Back in the 80s, the hottest and hippest late night show was “Late Night with David Letterman.” Back then, before he was an entertainment icon and was just a punk stand-up comic broadcasting passed my bedtime, Dave used to do remote video segments from around the city of New York. One such series was “The Other Islands of NY” where they visited such locals as Randall’s Island, Coney Island and Staten Island, where our tale commences:
I’m at work and I get a call from my father. Dad was a member of NYC’s Dept. of Marine and Aviation’s police unit, which patrolled the properties of the Dept. of Marine and Aviation back when there was a Dept. of Marine and Aviation. The S.I. Ferry came under his jurisdiction, hence the nickname “Ferry Fuzz.” So, I get a call:
“Danny, David Letterman is in the ferry terminal.”
“What? Who? Why?” says I. (I’m paraphrasing)
“They’re filming something. Want me to get his autograph?”
“Sure,” I respond.
“Okay, I’ll see you tonight.”
Pretty cool. Turns out the Letterman visit to Staten Island consisted solely of riding the ferry and interviewing people getting on and off the boat. They had come to Staten Island on one of the new boats (at the time; the Newhouse class) and wanted to ride one of the older boats (the Kennedy class; the ones with the wooden benches). So they stopped my father (on duty) and asked him about the ferry schedule. He explained that the next boat was the one they wanted and he guided them around.
My father calls back.
“Letterman was really nice. I was telling him about how you’re a writer and he wrote ‘Good luck with your future.”
Wow. Nice.
So I get home and my father gives me the slip of paper. I read it. I grimace. “Dad, what did you say to David Letterman????”
“I just told him about your writing. Why?”
The autograph said “Good luck with your father, David Letterman.”
Oh boy.
As it turns out, the assistant director on the shoot was one Brian McAloon, who was a year ahead of me at school and tried to date my sister once. He later went on to be a director on other Worldwide Pants shows. He got me tickets to see a taping of “Late Night” and was generally useless to me in my writing career. Oh, well.
And that was one of my---BRUSHES WITH CELEBRITY!
