Posted on 10/04/2009 1:38:24 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Sources: ‘Late Show’ staffers were unaware of Letterman’s bombshell
Fri Oct 2, 4:29 pm ET
Much of the buzz around David Letterman’s late-night revelation keeps circling back to one question: Why was the studio audience laughing? Viewers who watched it on TV or online immediately took to Twitter to express everything from bewilderment to outrage over the audience's reaction. Shawn Ryan, creator of the FX show "The Shield," opined, "What a fascinating confession/comedy act from Letterman. Audience didn't know how to respond at parts." Another Twitter user going by the handle "Brain" stated, "Letterman audience clapped when he said he had sex with staffers. It's a world gone mad." But maybe the reason the audience’s reaction was so odd is that the "Late Show" staffers who prepped them had no idea about Letterman’s bombshell.
Yahoo! News has learned from sources close to the show that employees who do audience prep were not made aware of the situation prior to the taping. Discussing the subject of who did and didn't know beforehand, one source said, "Only the show's producers knew what was about to go down," adding that many "Late Show" staffers learned of the situation watching off-stage monitors in real time as Letterman weaved his tale. So the routine in which the audience was prepped, which usually involves a heavy emphasis on laughing and applauding often and loudly, was not altered in any way. Thus, the audience, meticulously prepped for a good time at a nationally televised comedy show, probably thought that Letterman's story was a comedy bit, as is most often the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I suppose he will try to recover by resuming his obnoxious jokes against Palin and her family.
If his ratings plummet and Letterman faces cancellation, I will not be losing any sleep.
....they might have been in the dark about the bombshell, but they knew about the hanky-panky....when there’s an office romance going on everybody at work catches on...and pretty quick too.
Indeed.
So, Letterman’s audiences are so stupid that they have to be “prepped” to laugh. “Hey, guys, this is a comedy! You must laugh every time Letterman says anything! Otherwise, you’ll never be invited back.”
And then, having been prepped, they are too stupid to know that some things really aren’t funny.
OK. That explains it. So everything was A-OK after all. No bad taste was intended.
I expect Letterman to go on hiatus shortly while the producers struggle with damage control.
One of three reasons (or a combination):
1. Staff held up the "LAUGH NOW" sign.
2. Staff press the "LAUGH" button on the machine.
3. Audience is full of leftists who couldn't care less about morality, the problems of work romance between boss and employee, etc.
Doesn’t it just show the intelligence of the Late Show audience? Or, lack thereof?
Such wonderful payback for the Palin jokes. Who’s the slut now, Dave?
I’ve attended many many tapings of talk shows. It’s likely the crowd was told very clearly to “show how much you love Dave” by applauding and cheering at every pause. It even sounded as if the APPLAUSE sign was lit a couple of times during his schtick. For a show that’s been on forever, the whole episode stinks of amateurism.
For instance. An intern from NYU wrote the other day how close to her first intern days, back in the early 90s, Letterman called her into his office and asked her to go to a movie. She says he ended it a year later (saying of course they met elsewhere often so no one knew--RI-GHT!) because she was too young. He's been doing this I am sure for=EV-er. The left will give him a pass thought on the sexual harassment issues and his incredible HYPOCRISY and LIES!
The man is a very sick cookie when you look at him as a whole. He is truly mentally ill.
This was a bizarre incident - I thought the portion of the audience laughing really did expect it to be some weird joke, and the rest were stunned. He should have announced it straight up(or not at all) instead of confusing his audience, but I suspect Dave is not real big about wondering how others will feel...
Oh,how wrong you are.RATS care deeply about sexual harassment and related issues.
(When a Republican is involved.)
Sometimes one is so busy making noise they aren't fully comprehending the content.
Gotta disagree with ya there.He's not *clinically* "sick".He's amoral.There's a difference.
So naturally Dave, recognizing the cognitive dissonance, paused in his prepared remarks and said, “no, realli ... I’m series. Nailed ‘em all ...” but no, he didn’t. Makes no nevermind, though - the audience would have only laughed louder.
....”(saying of course they met elsewhere often so no one knew—RI-GHT!)”
....back when I was single I dated a girl down the hall in our office building...we thought nobody knew...later after we broke up; I found out that EVERYBODY knew!....in-house romances are great gossip topics at work....people love ‘em.
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Hey speaking of letters, let’s refer frequently to “Letter”man as “A”-man.(hint: classical literary reference).
We may be just debating degrees. Delusion can start out small and snow ball and we may be seeing some of that here. But then again I see the Bush Derangement Syndrome and now the Sarah Derangement Syndrome as possible diagnostically delusional so go figure.
I am sure we are each right in our own viewing and assessment just separated by, as I said, degrees and possible listing in the DSM IV, in which I am sure they do not yet have a picture of Letterman nor Garofolo pictures under delusion. Time however may change this.
Where I think you are absolutely correct is if Letterman where to ‘straighten out’ morally the end of the delusions and ‘right and socially acceptable action’ may begin. On this I absolutely agree.
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