David Letterman Retiring in 2015

[Smook A.]

All these awesome hosts are leaving. Jay Leno and now Letterman. End of an era

[JohnFreeman]

Howard Sterns contract is up soon as well, even though he sucks recently

[Smook A.]

Howard Sterns contract is up soon as well, even though he sucks recently

Howard is such a prick. Never really liked him

[JohnFreeman]

Howard is such a prick. Never really liked him

I liked the show more then I liked the individuals. Artie was my favourite though

[Smook A.]

I liked the show more then I liked the individuals. Artie was my favourite though

Mine too

[Myth]

I wonder who will replace him. I have a feeling Letterman will push for Craig Ferguson. If it is Ferguson, who replaces Ferguson?

[BRabbiT]

I wonder who will replace him. I have a feeling Letterman will push for Craig Ferguson...

that would be an excellent pick. he's hilarious.

[cos88]

it's about time, he is garbage at this point.

[KevinNYC]

All these awesome hosts are leaving. Jay Leno and now Letterman. End of an era

I haven't watched in a long time, probably because I'm too used to his style, but Letterman changed comedy. He had dozens of imitators come in his wake.

Before he became well known, he used to this hilarious man on the street bits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBLO67pBReI#t=107s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHBsv2-H4F0


Dave Loses a bet to Marv Albert and has to buy him a suit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4BiERpM2i8

[ArbitraryWater]

Letterman could be a real dick, still a legend.

[Thorpesaurous]

Growing up my heroes were Larry Bird & David Letterman.

I'm old. But that doesn't make Dave any less iconic.

[D-FENS]

Dave was and still is awesome. He rips celebrities when he feels the need to, without making it look like he is. His roasting of Paris Hilton and Bieber are great.

He also has so many classic bits like "What about that guy" and "The McDonalds Drive Thru"

He is a great talent spotter, and always invited back awesome comics like Mitch Hedberg.

[BRabbiT]

one of the most thoughtful comedians in the industry.

his show's a bit stale now, though.

interesting interview he did when he first started in the business....

Letterman's 1984 Playboy Interview




Back before Leno & the late night wars, back before CBS, back before the scandals, back when he was the crown prince of late night.


Playboy: You get anxious fairly easily, don't you?

DL: I'd describe myself as probably having more apprehensions than the average person—or the average medium-sized American community.


Playboy: It's amazing that you decided to become a performer.

DL: What I always wanted to do was be on the radio or on TV. I never wanted to appear in front of actual people.


Playboy: Are you aware that you're the only talk-show host who does his own warm-up?

DL: To be precise, our announcer, Bill Wendell, does a longer warm-up before me; but, yes, I know the other guys don't show their face to the studio audience until the tape is rolling.

But I like to know where the audience is. Are they up? Down? Are they mostly tourists? People from out of town are generally a bit more sedate than New Yorkers. That warm-up is really more for me than for the audience.

It's like batting practice. And then, as I'm walking away from the audience, I have a clear, preconceived notion of how the show will go. I think, This is going to be a long ****ing night. And then, suddenly, the band is playing and I'm walking back out and we just go.

Playboy: How do you feel about Vietnam?

DL: What I feel very bad about is that when those guys came back, I didn't have an inkling of the kind of ordeal they had gone through. As a friend and neighbor, I wasn't functioning in a sensitive way. I treated them as if they'd been in Milwaukee for two years: "Great to see you. How you doing? Let's get a beer."

And that was the extent of the debriefing. I didn't have a clue about what that war had done to them emotionally, psychologically. I.… Well, many Americans, though that's no excuse, were so insensitive to those returning Vietnam veterans. It was a crime.


Playboy: You've mentioned beer at least half a dozen times already. We assume there's a reason for that.

DL: In college, my friends & I pretty much structured our week around obtaining beer for the weekend. We loved almost every aspect of drinking beer, particularly the fact that we could, physically, get away with it. One of the remarkable things about being 19 is that you can break open a case of warm beer at midnight and still be wide-eyed and alert for your eight-a.m. class. And that gave me the false impression that my life would always be like that.

I drank a lot of beer over an almost 20-year period—and I loved it. But now I've quit. No alcohol, no drugs, no coffee.


Playboy: How much did you drink?

DL: I never drank during the day, but six beers before dinner was common. Merrill and I went through a two-year period where we attempted to sample every beer in the entire world. She was bringing home beer from Korea, South America, Germany, Japan, Scotland, Italy, New Zealand. And I loved it. There is hardly any aspect of beer drinking that I don't love.





Playboy: You emerged as a public figure in November 1978, when you made your first Tonight Show appearance. How did that come about?

DL: The people at The Tonight Show are very good at dealing with young comedians. They treat the Improv & The Comedy Store as a farm system.

They want nothing more than to break another Freddie Prinze, & they keep track of everybody. In 1977, they came to me & said, "You're not ready." I said, "OK, that's fine." I was just thrilled they'd been watching me. And the last thing you want to do is go on and not be ready.

So I kept working & building my act, & the next year, they called for me. I went back three times, & after the third time, they invited me to guest host. At the time, I saw that as a huge mistake on their part, but now I recognize it as an incredible bit of cosmic synchronization.


Playboy: Aside from comedy and baseball, what interests you?

DL: Last night, I went to sleep thinking about the new solar system they've discovered. I did a sort of exercise in which I placed myself first on this planet, then in this solar system, then in this galaxy, then in the universe. It gave me a floating feeling of helplessness that I found curiously pleasant.


Playboy: Why?

DL: Because it took the pressure off. I mean, who am I fooling here? There are other things going on in the universe besides a nightly talk show. And there may even be other realities beyond this universe. For all we know, our entire universe may exist in a Styrofoam beer cooler in somebody's garage.


Playboy: You've mentioned Bill Murray and Pee-wee Herman. Who else makes you laugh?

DL: You don't know comedians; but, OK, here goes. John Candy always makes me laugh, regardless of what he's doing. When I was a kid, Jonathan Winters made me laugh really hard. Predictably, I always loved watching Steve Allen & Johnny Carson. I enjoy Bob Newhart's stand-up work, & I respect the fact that he's done successful TV shows over three decades. That really means something. Steve Martin is another guy who makes me laugh regardless of the context. And there's Bill Cosby, who's always good and has the special gift of making complex stand-up material seem effortless. Eugene Levy of SCTV has that same effortlessness in his comic acting. Richard Pryor's stuff is just flat-out state of the art. When I watch him, it's like a .180 hitter's watching Ted Williams take batting practice. Also in that class is George Carlin, because of his great technique, because he's so amazingly prolific and because he's gone from generation to generation and he's still right in there. Among the newer people, I like Jay Leno's observational comedy. I think he's very bright.

link

[Brizzly]

I wonder who will replace him. I have a feeling Letterman will push for Craig Ferguson. If it is Ferguson, who replaces Ferguson?

And who replaces the one that replaces Ferguson?

[El Kabong]

And who replaces the one that replaces Ferguson?

Geoff Peterson.