Dan Cashman is the last of a dying breed. Though never a huge number, there has been at least one local late-night TV show on the air somewhere in the country since 1984.
That will end this May when Cashman ends his 20+ year-run on The Nite Show, Maine’s first (and only) show of its kind.
Airing Saturday nights on four different stations across the state, Cashman has hosted guests like Patrick Dempsey, Ed Asner, and Jordan Klepper. He’s written thousands of jokes, helmed annual Christmas specials, and built a community of loyal viewers. And somehow, he’s done it all as a side project while working a full-time job as a PR director
But while certainly the economics of late-night television have changed in recent years, that’s not why Cashman made the bittersweet decision to sign off.
“There are days where my day job feels like it’s just too busy to book the next guest or shoot the next sketch,” Cashman says, “and I wonder if I’m even going to make it through this final season with the level of quality that I want to. Then, there are other days where I just look at all the stuff that we’re doing, and all the people who’ve been kind enough to reach out, and I say, ‘What am I doing giving this up? This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. But it’s the totality of everything.”
Growing up, Cashman was a Letterman kid, which became a gateway to other hosts like Johnny Carson. By the time he was old enough to start dreaming up a career, he had one aspiration: “Do what David Letterman did.”
But even back then, in his late teens, Cashman was a pragmatist. He knew that hosting a national TV series—any national TV series—would be a remote possibility at best. He also knew that he didn’t want to leave Maine, which all but shut the door on hosting a traditional late-night show. So he decided to get creative.
A Game-Changing Idea
At age 19, Cashman, then a student at the University of Maine who worked as a mascot for a Minor League Baseball team, decided to shoot his shot. The team was working with the local WB affiliate in Bangor, Maine, which provided the perfect opportunity to pitch his own project. One day, he approached the station’s general manager—still wearing his mascot suit, albeit without the giant head—and asked if the station might want a weekly late night talk show.
“Much to my surprise,” Cashman says, “it ended up working out.”
The Nite Show taped in front of a live audience and included a jazz trio as its house band. Its first iteration aired from 1997 to 1999 and ended when Cashman landed an internship with Imus in the Morning at MSNBC. The show’s production crew, mostly students, used three-quarter-inch tape decks and edited sketches together using two VCRs.
“ I still think back and wonder how that was ever allowed to be on television,” Cashman says with a laugh. Back then, he admits, “We didn’t know what we were doing.”
Cashman finished school after his internship, and in 2001, an even smaller station reached out to see if he wanted to bring it back. He said yes without even thinking about it. Most of the team remained the same as before, but now they all had full-time jobs. Making the show became a lot harder than when they only had classes to worry about. The rebooted Nite Show ended after a year.
“It’s the version of the show we don’t really talk about,” Cashman says now. It existed, but it wasn’t that good.” During the final taping, he recalls, the building’s power cut out, which struck him as something of a metaphor. But that would not be The Nite Show’s last hurrah.
Local Late Night Enthusiast Makes Good
The current iteration of The Nite Show began in 2010. By then, Cashman had worked in radio and public relations, but he still dreamed of bringing the show back and doing it right. So he came up with a roadmap to make the show everything it could be. He teamed up with the New England School of Communications, which supplied a healthy gaggle of students looking to build up their production credentials. The show has become a local training ground for students who have since moved on to prestigious perches.
“Having those students involved has brought a level of professionalism to the show that is unlike anything else anybody would see in Maine,” Cashman says. “It looks like an actual late night talk show.”
You can hear the passion in Cashman’s voice as he describes The Nite Show, down to its most minute details. The students’ talent astounds him. He’s in awe of the show’s house band, Brian Nadeau & The Nite Show Band, and still can’t believe how many times jazz musician Tom “Bones” Malone (known for his work with Letterman’s Late Show, SNL, and The Blues Brothers Band) has stopped by to play with them.
He gleefully recalls interviewing guests like original MTV DJ Nina Blackwood and TV personality Marc Summers, who’s since become a friend. He once got a “yes” from “Weird Al” Yankovic just 10 minutes before he was set to record the episode and found himself singing “White and Nerdy” from memory when his cue card guy dropped the lyrics on the floor. Actress Andrea Elson once stopped by to talk about ALF’s 30th anniversary and revealed to him that she’d been contacted by a number of outlets and only said “yes” to him. (“I don’t know why.”)
In other words, The Nite Show has exceeded (most of) Cashman’s wildest dreams. Sure, he’s still got some white-whale guests like Maine royalty Stephen King and, of course, David Letterman. But he’s built an enduring TV series with a dedicated audience—one that’s already begun to mourn his coming departure.
Signing Off
The Nite Show will wrap taping in April and is set to air its final episode on May 17. For Cashman, letting go is difficult, but he knows it’s time. In addition to his full-time job, he also runs a nonprofit—so staying up until 2:30 a.m. writing jokes is getting harder and harder. As his children get older, he also recognizes that the opportunities for quality time come with an expiration date.
Cashman’s timing is somewhat sentimental. When he first started The Nite Show, his parents were 47 years old — the exact age he is now. As he recalls, they “dropped everything” to help him out — from carrying equipment to shooting sketches and opening doors with sponsors. “Now I’m 47 with two young kids,” he says, and “as I try to balance all of my professional responsibilities with being a dad, I want to make sure I have enough flexibility in my schedule so if they come up with some crazy idea like starting a TV show, I can provide the same level of support for them that my parents did for me.”
As The Nite Show prepares for its final curtain call, fans have begun to tell Cashman just what this decades-long passion project has meant to them. Their gratitude has left him at a loss for words.
“I was just at a dinner last week in Southern Maine, and somebody said they’re sorry to see the show go, and I kind of laughed it off,” he says. “They said, ‘No, it’s become a Maine institution. It’s like we’re all losing a friend. That really hit me in a way that I didn’t expect it to.”
Cashman is loath to compare himself to his hero, but he did learn one lesson from Letterman’s Late Show sign-off—how to take a compliment. “He would brush them off, being self-deprecating,” Cashman recalls. “I thought, ‘Geez, you know, take them. Take the compliments. We all love this show, and we’re sorry to see it go.’” As bereft as Cashman might feel when someone compliments The Nite Show, he’s trying to honor those relationships by taking the kindness to heart.
Given how many times The Nite Show has come back, it’s fair to wonder if Cashman will be back on Maine TV screens in a few years. He’s certainly not ruling out the possibility, but at the same time, he worries about pushing his luck. For now, he’s focused on the present—on absorbing the many, many emotions he’s feeling with gratitude. Thankfully, he has some help in that department as well.
“My parents are always in the audience,” Cashman says, “and my dad doesn’t always laugh out loud.” To this day, making his father laugh feels like the ultimate accomplishment. Moments like these have stood out more and more over the past few months—little reminders of why all these late nights have been worthwhile.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be in a position that I can experience these moments again,” Cashman says. “So I’m trying to really hang on to them as much as I can.”
Clips from The Nite Show with Danny Cashman can be viewed on the show’s YouTube channel.
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