INT: So Biff, I hope you don't think this is irrelevant for me to say this, but next to your wife is your relationship with David [David Letterman] like the longest in duration and being on the show? 

BH: Wow. What a great question. Well other than my kids, and my wife, my parents. That's a great question. I mean it's interesting. You're probably right. You probably are right. I think you might be right that. That yeah, my relationship with Dave of 34, 35 years, and my marriage and my kids' age, they're the only ones older, relationship-wise. No, my kids are not older. Yeah, my wife. [INT: No, no, no, but the relationship.] Yeah, that may be the longest relationship one-on-one that I've had with anyone to not know 'em. [INT: I say that to say that this has brought a lot of joy, pleasure, sense of accomplishments for you as an adult?] Absolutely. I mean I feel blessed. I'm very humble about it. I mean I never anticipated it. Never imagined it. It's been 30-some, the long… you know, 30-some years of... I mean here I am from North Carolina ending up on Broadway, and actually some people call it entertaining, you know? Now you go figure that. And it's because of David Letterman, and that’s a... I have nothing to say but thank you and appreciation to something like that. I never in my wildest dreams figured on being on Broadway. Now 30-plus, close to 40 years ago when I was in--ironically, I hadn't thought about this since then. I was in New York on that interview I was telling you about, and I was staying somewhere over around Seventh Avenue, and I had gone in a bar right next door to the Ed Sullivan Theater, okay. And there it was 30, 40 years later, I'm not only in the theater, but I'm actually, if you want to call it entertaining, doing something in there. I'd never figured on it, and they said that that place when they first decided to go there it was a rat-infested, bad news place. Until Letterman [LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN] hit the Ed Sullivan Theater. They also tell me that that whole block there was like a dead zone. No businesses. No nothing. And he brought all that back. And to see somebody and certainly to be a part of it and all that, it's incredible. Again singing his praise, I've traveled all over the world with him, but I've also seen his generosity over the years in a number of ways and things that I've done with him that I never would have done ordinarily, probably would like to have but maybe not have done it, like working on Habitat for Humanity. That was him, you know. I've heard of all these generous things that he's done for people. How true they are, I don't know. That's his business. But I believe it, because knowing the kind of guy he is; how many people he looked out for on the show. I mean I was at an NBA final in Chicago one year, and a lady working in the concessions stand calls me over and told me when I got back to New York to just tell Mr. Letterman "Thank you," and I said, "No problem." I said, "You want to write your name down on a piece of paper, and if you don't mind me asking, what are you thanking him for?" And she told me a story about something that had been replaced for some people in Chicago, I think it was, or Indiana, and nobody ever knew anything about that you know. I don't know if he knew who she was or even wanted her to know who he was outside of television, I don't know. But the stories I've heard about generosity about him and all that, and for what he did for me and my family, please.

INT: So we’re going to go back to the young man in Durham, North Carolina, the one who knew Arthur Ashe, played with Arthur Ashe, tennis and everything. And your career, you know, has took you to the White House, which some of us maybe at that point of time might not have envisioned ourselves in the White House, but do you have a White House experience this year? 

BH: Have you been to the White House? No, I never envisioned myself... Well, I shouldn’t say… I had been to the White House before, but not on this level. I was a guest at the White House with David Letterman and President Obama, as a result of the Kennedy Center awards [Kennedy Center Honors] when Dave received the Kennedy Honors, and that was one of the most exciting things that I'd ever probably had done. You know, I mean it was really fantastic. We were there… in this room in the White House, and David's wife, his son, one of the Writers, Bill Scheft, Paul Shaffer and myself were in the front row, and up on the podium was the President's, you know, podium, and four or five seats for these honorees that were gonna get their medals. I realized at that point I was sitting in the wrong place, okay. Dave's wife was down here, and his son here, and I told his wife Regina, "You come over here," and she said, "Oh no. Everything's fine. Everything's fine." And maybe it was stage man--I don't know, I insisted on her coming over here, which she did. I said, "If you want me to sit next to Harry, I don't have any problem." But my thought was his father's gonna be right there, "He needs to see the two of you." And so she came over, she sat here, and I'm here, and Paul and Scheft. And as the program began, you know, we had already had cocktails and everything outside, the first person down to come and sit to where I was, but now it's Regina, was President Kennedy's daughter and her husband, and then the next person comes down is Michelle Obama, and I said, "I knew I was in the wrong place." That wasn't where I was supposed to be. She's supposed to be there. It was just an incredible experience. I mean all of a sudden you're in this environment, not only with the President of the United States and the First Lady, but you're also in an environment with a lot of very important people, not only in entertainment but politically and everything else. Some powerful people. You're probably in the most secure place you're ever gonna be in your life, 'cause nothing's gonna happen there right now anyway, and they tell you, “You got the run of the house. You can do whatever you want today,” you know, “have fun.” "Wow, you know this is pretty cool." And I just thought it was a great experience. And when we walked in and had pictures taken with the President and the First Lady, and they actually said to me again, say, "Hey Biff, how you doing today?" I said, “Who figured this, from Durham, North Carolina." [INT: Absolutely.]

INT: And so Biff, one of your great abilities, I think, is knowing how to improvise and when to improvise, which you did in that situation, just kinda knowing to move over. [BH: Oh, to move her over?] Right. [BH: It just didn't feel right.] Right. It wasn't scripted. So do you... is that part of what you think are your strengths and assets that make you the premier Stage Manager that you are? 

BH: Oh premier. Wow. That's very generous. I don't know if I would hire me, but anyway... Anyway, anyway. You know, I do sense, and it might be from sports, I don't know what it's from. I'm a people person, and I appreciate all people, and I seriously feel that... I can feel when things are not right. I can sense danger. I don't know if that's Vietnam. I don't know. You know, I can sense... I was brought up by my parents with a certain amount of... I'm probably the least of it in my family, but they always try and instill proper etiquette and all that, and I get it. I may not practice it all the time, but I get it. So yeah, I do sense these things of... I mean I still walk on the left side of a woman walking down the street, okay. [INT: I remember that.] Yeah. I did that with you? [INT: No. I remember that was part of the whole ethics growing up.] Yeah, Sir Walter Raleigh. Yeah. I mean... and I still hold the door, and I can't... I just did it for a young lady, you know, that was here earlier. She insisted I go in first. I said, "Well I won't be going in," and I meant it you know. Basically I mean, yeah, sometimes you gotta go--[INT: That was Ashley.] Yeah, sometimes I'll just go on in, but you know I was... So yeah, I do sense what's right--what I feel is right and wrong. Whether it is right or wrong, I don't know. You know, but I try. [INT: Do you consider that an asset in your style, your approach to...] Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think a lot of people just in general, forget about this business, or any part of life should start paying attention to stuff like that, 'cause people don't even speak to each other anymore, much less all the other stuff that goes on. But you know, that's beside the point. But the reality of it is yeah, it's nothing wrong with being polite and courteous. You know, speaking and saying, "Thank you." Yeah, I mean I didn't necessarily thank guests when they left the interviews or whatever they did on the show. It wasn't maybe my place for thanking them to come. I didn't necessarily invite them. I was just making sure that everything went well while they were there. But I would ask them questions like, "Did you enjoy yourself? Did you have fun? How was it?" And in most cases they did appreciate that. You know, they really appreciated it--if they didn't say it at first. I remember... I could tell when people had fun, 'cause a lot of 'em would say it. I remember one time President Clinton was there, and as he was walking he said, "Oh man, that was a lot of fun," and I just said, "Everybody did their job." You know, “Everybody did their job.”

INT: Now you spoke about two Directors by name: Hal Gurnee and Jerry Foley. Were there any other Directors or other professionals that you've worked with and admire? 

BH: Yeah, like I said one of the first opportunities to work as a Stage Manager in production was Enid Roth. I remember Jim Gaines on THE TODAY SHOW. There were so many Directors that I worked with over the years that... I'm trying to think of. In sports, I'm looking at him, but I can't think of his name. Famous, he's passed on. But there were so many Directors that I worked with over the years that… I can't think of any one in particular, and normally I blank people/situations like that out of my mind that I did not respect or would be willing to work with. There was no one that... The yelling and the screaming that Directors have a tendency to do sometime, my personality just sort of tends to blank that out, you know, so I don't really hear it. And if they are talking to me, that's fine, you know, 'cause I'm a try not to remember it. Producers, anybody else like that. Fortunately under THE LATE SHOW [LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN] and LATE NIGHT [LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN], I don't remember a lot of that going on; a lot of yelling, and screaming and stuff like that, you know. I'm sure it happened. But again, maybe I tuned it out, or maybe it didn't happen at all. I would like to think that it didn't happen at all. I understand why it would happen. I understand that. It's a bunch of people doing something; they don't know what they're doing anyway, you know.

INT: Now, whether you agree with me on this statement or not, I think you have a very creative mind. What are some of, if you can recall offhand, some of the creative aspects that you would put into your Stage Manager work? 

BH: Creative aspects? I mean you mean adding something to what's you’re responsibility now? [INT: Yeah, or when you worked as a Stage Manager, because not just a cut-and-dry, you know, get them from point A to point B.] Yeah, I understand. I understand. Well, see it's not a difficult question to answer, but it's sort of complicated in a way, and the reason I say that is because the show that I worked on, as we agreed already, was different every day, and so it was nothing that you could bring... you may be able to bring something new to the table at that moment, but not necessarily to make it into policy, you know, for a regular basis, 'cause no two days were the same. I know this sounds repetitious or whatever, but that's just the way I see it. And the only thing that... I don't think that so far as stage managing is concerned, I know sometimes shows work without them and stuff like that, but somebody, regardless of what their title is, has to be there, I feel, to coordinate and to make somebody feel comfortable in between who's behind that camera and who's in front of it. Somebody's got to be there whether it's a Producer or whoever, somebody's got to be there. And the only thing that I feel that... when you got a big production going on like we had, you need somebody that specifically is concentrating on that, and it's got to be somebody like a Stage Manager, I'm sorry, you know on these big productions. That's why they got 'em. That’s why they’ve got so many of them. I don't think it's a job that's going anywhere. I know they tried to eliminate it, but they also tried to eliminate announcers in sports years ago. You know, what can I tell you? Certain jobs are just necessary.

INT: You really do enjoy, you know, and did enjoy so much your work. Was there any one particular thing you enjoyed most about it? Was it the newness of every day? 

BH: Yeah, that was basically it; never knowing what I was gonna walk into that day. The excitement of it. The rush. You know the... just keep going until it's done. I would recommend to anybody that wants to get into television and production I don't think it's necessarily maybe rocket science, but what I'm saying we kind of... you're dealing with time, and that's important, and it's expensive, so you have to respect it and make sure that... you should observe it and see what people are doing first. Don't act like you can just do this, because you can't. It's like any other profession. I feel, you know, once you've done it enough, it looks like you're doing nothing. You know, you're not even... it's not even work. It's a job, maybe one that you hate or one that you love. In my case it's one I loved. I mean I just... I prayed for it, and it happened. You know, that's the way it is.

INT: We've talked about a lot of, you know, really funny sketches [on THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN], show segments. You know, can you rank a favorite? That's difficult to have had, in my mind, because you had so many good times, so much fun, you know, enjoying work. 

BH: I mean that is really a tough question. I just... there's no one particular show that just I think about it and crack up in stitches or something like that. No, there's so many. It's just so many of them. I think that's like... I don't even know. Maybe Dave can answer that question. Maybe other people have a specific show. Not one that comes to my mind right now. Should have maybe thought about it a little more in detail, but no. I thought they're all great. I thought all the Radio City shows were great; the anniversary shows we did there. I thought the shows on the West Coast and in Las Vegas were great, you know, when we worked out there. Did Chicago Theatre. We worked there. And we did all these shows on I think Thursday or Friday for a month in different cities. I think at the Warner Theatre in Washington. At Boston University. In Chicago someplace. And those shows were all great, you know. You know, I've worked with... I've seen people come through the ranks of this business, from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE to total stardom through LETTERMAN and all these places. See, the way I see this, not to say that it's true or accurate, most of the entertainers today whether they'll do it or not--this is just my opinion and my observation. From the show at NBC, the LATE NIGHT [LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN] show when David started that show, he exposed more, in my observation, more big time entertainers today than probably anybody else, 'cause he was the only one on at 12:30. Carson [Johnny Carson] 11:30, he at 12:30. So between the two of them... I mean how much exposure... I know Seinfeld [Jerry Seinfeld] and those guys did THE TONIGHT SHOW and all that, but David had people coming through like there was no tomorrow, especially standup comedians. And he gave them opportunities and exposure like there was no tomorrow. I don't recall one time hearing him... I've heard it other shows where people were unacceptable. I'm talking about Crew, anything, unacceptable to work a show. Never heard that David Letterman said that, okay, "This person cannot work on my show." You know, that kind of thing. So I guess what I'm saying is not only did I benefit from his generosity, the fact of reality is that he helped a lot of people. And whether they want to admit it or not, some of these big time stars out here think they did it without somebody else. They are kidding themselves. A lot of 'em got the exposure right on that stage. And I've heard some say it and say, "Thank you for that," and that's just the way I see it.

INT: Now, for you Biff, coming from behind the camera to being an on-camera personality, that evolution was a process. What was that like for you? You know, like you start, you know, you were a Stage Manager first, but then you became an on-air personality in your own right. 

BH: I became a star? [INT: Yeah. You sure did.] Really? A fallen star. [INT: No.] Yes. That's pretty sad. But anyway, the transition, like I said earlier, I mean, you know, it was no big deal to me. I had no problem with it. I just wanted to make sure that whatever I was doing I could do the best I could without embarrassing myself, and my family or the show. And I probably did anyway in some cases, I embarrassed... but you know people laughed at it, so be it. I didn't do anything to try to hurt anybody. I didn't try to hurt myself or the show, and I really kind of felt like I did whatever they wanted and went overboard to try to do it. The transition was nothing, because, like I said earlier, I don't know what I was... if you don't know what you're doing what is there to be concerned about? It's nothing to be concerned about at all. I just did it. And whether it worked it worked. Whether it didn't it didn't. I don't remember leaving, doing any of these things, walking away… I questioned people, like I've done you today, and asked, "Is this okay? Is this going all right?" But it's only 'cause I want to make sure that I'm doing right by everybody, but I never went home and lost an inch of sleep about it. I didn't lose no sleep over it. I mean that's the question. They told me really it was bad then at least they were honest I hope, and that was the end of that. I mean I remember one time I did a skit... well I wasn't doing it, but you know my honesty played into the scenario… a guy said, "That didn't work," and you know the response was, "Well the shit wasn't funny, you know from the beginning,” you know. “Sorry, but it just wasn't funny. You know, maybe it would have worked if...” You know, but you know I just... No, it was no problem, the transition. You know, I think it would... I think possibly... it would be harder for me to go out and try to do construction work, because that's something that could hurt somebody. I don't think comedy is going to really hurt people too bad. You can insult them, but you know, that's why I go... I'd like to do more comedy. Who knows what the future holds. I'd like to do some voiceovers. I like to do cartoons. Stuff like that. All that stuff. I have a voice for that. I could do it, so I've been told. [INT: Yes you do.] And so, you know, having said that, I don't necessarily consider myself totally through with this. It's just that… depends on what comes down the pipe.

INT: Now was that decision to retire, was it made in conjunction with Dave's last show [THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN]? 

BH: Absolutely. I mean I would have retired probably long before that show ended, I think. It depended on what I was doing. If I was enjoying, if I were doing something that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed doing this show, yeah I probably would still be working, okay? But when he announced that he was retiring, yeah, I was ready. I mean I was not totally ready. You know, I was concerned about it, 'cause I was having so much fun. But having said that, I was ready. I mean I was ready to find out whether I was ready, if that explains it. [INT: It makes sense.] Yeah, I was ready to find out. And so far it's been a year, at this point as we do this recording, it's worked out well, 'cause I've done other stuff, a couple of little things here and there. You know I did... Someone said to me, "Biff, at least they remember you." And I said, "Well, I can't go anywhere." It's just like it was when the show was on, I'm still stopped all over the world wherever I go. You know, pictures and whatever. But you know, I said, also it's... I did a little thing up in Jamestown, New York. Lucille Ball. The Comedy Center [National Comedy Center], with some people from the show, and Jerry and Regis Philbin. I did a thing with Jimmy Kimmel for a day; that was great. But to answer your question about this retirement thing, when I went up to Jamestown it was fun, but it kind of let me know that I've been blessed. I don't really need it. I had to go to the airport and be there on their schedule and their time. You know, whereas the Jimmy thing was in Brooklyn when he was in New York. I can go out there for a day. That was great. Here I am doing this for the Directors Guild with you, and I'm honored to have been asked, but this is fine, even though there's no money involved. [INT: You're too much.]

INT: Now the tribute, the video montage, which I thought, really was a very fitting way, you know, to acknowledge you on the show [THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN], from David. Did you... [BH: Oh.] It kind of showed--[BH: I was going to say, "Am I going to a funeral now?"] No, you're not. That's why I called it a video montage. [BH: Excuse me.] Okay, but did you like that one? Did you think it expressed what you would want people to remember you? 

BH: To answer your question, yeah. Yeah, I was very satisfied with that montage. That was a good one. And the interesting part about that was the chopsticks, a lot of people like... There's been so many... so much stuff over the years. You know, people told me in the past, say, "Ah, you're just a natural. Da, da, da, da." That's all well and good, but half of this stuff, I always--see, I've told people both in a small town, totally unconnected to the business, some big time celebrity coming through or anybody, I always tell them, "A comedian is one thing," I said, “but, you know, if you just a lay person don't try to be funny. Just go out and do whatever you're doing. And trust me. Trust me when I tell you, you'll be funny without even trying, 'cause you're already funny-looking," you know whatever the case may be. You know, and a lot of people that helps, especially people that are trying to sell stuff. You know, so many people are trying to be an entertainer instead of just trying to be themselves. And people told me they think I'm a movie star or something. I said, "You know you really don't have any idea what talent is, you know, if this is what you consider an entertainer." You know, but if that's entertaining, that's what I'm here for.

INT: So this is what I'm gonna say to you, and these are my observations. Most of my career has been as a news AD [Associate Director], and in the past five years I transitioned into Stage Manager, and I hope that I'm the same kind of Stage Manager that you are. I see the qualities that have made you the kind of Stage Manager that you are, and a lot of it is being yourself. [BH: Yeah, 'cause I don't kiss up to people really.] Right. Now what I want to say is, what I admire most about getting to know you and more about you, even though you were part of the show as an on-camera personality, you were always still the Stage Manager, because I would see you come out on set, but you still had your headset on. You still had your pack, so you were still in communication with the Director--[BH: I was still doing my job.] Right, still doing your job. So for me seeing that, that's most gratifying to me, to see that you really are Stage Manager plus, you know, and I think probably that's an asset that you bring. 

BH: I appreciate that, but I always turned it off when I went out. [INT: Yeah, so you didn't get the...] Yeah, I don't want to listen to them anyway. [INT: You don't want to hear all of that, but you still--] I actually turned it off from the beginning of the show. [INT: Now why would you do that?] No, I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, you know, I hope you enjoy stage managing, 'cause I mean, you know, I've AD'd in the past, and I had a Director thing here and there, but the directing thing, yeah. The AD'ing thing I enjoyed, but the stage managing is really, to me, you know, you're right in there. [INT: Yes you are.] Yeah, you're right in there. [INT: You're right there, and if you hear a comment, and you have to… that cannot, you have to have that poker face, right, you know, if somebody's...] Oh no, I might laugh. If it's funny, I might laugh. You know that reminds me of something. I don't know if we can use it for this. I might have told this story before in the other interview, but regardless, I'm not gonna name the person, but I think I did in the time before. But this is a female comedian, and she was down at the Space Shuttle launches one year, and she wanted to become an astronaut, and she knew everything in the world about it. And NBC had had her as a commentator, and she brought this Stage Manager story to me, and she said, "You know, I was doing my show, and no one knew this but my Stage Manager and the sound guy, but I had a wig on, and I put this thing in my ear…" Did I tell this story before? [INT: Tell me some more. I think you might have told us upstairs.] Yeah, yeah, and I mentioned the name too, which was bad, but anyway. And she said, "Nobody knew this but us," and she said, "When I do my monologue and I take audience questions, somebody said, in the audience said, 'So when are you and so-on-and-so gonna do a movie together?' And somebody in the control room said, 'Who gives a damn?'” And so she said, “Who gives a damn?” And so she started going through this whole thing of repeating everything that she was hearing, and finally the control... “Is something open out there? She hears us.” “I don't see nothing open out here.” I don't know how anybody can be... [INT: That's hilarious.] It's true. [INT: And scary.] Yeah, you gotta watch what you say. [INT: Absolutely.]

INT: So before. You've been so gracious and generous with your time, but before I let you go I just want to ask is there, for someone just getting started or wanting to start out in the business and Stage Manager would be their career path, any advice? Anything you want to say? 

BH: Go for it, number one. Whatever you want to do. You know, like I said earlier, you know, the direction of the wind can be controlled by you. You know, you may never control your destination, but adjust your sails. Just as, you know, without being too strong, egotistical or forceful. You're not directing, you're not pacifying, you're just doing a job, just getting it done. And you know make sure you respect people, and I think you'll get there. And if their insecurities are there, just be careful about how you handle it as best you can, you know, and realize you're dealing with people, and some of them are very, very powerful, and very egotistical, and all that, and have the insecurities, and one of the things they see potentially in you is a comfort zone; a pacifier to a degree, I would think. And you know, and know how to count backwards. [INT: And stop at two.] Yeah, and stop at two. Somebody said to me one time, "Well maybe you can teach next." I said, "What am I gonna teach 'em? How to count backwards?" I said, "Please."

INT: Is there anything that you'd like to-- 

BH: I think we left a lot out. I don't know what it is, 'cause it was very repetitious, but it's okay. As long as--[INT: Okay. So, but is there anything that I might not have touched on?] No, as long as you touched on everything on that paper. It was so much on that, that was crazy. [INT: Okay.]

INT: I'm Candy Martinez again. Today is June 22nd, 2016. Anyway, I have concluded an interview with Biff Henderson for the Directors Guild of America's Visual History Program. And we are at the DGA theater in New York.