You're All Talk

From the ever-growing file of Things That Make Me Feel Old: David Letterman turned 64 today. Which only makes me feel old when I realize that I've been watching Dave host late night talk shows since 1982, when he first made the move to the 12:30 a.m. time slot with "Late Night With David Letterman" on NBC.

I only watched it sporadically at first because it was on so late, mainly in the summer when I didn't have to get up for school. Eventually I came upon the bright idea of taping the show with our VCR and watching it the next day (a practice I continue to do today, although I tend to skim through much of it in the interest of time).

While Letterman was heavily influenced, as all talk show hosts were back then, by Johnny Carson (indeed, he won the first Johnny Carson Award at Comedy Central's Comedy Awards, which aired last night), he revolutionized the talk show format. Taking full advantage of the late hour, Letterman introduced an ironic, edgy voice to the formerly staid format, flipping the genre on its head with offbeat humor, strange characters and just whatever the hell he felt like, including remote segments, Stupid Human and Pet Tricks, Viewer Mail, and of course, Top 10 lists. Late Night caught on with college kids first--and by the time I got to college in 1985, I was staying up every night to watch it (which didn't help me with the morning classes I had my first semester). One show was done in black and white, another featured a "Monkey Cam," another rotated the camera 360 degrees, and so on.

I had already been a big comedy fan and had hungrily consumed heavy doses of SCTV and Saturday Night Live in my early teens and I enjoyed watching Carson, but Letterman seemed like the next logical step. And he introduced me to a lot of standup comedians including Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison and some guy named Jay Leno, who came on his show a lot back in the '80s and very early '90s (about 60 times). In fact, I attended a taping of Late Night in 1992 that featured Leno's last appearance before he took over The Tonight Show a few months later; Letterman had notoriously wanted to succeed his hero Carson, but the NBC brass ended up going with Leno. And both men were cordial during this taping, although it later came out that their relationship had of course soured.

Dave eventually jumped ship to CBS to start the Late Show at 11:30 and he remains there to this day. He definitely toned down his act, although it hasn't helped him in the ratings as Leno has consistently beat him for the last 15 years or so. While Dave isn't the revolutionary he once was, he's still funny. And he's had some great moments at CBS, such as when he was the first talk show host to go on the air after 9/11 and put into words what viewers needed to hear at that time. But he's turning into a curmudgeon, which can be funny but also gets one to wonder when he's going to hang it up. Asked just that by Howard Stern a few months ago, Letterman said he might have another two years in him, which would put him at about the same age Carson was when he retired in 1992.

Whenever he does call it quits, it'll be a sad day for TV and for me. But it'll also be a time to reflect on the immense comedy legacy he's built over the decades.

The Thrill Cam:

Dave's classic encounter with Crispin Glover: