# Who the hell is...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 6, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693 "2001-01-06T04:47:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693/1 "2001-01-06T04:47:03Z")

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…Larry “Bud” Melman? More precisely, what did he do before he achieved fame and fortune through Letterman? I’ve heard he was a writer for SNL, but no trace of that name shows up anywhere at [imdb.com](http://imdb.com).

And another question–does NBC have the rights to the name? Since Melman’s started showing up on Letterman again, the name’s never been mentioned. What’s the deal?

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**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693/2 "2001-01-06T05:02:22Z")

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Larry “Bud” Melman was a character played by Calvert deForest on the Dave Letterman show at NBC. The name “Larry Melman” was held to be the ‘intellectual property’ of NBC, who would not let Dave take the name when he took the show to CBS. The book \*The Late Shift \* is full of details of this.

And Calvert has a website at [http://www.calvertdeforest.com](http://www.calvertdeforest.com) which seems to be mostly fluff!

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693/3 "2001-01-06T10:07:26Z")

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As I recall, when the Larry “Bud” Melman character first appeared on Letterman, they were doing some on-the-street interviewing of random people, and Larry “Bud” was working in a pharmacy. The audience really liked him, and they started bringing him on for regular bits.

Disclaimers:  
a) My memory may be wrong  
b) Even if that was the story projected, I’m not certain it was real. He may have been some actor doing the part. He sure comes across as less than professional though.

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**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-the-hell-is/48693/4 "2001-01-06T15:02:45Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bill H. \*  
> \*\*As I recall, when the Larry “Bud” Melman character first appeared on Letterman, they were doing some on-the-street interviewing of random people, and Larry “Bud” was working in a pharmacy.  
> \*\*

I’m pretty sure that Calvert was actually working in a post office. I remember reading a short article in _Rolling Stone_ about it. IIRC, he was working at the post office for some time after he got the part on _Late Night_. His supervisor found out and persuaded Calvert to quit his day job to make way for someone who more badly needed the salary. So he quit.