I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era by William Knoedelseder (20 page)

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Best friends forever Tom Dreesen, George Miller, and David Letterman hanging out between shows at the Icehouse in Pasadena, circa 1977. From personal collection of Tom Dreesen.

Tom Dreesen with Letterman

on April 9, 1979, the night

Dave made his first guest-host

appearance on
The Tonight

Show
. Immediately after the

show, Dave made his first

appearance on the picket line,

breaking Mitzi Shore’s heart

in the process.

David Letterman sits for one

of his first major newspaper

interviews dressed in a

YMCA T-shirt, May 1979.

Photo by William Knoedelseder.

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Jay Leno, circa 1976, with his

ever-present pipe and hip 1970s

attire. Courtesy of Budd Friedman.

Jay Leno, with pipe in hand, surveys the

packed front room of the West Hollywood

Improv, circa 1976. In foreground, actor

Peter Riegert.

Jay Leno on the street outside his West

Hollywood apartment in May 1979.

Photo by William Knoedelseder.

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The Comedy Store “Bombers” basketball team, 1979. Courtesy of Lue Deck.

Tim and Tom (Reid and Dreesen) broke up

their historic black-and-white stage act but Dave Letterman, power forward and

remained teammates on the Bombers.

gum chewer. Courtesy of Lue Deck.

Courtesy of Lue Deck.

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Andy Kaufman performs at the West Hollywood Improv as club owner Budd Friedman (far right in rear) looks on. Photo courtesy of Budd Friedman.

Andy Kaufman doing his famous Elvis

impersonation complete with sequined

leather jacket and sneer, November

Andy Kaufman getting ready to wrestle

1978. Photo by William Knoedelseder.

on the author’s patio, November 1978.