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 Warren Zevon's Final "Late Show" Appearance via Letterman/YouTube (23:21) |
Shortly after American singer Warren Zevon was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he made his final public appearance on the late-night talk show Late Show with David Letterman on October 30, 2002. Zevon, who regularly appeared on the show over the preceding decade, was unusually given the majority of the episode to talk with Letterman and perform three songs. It is known for the humor that Zevon used throughout the interview, as well as his quip that the terminal diagnosis was a reminder to "enjoy every sandwich".
Background
David Letterman, a comedian who began the late-night NBC Late Night franchise in 1982, was a major fan of Zevon's work. Letterman would later tell The Ringer reporter Alan Siegel that he began following Zevon in 1981 because he was "crazy and fascinating".
Letterman often brought Zevon onto his subsequent CBS Late Show with David Letterman through the 1990s despite his lack of commercial success during that time. He even served as the show's substitute band leader during Paul Shaffer's absences. Zevon returned the favor by giving Letterman a bit part on Zevon's album My Ride's Here. Of the relationship between Letterman and Zevon, newspaper columnist Terry Lawson would later write:
Zevon is a Letterman favorite [...] because they share the same cranky humor, the same appreciation of ironic absurdity; Letterman probably could have written "Werewolves of London," and Zevon could have hosted a talk show, if he didn't have to dress up or endure simpleton movie stars.
In August 2002, a few months ahead of the release of Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon, Zevon received a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer (pleural mesothelioma). He revealed his fate to the public in the following month. Zevon hoped to promote the album on an episode of the Late Show, which typically booked two guests and a musical act. Knowing that this would likely be Zevon's final appearance on the show, the Late Show's producers proposed departing from convention to devote an entire episode to the singer. Letterman immediately endorsed the idea.
Episode
Aside from a traditional stand-up monologue and the recurring Top Ten List bit, the Late Show's episode on October 30, 2002, was entirely devoted to Zevon. Audience members were specifically instructed to avoid sympathetic reactions like aww if they heard sad news, and ahead of the show Zevon pushed Letterman to prioritize humor over awkward questions.
Letterman introduced the singer by speaking at length about Zevon, how Zevon had influenced Letterman over the years, and Zevon's extensive history with the show. Late Show band leader Paul Shaffer added occasional interjections.
After Letterman's monologue, Zevon came to the stage. Letterman opened the dialogue by noting that "a couple of months ago we all learned that your life has changed radically". Zevon parried Letterman by responding "you mean you heard about the flu?", beginning the episode's consistent marrying of Zevon's grim prognosis with humor. At other points, Zevon told Letterman:
- That he had erred in not visiting a doctor for about two decades ("it was one of those phobias that really didn't pay off")
- That Letterman should not be "fooled by cosmetics" when it came to his healthy appearance
Later in the interview, the conversation turned serious when Letterman asked Zevon about the differences in recording before and after his cancer diagnosis. Zevon answered with a line that The Forward would later call "iconic" and The Ringer said was Zevon's "most famous piece of advice":
You're reminded to enjoy every sandwich and every minute playing with the guys, and being with the kids."
Zevon closed the Late Show that night by performing three songs from across his career:
- "Mutineer", the title track off his 1995 album
- "Genius", from his 2002 album My Ride's Here; it was also used as the title for the greatest hits album that Zevon was ostensibly promoting that night
- "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", from his 1978 album Excitable Boy
After the final note, Letterman strolled over to Zevon, shook his hand, and told him to "enjoy every sandwich". Letterman would later state that he merely "repeat[ed] what seemed perfect". The moment would be Zevon's final public appearance.
When the cameras stopped rolling, Letterman made what was for him an unusual decision to visit his guest's dressing room. Zevon was packing up his guitar, one he had previously used on the show, and surprised the host by gifting it to him. Zevon asked Letterman to take care of it, and the request caused Letterman to immediately start crying.
Legacy
Zevon's Late Show episode has garnered spots on several ranked lists over the years. Two months after the show aired, Rolling Stone's David Fricke ranked his performance of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" third in their list of top music moments in the year. Fricke wrote that Zevon had "put everything he had into the song" after his "moving" conversation with Letterman. The same outlet ranked the episode as one of the best late-night TV moments from 2002–2013 and, separately, at number five on a list of "most profound moments" in the Late Show with David Letterman's history.Salon called it the "most heartbreaking" Late Show to have aired during Letterman's tenure.
In a longer retrospective, Uncut magazine said that the interview gave "the impression [that Zevon was] wise-cracking his way to the grave". Zevon's son added that his performance "was the role he was preparing to play all his life ... it gave him the chance to be like one of his tough-guy heroes" despite the toll of his medications and mental health.William Breitbart, a psychiatrist and Zevon fan, would later write an editorial about the lessons people could learn from the musician's response to his impending death:
Warren Zevon, facing inescapable, inevitable death, knew that what would make his death meaningful was to continue to love and to create, to be who he was, despite the losses and sadness and suffering. He did what he loved to do. He was being Warren Zevon, affecting the world with songs of love and courage and wisdom. He made the last days of his life meaningful and he made his death meaningful.
For Letterman, the Late Show episode remained fresh in his mind long after it aired. Of Zevon's "enjoy every sandwich" quip, he brought it weeks later in an interview with The New York Times Magazine: "Here's a guy looking right down the barrel of the gun. And if a guy wanted to indulge himself in great hyperbole in that circumstance, who wouldn't forgive him? But that was perfect, the simplicity of that. If this guy is not a poet, who is?" About two decades later, Letterman spoke at length with Vulture about his continued feelings and regrets about the episode:
It was firsthand verification that the human mechanism can exist in any form imaginable. Here's a guy dying, and he’s on a late-night talk show—not talking not about his flight in from Los Angeles or his dog. He's talking about the end of his life. I'd never seen an example of a guy, a person, go, "Hi, I'm here." "So what's new?" "Well, I'm dying." I mean, the human spirit is infinite. It was confirmation of that for me.
It had never happened to me before where I realized, Oh, our next guest only has a few days to live. I felt completely unprepared. Here's a guy I had known for two decades, but I was completely unprepared for the context of this. The minute it was finished, I wish I had done a better job. That haunts me to this day. I have not watched it since. Maybe if I saw it now I would feel differently about it. But at the time, I felt that I did not do a proper job for him. Those are the two things I remember. And then upstairs, after the show, he gave me his guitar, and I just started sobbing uncontrollably. I may start sobbing now. It's a cinematic story of him packing up his guitar and handing it to me in the dressing room. If the interview is poignant, it’s because of Warren. I can’t watch it again. I just felt like, This man, how much time does he have left? He decided he would come and be on our TV show. That suggests a responsibility that’s nearly insurmountable.
Zevon died on September 3, 2003, outliving his original prognosis by ten months. "Enjoy every sandwich" was later used for a posthumous Zevon compilation album. The quote has also been widely referenced in a variety of contexts, including people facing their own bouts with cancer and when other celebrities deal with a public terminal diagnosis.
Fifteen years after Zevon's death, Letterman lobbied the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to induct Zevon. Zevon was added to the hall's voting ballot for the first time in 2023, and did not get in.