Hi, welcome to the Barbara Gaines Holiday Show. I'm Barbara Gaines. This is Mary Barclay. This is Dave Letterman.
Hi, holidayers. Nice to see you.
Yes. Can I mention your shoes?
Oh, let me talk about these shoes. Do you have a minute? I do. These shoes, I wear them typically once a year. And if you guessed I did not pick these out, you would be correct.
Oh, I should have saved that for the mentalist. Do people know he's here?
These were a gift from like 10 or 20 years ago from my good friend John Witherspoon. And so I bring them out in memory of John, who is nothing but great, good fun and a great friend of mine.
And stylish. Look at those bad boys. I don't even know how to describe them.
Oh, and you look pretty good there.
And guess what? I've never seen anyone else wearing them.
Yeah. Okay. It's like something out of Santa's workshop.
Kind of. Sort of. Right. Yeah, totally. Oh boy. I'm very excited about the show tonight.
Let's bring out our first guest. Okay. Paul, where are you? Friend Paul Shaffer is here. Come on.
Thank you. Yeah. Hi, Paul. Thank you very much. James, happy Christmas.
Hi. Merry Christmas. Thank you.
Hey, we should turn. You know, I was, I thought exactly these Witherspoon. You don't have, I was going to pull these on. I was going to wear them.
I don't think even John Witherspoon.
No, I don't really. I'm kidding. Good to see you.
Great. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Everything well. To mention that we have a little bit of an audience today.
Oh, yes. It's folks who come to the party.
Yeah. And a few Uber drivers just waiting. Nice to have you here, kids.
I wish. And I don't have much experience going to parties for various reasons. But if I were to have more parties, I would want this group at every party.
I agree. This is just about all I need.
I like these people. They're the best.
They are well schooled at pretending to like you.
Years of experience. And this show is exciting because of Paul and everybody else and our special guest. And because we're standing.
Oh, and look at this. Now, you might think that's an actual fire. You'd be wrong. That's not an actual fire. I think with every holiday show, we always ask Paul to talk about...
Oh, this is a tradition on the old show. And in 1973, you were home watching the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. I would love to tell this story. It's true. Sonny and Cher were still on in 1973, and they had a Christmas edition, a Christmas episode of their show, and their special guest. We have one today. Theirs was William Conrad, the actor. You remember he had a big network show? He was a cop who drove around in a car named Cannon. Big, heavyset, and he was gruff. Yeah. And he would arrest people driving around in his car. So there was a big long medley of Christmas music, and we, you know, we wish you a merry Christmas, and everybody, and it was a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. And then it was time to get serious, and Cher was going to do O Holy Night for real, you know, and it was a beautiful setting. She was under a street lamp, the snow was falling, her hands in a muff, and uh, thank you. I always get a good laugh on that. I'm never sure. Never sure what works. Yeah. Anyway, as the snow fell and the piano was playing the beautiful...
Thank you very much. We can't get enough of that. Nice to do it again. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that. Thank you all.
Here's where on the old show I would drop in a zinger. How did that cataract surgery go, Paul?
Ah, well, you know, I'm wearing my Christmas glasses.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have another special guest today. He is the most sought-after mentalist in the world. I want to just say...
Can I interrupt you for a second here? Yes. This guy is fantastic. I've seen many, many of his appearances. And in all candor, he's a mentalist. In all candor, I know how this works because if you know me, bring him on. No magic.
He's the bestselling author of the book Read Your Mind. Welcome Oz Pearlman, known as Oz the Mentalist.
Oz the Mentalist. Thank you. High five down the line. I also want you to know that when Barbara received my hospitality rider, she balked that there was only one item, but she was able to source the only thing that I request, which is a custom pillow of Don King with her face on it. They said it's the only thing that I need at show. This is your rider. Kudos for finding this for me. It was the only thing that got me here. This is a true collector's eye. You think I don't know? You think I don't know.
We're so excited. And as I mentioned, these are the people I want at every party. I want you to come to every party I may have. I'm just thrilled. Now, I'll tell you a little bit about what you do, please. And I'll tell you why. When I lived in California, I spent a couple of years working for a man named Kreskin. I took care of his pool. And he's absolutely very serious about this.
Wow. Yeah. I was Kreskin's pool boy. Let's go. Let's do something. Let's do something fun. Paul, let's ask you a question. Okay. Right. You walked in here earlier. I put you on the spot, Paul. I put you on the spot. I said, 'How many years was the show on?' And you were so lightning. Tell me, how many years were you on the show?
33 years. Seen countless guests. Countless. And I say to you, you know, this is a great question. I like to ask everybody the same question. What if you could sit down to dinner, get back together? It could be a guest you've already had, dead or alive, or it could be somebody who's never even been a guest on the show. And I tell you right now, and notice, normally I have to see the eyes, the eyes are the window. So, I can't see anything with Paul right now.
You're getting no signs between his glasses and your ear hair. I'm screwed.
I'll take them off if you'd like.
No, no. Make it hard. This is, I got to earn the title of world's best mentalist.
You are the world's best. I mean, I'm not saying...
You said it. You said it. How many are there? There's like six. So, it's really... this is like the tallest little person. Half a dozen. Notice Paul is usually an uplifting spirit.
You give a little razzle-dazzle. He's my good friend in life and my good show business friend also.
Yeah. But he's normally happy. He's cheerful, but he got sad. He got somber. I think your person has passed away. Am I right?
I use the energies. You're correct. No, no, no, no. Let's get something to write with. Let's get something to write with. Yeah. I'm very good at taking things that are big and impossible and breaking them down small. So, I want you... Now, notice the hands on the hips, right? That's always a guy-to-guy vibe.
Is it a guy? It is a guy. Yeah. If it's a woman, most guys' hands in front of the crotch. I don't know why.
Oh, well, you're just being blues.
No, no, that was, that's true. Okay. My show is squeaky clean. So you're picking up clues from me. I'm trying to get some clues. Body language. Yeah. Give me nothing. Don't even read. Yeah. Count how many letters are in his first name, but just to yourself. Okay. Now he said, 'Okay,' because he was done counting. Now, if you're counting the name Mary, four letters. Boom. It's quick. Barbara, that's a struggle. Seven letters, right? If the name is Michelle, it's like a million letters. You knew it. Not instantly, but quick. So, just like that, he showed me his poker hand. The name is either five or six letters. And now, when I see Paul give his little nod, it's five letters, isn't it?
Don't. I think that Paul went down a stroll on memory lane. And when I said it could be somebody in the show, it doesn't have to be. He said, 'No, I'm going to go with somebody who's been on the show.' I think this person's been on the show many times. I think that Paul is nostalgic. Now, I know who it is, too. Okay. I'm going to ask you.
You want to ask me first?
I don't. No, I want to ask you if you think you know who it is.
I do. Yes, I do. We didn't set this up. I didn't tell you to tell Dave. You didn't tell a soul. Is that correct?
You didn't write this on a piece of paper. You didn't whisper it in Walter Kim's ear.
This guy's sneaky. What if you told him? Nobody knows this, right?
That's correct. I didn't tell anybody.
The person, five letters. What do you think the last letter is of his first name? Just the last letter of his first name. Guess. What do you think the last letter? Guess.
Let me look at him wrong so I know.
Wait a minute. How do you know it's wrong?
Because I wasn't nodding my head.
Yeah. I'm going to go. I think this... I think your person... Oh, this is it. This is it. This is it.
Don't say it. Don't say it, Dave. Don't say it, Dave.
Can everyone see it? If you can see it, everybody say yeah. Over here. If you can see it, say yeah.
All right, Paul. You've not only seen him on the show, you've had a meal. You've had meals together. You remember him fondly. Who are you imagining at this very moment sitting down to dinner across from you? Who is it? Tell us. What's his name?
Well, first of all, I got to say I don't know if I had many dinners with this gentleman. Could have been one. You want me to tell you who it is? Robin. Robin Williams. Robin Williams is who I went with.
I'm breathless. I don't know what to say. But as I agreed that I would, if you got this, I would donate my check back to the casino, and I didn't do that.
No, but in all seriousness, as a comic, I was amazed.
Thank you. Wait, look at this crowd because baby's in on it. I'm watching. Trusted. I mean, he's a shill. He's in it. He's in on it, right?
He was Kreskin's pool boy, too. He stole the job from you.
So, let's look in this crowd and everybody out there, the same question posed to you.
I like how a few people came in the middle.
Everyone right now, can we turn the camera? Can we see them? Are we allowed to break the fourth wall? All of you out there... I like how this guy's texting during my show. He's like, 'Mentalist great, lol.' He goes, 'I'm with Letterman.' Yeah. I'm kidding. Everyone out there, raise your hand if you can picture your person. Raise a hand up. Let's see it now. Notice, notice. Come on, this guy's hand went up quick. She was ready before I asked. This woman is pretending I'm not even here. I like that energy. Right over here, the gentleman with the V-neck sweater who's also wearing a button-up. Also another shirt underneath. This is three layers. He's keeping the core warm. Tell us all your first name.
