Letterman ends his late-night career just as he started it
Parting shot includes the signature stunts, self-deprecation
WHO else could round up four US presidents to wish him goodbye? Another world statesman perhaps? Or David Letterman taking final leave from The Late Show.
On Wednesday night, the grand old man of late-night US TV brought down the curtain on a 33-year career after more than 6 000 hour-long shows that, from the outset in the early 1980s, featured the classic Letterman mix of monologue, celebrities, goofy stunts and a daily Top 10 list, leavened by self-deprecation and withering sarcasm.
First up was the immortal image of Gerald Ford after Watergate, reassuring Americans that “our long national nightmare is over”. Then came clips of the Bushes and Bill Clinton. And finally President Barack Obama with a straight-faced postscript: “Dave Letterman is retiring.”
Letterman ended the “nightmare” his way. There was none of the mawkishness of the final show, back in 1992, of his mentor Johnny Carson, whose Tonight Show turned late night into an American institution. “It’s beginning to look like I’m not going to get the Tonight Show,” he said – a reference to how NBC surprisingly named Jay Leno as Carson’s successor, even though Carson had plainly wanted Letterman as his heir. Then came the celebrities. “Thanks,” said the comedy actress Tina Fey, “for finally proving men can be funny”.
But in the case of Letterman, that has never been seriously disputed. Stung by his Tonight Show rejection, he decamped to CBS and debuted there in August 1993. Since then, the plaudits have been unceasing. Outwardly, the accolades have not gone to his head. The alliterative duet of Leno and Letterman stood at opposite ends of the spectrum. Leno was essentially laid-back Hollywood, while Letterman, though of native midwest stock, came across as New York through and through.
The Late Show was taped five days a week in the heart of Manhattan at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Letterman might be a wry connoisseur of the absurdity of the human condition, but he could also be as in-your-face as his adopted city. He bled for it, too. For many, his finest hour remains his off-the-cuff monologue when The Late Show returned a week after the 9/11 attacks.
For once the overworked phrase “end of an era” is apposite. If Carson represented the first generation of late night, the Leno/Letterman duet was the second. Leno won the ratings battle and Letterman was the critics’ favourite. Leno hung up his gloves in February last year. Now his frère ennemi is gone too. Latenight TV will survive, but nothing will quite replace Letter man’s style: “We’ve done over 6 000 shows and I can tell you a pretty high percentage sucked. In light of all of this praise, merited or not, do me a favour: save a little for my funeral.” – The Independent