The gruff but lovable Gus was a character on
David Letterman's
NBC Late Night talk show. He was the
Bookmobile Lady's faithful
forklift driver. Gus' real name was Steve Demmler and he was an NBC technician. When Letterman took his show over to CBS, he was one of the few behind-the-scenes handymen Letterman employed
on camera that did not follow.
Gus failed to make two appearances during the bookmobile segments. In 1987 there was a technicians strike and Demmler couldn't cross the
picket line to act in the segment. The Bookmobile Lady was forced to drive the forklift herself and she acted none too happy about it. This presaged her future CBS role as Helen, the Ill-Tempered Ticket Lady.
During another
bookmobile segment Demmler was on holiday and they had a substitute forklift driver. It was explained that Gus was in jail for a minor infraction but later revealed he was in jail for running over his second wife with a riding
lawn mower and then beating to death her new lover with a
shovel.
Gus changed his name "Guss" after he discovered there were too many forklift drivers named Gus. Gus was known to have a college
intern forklift driver named Kelly.