I think the real David Letterman was killed about 1992 or so and replaced by Rob Reiner in disguise. Note recent photos of the now retired "David Letterman" in public:
Posted on 03/12/2017 6:30:22 PM PDT by Yossarian
Edited on 03/12/2017 9:35:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Late-night funnyman David Letterman was hardly a barrel of laughs off the air.
A new biography of the now-retired talk show host portrays Letterman as more self-loathing than self-critical
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Leni
I just watched Letterman once in a while. I found him boring. On every show that I saw he attacked Sara Palin obsessively. She must have turned him down. He also went after Romney. But not on a single show that I saw did he attack Hillary or Obama.
True. Carson was fun. Letterman was too until he no longer was. Comedians generally have a dark side to them. One would think not. It seems counterintuitive. The comedy compensates or balances out their dark side maybe.
He had an early morning show for a while which was deservedly a ratings disaster and then moved on to his Late Night show which made him a star. His humor on that show was often wonderfully eccentric and quite funny.
He lost that edge when he moved to CBS and became little more than a dyspeptic curmudgeon, perhaps as a result of jealousy over the funnier and far more likable Leno.
It is interesting to contemplate how Letterman and Carson were two complex, driven, privately unhappy, but very popular comedians. Someone once noted that at the basis of much humor is anger, and these two seem to capture that notion in toto.
I remember when he used to make fun of his fellow NBC shows and celebrities, pointing out the inanities of the Today Show, Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel.
It was funny and on the mark. He would make fun of the World Cup. It was great.
He stopped doing all that.
and Carson wanted letterman to take his place and they were fairly close after that Carson even did a cameo on Letterman’s show
It seems like David wasn’t the only odd one around there:
“The tale of Tim Long, one of several head writers hired during the show’s run, was typical. Unable to deal with the host’s constant rejections and dark moods, Long took to chewing Coke cans — and swallowing pieces of tin.”
I’m sure the author meant aluminum and not tin. Or perhaps the media folks really are just this completely stupid. I think there’s a lot more to the story after getting this little teaser about this Time Long dude. I wouldn’t be surprised if 3/4 of the staff were suicidal and on meds before joining the show.
Yes, and more common decency too. I always found Letterman to be a smug @$$.
Bump
It was Carson for me. He could do a very good interview. He could seem to get folks to really open up and reveal something folks didn’t know.
When he left the show, I tried watching Letterman.
It seemed to me like this guest were mainly folks coming on to hawk a new movie. You learned nothing new by watching. It was just a plug for the movie and off they went.
Leno wasn’t a smooth interview IMO. He never seemed real comfortable in the host’s chair. Perhaps that’s because Carson was so good.
I did like Leno’s man on the street interviews, but always wondered how many they did to get the really stupid clips they showed us. I never quite bought the shtick, even though it was a good premise.
At any rate, I’d imaging there are lots of folks out there who liked Leno as good or better.
I’m sure not one of them.
I miss Carson very much. It’s a strange thing to say, but life hasn’t been the same not having him there to tune into at night.
I watched his show on and off for decades. I did not watch every night, but all was right with the world when you knew he was there.
At any rate, thanks for broaching the subject.
Johnny Carson was funny. I never understood why anyone would like Letterman. I had a job, though, and rarely stayed up for late-night shows.
Having grown up watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, I knew Letterman was a no talent fraud the first time I saw him.
The man was crude and vulgar from the very start. His brand of humor was always at someone else’s expense, and never was truly funny.
I think the real David Letterman was killed about 1992 or so and replaced by Rob Reiner in disguise. Note recent photos of the now retired "David Letterman" in public:
People that we see everyday on television begin to feel like people we actually know. I felt that way about the local DC news station anchors - Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan especially, and Bunyan has been let go now...
I guess they just become something steady and reliable to us that’s going to be pretty much the same despite anything else happening in the world.
I’ve always thought he was a sorry piece of work and only watched small parts of his show as I changed chanels.
That’s interesting that you knew him. I never liked him, even back in the day when everyone liked him. I always thought he was rude to his guests, and quite frankly NYC really doesn’t need to import rude people.
I think a lot of us who were young then found him interesting at first because he was just so different. To me, he had a quirkiness that was fun. He quickly turned nasty, though.
Also, he's nowhere near successful as Donald Trump.
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