Shortly after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon made his final public appearance on the late-night talk show Late Show with David Letterman on October 30, 2002. Zevon, who had regularly appeared on the show over the preceding decade, was unusually given the majority of the episode to talk with Letterman and perform three songs. The episode is known for the humor that Zevon used throughout the interview, as well as his quip that his terminal diagnosis was a reminder to "enjoy every sandwich".
David Letterman, a comedian who began the late-night NBC Late Night franchise in 1982, was a major fan of Zevon. Letterman would later tell The Ringers Alan Siegel that he began following Zevon in 1981 because Zevon was "crazy and fascinating".[1]
Letterman often brought Zevon onto his subsequent CBS Late Show with David Letterman through the 1990s despite Zevon's lack of commercial success during that time. He even served as the show's substitute band leader during Paul Shaffer's absences.[2] [3] Zevon told Letterman that he had "been the best friend my music has ever had",[4] and gave Letterman a bit part on Zevon's album My Ride's Here. Of the relationship between Letterman and Zevon, newspaper columnist Terry Lawson would later write:
In August 2002, a few months before the release of , Zevon received a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer (pleural mesothelioma). He revealed his fate to the public in the following month.[5]
Zevon hoped to promote his new album on an episode of the Late Show, which typically booked two guests and a musical act. Knowing that this would likely be Zevon's final appearance on the show, the Late Shows producers proposed departing from convention by devoting an entire episode to the singer. Letterman immediately endorsed the idea, and the only parts of the episode that did not feature Zevon were a traditional opening monologue and the recurring Top Ten List comedy segment.
Before taping the Late Shows episode on October 30, 2002, Zevon pushed Letterman to prioritize humor over awkward questions. Audience members were specifically instructed to avoid sympathetic reactions like aww if they heard sad news.
Letterman opened the show with a lengthy monologue that spoke to Zevon's influence on Letterman over the years and the musician's extensive history with the show. Late Show band leader Paul Shaffer added occasional interjections.[1] Afterwards, Zevon came to the stage for an interview that began with accompanying his grim prognosis with humor:[6]
Later in the episode, the conversation turned serious when Letterman asked Zevon about the differences in recording before and after his cancer diagnosis.[1] [6] Zevon told him that "you're reminded to enjoy every sandwich and every minute playing with the guys, and being with the kids." It was a line that The Forward would later call "iconic"[7] and The Ringer said was Zevon's "most famous piece of advice".[1]
Zevon closed the Late Show that night by performing three songs from across his career:
After the final note, Letterman strolled over to Zevon, shook his hand, and told him to "enjoy every sandwich".[6] The moment would be Zevon's final public appearance.[1]
When the cameras stopped rolling, Letterman made what was for him an unusual decision to visit his guest's dressing room. The two made small talk while Zevon was packing up his guitar, one he had previously used on the show. He surprised the host by gifting him the guitar with an ask to take care of it. The request caused Letterman to burst into tears.[1] [8]
Zevon's Late Show episode has garnered spots on several ranked lists over the years. Two months after the show aired, Rolling Stones David Fricke placed his performance of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" third in their list of top music moments in the year. Fricke wrote that Zevon had "put everything he had into the song".[9] The same outlet ranked the episode as one of the best late-night TV moments from 2002–2013 and, separately, at number five on a list of "most profound moments" in the Late Show with David Lettermans history.[10] [11] Salon called it the "most heartbreaking" Late Show to have aired during Letterman's tenure.[12]
In a longer retrospective, Uncut magazine said that the interview gave "the impression [that Zevon was] wise-cracking his way to the grave". Zevon's son added that his performance "was the role he was preparing to play all his life ... it gave him the chance to be like one of his tough-guy heroes" despite the toll of his medications and mental health.[13] William Breitbart, a psychiatrist and Zevon fan, would later write an editorial about the lessons people could learn from the musician's response to his impending death. He said that Zevon "made the last days of his life meaningful and he made his death meaningful."[14]
For Letterman, the Late Show episode lingered in his mind long after it aired. He brought up Zevon's "enjoy every sandwich" quip weeks later in an interview with The New York Times Magazine: "Here's a guy looking right down the barrel of the gun. And if a guy wanted to indulge himself in great hyperbole in that circumstance, who wouldn't forgive him? But that was perfect, the simplicity of that. If this guy is not a poet, who is?"[3] About two decades later, Letterman spoke at length with Vulture about Zevon. When asked "what his final Late Show appearance taught you about the human experience", Letterman answered:
Zevon died on September 7, 2003, outliving his original prognosis by ten months.[1] "Enjoy every sandwich" was later used as the title for a posthumous Zevon tribute album.[15] The quote has also been widely referenced in a variety of contexts, including people facing their own bouts with cancer and when other celebrities deal with a terminal diagnosis that the public learns about.[16] [17] [18]
Fifteen years after Zevon's death, Letterman lobbied the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to induct Zevon. Zevon was added to the hall's voting ballot for the first time in 2023, but was not elected.