Letterman went through a stage where he thought eccentric old men were hysterical. This lead to a few awkward moments.
He had philosopher and monologist Brother Theodore on. Dave said something like “Wow, you don’t look like you’re 82. You look like a man in his 60’s”. Brother Theodore screamed back “ARE YOU… CALLING ME… A LIAR???!”.
The Harvey Pekar meltdown.
Most of the Larry “Bud” Melman appearances
Tom Selleck on Rosie O’Donnell comes to mind.
The Tonight Show had been a taped program since the 1960s. I wonder why they didn’t just edit out the odd behavior before broadcast.
Walloon, if I remember correctly the Tonight Show was publicized as being “live on tape.” In other words, even though the show was taped, it was taped and broadcast as though the program were live. I think this was to placate purists who felt that taped programs lacked the energy and spontaneity of live programs. It was also felt that taping the show as though it were live would result in better performances out of guests as they knew they only had one shot at getting it right.
(By the way, how’s that Steely Dan catalogue workin’ out for ya?"
Oops! I just noticed you’re in the U.S., so you must not be the guy I was thinking of, so in regard to the Steely Dan question…uh, nevermind.
Also pardon the tortured punctuation in my last post. Perhaps this would be a good time for me to go to bed. :smack:
No one has mentioned Courtney Love’s somewhat recent total meltdown on Letterman. Everything from flashing her boobs to babbling incoherently.
Also there was an episode of Conan O’Brien where he had Fabio on. During the interview he had Triumph come out to do his schtick and Fabio was just baffled. There was a quick shot of Conan quietly explaining to Fabio what the plastic puppet dog was doing and what “For me to Poop on” meant.
The next talk show Ashlee Simpson goes on is going to be pretty awkward.
Then there was the Carson episode when Buddy Hackett came out wearing a caftan. He claimed to be naked underneath. Just before a commercial break, he stood up and threatened to expose himself to the audience. The mental visual alone was enough to gag a buzzard.
There was a Carson moment that was awkward and funny.
It was during the holiday season and Ed was not announcing, so Doc took over for the night. After the monolgue, Johnny and Doc were talking about holiday plans. Johnny asked Doc what he was planning to do. Apparently Doc had just gone through a nasty divorce. Johnny asked Doc if he’d like to come up to his house for dinner.
The following exchange was hilarious. It’s on the videotape set of Carson moments.
Also, the time when Don Rickles had broken Johnny’s cigarette box (the one that had been on his desk since he started the show).
Johnny went over to Don’s show “CPO Sharkey” and interupted the taping. Johnny was pissed but managed to take Rickles apart with resorting to anger.
color me whooshed - but why?
Didn’t Hulk Hogan severely injure Richard Lewis on a talk show?
Maybe because of http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=282608 ?
Or the 10/23 SNL thread.
So, no one has seen what I saw.
I remember Brother Theodore doing a rant about how he liked young girls old as 14, going on about small breasts, etc. It was real uncomfortable to watch.
Whistlepig
I searched TV Tome’s episode guide and there’s no mention of this guest (I used “painting”, “gorilla”, & “artist” as search parameters).
I seriously doubt a comment like this would have made it on the air.
We in the UK have been blessed with many, many embarrassing moments on talk shows. A few examples:
Oliver Reed - he always appeared to have drink taken, but on one notable occasion on a Michael Aspel show he came on set with his short hanging out, buttons awry and carrying a large jug of what looked like orange juice but which may have also contained spiritous liquors. He launched into an amazing version of “Wild Thing”.
George Best - phenomenal football (the real sort) player from Northern Ireland in the 60s and 70s but, like Oliver Reed, also famous for liking a jar or two. Famously appeared legless and slurring his words on a Terry Wogan show. Subsequently had a liver transplant but stories of his boozing still occasionally appear in the press.
Grace Jones - Ms Jones was on the Russell Harty show, where guests stayed on set when new ones were wheeled on. Russell was chatting merrily away to someone else (I forget whom) but Grace decided he was ignoring her and tried to muscle back in. Russell continued to ignore he so she started whacking him about the head and shoulders.
British TV, eh? The best in the world…
I never knew how to take Brother Theodore. He was for real?
Loretta Lynn made Johnny Carson really uncomfortable once. I don’t know if she was talking about childbirth or a gynecological exam, but when she started to talk about her feet up in the stirrups, Carson changed the subject.
I remember the first time I saw the drunk guy on Carson. (Forgot his name, dammit.) I thought he was really drunk, but he was funny, so we figured it out pretty fast. (I’ve never known any real drunks who were funny.)
Okay, I was too young to see it at the time but I remember the publicity.
…when Jack Paar walked off the Tonight Show.
Later replay of the moment shows Paar minutes before the walkout describing his problem with NBC while his announcer (Hugh Downs) sinks into the chair looking like he wants to be anywhere else.