I thought “Name that Baldwin” last night was pretty hysterical. What a great premise!
Point taken.
So, there are:
[list=1]
[li]People who can’t stand Letterman, and never have[/li][li]People who love Letterman, and always have[/li][li]People who can’t stand Letterman, but used to love him[/li][li]People who have no feelings about Letterman one way or the other[/li][/list=1]
Many people here appear to belong to the third category.
As I belong to the second category, I seem to be in the minority. I wish I could explain why I still find him funny, even though most of (or many of) his former fans no longer like him. I can point out bits that crack me up, but I can’t explain why I think they’re funny–they just strike me that way.
I have this same conversation with people in my family–my mother and I like Letterman, and always have, and one of my sisters has always found his mannerisms and tics annoying (these seem to have increased over the years, which is what Norm MacDonald picked up on). One of my brothers kind of liked him on Late Night, but won’t watch him anymore.
And I’m sure that some of my other siblings (it’s a big family) really couldn’t care less, so all 4 categories are thus represented within my clan. A virtual microcosm of the American viewing audience, I tell you.
NO NO NO!!! I’m with White Lightning, Jon Stewart is way too talented to leave Comedy Central. And his guests aren’t all celebrities plugging their latest work. The Madeline Albright interview, for instance, was informative and had me laughing off my chair at the same time:
(paraphrasing) Albright: According to the recent study, the U.S. has the lowest favorable ratings among Middle East nations in 5 years.
Stewart: Is that because we keep bombing them?
As for Letterman replacements, I vote for Jiminy Glick. Celebs can still hawk their latest achievements and be baffled at the same time.
I still love Dave.
Part of his appeal, to me, is that recently he seems to just not give a shit about anything anymore. To me, that’s funny. For instance, one night, introducing the opening for the Top 10 List, he said, “Let’s go…turn on the crap.” I was just about on the floor.
He may not be polished, but he’s still at least semi-anti-establishment, and that makes him funny as hell.
Carson kicks all their asses. Can’t he come out of retirement? Leno and Dave are rank amatures next to the master. Carson for ever!!
Used to like Letterman, but then my acne cleared up and I graduated from High School.
Leno is not perfect, but for topical jokes and banter, he is just what I need to watch before falling asleep.
Paul Schafer is the most annoying man on earth…(and to put that into perspective I am listing him above Pauly Shore, Carrot Top, Gilbert Godfrey and Jerry Lewis.)
Kevin Eubanks is the most annoying man on earth… (and to put that into perspective I am listing him above Paul Schaefer, Pauly Shore, and Carrot Top)
I don’t know how people can actually stand his background laughing to Leno’s lame ass jokes (almost all have to be some kind of sexual innuendo).
Letterman by far kicks Leno’s ass, and Schaefer and Letterman have good chemistry compared to the Leno and Eubanks tell joke and other laugh it up schtick. Letterman is way funnier in his interviews than the suck up that Leno is…
I haven’t watched late night tv for a while now, but Letterman and O’Brien are by far the best. I don’t get Comedy Central so I’m in the dark about JonStewart.
I don’t watch Letterman cause one of my girlfriends used to date him in the 70s. As a matter of fact, Letterman & Leno used to be friends right, hanging out at the comedy clubs.
I did watch Letterman once but nothing he did impressed me so I like Leno.
Steve Allen was THE innovator of late night TV (and TV in general for that matter).
Johnny Carson was a THIEF. He stole his “Karnac” routine from Steve Allen, his “Tea Time Movie” routine form Jackie Gleason, and stole from others such as Fred Allen and Ernie Kovacs.
David Letterman based his own show on a late night syndicated show that Steve Allen had in the 1960’s. However, (and Steve Allen has mentioned this), David Letterman does give crefit to Steve for a LOT of his show’s ideas.
I remember watching Steve Allen’s zaniness:
“Ping Pong In The Sky” (Steve & someone else playing on a table several stories up while being suspended from cranes);
Steve Allen had a demolition derby in one of the side streets near his studio;
Steve Allen and his crew dressed up in children’s soldier helmets, uniforms and toy guns and went to the grocery store next to his studio and pretended to be fighting a war;
and the list goes on.
Don’t the above 3 examples sound vaguely similar to what David Letterman might do? Sure, but as I said he gives Steve Allen credit for it.
It seems like everytime I decide to turn Leno on when Letterman is a repeat, it’s always either Leno making fun of Kevin smoking weed, or Leno telling a joke, and then instead of a punchline, showing a picture of Bill Clinton.
The difference between Letterman and Leno is that Letterman can tell the same joke 50 times, and have it be funnier the 50th time than the first.
But now that Family Guy is back on the air, I don’t need to worry about watching either of them
Clearly, the front-runners for a replacement should Dave or Jay retire are Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien. Both of them are worthy. And both of them are better than either Dave or Jay.
And I say that as a monster Letterman fan who still has an original tape I made of his very first Late Night episode on NBC. The one with the drunk Bill Murray and Mister Wizard.
But why didn’t she just ask “Are you Alec Baldwin’s brother?”, “Are you Stephen Baldwin’s brother?” etc.
Letterman hasn’t been funny for years. On the comedy channel in Australia they used to play a piece with some comedian disguised as Letterman conducting how to be Dave Letterman lessons. It was a litany of Letterman’s annoying mannerisms which make up 90% of the show.
I love Dave. I find him hilariously witty. Watch him most nights here at 10:30, after our local news. He’s like an old friend. I’m glad he’s taking more time off to take care of his old self. His antics with the phone crack me up, especially when he got on that kick with Oprah.
Andy Dick the other night was a surprise. He held his own well, for his first time.
How about Craig Kilborne for the inevitable replacement? His show comes on right after Dave here and I kind of like him. Even tho I know its time for me to go to sleep by then, he’s entertaining enough to keep me awake. Its funny that he introduces himself.