Westport, CT - The ability to light up a stage with showmanship and natural charisma is a rare gift. For half a century, LegendarySaturday Night Live performer and David Letterman musical director Paul Shaffer has effortlessly displayed both, translating virtuosity into an improvisational caricature that defined late night television.On Sunday, April 6, Shaffer will deliver his unique mix of music, comedy, and entertainment to a Westport audience as the featured guest for the VersoFest Oral History Podcast conversation at VersoFest 2025.
The event, sponsored by the Y’s Men of Westport/Weston, will take place in the Library’s Trefz Forum and feature an extended conversation as well as Shaffer on piano for a musical performance. There will be coffee and donuts provided by the Y’s Men at 11 am, with the program beginning at 11:30 am.
Tickets are $25 and available for purchase here.
Shaffer will be joined for the discussion by fellow SNL alum and iconic Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman, who will host the conversation fresh off her appearance at the Library for her annual Winter Dance Party with her band, Rebel Montez.
The Westport Library’s VersoFest is four days of music, media, and creativity, running this year from April 3 to April 6 — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. Previous years have featured a diverse array of local and global talent including hip hop legend Chuck D, established hit-makers Spin Doctors and the Smithereens, up-and-coming bands Sunflower Bean and the Lemon Twigs, rockers Lez Zeppelin, famed producers Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band) and Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler, the Doors drummer John Densmore, Cramps drummer Miriam Linna, Alice Cooper Group bassist Dennis Dunaway, hip hop originators Tony Crush and Grand Wizzard Theodore, Manic Panic’s Tish and Snooky, and a wide array of authors, photographers, artists, and thought leaders.
Shaffer got his start in musical theater before joining the house band for SNL, where he remained as the show’s keyboardist from 1975 to 1980. To date, he is the only SNL Band member to become a featured performer on the show, working alongside comedy icons like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and many other celebrated cast members featured in the show’s first five seasons.
Shaffer has recorded a number of albums of his own, including Coast to Coast (1989), The World’s Most Dangerous Party (1993), and Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band (2017). He wrote the famed 1980s dance hit “It’s Raining Men,” has performed with Diana Ross and Yoko Ono among many others, and has served as the musical director for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony since 1986. He has also appeared in the movies This Is Spinal Tap, Scrooged, and Blues Brothers 2000. Ohlman has been a featured vocalist with the SNL Band for 31 years, appearing on both the 25th and 40th Anniversary SNL telecasts. Additionally, she is a VersoFest veteran, having served as a featured guest and moderator at the Library’s past two festivals.
Dedication to preserving the soul in rock n’ roll has been the hallmark of Ohlman’s work. In total, Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez has released six albums to date: The Hard Way (1996), Radio Queen (1997), Wicked Time (2000), Strip (2003), Re-Hive (2008), and The Deep End (2010).
Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/versofest-oral-history-podcast-paul-shaffer-wchristine-ohlman-tickets-1221534485529