Following Dave's last joke in the monologue, out runs the winner of the 2004 New York City Marathon, Hendrik Ramaala. He runs across the stage and up through the back of the house. Seconds later he is followed by the women's first place finisher, Paula Radcliffe. It's a Late Show tradition.
Their time in the 26.2 mile race:
Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa: 2:09:28
Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain: 2:23:10

Dave was on the Regis Lee and Kelly Lee show Monday morning. I missed it. I was in my commute. Dave called the experience a lot of fun and surprised many a viewer when he revealed that the guests and audience partake in a festive square dance during the commercial breaks. Will Dave visit their show again? Yes he will. Says Dave, "Once every ten years I like to go out and do a show like that." Also revealed by Dave, he says the atmosphere at the Regis and Kelly show is like a jailbreak. Lots of groping with very little security.

On the show tonight in our green room, is Ball State sophomore Ryan Carney. He will be getting a tattoo put on his thigh which will be completed by show's end. The tattoo artist is Brad Fink. What makes this so interesting? Ryan already has a tattoo on his left leg of the Late Show logo, and surrounding that a tattoo of Dave, Paul, and Alan Kalter. Ryan shows us the tattoos. They each were very nice, though I wouldn't want any of them permanently etched on my body. I laughed when we say the Paul Shaffer. It's been a long time since I saw Paul with hair on his head. Each tattoo cost Ryan about $100. It'll cost him a lot more to get them each removed.
Tonight, Ryan will be getting a tattoo of Biff Henderson.

New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey gave his farewell today, resigning due to his putting the Jersey citizenry in danger for hiring an incompetent as the state's head of Homeland Security, but blaming his resignation for not truthful about his being a Gay American. We have footage of the Governor's farewell ceremony. We see a festive scene from this summer's Gay Pride Parade in the Village. Silly, simply joke. But it always seems to work for me.

NEW YORK CITY MARATHON QUIZ: the NYC Marathon was run this Sunday. Over 35,000 runners participated in the race through the 5 boroughs. (Do you get to see the marathon where you live, or is it just a regional telecast?) We sent a camera crew out to shoot some footage, then brought that footage back to the Late Show comedy lab to make it funny and network worthy.

Back to the Green Room for a tattoo update. Things appear to be coming along well. And who is that behind Brad and Ryan? They are Brad's business partner and the fiancé to the business partner.

TOM HANKS: He's here to promote his new film, "The Polar Express." The exit polling lauds it a complete success, a must see.
Does Tom have any tattoos? No. Ever consider it? Tom admits on a lonely night after a bit of the imbibing, yeah. Who hasn't? Tom questions the wisdom of what Ryan is doing. Tom exclaims, "Wouldn't he want to split that? Half on one leg, half on the other." Dave says, "No, he's got Leno on the other leg."
Tell us about "The Polar Express." It comes from the book of the same name and stays true to the story. The film is a realistic animation. How's that done? Tom explains how sensors are placed all over your body and the movements are stored in a computer. Then a guy spends a million hours working with a mouse on a computer to recreate and animate Tom's actions. Why not simply use Tom since he's already there? Tom says, "Because I don't want to sit atop a train racing through the Arctic. Dave asks if he should take little Harry to see the film. Tom doesn't think it's a good idea for a one-year-old to go to any movie. What must the child think: "Oh my God! There are people on the wall and the wall is talking!" Tom and his wife once took his young ‘un to see "Reversal of Fortune", the film about Claus von Bulow, simply because they both felt the extreme need to get out of the house and do something grown-up Everything was fine for a few minutes, but then for the next hour it was all patting and cajoling and holding and hugging and shushing. It's not good. Tom suggests, "If it's legal in your state to leave him in the car . . . ."
Has Tom ever gone on a trip by train? Tom says he recently took a trip on British Rail from Edinburgh, Scotland to London. (I once took a train from Blackpool, England to Edinburgh.) How was the trip? Not good, no fault of British Rail. The night before the trip Tom dined at what was billed as "the Best Mexican Food Restaurant in Scotland." Tom was fine that night, but the next day he tummy was a wee bit upset. Tom gives a descriptive tale of his journey by train with a stomach like Mount St. Helens.

ACT 5: We take a look to see how things are going. All appears fine.

NELLY: He's got 2 CD's, "Sweat" and "Soul." From one of them, Nelly and the band performed "Na-Na Na-Na." It was catchy.

And a final look at the Biff Henderson tattoo. Gosh, it looks pretty darn good. Of course, I wouldn't want Biff's face on my thigh, but the recreation looked pretty good.

And that was our show for Monday, November 8, 2004. Wahoo EXTRA!

Hey! Remember that Time magazine billboard on the West Side Highway I complained about? The one where every commuter feels the need to slow down and look? Well, it's been taken down! Yup. The creative billboard is no more.
Commuters can now drive without being distracted by the moving object. I'll now be arriving home 10 minutes earlier than usual.
Why was it taken down? I first wrote about it on October 8th. It was probably up for a day or two by then. Yesterday was November 8th. My guess is the billboard was rented for the month. That's probably how it's leased, on a monthly basis. In its place is a billboard about Cingular. There are no moving parts. Hopefully no one will look at it.

My wife Denise was thinking of us going to Disney World in December. She asked the girls what they thought. Now there is no choice. We are going to Disney World in December. During Saturday's soccer game, Dominique came running over to me during a break in play to ask, "Are we really going to Disney World?" I told her "yes, now get back in the game."
Twin 9-year-old girls at Disney World in December. Suggestions on what to see? Will the temperature be OK for the water park?

I went to a Veterans Day ceremony at the Camp Shanks Memorial Statue in Orangetown, New York on Sunday. It was very well done; inspiring, emotional, heart-felt, uplifting. Check your local newspapers this week and be sure to attend one of these events in your hometown. It takes just an hour of your time to honor those who took years out of theirs to give us the privilege of living in freedom. Fill an empty seat. It will be appreciated.

Retief Goosen won golf's Tour Championship in Atlanta this weekend, coming from 4 shots behind Tiger Woods in the final round. The usually unflappable Tiger flapped.

New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury explaining why his team lost its home opener by 34 points: The team "didn't play as hard as we should have." That's not a very good sign, not playing hard in the home opener. I wonder if they'll play hard in game #47?

I'm driving to work this morning. The car in front of me in the fast lane is barely doing the speed limit. Cars zoom past in the right lane. The car's license plate in front of me reads "MOVEOVER."

The Wahoo Gazette: Where the first draft is the final draft.