Love him or hate him he has had an impact on late night television… and that all ends tonight.
I remember as a kid when he was a local weatherman. He went remote in the winter to a windshield factory to report the temperature there. He reported that the Soldier and Sailors monument was purchased by the Asparagus Growers association and would be painted green.
I watched him with friends in college… even his short lived daytime show. He was also a regular on Liar’s Club which was actually a pretty entertaining game show.
I went to see an up and coming comedian after he had been on David’s show several times. Several friends and I sat in the front row and watched Jay Leno perform while wearing a David Letterman hat.
Larry Bud Melman… Chris who lived under the bleachers… countless things that were just stupid but hilarious.
Even though I didn’t watch regularly recently it was always nice to know that if I happened to be up late I could see a familiar face on TV.
I thought his last show was later this month? There is a prime time special on tonight, though.
Some of my favorite Letterman memories are from his days on NBC. I still watched him regularly after he moved to CBS but after a few years it just didn’t seem as funny.
Shortly after Letterman signed with CBS, they lost their longtime NFL broadcast contract to Fox. Letterman mentioned this in his monologue and said that the explanation from CBS executives was “Well, we just don’t have that kind of money anymore.”
I remember his day time show that was on after the Today Show. Guests like Pee Wee Herman and Brother Theodore on right after the Today Show gang swapped recipes; I still can’t believe that was allowed to ever be made. For a kid in suburban Virginia, David Letterman was like humor from Mars.
Then his great stint after the Tonight Show, does anyone else remember that he used to not allow clips from the movies that the stars were promoting? Instead of the clips, he’d show old clips from corny movies.
He really changed comedy on TV in America. He was subversive and genius.
They probably should have put his show to sleep 10 years ago.
I used to watch Letterman in college (1991-1996), because my roommate liked him, and so did his friends. Letterman was funny, but there’s always been a mean streak in his humor that I couldn’t get around, and as the years have gone on, it’s become more pronounced, and he seems older and more cantankerous.
It’s always sad to see the end of an era, but in this case, I think it’s probably best.
I think a college classmate of mine used to be a cameraman for him back in his weather reporting days – he told me about the antics of his weatherman, who did crazy things. He’d charge the camera sometimes, (necessitating scrolling the focus knob by running it along your entire forearm). He told stories about people with names like “Esmeralda Kumquat.” This was in the 1970s, long before his late night show.
Later on, in grad school, my roommate and I used to watch the opening monolog after Carson was over (and my friend then went out to work overnight in his lab)
I first saw Pee wee Herman on his show, along with a lot of other odd characters and bits.
I remember from his daytime show (I was working nights at the time) that he’d always announce the average height and weight of his audience. I loved that bit - it was so nonsensical and bizarre!
I haven’t watched him on late night, tho. I’m usually in zombie mode before 10. But I wish him well in retirement.
Dave’s Mom lived in our neighborhood… I assume she has moved to assisted living since I haven’t seen her around in years. She is just as sweet and nice as she appeared on the show. My kids were in strollers and we would talk to her as she walked the neighborhood on a regular basis. She would dote on the kids just like their grandma.
Every Thanksgiving a huge CBS truck would pull up and we knew the Pie segment was going to be on.
I was nother huge fan of the NBC “Late Night With David Letterman”.
I lost interest with the change over to CBS. It was like the show lost it’s edge in order to “mature” into the earlier time slot. It was no longer the anything goes college kid nuttiness but rather a “see, I can be serious like Carson”.
I agree that the show lost its edge, but I don’t think it was because of the change in network or time slot. I just think Dave got older and more mature, and the kind of inventive, subversive nuttiness that characterized his earlier years is hard to keep up indefinitely. I thought Dave & co were still on top of their game during at least the first couple of years at CBS.
Who remembers the steamroller? The 80-ton hydraulic press? Throwing stuff off the roof? Mujibur and Sirajul?
One of my favorite stupid pet tricks was with a woman and her duck. The first thing she did when she came out was ask Dave for a kiss. She was an attractive woman, and Dave seemed happy to do it. Then she demonstrated the trick: she lay down on the floor with a mouthful of cottage cheese and let the duck eat out of her mouth. The look on Dave’s face was priceless: “I kissed that?!?!?”