There is comedy, an art form. There are great comedians, but they have become replaced by the low level mockery of comedy which is simply the act of engaging in degrading commentary that sounds funny on the surface but is crass and sick. In his heyday Steve Martin was a comedic genius. The average stand-up comic these days, and Letterman is only a glorified stand-up, is a foul mouthed degrader who couldn’t create true humor if his/her life depended on it. Anyone can deal in chops and insults. True comedy is rarer. Letterman and O’Brien don’t qualify.
Speaking of foul-mouthed stand-up comedy, I was scanning the channels and came across Joans Rivers. I hadnt seen her in years, and remembered her being “clean” so I watched a few minutes. Everything that came out of her mouth was foul, as was the disgusting subject matter of her routine at the moment. Every possible four letter word was used in one quick bit. I have never heard such a filthy mouth on a woman, possible not from a drunken man either.