This will be a milestone for the country. I really mean that.
Letterman may not be really all that funny anymore, but he was once so cutting edge that he was sharper than new knives. He was inventive and ironic..
I was at a taping of the LATE SHOW in the early 2000s.. Not impressed completely by that but still amazing to be in the Ed Sullivan theater.
I grew up watching Letterman. Ever since, as a kid, I read the Frank Miller DARK KNIGHT I was inspired to figure out who the pop culture icon was featured in the comic:
I fondly recall Friday nights, staying up late, watching LATE NIGHT and then LATE SHOW when he switched networks..
I also had a secret in school. Not many other kids really knew who Letterman was, so I would set my VCR each night to record his show. The next morning, before school, I watched his skits and copied some of the humor off of it, doing the same types of things at school that day. No one ever knew.
Until now.
Regardless, the whole thing changes on May 20 next year. Letterman will ride off into the sunset, and become the next biggest talk show host since Carson to leave television. Will Bette Midler kiss him, too?
I am not so sure about Stephen Colbert.. the jury is out.
But on Letterman, my decision was that he redefined late night comedy.
Now someone has to redefine it again. I don’t think it’s Colbert.
I personally have always believed whichever network chose a woman to host a late night comedy show was going to be the one that redefined it. And that has yet to happen..