I had a piece here the other day about Merrill Markoe. Steve O'Donnell is another person who was once David Letterman's head writer…another person who thought up jokes and ideas for bits that prompted people to say, "Isn't Dave brilliant?" For this article, he was interviewed about the creation and making of the Top Ten lists.
In the piece, O'Donnell makes mention of a Top Ten list that had to be written in just a few minutes due to a sudden emergency. It was "Top 10 Numbers Between One and Ten" and I thought it was one of the funniest ones they ever did. They must have too because they later repeated the premise — with different numbers and with Casey Kasem handling the countdown…
The first version aired on NBC on September 22, 1989. The one with Mr. Kasem was on CBS on September 3, 1993.
Speaking of the Top Ten list: Its invention has been credited to several different folks on the staff at the time and I have no reason to favor one account over another. But I wonder if whoever came up with it was influenced — even subconsciously — by an unsold pilot that ran on NBC five years before — on July 10, 1980. It was called Top Ten and it was like Solid Gold, counting down the current hits, interspersed with both serious and funny Top Ten lists. The funny ones were very much like the ones featured for years on Mr. Letterman's shows from 1985 on.
On Top Ten, they used the lists as premises for sketches and comedy blackouts but sometimes, someone just stood there and read a list. The show had a troop of comic actors that included Bill Saluga, Rick Dees, Julie McWhirter, Marcie Barkin, Mark Holden, Joyce Jillson, Edie McClurg, Chris King, Diane Steinberg, Paul Ryan, Ted Zeigler, Willie Curtis, Mike Fullington and a very young Phil Hartman. It was produced by Chris Bearde and written by Monty Aidem, Jeffrey Barron and others. Here's a photo of most of the cast members…
I haven't seen it since 7/10/80 but I remember it as being quite funny and musical. I knew Jeffrey Barron and I phoned him after it aired and asked, "Why didn't that become a series?" He said he didn't know. Jeffrey has passed away since then but yesterday, I e-mailed some other folks involved with it who I knew then or have met since and asked them for their recollections. Chris Bearde — one of the best comedy producers I ever worked with — wrote me back and said…
It was a precursor to MTV. Jim Aubrey and i were execs. I just took a bunch of promotional videos at that time…put Rick Dees as the D.J., got the Village People live and did all the hits of the day. It was also before Dave's Top Ten. I hired a fresh young Dave as writer on a Bob Hope Show I produced before he was big time Dave!! It was a first TV appearance for Phil Hartman also…Lotsa firsts…Bruce Jenner and Graham Chapman were guests. Graham did "The top ten people you think are dead!"
Monty Aidem wrote back…
You know, I don't remember much about the Top Ten special. A few things, though: There was another writer named Mara Lideks. And the director was a British guy named John Robins, who had directed Benny Hill, I believe. Bill Saluga added a lot as his character Raymond J. Johnson who was apparently hot at the time. All in all, it was a more memorable cast than George Schlatter's Laugh-In revival of the time.
And then I wrote Marcie Barkin, who I met when I was writing and she was guesting on Welcome Back, Kotter. Marcie's the adorable lady in the leopard-print outfit in the photo above — a wonderful comic actress…
It was an NBC pilot — skits, etc. Comedy ensemble format. It didn't have anything to do with Letterman's Top 10 though…
Okay, so Marcie doesn't see a connection to Letterman's lists and I'm not saying I do…but I wonder. Hey, does anyone have a copy of this special?