Me and Rupert Jee
Me and Rupert Jee at the Hello Deli, NYC
Originally uploaded by dynamist.
If you knew me when I was a teenager, you no doubt recall my obsession with the comedy of David Letterman. Much of my sleep deprivation during those years was a direct result of staying up to catch Letterman at 12.30. My friend Nikki Cahill and I used to watch the show from our respective houses, while on the phone with one another, just so we could share our Dave love with someone else. Yes, we were THAT COOL.
So you can imagine my childlike delight today when I walked past the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway en route to a meeting. I was running early, so popped into Rupert Jee’s Hello Deli, just around the corner on 53rd Street. Dave has Rupert on the show on a regular basis, and has done for the 15 years he’s been broadcasting from Broadway for CBS. I could only have been more excited to meet Biff Henderson or the late, great Calvert DeForest (aka Larry “Bud” Melman).
So how was Rupert? A bit of a diva, actually. He had tons of fans lined up to buy t-shirts, food and drinks from him, and everyone wanted a picture. He seemed a little put out, but maybe that’s just his demeanor. Rupert did kindly pose with me for a photo (the most tourist-y thing I’ve ever done) and even let me do a Q&A on video with him.
Filed under: Life
I’m ten years older than you, but I watched David Letterman just as obsessively when he was on NBC and I was 15. I remember making my friends watch it and a segment running where Larry “Bud” Melman was at a hotel and called up and said “Hello? Room Service? Send up a room!”. I laughed hysterically and they just didn’t get it.
Also, I don’t know if you’ll remember this one, but my younger sister is responsible for Chris Eliot eating dog food. She’d written a letter to Dave asking if when they advertised dog food as being new and improved, was it really new and improved or was it a heinous marketing scam? I’m pretty sure they ran it on the 10 yr anniversary show as well.
Rupert=awesome.
Jackie, I never knew this about you! I did the very same thing in college, watching dave on my black & white 5in. portable TV. There was one night, involving a Russian psychic and a bag of human hair, that remains the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Like Michelle says, no one else got it, because you had to be there for the months of setup to fully appreciate the brilliance of the joke. Sublime!