Career
After graduation from college, Birkitt's career at CBS started when she became a member of the CBS page program. She worked as an intern for CBS News, 48 Hours, and the Late Show during the spring of 1996. She was an associate producer at 48 Hours on segments for correspondent Erin Moriarty. Deciding she was not "much of a news hound," she applied for a job as an office worker for David Letterman, helping to handle his charities and his Indy car racing team.
Her employment with Letterman led to Birkitt's first appearance on the Late Show, on May 24, 1996. Her next appearance came more than four years later, on December 26, 2000, when Letterman called her in her office during the show. Beginning in January 2001, Letterman began to call her regularly as an on-air feature of the show. Said Birkitt, "He started talking to me more, and we developed a rapport."
By 2002, Birkitt began to be featured on the Late Show as a character outside of her role as Letterman's assistant. She appeared during the CBS Mailbag segment numerous times, sometimes donning costumes that related to a specific ongoing festival or event. She was given a number of on-air names, including Vicki, Smitty, Kitty, Monty, Gunter, and Dutch. She interviewed Survivor castoffs, asking them "Did you see or touch any monkeys?" much to the feigned displeasure of Letterman. In 2002, she was named #21 in USA Today's "Pop Candy's 100 People of the Year!" list. As herself, she gave on-air reports from the sites of the Winter Olympics in 2002 and in 2006. In all, she made more than 250 appearances on the show between 1996 and 2008.
In addition to her appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, Birkitt co-hosted The Tony Mendez Show, a spin-off program with Tony Mendez (also known as "The Cue Card Boy") that is hosted on the Late Show website.
Birkitt described her relationship with Letterman in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2004. In the article, titled "Letterman Aide is Dave's Main Tease", Birkitt stated, " just playful. We play catch sometimes in the office, and we all go to screenings together. We eat food together, we sit around and watch TV together and goof on people. And he teases me in real life, too, but I give it back a lot more in real life.”"
In a statement released on October 7, 2009, Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the Late Show.
Read more about this topic: Stephanie Birkitt
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