TONY MENDEZ, born on this date (d: 2021) was a fixture on- and off-camera on The Late Show with David Letterman until 2014, when he was fired after an altercation with show writer Bill Scheft. Mendez was also known for his online The Tony Mendez Show, where he’d take fans behind the scenes of The Late Show. 

Mendez joined Letterman shortly before he left NBC’s Late Night in 1993 after a stint at SNL. The Cuban-born Mendez arrived in Los Angeles in 1961 became a classically trained ballet dancer and eventually performed in Broadway shows such as Irene and Pippin before becoming a cue-card guy succeeding his partner at the time, Marty Zone.