First he was out with the shingles for a couple of weeks. Then he was back, but iffy for a while and constantly talking about the excruciating pain of shingles. Then last Friday he was out for an unspecified reason that he clearly knew about beforehand (he was talking about it as early as Tuesday). And tonight he is saying he’s got “a cold,” leading to a fairly disgusting episode of nose-blowing on camera. Now Bruce Willis seems to be carrying his own segment while Dave looks like he’s patiently waiting for this hell to end.
Is Dave starting to get chronically ill? Am I overreacting? What do you think?
Don’t forget his sliced finger last night.
He’s still milking his bypass surgery for laughs, though, so I wouldn’t necessarily take his mentioning of shingles pain as a sign he’s still suffering from it.
I’ve definitely noticed that he’s MIA sometimes, but on the other hand, he seems to be going strong when he is there- creative and funny.
Paul scares me. So does the circular saw chick.
Still love the show, though.
I wouldn’t say you’re overreacting. Remember, prior to his heart surgery a couple of years back he hadn’t missed a single show. So recently with the shingles and now the flu or whatever, I guess we can be a bit concerned. But he’s getting older and we can’t expect him to be the iron-man he used to be. He’ll get over it like he always does.
Wasn’t the Bruce on last time there was trouble? Die Hard 4: Late Show!
Also, Letterman seems to be getting progressively weirder as time goes on. I’m getting a little tired of seeing the doctor who saved his life, and the finger stitching on camera was just a little bizarre.
I wonder if Letterman is going to follow Carson’s lead and start taking extra nights off and putting in guest hosts? He’s been away quite a bit for a guy who never missed a show for a couple of decades.
I read on msn.com that Letterman is suffering from TAS (Tired-Ass Syndrome). He says that he’s worked since he was 11, and is just kinda tired and wants some time off.
Yes, when Dave was out with shingles, Bruce was the first guest host. In fact he was apparently asked to fill Dave’s seat just a few hours before the show taped, and he was mighty nervous. It was OK though; we were all nervous, since, as noted above, Dave had never missed time before.
RawkStah, I have no doubt that Dave is tired, but this seems to go beyond tired; he seems to be genuinely sick, and I wonder if Friday’s absence wasn’t for surgery of some kind. He was saying last week things like, “You know, I’ve never missed a day of this show, and dammit, I’m taking a day off!” But I had the feeling that he was just trying to make his typical uberproletarian joke out of something serious. I doubt that he spent Friday grilling out and drinking beer.
It’s worrisome. Dave’s been on since I was maybe ten years old, and he has somehow managed to stay funny and edgy (others may disagree) all that time. I, and no doubt many millions of other people, think of Dave as my slightly hipper, wittier buddy.
Recall last Thanksgiving when Dave and Biff flew to Afghanistan to meet the troops. They weren’t allowed to shoot video, but showed a bunch of still pictures from the trip. Dave showed one picture, and said, “And if my cardiologist is watching, that is NOT a cigar in my mouth.”
Oh, and Sam Stone, I missed the finger-stitching, but I seem to recall him doing something similar before. As to featuring his doctor, I still think it’s hilarious when they bring out a celebrity’s X-ray and have some random schmuck try to identify the celebrity from it.
IIRC, he once had a stitch or two removed from his hand during a show.
I heard about Dave saying he had “tired-ass syndrome” and I also heard (sorry, no cite) that he was asking CBS to allow him to do only 4 shows a week. (Apparently he already has Friday’s off, because he tapes two shows on Thursday and one of them is aired on Friday).
I will miss him when he leaves the air for good. I miss Carson every time Letterman is a rerun and I flip over to see what Leno is doing. I hope whenever Dave decides to retire that he announces it well in advance and then pulls out all the stops and does some even crazier stuff.