# John McEnroe is guest-hosting Letterman!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 28, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045 "2003-02-28T02:07:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/1 "2003-02-28T02:07:16Z")
Okay, I know this is less exciting than Bruce Willis, 'cause Mac knows he’s going to do it(Willis had no idea until a few hours before).
Anyway, I thought I’d start a thread because I like to(humor me) consider myself the big Letterman guy. I tend to think this will be okay, but will lack the freshness of last nights.
One of the other little quirks about me is I adore tennis, so I’m for any tennis guy getting the spotlight. I actually rather like Mac and always prefered his style of play(not his attitude) over most power-hitters of today.
Anywho, I’ll leave this until the show starts. Remember, Letterman is not having surgery, just has a little eye infection that has caused it to swell shut. He should be back Monday.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/2 "2003-02-28T02:19:08Z")
Where’d you hear this? I heard from several sources that we would be getting reruns for the rest of the week and next week while he recovered.
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### Author:  [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/3 "2003-02-28T03:26:40Z")
[E! Online](http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,11348,00.html)
> [@](#):
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> John McEnroe and Regis Philbin have been tapped to replace Letterman on Thursday and Friday respectively. The tennis legend will play host to Tom Arnold, musical guest Jason Mraz and comedian Todd Barry while Reeg welcomes Charles Grodin, comedian Greg Giraldo and musical guest Kathleen Edwards. The show was already scheduled to be on hiatus next week.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/4 "2003-02-28T03:55:54Z")
I knew never to trust Access Hollywood or the Fox News Channel. Sorry I doubted you guys.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/5 "2003-02-28T04:06:00Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by brianjedi \*
> \*\*I knew never to trust Access Hollywood or the Fox News Channel. Sorry I doubted you guys. \*\*
Well, I guess I can forgive you. 😉
I’m not surprised Regis is hosting tomorrow.
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### Author:  [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/6 "2003-02-28T04:44:58Z")
What the hell is Spider doing on the show? Is he a regular?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/7 "2003-02-28T05:09:52Z")
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> \*Originally posted by BabaBooey \*
> \*\*What the hell is Spider doing on the show? Is he a regular? \*\*
No, I believe Paul has a deal in his contract that he is not obligated to work when Dave is not there. I assume he stayed on last night since Bruce was seriously helping out and Paul had already come in for the day. Now they know Dave is out for today, so is Paul.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/8 "2003-02-28T05:43:58Z")
Well, he did okay. I give him 3 out of 5 stars, pretty good considering he’s not a television person(except tennis commentary).
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/9 "2003-02-28T10:49:05Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \*
> Well, he did okay. I give him 3 out of 5 stars, pretty good considering he’s not a television person(except tennis commentary).
He does some teevee work here. I think the last thing was hosting a teevee quiz show kinda thing towards the end of last year. Didn’t see it myself but he is a little more experienced than you might think:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/entertainment/thechair/](http://www.bbc.co.uk/entertainment/thechair/)
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/10 "2003-02-28T16:01:57Z")
My God that was painful.
Sorry to disagree with the rest of you, but I turned it off exactly six minutes into the show, right after the unfunny trip across the street to look at the benefit where guests hadn’t arrived yet.
Those first unfunny minutes also showed how much Paul Shaffer helped Bruce Willis the night before.
I’ll be happy to credit McEnroe for trying, but if Letterman makes it look easy, and Bruce Willis showed how hard it actually is, then McEnroe proved that not everyone should even attempt it.
Can we all chip in to get Dave an eye patch?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/11 "2003-02-28T17:06:54Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by kunilou \*
> \*\*My God that was painful.
>
> Sorry to disagree with the rest of you, but I turned it off exactly six minutes into the show, right after the unfunny trip across the street to look at the benefit where guests hadn’t arrived yet.
>
> Those first unfunny minutes also showed how much Paul Shaffer helped Bruce Willis the night before.
>
> I’ll be happy to credit McEnroe for trying, but if Letterman makes it look easy, and Bruce Willis showed how hard it actually is, then McEnroe proved that not everyone should even attempt it.
>
> Can we all chip in to get Dave an eye patch? \*\*
Yes, he was terrible in the beginning. If he hadn’t done better with the interview(his Tom Arnold interview was good, so was his awkward chef bit), I’d have rated him lower.
I give him credit for trying to do Letterman’s stuff. He’s no pro, but did okay.
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/12 "2003-03-01T01:19:44Z")
Tom Arnold saved him on the chef bit. Arnold was making the wisecracks while Mac stood there going, “I can’t cook.”
Dave and Paul would have been on that bottle of brandy like white on rice.
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### Author:  [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/13 "2003-03-01T02:04:01Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \*
> \*\*No, I believe Paul has a deal in his contract that he is not obligated to work when Dave is not there. I assume he stayed on last night since Bruce was seriously helping out and Paul had already come in for the day. Now they know Dave is out for today, so is Paul. \*\*
Are you talking about Paul Schafer, or is Spider’s name Paul as well? The guy I’m mentioning played the character “Spider” on Goodfells, or at least he looked a lot like him. He was in the back with Mcaully Caulkin.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mcenroe-is-guest-hosting-letterman/158045/14 "2003-03-01T03:16:04Z")
Michael Imperioli (sp?) is the guy you’re thinking of. He’s better known these days as “Christopher” on the Sopranos.
They were next door getting ready to do some sort of celebrity benefit, and the Letterman show sent over a camera hoping for some comedy. They didn’t find any.
I liked Tom Arnold’s story about Warren Zevon.