The great David Letterman has hosted his last Late Show.
I haven’t really watched late night talk shows in a really long time, and even when I did I only watched when I had nothing go on at midnight. But when I watched, I always watched Dave. Even as a kid, David Letterman was often the last thing I saw on the television before I went to sleep. A lot of the times I didn’t get the jokes. A lot of the times I didn’t care about the guests. But something about Dave was just…funny.
I should point out I hated Jay Leno. There were a few reasons for this. One was that I hated his run in WCW in 1998. The 2nd was that Leno just felt…fake. The third? He was against Letterman. (Other reasons would come up over time, which I will address here). As I got older I became a Letterman and Conan guy. There would be occasional moments where a notable Letterman moment (both good and bad) would come up and I would find ways to watch online (a lot easier later with Youtube). My first memory of Letterman that I actually remember watching live was his comeback from his quintuple bypass surgery in 2000. After that, he helped bring together a nation with his 9/11 monologue. There were the funny flirtations with ABC, including one where Dave got a “tattoo” of the ABC logo. There were the times he tormented poor Richard Simmons, and other times where he put someone like Paris Hilton in her place (it’s up to you if you think that was an unprofessional thing to do or not). Of course, Letterman’s retirement ranked right up there as well.
To be honest though, my favorite Letterman moments were any time he made jokes at the expense of Jay Leno.
There’s some history here of course. Leno got the Tonight Show over Letterman in 1992 (against the wishes of Johnny Carson), and then both were rivals ever since. Each one took any jab they could at one another, Leno particularly taking shots at Letterman in 2009 during Letterman’s extortion/affair debacle. But when Conan O’Brien was in danger of losing the Tonight Show after five months back to Leno, Letterman took every shot he could and it was glorious. Conan would show up on the Late Show in 2012, again to hilarious results.
I remember being shocked about when Letterman spoke to Oprah about his depression. It amazed me (as it did with Robin Williams) that someone whose life was to entertain millions could be so sad. And while probably completely unrelated, I was happy to hear he was retiring on what seemed like his terms. I was happy to hear that it seemed like his family was more important to him than the show. Sometimes it’s easy to lose that as an entertainer.
One of my favorite tidbits about Letterman, he always seemed to care about upcoming comedians around him. A young Jon Stewart had been told that his late night show was being cancelled…Letterman was called and made an appearance. Letterman had an iconic piece of advice for Stewart: “Do not confuse cancellation with failure”. Letterman also showed up on Conan O’Brien’s new Late Night program, a program he inherited from Letterman, which was struggling in the ratings early on. It just shows how much Letterman really cared about the business he performed for.
I could keep ranting on, but instead I feel like posting some iconic Letterman videos and calling it.
Of course, Letterman began his final broadcast with a classic and hilarious joke: “It still looks like I’m not hosting the Tonight Show”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1f2_01URYQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFkC1Z18c8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBLgp1qTCTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQF5JF06NYM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5sVI_-LRCI