The Late Show With David Letterman

[Neil]

By far and away the best thing about getting my Freeview box working is the fact that I can once again watch Letterman every week-night.  I've not seen it for years, but I have found memories of watching it every night on Paramount along with an ace line-up of Seinfeld and Larry Sanders.  Anyone else a fan of Letterman then?  For those who haven't seen it, and perhaps think it revolves round boring celeb interviews, it doesn't, the interviews actually play a fairly small part of the show.  In fact I timed it this week, it's a 45 minute show, and the first half hour is just Letterman dicking around and doing funny bits, the two celebrity guests (one of which is often a musical act) are squeezed into the last 15 minutes.

It's just a fab show, I sit through the first half hour with a permanent grin on my face and laugh out loud plenty of times.  You can see just how blatantly Baker and Evans ripped off Letterman for TFI Friday, although early TFI Friday was a fairly decent show, so it's no big deal.  Anyway, the show is on around 1:20 every morning on ITV2, damn shame they can't swap it round with Jerry Springer though so more folks would get a chance to watch it.  

Oh yeah, I seem to have very vague memories of watching Letterman on BBC2 some time in the 80's, anyone else recall this?  He was doing shows from Britain for a week or two so they showed them on one of our terrestrial channels...I remember this being around the same time as they showed Manimal.  I'd actually really love to see Letterman's earlier shows, the pre-suit days so to speak.  

"Hey Regis, shove it!"

[ColinBradshaw]

Yes, I'm a fan of Letterman. He's pretty sharp and makes Leno's show look like something for kids.
He did a week in London about 10 years ago which didn't go down too well with the studio audience - judging by their muted responses to his monologue gags compared to the reception he usually gets in New York.

[Artemis]

Used to be, but since I found out that Letterman is caned night after night by Leno in the ratings battles, he just comes across as someone who believes his own hype a little too much. I agree he is what became TFI and he is certainly more entertaining then Leno, but these days he just annoys me, and it gets on my tits how he pulls "Hey! I'm in New York City!" from his ass every time he needs a cheer from the audience.

Strangely, the show that used to annoy me most is now the one show of this genre that I actually do enjoy: Conan O'Brian.

[Munday's Chylde]

By far

Oh yeah, I seem to have very vague memories of watching Letterman on BBC2 some time in the 80's, anyone else recall this?  He was doing shows from Britain for a week or two so they showed them on one of our terrestrial channels...I remember this being around the same time as they showed Manimal.  I'd actually really love to see Letterman's earlier shows, the pre-suit days so to speak.  

Well I recall him on bbc2 for two weeks when he was doing his show from the UK... But that was only 7 or 8 years ago tops. He came on and went "Boy I'm knackered." and then looked very confused by the word. It was funny.

[Paaaaul]

I do watch Letterman 2 or 3 times a week, but there is a lot of repeated schtick and in-jokes that get incredible boring. I think DL is funny , but too smug and complacent. There is a lot of casual racism in the show which annoys me too.

Paul Schafer could do with a slap. I have never seen a man with such a finely polished head.

Christ. I'm not really sure why I watch it now.

[Peking O]

it's a 45 minute show, and the first half hour is just Letterman dicking around and doing funny bits, the two celebrity guests (one of which is often a musical act) are squeezed into the last 15 minutes.

This is the main reason I don't like the Letterman show. The opening half hour just bores me to tears. I wish there were more guests, just in an attempt to halt his unfunny joke routines and general all-round smugness. I'm sure it used to be good, but I just find it painful to watch now. Conan is much better, Leno is just as bad, and The Daily Show beats them all hands down.

[Neil]

Used to be, but since I found out that Letterman is caned night after night by Leno in the ratings battles, he just comes across as someone who believes his own hype a little too much.

What on earth does this mean?  You used to like him, until you found out he didn't get as many ratings as Leno, so you went off him?  That seems rather shallow.

There is a lot of casual racism in the show which annoys me too.

Eh, casual racism?  Can you give examples please?  CBS insisted on pixellating out a gesture the other day (that one where Americans flick under their chain and away from them) so I can't see they'd allow "casual racism" to go out...

Well I recall him on bbc2 for two weeks when he was doing his show from the UK... But that was only 7 or 8 years ago tops. He came on and went "Boy I'm knackered." and then looked very confused by the word. It was funny.

Hmm I must have missed that at the time, but I'm quite sure there were some Letterman shows broadcast here in the early to mid 80's.  Not been able to find any reference to them on the web yet though, just stuff about the mid-90's London shows (which seems to be during the "late night wars" which spawned a book about such, which in turn spawned Space Ghost Coast To Coast.)

[Munday's Chylde]

, just stuff about the mid-90's London shows (which seems to be during the "late night wars" which spawned a book about such, which in turn spawned Space Ghost Coast To Coast.)

and a movie too



which includes a 'poignant' moment where letterman and leno meet and agree to stay friends whatever happens... awww.

[Neil]

Oh, is that any good then?  I'm quite surprised people here are just shrugging their shoulders over Letterman, it makes me laugh every single night.  Last nights one with Biff Henderson going round touching delegates and occasiaonly patting them on the head had me worrying that I'd wake the woman downstairs.  I'm well aware how great The Daily Show is but it's like comparing apples and oranges.

[thatmuch]

I'm told by someone who used to watch him 10+ years ago, that he used to give celebrity guests a really hard time. I understand he used to have Rich Hall as a sidekick, which must have made a difference.
The shows I see nowadays he just seems to be going through the motions and the whole thing seems like one cosy in-joke, with endless interruptions from audience applause. I can't imagine Bill Hicks appearing on it now.

Then again I can't imagine how a five night a week comedy programme could be much good anyway.

[Neil]

Oh, less than ten posts in before Hicks was mentioned, although I was sure it would be some some fanatic who refused to watch letterman because they've read Cynthia True's book one too many times.  Hicks wouldn't appear on it now?  Yeah right...

I don't think Letterman has ever had a side-kick, has he?  Surely Rich Hall was just on the writing staff.

[Munday's Chylde]

The movies watchable enough, caught it on satellite once - I used to never miss david letterman when my dad first got sky all them years back. Its set in the 80's though I think, the scores were all settled by the mid-90 letterman in london specials. This was all about who was going to take over the tonight show. Leno won and then, I believe, Letterman trounced him in the ratings for quite a while. I've never seen the jay leno show - but its like that thread I tried to make before once about the influence of american culture (you know, the one nobody understood and which soon filled up with loads of  "yeah i hate it when i hear people say 'talk to the hand'" type crap) I feel like I've seen every episode!

Do you remember Letterman taking Harry Hills material back to the states with him and passing it off as his own "you like the lining dont you?"

[ColinBradshaw]

Harry Hill has been on Lettermans show a couple of times doing stand up.
He got a great reaction from the audience which surprise me as I didn't think they'd get his humour over there.

[Paaaaul]

There is a lot of casual racism in the show which annoys me too.

Eh, casual racism?  Can you give examples please?  CBS insisted on pixellating out a gesture the other day (that one where Americans flick under their chain and away from them) so I can't see they'd allow "casual racism" to go out...

There are frequently skits in the Sandwich Shop outside where Letterman patronises the immigrant owner. You can see it in his eyes that he feels superior to this guy who doesn't speak English as well as he does.

I've seen "Top Tens" that are based on how all Arabs live under rocks, the fact that black guys have large "members" and a chinese one where he kept  pulling his face  stretching his mouth sideways as though he had something in his teeth, making him look a bit more 'slitty'.

If you look for it, you will see it.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Harry Hill has been on Lettermans show a couple of times doing stand up.
He got a great reaction from the audience which surprise me as I didn't think they'd get his humour over there.

There's a quote on the jacket of Hill's novel which goes something like "Letterman's favourite British comedian".

I think Hill is quite 'American' in his approach to his craft. He's a very professional writer/stand-up, who tries to develop all his routines into something concrete rather than something aimless like Izzard. Interviews with him are very refreshing - it's so rare that you find a comic willing to talk about his art without resorting to "hey, I'll have to stop being so sad!" cliches.

[tygerbug]

Letterman is not racist, that's ridiculous. The on the street segments provide a slice of New York City ... people from different backgrounds speaking different native languages mingling over the deli table, confusing each other ... true to life and funny.



  Speaking as a Yank, Leno is the devil -- an ass pandering to the lowest possible denominator.

   Letterman continues to make me laugh night after night. Don't know how he does it. The man just doesn't seem to care that he's running his show into the ground, and that, somehow, is what makes the show funny. Not that they have the writing of a Conan ... or any real slickness ... they used to, but the joke now seems to be that after all these years, Letterman is still having fun, laughing at the stupidest things. And that sort of thing is infectious. Along with his sarcasm.


    I think Conan O'Brien is a really well written show, but I can't watch it. Conan has been following Leno too long, and it's a case where he was just given the wrong audience. Given an audience of idiots, he panders more and more and the intelligence has gradually disappeared from the show. It's creepy to watch for me now. Pale as ever, he just goes through the motions.

  Although if Robert Smigel ever shows up doing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, I'm there.


   Highly underrated is Craig Kilborn. Who, I think, had the absolute opposite problem that Conan did. Craig is clearly capable of doing a pandering and stupid show ... his entire persona is based around a completely misplaced egotism, and the fact that he slobbers all over the female guests and ignores the male ones. He used to be an ESPN anchor, and was dissed by the female staff at The Daily Show when he departed, as being a lech and as "dumb as a block of wood."

    But, since he follows Letterman and not Leno, Kilborn seems to have inherited a smarter audience. The irony has not vanished from his persona ... the fact that someone so confident can also be so pathetic. So although there's not much to his show, I still enjoy watching it whenever I happen across it. If he has an attractive female guest on, I will watch just to see him trying to hit on her .... it's wonderful.



     Back to Letterman - the celeb interviews can be padding, but sometimes Letterman makes them the best part of the show. There was one he did a bit back with Bonnie Hunt, which was amazing - they had this weird chemistry, like old friends, or an old comedy team. He also connected with Howard Stern in an odd way, which I never would have expected. There's something unique about the way some of Letterman's interviews come out. He really is quite good.


   By comparison, the interviews Jon Stewart does are almost ALWAYS padding, and best skipped .... although, there was the one he did with Natalie Portman where he started accusing Julia Roberts of being a cannibal? Something like that .... every once in a while he hits one out of the park.


    Space Ghost was mentioned ... it took me a while to really get to like his non-interviewing style of interviewing ... the guest clearing his throat and looking confused .... but of course it's perfect.

[Lt Plonker]

Do you remember Letterman taking Harry Hills material back to the states with him and passing it off as his own "you like the lining dont you?"

There's a clip of that on Harry Hill's website under the heading "Dave does Harry". http://www.harry-hill.tv/vids.html

I do like Letterman. I used to watch the show religiously a few years back, but just sort of stopped. He comes across as being quite an intelliegent guy. I get the feeling that he is almost frustrated by the audience and the situation he's in, at times, not sure why. Perhaps it's because he performs so lethargically, he seems uninterested. Perhaps the applause every 4 seconds has something to do with it. It certainly riles me greatly.


Speaking of Harry Hill, I'd love to see some clips of the interview or act on Letterman. Are there any floating around the interweb at all?

[Artemis]

Used to be, but since I found out that Letterman is caned night after night by Leno in the ratings battles, he just comes across as someone who believes his own hype a little too much.

What on earth does this mean?

It means that when you watch Letterman, he acts as if he's the second coming of Christ. It's quite compelling and nice to indulge in someone as talented clearly enjoying his art. Then you realise that he's not even nearly as popular as others and feel frauded, as if someone's just flogged you a Rolex watch then you get home and the label falls off, revealing it to be a cheap Casio. What he says and does hasn't changed in the realisation but the image (which for me was the biggest pulling point) has vanished.

[thatmuch]

Oh, less than ten posts in before Hicks was mentioned, although I was sure it would be some some fanatic who refused to watch letterman because they've read Cynthia True's book one too many times.  Hicks wouldn't appear on it now?  Yeah right...

I meant that I don't think they would have Hicks on the show now. I just can't imagine it. He wouldn't fit with the tone, wheras about 14 years ago the Letterman Show gave Hicks his first major access to a national audience, something I know he was grateful for.
I know nothing of a book by Cynthia True. Bloody stupid name, I'd change it if I were her.

[DrJ]

Some facts:
Letterman's London Shows were in May 1995 and were broadcast in butchered form by BBC2.

Before starting Late Show on CBS in 1993, he hosted Late Night on NBC from 82-93 where it would be argued that he did his best work.  (This is the show taken over by Conan/Lorne Michaels)

After J.Ross plagerised Late Night with Letterman for the original Last Resort, Channel Four showed a short run of Letterman's shows on Friday nights in 87 & 88, I think these are the shows that people remember.

Has anyone here been in his audience?  I've done it twice, first time was a bit diappointing, stuck in the balcony, DL not interested in the audience; second time sitting on the aisle in front of his desk, good Q&A with the crowd.  So a variable feast, like watching it on tv, but still, Letterman's the reason I'm gonna get freeview after I move flat.

[phalmachine]

I've noticed quite a lot of racism on the show.  He often mentions coming in to work in a cab (to laughs from the crowd) and always makes an Arab cab driver joke. One time he mentioned the cabbie filling his turban with salsa dip to dip his chips in.

It's funny to see/hear the reaction of the crowd sometimes.  I always thought the audience were a bit more liberal and informed. But I watched it once during the Iraq war and the crowd cheered and whooped when Dave said that Uday and Kusay Hussein had been killed.  Struck me as odd.

Anyone seen the skit on Family Guy with Peter as Letterman and Brian as the sidekick?  If you see it, you won't watch Letterman the same way again.

[Artemis]

I always thought the audience were a bit more liberal and informed.

The audience are as dumb as doorknobs whenever I've tuned in.

[VorpalSword]

Anyone seen the skit on Family Guy with Peter as Letterman and Brian as the sidekick?  If you see it, you won't watch Letterman the same way again.

"peter's tie, peter's tie! that's cos Peter's  the guy!"

i always thought that was taking the piss out of leno, but then i haven't seen letterman yet, so....


"
Leno: Hey, hey, drummer, you're black arn'cha?
drummer: Why yes, yes i am.
Leno: i bet you take drugs.
drummer and audience: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
drummer: oh jay, you kill me! ha ha ha ha

"

[med]

huge fan of Letterman.  managed to get tickets for the audience a few years back too.  It was cool to see how slick the operation was - they record as if live - i.e. a tight 60 min continual taping including going to ad breaks (Paul Schaffer & CBS Orchestra playing during the breaks).  Few re-takes at the very end when Martin Short (guest Top Ten reader) screwed up.

I've got a fair amount of vintage Letterman on both DVDR and NTSC VHS (at least 8 hours of the NBC stuff - early shows,  some of the best-of / anniversary shows and a fair bit just before he jumped to CBS - easily his best stuff when he actually bothered to go out with Paul and film segments back then instead of now sending Biff out all the time).

More than happy to share with anyone who's interested, however current PC on it's last legs and it'll be a few weeks until new PC is sorted.  My existing DVDRs should be easy to copy, but not entirely convinced I'll be able to easily convert the NTSC tapes to DVDR / AVI as my VCR (like most) outputs only quasi-NTSC/PAL60 which most capture cards don't handle - anyone done this before or knows of a card that can handle this?  cheers.

[benthalo]

Letterman In London was dreadful, even when Elvis Costello was on. I seem to recall Sky running the same shows a day later and in longer form, as has been said. Is it true that ITV2's 1.20am showings are the closest to US transmission we've had in this country? I'm sure I heard that they were virtually live, although I'm not sure on 'the math' of that.

I've got an old Mark Radcliffe show from 1996 where Harry Hill claims to hold the record for being bumped off the Letterman show more times than anyone else, including the London shows. Four or five times as I recall.

I haven't seen Letterman in a bloody long time, but I remember getting very sick of it. Oddly enough, I was looking in RT earlier on and toying with the idea of taping the 5.10am showings (which seem more stable in ITV2's erratic schedule) just to see how his shows were holding up.

Re the softening up. I've heard this before - does it stem mainly from Madonna's appearance in 1993ish when she was being deliberately difficult and said to his face "What's wrong with you, you used to really kick into people?" There was a long transcript in Q.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Watching the recent Letterman/Leno shows, I would say Leno's show is the better.

Leno's gags are better or at least more understandable to me.  

I'm not sure what Letterman is going on about sometimes, especially those godawful "Top Tens" which seem to get undeserved prominence.

I suppose they should really be judged on their interview technique, but neither seem to get much of interest out of their guests.

[med]

yeah, Letterman in London wasn't his finest hour...

I have an uncensored version of that '93 Madonna show where she lets rip - good fun for a bit, although the crowd are on Letterman's side after a while.

The shows tend to be recorded about 6pm in NYC and then broadcast later that evening there - the ITV2 shows are transmitted the day after they go out in the US.

[Neil]

Hey, Bill Clinton is on tonights show!

As to the broadcast, we get them a night behind America, so a Friday night one is shown on a Monday, Monday on Tuesday and so on.  Tonight's should be a cracker.

[foxprorawks]

Hey, Bill Clinton is on tonights show!

As to the broadcast, we get them a night behind America, so a Friday night one is shown on a Monday, Monday on Tuesday and so on.  Tonight's should be a cracker.

I'm definitely looking forward to that, Neil.