

[@NoellaScott]

We need a compilation of Dave being uncomfortable with people dancing in front of him. He always seems disgusted. I feel like that's a deep well headlined by Mr. Chris Elliott.

[@adamcady5546]

That pig bit did me in

[@allendracabal0819]

You could tell that the pig really loved him.

[@Squidbillies1000]

Barbara we miss Dave and his staff.

[@JasonMolter]

Who can solve this Letterman mystery for me? There was a blonde woman who'd stand by the doors leading out to the hallway where Dave would sometimes walk out to for hijinx. It wasn't Barbara Sheehan. Often she'd be holding a clipboard or something. Who was that staffer?

[@dongiller]

Perhaps Makeup Artist Candy Carrell, though I don’t recall her holding a clipboard.

[@JasonMolter]

@@dongiller That's it! Definitely! Thanks so much! One more piece of Letterman trivia solved for me.

[@dianewinters8628]

😎

[@paulailey5373]

10:28 is that Jimmy Kimmel??!!

[@allendracabal0819]

Probably not. He looks kind of similar, but not really that close. Young Jimmy was also a bit overweight, moreso than the guy here.

[@mannybravo237]

Yeah!; i was born ina same hospital as Molly Ringwald!!!!...that's my claim to fame lol! 🏨👼🏻👩🏽‍🍼😄

[@delavan9141]

I love her soft humble voice, it's rather sexy.

[@robotshaman1779]

Hmmm did Barbara sleep over at the office too?

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Don't chew gum on camera. Dave would not approve and he'd make you hand it over.