covered the fuel, but he gets to say he beat richard branson's three boats and iise raised $86,000 for a local children's charity. it was sure a lot of fun to watch. everyone having a good time. all right, thanks so much for watching. see you back here tomorrow. i woke up this morning and thought to myself, regis, this would be a great day to go to cnn and guest host piers morgan's show. let's go. it's me, regis. >> now, if only i can get a big star. i mean, one person i really want to talk to. this is the real david letterman. this is why you never see him guesting anywhere. he won't do it.

>> the two people who are the most important to me in my life, you and my wife, have the same name. >> how you doing? hey, look up there. watch out, cnn, it's me regis hosting "piers morgan tonight." hi, everybody. it's me regis. remember me? i'm a good pal of piers morgan. we five years ago started america's got talent. i was the host and piers was a very severe judge. oh, boy, was he something. i'm very flattered to be here tonight. i'm happy to have as my special guest someone who don't see guesting anywhere. he just doesn't do it. people have tried for years. i mean, he just -- he's not a guest. he's a host. and a great host too. speaking about david letterman. now, you know, you're not going to see david letterman walking in the streets of new york. you can look for him, you're

never going to see him. you're not going to see him getting all dressed up to go to the metropolitan costume ball in new york city. he just doesn't do things like that. but you can see him every night on his own show. i must tell you how all this happened. as i said, he doesn't really do this. but don rickles and i were guests on dave's show. after the show dave took everybody out to dinner. we were at dinner and he said what's next in your life? i said, well, i couldn't think of what was next. joy said well you heard from cnn today piers morgan is taking a week off, they'd like you to do a night. dave said that's great. i'd like to be your guest. and i said wait a minute. you want to be my guest? i've known you a long time, are you sure you want to be a guest? i want to be a guest. i didn't bring it up the rest of the night. just before we broke to go home, i said dave, now are you sure?

he said i'm going to be there. sure enough, he is here. you'll see him, you know, on his own show every night 11:30 streaking across the stage. comes out looking like a million bucks and gives you the best hour of television you'll see that day or that night. ladies and gentlemen, my friend, my guest, david letterman. >> oh, boy. >> you heard the applause. >> thanks, reg. thank you so much. >> dave, take a look around at how piers morgan lives. why can't we live like this? >> hi to use the bathroom before i came out here. the lighting in the restroom is superior to the lighting on your old show. this place is amazing. it is remarkable. >> it's all brand new. now, listen. you're at a place over there on broadway, the old ed sullivan theater. >> i love it. we were looking at facilities around the city. this hadn't even been built. we went in there and it was a

minute or two away from being condemned. in actuality. and by god, in a short period of time they turned it from whatever it had been into just a first rate television facility. and i'm from the school that you do tv in a studio. and so i was wondering if it could be, in fact, done from a theater. but the place is fantastic. i look around there every night and i think i'm so lucky to be part of a production coming from this place. it's both intimate and it's as big as you need it to be and intimate as you need it to be. >> we never really had a chance to talk about our childhood. i got to tell you something. i had no idea this would ever happen to me, that i would get on television. no confidence at all. didn't pursue anything in high school or college like the stage or anything that might have helped me a bit. i did fall in love with bing

crosby's voice in the late '30s to '40s. i loved him and i loved the sound of his voice and the way he acted. and that was my only inspiration to get involved in this business. take me back. when you were a young little guy in indianapolis, did anybody inspire you? did you have a favorite comedian or comic or anybody? >> it wasn't bing crosby. this is right after the civil war. you are way back there. >> i knew you'd say that. >> well, when i was a kid, my mom before i went to school used to like arthur godfrey. he had a morning radio show. then that was partly -- part of that was a television show also. there was a simulcast of the radio show. then he had a nighttime talent

scout show on monday nights. then later if the week he had an hour-long variety show. so our household was full of arthur godfrey productions. i can just remember being fascinated by when they would open the television portion of the simulcast, they would be the earphones. they were there to suggest where arthur would place his head. there was something about the microphone and the earphones and the equipment that i found fascinating. i just thought there's something cool about this. >> this is september 1st, 1969. i saved this magazine for 43 years. this is the first year three networks went with talk show hosts late at night. this is merv just starting out. >> this is merv right there. >> this is merv. >> joey bishop. >> and johnny in 1962. now, what were you doing in 1969? were you still in school? >> 1969? >> yeah. >> yeah.

i was just graduating from college. >> did you have an eye for the show business at that point? >> it's a silly story, but where better to tell a silly story than here with you. i was like you. i was sort of lost. in school. and i had a bunch of friends and as the grades progressed, i realized how important it was to study and make good grades if you wanted to have the same peer group. i was falling behind. i couldn't do anything. all of my buddies were math and chemistry and algebra and on and on. i was on the soft curriculum. it was shop and that sort of -- nothing wrong with that. i remember doing so poorly my mom was very upset about it. she said we're going to try to get you into a trade school. and again, that would have been fine, but i was not able to keep up. and then one semester i took a public speaking course. and the first assignment for the public speaking course was a five minute extemporaneous, what

do they call it speech? ad lib speech? i got up and did that. whether it went well or not, i felt it went well. i thought oh, this might be my saving -- my life line. i might be able to turn this into doing something. >> isn't that nice? >> then i stopped worrying so much about other things and knew you had to find a way to get paid for what i could do. >> and when did the comedy phase hit you that you wanted to be a comedian and get involved in comedy? >> as a kid, i think most kids are always funny. kids are always trying to be funny. all my buddies were funny. i thought this would be great if i could get a job writing. i'd worked in television and worked in radio. but it was not as challenging or as exciting as i wanted it to be. it was pretty prohibitive. you were a weather man were a news man or a kids host. >> and one night you packed up and went to hollywood? >> in a matter of speaking, yes.

my wife and i did that, put everything in the truck and went to california. >> and things happened right away. >> happened right away. not because of me, but in those days as i said before if you wanted to go to california and become a comic or become a part of comedy, the blueprint of that was laid out in front of you every night on the tonight show. they would have brand new comedians, some returning, some new. and johnny would say before and after that was steve landsburg, you can see him on sunset boulevard here in hollywood. and pretty soon you realize that was an instant connection. comedy store, you knew they had the amateur night and the tonight show. 1975 i went out there, three years later i was a guest on the tonight show. it was so much easier for me. and it was great for the tonight

show because they needed people in those days the show was 90 minutes. your show is an hour, just your show is an hour, just seemed like 90 minutes. [ male announcer ] it would be easy for u.s. olympian meb keflezighi

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