What David Letterman meant to me – saying goodbye to a talk show legend

What David Letterman meant to me – saying goodbye to a talk show legend

I don’t think I was there from the very beginning, but I started watching David Letterman very early in his late night run… early 1980s, probably within his first year. My grandmother (oddly enough) was the one who made me a talk show fan, starting with THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON. When I would spend the night at her house, she always stayed up to watch Johnny, and I guess I got hooked from an early age. But I was at home, in my own room, watching my little 13-inch RCA television at night, and one evening randomly stayed up long enough to experience LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. I say “experience” because I remember that’s exactly what it felt like. There was this genuine feeling that I was witnessing something weird and wonderful, and it almost seemed like I was a little more special for it. I fell in love immediately. I only recall flashes of what I saw that first time, but I think Jerry Lewis was the guest. Thankfully my parents were cool enough to let me stay up and watch Dave (benefits of having that little TV in my room), though in many ways it’s what likely lead to me becoming the incurable night owl I am today. Over the years I would loyally watch Letterman, educating myself on the bevy of eclectic guests he had, most of who I otherwise would never have heard of. I embraced the wacky skits and camera gags, the weirdness of Calvert DeForest/Larry “Bud” Melman, Dave engaging his control room master Hal Gurnee, all of it. I couldn’t get enough.

One thing that made me feel special about being such a fan of Dave was how insular that fandom felt in the early days. I used to go to school and tell the other kids about some crazy thing I saw on LATE NIGHT and how funny it was, and they just looked at me with a blank stare. Instead of sensing I was a weirdo for liking what I had seen, it gave me a proud feeling to know I was seeing this awesome thing that others were missing out on. When the whole NBC debacle happened, I felt really bad for Dave, and genuinely perceived he got a shitty deal. If you’ve never seen the HBO movie THE LATE SHIFT, you should check it out for an idea of just how crappy things went down then. But not to worry, I gladly followed him to CBS. Something happened when that transition took place, which even the hardest of the hardcore fans may or may not remember. Letterman changed a bit. It wasn’t anything horrible or offensive, rather little things here and there. He stopped wearing tennis shoes with his suits, the guests on the show weren’t quite as bizarre, just the overall aesthetic of everything was cleaner and more polished. It took a little getting used to, but I realized what was happening was that Dave was maturing, and in a strange way it felt like I was maturing with him. That was 1993, and I had graduated high school a year earlier, so in some ways it was fitting that as I entered a new phase in life, making my way into adulthood, Letterman was becoming more refined in his presentation. Make no mistake, the show was still fun just a little different. One thing I appreciated about watching THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN on CBS was how it made me feel. I could have the worst day, one of those in which life is just raining crap on you nonstop and you want to throw in the towel… and then Dave would come on, and somehow things didn’t seem so bad. I would laugh and enjoy the show, and for that hour I could let my troubles take a backseat. It was, in a weird way, cathartic.

2004 was a big year for me in many ways. It was the year I started this website after becoming a bit disgruntled writing for another outlet, but that was just one of several major events. It also happened to be the year I turned 30, and for my birthday my mother took me on a trip to New York City, a place I had never been to before. Now as you can probably guess, knowing I was going to be in the vicinity of David Letterman’s show, I had to at least try to get tickets. If you’ve never done this sort of thing, let me tell ya, it’s not the easiest task to complete. As I recall, you had to show up early in the morning at The Ed Sullivan Theater, wait in a long line, and then one by one they would bring you in for an interview. Someone would ask you various questions about why you’d want to attend a taping, and whether or not you like or are truly familiar with Dave. It felt like a slightly more fun version of a job interview, but I was so determined not to mess it up – for all I knew this might be my one opportunity to see Letterman live. As the interview was taking place, they got to the golden question. I’m paraphrasing, but it was something along the lines of “Do you have any favorite skits which Dave does that come to mind?” It was like being Bobby Fischer and having someone ask you if you wanted to play chess. I gushed, just started rambling off skit after skit, making sure to name the key players, particularly Dave’s staff members – first and last names too. The interviewer was clearly impressed, even stating “Wow, you really know this show!” I told her how important it was to me, and how I was in New York City for the first time ever for my 30th birthday, and that attending a taping would be a dream come true… and then I started to panic. Did I come on too strong? Did I appear to want this too badly? Was I perceived as a potential stalker?? Regardless, it was too late to do anything about it. They took down my info and said if I was picked they would call with further instructions. Later in the day I was walking toward Central Park, and had kind of resigned myself to the idea that I wasn’t getting in to see Dave. Then the phone rang. I got tickets, I was going to get to see THE LATE SHOW… Hallelujah! I called my mom and told her we were going to see Dave! Now I know she probably could have cared less, but she knew it was important to me, and it certainly made the trip that much more special. That episode featured Dennis Quaid (promoting THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW) and Velvet Revolver as the musical act. I remember thinking it was somewhat ironic and amusing that I get to leave Texas and go to New York City for the first time, finally get to see David Letterman live, and his big guest is an actor from Texas. I also remember how small the stage was in person, how cold it was in the theater (yes, it’s that cold), and how insanely loud Velvet Revolver’s performance was – my mom held her ears through the entire song. If I’m being completely honest, it wasn’t the best episode of the long-running show, but it was special just being there for it. I also recall, while on that same trip, going to The Museum of Radio and Television and watching Dave’s very first episode in their archives. And yes, of course, I got a sandwich at Rupert Jee’s Hello Deli and chatted with Rupert. I even randomly met THE LATE SHOW engineer George Clarke in front of the theater at night, and stopped to get a picture with him… because like many of the staff of THE LATE SHOW, George was frequently featured in skits for Dave. The whole trip felt like a rite of passage, and I’ll always cherish those memories.

This week we say goodbye to David Letterman after 33 years of late night shows… 33 years! That’s quite a legacy. It also makes Dave the longest-running late night talk show host of all time. When he announced his retirement a little over a year ago, I recall a strong feeling of denial, like it just wasn’t possible. How could Dave respectfully leave the format he perfected? How could he walk away from it all? Who could possibly take his place? The answer to that (as has been widely reported) is of course Stephen Colbert, but the real answer is simple – no one, and I mean no one will ever be able to truly take the place of Letterman. When you look back on various talk shows throughout history, there’s been a lot of greats. Johnny was certainly a phenomenal example, Jack Parr, Steve Allen, even recent names like Craig Ferguson carved out a memorable run with their efforts. But Letterman was truly one of a kind, and has been highly imitated since. I consider him an influence in my own interviews for the site, and he will always be a hero to me for a variety of reasons. As the reality of Dave leaving the late night scene set in, I’ve become sort of depressed knowing he’ll no longer be there each night to cheer me up after a long day. Last week, Norm MacDonald performed stand up on THE LATE SHOW, and ended his act by telling one of Letterman’s old stand up jokes from the early days. As Norm started and even more so when he finished, he got choked up – genuinely choked up, and was fighting back tears. The reality was setting it, and I’m sure him being there on that historic stage in that moment knowing this was ‘goodbye’, it all washed over him. That’s kind of how I felt sitting through Dave’s final episode, particularly when he cut to his wife Regina and son Harry in the audience. Dave never seemed to be choked up, never spilled any tears, but he did seem genuinely grateful for his fans and to his staff. He thanked Paul Shaffer and the entire band using their full names, and even stated that the men and women who worked behind the scenes were vastly more important that he could ever be. His final words were to introduce his favorite band, The Foo Fighters, playing his favorite song Everlong as flashes of guests and skits from past shows flew by on screen. David Letterman ended his long career in a respectful and honorable way, and I salute him for all the great years of comedy and entertainment… and I’ll admit it, as the show’s recognizable theme music played while the end credits rolled, I cried. I’ll miss you Dave, but I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.

Norm MacDonald feeling what we all are:

Dave’s final words on the last show:

The Foo Fighters perform “Everlong” to the Letterman montage:

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.