This assumption has always confused me, too.
I guess people who still insist on telling their co-workers they “got a case of the Mondays” and take it personally when they don’t immediately start discussing unicorns think Dave’s grumpy-old-man persona makes him a real meanie.
Never mind that Leno insulted people just as bad during his run on the Tonight Show, just with a smile on his face.
Many of the people who call Letterman a jerk are conservatives who have had it in for him since they decided to be outraged over his joke about the Palin kid.
People were calling him a jerk ever since he was on Late Night. I don’t really see it, either.
Thanks for finding that video, Troy!
I found this 1985 Rolling Stone interviewthat comments on his reputation for being mean (on page 5):
Keep in mind that this was 24 years ago, when he had been doing Late Night for about three years. He was aware of the problem and was trying to do something about it even then. It’s my opinion that he has changed a lot since then, particularly since being at CBS, and that he’s no longer as mean as he once was. (And perhaps, some people say, not as funny, either.)
Could it be that people who first saw him back in the “meaner” NBC days are still holding onto that image of him, and interpret lesser “crimes” these days in that light?
I think part of the reason some people says he comes off like an asshole in his interviews is that we’re so used to hosts doing dull interviews where they absolutely gush over a guest… That’s the norm. And when a host says something that doesn’t sound to be favorable or positive about the guest, as Letterman often does, it’s somewhat shocking. I myself have never found him to be an asshole, and I do appreciate him calling guests out for them being idiots or douchebags (Paris Hilton and Joaquin Phoenix).
Funny how Jon Stewart gets huge positive press when he does this (Crossfire, the Mad Money guy, and every lauds him, but Dave does an admittedly less-significant version of this and he’s a jerk. Though I guess Jon’s audience is much more of a small choir (which I am a part of) compared to Dave’s Big Three audience that’s been around for almost 30 years.
The really big difference there is that (in those particular examples, at least) Jon was acting as a real media critic, and making spot-on comments about major social issues, where Dave was just not gushing over a movie star.
The evidence I’ve read in this thread paints a picture of a comedian who does not suffer fools glady, rather than a jerk. The distinction I make is that a jerk regularly initiates unwarranted hostilities on neutral or innocent targets. With nearly 3 decades in front of the camera doing an unscripted late night entertainment show, its unrealistic to avoid doing anything that someone will take issue with.
Letterman has an edge. I don’t even think it’s as particularly sharp as it used to be. I don’t know the man personally so I can’t say if he’s a Jerk as a person.
That’s my impression as well. I just watched that clip with Nastassja Kinski, and she was being a lousy guest. She chose to appear with a rather extreme hairstyle but was totally unprepared to say anything about it. She could have said “This is a new look I’m trying out” or “It’s the latest thing, Dave!”, then Letterman probably would have made some quip and that would have been the end of it. Instead Kinski acted like she didn’t even know what Letterman was talking about. Or maybe it wasn’t acting – I don’t know how she normally behaved in interviews, but she came across as being either an idiot or on drugs.
Not only did Kinski have nothing to say about her hair, she had virtually nothing to say at all. It looks like some footage may have been edited out of the linked video, but she was largely unresponsive to the questions we did see Letterman asking her. She was putting the host in a bad position, and he had to do something to fill the time allotted to her. I don’t feel bad for her at all. If she’d been some regular gal pulled out of the audience then I’d expect Letterman to cut her some slack for being surprised or nervous, but this was a professional actress who knew she was going to be interviewed on television and wasn’t holding up her end of things.
:eek:
:eek:
:eek:
OMG.
I am David Letterman.
I think the fact that he had so many guests leaving in tears after eight minutes speaks pretty strongly in favor of his being a jerk. I do believe that he is being truthful when he says that he feels he has to take advantage of the moment when a joke presents itself, but in his case either that moment or the joke itself skews mean-spirited.
The airwaves have been filled with talk show hosts who have managed to be funny without doing so at the expense of their guests or people on the street. Johnny Carson was sometimes confronted with guests who didn’t have much to say, but he usually handled them in such a way that both he and the guests came off looking good. Carson made people look good whereas Letterman seems by nature to be inclined toward making them look bad.
My guess is that it’s a result of his own self-loathing. If he can make somebody else look bad it puts him in the superior position and makes him the arbiter of who’s cool and who isn’t. In other words, it allows him a place among the in crowd - a place he likely never had growing up.
ETA: P.S. - Was Letterman on last night (Tues.)? I wasn’t able to tune in last night and haven’t been able to find so much as a syllable about it anywhere online today.
Kinski was pretty clearly stoned. She went on a nationally televised live TV show with 14" of hair ansd not in full control of her facilities. Why on earth wouldn’t he make fun of her?
You do realize that was an exaggeration?
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Yeah, he was on, and made fun of himself the whole monologue.
Letterman has been rude to his guests from day one. I’ve never liked him. He is the polar opposite of Johnny Carson who tried to bring out the best in his guests instead of using them as comedy fodder. AFAIK Craig Ferguson can replace Letterman yesterday.
I think the Kinski thing is just an example of the way he’s inclined to behave. If she had been the only guest he’s behaved that way with we wouldn’t have a thread going on right now about what a jerk he is.
No, I didn’t. He seemed sincere in the quote I read upthread.
Thanks. Sorry I missed it.
I have to admit that I’ve enjoyed watching him during this episode. He’s handling it about as well as possible, I think.
THANK YOU! This summarizes my view of him almost perfectly.
I agree with Troy that it was a gross exaggeration, and characteristic of his self-deprecating humor. Also, even it was true in 1985, I think he’s a lot softer now. Would you agree with that?
Yes, yes, we’ve heard all this before. How about a cite that hasn’t already been mentioned here, and from the last decade, as opposed to the early years, when he was admittedly ruder?
Isn’t it generally true that most people who “don’t suffer fools gladly” tend to be jerks themselves? Isn’t jerkish behavior what is usually being excused or justified by the use of the term?
It may have been an exaggeration. I’m certainly willing to concede that it may have been.
Due to my longstanding dislike of the guy, I haven’t watched him much over the years. But to the degree I’ve seen him over the last several years or so, I haven’t noticed much different. In other words, he still seemed pretty jerkish to me.
Have you perhaps noticed the way you keep narrowing the parameters so as to define Letterman’s jerkish behavior. The guy is a jerk and an asshole. It’s still okay if you like him. Lots of people like jerks and assholes. Look at the career Howard Stern has. 
Well, there was the time that Bobcat Goldthwait lit his set on fire.
On the asshole scale of 1 to 10 where Dave is an 8, Howard Stern rates a 53. I mean really, it’s just ludicrous to even mention them in the same breath.
As to the general thread topic, I do recall back in the day often thinking Dave was being rude & jerkish on the NBC show. I can’t think of more than a handful of cases in the past decade or so that match that sort of behaviour.
You’re right, I misread. She served 18 days according to my cite. Still, everyone seems to forget that she actually did spend time in jail after being released after a few hours (which was common among “regular” inmates with first time DUIs as well) because of some kind of public backlash.