COFFEE FROM STARBUCKS - BIG MONEY ON IT NOT WORKING Dave is thirsting for some Starbucks coffee and tonight, to satisfy his desire, we rigged up something really special. From the Starbucks across the street and down the block, we have a direct link via 550 feet of clear plastic tubing. Dave has a spigot at his desk. The source is in Starbucks. The power to get the coffee from Starbucks to Dave's desk is supplied by a nitrogen tank at Starbucks. We turn on the camera at Starbucks and meet and greet Brad Simanski at the counter. Before the show, I learned that Brad isn't a counter person, but a barister.

Barista: Technically, someone who has been professionally trained in the art of espresso preparation. The term is often used simply to describe someone who excels at espresso making, regardless of their training.

OPRAH COUNTDOWN DAY 3: She's here on Thursday. We see the big Oprah photo float down behind Dave in the cityscape. Yes, she is a lovely woman, Ms. Oprah.
Dave says he has been talking about Oprah for years now, and now that she's coming he's afraid he'll have nothing to say. Dave was talking to some guy on the phone over the weekend concerning the visit by Oprah and the reporter claimed "I believe this is the biggest television event of the decade!" I tend to agree, which says everything you need to know about the state of American television today.
To kill time, Dave has a wrestling match with the desk microphone, pulling it like you would a lawn mower cord. Cries Dave, "I just can't seem to get this thing started." Dave is concerned that when Oprah is here on Thursday, he'll do something he'll regret, lamenting, "God forbid I make some kind of clumsy pass." Perhaps I'll put that on a blue card: "Don't make a clumsy pass at Oprah."

In the Green Room tonight is artist Kerri Gibbs. She'll be creating a portrait, oil on canvas, of Dave and Oprah. Dave will present the painting to Oprah when she's here. Dave speaks to Kerri, directing her to how he wants the portrait to appear. Dave is hoping for a simmering underlying of romance, requesting that perhaps he could be "touching Poprah . . . touching Oprah appropriately." Dave adds that he wants to picture to suggest, "Me and Oprah just about to get it on." Of course, Dave wants it to be tasteful, not cheap. Kerri says she'll try to work that in.

And you know, this week of Late Shows isn't just about Oprah. We have other guests coming. "In fact tomorrow..." a small wallet-sized photo lowers behind Dave in the skyline, too small to see who it is. The close-up reveals it's Regis. Tuesday night, Regis will be here. Dave gets up and flicks the Regis photo with his finger.

Back to Kerri the artist, Dave asks if she can squeeze Regis into the picture. That's a tall order for less than an hour. Kerri will try her best to meet all the requests of Dave . . . . but she's an artist, dammit, not a magician!

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS
SHT #1: David Danziger of Houston, Texas. He's in the concrete business, and he fixes pool tables. What can David do? He can balance a twenty dollar bill on his nose. I think it's hard enough to balance a twenty on your nose, but with the air conditioner blasting from above, I think it will double the trouble. Dave the host examines the bill and says it's authentic. Danziger takes the twenty and places it on the bridge of this nose . . . . and he does it! The twenty dollar bill stands tall on his nose. I didn't think it could be done.

SHT #2: Bob Besmehn of Kanab, Utah. Bob is a construction worker. What can Bob do? He can ride a unicycle. Big deal. Many people can do that. On a treadmill. Oooh, a twist. I like this. A unicycle on a treadmill. And juggle three tennis balls at the same time. Hey! We got ourselves a trick here! Bob gets on the unicycle on the stopped treadmill. Once he is balanced, Bob turns on the treadmill. Once he is comfortably set with this, Dave hands Bob the tennis balls. Bob then accomplishes the trifecta, riding the unicycle on the treadmill while juggling three tennis balls.

SHT #3: Micah David of Portland, Oregon. He's here in New York sightseeing. He's a bit intimidated by the hugeness of NYC but Dave says Micah shouldn't have a problem fitting in with the environment. What does Micah have for us? He can squirt water up one nostril and have it come out the other. He learned this trick from his twin brother. Dave asks where is his brother right now; "doing the same trick on Leno?" Micah takes a bottle of water and sticks it up one nostril. The tip of the water bottle has one of those pull/push buttons you find on some bottles. When you squeeze the bottle, water squirts out. So Micah shoves the bottle up one nostril and squeezes. Water comes gushing out the other nostril like a water fountain. Yikes! That's crazy...and impressive! Nice job, Micah.

This was one of the best Stupid Human Tricks in some time. None involved one of those double-jointed tricks. Each of these we could learn if only we applied ourselves. Nice job by all the Stupid Humans.

AMANDA PEET
The lovely Amanda is newly engaged, begin asked July 19th by her writer friend named David. They met 3 years ago on a blind date. First date: Sushi. How did David ask for her hand in marriage? David had two huge vases of flowers placed in her new New York City home. She walked into the bedroom and found two more huge vases of flowers. She suspected that he may be asking that night. But when she saw that he went through the trouble of making the bed, she knew. Granted, the bed looked like it was made by a forced 8-year-old, but Amanda knew this would be the night. After dinner, he did the knee thing and asked her to marry him. She said yes. It'll happen some time in '06. Read the magazines for further information.
Not only does Amanda have a movie coming out nationwide, she's also working on a Broadway show, the Neil Simon classic "Barefoot in the Park." It was recommended she take voice lessons. When Amanda first got into acting, she promised herself she would never become one of those actresses who practiced the voice prep, like "la la la la, na na na na, moo moo moo moo" and the like. But she soon found herself doing just that. She demonstrates. If she doesn't want to do that, she can always tell herself she's just imitating a dolphin. It sounds like the same thing.
Amanda's new film, "Syriana" is now playing in selected cities. It opens nationwide on December 9th. It also stars George Clooney.

ACT 5: It's Kerri Gibbs hard at work in the green room hurrying to complete the Dave/Oprah portrait in less than 7 minutes.

THE DARKNESS: From their new CD, "One Way Ticket To Hell...and Back", The Darkness performed "Is It Just Me." And that's Rock and Roll.

And that was our show for Monday, November 28, 2005. Wahoo EXTRA!

Here's something scary...with a little bit of luck, the New York football Giants could be 10-1.

I spent the weekend at my parents in Jersey for the Thanksgiving holiday. One night while the night was coming to a close, I was clicking through the slew of programs on the remote. I stopped for a second on the Lawrence Welk show just to show my girls what TV used to be like. Surprise, surprise, we stayed on the channel and watched for the whole hour, laughing at the hairdos and the clothes and what was once considered entertaining entertainment. After an initial battle with my daughters, nieces and nephews, they learned to...appreciate the Lawrence Welk show. No, maybe "appreciate" is the wrong word. It was more like they were willing to endure the program a catch a glimpse of what life was once like. They must of thought me a fool when I got excited with glee when I exclaimed, "Oh, look, here comes the bubbles!" And then after Welk, I stopped on the Andre Rieu outdoor performance of classical, orchestral music. The kids enjoyed that to a point, but I could tell they were getting antsy for some Nickelodeon.

The McIntee family is really excited about the big TV event of the decade this week. No, I don't mean Oprah on Dave. It's Tuesday night's "Felicity: An American Girl Adventure" on the WB.

Here's one of those coincidences that will mean nothing to you but that I found interesting. I'm reading the local Jersey newspaper over the weekend and I saw where a singing group is appearing at the local theater. The name of the group was The Chanticleers.
A chanticleer is a rooster.
A week ago I wouldn't have known that.

Last week, from BostonBill, he of the website
http://community-2.webtv.net/bostonbill41/MondayStillShots1128/ which offers a look at photos from last night's program.
There is a visitor counter at the bottom of the 2nd page of photos. I wondered when the counter would surpass the Late Show show number.
BostonBill writes about Friday's show:

"Last night's was show number 2466, we got Still Shots hit # 2466 this morning from Barium Springs, North Carolina."

Congratulations, B.Bill. Next goal: 3,000. Check it out and relive the magic of Late Show in still photos.