February 1, 2012
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Davetacular!
Today, February 1 marks the 30 year anniversary of David Letterman’s foray into late night t.v. as “Late Night With David Letterman ” premiered on NBC. I’m not going to vein being partisan on this, I’m a huge Letterman fan, in fact, I would go as far as to way he is my comedic hero. I know he is not for everybody; he is kind of the type whom you either love or hate. But to me, he is amazing and brilliant. Honestly, if there was one celebrity I could meet or want to be, he is the one. He makes me want to be a talk show host and often times I find myself copying him.
I remember the first time I heard of him was probably the late 80s and I was not much of a fan. He was on too late for me to watch so I really didn’t know much about him. For a while I thought he was some British dude who hosted a talk show. I really don’t know what made me start watching him or what turned me onto him, but sometime in the early 90s, say 1990 or ’91, I started watching. Back then I was a big Johnny Carson fan and Dave was on after Johnny. That might be why I started watching. All I know is that when it came time to choose between Jay Leno and Dave, it was no contest for me. I actually liked Leno back in the day, but since Dave went to CBS in 1993, I quickly grew to strongly dislike Leno. Soon I realized that he was nothing more than a little talent hump. And Dave was king.
I still watch Letterman religiously, DVRing him every night. And guess what, he is still pretty damn funny. Oh, he doesn’t do as many skits or segments outside the theater these days which I really miss but what he does do still cracks me up. I know a common complaint of his critics is that he is rude to his guests. I don’t deny that, but sometimes, honestly, his guests deserve it. I mean, he has been a downright dick to Bill O’Reilly and shit, if anybody deserves it is is O’Reilly. Other times he has been dickish to no talent celebs who somehow manage to get famous. And other times like in the case with Richard Simmons, he is mean even if they don’t deserve it. But, it is always funny which makes a big difference, as opposed to O’Reilly who is just an asshole because he is an asshole.
It is hard to say which moments are my favorites. I’ve got a video tape of some of his biggest highlights from his first seven or eight years on CBS and it is hilarious. But, that being said, I have seen very little of his NBC stuff so maybe some of that is better than the stuff from “The Late Show.” So if you are a Dave fan, here is a link to some of his greatest moments.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/01/30-moments-from-david-lettermans-30-years-in-late-night.html
