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"Crowd Pleasers" on Letterman, April 30, 1982

2,656 views · Published 6 May 2017 · 6:09 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: Don Giller · 2017 · Education

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With Andrea Martin. Edited from two sources due to videotape-quality issues.

From Jason Zinoman's _Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night,_ p. 99:

[LN writers Max] Pross and [Tom] Gammill were restless, but not as much as George Meyer. Bearded and intense, Meyer hated doing the same bit twice – known on the show as a refillable. Stupid Pet Tricks was great, but doing it again? What’s the point? Repeating a joke was pandering to the audience. “George was always sulky and contentious,” [Merrill] Markoe said.

Meyer thought the show settled too often, even quitting on one occasion because an idea of his was botched in the execution. The bit was called Crowd Pleasers and when asked why it bothered Meyer, Markoe joked: “It pleased the crowd.”

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