CULLMAN — We’ve all heard the old adage about “being in the right place at the right time.” That was certainly the case for Fairview native Cody Shedd.

Well, almost.

The 21-year-old Auburn University student is the son of Randall and Debbie Shedd. Recently, he was almost on the Dave Letterman Show. Not many people can make that claim to fame, but this is how it happened.

“I graduated from Fairview in 2007 and left for school at Auburn that fall,” Cody began.

“I’m now an ambassador for the school, showing freshmen around the campus when they come in each year. Last fall, there was a student in the group that had a friend in New York City who owns a comedy club called The Comic Strip.

“I have a comedy routine that I do. I’d recently won $150 in a competition here in Auburn, sort of a ‘Last Comic Standing’ type thing. She encouraged me to call her friend in New York, and she introduced us over the phone.”

“The upshot of it was that they flew me up there and gave me a 30 minute slot, for two nights.”

“I did really well, and the owner, Joel Caldwell, took me under his wing, showing me around NYC. We were just hanging out, and while we were talking, he got a phone call.”

The phone call that Caldwell received was a defining moment in Cody’s life. It turned out that the person on the other end of that conversation was looking for someone to fill in a comedy spot on the David Letterman Show that night.

Caldwell, who has been in business for about 40 years, has had such well-known and talented comedians on his stage as Chris Rock, Dave Chappell, Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld. People know he is the man to call when they need a stand-up comedian.

“He told the person on the phone about me, and we went to meet the producer of the show,” explained Cody.

“Caldwell told the producer how well I’d done at his club, and the producer asked if I could fill in for the guy who cancelled. I told him I’d have to check my schedule,” Cody laughed.

Of course he jumped at the chance, and agreed to take the slot, promising to return later in the day for the 4:30 live taping of the show which would air at 10:30 that night.

“When I got back to my hotel room, I realized that I hadn’t brought any dress clothes.”

“So, here I am, first time in NYC, showing up for my big break on the Letterman show in a pair of shorts,” he laughed.

“I went backstage and explained my situation to the producer, who took me to a room filled with clothes.”

“They found me a suit, probably the nicest suit I’ve ever seen, so I felt much better about myself,” he chuckled.

“It still hadn’t fully hit me that I was actually going to be on national television yet. I was shown to the waiting area, where there was a red-haired girl also waiting her turn to go out and be Dave’s guest.”

That redhead turned out to be none other that Amy Adams, star of “Julie and Julia,”  “Enchanted,” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous.”

“We talked, and I mentioned that this was to be my first time on television, which by now was starting to make me a little nervous,” he admitted.

“But she made me feel really comfortable and at ease. About that time, in walks David Letterman.”

“He introduced himself, and when I greeted him, he said, ‘You aren’t from around here, are you?’ which made us all laugh.”

Letterman had a bit of a cold that night. After chatting with Amy and Cody a bit more, he took a big dose of cough medicine.

“He wished me luck, then went out to start the show.”

“At that point, it had really started to sink in.  I was about to stand up on that famous blue floor, in front of a big live audience, on national television, and I hadn’t even called my mom,” laughed Cody.

“I phoned her, not wanting to go into details because I only had a couple of minutes before I went on. I told her to be sure to TIVO the Letterman show that night,” he said.

“She wanted to chat, and was asking me all about NYC. I told her, ‘It’s great, Mom, just don’t forget to tape the show,’ he said.

“It was almost time, and they came to get me about 10 minutes beforehand, stood me up behind the curtain, told me to watch the clock and listen for my cue,” he said.

“The clock was counting down, when I heard someone say that Dave had forgotten to do his famous Top Ten Countdown. That cough medicine had him a little off his game,” said Cody.

“It turned out that the countdown took up my ten minutes, I heard him saying, ‘Goodnight,’ and there went my big chance.”

“And that’s how I was almost on the David Letterman Show,” he laughed.

Cody made the best of the situation, using the story in his stand-up routine.

“They don’t get many Southern guys up there. They love hearing about how we live. I guess they really don’t have much to joke about in their lives, but they have the money to pay us to come up there and entertain them,” he grinned.

Cody, like most comedians, draws on his background and his family  for much of his material.

“My dad has always been a great story-teller. Whenever the family gets together someone is always asking him to tell one of his stories.”

“When I got down to Auburn, people started asking me to do the same thing, “ he said.

Cody’s grandfather, Arco Ray, loves Southern comedian Jerry Clower. “I grew up listening to Jerry Clower. He was a big influence. Jerry Seinfeld is also one of my favorites.”

“I tell a lot of stories about my grandfathers. They are both wonderful men, and I’m very observant. That’s part of being a good stand-up comic — watching and absorbing things that are going on around you,” he explained.

“My other grandfather, Kermit Shedd, was watching the Braves on television one night when out of nowhere, a squirrel ran across the living room floor,” Cody recalled.

“It headed into the bedroom and Grandma started hollering, ‘Kermit, come in here and get this squirrel!’

“So he gets up and goes in the bedroom, and even though he moves around kinda slow, he managed to grab its tail, but came away with a handful of fluff.”

“He finally corners the squirrel in the bathroom, catches it again and strolls out holding his prize by the tail.”

“I get lots of material like that when I come home,” Cody grinned.

Being a stand-up comic isn’t as easy as it might look.

“It’s a little daunting standing up in front of a bunch of strangers and talking for half an hour. You have to have good timing and be able to read your audience,” he explained.

“I usually fall back on my Southern roots. One thing I use on stage is our numbering system here in the South, the fact that we start out with, ‘one, two,’ and skip right to ‘a whole bunch.’”

“I love comedy, I’m having a lot of fun with it. Talking and telling stories is a great job if you enjoy what you do. I hope to continue with it, although I’m sure my parents would love it if I finish my education, so I’m majoring in political science, and hopefully, law school after that.”

“Just in case the comedy thing doesn’t work out, I’ll have something to fall back on,” he deadpanned.