Internship Spotlight: Late Show with David Letterman
Britton Nagy has been able to expand her connections and create a strong network for her future after HPU through her internship with the Late Show with David Letterman. Photo submitted.
By Whitney Yount, Organizations Editor //
This fall, senior Britton Nagy dedicated the semester to chase an extraordinary opportunity: she’s a human-interest intern for the “Late Show with David Letterman” in New York City.
Nagy’s day-to-day responsibilities include a variety of typical Production Assistant responsibilities. She sets up the celebrity dressing rooms, helps out where she’s needed back stage and answers the talent phones, among other things.
Her other primary responsibilities are assisting with research and production for the Stupid Pet Tricks and Stupid Human Tricks segments of the show. Every day, Nagy turns in two reports to her producer. While researching her morning report, she looks for general human-interest stories that could be featured on the show, and in the afternoon she researches for the Human and Pet Tricks segments.
Although it’s somewhat rare for an intern’s finds to actually be shown on air, two of Nagy’s Stupid Pet Tricks ideas were approved by the Executive Producers and brought into the show last month.
This isn’t Nagy’s first big opportunity; she’s worked for American Idol, researched and reported on prisons in Norway as a 2014 Pulitzer Fellowship recipient and interned at NBC News. But despite all of her experience, the hiring process for her current internship was a little bit different than usual.
In order to become an intern at the Late Show, Nagy went through a three-hour interview process.
“It was pretty intimidating to think about,” Nagy said. “But it was a really great experience.”
During the interview, she was given the opportunity to meet with people from each of the show’s departments in order to figure out where she would be the best fit.
“It was surprisingly informational, and a good learning experience,” Nagy said. “But I was definitely drained afterwards.”
Nagy is a North Carolina native, originally from the Charlotte area, so living in New York City has been a big change, but she said it’s been a great experience so far.
“I live a couple of blocks away from Times Square,” Nagy said. “Although it’s insanely crowded, it’s pretty cool to be right in the middle of all the action.”
While she has loved her big city experience, Nagy has noticed a few things that are less convenient, most importantly how expensive everything is.
“It’s a crazy difference to good ole’ North Carolina prices, where I can feed my whole family for like $15 at Cookout,” Nagy said.
Overall, Nagy’s favorite things about the internship are all of the connections she’s made. Just last week, she got an email from someone at “The Ellen Show” about an interview.
“That’s been my life-long dream and to see it become even a possibility of a reality is really just blowing my mind,” Nagy said. “These goals and ambitions seem so far-fetched and unattainable sometimes, but time and time again, I’m shown that nothing is impossible. I feel extremely blessed for those small reminders that I can actually do what I have set out to do.”