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 itâs Helgenberger isnât it?
Marg: Thatâs right, Helgenberger.
David: Iâm sorry. Forgive me.
Marg: Thatâs okay.
David: Iâm not myself tonight.
Marg: I know. Iâm sorry about the cold.
David: Welcome to the show.
Marg: I am so excited to be here.
David: Weâre 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, wouldnât it? I think to be on Oprah.
Marg: Absolutely.
David: Your character. The show CSI and its criminals. Crime Scene investigation, thatâs what itâs 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 itâs in Las Vegas, right?
Marg: Yes, itâs set in Las Vegas.
David: And your character did something different before she became an investigator.
Marg: I was an exotic dancer, Yes. ButâŚ
(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 didâŚItâs an interesting combination of things for a person to do in oneâs life. But where did that come from? Whose idea?
Marg: I think it essentially comes from Anthony Zuiker, who created the show, whoâs 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⌠âOh, this is great. Because I, like you, was an exotic dancer and now I am with the CIA.â Does that happen?
Marg: Well, no one has actually confessed that to me. Although I would love it if somebody actuallyâŚ
David: Itâs interesting.
Marg: Actually had that career path.
David: And the show couldnât be a bigger hit. Thatâs just great, isnât it?
Marg: It is great. I wonât 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 theyâre 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 werenât 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. Iâm sorry, I feel like an idiot.
David: Youâre fine. Youâre just fine.
Marg: Thank you.
David: I read today where President Clinton, former President Clinton, was going to be on your show. Thatâs pretty exciting, isnât it?
Marg: Well I donâtâŚI think thatâs a huge rumor thatâs just been passed around.
David: Itâs not true.
Marg: I donât think it is. No.
David: Well, when I heard about it this morning, I said this seems unlikely. You wouldnât expect the former President to be taking day work on a TV show.
Marg: No, you wouldnât. You wouldnât. So I donât 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 donât want to spoil the surprise?
Marg: No, not at all. I donât think so. We called back home to find out. They wereâŚit was news to them.
David: Yeah, Yeah.
Marg: Maybe Billâs starting the rumor.
David: We canât even get him on this show and he just lives up the street here.
David: Itâs fun to be in New York, donât you think?
Marg: Itâs fabulous being in New York. Itâs an extraordinary city with extraordinary people and Iâd 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, peopleâŚbig, big stars come on this show and they donât dress up. So when a big star comes on the show and dresses up Iâm doubly grateful.
Marg: Thank you. Thank you, David.
David: Weâll be right back with Marg Helgenberger, everybody.
(commercial break and then first part of their conversation is inaudible)
Marg: âŚwhich is essentially a machete. I couldnât now think of my son, sending him down the road, âSee you at noon, kid. Weâll have a bottle of pop at noon.â
David: Itâs certainly a different existence for a kid, but certainly no worse, I donât 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 beforeâŚis 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? Thatâs 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 itâs 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: Itâs 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 donât think that makes sense.
David: We have some, I think, itâs an old video tape of you on a soap opera. Do you know what the soap opera is?
Marg: Yes, the soap opera was Ryanâs Hope. It was shot here in New York.
David: How long were you on Ryanâs Hope?
Marg: I think about…I want to say, around three years.
David: Is that show still on the air?
Marg: No, itâs not.
David: And what was Ryanâs 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 gangstersâŚand 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 veryâŚI 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 donât reallyâŚCan they do big action stuff on a soap opera or not?
Marg: No, no. Itâs 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 wasnât 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 donât know if I can set it up. I think me confronting somebody.
David: I think itâs 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 Ryanâs Hope. And what year? Do we have any idea?
Marg: Oh, it would have been probably early to mid-eighties. I was on from â82 to â85.
David: Okay, here we go. Ryanâs Hope, Marg Helgenberger. Take a look.
(Clip of Ryanâs Hope shown)
David: Wow!
Marg: Donât mess with me, David.
David: Pretty good though. Just turning over the dump is what you are doing.
Marg: I really donât remember playing that scene, but I played quite a few. There was a new script every single day.
David: Iâll 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: Iâll 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, everybodyâŚ