Dave at Peace: The Rolling Stone Interview

The first time this magazine did a Comedy Issue was in 1988, and you were photographed for that cover with Johnny Carson. It's a great photograph. Do you remember much about that shoot?
I was nervous —I felt like Johnny only might have been doing it because he sort of liked me, but it didn't occur to me that maybe he was sort of interested for his own reasons. That picture was literally two exposures — two clicks and we were out of there. They put Johnny on some sort of a box so that he and I would appear to be the same height. As I left Burbank that day, I just felt like, "At least Johnny is a little shorter than I am." That was the only way I could feel good standing next to him.

Carson, of course, was hugely influential on you. But how did it feel to develop a personal relationship with the guy?
You know, there are people in everyone's life who you can't believe you have a relationship with, and you are truly in awe of them, because they are so iconic and so influential that you're just kind of pretending. You know if you behave the way you really behave, they would recognize that you're a complete dope and they would never have anything to do with you ever again. That was kind of the way I felt about Johnny. I was so worried that I would say something idiotic and he would just pull me out of his Rolodex. I remember the first time I was on his show. It's like all of a sudden after seeing Abe Lincoln on the five-dollar bill, you look over and you're sitting next to Abe Lincoln on a bus. He had that effect on comics for many, many years. I never got out from under the feeling that he and I really could be friends, because I idolized him and I knew by any measure I would always fall short.

When Carson died, people didn't know that he had been pitching in on the Late Show here and there, writing some jokes for you that you used on-air.
It started a long time ago, when I was still at NBC, and more so after he retired. In the beginning, I thought, "For heaven's sakes, Johnny Carson is going through the trouble of calling in these jokes, you absolutely have to have them!" And so the more we would do them, I think Johnny was pleased by that, and so it sort of took on a bit of a life.

Now you're on the cover of a Rolling Stone Comedy Issue with a pair of comedians — Tina Fey and Chris Rock — who have that kind of respect for you.
There are people in show business who are very successful who may not necessarily be absolutely funny, but these two people are. For me, I feel like the fact that I'm in this picture — it can only make me look good. I'd like to see the list of people that turned down the offer before it got to me. But it was fun, I got a real kick out of it.