Does anyone know where I can find a profile of this poor girl? We feel bad for her everyday in my office and were curious to know some stuff like…how old she is…how much he is paying her to allow him to ridicule her etc…
Her name is Stephanie Birkitt, and there is an Entertainment Weekly interview with her here. Her personal website at www.stephaniebirkitt.com is under construction.
awesome man ty!
Dave: This is Stephanie Briquette…
SB: Birkitt! Birkitt!
I never felt that sorry for her so much as thought the two of them were having a lot of fun. She usually gets even with Dave by asking the dreaded question, when he’s sworn her to refrain. “Did you see or touch any monkeys?”
What do you mean “poor girl”? She’s treated a hell of a lot better than Alan Kalter, or Calvert DeForest (Larry Bud Melman). And I’m pretty sure she enjoy the air time.
Check out the Tony Mendez Show if you want to see clips of her.
I think she’s hot.
And would be a lot of fun.
And doesn’t she have to be paid union scale for on-air personalities because she’s got a speaking role? I think Dave does quite well by her. Plus, she’s in show-biz. Chris Elliott became a small Hollywood personality and reliable bit player in Hollywood after appearing on Dave’s show. Who knows? Maybe she’ll wind up getting small parts in sitcoms or doing commercial work. Or even if she doesn’t want to be in showbiz, her minor celebrity should give her an advantage in whatever other career she goes into. At least she’ll be guaranteed the interview.
Since this is about a television program, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I’m pretty sure Sam’s right on this one. I read somewhere (Sorry no cite) that the reason Dave has her on all the time is that he really likes her and that by putting her on the the air she gets a heck of a lot of extra money than her regular salary. The same with the stage hands (the carpenter guys) and Biff Henderson and Rupert Jee. Plus I’m almost positive that because of all the remotes they do in Rupert’s “Hello Deli” with certain products prominently displayed in the camera shots (Snickers and Coca Cola are perfectly framed) he’s getting something extra for that.
Years ago, on the old NBC version, they had an office worker leaving for some reason or another (marraige?). Anyways, they put her in the union, and had her on for a bit part each night of her last week. They would show a running total of how much she was getting for each type of performance. Pretty cool gift, I thought.
I think it’s all in good fun. That’s just what Letterman is about. My favorite parts of the show include Tony Mendez, Alan Calter, Monty, Rupert, and especially Biff Henderson. Oh yeah, and the two guys he has read the Oprah transcripts.
Anyone who does not think these bits are funny obviously doesn’t get the show and should consider switching to Leno instead.
And Saturday Night Live cast member, and potato chip spokesman. But he had industry (sorry, jarbabyj) connections through his family. His father is Bob Elliott of Bob and Ray.
One of Dave’s basic beliefs is that anyone can be a TV star. Just put them on camera and have them be themselves. People on TV are not different from the rest of us. As noted, he has demonstrated many, many times.
Dave is also very hard on his staff off camera. So he likes to make it up to them. His idea of doing them a favor is not necessarily the same as theirs. “Hey, I’ll give my assistant some camera time, that’ll make it up to her!”
Stephanie tolerates “Monty”, barely tolerates the costumes, absolutely hates “Smitty”. (I would hate the nickname if I were a woman because ever woman nicknamed “Smitty” that I’ve met has been rather, um, well, “butch.” There’s gotta be a nicer way of putting that…)
I think Dave’s going to cross the line with her and it will end up badly.
I love Monty. I think she’s quite cute and very funny. It looks like she and Dave have a great time together. I wouldnt’ feel sorry for her at all. In fact, if anything I’d be kind of jealous.
I love Letterman, in my opinion, it’s heads and shoulders above other late night TV.
Chris and his father also co-wrote a book, Daddy’s Boy, which I thought was really funny. But, then, I bought it at the Dollar Store, so that suggests not everyone shares my sense of humor…
Dave will go through these phases in which he promotes certain individuals, co-workers or otherwise, until he’s run out of ideas or (it seems) the individual in question desires a break. I quite like these phases–I especially liked Rupert Gee’s bits when he’d go out with a hidden microphone, camera, and headphones, while Dave would remotely direct him from a nearby van (usually to annoy various passers-by–sometimes I wondered how Dave didn’t get Rupert killed). I’m glad Rupert still plays a major role every week.
Some people come and go–Dave’s Mom, for instance; Sirajul and Mujibur (sp?), the Pakastani guys who ran the souvenir shop (they seem to have dropped off the radar); and of course classics like Larry “Bud” Melman and Chris Elliott.
I also find Stephanie cute and endearing. However, I kind of miss how she started off on the show–just telling Dave over the phone how her previous weekend had gone. I loved her stories.
You got the spelling right, but they’re Bangladeshi, not Pakistani. And they won’t be back, according to this CBS News article- the owner of the shop shut it down last year.
I think Stephanie’s cute, too. I also like ‘Monty’ better than ‘Smitty’, but I suspect Dave guesses that.
She got married. Each night Dave would have her come on and do a different act in order to get a higher pay scale.
One night she just did an interview. Later in the week she did a musical number and, IIRC, did a ventriliquist act. By doing more each performance, NBC had to pay her a higher fee.
Is it just me, or does anyone else suspect that this whole Monty “persona” has become a bit of an act? She’s been playing the exact same “innocent, good-natured, slightly exasperated office worker” for about two years now. Are you telling me that weekly appearances on Letterman and all the attending fame and recognition wouldn’t change her television savvy just a LITTLE bit?
She’s certainly cute and all…but I suspect it’s an act.
It’s not an act. The thing about Dave’s show is that it’s populated by his crew, who are not performers. Biff Henderson is still stilted and awkward, Kenny Sheehan and Pat Farmer are still just stagehands who will corpse on stage and behave reasonably low key, Tony Mendez never gets his bits right, Rupert Jee always looks like he wants the cameras out of his shop. I’m certain they’re all totally genuine.
The only ones who put any character into it are people like Alan Kalter or that bearded writer who keeps coming out pretending to be famous topical people and shouts catchphrases as he strides in. Oh, and Paul Shaffer of course. But they’re performers.
That bearded writer is Gerard Mulligan. He’s brilliant.
Thanks, panamajack, for that link about Sirajul and Mujibur. And for correcting me about their nationality–now that you mention it, I knew they were from Bangladesh; it just slipped my mind. My apologies to Sirajul, Mujibur, and all the people of Bangladesh.