Los Angeles, California– Two Tufts graduates were among those honored for their work on the Late Show with David Letterman during the 51st Emmy Awards Ceremony on September 12. Late Show Executive Producer Rob Burnett, who graduated from Tufts in 1984, accepted the award for “Outstanding variety, music or comedy series” on behalf of his colleagues, including fellow Tufts graduate Josh Weintraub, during the televised event.

   Also present at the awards show was Tufts graduate Hank Azaria, whose wife, Helen Hunt, received the Emmy for the “Outstanding leading actress in a comedy show.” Burnett and Weintraub join Neil Shapiro and Meredith Vieira as Tufts' Emmy Award winners. Since Shapiro (a two-time Emmy Award winner) joined Dateline NBC as the broadcast’s executive producer in 1993, the program has been honored with 16 Emmys and 29 Emmy nominations.

   In May, eighty Tufts students had an opportunity to meet Burnett following a taping of a special "Beantown" episode of the Late Show. The students were flown down to New York with 300 other Bostonians. As part of the all-expense paid trip, the show's staff chartered four planes to bring the Boston audience down to New York -- even the New York City Police Department was called in to block off streets as the 400-person audience walked between the group's downtown hotel and the Ed Sullivan Theater.

   Following the broadcast, the students were invited onto Letterman's set for a photo with Burnett. Among the students were Tufts' sailors, student government leaders and the Tufts Beezlebubs -- the University's all-male a capella group. The group was granted a special performance after they repeatedly asked (bugged) Letterman during his pre-show warm-up.

   A few weeks after they sang Stevie Wonder's "Signed, sealed and delivered" on the broadcast, the Bubs were invited to perform during the All-Star Game pre-show festivities at Boston's Fenway Park. The Boston Herald wrote, "Now that's music to our ears!"

Online: http://www.tufts.edu/communications/printable/101399AlumWinsEmmy