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The James Altucher Show

Ep. 253 - Paul Shaffer: David Letterman's Legendary Band Leader on Making Music & Taking Your Shot

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2017

⏱️ 76 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Paul Shaffer has lived through five decades of music. He got his first big break was he was hired on the spot by Stephen Schwartz to be the musical director in Toronto's production of "Godspell". The cast included Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin and Victor Garber. The show was a huge hit and launched Paul's career. Paul was a featured performer and a musical composer for the first five years of Saturday Night Live. But he's best known for being David Letterman's sidekick and musical director on _The David Letterman Show_ for over thirty years. He got to play with some of the most popular musicians of our generation including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner and Ringo Starr. You can read his memoir _We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives_ or listen to his newest album "Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band". ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

0:06.4

This is the James Altiger Show on the Choose Yourself Network.

0:10.4

Today on the James Altiger Show.

0:15.0

I just got this call from Letterman's People.

0:17.6

I didn't get a shot for a while.

0:20.0

I then realized I've got to just take this shot.

0:23.0

I don't think two people can work together for 33 years without there being affection and

0:28.0

ability to solve problems together and work out creative difficulties in it forever.

0:34.0

Absolutely.

0:35.0

You guys were a real hair and team.

0:38.0

Letterman's show was late night with David Letterman.

0:41.0

You were on every episode.

0:42.0

I mean, it was his show.

0:43.0

I was his employee.

0:45.0

And he was so kind and generous with airtime.

0:48.0

Life Insurance.

0:57.7

We have to do it.

0:58.7

We have to protect our family.

1:00.2

And one company, our latest sponsor, is making it a lot easier.

1:04.7

PolicyGenius.com is the place where I go to learn about life insurance, compare quotes

1:10.3

from all of America's top providers and save up to 40% on your policy.

1:15.8

So if you're putting off life insurance or want to make sure the insurance you have

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