From New York, lovingly hand-crafted out of solid teak, it's the Late Show with David Letterman.

Tonight, Howard Stern. ... And from Dawson's Creek, Katie Holmes. Plus, Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra. And now, mild mannered computer whiz, David Letterman.

For my third trip to New York, I decided to use mass transportation. Rather than starting out on the highway at 4 am, it was on a Concord Trailways bus at 6 am bound for Boston Mass. Arrival at Boston's South Station was on time at 8:00 am. We then picked up an Amtrak at 9:10 for arrival at Penn Station, New York City at 1:15 pm. A no hassle ride to the Big Apple.

After departing Penn Station we took a cab to 54th St. I hadn't realized it before , but Studio 54 is located around the corner from Dave, on surprise...54th St. This infamous nightclub was recently depicted in the movie 54. The sign remains. Our overnight lodging was provided by the Amercania Hotel located at 54th and Broadway. Small rooms, but what the hell, who can sleep in New York?!

After checking in, we went outside to 54th St to find a line that had dragged around the corner from the front of the Ed Sullivan Theater. This was the 2:30 standby line. It's numbers rivaled a line for a people with tickets! Standby's at this time must go through a lottery to obtain tickets (which doesn't guarantee a seat), BUT they bring everyone into the lobby and then have a trivia contest. Correct answers are rewarded with guaranteed seats, ahead of us that sent in for them. All in all a good procedure---rewards persistence. According to a couple from Memphis (BTW hope the wedding went well), whom I met later there were 20 or so trivia tickets given out. They were lucky holders of winning lottery tickets. Don't know if they made it in, though.

Well, while all this lottery stuff was going on, I walked over to 53rd St and low and behold they were filming a skit.  The skit involved Kenny and a doe and was shown on the 9/25/98 broadcast during viewer mail. The poor doe's handler had to lie on the floor of the cab to avoid being in the shot. Now if you haven't been in a NYC cab, trust me, you don't want to lie on the floor!

Next, I just took a stroll up Broadway looking for the discount theatre ticket kiosk, but as it was quickly getting on to the 4:15 lineup time I retreated back to the Ed Sullivan to prepare for entrance. At this time rules were that your place in line was by the number on your ticket, previously it was hand-numbered beforehand. I had ticket numbers three and four. Well......Howard Stern seems to get a lot of VIP tickets because there were 80 or so people ahead of me in line.

At four-thirty we were instructed into the theater by twos and formed into lines before the doors. After everyone was settled a page gave a short speech on what to expect for entrance. One point I almost took up, and will on the next trip, was if you want to go up to the balcony - feel free, they're the best seats in the house.

At five, they opened doors in front of the lines one-by-one starting with the VIP's then lowest to highest ticket holders. Trivia winners were already seated. We ended up with fifth row center seats. Not the best for viewing the show, but overall good seats.After seating, a kids video with Dave was shown.

Eddie Brill then came out and gave the requisite "how to course" on behaving in the theater, followed by the intro of the band.  He had about a minute and a half left to give his standup routine, which I felt I had heard before, either when he was a guest or the last time I was in the the theatre. Then he introduced Dave.

Dave immediately asked if there were any mid-westerners in the audience. A guy, up front center, answered that he was from Indiana. Well that made it in Dave's monologue with a standard joke "Any of you watching from Indiana, I'll speak real slooooowwwww".

Speaking of the monologue, from my seats I saw the cameraman's backside, Dave's head, and Inky's camouflage shorts, which Dave made a reference to during the monologue.

Know Your Current Events...

Hey I found myself on CBS!

Next up was a short skit by Gerald Mulligan and some kids on keeping Bill in office cause he was good for the comedy writers. This was done live, even with the child actors.

The Top-Ten was one of the best and most surprising..

From the Home Office in Wahoo, Nebraska,
it's the Top Ten List for September 24, 1998

Howard came out to a Standing Ovation.

It was typical Howard, from start to finish, there to shock.  The cameras were now spread out so I had a partial view of the interview area. After the pleasantries, Howard told Dave about his exercise regime. He then got up flexed his muscles, sat down and pulled his shirt up to show a very flabby stomach, all the time remarking how his running wasn't working. Next he took off his boots, pants, and socks and modeled in a few body builder poses.  Dave, wisely, removed his coat and covered Howard's lower half.  Here we went to  a commercial break while Howard and Dave chatted as Howard redressed.

After the commercial break, they talked about Howard's Saturday Night Program (not shown in my area). Howard has brought a clip which according to him (on his radio show the following day) was edited heavily. We saw exactly what was shown on the broadcast version minus the censoring pixels, showing Howard in a sailors uniform patting the ass of a male employee  in a thong..

Howard left to the band playing UB40's "Here I am Baby".

Next up was Joey from Dawson's Creek Katie Holmes. The band led her in with The Band's "Up on Cripple Creek". Katie is an extremely pretty girl who seems quite taken by Dave. One I got out of the interview is that she hails from the home town of Jamie Farr, Toledo OH; she has no boyfriend, but would like a cocker spaniel; is NEW (at talkshows) and plays a tomboy.

Katie left to the band playing Smashmouth's "Walkin on the sun".

And that was the show.

Following the show, I bought tickets to Miss Saigon. This was the first musical that I'd attended and I must say I was most impressed.For a complete audio and visual tour of the production  click HERE.

The next day we got at six am and headed for the Today Show. This was about a fifteen minute walk from the hotel. Today was a Friday so as they often do during the summer months, there was a concert outside Studio 1a. Today it was Reba McIntyre. I watched the backs of Katie and Matt's heads for about 20 minutes before having enough and going for a walk around Manhattan before the concert began. She began playing around 8:30 and I could hear her from 7th Ave.

Following the concert we attempted to go on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Here at ten am there were 500 people in line for tickets and at least that many already in line for the elevator.  Needless to say, I didn't even attempt to make a go for it as we had 2:30 tickets for the train ride home.