THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN – TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
November 7, 2001
David: Our first guest is an Emmy award winning actress that stars on the hit television series CSI, which can be seen Thursday nights here on CBS. Please welcome the lovely Marg Helgenberger.
David: Boy, you look fantastic.
Marg: Thank you.
David: I think I mispronounced your last name. I said Hilgenberger, but it’s Helgenberger isn’t it?
Marg: That’s right, Helgenberger.
David: I’m sorry. Forgive me.
Marg: That’s okay.
David: I’m not myself tonight.
Marg: I know. I’m sorry about the cold.
David: Welcome to the show.
Marg: I am so excited to be here.
David: We’re excited to have you. You have never been here before.
Marg: I have never been here before. I am a huge fan of yours and the show and Paul and the band.
David: Oh, that is good of you to say. Have you been on Oprah? Have you ever been on Oprah?
Marg: No, I have not been on Oprah either.
David: That would be fun though, wouldn’t it? I think to be on Oprah.
Marg: Absolutely.
David: Your character. The show CSI and its criminals. Crime Scene investigation, that’s what it’s all about. And you play an investigator with the CSI squad. Is that what they call them?
Marg: Yes. An investigator with the crime lab.
David: And it’s in Las Vegas, right?
Marg: Yes, it’s set in Las Vegas.
David: And your character did something different before she became an investigator.
Marg: I was an exotic dancer, Yes. But…
(audience applause)
Marg: That always gets a round of applause.
David: Well, why not?
Marg: But I have to say it was in the days pre-lap dancing and pre-silicon. I always qualify it.
David: Now where did…It’s an interesting combination of things for a person to do in one’s life. But where did that come from? Whose idea?
Marg: I think it essentially comes from Anthony Zuiker, who created the show, who’s a Vegas native. His mother is a pit boss, and I think he wanted a little flavor of Vegas.
David: And have you heard from other investigators or exotic dancers who have… “Oh, this is great. Because I, like you, was an exotic dancer and now I am with the CIA.” Does that happen?
Marg: Well, no one has actually confessed that to me. Although I would love it if somebody actually…
David: It’s interesting.
Marg: Actually had that career path.
David: And the show couldn’t be a bigger hit. That’s just great, isn’t it?
Marg: It is great. I won’t deny it is fun being on a hit.
David: How long has it been on? Like a year and a half.
Marg: Some what around there. This is our second season.
David: Second season. So it was a hit immediately, which never really happens.
Marg: Kind of. I think people are interested in the franchise. You know people are interested in forensic evidence and they’re interested in the style of the show because we have a lot of special effects.
David: What does that phrase mean literally? Forensic?
Marg: Oh, I was hoping you weren’t going to ask me that. Because I know you asked Billy Petersen this question too when he was on your program.
David: Oh, did I ask the same question? What did he say?
Marg: I think he gave a much more astute answer that I could have possibly given. You know I always thought it was the study of, you know, evidence. But tt has much more to do with speech and forensics. I’m sorry, I feel like an idiot.
David: You’re fine. You’re just fine.
Marg: Thank you.
David: I read today where President Clinton, former President Clinton, was going to be on your show. That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?
Marg: Well I don’t…I think that’s a huge rumor that’s just been passed around.
David: It’s not true.
Marg: I don’t think it is. No.
David: Well, when I heard about it this morning, I said this seems unlikely. You wouldn’t expect the former President to be taking day work on a TV show.
Marg: No, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t. So I don’t know how that got started.
David: Now is this one of those rumors that you are being coy about because it might happen and you don’t want to spoil the surprise?
Marg: No, not at all. I don’t think so. We called back home to find out. They were…it was news to them.
David: Yeah, Yeah.
Marg: Maybe Bill’s starting the rumor.
David: We can’t even get him on this show and he just lives up the street here.
David: It’s fun to be in New York, don’t you think?
Marg: It’s fabulous being in New York. It’s an extraordinary city with extraordinary people and I’d personally like to invite everybody to New York too.
David: Well, you look great. Are you married?
Marg: I am married. I did pick this dress out for you.
David: Oh, bless your heart. You did a great job, you know. And a lot of times, you know, people…big, big stars come on this show and they don’t dress up. So when a big star comes on the show and dresses up I’m doubly grateful.
Marg: Thank you. Thank you, David.
David: We’ll be right back with Marg Helgenberger, everybody.
(commercial break and then first part of their conversation is inaudible)
Marg: …which is essentially a machete. I couldn’t now think of my son, sending him down the road, ‘See you at noon, kid. We’ll have a bottle of pop at noon.’
David: It’s certainly a different existence for a kid, but certainly no worse, I don’t think. I think a lot of that is good experience.
Marg: It is great. I mean we just kind of left the house on our bikes and returned when my mother rang the cow bell for dinner.
David: How old were you before…is the family still there?
Marg: My family, most of my family, is still in Nebraska. Not in the town of North Bend.
David: When you grew up there, did you have regular jobs?
Marg: Well, that bean field job proceeded to the tasseling of corn, which led to the big time, which was the packing house. I worked in a meat packing plant.
David: In a meat packing plant? That’s very dangerous work.
Marg: It is dangerous.
David: It is the number one dangerous occupation in this country.
Marg: Is that? Really? Well, I worked with the knives. I was issued a set of knives and a mesh glove. I never injured myself, but I did get knocked into an inedible tub one time.
David: See that. You just never know because stuff is coming and stuff is going.
Marg: A side of beef, yeah. You know it’s filled with, like, gristle and bones and whatever. The foreman checked the side of beef before he checked me. I guess he was a company man… is what they refer to him as.
David: It’s hard to believe that anybody would check a side of beef before they would check you.
Marg: Well, thank you, David.
David: Under any circumstances. What was the guy a vegetarian? Does that makes sense? I don’t think that makes sense.
David: We have some, I think, it’s an old video tape of you on a soap opera. Do you know what the soap opera is?
Marg: Yes, the soap opera was Ryan’s Hope. It was shot here in New York.
David: How long were you on Ryan’s Hope?
Marg: I think about…I want to say, around three years.
David: Is that show still on the air?
Marg: No, it’s not.
David: And what was Ryan’s Hope?
Marg: It was actually set in New York City, and an Irish Catholic family who owned a bar in the Upper West Side. And I was the youngest Ryan kid. I was a cop. My name was Siobhan. I was just a fiery Irish lass. I was always confronting gangsters…and then usually marrying them.
David: How many times was your character married on the show?
Marg: I think just twice, actually.
David: And you were a tough girl on the show. Was that right?
Marg: Yeah I was. I was very…I took my job very seriously. I was very passionate. I was always arguing with my parents about the guys I was involved with.
David: But on a soap opera, because of limitations of time and, I think, budget, they don’t really…Can they do big action stuff on a soap opera or not?
Marg: No, no. It’s pretty rudimentary and I remember getting bruised very badly one time. I think it was the first week I had gotten the job and I was to bust this mugger in Central Park. Again, it was on a sound stage like this, and it was just fake trees and a fake little pond. And the pond wasn’t lined, and I ended up with bruises up and down my legs. But I was so just gung ho about it.
David: Now do you know what this video tape is we have of you on the show?
Marg: You know, somebody told me about it. I don’t know if I can set it up. I think me confronting somebody.
David: I think it’s you being knocked into an inedible bath by a side of beef.
Marg: Yeah. I pitched them that one.
David: Very funny to see that, come to think of it. Now okay, so this is Ryan’s Hope. And what year? Do we have any idea?
Marg: Oh, it would have been probably early to mid-eighties. I was on from ’82 to ‘85.
David: Okay, here we go. Ryan’s Hope, Marg Helgenberger. Take a look.
(Clip of Ryan’s Hope shown)
David: Wow!
Marg: Don’t mess with me, David.
David: Pretty good though. Just turning over the dump is what you are doing.
Marg: I really don’t remember playing that scene, but I played quite a few. There was a new script every single day.
David: I’ll tell you something. You looked great there and you look even better now. You look terrific now.
Marg: Thank you.
David: Well, keep up the good work.
Marg: I’ll try. I do my best.
David: And I hope you can come back again.
Marg: I would love to come back.
David: Nice to see ya.
Marg: Nice to see you.
David: Marg Helgenberger, everybody…