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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Show #2709
By Michael Z. McIntee Change Text Color:
Black | White


Barbara Walters; David Neeleman; and K-Os.
PLUS: Babel; the NBA All-Star weekend; What’s Under the Wig; and Pat Farmer’s Long Story Short.

ACT 1
Billboarding tonight’s program, Dave says he wants to find out the real story from Barbara Walters about Rosie O’Donnell. He’s heard that before every show of The View, Rosie works out with a sparring partner. We’ll find out.

Tonight, we’re going to Rupert’s to play “What’s Under The Wig?” Our misguided friend Britney Spears cut off all her hair over the weekend and then went out and bought a wig. Friends are concerned over this odd behavior, but I kind of like the idea. We go into Rupert’s and we find him adorned in a Britney Spears-type wig. Under the wig is an unknown object. Says Dave to the wigged Rupert: “You look like Lizzie Grubman.” Dave sends Rupert outside to find a contestant. Afterwards, Dave says “I never knew Rupert was so cute.”

Each night this week, we’ll be spotlighting a different film that is nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category. Tonight’s film is Babel starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
We see a clip . . . it’s a guy wrestling with an ostrich. Paul says of the guy wrestling the ostrich, “That was Brad Pitt. He’s not just a pretty face.”

Hey, did you watch the NBA All-Star game this weekend? There was a lot of commotion for those who attended the All-Star Weekend in Vegas and it prompted this announcement from the NBA commissioner.
Announcer: “During the 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend, here were brutal fistfights, riots, and several shootings, culminating in 362 arrests. As a result, NBA commissioner David Stern would just like to say to everyone involved in the weekend’s activities . . . thank you for making it the calmest All-Star Weekend in years.
The NBA . . . . DUCK! (the NBA logo smashes to pieces)


WHAT’S UNDER THE WIG?: We go back to Rupert’s and we find him with Jill Bouchard-Cross from Alberta. Dave says it is nice to meet Jill. Jill responds, “Nice to hear you.” Dave asks if the Bouchard-Cross is a hyphenated name. She says it is. And how long has she been married? Jill says, “Divorced ten years.” Ouch. Dave says, “Well, it’s nice to hear you got custody of the hyphen.”
Dave runs through his Alberta mental-rolodex and comes up with, “Hey! How about them Edmonton Oilers!” Jill scrunches her nose at the thought of the Oilers. She’s either disappointed with the Oilers record or she’s a Calgary Flame fan.
Dave explains how the game is played: Under Rupert’s wig is a hidden object. Jill will have 30 seconds to guess what the item is.
“Alan, what are we playing for tonight?”
Alan: “Hi, I’m TV’s Dr. Funk. Dave, tonight we’re playing for a Mr. Coffee Coffee Maker!”
Does Jill drink a lot of coffee? She gleefully exclaims, “I do! I do!”
And what is the hidden item under the wig? Dave whispers, “It is a Staples Calculator.”
The 30-second clock goes up and Jill starts to fell Rupert’s wig. She feels all around his head. Says Dave, “Hey, Rupert, it’s like another visit from the Board of Health.”
After a few more seconds, Jill makes a guess. She is pretty confident with her guess of “is it a calculator?” DING DING DING DING! Yes, Jill, it is a calculator. “Can I keep the calculator?” asks the very happy Jill. She can, and she gets the Mr. Coffee Coffee Maker. Congratulations, Jill, on a very successful visit to the Hello Deli and winning “What’s Under The Wig.” She samples the Swiss Cheese from the Hello Deli deli platter as we go to commercial.

ACT 2
BARBARA WALTERS: This Sunday she’ll be hosting her 26th edition of Academy Award special, Barbara Walters Oscar Special.
Dave gets right to The View. He’s heard that Barbara and Rosie and a fight, which involved a chair and a broken bottle. Barbara says that is not true, and much of what has been written in the newspapers about the troubles is not true. Dave delves, “Did Rosie call you out?” Huh? Dave repeats the question; “Did Rosie call you out?” Barbara doesn’t understand the question, being unfamiliar with the street talk of Dave. Dave surmises, “Obviously, you’ve never done time.” Dave continues this line of questioning. Barbara wants no more of it and asks, “Do you want to talk to the JetBlue guy?” Dave considers it for a half-second, then says “Ahh, let him wait for a change.”
Who is going to be on Barbara’s Oscar special?
Ellen DeGeneres – Barbara says the country has come a long way. Eight or so years ago Ellen came out publicly about her homosexuality. For three years she couldn’t get work. No one would call. And now 5 years from that she is hosting the Academy Awards and no one thinks a thing about it.
Helen Mirren – she’s nominated for Best Lead Actress; she’s appeared nude in films; and at the age of 61 would be willing to do it again.
Jennifer Hudson – what a great story; from American Idol loser to an Academy Award nomination.
Eddie Murphy – very shy; had agreed to do Barbara’s show and then backed out. With some convincing, he agreed to come on. He was very shy and the interview was not the best. As soon as it was over, Eddie did 10 minutes of his funniest “shtick” which left Barbara laughing hysterically.
Barbara Walters Oscar Special – this Sunday, 7:00 PM on the east coast; I think 6:00 Central. And I think it’s on AFTER the Academy Awards on the west coast. At least that’s what I think I heard on The View this morning.

ACT 3
DAVID NEELEMAN: He’s the founder and CEO of JetBlue Airways. And he’s had a pretty tough week. The airline with the great reputation suffered some troubles on Valentine’s Day here in New York when the weather turned icy and remained icy all day long, contrary to what the forecast called for. Flights were delayed; flights were canceled; flights were loaded but unable to take off. Some passengers were stranded in JetBlue planes for up to 10 hours out on the tarmac at JFK with very limited accommodations. Before Dave starts his questioning, he makes Mr. Neeleman feel comfortable by pouring a plastic cup of Diet Coke and offering a bowl of mixed nuts, just like you get on a plane.
So what happened? JetBlue is known for its high rating in customer service, but last week was a nightmare. Neeleman explains the weather turned out worse than expected and they got caught lacking. But why did JetBlue suffer more than the other airlines? Neeleman says it was an extremely frustrating and devastating time for him and the airline; planes and crew were caught out of position and it took awhile to get everything back together. He says he knows what went wrong, it’s an easy fix, and next time JetBlue will be better prepared.
Dave tries the same question one more time: “Why did JetBlue suffer more than any other airline. The other airlines faced the same weather conditions, but you did not hear of passengers stranded for ten airlines in a plane. Again, Neeleman didn’t directly answer the question. Other airlines suffered similar problems; it just took JetBlue longer to fix. He says JetBlue has a good reputation and he will work harder to overcome these past problems. Neeleman says he is often approached by passengers who laud the airline. In fact just before the show, Neeleman says Tony the cue card guy told him he flies JetBlue all the time and it is a great airline. Neeleman hopes to regain the trust of all the JetBlue customers.
David Neeleman – founder and CEO of JetBlue. I was glad he came on the show. He may have dodged Dave’s main question, but he seems like an honest guy who wants to make good. JetBlue offers new planes, leather seats, more legroom, Direct TV and XM Satellite radio in every chair. There is no first class, no coach . . . every seat is the same. JetBlue has become one of the most popular airlines with the highest level of customer satisfaction . . . at least that’s what I’ve read. I don’t get the chance to fly much so it’s hard for me to compare it with the other airlines. My only experience with JetBlue was a couple years ago on the family trip to Disney. I was very impressed with having a TV right in front of me. And the nuts were good. Not having been trapped for 10 hours last week, JetBlue still seems to be #1 in my book. And by his appearing on the Late Show, he put his face on JetBlue, which puts him in a position of responsibility. Now if you have a complaint about JetBlue, you can blame David Neeleman. And that’s good. The buck stops with him. It’s not a faceless conglomerate with blame and responsibility floating out into the ether. He personalizes the airline. You don’t have that with other airlines.

ACT 4
Before continuing, Dave chides our cue card master, Tony, for chumming up to David Neeleman before the show. Dave accused Tony of looking for a free ride his next time he flies down to Miami. Tony laughs, but doesn’t deny.

PAT FARMER’S “LONG STORY SHORT” – It’s something new. After the introduction, we find Pat by the spiral staircase.
Pat: “Last week, I went to my buddy Carl’s place to help him with this classic Mustang he’s fixing up. Anyway, long story short, it turns out he and I wear the same kind of underpants.”
PAT FARMER’S “LONG STORY SHORT”

ACT 5
It’s our friend Jill Hyphen chatting it up with the wigged Rupert and the Late Show models in the Hello Deli.

ACT 6
K-OS – pronounced Chaos. From his new CD, “Atlantis: Hymns For Disco”, K-Os performed “Sunday Morning.”

And that was our show for Tuesday February 20, 2007.




Originally scheduled for tonight was Eric Nerhus, a 41-year-old Aussie who survived a shark attack after being swallowed head first. He was bumped over to Wednesday night when we booked JetBlue CEO David Neeleman for Tuesday. I was amused that Nerhus was delayed one day due to JetBlue.

THE WAHOO STREET JOURNAL
XM satellite radio and Sirius are merging. I have stock in both. I hope this helps plug the drain my money has been going down since I bought it. And speaking of the stock market, remember how I used to follow a stock with the symbol DAVE? This is how I first reported it back seven years ago on May 19, 2000.

NEW FEATURE: THE WAHOO STREET JOURNAL
I was checking the stock market the other day on the computer and mistakenly typed in the symbol DAVE. Much to my surprise, there is a company on the market (NASDAQ NM) with the symbol DAVE, called Famous Dave’s of America. It is a Bar-B-Q restaurant chain with 32 joints in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland, and Virginia. It closed Friday at 3 3/16, unchanged for the day. I will be checking in periodically on DAVE to see how it moves.

I followed the stock for a couple years, watching it peak somewhere around 10 and then falling back. I haven’t looked at it in a few years, so let’s take a look now. It was at 3 3/16 on May 19, 2000.

DAVE – February 20, 2007:
WHOA!!!! Famous Dave’s of America is at 18.52. If you invested a millions dollars back in DAVE 7 years ago, you would have $6 million today! How many of you got rich on my tip?
So I just Googled “Famous Dave’s of America” and “Wahoo”. Yikes. I found this from the January 26, 2001 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
No "Stupid Barbecue Tricks" segment -- yet
One famous Dave has been keeping an eye on another Famous Dave in recent months.
Eden Prairie-based Famous Dave's of America Inc. has become a recurring topic of interest on the CBS-TV Late Show with David Letterman Web site.
The site's ‘Wahoo Gazette,’ which reports show news from the fictional home office in Wahoo, Neb., now provides regular updates on the restaurant chain, which uses the symbol DAVE for its listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Notes the Gazette: "Famous Dave's is known for its sauce, just like our own Dave."
I am always surprised when I learn that people actually read this thing.

More Presidential Campaign Slogans for Presidents Week:
1900: William McKinley: “A Full Dinner Pail” – Refers to the prosperity under the first McKinley administration
1916: Woodrow Wilson: “He kept us out of war” – Meant that United States had not been pulled in to World War I (yet) under Wilson
1920: Warren G. Harding: “Cox and Cocktails” – Harding's opponent James Cox was opposed to Prohibition.
1928: Herbert Hoover: “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” – Claims that the everyone will be prosperous under a Hoover presidency
1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Sunflowers die in November” - U.S. presidential slogan of Franklin D. Roosevelt, reference to his opponent Alf Landon, whose home state of Kansas uses the sunflower as its official state flower.
1940: Wendell Wilkie: “Roosevelt for Ex-President” — U.S. presidential campaign slogan of Wendell Wilkie
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson: “The stakes are too high for you to stay at home” - Refers to the claim made at the time that Goldwater would be dangerous if elected such as using nuclear weapons indiscriminately
1964: Barry Goldwater: “In your heart you know he’s right” - Goldwater was receiving much criticism from the media and opposition candidates saying he had extremist views. This slogan was used to combat this negative publicity and attempt to make the point that his views were not that different from most ordinary Americans.

And now it’s time for, “Another One of My Ideas That Will Never Get On The Show”.
Dennis Kucinich is looking for some publicity in his run for the Presidency. We see a photo of his latest attempt. It’s Kucinich with an electric razor with his head half-shaved.
This concludes another installment of “Another One of My Ideas That Will Never Get On The Show.”

And so ends another issue of the Wahoo Gazette, the world’s longest continuous-running blog on the internet . . . . I think.

CAMEO MENTION OF A WAHOO READER
From Edmonton, Alberta, it’s Roger Eamer
This concludes another installment of CAMEO MENTION OF A WAHOO READER
ACT 1
• Show Open
• Dave's Monologue
 Watch now
• "Babel" Academy Awards Ad
• A Message From the NBA
• What's Under The Wig?
• Great Moments in Presidential Speeches
ACT 2
• Barbara Walters
 Watch now
ACT 3
• Founder and CEO of JetBlue, David Neeleman
ACT 4
• Pat Farmer's "Long Story Short"
ACT 5
• Audience Shot: Rupert and Contestant Chatting in Hello Deli
ACT 6
• K-os
ACT 7
• Show Close

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