Chris Elliott was nothing short of genius with his character creations and portrayals. There's always so much to unpack in Chris' short skits. And so funny!
@smoothygroovy I never said I was being rebellious. But I'm sure you're a real badass given that you just changed your user name to "smoothygroovy" from "JESUS IS LIGHT."
The NBC years were loose, creative, and ahead of their time. Maybe it's an inevitable progression that budgets get bigger and shows more slick and tight, but I really loved these early years.
LNWDL took so many risks - Dave’s NBC years are my favorite. The writing was hilarious and Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band - wow! I rarely watched Late Night for the guests. When you’ve got character like the Fugitive Guy, the Regulator Guy, and Night Light, all you need is Paul and the band, a top ten list, and Dave talking to Terri Garr. GOAT!
The addition of the real Johnny at the end was a great touch. Thanks again for these compilations; it's always a treat to watch Chris Elliott's performance art. He is such a brilliant guy.
The amazingness of Don Giller is on full display. And no, it's not because of the Chris Elliott stuff. Don has untold gigabytes of Chris Elliott. It's that Don actually had a tape from JOHN'S CABARET. Un-be-lievable. Don Giller, you're a national goddamned treasure. And I'm telling you so.
Close to 1 year of pandemic later and I'm still so thankful for these. Showing John Wallowitch at the end -- as others have said, is really just so touching. Chris completely nails him, right down to John picking up the phone to chat with callers using only his last name ."Hi Wallowitch. Oh Hi (caller's name)!" -- so great and such a great little tribute. Thanks Don.
The Johnny Graham sketches aired when I was fifteen. I had no idea what the context was, and I thought they were the funniest things ever. Knowing about John Wallowitch makes them even better. Thanks Don, and thanks to Margaret Whiting and her fabulous beau Jack Wrangler, who is just marvelous.
The chemistry...I LOVE the recurring "Okay get out! Get out!" "Why? What did I do?" bit they did a few times...brilliant! And fun to note that Chris Elliott is such a comedic genius that he would just throw the other show writers into his bits and create something hilarious out of it...I could NEVER tire of Chris Elliott! Thank you for the uploads!
If there is a god, may he bless you for this Chris Elliott compilations. I didn't start watching Letterman until the mid-to-late 90s and only really knew of Elliott on SNL until I started binging on your channel.
My point may have already been sent. My younger late brother and I always felt part of a special club, that others couldn't get. Thanks for the videos.
That wheel thing at the beginning is SOO Lettermanesque it makes me want to SCREAM! The singing bowlers is such a fine example of the type of comedy that made me plotz. And of course, anything with Chris Eliot is so good back then. I love the way that some of his characters always kind of sought Dave's approval. Chris behaving like a spoiled child to get his way is such a good demonstration of this dynamic. Thank you.
I love how determined Elliott is at getting through these, no matter how quiet the audience gets. Also, if you have the Christmas '87 show (Ted Nugent, Dave's "family" Xmas, etc.), my mind would be blown. Used to have that one on tape. Thanks for all you do!
Had never seen these skits, but always loved Chris- will forever think of him affectionately as "The Man Under the Stairs" and ("My pipes are CLEEEAN!") "Cabin Boy." Also, "Take my hand..." (ewww!) lol! Love that he'd done an homage to John Wallowitch, may he rest in peace! This was a great compilation- Chris is an absolute treasure!
Loved the "night light" stuff. Chair cam, The panicky boy and he comes out for a bow with the Broadway towel like chris would do with dave. Lol. Chris Elliott was the best.
Why do I not remember Chris Elliott's "talk show" at all? I was definitely watching every night, taping it, watching at least the comedy segments right after before going to bed, then waking up for school and watching the comedy segments again as well (along with a guest segment if it was a good segment) and then watching the whole show again when I got home. But I am totally blanking on these Night Light segments.
Legendary are the stories about the tensions between Biff Henderson and Paul Anka during the recording of the Night Light theme song. What began as a budding partnership ended in chaos. Hopefully someday the real story will be told....
I bought the complete box set of Chris Elliot's Night Light. It comes with a complimentary blonde wig, exactly like he wore on the show. I use it as a welcome mat at my home.
"Strangers in the night" if you can believe it, was a top 40 #1 hit for Frank Sinatra in 1966. Think how insane that is...Imagine if that happened today you got people like Post Malone, Billie Eilish, all the top selling artists who are barely out of High School and here comes this guy who is 51 years old singing the most hokey song you can imagine and he hits #1
40:30 .. absolutely ahead of it's time. They do stuff like this now and call it Meta or anti-humor (a term that most comedians associated with the movement hate) but really I love this kind of stuff but this is one of the earlier examples. Clearly influenced by his dad, with Bob and Ray really being the great grand daddies of this kind of stuff. Bob & Ray are Gods .. end of story on that one.
@@terminalpictures absolutely cant forget Kaufman too. Kaufman had a bit of a different angle on this type of humor. I think probably mostly because Andy's act evolved and grew out of being a standup and having to present his ideas through that format. Even if u look at his stuff as a guest on SNL, Andy's stuff was always performance that could work as one man interacting with an audience/stand-up. E.g. mighty mouse, and the elvis impression. Even his wrestling was almost like stand up comedy "crowd work" on steroids in a way.
Talk about Meta. What other show would have a smaller show inside that parodies the show itself? Only people on the show or avid watchers would even have a clue as to what was going on. Everyone else would be like "what the hell am I watching? This makes no sense at all. Its terrible".
More brilliance from Cris Elliott, and from Letterman (in recognizing Elliott's brilliance). Thanks as always to Don Giller for presenting this material in such a searchable, organized way on TH-cam. What I found most interesting about this compilation was Elliott's "Johnny Graham" bits, and the clip from "John's Cabaret" on Manhattan Cable TV. What we know as "Cable" began as a local, more grass roots "public access" utility, available to the general public to create original programming. There was a good deal of this around In the '80's, and the "John's Cabaret" clip is a terrific artifact. It's completely appropriate for Mr. Giller to file these Letterman posts under the category "Education." Letterman flourished during a fascinating time in American culture, and the unique brand of American humor he created now defines the era.
Hey Don great stuff real treasure to watch these old shows I grew up with. Any chance you have cabin boy ? I would love to see that cuz Chris is a fancy lad LOL thanks again enjoyed the 3-hour plus brother Theodore yesterday. That man was a genius wish I could have seen him at the 13th Street theater back in the day but I don't think they would have let me in. Thanks again! The stuff is great.
35:40 Chris was so ahead of his time he wore a Houston Astros hat while promoting a fake show,symbolizing the inauthenticity of the Astros World Series win decades later.He had his own inside joke going.Now that's truly being ahead of his time.
Is it at all possible to get a Dave's Grab Bag compilation? I love the fake bits like Trash the Donahue Set where they purposely never let it get picked but they commit to the set up
I like the idea, but for reasons related to the newly-launched official Dave channel, I won’t be uploading any new Dave-related content until further notice. Hopefully soon.
As time goes by, it becomes more and more difficult to believe how good this show really was compared to what we have now.
but we were all just a little nuttier back then , werent we
Chris is still a better host then Fallon
He’s a better host than Letterman
😂
So true. Fallon sucks
@@saganich74wrong
A monkey has more talent than Fallon
Chris Elliott was nothing short of genius with his character creations and portrayals. There's always so much to unpack in Chris' short skits. And so funny!
Ah, this takes me back to my college years. Go to the bars, get drunk, come back to the dorm, order pizza and watch Dave. It was the best.
that sounds heavenly
@smoothygroovy I never said I was being rebellious. But I'm sure you're a real badass given that you just changed your user name to "smoothygroovy" from "JESUS IS LIGHT."
Elliott and Letterman together, at their best, were as funny as anything on tv ever.
DM: Have you watched any t.v.?
@@TheDriveInGuys No.
The NBC years were loose, creative, and ahead of their time. Maybe it's an inevitable progression that budgets get bigger and shows more slick and tight, but I really loved these early years.
LNWDL took so many risks - Dave’s NBC years are my favorite. The writing was hilarious and Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band - wow! I rarely watched Late Night for the guests. When you’ve got character like the Fugitive Guy, the Regulator Guy, and Night Light, all you need is Paul and the band, a top ten list, and Dave talking to Terri Garr. GOAT!
Still love this stuff all these years later.
The addition of the real Johnny at the end was a great touch. Thanks again for these compilations; it's always a treat to watch Chris Elliott's performance art. He is such a brilliant guy.
The amazingness of Don Giller is on full display. And no, it's not because of the Chris Elliott stuff. Don has untold gigabytes of Chris Elliott. It's that Don actually had a tape from JOHN'S CABARET. Un-be-lievable. Don Giller, you're a national goddamned treasure. And I'm telling you so.
Loving getting to explore how groundbreaking this show was. Chris Elliott's segments are so mind bending!
These uploads are fantastic glad somebody is preserving this show
Thanks for including Johns Cabaret at the end. I always assumed Chris’ Johnny Graham skit was based on an actual show. As usual, Chris is spot on.
Always admired Elliott for his dedication to his subversive humor throughout his career. Get a Life, Cabin Boy are absolute classics
"Something About Mary" was excellent.
Action Family is on another level - up there on the level of Monty Python. Total genius.
The guy is one of the funniest men ever.
Check him out in Everybody loves Raymond.
And don't forget Eagleheart.
"Cabin Boy"... Classic!
Close to 1 year of pandemic later and I'm still so thankful for these. Showing John Wallowitch at the end -- as others have said, is really just so touching. Chris completely nails him, right down to John picking up the phone to chat with callers using only his last name ."Hi Wallowitch. Oh Hi (caller's name)!" -- so great and such a great little tribute. Thanks Don.
Thank you, Don Giller. These Chris Elliot bits are among my favorite TH-cam videos
Thanks!
The Johnny Graham sketches aired when I was fifteen. I had no idea what the context was, and I thought they were the funniest things ever. Knowing about John Wallowitch makes them even better. Thanks Don, and thanks to Margaret Whiting and her fabulous beau Jack Wrangler, who is just marvelous.
Anytime's the right time for more Chris Elliott, Thanks Don!
Thank you for the context footage. the public access at the end explaining the origin of the parody was so cool!
The chemistry...I LOVE the recurring "Okay get out! Get out!" "Why? What did I do?" bit they did a few times...brilliant! And fun to note that Chris Elliott is such a comedic genius that he would just throw the other show writers into his bits and create something hilarious out of it...I could NEVER tire of Chris Elliott! Thank you for the uploads!
If there is a god, may he bless you for this Chris Elliott compilations. I didn't start watching Letterman until the mid-to-late 90s and only really knew of Elliott on SNL until I started binging on your channel.
Your archive is truly a treasure❤
Thanks!
This reminds me of being a tween and staying up too late watching these shows.
just like now!
I remember the Little Leprechaun Man skit from when it first aired and I was searching for it. Still a great laugh! Thanks for posting.
My point may have already been sent. My younger late brother and I always felt part of a special club, that others couldn't get. Thanks for the videos.
Thank you so much Don. You are a big help!
I almost forgot how much I would laugh at Chris Elliott.... This really takes me back ! Thanks
That wheel thing at the beginning is SOO Lettermanesque it makes me want to SCREAM! The singing bowlers is such a fine example of the type of comedy that made me plotz. And of course, anything with Chris Eliot is so good back then. I love the way that some of his characters always kind of sought Dave's approval. Chris behaving like a spoiled child to get his way is such a good demonstration of this dynamic. Thank you.
Settle down rambo
Back in the '80's, my fav thing about Lettermann's show was Elliot. Larry Bud was awesome too !
Pound for pound, i.e. per air time, Elliot was funnier than Letterman.
I always got excited when Chris showed up.
"Teri Garr is also here..."
"Hi, Teri... gee, you smell terrific..."
Another great collection! I love the big smooch he gives to the cat in Johnny Graham part 2. "I love you, hon"
You, sir, are providing a valuable public service. God bless you, God bless Chris Elliott.
So much fun to watch. Thanks Don
Chris Elliot is like Norm Macdonald. You laugh the minute they talk. Lol. So funny
13:09 - I love that Biff Henderson is credited with writing "Night Light" -- and with co-writing the theme song with Paul Anka!
Maybe too deep for non-Johnny watchers. :)
I love how determined Elliott is at getting through these, no matter how quiet the audience gets.
Also, if you have the Christmas '87 show (Ted Nugent, Dave's "family" Xmas, etc.), my mind would be blown. Used to have that one on tape.
Thanks for all you do!
th-cam.com/video/725A42fBPdo/w-d-xo.html
I love the little things, like how the credits for Night Light say the theme was written by Paul Anka and Biff Henderson.
Dude the insane library you have of letterman
Appreciate the share
Have the flu and felt miserable. A new Chris Elliott compilation is probably the one thing that could help me feel better right now.
Same, but broken toe.
Me too
R.I.P.
@@jmjm4664 lolol
THANKS for posting The REAL Johnny Graham at the end; AWESOME !
HaHa , "Night Lite" I forgot about these...sooo great! Thanks Don!
13:10 Night Light: "Written by Biff Henderson. Theme by Paul Anka and Biff Henderson." lol
These are bringing back great memories. Was Chris Elliott the best part of the old Letterman show? Time is saying yes.
It's a tie with Larry "Bud" Melman
@@kjkiefcakes1847 I'm cool with that.
yes
How bout Super Dave Osborne?
The chemistry between Chris and Lynda Carter was electric.
Had never seen these skits, but always loved Chris- will forever think of him affectionately as "The Man Under the Stairs" and ("My pipes are CLEEEAN!") "Cabin Boy." Also, "Take my hand..." (ewww!) lol!
Love that he'd done an homage to John Wallowitch, may he rest in peace!
This was a great compilation- Chris is an absolute treasure!
How I wish EAGLEHEART got the attention it deserved, he was brilliant in it.
Thanks for these! I love the tag of the real public access cabaret piano guy!
Oh man, I am loving these. Was pissing myself laughing at the Brando routines. Cheers, Don!
Loved Johnny Graham. Wish there were more of those.
Letterman was so subversive back in the day. Great stuff! Linda Carter looked amazing in 1987.
subversive ?
She was hot a.f.
@@Scalihoo A talk show within a talk show making fun of talk shows and telling Letterman 'we are out of time' - that ought to do it...
I'm always amazed how well Chris handles the clips thrown at him when he came out there
Loved the "night light" stuff. Chair cam, The panicky boy and he comes out for a bow with the Broadway towel like chris would do with dave. Lol. Chris Elliott was the best.
He's still alive
I love the subtle stuff, like when Elliot says he hasn't "had time to weigh both sides" regarding thermonuclear war.
I would give Chris Elliot "The Mark Twain Award."
I worked Second shift ,4 beers in when I got home never missed Dave back in the day.
12:01 I don't know if this was intentional or not...but Chris's laugh is SO Johnny Carson there....hilarious lol
Why do I not remember Chris Elliott's "talk show" at all? I was definitely watching every night, taping it, watching at least the comedy segments right after before going to bed, then waking up for school and watching the comedy segments again as well (along with a guest segment if it was a good segment) and then watching the whole show again when I got home. But I am totally blanking on these Night Light segments.
Prob cracked off your gourd
You've always been a pleasure seeker
Never saw these before, they were great. Thanks for showing the real Johnny graham. I figured chris was spoofing somone.
I love that Chris is wearing a bald cap as Johnny Graham even though he was already about 90% bald on top in 1989.
Watching more and more of these, I am convinced it was all an excuse for Chris to wear crazier wigs at NBC's expense.
Who do you think he is, Barry Bostwick?
42:55 David Letterman: ''Let's wrap this up, I'm starting to run a fever''
It was torture waiting that hour until 12:30, through the Carson show which had grown pretty stale by mid 80s
Thanks for sharing! Chris Elliott is the best
Thank you, the Donz!
Chris Elliott walked so Eric Andre could sprint
More like crawled
Look up Conner O'Malley if you think Eric Andre is funny.
I wonder why reruns of the show didn't work. I would have watched them.
Legendary are the stories about the tensions between Biff Henderson and Paul Anka during the recording of the Night Light theme song. What began as a budding partnership ended in chaos. Hopefully someday the real story will be told....
Imagine if there was a show in Chris' show too.
God bless you Don, as always.
The singing bowlers are great! Can't find their album, unfortunately.
Great one Don gillers..never saw this. Chris is gold.
Singular. :)
Paul should have gotten an emmy for his performance on Night Light.
I bought the complete box set of Chris Elliot's Night Light. It comes with a complimentary blonde wig, exactly like he wore on the show. I use it as a welcome mat at my home.
Dang , mine had a Johnny Graham wig . . .
The Chris Elliot leprechaun barfing in Dave's coffee cup was pure gold.
Love the way he acts like he's a Shakespearean actor.
"Strangers in the night" if you can believe it, was a top 40 #1 hit for Frank Sinatra in 1966. Think how insane that is...Imagine if that happened today you got people like Post Malone, Billie Eilish, all the top selling artists who are barely out of High School and here comes this guy who is 51 years old singing the most hokey song you can imagine and he hits #1
Frank was a better singer than the two hacks you just named. His music is still popular. The shit music today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Chris is much better than little Jimmy Kimmel.
40:30 .. absolutely ahead of it's time. They do stuff like this now and call it Meta or anti-humor (a term that most comedians associated with the movement hate) but really I love this kind of stuff but this is one of the earlier examples. Clearly influenced by his dad, with Bob and Ray really being the great grand daddies of this kind of stuff. Bob & Ray are Gods .. end of story on that one.
All hail Bob and Ray! It's like he spiced up his dad's interview characters with a dash of Andy Kaufman.
@@terminalpictures absolutely cant forget Kaufman too. Kaufman had a bit of a different angle on this type of humor. I think probably mostly because Andy's act evolved and grew out of being a standup and having to present his ideas through that format. Even if u look at his stuff as a guest on SNL, Andy's stuff was always performance that could work as one man interacting with an audience/stand-up. E.g. mighty mouse, and the elvis impression. Even his wrestling was almost like stand up comedy "crowd work" on steroids in a way.
Or with a dash of cayenne pepper from kid under the seats... if he found any
Chris Elliott always makes me laugh. I hope we never meet at a funeral.
15:19. I was laughing hysterically!
5:37 Dave pointed out that the glass bottle apparently shrank along with Chris. I couldn't help noticing that the bricks apparently shrank too.
Talk about Meta. What other show would have a smaller show inside that parodies the show itself? Only people on the show or avid watchers would even have a clue as to what was going on. Everyone else would be like "what the hell am I watching? This makes no sense at all. Its terrible".
Exactly. I was a kid in the 80s and I remember trying to tell other people how hilarious this was and that was almost always their reaction.
Doing an interview show-within-the-show, then having Dave *cross left* to shake both Chris’ and the guest’s hands 🤣
honestly, i'm not sure people were really ready for this. honestly, i'm not sure people are _still_ ready for this.
What did Dave say to Linda Carter after the segment?
Thank you for this collection. Again you are the best. Would you ever consider being my uncle? All my real ones are duds.
More brilliance from Cris Elliott, and from Letterman (in recognizing Elliott's brilliance). Thanks as always to Don Giller for presenting this material in such a searchable, organized way on TH-cam. What I found most interesting about this compilation was Elliott's "Johnny Graham" bits, and the clip from "John's Cabaret" on Manhattan Cable TV. What we know as "Cable" began as a local, more grass roots "public access" utility, available to the general public to create original programming. There was a good deal of this around In the '80's, and the "John's Cabaret" clip is a terrific artifact. It's completely appropriate for Mr. Giller to file these Letterman posts under the category "Education." Letterman flourished during a fascinating time in American culture, and the unique brand of American humor he created now defines the era.
the pencil and the bottle size.. LMAO
Dave played a great straight man for Chris.
Hey Don great stuff real treasure to watch these old shows I grew up with. Any chance you have cabin boy ? I would love to see that cuz Chris is a fancy lad LOL thanks again enjoyed the 3-hour plus brother Theodore yesterday. That man was a genius wish I could have seen him at the 13th Street theater back in the day but I don't think they would have let me in. Thanks again! The stuff is great.
Who doesn’t have “Cabin Boy”? :)
35:40 Chris was so ahead of his time he wore a Houston Astros hat while promoting a fake show,symbolizing the inauthenticity of the Astros World Series win decades later.He had his own inside joke going.Now that's truly being ahead of his time.
No doubt about it: he was a real innovator.
“Paul was that organ music or factual information?” dead.
How did they make the mini Chris Elliott on the desk?
Edward Woodward, the other Michael Caine.
Is that Herb Stempel in the front row of the audience?
Was the Johnny Graham Show based on a real cable access show in NYC?
take me back to the 80's
Is it at all possible to get a Dave's Grab Bag compilation? I love the fake bits like Trash the Donahue Set where they purposely never let it get picked but they commit to the set up
I like the idea, but for reasons related to the newly-launched official Dave channel, I won’t be uploading any new Dave-related content until further notice. Hopefully soon.
What is the theme song to Night Light?
“The Night Light Theme.” :)
Biff Henderdon and Paul Anka. Lol...classic
Elvis Costello had a similar wheel for some of his concerts in 1986.
(It was odd to hear Dave say Elvis while typing the above sentence)
What is the name of the Night Light theme? It is not a PS&WMDB joint.