My favorite part of tonight's show: Hearing Alan Kalter trying to squeeze in the 5 names in the opening announce. He sounded like an auctioneer.

In our lobby tonight, we have a guy who will attempt to break a Guinness World Record. Matt McAllister, a radio DJ at the 99.9-KTYD "Early Show" in Santa Barbara, will put on 121 T-shirts, breaking the old record set by a New Zealander this past May. Standing by is a Guinness World Record Judge: Stuart Claxton. And in case of injury, we have a team of EMT workers standing by. Helping out Matt tonight is his pit crew, members of his morning radio show, Julie Ramos, Joe Wallace, and Christopher Foster.
Dave thinks this would be more interesting if the judge had to observe the proceedings with his shirt off. The judge will not go along with that.
Let's start. The counter starts at one since Matt already is wearing a t-shirt. The T-shirts range in size of extra-small up to 10-XL. We watch as the first 10 T-shirts are put on Matt. His assistants do a fine job of dressing the World Record-hopeful.

And now, a simple but very enjoyable piece entitled, "Larry King is Creepier in Slow Motion."
Larry King at 60% speed says, "We'll be right back with Bob Woodward, who will answer questions via telephone and e-mail. His book is 'State of Denial.' It's coming up."
I like these. . . . stupid, simple, silly.

Dave is receiving a report from his index finger . . . . we have LIVE footage . . . . yes, it's Kim Jong Il . . . . . at a reception at the Presidential Palace . . . we go LIVE to North Korea.
We see Kim Jong Il partying it up at the Palace. Hey, that ain't Mr. Il. That's Marty Allen in the film, "The Last Secret Agent." He is dancing with some babes.

It's time for another installment of our educational segment, "GET TO KNOW KIM JONG IL."
Announcer:

"Kim Jong Il next plans to have his country's scientists develop a peanut butter cup the size of a human head.
This has been 'Get To Know Kim Jong Il."

From September 14, 2006; Show #2618 - Late Show Viewer Poll
"If you could invent anything, what would it be?
-15% - 'Medicine to wipe out disease.'
-85% - 'a peanut butter cup the size of my head.'

Have you heard about the new shows on NBC? They all seem to be about the dealings backstage at "Saturday Night Live." CBS decided to jump on board and developed a new program that thinly copies the dealings of the backstage workings of the "Late Show." We take a look at a clip. Dave plays a character named "Don." It's entitled, "Studio 50 on Broadway."
Title card: "Studio 50 on Broadway."
We see Biff and Dave walking down an office hall. Biff says to Dave, "Dave, you're an 'sdd'-hole."
Dave corrects Biff: "Biff, my character's name is 'Don.'"
Biff: "Whatever, 'sdd'-hole."
It looks to be a CBS winner. And so true to life!

Dave doesn't get "Studio 50 on Broadway." He even said so in the dressing room seconds before the show. He was assured it would be fine. He was told, "Just be sure you mention your character's name is 'Don.'"
Dave mentioned his character's name is "Don." He still didn't get "Studio 50 on Broadway."

GREAT MOMENTS IN PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES: We see FDR. We see JFK. We see George W. Bush: "If it feels good, do it. If there's a problem, blame someone else."

How is Matt McAllister doing? He's up to 62 T-shirts. And he's beginning to look like he's putting on some pounds.

During the commercial break, Matt puts on another 15 T-shirts. He is quickly nearing 80 . . . 2/3 of the way to a Guinness World Record.

TOP TEN: Surprises in the Mel Gibson Interview - earlier today on "Good Morning American", Diana Sawyer sat with Mel Gibson for the first of an exclusive two-part interview.
#10. Mel did entire interview in a yarmulke
#7. Asked Diane if she was up for "a snort and a little grab ass."
-says Dave, "and knowing Diane, she always is."
#6. Announced he's changed his last name to Gibstein.
#3. After each apology, Diane did a shot.
#1. Diane's sole question: "Why you be hatin', G?"

KATIE COURIC: the anchorperson of the "CBS Evening News." She's continues the very prestigious club:
1948-1962: Douglas Edwards
1962-1981: Walter Cronkite
1981-2005: Dan Rather
1993-1995: Connie Chung, with Dan Rather
2005-2006: Bob Schieffer
2006-: Katie Couric.
Paul plays Katie on with a song you would hear at a strip joint. . . . I'm told. Paul quickly clarifies that it was a Ray Charles song entitled, "I Got News For You."
Katie talks about her new hours and how life has changed now that she gets sleep. Her "CBS Evening News" job is a lot different than her position on the "Today" show, but it too involves lots and lots of work. She is always busy; her schedule very hectic. And has Katie come up with a new sign-off? Not yet. She's backed off from creating one and when one comes naturally, she'll use it. She remembers Dave having a few suggestions; her favorite being "Here kitty kitty kitty." One she is considering: "Good night and thanks for watching. I'm Katie Couric, and I'm not just for breakfast anymore." You can read Katie's blog about her trip to the Late Show at the CBS Website. It's a two-parter.

GARY ZELNICK: He's known as the Turtle Whisperer. He has a hobby of taking his pet turtles and dressing them in cute little hats. Dave teases the husky Gary upon his entrance, wondering if he is wearing a few too many T-shirts under his dress shirt. Gary laughs a nervous laugh. Dave asks Gary what exactly he does. Gary says he was with his friends in his mother's basement some time back. His friends started playing with his turtles. Now his buddies also knew of Gary's love of hats, and one thing led to another and before he knew it, he was making hats for his turtles. We take a look at one of his pet turtles. It's your common northeast box turtle. At least it's common here . . . perhaps it's common in your neighborhood as well. Gary puts on a G.I. Joe camouflage hat. It looks pretty cool. I first thought this whole segment would be silly but my opinion quickly changed. I was finding this interesting. Dave says it doesn't seem like the turtle minds the hat at all. Gary agrees. It's obvious that Gary loves his turtles and I don't think he would make them wear hats if he thought they didn't want to. After the G.I. Joe job, Gary puts on an Easter Bonnet on the turtle. Absolutely lovely. Where does Gary get the hats? He makes them himself. Obviously, you can't really buy turtle hats in stores . . . yet.
Gary goes to show us the hats he made for his other turtle. Dave picks up the cage of the second turtle . . . but it is empty. A concerned Gary picks up the cage and he too finds it empty. Uh oh. Gary quickly gets down on this hands and knees looking for his lost "Mario." He calls out to his lost turtle, "Mario! Mario! Here, Mario!" Dave gives a search around his desk but finds nothing. Gary's concern grows, but it soon turns to anger. How could we lose Mario the Turtle? Gary checks the empty turtle box one more time. It is still empty. The irate Turtle Whisperer takes the cage and throws it to the ground, smashing it to pieces. Gary then storms off. It's not what we had in mind.

We check in with Matt McAllister. Oh, my, he's at 117 T-shirts already. The added weight of the shirts approaches 100 pounds. We watch as 4 more T-shirts put are put on Matt McAllister. 121 . . . a new Guinness World Record! Wow! It took me a minute to catch my breath. A new world record! The judge gives the thumbs up, giving the feat the Guinness seal of approval. Dave invites Matt to the stage where he is met by Dave and the Late Show models. The models present the new world record holder with a lovely and prized "Late Show T-Shirt."
Wow! This will certainly knock the New York Mets off the front page of the New York Post tomorrow!

BRIAN KILEY: The comedian is featured in a new documentary entitled, "When Stand Up . . . Stood Out." I found Brian Kiley very funny. He told jokes . . . actual jokes. Of course, I can't remember any. There was one about his high school mascot, an Indian, who would do an Indian dance at midfield before every football game. Every game was rained out. I laughed at that.
When he was a kid he played doctor with a neighborhood girl. One day they were caught, but luckily it was a Wednesday and they were playing golf.
In high school he joined the French Club. They didn't do much. Every few months they would surrender to the German Club.

ACT 5: Oh, I missed this. I imagine it had something to do with the new world record holder. I suggested it be a shot of Mario the turtle crawling under Dave's desk.

ALAN JACKSON: From his CD, "Like Red on a Rose," Alan Jackson performed "Like Red on a Rose." Some staffers have told me the CD is great, and they're not country music fans. I'll be giving this a listen.

Before saying goodnight, we see Matt McAllister being cut out of his record-setting array of T-Shirts.

And that was our show for Thursday, October 12, 2006. Wahoo EXTRA!

Ahhh, October 12th. I always think of the same thing on October 12th. When I was growing up, Columbus Day was celebrated on October 12th every year. That's because on October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men first set sight of land on their maiden journey. So what's makes October 12th so special to me? Well, back in the year 2000, our October 12th show was #1492. That's right . . . October 12th, Show #1492 . . . . you can look it up!
And while I'm at it, in the year 2003, the February 21st was show #1958. February 21, 1958 was the day I was born.
This concludes another installment of "Wasteful Wahoo Filler"

I'm driving to work this morning and this is what came to me:
The networks would love nothing better than to have a Nielsen family fall asleep early in the night while watching one of their shows. This way, the TV stays on the same channel all night without the chance of switching to another show.

It's not too early to start this discussion: On October 31st, Google will likely have their logo adorned with Halloween stuff. They always pretty-up their logo to coincide with any important, and not so important, holiday. Eleven days later is Veterans Day. Will Google have anything for Veterans Day?

Finally! Finally something is being done about the pedicabs in Manhattan. I've been complaining about it for months and after doing a quick Wahoo check, am very surprised I hadn't mentioned it here. It's what I usually fill the Wahoo with when I have nothing. These pedicabs are guys and gals on bicycles pulling around passengers in their little chariot behind them. The pick up pedestrians and charge them for a trip crosstown, uptown, or downtown. No standard fee is set, they are unlicensed, and they wheel around like they own the road. And they have no insurance. If one of the passengers gets run over by a bus, tough luck. And they are so dang brazen. They'll cut you off and try to squeeze between two cars as if they are in a tank. And the passengers sit in the back as if they are free from danger. The whole thing is crazy. Well, finally something is being done. Or at least the newspapers are starting to report about it. They want licensing and insurance and regulations and blah blah blah to the point that will likely put them out of business. Too bad. They had a nice free run there for awhile. I still can't believe one of those pedicabs never ended up under a car tire. Believe me, I tried.