Thursday, March 22, 2007

Calvert DeForest a.k.a Larry "Bud" Melman 3/21/07

Well a late night icon has passed away. Letterman regular Calvert DeForest, or during his NBC days Larry "Bud" Melman has died. If you don't know who he was I can't really explain it, he was unintentionally funny. True story I met Calvert DeForest during my days at ISU, and even got his autograph. Yes I'm a dork and of course was first in line, I mean come on it was Larry "Bud" Melman. CBS had this tour that went around to colleges and pimped CBS shows and products and stuff and he was there one year. Here's the story of his death from the NY Times:








Calvert DeForest, 85, Larry (Bud) Melman on ‘Letterman,’ Dies
By
JENNIFER 8. LEE
Published: March 22, 2007


Calvert G. DeForest, the dweebish man who gained cult status on David Letterman’s late-night shows as the comic figure Larry (Bud) Melman precisely because he was not funny, died Monday in Babylon, Long Island. He was 85.
He suffered from a long illness, according to a statement by Mr. Letterman, on whose shows Mr. DeForest appeared dozens of times.
For 20 years Mr. DeForest drew laughs simply for being the odd juxtaposition in an industry marked by smooth personalities and slender bodies. His appearances on Mr. Letterman’s shows ranged from being a “correspondent” at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, to handing out hot towels at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan, to doing bad impersonations of
Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley.
“Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself — a genuine, modest and nice man,” Mr. Letterman said in his statement.
Mr. DeForest’s late-blossoming television career began with a
New York University student film project called “King of the Zs,” which was screened for Mr. Letterman before the 1982 debut of his show, then on NBC. Mr. Letterman, taken by Mr. DeForest, asked his staff members to track him down. They found him working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center. He was picked up by a black limousine, given his stage name, and became the first image of “Late Night With David Letterman,” before the opening credits on the debut episode.

R.I.P Calvert

Goodbye Calvert DeForest
Thought I knew you pretty well
You had the grace on late night TV
History sure would tell
You crawled out of nowhere
NBC kept your name
With your deadpan delivery
Late night won’t be the same again

And it seemed to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Wearing a dark suit
Doing that goofy laugh once again
And I would have liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
My Calvert DeForest autograph ever did