can someone tell me why David Letterman was great?

Out of all of them i only liked Carson, Conan and Ferguson. The rest were shit.

I seem to recall Leno being funny a decade or so ago but maybe that was my young mind being easily amused
 
JosephDredd said:
Oh shit, I hope I didn't sound like I was shitting on Letterman. I don't like talk shows and never watched them, so i don't have context when people praise him. I have no idea what he did that was innovative.

Today I had youtube playing in the background and heard a bunch of celebrities and comedians singing his praises as a revolutionary. This made me very curious.
Click to expand...

Letterman was the first late nite host to have a punk rock, idgaf attitude. Complete opposite of johnny carson.

I remember thinking dave was cool as hell. It's been decades since i felt that way tho, lol.


I remember seeing a very early clip of dave back before he had a show. He was apparently a weatherman on a news show. No kidding. And i remember seeing him as a legit weather man on a legit, serious news show, actually congratulate a hurricane for upgrading from a tropical storm. Lol imagine your local weatherman congratulate a storm. :D young dave letterman gave no fucks. Sucks he had to get old and start sucking.
 
Agent Mulder's Hair said:
Craig was the best. When he had a slow witted guest that couldn't keep up with him, it made for awkward tv. But when he had somebody quick who could keep up, it was classic comedy. Lauren graham and kristen bell were his best repeat guests.
Click to expand...

I love Kristen Bell.
Just FYI
 
discovered ferguson years after it ended. thank god for youtube.fuck he had a great original show.
 
Agent Mulder's Hair said:
Letterman was the first late nite host to have a punk rock, idgaf attitude. Complete opposite of johnny carson.

I remember thinking dave was cool as hell. It's been decades since i felt that way tho, lol.


I remember seeing a very early clip of dave back before he had a show. He was apparently a weatherman on a news show. No kidding. And i remember seeing him as a legit weather man on a legit, serious news show, actually congratulate a hurricane for upgrading from a tropical storm. Lol imagine your local weatherman congratulate a storm. :D young dave letterman gave no fucks. Sucks he had to get old and start sucking.
Click to expand...
 
JosephDredd said:
I never watch talk shows and don't know anything about them. It's very, very rare that I watch a talk show and am interested in anything being said.

BUT, everyone raves about Letterman. I've heard that he idolized Johnny Carson and wanted to take what Carson did and push it further. They call Letterman a genius. They say he had an edgy, dangerous tone. They say he was an original, a true innovator.

WTF does this all mean?
Click to expand...
Who says all this?

I watched him growing up when he first got on the air.
He got incredibly lucky.
 
People can get stupid pet tricks on YouTube and Facebook on their phones at any time nowadays; but, in the 80s, it was a genius idea. The top 10 list was a great idea also
 
Not sure if correct or not but I remember Letterman as the host that was never scared of confrontation or making things awkwardly funny with his guests. He kissed guests’ asses the least and called bullshit on a lot of them.

I know Kimmel kind of is the same way nowadays, makes sense since Letterman was his late night idol.
 
Being smirky, sarcastic and self-deprecating was a thing in the 80s and Letterman good at that. He also did the funny gags where he went on the street and asked dumb questions. Tossing stuff off the roof, Larry Bud Melman, great music guests. That stuff all worked well in the 80s and probably wouldn't cut it now.

After he didn't get the Tonight Show he just turned into an ornery jerk IMO.
 
closequarters said:
Not sure if correct or not but I remember Letterman as the host that was never scared of confrontation or making things awkwardly funny with his guests. He kissed guests’ asses the least and called bullshit on a lot of them.

I know Kimmel kind of is the same way nowadays, makes sense since Letterman was his late night idol.
Click to expand...

That was another thing. Actors were 10X more pretentious, pompous, etc than they are now. Howard Stern really took that to another level too. It's not as funny b/c a lot of these actors do not take themselves as seriously nowadays
 
I always used to like Carson, but not Leno or Letterman. Conan has grown on me in the last year. I just wish he’d have Jordan Schlansky on again - those were my favorite bits.
 
Letterman had good delivery, location, and showed up every day. His show started 30mins before Leno which is huge that late at night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,619
Messages
55,430,935
Members
174,776
Latest member
kilgorevontrouty

Share this page

Back
Top