Dave has good news from the weekend. Buddy Rice, a driver on the Rahal/Letterman Racing team, captured the pole position for the 88th Indianapolis 500 to be run on May 30th. With an average time of over 222 mph, Buddy earned himself a giant check for $100,000 for the accomplishment.
Also qualifying for the Rahal/Letterman team were
Vitor Meira - earning the 7th position; and
Roger Yasukawa in the 12th position.
Dave asks the audience if they've ever driven over 100 mph. Few applauded. The fastest I ever went was 94 mph, on my way from London to Blackpool, England. The best part was I did it in a little Ford Pinto-type car. I really wanted to break 100 but the car started shaking and I was afraid the doors were about to fly off.

Tonight we have the Rocketman! No, not Roger Clemens, but the Rocketman Eric Scott. Last month, the Rocketman set a world record for highest flight in a rocketbelt --- 152 feet --- the equivalent of a 12-story building.
We find Rocketman in Corona Park, Flushing, Queens, at the site of the 1964 Worlds Fair. Eric Scott has been flying the Rocketbelt jetpack for 11 years, one of only 10 people to ever operate the craft since 1961. More people have been on the moon than on the Rocketbelt.
The Rocketbelt is the property of Powerhouse Productions and if you were to buy it off the shelf it would run you about $4 million, though the military discourages this. Hey,

COLIN POWELLL ON "MEET THE PRESS" - Sunday morning on "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert was right in the middle of asking a question when the camera panned off Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was in Jordan, and settled looking off to sea. Russert continued with his question, then slowed, then wondered what was going on? Tim Russert said in effect, "Mr. Secretary, someone on your staff is interfering and it is very inappropriate." You can hear the Secretary saying off camera, "Emily, get out of the way!" The camera pans back to the Secretary who answers the question.
In today's news, Emily defended her actions by saying the agreement was for 10 minutes with Russert and he was at the time 3 minutes over the limit. Plus, it was a really hard question and I think Emily must have thought it was the President who was answering.

2 bits of bad news:
- Back from commercial, Dave says he mistakenly called La Toya London, "Latoya Jackson."
- Rocketman says he won't do the Top Ten. "It would have been a great pay-off," Paul points out. "He would have read the Top Ten and then after #1 he would fly away." Dave agrees. That was the plan.

It's time to meet La Toya London. We head over to the Hello Deli to meet Rupert. Rupert is wearing a Texas A&M T-shirt. Where did he get it? "Someone from Texas just sent it to me," replies Rupert. Did he send a Hello Deli T-Shirt back in return? "Uhh, no." Why not? "I lost the address."
Pretty smart decision by Rupert to wear a T-Shirt someone sent him when he knew he would be on the air. When word gets out that he does this on a weekly basis, he'll be inundated with T-Shirts through the mail.
By the way: Yoo-Hoo, the Chocolate Energy Drink. Taste . . . . it's great!

La Toya is the 9th finalist to be voted off American Idol Island and only 3 remain. Dave is a fan of the American Idol show and was surprised and disappointed when La Toya came up short in the voting. Dave wonders if the show is fixed. He wonders if something funny is going on. La Toya can't explain anything more than that's the way the people voted and so that's the way it is. From the headlines covering the program, I read where Paula Abdul said, "This week, America got it wrong." And Randy Jackson said, "It's a travesty." Dave agrees. I may be wrong but I have a feeling Dave may be quietly campaigning his way into a possible celebrity judge position for next "American Idol." I'd check your local TV listings for any update.
Dave says of La Toya and the other Idol contestants, "The winner will be forgotten, but you will be a star that will continually shine for a long time."
Next up for La Toya is a grueling "Amercian Idol" gig that will take her and a bunch of others across America for a 48 city tour. Any time off? She says she won't be able to get back home during the tour but the American Idol people have promised there will be lots of time to relax while on the bus traveling from city to city.

Paul has a question for La Toya. "Are you afraid of Dick Clark getting fresh on the bus?" La Toya says she isn't. Oh, the sweet innocence.
Dave asks La Toya to sing one of the songs she sang on Idol, specifically the 70's Thelma Houston hit, "Don't Leave Me This Way." La Toya says she's not allowed to sing, on orders of the American Idol people. Dave is puzzled; "But you sang on Regis this morning." "Yes, I did," answers La Toya. So why not now? La Toya says she would love to sing but why she can't sing now. But why? La Toya says, "you'll have to ask the people who are in control with my life."
Dave is disappointed. He asks Rupert, "Rupert, do you know that song, ‘Don't Leave Me This Way'?" Rupert says, "Uhhhhhh. . . . ."
Dave says knowingly, "I think we have it on cue cards there for you."
Rupert winces, Paul and the band play, and Rupert sings. If you closed your eyes you would have sworn Thelma Houston was right there in Ruperts . . . . choking on a Turkey Club.

As soon as we go to commercial, I immediately call our research department to see if they have a copy of La Toya singing on Regis from this morning. I'm told they do but they just sent it down to the Control Room. Good. I ask, "Who asked for it?" I'm told, "Randi." Dang it. I knew it. There is no one better than Randi, the associate director, when it comes to Late Show footage and what's been on the show. You have to be quick if you ever want to beat her. I hang up and seconds later the phone rings. It's Randi. She wants to know when he had Dave in a jetpack.

TOP TEN: Rocketman Pickup Lines - and not to present the Top Ten list is Rocketman, Eric Scott. Originally, Eric was to do the top ten then fly away. Then he was to do just #1. Then he decided he didn't want to do any of them.
#8. "I'm experiencing substantial lift . . . . IN MY PANTS!"
#5. "I couldn't help noticing earlier that the top of your head is very beautiful."
#3. "Wanna thrust?"
#2. "As a Guinness record holder, I could introduce you to that guy with the beard of bees."

I first saw the Rocketbelt at that very place it was tonight; at the 1964 Worlds Fair. And here we are 40 years later and the thing still can only sustain flight for 30 seconds. Seems like the Rocketbelt R&D department hasn't improved on it very much.
How's it work? The Rocketbelt has no moving parts; does not run on gasoline.
-Lift is achieved by a chemical reaction of hydrogen peroxide being forced through a catalyst. The result is superheated steam. The velocity of the escaping steam produces lift.
Now go get busy and start making one of your own.

During the break, Dave heard that the Rocketman did a Top Ten on Regis this morning.

ANTONIO BANDERAS: All during the Antonio Banderas segment I'm doing my computer search for "jetpack" and "jet pack." I found something for Dave in a jetpack from July of 94. We quickly checked that but it was a really lame Dave dummy flying down on stage during the show open. I'm surprised we used it the first time and it was correctly decided not to use it again tonight. I found something with Dave and Biff in a jetpack. Paul in a jetpack. Nipsey Russell in a jetpack. And Sean Connery in a jetpack. None would do.
I look up and I see Dave thanking Antonio for dropping by.
Here's what I heard and saw. Antonio Banderas is "appearing" in "Shrek 2" which opens on Wednesday. It hasn't even opened yet and it's the #1 movie in the country.
And his wife Melanie Griffith is in the green room.

ACT 5: "It's time for Late Show Security To Remove an Audience Member Just For the Fun of It."
-We see a shot of Bill and Dom marching down the audience aisle. Picking at random an unsuspecting gentleman, the two former members of the Force forcibly force the startled gent out the side door with great force.
"This has been Late Show Security Removes an Audience Member Just For The Fun of It. Tell your friends."
And who was that unsuspecting gentleman? He's usually on the other side of the camera during the Tony Mendez Show, it's Late Show online producer Walter Kim.

ALANIS MORISSETTE: From her new CD, "So-Called Chaos," Alanis performed "Everything."

And that was our show for Monday, May 17, 2004. Wahoo EXTRA!

Have you seen the new Jimmy Kimmel Bubble Head Doll? I think I saw him promoting it last week on his show.

I finished up the Wahoo Friday morning at 6:30 and made it home by 7:00. Ahh, the reverse commute . . . almost makes working at 4:00 AM worth it. The girls (my 8-year-old twins) would be up for school in an hour so I decided to wait up. I sat down to read the newspaper and barely got past the headline. I was snoozing in no time. At 8:30 my girls woke me up. I felt as if I had a full 6 hour sleep. I was refreshed, good as new. After the girls were sent off to school, I cut the lawn, whacked the weeds, and did stuff around the house. Not once did I feel sleepy tired . . . until I sat down. Then within minutes I would be nodding off but if I kept busy I was fine. The rest of the day was like a Friday day off. It felt as if I had an extra day to my weekend. That night I sat down to watch the Pistons/Nets game. I was asleep halfway through the 1st quarter.

I had a chuckle this weekend. The Yankees traded for hopefully a viable #5 starter in Tanyon Sturtze from the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A minor league team. Why did this amuse me? Back on June 13, 2002, one of our Know Your Current Events categories was "Know Your 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays." Question #1 was "Devil Rays Opening Day starting pitcher Tanyon Sturtze was a record of what?" Answer: "0-7." The category was never used, but I always remembered Tanyon Sturtze and figured he must have been a decent pitcher on a very bad team since he was their Opening Day pitcher. And now he's a Yankee. And I have a feeling he'll be a pleasant surprise.

And since I'm talking sports. . . . I'm watching the Pistons-Nets game Sunday night. The Detroit Pistons are up by two with 9 seconds left and are about to shoot two free throws. If the Piston makes one of the two, the Nets will have a chance to tie in an exciting last-second finish. If the guy makes both foul shots, the game is pretty much over. So the Detroit guy makes the first shot. He's about to shoot the most important foul shot of the game. As a team, the Pistons have made only half of their foul shots up to that point. All eyes are riveted on the guy at the foul line as he prepares to take his second shot. At this most tense moment, the director decides to show a replay from a game three days old. THE DIRECTOR TAKES US AWAY FROM THE LIVE ACTION! HE MAKES US MISS THE LEAD UP TO THE MOST IMPORTANT FOUL SHOT OF THE GAME! We get back to LIVE action a second before he takes the foul shot. He made the shot, but the story was ruined.