Dan Cashman, host of the long-running Maine late night interview show The Nite Show, recently called in to the Howard Stern Show to talk about a surprise appearance by David Letterman on the show’s final broadcast.
Stern, the pioneering 1980s and ‘90s “shock jock” turned elder statesman of broadcast radio and now-ubiquitous YouTube podcasts, joked that when he heard Letterman was on a talk show that airs only in Maine he thought the famous Late Night host had been kidnapped.
Cashman explained how it came to be.
“I wrote a letter that said I’m having a hard time leaving the show, and I know Dave did as well. And there’s really nobody else that would understand this conversation better than him,” Cashman told Stern. “I guess it appealed to him in some way shape or form.”
The Nite Show started in 1997 and was modeled on national late night shows hosted by Johnny Carson, Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others.
Cashman said he will never forget the moment Letterman walked onstage of Husson University’s Gracie Theatre in Bangor where the show was filmed.
“People’s jaws collectively dropped in our audience of about 500 people,” he said. “It was a magnificent night of television.”
Stern agreed. “It was actually very good. I enjoyed it,” he said.
Stern named two other guests, who prior to Letterman’s appearance might have been the most recognizable names for a national audience to appear on Cashman’s show, including John Davidson, who voiced the Count on Sesame Street; and Andrea Elson, who played the daughter in the 1980s sitcom ALF.
“Who was a better interview, Letterman or the daughter from ALF?” Stern asked.
Cashman went with Letterman but said Elson was “very good.”
