Tonight show with David Letterman

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Man

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Not very Carpenters' related. I watch this show occasionally and see Paul singing Pls. Mr Postman for a number of time at the CBS MailBox session.
It's for sure the Carpenters' version.

I just wonder if the Carpenters had ever been on this show before.It seems that all the guests are superstars or some kind of very important celebrity.

It'll be cool if we can see Richard on Tonight Show with David Letterman !
 
Man said:
It'll be cool if we can see Richard on Tonight Show with David Letterman !

Well, it would be strange, to say the least. The Tonight Show is hosted by Jay Leno, whereas Letterman's show is called The Late Show.


Capt. Bacardi
...clearing things up online...
 
I think that Carpenters predated Letterman by a substantial amount of time. At best, only their later albums may have been made while Letterman was on the air, if that.

I don't have any desire to see Richard Carpenter up there with Paul Schaefer. There's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Appearances by bands on late-night talk shows have never been all that memorable--the last one I saw was Steely Dan doing "Cousin Dupree" (or was it "Jack of Speed") on Letterman, and it was a stiff, uncomfortable, rushed performance.

Bring back Johnny Carson, Ed and Doc to the Tonight Show. :D

-= N =-
 
According to my sources, that being the Carpenters Decade ( a booklet I purchased in 1980 from their fan club). The Carpenters never made an appearance on the Late Show, though they were on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show a total of seven times. The dates are as follows:
Sept 18, 1970
Nov. 13, 1970
June 30, 1971
Nov. 5, 1971
Nov. 5, 1973
Jan. 27, 1977 (Steve Martin host)
June 27, 1978 (John Davidson host)
It would be interesting to see these programs- especially the Steve Martin hosted show Martin & The Carpenters seem like a very unlikely teaming. The booklet I have only goes to 1979 so I'm not aware of any other appearances they may have made after that. :rolleyes:
 
Rick1229 said:
According to my sources, that being the Carpenters Decade ( a booklet I purchased in 1980 from their fan club). The Carpenters never made an appearance on the Late Show, though they were on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show a total of seven times. The dates are as follows:
Sept 18, 1970
Nov. 13, 1970
June 30, 1971
Nov. 5, 1971
Nov. 5, 1973
Jan. 27, 1977 (Steve Martin host)
June 27, 1978 (John Davidson host)
It would be interesting to see these programs- especially the Steve Martin hosted show Martin & The Carpenters seem like a very unlikely teaming. The booklet I have only goes to 1979 so I'm not aware of any other appearances they may have made after that. :rolleyes:

Furthermore, within Karen's last twelve months or so on this earth, Mr. Letterman had commenced an eleven-year-long hosting stint on what was first called "Late Night with David Letterman" on NBC. Did they ever appear on any "Late Night" episodes in that time frame? Probably not, but I'm sure those in the know will clue us all in.
 
Rick1229 said:
It would be interesting to see these programs- especially the Steve Martin hosted show Martin & The Carpenters seem like a very unlikely teaming.

What I remember of the Tonight Show, at least in later years, the artist would perform and never get a chance to talk with the host. Would be neat to see the old Tonight Shows and see if they actually performed, or just lip synced.

-= N =-
 
As a long time fan of the Carson version of the Tonight Show,it was rare,if ever,that I saw an artist lip-synched their material. Remember that self contained groups rarely played on Carson's watch,the show catered to grown ups and the individual male/female singer was the usual musical guest. This also gave that great band,originally under Skitch Henderson's direction,something to do besides themes and intros & outros(or playing "Stump the Band"). There will probably never be a time that music from the Tonight show will see light of day. The older,hour & 45 min. show originally done live from New York has litle tape available. Tape was too expensive to archive everything and years of those shows were erased. The later one hour California years are owned by Carson and he is like Herb Alpert when it come to reminiscing. Notice that he told NBC to take a hike for its recent 75th anniversary party. Five one hour VHS tapes,including the complete last show,are all that he has made available commercially. A syndicated half hour strip show(maybe 180 shows)has come and gone-it contained lots of the Mighty Carson Art Players and prepaired bits but little of what the show was all about-spontaneous talk,comedy and music. IMHO,the monolgue and Carson at the desk was all that was needed. Mac
 
Talking about Carpenters guest appearances just last week I watched a special on CBS. I believe it was the 50th anniversary of Studio City Studios. I'm not sure if Studio City is the right name. But it's the studio where shows like the Carol Burnett Show, All In The Family, Ed Sullivan, etc were filmed.
They showed a clip from the Carol Burnett Show featuring Carol with Karen & Richard singing a somewhat comedic version of "We've Only Just Begun". I wonder if any of these Burnett shows are available anywhere for purchase or viewing.
 
Rick1229 said:
Talking about Carpenters guest appearances just last week I watched a special on CBS. I believe it was the 50th anniversary of Studio City Studios. I'm not sure if Studio City is the right name. But it's the studio where shows like the Carol Burnett Show, All In The Family, Ed Sullivan, etc were filmed.
They showed a clip from the Carol Burnett Show featuring Carol with Karen & Richard singing a somewhat comedic version of "We've Only Just Begun". I wonder if any of these Burnett shows are available anywhere for purchase or viewing.

First, the CBS studio in question is called Television City, opened in 1952. Studio City's been home to the CBS Studio Center (formerly Republic Studios), where filmed shows such as Gilligan's Island, My Three Sons (in its last five seasons) and The Wild, Wild West were produced. And The Ed Sullivan Show originated for the most part in what is now called The Ed Sullivan Theatre, but before that was CBS Studio 50, in New York City. Furthermore, Red Skelton, I believe, has some A&M connection, albeit in a roundabout way: For a spell in the early 1960's, his variety show was produced on the grounds of the onetime Chaplin studio, until a few years before A&M acquired the property.

As for Burnett shows on video and in syndication: They generally concentrate on many of her most famous sketches, including "Went with the Wind," and have nothing on any of her musical guests actually performing musical numbers (I myself remember the time in early '75 when Helen Reddy came on performing her then-hit, "Angie Baby"). The half-hour Carol Burnett and Friends, in syndication since the late 1970's, also covers only: A. the 1972-77 period, and B. her comedy sketches, movie and TV-commercial parodies, and the like (nothing before 1972 or from her final season are included). Anyone, say, looking for a copy of series regular Vicki Lawrence singing her big hit, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," are out of luck.

But as this thread was about TV appearances by the Carpenters: Does anyone know how many appearances, if any, Richard and Karen made on American Bandstand over the years?
 
Carpenters made one appearance on American Bandstand on November 14, 1970. I imagine this must have been to perform "We've Only Just Begun". They also appeared on the "Midnight Special" on May 22, 1976- right after "I Need To Be In Love" was released- Paul Anka was the guest host.
 
On the January 27, 1977 episode of the Tonight Show with Steve Martin as guest host, the Carpenters were interviewed and sang two songs, one of them being "From This Moment On". John Denver was also a guest. This program aired a little more then a month after the Carpenters Very First Special which aired on ABC, Denver was one of their guests.
 
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