Letterman's Speech about WTC tonight...

[Mahaloth]

Wow. Letterman started his show tonight with the strongest show of emotion he has ever given on television. He was nearer to tears than the day he returned fro heart surgery.

He explained that he was personaly confused about coming back to do a comedy show in the midst of chaos and grief, but agreed with Giuliani that he had to go back to normality. He praised the Mayor extensively, calling him the model of courage. He avoided mentioning the President, but didn't make fun of him either. He also praised the FD and NYPD.

Did anyone else see this? It was both surreal and beautiful. Very poignant.

[Max Torque]

I just tuned in. Dan Rather almost broke down, and Dave went to commercial.

I guess it'll be a while before it gets any easier....

[HelloKitty]

Am watching now also. It is somewhat relieving to see Dan be "human" because he has to be detached when he is on the air. Same for Dave...I couldn't imagine what he could come out and tell jokes about this week, he made the perfect choice for tonight's show.

Interesting that Dave pulls the emotion out of Dan by just listening to him talk.

[drewbert]

That was an amazing hour, I thought, and the show was handled in the best possible way given the circumstances. There wasn't much humor, but where Dave found an opportunity to make a reasonable funny remark, he took it. Wish I'd taped it.

But now that he's made his big talk at the beginning of the show... well, tomorrow's show may be even more difficult to pull off - he can't simply repeat what he did tonight. And as he mentioned at the end of tonight's show, he currently doesn't have any guests lined up at all.

[jaimest]

Im in Mountain Time, so I'm still watching.
I was shocked to see Dan Rather like that. I never really watched his news before (except on election night when he was being goofy with his "this is tighter than a ____ at a _____" sayings). Now I will pay more attention to the old guy.

[Jack Batty]

...Checking in from Cal-Eye-Four-Nye-Aye ... so I still have 45 minutes until the show even starts. I've been a little out of the Dave loop lately, but this sounds like a good night to catch the show.

[salinqmind]

I thought it was a wonderful show, I always love it when Dave has newsmen on anyway, but Dan Rather was just great. He really explained things as he saw them and his emotion really showed through. As for David Letterman, well, he has a difficult job of putting on his show at this time but I'm glad he's back on the air. I thought his speech was one of the finest things I've ever heard to come out of a celebrity.

[SpaceGhostofArrakis]

I, personally, was touched. Kudos Dave.

[RickJay]

Anyone have a transcript of Letterman's speech?

[gobear]

I was deeply impressed by Letterman's speech, and equally impressed that CBS didn't censor the tape by bleeping the "goddamned." It takes courage to go on the air after something so tragic so close to him and to us all and speak from the heart as he did.

I also absolutely concur with his assessment of Guiliani. He's one hell of a leader in a crisis.

[Mahaloth]

Yeah, I thought Regis' story about having his wheelchair bound son in the Pentagon was interesting too. Did anyone see Craig Kilborn? Even he didn't do any funny stuff last night(intentionaly this time). Yeesh, it's going to be very difficult for these guys to get back on the air. Jay comes back on tonight. I kinda hope he doesn't mention it and just goes for regular comedy, avoiding making fun of America or the President.

[TV time]

Incredibly moving.

I hate to be tacky, but if Letterman does not get an Emmy for this show, something's wrong. I am sure that was the furtherest thing from his mind while doing the show, but class deserves to be saluted in some way. And it was a classy, classy show.

[SterlingNorth]

Originally posted by RickJay
Anyone have a transcript of Letterman's speech?

Well, I don't.

But CBS just put RealVideo^TM of the monologue on their site.

http://www.cbs.com/lateshow

[SterlingNorth]

Oh, yeah...

[RickJay]

Thanks, Sterlingnorth.

You guys were right. His comments were very touching and very heartfelt, and he obviously loves his adopted city.

[Jeep's Phoenix]

I really didn't know what to expect when I tuned in. I figured there would be an awkward moment or two, and then the show would quickly move on to the guests.

But Letterman's speech was anything but awkward. It was absolutely beautiful--it made me wish that I could call New York City my home.

And I have a new-found respect for Dan Rather.

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

I wish I'd seen it--I heard about it from friends. Thanks for the link.

Scott Simon started crying tonight on NPR. They were going to cut him off, but he said "No, no, don't let me off the hook here...." and he said it was a terrible thing but it wasn't uncommon to see people in New York reading the paper or doing whatever and just bursting into tears. That's how it is.

I thought I was done crying, but stuff like that gets me every time. Professionals letting their guard down. I saw a NY doctor break down on camera last week and have to go into the arms of the interviewer. That was a 3-kleenex move right there for Cranky.

[Ace_Face]

As a long-time Letterman fan who hasn't watched the show much in the past few years (out of the country), I had to watch last night. I have never seen Dave -- king of sarcasm and irony that he is -- be serious about anything, so I had to see how he handled this situation. I thought he did a great job, and hit all the right notes. His obvious discomfort at showing emotion made it even more powerful. I especially liked his Montana high school story.

I wasn't so impressed with Rather. But I don't feel like being contrarian at the moment so I'll just shut up.

[Fiver]

Shoot, I missed Monday's show, and really wanted to see it. To see how Dave would handle the situation. Sounds like he was right on top of his game.

I taped last night (Tuesday's) show, but haven't watched it yet.

[Ethilrist]

I can't get the real player app to run on my machine at work. Can somebody who taped the monologue transcribe it for me/us?

[China Guy]

the link doesn't work for me and I've been trying for hours. Anyone else having this problem? Another link or a transcript somewhere? Thanks

[tavalla]

It's Wednesday night (or very early Thursday morning, really) in Australia as I write this, and Letterman's moving into the last part of the show.

I knew roughly what to expect thanks to earlier posts in this thread but, I just had to say, Dave's opening was stunning; very moving - I thought he was going to lose it a few times there - and from the heart.

Dan Rather...look, I've read news (on radio, not TV) and it's kind of an unofficial "journo's creed" that you don't crack on air; you're there to give the information, and you can't do that effectively if you're choked up. To watch such an experienced anchor break on air conveyed just how deep the dislocation is.

The closest thing I've seen to that was a news broadcaster in a helicopter over the Adelaide Hills during the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires. He was giving updates on the firefront's progress, and realised partway through that he was watching his own house burn.

[Bottle of Smoke]

There is a link to a transcript in a related GQ question here. It's towards the end, in Setec's post.