The Mystery of David Letterman
by Daniel KalderDavid Letterman has been much in the news lately due to his fondness for the flesh of young female staffers, and the alleged blackmail plot regarding his exploits in that direction. It seems that old Dave is a bit of a lech who — like many powerful and wealthy individuals — uses his high social status to gain access to the sexual organs of women who would not look at him twice were he not so illustrious a figure. And so the furious debate rages in the papers, online and on cable news — will Dave survive the scandal? Will his audience follow him? The mystery for me however is much simpler — how did Letterman ever achieve the status he enjoys today?
Allow me to explain. I’m not from around these parts. I grew up in Scotland, spent a decade in Russia, and arrived in the US three years ago. As something of a night owl I soon found myself confronted with America’s strange, televisual dream-world of nocturnal gibberish, and the even more perplexing national obsession with the personalities, rivalries and ratings battles that played out between the competing purveyors of this gibberish. The big one of course was Leno vs. Letterman, but who could forget the death struggle for comedic dominance between Conan and Craig Ferguson? Then there was the mystery of Jimmy Kimmel, floating around like some moth that had lost sight of the moon, detached from these wars as if no one expected him to succeed anyway. And lurking in the deep, deep darkness was the awful horror that is Carson Daly: charmless, entirely unfunny and visibly drowning in his own misery.
What was most striking about these shows however was that they were all crap: boring, repetitious, filled with padding, and containing an endless stream of plugs for films and CDs delivered by sublimely tedious celebrities. I couldn’t understand why there were so many of these chat shows, why anybody watched them, or why — with so many writers — the hosts were at best only ever mildly amusing, and intermittently at that. Most of all I couldn’t understand the cult of David Letterman.
Now I’d heard of Letterman long before I arrived stateside. Back in the late 80s/early 90s a UK chat show host named Jonathan Ross was accused of ripping off Letterman’s format for his own late night broadcast. It didn’t harm him — Ross is still going strong, paid millions by the UK taxpayer to periodically offend the nation, and his show is currently broadcast on BBC America. I also have vague recollections of Letterman actually taping his show in London in the early 90s. This was considered an event and was broadcast on British TV; I switched off after about ten minutes. In fact, the influence of American culture on Britain is such that the legendary battle between Leno and Letterman for the throne of Johnny Carson was reported in our papers, even though we couldn’t watch the shows in question on our TVs. Why we were supposed to care I am not sure; after all, how many Americans are interested in the ratings battle between “Coronation Street” and “EastEnders“?
Arriving in the states, however, I kept hearing the name: Letterman, Letterman. So I decided to give his show another stab. But every time I tried to sit through an episode this is what I saw: a smug, lazy old bore, seething with suppressed rage and bitterness. The bitterness was intriguing: it always is when you see it in highly successful people, such as Letterman’s equally over-rated comrade in entertainment, the legendary Paul McCartney. In McCartney I understand it, however: he’s jealous of Lennon, who everyone knows was the greater talent in the partnership. But what’s eating Letterman? Is he still angry about Leno? Or is it that he’s filled with contempt for what he does, considering himself above the whole chat show schtick? Who knows? Who cares? Even when he caused outrage with his comments about Sarah Palin’s daughter I was more shocked by how complacent, how lazy he was. With an army of paid writers, this is the best he can come up with?
Lord knows I tried to understand Letterman, to grasp his place in the entertainment fundament. I heard he was ‘good in the 80s’ and thought that perhaps the cult of Letterman was like the cult of Iggy Pop (five good records, the last one recorded over 30 years ago) or Dennis Hopper (”Easy Rider,” “Blue Velvet,” then nothing) both of whom retained goodwill from a rabid fan following on the basis of long faded achievements. One lunchtime I even watched half a Biography channel special, hoping it would help me appreciate Dave’s illustrious past. There was something about an alka- seltzer suit in there, I recall. But to tell the truth I was more interested in the story of his relationship with his former head writer, Merrill Markoe, who apparently created many of the popular spots on his show. Even the soft-soap bio-channel approach made it look like he’d treated her badly.
Anyway, even with this blackmail scandal, I still can’t muster much enthusiasm for David Letterman: I’m more into the Jon and Kate meltdown, to be honest. Thus I am forced to conclude that perhaps Letterman is one of those aspects of American culture that just don’t translate for a foreigner. You need to have been born here for him to make sense, to have been steeped in the legend of Ed Sullivan, of Johnny Carson, to have been raised in the ancient mysteries of late night chat show nostalgia. Letterman is for the natives, like Root Beer or Beef Jerky.
Except I quite like Beef Jerky.
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89 Comments
Late night telivision is one long infomercial that masks itself as entertainment. Either do Talk or do a Variety show or perhaps they could just show all the movie trailers in an endless loop. I would prefer just pure talk by a witty and informed host that can make the guests comfortable enough to open up. Get rid of the studio audience and this might be possible. This won't happen because Late Night is purely about selling product, whatever that product might be.
How fitting his company called worldwide pants? I wonder how many of his women employees went down on their knees to s#$k his d*$$$k for a promotion!
I used to be a huge Letterman fan, partially because he carried on the tradition of a greater performer, Steve Allen (whose influence Letterman would frequently and graciously acknowledge),In my book, he earned absolution for many sins by his first broadcast after 9/11. But he's used up a lot of those good graces since then. The sexual escapades don't bother me as much as much as Letterman enlisting himself and his show in The Hive's Agitrop Division.I wasn't a Bush fan (Bush's greatest sin being the paving of the way for his successor, "Il Dufe") but Letterman's constant Bush-is-dumb-jokes (once I counted three in the show's first twenty minutes) grew boring and irritating. It's especially sad since many "liberals" used to look askance at Letterman; my impression is that he was suspect of being a closet libertarian. I don't know if those suspcions caused him to work overtime to prove that his heart was with The Hive, or what.
Oh, Daniel, you made my day!!! I'm a native, and have NEVER been able to comprehend Letterman's appeal. He's smug as hell and not even remotely funny (his Top 10 Lists can be the exception, but his writers should get credit for those.), To me, he's always been a flat, charmless, cranky old geezer: the idea of even shaking his hand gives me the creeps, never mind having to suck it up as an intern and "rock his world" (ewwwwww ………)
Craig Ferguson is a RIOT; HE should be Late Night King!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you got here too late, 5-6 year ago I thought Letterman had a good show- Hell on the day of our 35th the wife and I went to see his show in NYC (had to get tickets 5-6 mo in advance,we were there on our 30th also but did not get tickets) but his show has as you say gotten bitter and not funny and we rarely watch now.
There hasn't been a true late night talk show since Carson. Daves first show was on NBC middays. He had a touch of Bill Murrays irreverence, mixed with his smalltown boy charm. He was willing to be the joke and include the audience in the punchline. When he started at Late Night, he found his niche, willing to further mix the absurd with a youth audience. It clicked, with sidekicks, Larry Bud Melman and stupid pet tricks. It seems like NBC's rejection to replace Carson(who could never be replaced) Dave went on a tailspin at CBS. He got total control, a boatload of money and a production co., that made him a fortune. He got lazy and lethargic, while brewing a psyhcotic tea against anything conservative. The election of GW was the final nail. Now you've got a guy thats about as funny as a CPA during tax time. Old dave is way past his past due date, and now he's just pathetic. Sometimes the benefits of age only equates to wine – especially in his case, IMO.
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Since i have to work for a living, I don't watch most late night TV. So I find it interesting that many of your observations are similar to mine.
But yeah Letterman is one of the things on a long list of "Things You Are Supposed To Like" but the problem is when you get down to it, most of the stuff on the list is rubbish. (And as much as it pains me to say, Iggy Pop is on that list.)
There was, at one time, someone worth paying attention to on late night. Johnny Carson.
Since that time, there have been an endless parade of "wanna-bes", starting with Leno. Letterman tried the "anti-Leno" deal, which helped for a while…a SHORT while…
It has so degenerated since then; to a selection of infomercials, and stand-up gasbags masquerading as infomercials…
If I ever find myself undergoing near-terminal insomnia, I have two choices: indulge it with a DVD of a worthwhile movie, or utterly destroy it with late night tedious pablum…
At least until "Red-Eye" powers up….
I will say that I've never actually watched an episode of Letterman. I do, however, watch enough CBS that I see a fair number of commercials for him. They all seem to go something like this: Letterman says something that not only isn't funny, but I can't even figure out why it was supposed to be funny. The laugh track then starts going like it's just heard the "world's funniest joke" from the Monty Python skit.
I guess his brand of "humor" just isn't for me, but I always figure that if a comedy can't come up with even one good joke to put in the preview, the rest of the show has got to be tedious beyond belief.
In short, Letterman used to be funny, isn't any longer and they keep hyping what used to be.
Actually your countryman Craig Ferguson is the best of the lot. He's certainly the most instinctively and spontaneously funny.
Letterman used to be funny, long ago, in the early-AM NBC spot. But he became exactly as you described him, a bitter, snide old man whose 'humor' consists of an angry sneer. It may have been the CBS contract, although I seem to recall his first year or so in that slot was OK. Maybe his heart surgery did something to him, or maybe it was his decisive ratings defeat by Leno.
—————————
" In McCartney I understand it, however: he’s jealous of Lennon, who everyone knows was the greater talent in the partnership"
Balderdash. Lennon was the overrated one.
I started watching Letterman in college when he had a 10AM show. It was hilarious watching this guy try to cater to stay-at-home housewives by doing cooking and fitness segments. It was a complete train wreck that everybody knew wouldn't last. When he went to Latenight I was hooked and watched religiously for probably ten years. At the time he was throwing pumpkins off rooftops and interacting with Mujibar and Sirajul from some tourist trap in Times Square. Somewhere along the way he just stopped being funny. I would try from time to time to watch, but there are only so many "Bush is stupid" jokes that I could handle, and that's coming from a person that was never all that enamored with George Bush.
Regardless of Letterman's talent, this is a great write-up! It's witty as hell and really held my interest.
I'm sort of neutral regarding Letterman's ability, but way annoyed at his enlisting his efforts in the "The Hive's Agitrop Division," as Bilwick so cleverly put it. (Kudos, Bilwick!)
Larry Bud Melman, Mujibar and Sirajul are what i remember of the funny years.
The rest of the sit on my sofa and talk about yourself stuff is a waste of film
Dave's comedy shelf- life expired some time ago. Dropping TV's and melons off of tall buidlings for fun, and then an interview with Connie Chung and/or Larry 'Bud' Melman was entertaining. The wacky frat- boy schtick worked for a while. Now, Dave works at being 'relevant', with not- so-funny results.
Watching cranky, old, over-paid posers,like Letterman, is a waste of time. Sleep is a better option.
"Except I quite like Beef Jerky."
Mmmmmm, beef jerky. You haven't fully lived until you've tried my sister-in-law's venison jerky, though; freshly killed by her husband and carried down from the mountains on his back (he weighs about three-eighty).
As to Letterman's appeal, I think he used to be funny in an irreverent, silly frat-boy kind of way. Then he got old and started showing a darker, much less funny side of himself. George Carlin ended the same, in my opinion. As an old man he was still funny, but there was an anger and a meanness of spirit that wasn't apparent as a younger man.
It's a complicated psychology, no doubt, but in part I suspect that Letterman is unhappy with the life he has, but doesn't have the sense to walk away and has noplace to go, anyway.
"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."
NIce nod to Steve Allen. Who could forget Steve 'treading water' in a tank full of jello? You are right about 'W' paving the way for 'O' and his crowd. I can't forgive him for that.
After listening to some of Lennon's music post Beatles (full disclosure- not all, I couldn't stomach that) I concluded that the writing duo of Lennon/McCartney was 80% McCartney.
Don't feel too badly now- I am a Texan, so I guess I must be as foreign as you- because I see nothing funny about Letterman, and never have.
As far as I am concerned, the late night format faded after Carson. eno is ok, but Carson was king, everyone else impostors.
One word- 'Elk Jerky.' Wait a mo- that's two!
who is letterman?
Always looked at Lennon as the trouble-maker. Some great stuff in the Beatles of course and some afterward ("Watching the Wheels," "Just Like Starting Over" and "Nobody Told Me"), but McCartney's pop genius will likely outlast us all. Also glad Dave Grohl took his cues from McCartney post-Nirvana — well-crafted rock and roll. There's another overrated one, too, Kurt Cobain … but I digress.
Always looked at Lennon as the buck convention trouble-maker, which I believe made his legend more than anything. Some great stuff in the Beatles of course and some afterward ("Watching the Wheels," "Just Like Starting Over" and "Nobody Told Me"), but McCartney's pop genius will likely outlast us all. Also glad Dave Grohl took his cues from McCartney post-Nirvana — well-crafted rock and roll. There's another overrated one, too, Kurt Cobain … but I digress.
So much to agree with, Daniel, and added nod to your country blessing our shores with Craig Ferguson (he hosts the Oscars the way he should and I might watch again … might.).
As for Iggy and Hopper, though, hard for me not to forget Brick by Brick and Hoosiers (even if he was playing himself). Still. 20+ years of anything overly memorable since (Hopper's lunatic ref ads in the 90s aside, but again, playing himself).
I'm American. I don't get late night talk. They should just show reruns of Carson instead of paying the toolbags they put on now.
Where for art thou Johnny?
Daniel,
FWIW, Letterman has been coasting for years on the brilliance of his 80's "Late Night with…" show on NBC. THAT incarnation featured Dave at his delightfully-odd best: he was an affable goofball, at turns quirky, un-PC, ironic, in-jokey (in a good way), accessible. It immediately followed Johnny Carson on NBC, providing a nice contract of styles. It was Dave's show (of that era) , and more specifically, his style of humor, that inspired so many knock-offs, including Conan, Ferguson, and Kimmel. The current Dave (including all of the past 3 years you have been watching) seems to me bitter, tired, and out of ideas.
In my opinion the blame for "O" comes from the moderate wing of the GOP and McCain himself.
He openly chided the evangelical wing of the party, the limited government faction with campaign finance reform, and he barley was tolerated by the fiscal conservative wing. McCain would have done better running as a democrat.
But the real reason for "O" is the American people have a long history of tolerating one party over the other, for only so long. Republicans had the House since '92, the White House for 8, Americans wanted a change.
And man did they get it.
I agree, Letterman's best days were back in the 70's and early 80's, when SNL was still funny. His show was in that 'I can't believe they let us do this on TV!' strain of comedy.
It was very funny when it was new, fresh, and the under dog. Now that both he and SNL are top dogs, they've lost the edge to push the envelope. They're more interested in being on the politically correct party circuit rather than be funny.
Having been a fanatical Beatlemaniac my entire life, I agree, McCartney was carrying the band for the last part of the '60's.
Don't get me wrong, Lennon did some his best work in the later days, Revolution, Imagine, etc. But he wasn't nearly as prolific as the early days when he was practically carrying the band.
I've read analysis that says Lennon had all kinds of self esteem issues that were beginning to overwhelm his creativity. But I'm as apt to blame too much LSD.
I'm also an American, and I haven't seen anything funny on late night since MAD TV started losing it's edge several years ago.
The reason for all the chat shows is, in relationship to their audience size, its the cheapest programming format.
It always, always, always, comes down to economics.
I loved his first episode back after 9-11. I even still have a quote about courage from that episode in my quotes collection. I used to adore Letterman back when he was still funny, early to mid 90s, but I haven't watched his show in years.
"In McCartney I understand it, however: he’s jealous of Lennon, who everyone knows was the greater talent in the partnership"
If I could lift this sentence out of the article, I could enjoy it. McCartney is the larger talent. Lennon, at most, was equal with McCartney until "Revolver" or "Sgt. Pepper's," after which McCartney flew ahead. The only reason anyone casually casts off statements like "everyone knows" Lennon was better is because Lennon died young. Martyr syndrome.
"I heard he was ‘good in the 80s’"
That's it. You've hit the target. Letterman set the standard for the contemporary talk show. Just as SNL changed variety-show humor, ushering in the age of what has been called the "Ironic" Age of comedy–though I prefer to call it the smart-ass age–Letterman created the anti-talk show. Or maybe he didn't, I don't know. I'm not a TV historian (who'd want to be?). However, I know critics and showbiz people act like he did, so I follow them.
His shtick was to act like he didn't believe anything he said, not to care about anything, and to be angry. Thus, he gave the hipsters the right to simultaneously enjoy the format and feel themselves above it. Sure, I watch a late-nite show, but it's not you daddy's late-nite show.
Of course, Letterman's pathetic little revolution was nowhere near as important as, say, Lenny Bruce's revolution in stand-up comedy (making it more conversational, less one-liner-y). Whereas Bruce, Carlin, Pryor, etc. arguably expanded the format, Letterman suffocated it. Blech.
I'm an American, and couldn't agree more – Letterman is pompous, smug, irritating and unfunny, and now it appears he is also a cad.
Craig Ferguson is brilliant, kind, and hilarious. Too bad he can't run for President!
And I love Root Beer but I have never gotten the cult of David Letterman either. I recall years ago on NBC, Letterman was targeting Liz Taylor pretty hard. However, he offered the collector plates with Liz and her many husbands pictures. Burton was represented twice. Funny. A small bit among most of Letterman's depression was the funniest thing. Nothing since.
I think the bit could be resurrected to the collectors plate David Letterman Bunker Intern editions. Anyone else buying?
What was brilliant about Letterman in the 80s was that he broke all the rules of television. He deliberately wasted time, complained about the temperature in the studio, took us behind the camera, booked nobodies as guests, beat jokes into the ground and cultivated the uncomfortable moment as an artform. It worked for two reaons: 1) He had a very talented group of writers who were able to make the stuff work, and 2) It hadn't been done before.
Just an echo here: Letterman used to be funny in his earlier days, mostly for the random (in the "Dada-ist" sense) humor, skits, and events. It has been years, though, since I've watched Letterman, and even more years since I watched him past the night's "Top 10" list. He's well past his sell-by date.
And yes, I also agree that Craig Ferguson is the best of the late night lot. ..bruce..
"Where for art thou Johnny?"
Actually, that would be "wherefore," and in the original context, Juliet talking to Romeo, it means "Why are you Romeo?", or more to the point, "Why are you a Montague?" It doesn't really apply in this case.
Never got the Letterman thing either and I've lived in the U.S. of A. my whole life.
Letterman never has, nor ever will be as good as Benny Hill or Mr Bean. This is from a 52 year old californian.
I know why you said this. I miss Johnny Carson, too. Well, at least you can buy the DVD collection of his better shows and enjoy watching them. You'll be stunned at the contrast in Caron's wit an charm, and the lack of same in his successors. : /
This Texas agrees wholeheartedly!!!!
Opps! Finger slipped! Should read "TEXAN"
Dave who?
Dave has morphed from a past "entertainment outsider" figure, exciting to all people steeped with 70's Saturday Night Live, Firesign Theatre, and Lampoon humor, to an aging, brittle representative of the past. I'm almost his age, and believe me, it sucks to watch world move on with younger players, I now know what it must of felt like to my parent's generation. It happens to us all (take note you smug 20 somethings), but the key difference between the more philosophical of us and mean-spirited windbags like Letterman, is we accept reality and live with it. Instead, he plays out his anxieties and anger in public night after night on TV. Maybe his dalliences will be his "Face in the Crowd" moment like the one that Andy Griffith's character had.
By the way, neither Lennon or McCartney ever recovered their mojo after the Beatles disbanded. Some people need a mirror opposite to push against for their genius.
The Late Night Show is, in performance, the late night comedy morgue, with Letterman as comedy embalmer. He has marinated himself in so much unearned self-righteous juvenile cynicism that anything he says, far from being humorous, actually sucks the life out of the listener. Any first fifteen minutes of his show can be used as Gitmo torture. He's CBS' national demoralizer, they should dump and replace him with Craig Fergeson by the next sunrise.
What's wrong with root beer?
AuthorJack nails it.
Back in the mid '80s Letterman's show was fresh, funny, unpredictable and original. That's all long gone, replaced by the bitter leftist you now see.
The very first Letterman show I saw (mid '80s) had boxing promoter Don King as a guest. Letterman opened the questioning with "What is it with that hair?" That is something that just wasn't done in those days — taking a shot at the personal appearance of a black and was pretty "edgy" for the time. Certainly a very off-the-wall question that livened up the interview! Most of his interviews were quite unlike those on other talk shows.
Even when Leno was given the Carson spot and Letterman's ratings slipped, Letterman was able to make himself the but of the joke by taking out an ad on one of those gigantic electronic billboards on Times Square proclaiming "We're Number Two!"
I've met Paul McCartney. Don't know about other times, but he was a jerk that night. Other times I corresponded with him, wasn't. And he's solid in my book for the "Freedom" song after 9/11. Letterman, OTOH, consisently a mean jerk.
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Whenever I think of David Letterman, which isn't often, I just say "ick."
I often wonder where they get the audiences that laugh at this guy. They must be paid.
I think Behemond (sp?) touched on a point: the heart surgery or, perhaps more properly, a kind of post-partem after the elation of not dying and then finding his life was not really so very different.
I made up my mind to like Dave because of the affection he showed in the early going for kids and animals. Either he's a far more skilled performer than I think or we got to see a genuine and sweet affection that came from somewhere inside him. Even with the outre guests on the NBC you could see that he had a kinder tone when dealing with the potato chip lady, say, than with Brother Theodore. The last thing in that vein, as it were, that I remember was his talking to a pastor in the audience who talked about the importance of having a good heart, asking after Dave's heart, and Dave seeming genuinely touched (of course, he was already involved with Ms. Birkett at the time and so was probably a little convicted, too). His physical heart trouble came after that and about a year later the slide began.
I made up my mind to stop liking Letterman, as others have shared, in the wake if the relentless Bush bashing. I especially disliked "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" mostly because he often showed off-the-cuff talks from Bush in contrast to the great written presidential speeches (penned by White House speech-writers). Fortunately, just as it all got to be too much for me Red Eye came along and my late-night viewing choice became patent (I live in the Pacific Time Zone so Red Eye happens at midnight for us).
Don't worry… This American never understood Letterman either… I never understood why my grandfather thought he was so funny (I honestly believed it had something to do with the fact they both have a gap in between their top front teeth than for any comedic reasons)… However, I do find Ferguson the most funny…
Oh and welcome to Texas..
There is one point most comics understand that Dave Letterman and John Stewart seem to have missed. You can make fun of people, provided you ARE funny and you make fun of EVERYONE. If you are not that funny and you target only one group, you come across as a bit of bully.
Ahaha, I gave a Russian girl a swig of my genuine draft A&W root beer and she visibly quailed at the hideousness of it. You're obviously right about root beer being for us. I love the stuff.
I really enjoy Letterman and am not the slightest bit shocked that he has tons of sex. How is this anyone's business?
"By the way, neither Lennon or McCartney ever recovered their mojo after the Beatles disbanded"
McCartney's solo career as a whole was not on the same level as the Beatles, but at least two of his albums, "Band on the Run" and "Ram," are in my opinion nearly as good as Beatles albums. At least, aside from Harrison's "All Things Must Pass," those are the only two that are close.
Letterman is a "serial creep".
These shows are now just commercials for whatever movie is coming out next week. For god sakes, they make Charlie Rose interesting by comparison.
All the late night talk shows suck. It is a good time to watch a DVD or listen to some music or read. If anyone had a good show to put on they would get ALL the ratings. I listened to letterman disrespect the president of the United States several times and decided his ego and high regard for himself did not at all correspond with what I thought of him. I will never turn him on again.
The writer Daniel Kalder is as much a creep as David Letterman for making the stupid statement that "everyone knows" Lennon was the bigger talent than McCartney. First of all, everyone knows no such thing and it is purile and childish for you to phrase what is your opinion in fact. It seems you are too mixed up in hero worship to be able to discern opinion from fact. Maybe you've been reading Rolling Stone too much. You make a fool of yourself when you make statements of opinion as fact. Secondly, McCartney was as much producer and arranger for the Beatles recordings as George Martin. Just read Here There and Everywhere by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, or Many Years From Now by Barry Miles or even Martin's own book All You Need is Ears where they give McCartney his due and are not confined by myth. They were there.
I won't deny someone who honestly likes one Beatle over the other. But your ignorance is clear when you denegrate one to make the other look good. Have you read any of the books I mentioned? Perhaps you should before you make foolish statements.
I love the Jon and Kate meltdown. I mean, who would have ever thought SHE would emerge the sympathetic character.
I just hope they put some money in the bank for those poor kids.
Letterman has always bored me. I never found him funny or entertaining in the least! And lately with his nasty comments about Sarah Palin and now this "scandal", he's turned me off completely. He strikes me as a genuinely ugly person.
I've been coming to this site off and on for a couple of months now and I don't really see the point of it. A bunch of people, all of whom, with the exception of Victoria Jackson and Orson Bean, seem to be unknowns working in the entertainment industry, write about the same thing, Kennedy's death, ACORN whores, Letterman, Polanski etc. Then a whole bunch of other people comment, almost always in agreement with the auther, on the subject until it's been beaten to death. Strange.
It's like some big conservative support group.
…a smug, lazy old bore, seething with suppressed rage and bitterness.
Kalder, you took the words out of my mouth. I also have NO idea why on earth anyone watches Letterman. Besides the fact that he's not the slightest bit funny, the main thing I dislike about him is exactly what you said – his rage and bitterness. This is not a good or decent man – he's also cowardly as they come. (BTW – your inability to appreciate this Letterman 'thing' has nothing to do with your nationality. I don't like him one bit and I was born in the USA!)
No, Daniel, you're not alone. Even some of us Americans can't take more than 10 minutes of his boring pomposity. Same for the 'actors and actresses' that come on his show to tout their latest movie release. In fact, I've come to figure that if they're on Letterman, chances are it's what I would categorize as a 'dud'; thus the need to subject themselves to Letterman's lousy excuse for conversation & wit.
I use to love David Letterman back when he first started, I suppose he was an alternative to your Dad's Johnny Carson. He had kind of a snarky, sarcastic attitude that college kids like. Eventually you out grow that I suppose. Everybody but Dave, apparently.
Oh heck, who am I kidding. I still like sarcastic snark.
Letterman of the last 10 years is not the Letterman of the 80s. In the 80s Letterman was the host of the UN-Talk Show. He ignored attempts at lame gags and just put did things on TV that were kind of interesting: like dropping stuff off of buildings. He was the YouTube of the 80s. Also, celebrities hated him because he didn't suck up to them. He was a smart-aleck. Essentially, he re-created the Talk Show. Everyone is attempting the post-modern style he perfected.
But Dave doesn't do any of that anymore. He gotten lazy. All he cares about now is banging assistants and following a decades-old show format verbatim. He's a hack. His writers are lazy too. They've been with Dave for 20 years or more and they have unassailable tenure. The Letterman of the last 12 years or so is not the Letterman people mean when they speak well of him.
Heroin. He was a junkie throughout the White Album/ Let it Be sessions.
And then there was Yoko.
I’m more into the Jon and Kate meltdown, to be honest.
Welcome to the Dark Side. Why any being with a functioning cortex has even a sliver of interest in the Jon/Kate melodrama is beyond rational explanation.
So please feel free to troll with a big progressive support group and beat to death what you agree with. The key difference is I will not question what is your point. I don't care, so why do you care so much?
I, too used to love Dave back in the 80's and even 90's. But, he's no longer the funniest guy in the room. Frankly, he seems so bored by his job that he bores me.
Craig Ferguson is by far the sharpest and funniest of the lot. It's the ONLY latenight talk show that isn't scripted within an inch of its life. Craig wings much of his monologue. He, at least, is trying to make it something different. Even on nights when it isn't totally working, it's still far more interesting than the other guys.
I'm not a foreigner but agree with you 100%. All this celebrity, personality, cult-like adoration is stupid and sick, including that for our Commander in Chief.
I'm American, and have never understood the appeal of Letterman.
There are just some unexplainable people in American celebrity. They are not talented, they are not interesting, they are not anything special. They are not gifted or funny. It does not make any sense at all, but there they are, famous, and everybody loves them. David Letterman is the King of this genre.
Oh wait, at least he was until Barack Obama came along. Now Letterman is #2.
"Thus I am forced to conclude that perhaps Letterman is one of those aspects of American culture that just don’t translate for a foreigner. You need to have been born here for him to make sense"
No you are wrong. I was born here and I couldn't agree more. But then I'm not an a gullible American.
"Anyway, even with this blackmail scandal, I still can’t muster much enthusiasm for David Letterman: I’m more into the Jon and Kate meltdown, to be honest."
I'm glad you brought this up. Would someone please tell me WHO IN THE HELL is 'Jon and Kate' and why do I have to see their freaking mug shots while waiting for slow cruise ship tourists to get the hell out of line at Safeway? Plastic-faced baby-carrying freak show Jolie is an unfortunate chapter of American culture (post Paris Hilton can't find a greedy hedge fund manager anymore days) that I am informed about enough to vomit over when the vino supply dwindles.
Is this just the final blow-off of bullshit fake celebrity? Or should we just lobby Congress to provide over-the-counter Xanax in the checkout line to prevent outlandish rage against innocent Iowans whose only crime was to book the wrong cruise to Maui?
The "everyone knows" comment on Lennon/McCartney was every bit as "smug" as Letterman has become. In fact, the whole McCartney rant was seemingly out of nowhere, and came across like the result of a bizarre grudge by Kalder, as if he'd been waiting to randomly insert it into any article. Strange.
I agree with everything thats been said on this thread about Letterman. What tees me off is how can anyone compare Ed Sullivan( and Carson, ditto Steve Allen) in the same article as any of the rest of these?With the exception of Ferguson and maybe Leno, they're not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath!
Oh yeah. If it could be some how inserted in a human body, and produce some kind of high, I'm sure Lennon tried it.
I also heard the reason there was so much animosity between Lennon and McCartney was because Lennon thought that since he formed the band, he should be the one to break it up, and McCartney beat him to the punch.
With the advent of DVR, it's curious that anyone watches Letterman at all. And his audience has got to be mostly dirty old men.
Letterman was funny in the 80s, in the sense of he was doing what hadn't been done before, at least in in that format. The cheapness, self-deprication, oddball guests, and especially his willingness to (even slightly) tweak pompous celebrities was novel. Remember Cher called him an asshole on his show. When on a later show he all but forced her to (very uncomfortably) do "I Got You Babe" with an all-in Sonny it was glorious revenge.
However something happened. Much like Howard Stern (his clear inspiration) he got a) old, and even worse b) establishment. Once it became more common to be coarse (even in a silly way) and more importantly when they each became "insiders," it was all over. The joy in both of their shows used to be that chance that some egomaniac celebutard was going to get the uncomfortable question, and everyone else was in on it. No more.
Letterman was over when he went to CBS. His routines beceme tired, his edge was lost, and the bitter and angry man that he is expessed itself in other ways. Mainly in mean spirited political rantings.
links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBgDHhmSrAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUdiaTt1O6o
the reason letterman keeps harping on palin is,he has the hots for her and can't get her off his mind.
But not root beer?
Ha. I wish CBS would go back to reruns of Columbo, Wiseguy, and other shows rather than have that tired, cranky washed-up prune of a human being on the air. That would be tons more entertaining than what's on now. The only late night host worth watching is Ferguson, but unfortunately, he's an employee of Lecherman. I hope he can get away from DL's influence before it ruins him.
John and Kate? lol That is a true drama. Actually John and Kate and the rest of the reality tv world has done something to American teevee…. It has made it suck!
Late night television for the most part hasn't gone much of anywhere since the 80s and 90s. David Letterman could be considered a pioneer for the achievements of his NBC and CBS (early days) shows. Leno, O'Brien, Kimmell, and Fallon all have stolen their shticks from Dave. During the last 9 years David's show has become much more of an interview show than a comedy show. You can attribute this to the fact that Letterman had open heart surgery, had a kid, and married…. and had a lil on the side… haha
I recommend looking up some old youtube clips of Dave from his days at NBC and at CBS.
"old bore, seething with suppressed rage and bitterness." Very, very on point and funny as h*ll, Daniel. That is exactly what my wife and I have been saying for years. I would like to add – twisted to the point of down right ugly. His obsession to fit in with the liars and cheats that are selling those movies and CDs on his show by insulting anyone who is of a more conservative and therefore responsible and not, after all, like them nature, is one of the most fascinating character studies we have seen played out on the public airways. We are repulsed by him, but like all monsters of the night, we think he is probably somehow pleased by that. Very pathetic and oh, so real.
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