Here’s Dave
April 8, 2014
After a certain age I stopped believing in heroes. I realized they are unnecessary, though I still have a few people I respect, Letterman is one. Putting his personal life aside since it is none of my concern, Letterman is the king of late night. I only have one Rolling Stone I have ever kept and this is it, and I actually have 2 copies, I always planned on framing one. It is 20 years old, I think framing it has passed. I will admit I do not watch as much as I once did, as sad as I am about him not being on TV anymore, it is time. The landscape has changed, it is a younger man’s sport, but without Letterman the younger men would look different. Leno was a place holder, from the first time he sat behind Carson’s desk, but Dave was brilliant. Monkeycam, Larry Bud, Kaufman v. Lawler, Crispin Glover, Stupid Human Tricks, Howard Stern, Richard Simmons, tossing crap off the roof, he is who he is. And as for class and respect within the industry, Johnny Carson’s last TV appearance ever was not on Leno’s show, it was Letterman’s visit to LA where Dave let him sit behind the desk, Dave appeared on Conan’s show to support him after he took over Late Night, was a guest on Kimmel’s show, had Conan on after he lost the Tonight Show, even recently he had Arsenio Hall on his show to let him promote Hall’s relaunched show that directly competed at the 11:30 slot.
My wife and I went to see the Late Show live twice, 20 years ago when we were dating. We would wait in line for hours to sit close to the stage. The fist time 3/15/04 the guests were Jay Thomas, Kevin Spacey – he did an awesome Carson impression and was the 2nd guest – there to talk about Usual Suspects, and the Crash Test Dummies. The second time 11/11/94 was Uma Thurman pushing Pulp Fiction, Fyvush Finkel and the Cranberries – I even got my face on TV (there is a tape somewhere) while he was picking on the audience. We watched him every night back then, I wrote to the show and asked if I could use it to propose to her… they sent me tickets sooner than I thought and I panicked and tossed the tickets. I will be sad to see him go. If not for any other reason it makes me feel old. I dreamed of being him, or at least being a guest on his show. I probably will watch more in the next year than I have in a while. I know those last weeks will not be missed. I remember racing home from my job at Newbury Comics each night to see Johnny’s last week. This time I will just need to try to stay awake. Watch Letterman on Kimmel, the first clip is below. You can tell Kimmel is a fan, we all should be.
tr/trp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52uN3IyJKUw