When it comes to Jay Thomas – actor, radio host and political commentator – one thing's for sure: the man's got staying power. In fact, he won't go away.
When he failed the entrance exam – twice – to Jesuit High School in his hometown of New Orleans he wouldn't go away. Instead, he persuaded the school to admit him anyway, promising the headmaster he'd be a graduate to make the school proud. When the producers of "Mork & Mindy" cut Thomas' pay in an attempt to eliminate him from the show (he was playing deli owner Remo DaVinci) he wouldn't go away. He kept showing up to the set, kept working. And when David Letterman canceled Thomas' long-standing guest appearances after an incident involving one of Thomas' sons, Thomas even managed to find a way back onto the show.
Thomas, still known to many for his 1987-89 run on "Cheers" as Eddie LeBec, Carla Tortelli's professional hockey-playing love interest, will be back on the "Late Show With David Letterman" this Friday, Dec. 19, the last time he'll make his annual Christmastime appearance. Letterman is headed off to retirement in May of 2015. As he always does this time of year – except last year, when he was sick and Letterman declined his offer to make an appearance from his hospital bed – Thomas will tell his famous "Lone Ranger" story and try to knock down an oversized meatball from atop Letterman's Christmas tree.
Thomas has achieved amazing show-business success, having won two Emmy Awards for his work on "Murphy Brown," where he played tabloid talk show host Jerry Gold, who was also one of the title character's love interests. He's also acted in numerous films, including fan favorite "Mr. Holland's Opus."
HNGN: How would you describe your relationship with Letterman? Most of his recurring guests say they don't really get to know him.
JT: I have three boys. My oldest son is a guy named JTX, a huge songwriter. We had been going to TV stations, and we go to Letterman, and some of his songs were starting to hit, and he wanted to do a rock 'n' roll thing or something. His two brothers and he are sitting in the balcony, and so is my friend and his family. I went to Dave and said, "Look, I need my guests to sit in a better spot." He hates executives – he hates friends – and he puts them behind a speaker. They moved them to the front row of the balcony. At least that's better than behind a speaker.
Letterman and I are sitting there, and my son takes his shoe off in the balcony. Dave and I are talking. Nothing has happened, we're just bullshittin' for a second, and all of a sudden this tennis shoe flies out of the darkness, lands right in between us, and my son yells, "I'm Jay Thomas' illegitimate son!" I am in shock. The security guards grab him and lifts him up. They stop the show, and Dave turns to me, and he goes, "Is that really your son?" And I go, "Yeah." They cart his ass out of there – they stop the f----n' show. It was bad. Now, he's not on drugs, he doesn't drink – nothing. We had gone on the "Today" show and he took his shirt off and he had a black bra on or something. He was doing silly shit. He was so excited he was getting action, that he thought he was going to be a big rock 'n' roll star.
Not only do we recover, but I tell the story and get laughs, and we throw the football around. Then the show is over, and Letterman is really mad. He said, "Ya know, I can't believe you did that." I said, "I didn't do that," and he didn't believe me. So it kind of ruined our weekend.
HNGN: What happened next?
JT: The next week, the producer woman calls up and says, "Dave is very upset." And I said, "Well, I didn't do it." I was supposed to appear in June or July, and they canceled that appearance. I called him up and said, "I can prove to you I had nothing to do with it. It wasn't funny, and there was no camera on it. There was no lighting. Are you crazy?"
I've done crazy stuff on his show before – I sold a boat on his show. So now my son writes Dave a letter – a letter, not an email. I said, "You write a longhand letter and you send it to him." I call the producer, and he gets the letter. About three or four months later, David had had a son. And he sends my son a personal note, and he says I realize now that you were just trying to do something for yourself and don't worry about it, and that was that.
The next year, I go on the show, and I sit down, and the first thing Dave says to me is, "How's that son of yours?" – without any context. I stammered something like, "He works for Cole Haan selling shoes." I made a joke and it got a laugh, but it didn't mean anything. I don't know why he did that.
David Letterman – I only know him for those eight to 15 minutes I sit there. I never had dinner with him. Never been to his house.
Once when my son was about 12 years old, I brought him backstage after the show was over. Dave has two bodyguards, and they come out, and they go up the stairs. So I'm standing there and Dave comes out of the studio to go up, and I turn to him and say, "Have a good holiday." And he turns back and says, "Jay, you too." And my son is there, and there's the bars of the balcony, and I say, "Dave, this is my son." And Letterman goes, "Hey." My son puts his hands through the bars to shake his hand, and David looks at him, and I go, "Dave, can you shake his hand? He's 12 years old." Dave goes, "He'll get over it."
My son turns to me and says, "Was he kidding?" And I go, "I haven't the faintest f---n' idea." Wild, huh?
