Rhys Darby: My time with David Letterman

The audience at The Late Show with David Letterman lapped up silly Kiwi humour, and there were even congratulations from Big Dave.

Last week I performed on The Late Show with David Letterman. This was the gig I had been hoping to get for years. If America hadn't heard of me yet, they soon would! It was nice to return to New York City. I hadn't been back since we finished production on the Flight of the Conchords, now here I was returning to the place that made me famous.

They put me up in a hotel rather fittingly called The Dream and it was a stone's throw away from Letterman's location, the famous Ed Sullivan Theatre. After checking into the hotel I walked over to the theatre to meet my friend Dan, who happened to be in town. As I approached the front of the Ed Sullivan's doors I noticed a queue of people already lining up for the show. A man then noticed me and quickly broke away from his two lady friends to ask me for a photo.

"Can we have a photo please?"

"Of course," I said (this happens all the time). Then he handed me a camera and returned to his lady friends. All three of them were now posing under the theatre awning ...

"Be sure to get The Late Show sign in," he said. "Take a few if you could."

My friend Dan arrived on the scene, laughing loudly at my expense as I stood there taking photos of tourists outside the theatre I was about to perform in.

"Now forget about the sign, just get a nice close-up of the three of us," continued the man.

"You know I'm actually performing in this show tonight," I said.

"Sure you are," said the tourist, then he thanked me for the photos and walked away with his ladies.

Ten minutes later I was back outside The Dream, hopping into the limo that would take me the 74m I needed to travel to return to the Ed Sullivan Theatre.

"Why the car service?" I asked, but the driver couldn't hear me through the soundproof shield. I could see him looking at me through the rear vision mirror, though, so he must have seen my lips move. Perhaps he thought I said, "This car needs a service!"

Anyway, 45 seconds later I was dropped off at the side entrance to the theatre. As soon as I stepped out of the car there were two paparazzi guys yelling my name but I wasn't falling for that again. "No, you take your own photos!" I said.

My turn on Letterman turned out to be a blast. The audience were delightful and they lapped up my silly Kiwi humour. Even the big man himself came over to shake my hand after my set.

"Well done," said Dave.

"It was an honour to share the stage with you, sir," I said, but with the audience still applauding loudly I don't think he heard me.

I'm pretty sure he saw my lips move, though. Perhaps he thought I said, "I've got shares in Nicolas Cage's fur."

* Rhys Darby's appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman screens on Prime tomorrow night.