Tom Hanks did look shaky. Weird.
Eh, he also had issues with that piece of paper he kept pulling out and putting back into his coat, and his hands were constantly moving. He’s got type-2 diabetes and my wife and I were speculating that may be the cause of the shakiness that we noticed.
Any guesses for the last show?
My wild speculations:
R.E.M. reunion.
Cameo by Chris Elliot.
Too bad Calvert DeForest (Larry “Bud” Melman) isn’t still available to close out the show.
Foo Fighters and Jay Leno would be cool.
Why the Foo Fighters?
Supposedly Jay was asked by Letterman’s people to make an appearance. He declined, saying the night should be about Dave, not Dave and Jay. Similarly, Dave was asked by Leno’s people to appear on his last Tonight Show and Dave declined for the same reason.
They are Dave’s favorite band.
Foo Fighters confirmed: Foo Fighters to perform on David Letterman's final show | EW.com
Calvert was the first person on the first show on NBC. Here is the entire show:
Foo Fighters are a good choice (though R.E.M. would have been a nice bit of full circle.
I don’t get the love for Brian Regan. Incredibly annoying voice that he uses to emphasize his “jokes”.
Why Dave has him on at all, let alone during his farewell weeks is a mystery to me. Tom Dreessen I get. He’s a an old pal and all that. But Regan???
It’s really too bad the Larry Miller doesn’t do standup since his accident. He would have been a great guest in the final days.
I guess Teri Garr doesn’t like to be in public anymore. That’s a shame. She really should be part of this.
What a great finale! I was smiling and laughing through the whole thing, sometimes through tears. I started watching Letterman when I was around 13, when his late night NBC show was very new.
Loved the top ten list–especially the other comedians cracking up at Jim Carrey’s mugging.
The behind-the-scenes segment was cool–I’d really love to see a lot more of that.
It was wonderful to see Dave’s wife and son in the audience at the end. Dave’s stories about Harry over the past several years really humanized Dave, and he seemed to become a little less cranky and more fun–and more thoughtful.
Fare well, Dave. Thank you for all the laughs.
I’m old enough to remember Jack Paar, the greatest (and certainly most intelligent) late night host ever. Letterman was amusing at times. That’s all I can really say of him. The last show epitomized his whole run. Mildly funny. In parts.
Well, he did say the majority of his shows sucked.
Love ya Dave. Enjoy your retirement. And please have a Christmas special.
I’ll be watching it tonight. Dave was a big part of my TV experience as a kid. I started watching around 1989 or so. We were taping Carson because there was so little on prime-time TV and we ended up letting it overrun and tape Dave.
Man, he was so awesome and funny back on NBC. We used to love his arguments(fake, really) with Charles Grodin. His whole bit was funny back then.
I haven’t actively watched him in about a decade. I’ve seen a few things here or there, but I found that he got less funny around 2004 or so. I thought he was going to retire around then, but I think he wanted to outlast Leno.
End of an era. Sad to see him go.
I thought the montage at the very end was good, and the Foo Fighters, OMG, I haven’t heard such great music in months. I’ll miss the Top Ten, so long, Dave.
I was glad they ran the tape of him as Santa; that was such a classical moment.
I would argue Steve Allen; especially the “Smock Smock Bird” routines and his way of asking serious hard questions without seeming to take the offensive. But that could just be me.
I fell away from David Letterman about 15 years ago but more a change in my schedule than not liking the show. Some of the best routines may have been in the earlier days (the giant doorknob, the guy under the seats routines, Larry Bud, throwing stuff off the building, the deli) but he still managed to come up with some great stuff more often than not. We all get old and sometimes age shows. I was more a viewer than a fan but I think he managed a great 33 years. At set a real mark for others to shoot for.
I’ll always remember the “feuds” between him and Richard Simmons. Those may have been more a mixture of show and reality as I recall.