Paul Shaffer Guests, Talks About New Book with David Letterman

Longtime David Letterman sidekick Paul Shaffer appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Tuesday night. Not that Paul Shaffer, who has been David Letterman's musical director for forever, isn't usually on "The Late Show" -- he is usually ensconced behind a wall of keyboards in the band section -- but on Thursday he appeared as a guest. Shaffer has been making the morning show rounds and doing interviews to promote his new book, We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives, and Letterman apparently thought it a good idea to let the music man out from behind his keyboard array to share a few anecdotes from his memoir on the same day as the book's release. With all the scrutiny directed at the show since the scandal broke with Letterman's telling of the extortion / "confession" story on Thursday's program, not to mention the seriousness brought to "The Late Show" desk by David Letterman's apology to his wife Monday night, letting Paul Shaffer regale the audience with his over-the-top stories of his life's travels turned out to be a winning idea.

Dave could not stop laughing.

An incorrigible name-dropper, Paul Shaffer sat at Letterman's side and talked about music, told a few stories (so the audience would know that We'll Be Here For The Rest of Our Lives is worth reading) and had David Letterman laughing the entire time. As Paul Shaffer told his stories, David Letterman seemed fully at ease, only tossing in a prompt or quick comment here and there. Besides a Robin Williams interview, where the comedian has been known to ad lib an entire interview after the first introduction or question, Paul Shaffer's may have been one of the easiest interviews Letterman has ever conducted. They seemed like friendly opposites -- two buddies, one tacit and the other garrulous, enjoying each other's company.

Paul Shaffer has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982. Some have found his echoes of Letterman's phrases and his use of out-of-date slang ("hip," "groovy," "cat," "swingin'") a little annoying, but many found it just quirky enough to work with Letterman's dry Midwest sense of humor. An occasional zinger or off-the-cuff remark in addition to his segment jingles made him an interesting, unpredictable part of the show and, over the years, a fixture that helped make "The Late Show with David Letterman" the show that it is.

On Tuesday night, Shaffer was like a little kid who has had to keep his exciting news bottled up for far too long. He was a great intro for KISS, the night's musical guest, the hard rockers releasing their new album, "Sonic Boom," Tuesday as well.

Bill Murray was the featured guest, but watching the promos and checking out the media coverage prior to Tuesday night's show, no one would have known. Paul Shaffer's name was everywhere. If one didn't know better, one might think that CBS and Worldwide Pants might have been attempting to get some of the publicity generated by the Letterman scandal focused in a more positive direction.

In other words, David Letterman's loss (the scandal, the adverse publicity) may lead to Paul Shaffer's gain (interviews about the scandal, interviews about his book, book sales).

The book, We'll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives, is getting good reviews as well. Full of music industry, Hollywood, and comedy anecdotes, The New York Times' Peter Keepnews said that the book was not "deathless literature, and Shaffer knows it. But it is tremendous fun."

And that just about sums up Paul Shaffer. In his interviews, in his memoir, as David Letterman's sidekick, Paul Shaffer has always been the epitome of "fun." No matter what seems to be going on, Paul Shaffer has kept a light-hearted, bouncy, fun attitude through the years. He has broken a few tense moments on the show as well. His appearance on "The Late Show" as a guest Tuesday night was a welcome diversion from the media quagmire that Letterman's sextortion scandal has become.

Just two friends having a conversation. One doing most of the talking, telling stories. The other, interested, just listening.

It was good to see David Letterman relax for a few minutes.

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Sources:

"The Late Show with David Letterman," CBS Television
NYTimes.com