Dave and I go way back. As do other viewers for whom David Letterman was a nightly staple, and before that a morning curiosity. From June to October of 1980 Letterman hosted a morning variety show of shorts on NBC, that was so badly received that WTMJ-TV (Channel 4)
It aired on then independent and low powered UHF station WVTV-TV (Channel 18) instead.
Somehow and for some reason – shortly before I became TV columnist at the Milwaukee Sentinel – I ended up in his morning show audience on something called Floyd Stiles Day, featuring a Middle American of no particular consequence of the sort Letterman would honor and mock.
In describing that episode, Mike Drew, TV columnist at the Milwaukee Journal, hometown newspaper had erroneously printed that something like that was going to happen, and David wanted to make things right. I think Flloyd set him up, but Letterman, an ambling Hoosier, is that kind of guy. And a goofy show it made too.”
But with the encouragement of Letterman’s mentor Johnny Carson NBC put Letterman on the late night shift.
His show, produced by Carson replaced the talk show hosted by Milwaukeean Tom Snyder. In 1992 when Carson retired, Letterman lost the bid to succeed Carson to Jay Leno, and moved to CBS.
“Late Show With David Letterman” was no ratings powerhouse. In the most recent February sweeps it was third ranked behind the WISN-TV (Channel 12) news, “Seinfeld” reruns on WITI-TV (Channel 6) and “Tonight” on WTMJ.
But it was first in the heart of hard core fans for whom Letterman’s acerbic wit and absurdist stunts were in the tradition of masters like the Marx Bros, Steve Allen and Carson.
It’s hard to believe the sentimental and nostalgic Letterman hosting his final shows is the same guy.
The reclusive Letterman was accessible enough to talk to me in 1989 when he took his show to Chicago. – during which he fidgeted “like a grade schooler sentenced to detention” – he described making a drinking pilgrimage to Madison while in college (“It was just horribly cold”).
He talked about celebrity and the invasion of his privacy and his “pretty normal lower middle class” upbringing. It was “kind of unremarkable. I didn’t want for anything. I was free of trauma.” And about cruising with high school friends and the public speaking and radio and TV courses that set him on his career path.
The first column I ever wrote for the Sentinel was a review of Letterman’s new late night show. I misspelled the name of his musical sidekick Paul Shaffer. And I had the honor of being insulted by him at a press conference when he moved to CBS.
“Nice jacket,” he smirked about the black and purple nylon running jacket I wore in the auditorium.
He should have understood. It was just horribly cold.
Posted by