From: nathan@remus.rutgers.edu (Nathaniel Schiffman)
Date: 28 Jun 93 17:47:34 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.fan.letterman
Subject: Larry "Bud" Melman

Perhaps this will answer some of the questions people have has about Larry
"Bud" Melman. This information was taken from the book "Comedy Explosion"
by Hank Gallo.

'The sixty-something [Calvert] DeForest, a resident of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn,
was working as a receptionist and file clerk for a drug and alcohol
rehabilitation program when he got a yen for acting--just thought it
would be fun. So, in order to sate his theatrical appetite, he appeared
in a couple of community theater productions, and later, he even
garnered a few small roles in student films....

'But as luck would have it, one of those films, _King of the Z_, was made
by two New York University students, Karl Tiedemann and Stephen Winer. And
in 1982, these young men became writers for a new show called "Late Night
With David Letterman." Well, the "Late Night" producers saw the movie,
enjoyed the performances, and... ...as DeForest says with a laugh, "history
was made." '

...

' "Doing the Letterman show," he said in 1984, "is like having a ball. It's
fun time all the time." '

'Apparently, things haven't changed, seeing as he keeps renewing his contract
--despite the disastrous 1988 "Late Night"-sponsored "Calvert DeForest Pan-
American Goodwill Tour," which was cut short due to a "bad stomach." For
that project, DeForest left New York in a mobile home en route to Tierra
Del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America. His assignment was to
meet and greet as many people as possible, spreading good cheer all along
the way. By Guatemala City, however, all bets were off. In an achingly
funny on-air phone call to Dave, a quite serious DeForest begged his boss
to be allowed to come home.'

...

'...other stars have noticed him. "That's something that gets me," says
DeForest, "when celebrities tell you how much they enjoy you and _they're_
so big themselves." '

'Take, for instance, this encounter he had with Bob Hope after the veteran
comic made an appearance on "Late Night." "I was on," DeForest remembers,
"and he watched what I did. After he went on, I stood outside the studio to
get a glimpse of him. When he passed by me he shook my hand and said he
was cracking up at what I had done. I thought, 'Oh my God! Coming from Hope,
the master of comedy timing, that's really praise." '

'And while he counts Pee-wee HerMark Hamill as friends, he hasn't
yet developed a large circle of Hollywood pals. And, in a 1988 interview,
he said that he and Letterman were only "acquaintances." '

' "Let's say we don't go to dinner after the show. I have never been to his
home in Connecticut or in Malibu. What's the point? He told me he'd lock
me up if I showed up." '

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