I used to really like Letterman decades ago when he was doing street segments on someone else’s Tonight show.
Due to the vagaries of Australian TV I didn’t see him for many years until he was the famous host of The Late Show and I mostly thought he was dreadful. Very little of his scripted material was funny and the rest seemed to just be schtick, style over substance. He was just a parody of himself.
Sometime in the recent past things seem to have changed. On every occassion that I catch his show he is very, very sharp and very,very funny. All the predictable mannerisms have stopped being intrusive.
Is it just my imagination or is he experiencing some sort of comedic rebirth. And if so, why? Child, partner, awareness of mortality, better writers?
He just seems to go through ups and downs, to me. Right when the Late Show started in 1993, he was hysterical. Then he went through a long period where he was mostly just bitter and sarcastic. Now he’s on an upswing again. Maybe he’s just stopped caring about Leno or something.
I think Dave has gotten funnier (or at least seems less “troubled”) after a few significant events in his life – his quad bypass surgery, 9/11 in NYC, and the birth of his son. He really seems to have mellowed out after Harry was born. As Bup says, he might have given up worrying about Leno and his CBS bosses because he understands there are more important things in the world.
I’ve watched Dave since his morning show way back when I was in grad school, and have always loved him. He does/did seem to have down periods though. Back when he was on NBC, one comedian said that during one of the breaks, Dave was writing “I hate my life” over and over again on a sheet of paper.
Dave explained this once on Tom Snyder’s show. After a segment with Teri Garr where Dave made fun of her, he later thought he went too far. During the commercial break, when the band is playing too loud for a conversation to be heard, Dave wrote “I hate myself” on a note to Garr. Dave explained that he was trying to apologize. Bill Carter puts the story in his book, and Dave comes off as self-loathing.
I’ve watched Letterman right from the first episode (which I still have on a Beta tape somewhere), to today. I think there was a time about five years ago until a couple of years ago where he just wasn’t that much fun to watch. That was around the time Saturday Night Live was doing an absolutely perfect impression of him that mocked his mannerisms, and it was almost uncomfortable because it was so damned right. Letterman was skating on the edge of real creepiness for a while there.
I think what happened was that he had a hard time aging. It’s tough for someone who makes it on sarcastic wit to age. They can look bitter (see: George Carlin) as they grow older. Dave was trying to find himself. He wasn’t comfortable in his own skin. Then somewhere he made the transition to late middle age - the birth of his son and the bypass gave him some new perspective. Now he’s sort of got a ‘who gives a crap’ vibe going.
It’s also possible that he wasn’t thinking very clearly before his bypass, due to physical issues.
Funnier? I don’t think so. To me, he was much funnier in the 1980’s.
But there’s no question, he now projects a warmth and humanity he never did before his bypass surgery. He seems much happier and more mellow. He seems to be having fun. He’s actually a likeable guy now, which he NEVER was before, even though I liked his show more when he was a surly, snide antisocial cuss.
Writers for the show come and go, and the show’s tone and quality will change when that happens. Consider, too, that the attitude of you, the viewer, changes from time to time. When you’re troubled or cynical, funny things aren’t so funny.
Left unsaid is the fact that network execs confronted Letterman, telling him that Leno was consistently burying him in the ratings and that focus groups found Letterman cross, bitter, and largely unfunny. The brass told Letterman he had to snap out of it or face the inevitable. Left unsaid (publicly) is the possibility of his losing the show, though I’m not sure how likely that was a few years ago.
With Leno’s consolidation of his lead and the ascendance of Conan and Jon Stewart, I think Letterman really feels the pressure today. Survival meant reinventing his TV persona, if not his personality.
Personality is deeply imprinted by middle age. Insider reports consistently paint Letterman as a dark, brooding, often bullying personality, far from the carefree spirit we once knew. My guess is that Dave has changed because his–and NBC’s profitability–depends on it.
I agree with Sam that Dave’s worst period was from about 4-5 years ago to about a year or two ago. There was a period of time in which he would go through entire monologues and bits without telling any actual jokes. The low point for me came when the “Know Your Current Events” bit was changed to “Know Your Cuts Of Meat,” which would go something like this:
DAVE: Okay, let’s play “Know Your Cuts of Meat.”
GUEST: Okay.
DAVE: What’s this cut of meat?
(He shows the guest a picture of pork loins.)
GUEST: Uhhh, lamb chops?
DAVE: No, sorry, they’re pork loins. Ha ha! Thanks for playing.
So it had reached the point where he didn’t even seem to think it was important to tell jokes. It was just like Letterman. Consequently Leno, who isn’t edgy or original but does tell a lot of jokes, was killing him.
Why has he changed? I dunno, but it’s a good thing he has or else he’d have ended up cancelled.
I’ve been watching Dave every night for the last 20 years, and I’m sorry, I just don’t recall anything like this at all. You may not have found the jokes funny, but he was telling jokes. He has dramatically shortened the monologue at CBS. Leno’s is much longer (and less funny, IMO). Dave does just a handful of jokes then moves to the desk and the opening comedy bits. At NBC Dave did longer monologues.
Sorry, you’re remembering this wrong. At first, “Know Your Current Events” (America’s Fastest Growing Quiz Sensation) was the only option, and the audience member would give the ostensible right answer and Dave would say No, and deliver the gag answer. When they added “Know Your Cuts of Meat” and other weird categories (e.g. “Know Your Late Show Accountant Joe DeGeorge,” which for some reason was never chosen), Dave always showed the “contestant” the answer on his card while the picture was on screen, so the person could give the right answer. He didn’t make fun of the audience members.
What’s your source for this info, Carnac? Not disputing, just curious. And when did it happen?
I’ll admit that Dave and his writers have gotten stuck in some unfunny bits that they kept doing far too long (Dwayne the Troubled Teen is one of the most recent examples, IMO) and Dave doesn’t gett out to do his taped location bits much anymore, letting Biff and Rupert do that for him. But I haven’t noticed the big changes in funniness that other posters here are talking about. The biggest change I’ve seen over the years is in the selection of guests: more celebrities flacking their new movie, book, or record, and fewer ordinary but interesting folks. And fewer comedians and more musical guests, most of which I don’t bother to watch.
BTW, has anyone noticed the bit they’ve been doing at the end of every show for the last several months? At the end of the credits, the New York cityscape scrim goes up, revealing a redheaded woman waving to the crowd, and announcer Allan Kalter comes out (often wearing an Elvis-style sequinned jumpsuit) and hands her a bouquet of roses. No explanation. Not particularly funny, but someone must like it.