Since he was 11, Matt Roberts '93 knew that he wanted to work for David Letterman.
Roberts took his first step toward his goal by joining the Student Union Committee as an undergraduate, which helped book performances, lectures and other entertainment for the College.
One year, the committee booked Penn and Teller—a famous comedy and magic group. Roberts, an English major and economics minor, knew they were frequent guests on "Late Night with David Letterman," and jumped on the opportunity. He picked them up at the airport, took them to their hotel, did all that he could to be considered a good host, and asked whether they would write him a letter of recommendation. Teller agreed.
"That was clearly what led to my opportunity to come down to New York City to interview for the internship," Roberts wrote in an email to the Orient.
Roberts landed an internship with Letterman while "Late Night" was still on NBC back in 1992. A year later, three months after graduating from Bowdoin, he followed Letterman to CBS and worked in the ticketing office. In 1994, he became a talent researcher; in 1996, a segment producer; in 2001, a producer and writer.
On September 17, 2011, 40-year-old Roberts, along with two colleagues, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writer for Variety, Music or Comedy Special.
Roberts won the award for writing the 64th Annual Tony Award Show, which took place in Los Angeles on June 13, 2010.
The Emmy nomination was Robert's 15th—he earned seven for producing at "Late Night" and seven for writing at the show previously.
Some of Roberts' fondest memories of his time at Bowdoin are spending hours and hours with friends collaborating on radio productions for WBOR. They would write, perform, and edit mini-plays and theme songs—creating the whole production.
"There are often moments at the 'Late Show' when I think, 'I'm doing exactly what I did at WBOR, but it's my job and it's on TV, and I'm 40—how odd!' " Roberts said.
Today, Roberts is one of the seven executive producers of the show.