Intern Who Helped Write Letterman's Last "Top 10" A Pittsburgh Native
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – It's been over a week, so by now all of the hoopla surrounding the finale of "The Late Show With David Letterman" has died down, right?
Maybe for you. But definitely not for a young woman from Pittsburgh, a woman who is no stranger to us here at KDKA-TV.
"It's pretty much just ramping up for me at this point," says 2011 Avonworth High School graduate Caroline Schaper.
That's because this story just hit the Internet this week. It's the story of how Schaper, as a college intern on the "Late Show" staff, contributed to the signature moment on Letterman's last show: The Top Ten List.
Schaper didn't just write two of the jokes for the final Top Ten. She wrote the big two -- the last two, delivered by Tina Fey and Bill Murray. The subject: "Things I've always wanted to say to Dave."
Deadpanned Fey: "Thanks for finally proving men can be funny."
And Murray: "Dave, I'll never have the money I owe you."
From Paris, where she's on vacation celebrating her graduation from the University of Michigan, Schaper told KDKA's Ken Rice how her jokes caught the eye of a staff writer and how she was floored to see them make the cut.
"It was a huge, huge surprise," she says.
But there's more to the story of Caroline Schaper.
Ken Rice: "When you think back to experiences you may have had during high school that may have set you up for your current success… maybe an academic competition that you were part of while you were a senior. Does anything come to mind?"
Schaper: "Yes! I'm a veteran of television, actually."
Indeed. Schaper competed on KDKA-TV's high school quiz show, "Hometown High Q" in 2011.
Introducing herself to the audience, she said, "I'm the editor of the school newspaper, I'm involved in drama and a member of the National Honor Society, as well as a company member at the Carnegie Performing Arts Center."
Asked about her memories of the quiz show appearance, she said, "I think we came in second," before adding, with a smile, "I know we didn't win, because I was not invited back."
Avonworth did, in fact, finish second that day in 2011. But only by two questions. No shame there.
Now a college graduate, Schaper has moved to New York City and hopes to find work writing comedy for TV. No surprise, considering her feelings about her five months interning at "The Late Show."
"Every day," she says, "was the best day of my life."
Caroline Schaper's Interview with CNN:
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