Staff Favorite Moments: Writer Jeff Martin | Letterman

The "Late Night" writer remembers Paul Shaffer's overacting, his role as Flunky the Clown, the "Late Night" anthem and more.
#Jeffmartin #flunkytheclown #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. These highlights have been artisanly-produced, carefully-curated, and chosen completely at random by an old computer that used to pick numbers for the New York Lotto back in the 90’s.

[@229BlackHat]

The coins not fitting together was genius

[@kstepko]

I had never seen it before: hilarious!

[@jolio81]

I haven't had a laugh like that in a while

[@johnnycranberry9992]

Unexpected but inevitable

[@dongiller]

Fun Fact on the Late Night Anthem: In April 2017, I received a Certified Mail from a woman in North Carolina. It read, in part: [quote] I was born and raised in New York City. 104th Street and Central Park West to be exact. For Elementary School, I attended P.S. 145, which is located on 104th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue. It was while I was a student there, that in the third or fourth grade, I got a call to appear on the Late [Night]. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I and three other children were selected to sing-a-song during the introduction to the show. The words were as follows: "It's a Late Night World, It's a world that we can share. So turn on your T.V. and watch it with me, it's a Late Night World of Love." We were accompanied by Paul Shaffer and the Late [Night] Band. [end quote] She went on to say that she had never seen the performance and asked if I could help. It turns out that I had recently uploaded it onto YT and emailed her the link. (She’s the young black child in the “chorus”). This is when this stuff is worth the effort.

[@gregl666]

Without you we would have been starving for great Letterman content. Thank you for bearing the torch during our long national nightmare!

[@bad_take_billy]

@@gregl666 Agreed!

[@Area_Man]

I hope the Letterman folks have done right by you.

[@dongiller]

@@Area_Man I get 10% off on Taco Friday in the Pants cafeteria. Sweet.

[@GeoffNelson]

Thank you, Don!!

[@SNESdrunk]

One of my all time favorites. He also wrote "A Streetcar Named Marge" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"

[@calvinsaxon5822]

"You can always depend...on the kindness of strangers!"

[@HorseTeethModano]

I see you pop up in more of the videos I watch than anyone else!

[@nitedreamer23]

He played Flunky the Clown perfectcly--and the writing was killer. Great memories. "Yeah, right."

[@pwk22]

Flunky must have had the worst prostate in the US. You know, carnival food.

[@kstepko]

Love when Dave ad libs a joke on the fly as he walks past the person stationed at the studio door: “Lovely wedding, wasn’t it?”

[@ClapYourHairFlip]

The Anton sketch was amazing! A perfect late night comedy bit.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

The camera operator tried his best lol bless him

[@FloraWest]

"It's a Late Night World" has been part of my internal jukebox since this first ad. Dave peeking through the bouquet is a bit I've used many times, and I've only remembered where that came from watching this clip. Thanks for this, Jeff.

[@JackSilbert]

Chris Elliott bopping during the Late Night Anthem is one of my all-time favorite TV moments. Thanks for all the laughs, Jeff!!

[@herrwabbaloo937]

That’s why I’ve always loved Chris Elliot, and any other comedians who take that one little thing and emphasize it just enough to not only make what he’s doing funny, but also the fact that it comes from something so off it just adds to it. Maybe more of a “it’s funny to me,” rather than, “it would be funny to the audience.”

[@rockturtleneck]

This is great--I totally forgot about "It's a Late Night World" -- my favorite is Chris Elliot singing in the back row like he's Kenny Loggins in We are the World.

[@mcdarwin]

I was gonna say something similar, totally straight out of the We Are The World video with the rocking back and forth! 🤣

[@tastyjay]

For some reason, I'm FASCINATED by what sparked the "Are you an actor?" / "Actually, I'm an actor/singer" gag. I think they did it around five to eight times? I assume that the writes auditioned someone for one of their segments and some actor said that to them. It's one of my favorite under-the-radar, non-jokes from Late Night.

[@ThymeKeeper]

One of my favorites. The Flunky the Clown collection is go-to viewing for me on KZbin :D.

[@nitedreamer23]

always!

[@FloraWest]

"We've killed two actor-singers! It's like killing four people!"

[@kstepko]

“He was an actor, singer, dancer! He had the world stretched out in front of him!”

[@fortedrummer3026]

"The actor-singer is dead!" was my first favorite recurring "Late Night" comedy bit when I was a new nightly viewer in 1986. "It's not like an ordinary person! I mean, someone in the entertainment world!"

[@raywood8187]

I loved the long lost son coin bit! The best comedy is the stuff that takes a twist to catch you completely by surprise.

[@TransoceanicOutreach]

Caught you by surprise? It was obvious as soon as the guy took the first coin out.

[@ZachJenkins]

What a treat. I love hearing from the writers, generally, but this one is particularly exciting because of the unusual amount of time I’ve spent listening to Mr. Jeff Martin on Norm Macdonald’s Masters telecasts. Time to dive in.

[@bernlin2000]

Paul really sold that actor-singer performance, wow! I don't think Letterman could have done the same show without Paul, such a treasure.

[@theodoreeisele]

Genius! Lots of great bits. The one with Anton Figg and Dave was making me shake with laughter.

[@Czechbound]

We only got Letterman occasionally on very late night TV in Ireland. One of the funniest thing I ever saw, was the first time I ever watched it : I think the AirCon had gone out in the studio, so they were up in Letterman's office, and he was showing where he would throw pencils up to stick in the ceiling tiles, and he managed to convince Terri Garr to have a shower in his personal bathroom at the outro. That was some weird TV stuff I'd never seen before. I was hooked ...

[@akbarlebowitz8151]

From New York! Hellhole of the Americas. It's Late Night with David Letterman.

[@antisepticmanor]

Tom Bosley is not leaving Happy Days. He's just taking three weeks off to do a made for TV movie called The Magic Pants.

[@RobLives4Love]

I unironically love Late Night World of Love.

[@allendracabal0819]

It's much better than "It's Raining Men".

[@jacobjames8782]

I remember a few years back when Jeff Martin did a roundtable discussion with Conan O'Brien and a few other Simpson's writers and he mentioned something about old Letterman bits that'll never see the light of day again. Glad to see he got to unearth some of his favorite stuff from the Late Night years. Flunky rules.

[@namj8145]

If God gave me the chance to relive any moment in life, I think watching Late Night in the 80s couldn't be topped.

[@catholicdad]

Late Night was a big part of my six year bachelor's degree! I still miss it.

[@bbartky]

@@catholicdadSame! It was, by far, my favorite show during my college years. And yes, it also took me a “bit” long than four years to get my bachelor’s degree. 😂

[@Jombafomb]

Late Night of Love also sounded like “Sending Our Love Down the Well”

[@allendracabal0819]

There was probably some influence there.

[@TheJuniorMints]

Jeff, “Yeah right, was always my favorite thing about Flunky! Thank you for the laughs!❤️❤️

[@mackdaddyg321]

Man alive, this was a solid set of clips! Excellent writing.

[@CatJabZ]

Openly wept during "it's A Late Night World" Excellent collection of favorites!

[@ThymeKeeper]

Funny that his name was Simpson in the book bit :).

[@GrantTarredus]

I remember most of these so well. You added laughs and happiness to my life, and I appreciate it so much. Thanks!

[@chrisgullo3893]

The drummer interview bit is killer

[@davidfuller764]

Anton the drummer crushed it!!! Just as you said. Well done.

[@arlLaFong]

I've always admired Jeff Martin. He's never been jealous of his brother's (Steve) fame.

[@carlodave9]

What disturbs me is I remember almost all of these. What was I doing with my youth?! Shouldn’t I have been in bed?

[@chriszuhars2120]

I was wondering when someone would bring up the Late Night Anthem! I remember my sides aching from laughter after replaying it on the VCR. (That’s an early form of TiVo for the youngsters out there.) My friends and I talked about it for days afterwards. That’s back when we called him, “Dave”, not “Letterman”. He had the best writers and staff on television. Pure. Comedy. Gold.

[@PainBreadzky]

Dude. No ‘youngsters’ know TiVo, I hate to tell ya.

[@allendracabal0819]

​@@PainBreadzkyHis footnotes need footnotes.

[@keithpl5438]

"Bill Crosby and Hill Street Station"😆😆

[@TheKarlos]

YES! I've been waiting for Jeff Martin to do this!

[@mikeballew8385]

By gosh, I memorized the Late Night anthem after one hearing and have been singing it at random for the last 35 years or so!

[@gersonkphone]

@9:20 I feel like Jeff and/or George were thinking of this bit with the Lincoln monument scene in the Simpsons ep Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington (credited to George Meyer, but while Jeff was still on staff.)

[@mladent1464]

Jeff, I doubt you'll ever see this, but if you do, thank you for shaping my sense of humor in my early childhood through your work on The Simpsons. I am also in awe that you had the chance to work with giants like Conan, Letterman and Norm Macdonald. You're therefore also a legend.

[@Longetty]

Jeff brought a calming influence to the Peace Through Dramatization Players

[@elinblackburn7345]

hey dave, thanks for going to jeff’s house and filming this interview with him.

[@rma6070]

The late night Anthem I really thought Dave and Paul and the world's most dangerous band would sing this in their very last show in 2015 I pictured Paul and Dave getting on horses and literally riding off down the avenue into the sunset. That would have been an awesome way to end😎👍 the Foo Fighters ending was surprising but it was a cool ending though👍

[@allendracabal0819]

NBC owned it. But anyway, by the end of the show, they had completely forgotten about the style of humor that was pervasive in the early days of the show.

[@MarkSchmidbauer]

I wore out my videotape playing and replaying the late night anthem.

[@brandontylerburt]

I've been really enjoying these "writer favorites" segments. Jeff Martin is pretty gallant: About half of his favorite picks were bits written by colleagues on the show. A class act! That bit with the chain letter and the actor-singer really is a tour-de-force for Paul. Apropos of remembered favorites, one viewer mail segment has always stuck with me in which the viewer asked, "What does Dave have in his coffee mug?" So then of course the writers just took off with that and the segment launched into a surreal film montage listing any number of random products (I think "hearty vegetables" got the biggest laugh, in that way absurdist humor which couldn't possibly get a laugh on any other program somehow killed on Late Night). Loved the show, thank you for sharing these with us!

[@artanisknarf]

11:20 This reminds me a lot of the “Mr. Thompson” Simpsons bit where they go into the witness protection program.

[@d.e.7467]

I was hoping to see the bit when Dave had the hood of a car up and asking a passersby for advice. Dave pulled out the oil dip stick and licks it clean.

[@allendracabal0819]

When it's your turn to make a Favorite Memories video, you can include that one.

[@gregruland1934]

Thanks for the memories, Jeff/Flunky/Dave. Much love and respect.

[@andrewherman5010]

Flunky will rule for all time. Never get tired of watching these old bits. Current late-night shows are 100% crap.

[@joesimon2018]

Paul: "He's DEAD!"

[@markh.5683]

Just gotta love the credit Letterman shares. Be the same.

[@petewhite85]

THANK YOU!!!!!!

[@JonBlondell]

Thank you, I really enjoy your work!!

[@Kylefassbinderful]

My dad remembers coming home from school on June 19, 1963 and his parents were talking about Dave mixing the beans on BEAN-O-RAMA. It was all anybody talked about that summer.

[@pwk22]

I've often said, "I'm old enough to remember when David Letterman was funny." This was that time. The show was renegade and surreal before it became banal and establishment. They pelted us with rocks and garbage.

[@raggededge82]

even by the end the show was funny, but the early days... I was born in 82 so I just missed it. this channel has been such a joy to watch.

[@thefrontpage]

Comedy gold. We need this again. Just classic, funny comedy gold.

[@byamrcn]

"The actor-singer is dead!" would not get out of my head for days afterwards. Fun to see it again.

[@KeiuroFanForever]

This is AWESOME! Thanks for making this and thanks for the laughs :D

[@markbtelevision]

The clown is One of the greatest characters in the history of letterman.

[@marcthompson3665]

Yeah, right.

[@thomasmartinscott]

It's about time that the "sidemen" and behind the scenes people were recognized. Good Job!

[@bpivr]

“Infected” Perfect

[@cynthiamason4069]

Yes, the complete genius of the coins not fitting! Brings up thoughts of Fractured Fairy Tales from Rocky and Bull Winkler.

[@Richie8a8y]

Great stuff. Thank You for the laughs

[@TheKarlos]

We need more Flunky the Clown!

[@vrvaughn]

We absolutely need more Flunky the Clown

[@kstepko]

“Yeah, right.” Also: yeah! Right!

[@Brian-uy2tj]

I love these segments. They were amazingly subtle, all things considered. He is so casual about his smoking and his comments about having some non-fatal but very icky disease. This should have put an end to clowns everywhere, for all time.

[@markfields]

Love the Anton Figg bit

[@paulytamale]

Glad to see this channel is trying to get the #flunkytheclown hashtag going!

[@KaninTuzi]

What an amazing bit, that first bit

[@tubor70]

I knew Jeff was Flunky, but I didn't know he was the actor/singer. Loved it and his Flunky catch phrase "It's a real panic." I once wrote into viewer mail asking if Flunky was actually Dave's brother or cousin hoping they would use that just to see more of him. A low energy clown that smoked on TV, it was so original. Miss the original Late Night...

[@fourscoreand9884]

Hey Flunky, hope carnival-goers have been having more luck keeping the dogs down.

[@i.p.knightly149]

22:45 Dave's proudest moment ever. Oh ya, Jeff.... have a good weekend.

[@AztecHusBone]

You were Flunky the Clown? Can't even

[@qthelost]

When I was watching these shows back in the 80's I saw Jeff Martin in a lot of bits, but I never made the connection back then that HE was Flunky.

[@keithmorgan742]

Man, the Letterman Show used to be so whacky. It was the island of misfit comedy bits. It was sooooo different from every other talk show.

[@dianewinters8628]

Let freedom ring. It's a Late Night World."

[@simonscott1121]

Trivia: Anton Fig played on a few KISS albums, is Ace Frehley's drummer, and was technically in KISS for less than a day.

[@JonBlondell]

Great writing!!

[@GeoffNelson]

So funny. Of course I remember Flunky but I forgot and the actor/singer

[@a_plus]

Loved how the LN Anthem ended the NBC run, really would've loved a reason for it to show up on the end of the Late Show.

[@thomassalyers1391]

“Carnival food”,,,,,

[@Tranquillado]

Without the Internet in the ’80s it took a long time to learn that wasn’t the real Grant Tinker who appeared on LNwDL.

[@JCO2002]

I always thought that was Grant Tinker!

[@allendracabal0819]

I think it was fairly obvious. The real Grant Tinker wouldn't have repeatedly called Dave "Tom".

[@progressiveRAMONETTI]

Jeff´s awesome

[@catholicdad]

OMG! I could never find this! One of my favorite bits. The actor/singer is dead! Loved Flunkie too. Thanks for your great contributions.

[@johnenwright500]

He was also a dancer

[@catholicdad]

@@johnenwright500 That's like 3 people! Oh the humanity!

[@billcurtin7521]

Really funny! There was a skit on what dave was like at home that was hilarious and i Jeff was in it or wrote it or both

[@christophermiller3031]

I'm legitimately curious ... On average... How long does it take to find a clip that is declared a favorite by a staff member? I'm also really curious if this is part of a project to digitize the old film reels in storage or what!? The amount of work that it would take to make a video like this is definitely appreciated by me

[@royalsfan]

Ask Donz

[@mackdaddyg321]

Indeed, ask Don.

[@christophermiller3031]

@@mackdaddyg321 maybe the Donz will see this comment thread one day... lemme know if you do Don! If so... a question just for Don: How large would it be if you added up the capacity of all the digital storage you use?

[@killmimes]

Why doesn't Flunky have his own KZbin channel????

[@petew5399]

sounds like Jeff took that arrangement and used it for the Flaming Moe's song lol

[@Paulafan5]

Flaming Moe's has more of a Cheers vibe to it.

[@artanisknarf]

Obviously riffing on Cheers, but you can hear it in this song. I checked my Songs in the Key of Springfield CD, and he is credited as sole writer of “Flaming Moes”.

[@markhyatt3410]

Looking good Jeff. Love from everyone at Astroworld

[@robbieclark7828]

We killed two actor singers! That’s like killing four people!

[@escapemac]

The Late Night anthem is genius.

[@Brian-uy2tj]

Flunky's the best. He was so subtle and understated.

[@TheLadsBandLive]

I was just singing this to myself for no particular reason this morning. What's next, a deep dive on Dress Cool?? GET OUT OF MY HEAD, KZbin!!!

[@jamesa7506]

17:56 has got to be how every clown ,EVER, must feel before (and probably after) every performance.

[@dmblum1]

I dig Paul's sunglasses in the viewer mail bit.

[@Czechbound]

Holy moly, if that picture represents all the production staff, there are more people producing an interview show than they had in the studio every night. That's where nobody was looking at the budget. Just crazy

[@EdDunkle]

It takes a lot of people to make a TV show. I was an accountant on Big Brother and we had around 400 people being paid to make a really crappy show.

[@allendracabal0819]

​@@EdDunkleIt's impressive that you admit that. I tip my hat to you.

[@milquetowst]

Can someone explain to me what the computer store joke at 10:40 means/was meant to mean, and why it got that reaction?

[@johnenwright500]

I think it was supposed to bomb At least that's how I took it

[@allendracabal0819]

I think it was supposed to be analagous to a lonely guy who can't get a girlfriend and who therefore goes to "gentlemen's clubs" to get lap dances. Basically, a twist on that idea.

[@douglasjohnson4382]

Good anthem!

[@aviation3530]

Is this a bit? His favorite parts from letterman were “before his time” on letterman?

[@allendracabal0819]

Not a bit. He mentioned the first gag to explain why he wanted to join that show. Some other videos in this series similarly have the presenter introducing their favorite bits from before they joined the show.

[@DJ-bj8ku]

Flunkie’s attitude reminds me of Eric the Clown

[@DaftSwank]

Flunky The Late Night Viewer Mail Clown . . . 🤣😂🤣😂

[@davidbaise5137]

The cue card guys have a Union!

[@daboys1215]

Everyone rise (if they are able), remove your cap and sing along with us, the Late Night Anthem.

[@HeyMySock]

One of my favorites! THE ACTOR SINGER IS DEAD! It's like killing FOUR PEOPLE!