AFL'ers meet in Rupert's Hello Deli. From left to right, Malficient8, Pepsi46,
Kimberliez, me (OldMatador), and Esmeralda4.

On March 18th, 1998, I, Bill Lehecka, went to see my fifth taping of the "Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Now as you may recall, I have a missing fifth trip report. Well, this report and the missing fifth trip report coincide. You can find the details that led up from there to March 18th in an excerpt from Aaron Barnhart's Late Show News Issue #189. Now as you may notice, there is no ticket stub at the top of the screen, as usual with my other trip reports. Well, I didn't need tickets, so none will be posted, but I have lots of pictures for you to see.

I had a lot of anticipation, as you can imagine, for this trip. I originally set the date for the trip for March 16th, but learning about my schedule for Spring Break and learning that many AFL regulars were going to the show on the 18th, I decided to change to the 18th. My guests for this trip were my two sisters, Anne-Marie and Mary. I didn't think they

Me posing in front of the elaborate set of the
Ed Sullivan Theater

were as excited as I was for the trip, but that was not a problem. I left from Huntington Train Station at around 2:30 PM and arrived in Penn Station at 3:30. The three of us headed to the subway were we'd get off at 50th and Broadway, same as usual. We then walked to the Hello Deli to meet up with the AFL gang.

As I arrived at the Deli, I saw Kimberliez sitting alone, waiting. I entered and bought a Mountain Dew from Rupert. I introduced myself and my sisters to Kim. Rupert asked me if Donz5 would show up, but unfortunately, he did not. Other AFL and El Chat regulars showed up, like Esmeralda 4, Malficent8, YelloBird, and Pepsi46. We're all depicted above, in a mass of chaos, I guess. We had a nice chat for about a half hour, then I had to make my way to the front of the Ed Sullivan Theater to meet up with Victoria Varela, the Audience Coordinator for LS. She recognized me immediately because they passed around a picture of me from this web site. In fact, she saw my printed picture on Dave's desk, so that made me raise an eyebrow. She escorted my sisters and I to the 53rd Street Entrance. While walking us there, she told us to just be calm and not go too excited if you meet a celebrity, but I kind of figured that.

This pic was taken at the approximate spot
Dave delivers his monologue. It's amazing when you
have a different perspective as to what Dave
does night after night.

We then entered the green room. The green room isn't green, but a light pinkish color. The carpet was green. (I hope this answers a lot of your questions about "Uh, Is the Green Room Green?" :-) ) In the green room you can find a fruit platter, a basket full of cookies, and a refrigerator with beverages. While seated in the green room, I had a chance to talk with Biff Henderson, Will Lee, Laurie Diamond, and Eddie Brill. The guests for the night were Bill Murray, Eddie Izzard, and Gheorghe Muresan, but I didn't meet any of them. My sister Anne-Marie had a quick conversation with Bill Murray after the "cellular phone" bit, but that was it.

So I sat in the green room, and these events took place, in no particular order:

1. I watched the beginning of the show, and notice that Dave makes a mention about the Late Show Chat Room. Low and behold, I see Kimberliez's mug flashed on the screen. I told everyone in the green room I just met her in the Hello Deli.

2. Victoria escorted me in the middle of the show down to the control room, the nerve center where the show is seen by your eyes through the eyes of the director, Jerry Foley.; It was really cool down there.

3. Anne-Marie, Mary, and I were given free Late Show hats that were gifts from the show. This hat fit me, so I liked it.

4. Anne-Marie goes to the bathroom, then runs into Bill Murray, asking him if the Cellular Phone he used was real or a stage prop. Turns out it was real, like I thought.

5. After the Show, Victoria escorted us out of the green room to the stage area. Pictures on-stage are shown here scattered all over this trip report. It is here where I get to sit in Dave's chair, a surreal experience for me.

Mary is in the left guest chair, Anne-Marie in the right, and I'm behind Dave's desk.
What an experience... The seat was still warm... :-)

6. Victoria then escorts us to the balcony to show us the view from there. You see, I was not liking of the balcony, so Victoria took me up there to prove a point. The view is beautiful, so the next report I give you, it'll be from the balcony, and thankfully, not band side on the floor... :-).

The evening ended there. Victoria told me that if I sent her my resume, she would forward it to the CBS MIS department, and I would be in good hands for an internship there soon. She then wished us farewell and hoped that I would visit again soon. Also, a week later, Victoria sent me the script cover to the March 18th show. All in all, it was a very memorable trip. I'll never forget it.