TVSquad

One notably close figurehead in David Letterman-gate seems to have gone overlooked, a shiny bald one.

Letterman's longtime sidekick and band leader Paul Shaffer has just released a new memoir called We'll Be Here the Rest of Our Lives about his rise to late night music infamy. He talked more than a few ears off about his own life in music, but he's kept very hush-hush on the whole Letterman brewhaha.

"You know, I just can't talk about it," Shaffer told a Time reporter in a recent interview. "There is a legal proceeding going on. I've been advised that I can't comment on that stuff."

He couldn't even tell Harry Smith on CBS' Early Show on his own network just what the mood is like around Late Show central. However, the rest of both interviews offer a very interesting peak into a life in music that has spanned just about every end of the TV dial and a very funny diversion from Smith's persistent reporter powers to get something out of him about the whole scandal. Something tells me Shaffer would have made one hell of a good press secretary.

It's always great to see Don Rickles on TV. He's rarely out of form, and he has a knack for sailing some great zingers past the censors. Which means his appearance on last night's My Life on the D-List was a perfect opportunity, a place where he could be a bit more loose.

We got a taste of that from him, walking around Kathy Griffin's house, but we also got a glimpse of the guy I have heard about from comedians who've met Rickles - the old softie who is ever willing to talk shop with other comics. It was a great moment when Griffin and Rickles talked about how both of their mothers would try to tell them not to pick on people so much, with Griffin's mom providing a bit of the dialogue. Meeting Rickles was on Griffin's mother's "bucket list."

I thought I'd use the occasion to take a look around YouTube to find some of Rickles' best TV appearances. He seems to have been everywhere, from The View to cable.

Paul Shaffer, Late Show band leader, is writing a memoir about his show business career. The book will be out sometime in 2009.

Youngsters recognize Paul as David Letterman's band leader and occasional comic foil, but he actual started as the musical director on Saturday Night Live in the late '70s, appearing in pretty much any sketch that involved muscians, most notably Bill Murray's lounge singer bits.

Shaffer also starred in the short-lived sitcom A Year at the Top, about two musicians from Idaho who travel to Hollywood and are tempted by the devil's son to sell their souls for fame. This should not be confused with Top of the Heap, which was a Married with Children spin-off starring Matt LeBlanc. Also, don't confuse it with Top Cat, that's a Hanna Barbera cartoon.

Wow, I feel really old.

David Letterman celebrates 25 years in the talk show seat (it's actually more, if you count his short-lived morning show that no one seemed to love but me) on February 1, and Bill Murray will come back to the show to help him celebrate the milestone. Murray was Letterman's first guest on the old NBC show in 1982 and his first guest on the CBS show in 1993.

The other guest on the February 1 show will be LeBron James. I'm not sure how that ties into the special day, but there you go. I'd rather see a regular, like Amy Sedaris, Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, Regis Philbin, or Tom Hanks. Hopefully they'll be some clips.

[via TV Tattle]

Hey, Letterman fans: have you been watching the show the past few weeks? Have you noticed the changes on the show? I think Dave has a new energy that we haven't seen in a while.

I mean, the show is always good, in my opinion, even in the times that the critics have said "Dave's not as good as he used to be." But something is different the past few weeks. Dave has gotten a little crazy again. He's doing surreal segments, like having staff member Sue come out in the middle of his talking to the audience with a bowl of trail mix and asking him if he wants any (and when he says "no," swearing at him and walking offstage). He's doing really irreverent stuff too, like having fake "experts" come on to be interviewed and having something crazy happen in the middle of the interview. There have been odd "breaking news" stories that lead nowhere, and he even had a running gag last week that showed a clip of The Tonight Show's Kevin Eubanks laughing at jokes (I'd love to know how they got permission to do that, if they did). And last night's episode! Dave not only had an opening little sketch (with ex head writer Gerard Mulligan), but he had a cigar in his mouth! (Not sure if it was lit, but it looked like it might have been).

So, Dave is always good, but lately he's been really good.