When David Letterman announced his retirement on Thursday, it marked the end of an era. Following Jay Lenos departure from The Tonight Show in February, it looks like all of the networks are passing their late-night batons to the next generation. Letterman, 66, has hosted the Late Show on CBS since 1993. For 11 years prior, he was the original host of Late Night on NBC. And how many of you remember The David Letterman Show, or that he was a weatherman before that? Heres our list of Lettermans Top Ten life and career moments. And, yes, we couldve listed at least 50 more. 1969: Letterman got his TV start as an announcer and weekend weatherman on WLWI Channel 13, then the ABC affiliate in his native Indianapolis. But even while giving the weather, Dave managed to get a few laughs. 1978: Letterman made his first of 22 appearances on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. It was Johnny who mentored Dave, giving the young comic his first big break after his move to L.A. in 1975. 1982: Lettermans Late Night premiered on NBC as the first late-night show in the 12:30 a.m. timeslot. In 1980, Daves NBC daytime show, The David Letterman Show, was canceled after 18 weeks. But the network believed in him and felt that he was just airing at the wrong time of day. The first-season highlight of Late Night included a now-infamous brawl between comedian Andy Kaufman and professional wrestler Jerry The King Lawler, which later turned out to be staged. Dave didnt roll out many of his now-standard bits — such as Stupid Human Tricks (Stupid Pet Tricks officially started on The David Letterman Show), the Top Ten List (which debuted in 1985), and appearances by recurring characters like Chris Elliott, Mujibur and Sirajul, Calvert DeForest (aka Larry Bud Melman), etc. — until later on. 1993: When Carson retired, Letterman was passed over for The Tonight Show in favor of Jay Leno and moved on to the Late Show on CBS, which debuted on August 30, 1993. At the time, Dave couldnt resist taking a shot at his old bosses. NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw gamely stopped by the premiere to snatch away a few cue cards, saying they were the intellectual property of NBC! (This was a winking reference to Lettermans battle over taking Late Night fixtures like the Top Ten List and Viewer Mail with him to CBS.) 1994/1995: Letterman conducted two interviews that raised the bar for all of late night. First came Madonna in 1994: a completely awkward, uncomfortable, and cringe-worthy chat with the cigar-chomping pop princess while she was well into her taboo-busting Erotica phase. Madge delighted in keeping the CBS censors busy, dropping F-bombs and asking Dave to sniff a pair of her underwear. But Letterman played nice, while adding in a bit of his usual snark: I think youre a decent, nice person, he said. And Im happy you came by here tonight to gross us all out. Then in 1995, the late-night gods paid Dave back for that Madonna debacle with a birthday surprise hed never forget: a peep show from then-wild child actress Drew Barrymore. Back then, Barrymore was starring in steamy thrillers like Poison Ivy and posing for Playboy. So when she stopped by the Late Show on Lettermans birthday, she decided to climb onto his desk and gyrate for the birthday boy, ending her dance with a quick flash of her bosom. Daves expression was priceless, as was his follow-up joke to Paul: Remember the night Morley Safer was here, and pulled the same thing? These two interviews set the stage for some of Lettermans greatest interviews over the next two decades, including a loopy Farrah Fawcett (1997), Courtney Loves second-rate boob flash (2004), Michael Richardss apology for his racist rant (2006), the battle with Bill OReilly (2006), a post-jail Paris Hilton (2007), John McCain (2008), Joaquin Phoenixs performance-art stunt (2010), Conan OBrien (2010), and Lindsay Lohan (2013). 1995: Letterman hosted the 67th Annual Academy Awards. Critics ravaged him, but many of his fans still loved his performance. The ceremony may be best remembered for his Oprah… Uma joke, where he pretended to introduce Winfrey and Thurman to each other. Though it fell flat, it remains quoted to this day. Oh, and he also threw in a Keanu (Reeves) mention for good measure. 2000: Some folks were worried that we might lose the late-night legend when Letterman had to go under the knife for emergency quintuple-bypass surgery. Famous friends like Bill Murray and Jerry Seinfeld stepped up to fill in as host while he recovered, and his triumphant return to the show was truly must-see TV. An uncharacteristically emotional Dave brought all the doctors and nurses who treated him on stage and gave them his sincere thanks. Naturally, the show threw in a little gallows humor, too. During Daves monologue, Seinfeld interrupted and feigned shock: I thought you were dead. 2001: Those first few days following the September 11 terrorist attacks were a confusing haze. Americans werent sure when (or if) things would ever go back to normal. Comedy took a break, too, but Letterman was the first late-night host to return to the air. On September 17, a somber Dave didnt try to make us laugh; he just tried to make sense of the unspeakable tragedy we had just witnessed: We are going to try to feel our way through this and we’ll just see how it goes — take it a day at a time. Lettermans monologue earned widespread praise, as well as an Emmy nomination. 2005: The ten-year cold war between Letterman and Oprah Winfrey ended when the talk show queen finally makes an appearance on the Late Show. Were still not quite sure how the feud originated (some may trace it to the aforementioned Oprah… Uma joke), but it raged on for more than a decade. Dave would plead endlessly to Oprah to come on the show, making the whole thing into a running gag. Finally, Oprah relented, visiting the Late Show to promote her Broadway show, The Color Purple. And she even brought Dave a peace offering: a framed photo of herself and Uma Thurman. 2009: Letterman admitted to having had affairs with several female staffers, and apologized on-air to his wife Regina Lasko following an extortion attempt by Joe Halderman, a former CBS News producer who was the ex of one of the staffers Letterman admitted to having slept with. Letterman took a serious PR hit for the revelation, but the producer later pled guilty to attempted grand larceny and served a six-month prison sentence. It was a rare glimpse into Lettermans private life (along with the foiled 2005 plot to kidnap his son Harry) — a life that Letterman tried very hard over the years to keep private. And now, after more than three decades in late night, hes earned the right to go enjoy that life, leaving us to enjoy these moments he gave us... and many, many more.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 19:22:19 +0000
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