I've always liked Paul Shaffer. Matter of fact, one of the things I miss about the Letterman show is when they used to let Paul be funny for more than one quick interjection every other night or so. Whoever thought of him to be Dave's sidekick and bandleader had a darn good idea, if only because of the clever play-ons he invents for guests. It's also kinda nice watching this guy, who literally wallows in show biz schmaltz and history, become a pillar of it. He's worked with everyone in music and it shows.
That said, I was a bit disappointed in his recent autobiography, We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives. It reminded in a semi-distant way of Ed McMahon's autobiography and his other books, all of which were rendered shallow by Ed's stubborn insistence that everyone he'd ever met in show business was the greatest, most talented human being alive — except, of course, for Johnny Carson and Frank Sinatra, who were much, much better than that. The difference is that with Paul Shaffer, you kinda get the idea that the guy really feels that way about everyone.
Ed's books also read like he had a dread fear of saying anything — anything! — that might by the wildest stretch of the imagination not delight his employer, Mr. Carson. You wouldn't expect him to trash the guy but it's almost as if Ed (or the person who ghosted his books for him) said, "Okay…Johnny told that story on the air once so it's okay to include it in the book." It was disconcerting that Ed McMahon, who worked side-by-side with Johnny Carson for 35 years, didn't have any anecdotes about the guy that we didn't already know from watching The Tonight Show.
Paul Shaffer doesn't have much to tell you about David Letterman that you couldn't pick up as a steady viewer. The best parts of the book are about Paul's early days working in Canada with folks like Gilda Radner, and being around for the formative years of Saturday Night Live. And you might well enjoy the sheer excitement he radiates as a guy who worships various superstars of music and comedy gets to meet and work with most of his heroes. Here's an Amazon link if you'd like to order a copy.
You can also learn a lot (and a lot more) about Mr. Shaffer if you feel like watching the three-and-a-half hour interview he did for the Archive of American Television. It's online and in the parts I've sampled, he's a bit more candid…though he still loves just about everyone he's ever met in show biz. And I still believe he's almost sincere. Here's a brief clip that was taped at the same time of him ad-libbing a little musical commercial for his book…