Via the AP: Letterman regular Calvert DeForest

Calvert DeForest, the white-haired, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry “Bud” Melman on David Letterman’s late night television shows, has died after a long illness.

The Brooklyn-born DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, Letterman’s Late Show announced Wednesday.

[…]

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman’s shows from 1982 through 2024, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on “I Got You, Babe,” doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

“Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself – a genuine, modest and nice man,” Letterman said in a statement. “To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.”

While perhaps a bit disrespectful sounding to the uninitiated, I am thinking the appropriate epitaph would be: “So long, suckers!”

May he rest in peace.