David Letterman retiring next year (1 Viewer)

[JoeDoakes]

I guess I will be on the other side as someone who loves Dave. The thing about Dave's show that has always worked for me is that his interviews aren't easy puff pieces that just give a celebrity a free pass on anything. Dave asks real questions and treats the interview portion of his program far more seriously with better research than any of his peers. And it's not even close.

Did you ever see his interview with Maureen Dowd? Or Rachael Maddow? Tough interviews for him were fairly selective. Still, I always thought he did his best work with Charles Grodin. Every time Grodin was on the show it was classic.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I'd love to see Jay Leno replace him!

 

[Giovanni DN]

Hopefully they will replace him with some young, handsome stud! (salivating).

 

[Joe Bernardi]

My favorites were his suit bits - Human Sponge Suit, Alka Seltzer Suit, Suit of Chips, Velcro Suit, Magnet Suit, etc.

 

[schan1269]

His mood never rebounded after The Bonnie Hunt show.Fred Armisen would be a great choice. Bring some Portlandia stuff...

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I will miss Letterman. His approach and demeanor were always vastly better than Leno and I always applauded the stands he took against what I saw as the stupidity going on in America and American politics.His show following the September 11 attacks was a magnificent display.

 

[Chad Erickson]

Count me in as someone that will truly miss Dave. I've been watching his show since 1987 and still enjoy what he does. The last 5 years or so haven't been his best, but when he brings out guests that he is fond of (Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Brian Williams, Bill Clinton to name a few) he still shines.I love Craig Ferguson and have been watching nightly for many years now and would love to see him move up an hour. I think he could adjust fairly easily to that time slot.

 

[Radioman970]

Huge inspiration from his beginning, and I'd still be watching him if I was the afternoon drive guy instead of mornings.

But his time to walk off is probably long passed. After Chris Elliot was no longer involved with the show it lost quite a bit.

Lets hope Shout! puts out some Best of Dave volumes. Shout! SHOUT!???!!! You hear...? Dave won't be busy in 2015 so give his people a call please.

 

[TravisR]

I think Letterman is the king of late night for people that started watching him in their teens. Conan falls into that category for me but, while he's not really my thing, Dave is certainly a legend in the field.

The only celebrity interviewer I've ever heard that truly does it right and asks the right questions on a consistent basis is Howard Stern. I know that's a whole different medium, but once you hear a celebrity Stern interview, it's hard to listen to anyone else do it.

Yeah, Howard Stern is a truly gifted celebrity interviewer and probably the best to ever do it. He can even make some idiot pop star interesting because he knows the right questions to ask. Unfortunately, his reputation means that he'll never get the respect that he deserves. I can understand that his 'gross out' schtick isn't for everyone but that part of the show doesn't invalidate his skill as an interviewer because he knows how to get people to talk about more than the usual empty handed promo junk.

 

[Nelson Au]

Wow, I'm surprised by the news. Of all the late night shows, I've always liked Letterman. I have to admit, I don't always get to watch lately due to needing to get up earlier for work. As was posted earlier, I appreciate his more in depth interview style. His interviews of Clinton a few years ago was great. As well as other politicians and people outside the entertainment field. What turned me off to a lot of interview and talk shows is the guest are there to sell something. That's probably the point of these shows and the change occurred many years ago I'm sure. But Letterman didn't do that. Of course he knows that's the reason the guest is there and I also like the Bruce Willis interviews where he'll spoof himself or a Die Hard film he's promoting. So he's going to help promote the actor's movies, but still give a good interview. Even if the actor has only fluff to talk about.I think Dave and Paul Shaffer will be fine. But what will become of Alan Kalter and Biff Henderson and even Rupert Gee? The biggest worry and question I have is the Ed Sullivan Theater. They can't let that go! Whoever takes the show over, ought to use that, and I heard a theory on the news this morning there is pressure to move the new show to Los Angeles. There's so much history there in that theater. And it was cool when Letterman had Paul McCartney there and he sang on the roof of the marque in front. Great stuff.

 

[Ejanss]

I think Letterman is the king of late night for people that started watching him in their teens. Conan falls into that category for me but, while he's not really my thing, Dave is certainly a legend in the field.

Again, back in Dave's hair-helmet 80's days, his style was so found-humor, he could just react to things ironically and it was hilarious:

 

[Greg.K]

I'll miss Dave. Good luck to him. I'm interested to see who comes in and takes that gig. I have a suggestion for CBS.. but they probably wouldn't take it: John Stewart's contract ends at the end of the year.. throw money like crazy at him. Just rename it so it's not swiping the Daily Show but basically keep the format.

Or perhaps Colbert... http://mashable.com/2014/04/04/stephen-colbert-replace-david-letterman-late-night/

 

[mattCR]

Apparently Colbert, Stewart and Ellen Degeneress are amongst the front runners. I'd be good with any of them.

 

[Radioman970]

" We did some checking...and these are WHITE people..."

 

[mattCR]

" We did some checking...and these are WHITE people..."

Steve Harvey would be a good candidate, but he's already said he doesn't want it. The problem that you have to have someone who wants the gig. Chris Rock did a show a while back and walked away and said he wouldn't do it again. Harvey's out. George Lopez who did a decent show now has a good money sitcom gig. Arsenio is back to having his own show that he's locked in through 2017 with.

The thing is, the big targets that are out there are just the ones out there. Colbert is the frontrunner for pretty obvious reasons. Then behind that is Ellen and Stewart. Stewart would have been a front runner except he's committed to films.

DOH! I didn't get the video in tapatalk above until I got home.. yeah, that's some hilarious stuff

 

[Mike Frezon]

ejanss...thanks for posting up that clip of Dave's Record Collection.

I have been singing "Travel with ease rent a car..." ever since that episode first aired. Dave would end up returning to that jingle on a fairly regular basis for awhile.

 

[Kevin EK]

There have always been people who didn't take to Letterman's humor. It's from the same kind of thinking that went into the creation of the original Saturday Night Live in 1975. The basic idea is that the comic is doing what he thinks is funny, even if the audience doesn't completely get it. That's always been Letterman's mode of operation, and it's worked for him. I haven't watched a lot of his shows, but what I've seen over the years has been fairly consistent. He was certainly edgier when he started out in the 1230am slot, and that's probably where his best material happened. But he continued to do his thing all the way through his transition to CBS and over 20 years that he's spent at the Ed Sullivan Theater. It's not a political statement to note that he was and is an extremely intelligent person, and that it shows in his comedy. We should also note that he actually bested Leno in the ratings for the first few years they were competing. Leno's fortunes turned after he had Hugh Grant appear on the heels of his infamous arrest in Hollywood. In the end, we can note that both men did extremely well for themselves and had quite long careers doing something they and their audiences enjoyed. What more could anyone want?

 

[ScottH]

Didn't Louis CK do a 2-3 episode arc on his show Louie where he was auditioning to be the replacement for Letterman? That was classic television.

 

[DaveF]

You whippersnappers! Letterman hasn't been funny since I watched him on Indy daytime tv. : D

 

[Radioman970]

The kid from Time Bandits looks like Dave as a child....

Judge for yourself... HERE



I wish stuff like that could have been included as an extra on that Deluxe 4-disc bluray Collector's Edition of Time Bandits. That would have been... oh... wait. There is no Deluxe erm... blah blah... no. Just ignore me.