PS1

I just read Paul Shaffer's We'll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives.  He takes us chronologically through the big moments of his life, interspersed with tales of various celebrities he's met.

I thought a large chunk would be about being bandleader for David Letterman, which is, after all, what he's known for, but he doesn't really get that job until about two-thirds in.  Before then, we get to find out about the young Jewish kid from Thunder Bay who loved music.  All kinds.  Learning piano as a kid, he plays the classics.  But his parents teach him a love of glitzy Sinatra-style show biz, and he's also taken by R&B and rock.

Paul never draws attention to how talented he is, but obviously he had something going for him.  When he was young he played at clubs in Toronto.  He accompanied a friend trying out for a production of Godspell, and composer Stephen Schwartz was so impressed he asked him to play for the show.  It was an impressive production, featuring then-unknown Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Short and Dave Thomas.  They'd soon all join the Toronto version of Second City and go on to bigger things.  Paul eventually got to New York, a city with a show biz history that made him swoon. He became a session man and joined the band of this new show Saturday Night Live.  He started playing characters too, especially famous record producer (and personal acquaintance) Don Kirshner.  He also became bandleader for the Blues Brothers (though he was busy on a project for Gilda and missed the movie).  And starred in an ill-fated Norman Lear sitcom about old guys reincarnated into a modern rock band.

He was hired by Letterman for his new, late-night NBC show in 1982.  Dave had no sidekick, and it wasn't long before Paul starting supplying badinage in-between his musical duties.  The two clicked and Paul has been his second-in-command ever since.  A regular highlight of the show are the songs Paul chooses to introduce guests or bits--they're almost always puns, and it's fun to figure out the connection.

Paul is an odd character.  They way he acts and talks seem like a permanent parody of show biz.  It's hard to believe he believes what he's saying.  But I see it as a patina of irony covering for a kid who's never completely lost his awe of what's going on around him. (It's gotten him in trouble.  He idolizes Jerry Lewis but Lewis believes that Paul, who belongs to a group who loves watching the Labor Day telethon for its odd vibe, was making fun of him.) And whatever you think of his banter, he's always taken the music seriously.

This being the holiday season, let's watch his annual tribute to Cher: