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{{cleanup|[[Late Show]] and [[Late Show with David Letterman]] redirect here. The show, which according to Wikipedia is called ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]'', should have its own page.}}
[[File:Dave.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''"And now… a man who shouldn't be up this late… David Letterman!"''
|Dave's first intro line from 1982}}
{{quote|''"So, tell me Dave, just how pissed off are you?"''
''"Johnny, you keep using language like that and you're gonna find yourself out of a job!"''
|'''[[Johnny Carson]]'''{{'}}s opening question to Dave on Letterman's first ''[[The Tonight Show|Tonight Show]]'' appearance after NBC made their decision.}}
'''David Letterman''' (born 1947) is a late-night [[Talk Show]] host famous for defining the genre in the post-[[The Tonight Show|Johnny Carson]] era. Letterman's shows (''The David Letterman Show'' in 1980, ''[[Late Night]]'' from 1982-93, and ''
From the beginning, Letterman fashioned his persona as a smartass host
Letterman took frequent shots at his network (first NBC, then CBS), and then his network's parent company when NBC was acquired by General Electric. He would intentionally bomb jokes in the monologue, and openly waste network airtime on ridiculous gags whose only purpose served to illustrate simply that, "Hey! I'm wasting NBC airtime here!" He eschewed the typical talk show uniform of a tailored suit in favor of a tie, a blazer, khakis...and white Adidas wrestling shoes.
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As a side-effect, Letterman was sort of feared in the business when it came to interacting with the guests. He was intimidating, and could be somewhat mean to them. Until the late 1990s when he started to mellow down, it was fairly well-known that his only real friend in the business was [[Julia Roberts]]. In one interview in the early 2000s, Roberts mentioned the fact that Letterman had softened up and that now every actress was a "lovely girl". Letterman's quip was "Oh, you know I'm just woofing."
Ironically, Letterman's influential "anti-talk show" sensibility ended up ''saving'' the talk show format as we know it at some point towards the end of Carson's stint as host of ''[[The Tonight Show]]''. Without Letterman mocking the genre in the 1980s, today's genre staples (especially [[Conan O
Not to be confused with [[The Lettermen]] or [[The Electric Company|Letterman]].
{{
* [[Andy Kaufman]]: Frequent guest in the show's early years (until he was too ill to make appearances) — even after the Jerry Lawler [[Worked Shoot]], and even as Kaufman became persona non grata on other mainstream shows such as ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. Simply put, Kaufman's work suited Letterman's sensibilities perfectly.
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Arson Murder And]]...[[Lampshade Hanging|umm]]...[[The Rival|Jaywalking]]: As part of Letterman's subversion of the form, as a rule #1 is almost never the funniest joke in the Top Ten List. The studio audience will be [[But Thou Must!|applauding anyway]].
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Many members of he production staff and crew have become familiar faces to viewers and even been utilized in bits, such as stagehand Biff Henderson, production assistant Barbara Gaines, and former producer and director Hal Gurnee and Robert Morton, respectively.
* [[Big Applesauce]]: New York-based, unlike the LA-based ''Tonight Show''.
* [[Biting the Hand Humor]]: On ''Late Night'', Letterman constantly took shots at NBC and their parent company, General Electric. And he's poked plenty of fun at CBS since his channel hop.
{{quote|
* [[Body Horror]]: "Things [[Take That|More Fun]] Than Reading The [[Sarah Palin]] Memoir" consists of [[Body Horror]] [[Stock Footage]], mostly from old movies.
* [[Brick Joke]]: A relatively recent joke involving newly installed button on Dave's chair. He's told to press it - cue Dave getting blasted out of the building (everyone is then told he's okay). A couple of episodes later, Dave reveals that said button is still there. He pushes the button, and we [[Foregone Conclusion|think we know what will happen next]], but instead, [[Subverted Trope|the head of the orchestra is blasted outside]]. Another push of the button, though, [[History Repeats|and Dave's right behind him]].
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* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Kirstie Alley got one over on Dave when she appeared on the Late Show in 2011. Having been a Woobie for Letterman in the past, particularly during her run on [[Dancing With the Stars]], she brought with her Dave's cruelest jokes and repeated them back to him. The audience booed the jokes. May count as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Kirstie.
* [[Casanova Wannabe]]: Announcer Alan Kalter.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Chris Elliot's running characters The Fugitive Guy (''[[The Fugitive (TV series)|The Fugitive]]'') and The Regulator Guy (''[[The Equalizer]]'').
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Whenever the subject of drinks comes up, "I don't think there's a man, woman, or child alive today who doesn't enjoy a refreshing beverage."
** "How we doing on time?"
** "I wouldn't give my troubles to a monkey on a rock."
** (When a joke set-up has a fairly obvious punchline coming up) "I think we can all see this one coming down 2nd Avenue."
* ''[[Cats]]'': Shortly after moving to the Ed Sullivan Theatre, Dave would parody [[Ed Sullivan|Sullivan]]'s habit of introducing celebrities in the audience. One night he introduced a confused looking Paul Newman who stood up, said "Where the hell's all the singing ''Cats''?" and walked out.
** Part of the joke here is that the Winter Garden Theater, where ''[[Cats]]'' spent its Broadway run, is one block down and across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
* [[Channel Hop]] / [[Executive Meddling]]: Pissed that NBC execs picked [[Jay Leno]] over him to host ''Tonight'', Letterman took his show to CBS, where he had to make a few changes for the 11:30 slot that seemed minor at first but ultimately ended his peak until NBC's Jay-vs-Conan meltdown in 2009.
** Carson never forgave NBC for picking Leno over Letterman, as he always thought that Letterman was the best choice to succeed him. As such, whenever Carson got an idea for a joke while in his retirement, he would send them to Letterman instead of Leno. And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9i6A6LGwa4 Carson himself showed up on-air], the applause was ''deafening''. Both men were clearly overwhelmed by it.
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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJzT7dI-Ws After asking Johnny Carson if he can use "Stump the Band"], Johnny quips "''Stump the Band''? Sure, I can hardly claim that as intellectual property!"
* [[The Frugal Gourmet]]: The late Jeff Smith almost out-Lettermans Letterman in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGYvTspqu2c this clip], and Paul's line might be considered [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] by 1991 standards.
* [[Game Show]]: Dave appeared on many games from about 1975-80, and occasionally says "[[Concentration|Not a match, the board goes back
** Dave also hosted a disastrous [[Game Show]] pilot called "The Riddlers". The pilot has been shown on GSN, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJDu-hPhDo and here] you can see him talk with Michael McKean about it.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]
* [[Guest Host]]: Letterman became famous as [[Johnny Carson]]'s guest host on ''[[The Tonight Show]]''. Much later in his career, Letterman would have heart surgery and a bout with shingles that led to famous guest hosts for his show, like [[Regis Philbin]], [[Bruce Willis
* [[I Am Not Shazam]]: Every so often, you'll ''still'' hear someone refer to the current CBS show as ''[[Late Night]] With David Letterman''.
* [[Jerkass]]: Letterman's interview style was often charitably described as "acerbic" in his early days. [[Cher]] told him that for years she didn't want to come back on his show because she thought he was "an asshole".
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* [[Little-Known Facts]]: "Fun Facts".
* [[Logo Joke]]: The first airing of ''Late Show'' was prefaced with the [[CBS]] ID of the era playing as normal, except Dave said "This is CBS" instead of the usual V/O guy, and he actually appeared midway through the ID.
{{quote|
* [[Long Runner]]: Dave just celebrated 30 years in late night television. However this is split between two shows, Late Night on NBC and CBS's the Late Show.
* [[Lovely Assistant]]: Grinder Girl and Hula Hoop Girl in "Will It Float?"
** The pair may also be an example of [[Ascended Extra
* [[Medium Awareness]]
* [[One of Us]]: Dave has made it pretty blatant that he likes classic game shows, among other things.
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* [[Orphaned Punchline]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNn60k4N9rU This clip] from a 1985 episode has guest [[Johnny Carson]] delivering the punchline to a joke that he'd started on ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' earlier that night: "And the man says to Mrs. O'Hara, 'I'm not so sure about that, he got out three times to go to the bathroom'."
* [[The Pete Best]]: Frank Owen, Dave's Musical Director for his Morning Show before Paul.
* [[Playing
* [[The Rival]]: Jay "Big Jaw" Leno became this after he beat Letterman out as Carson's successor on ''Tonight'', and Dave moved to CBS to compete directly with Leno in the 11:30 PM slot. The bad blood resurfaced in 2009 after some of the worst [[Executive Meddling]] of all time caused Leno to first move out of ''The Tonight Show'' and then back in after less than a year because of failing ratings. Letterman joined many others in accusing Leno of "reneging" on his previously-announced "retirement," although the move had been largely forced on Leno and he only reteurned after his ostensible successor, [[Conan O
** Although Leno has gotten mileage out of occasional Letterman scandals (notably revelations of Letterman's affair with a staffer), he has been much less inclined to attack Letterman than Letterman has been to attack him. The former friends' relationship remains strained, although Leno has expressed willingness to mend fences.
** Lampshaded to hilarious effect in a promo aired during Super Bowl XLIV.
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* [[Self-Deprecation]]
* [[Satire]]
* [[
* [[Something Completely Different]] / [[Show Within a Show]]: ''Late Night'' would sometimes stage an entire episode in a bizarre, novel way.
** One night, he pretended it was ''The Morning Show with Dave & Tawny'' (perhaps a statement on his ill-fated eponymous 1980 series)...and actually [[What Could Have Been|seemed like a pretty decent idea]].
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** On another occasion, he let the audience vote via applause for a "custom-built show".
** Still another episode was an "upside-down show" where the camera rotated 360 degrees throughout the course of the hour.
* ''[[Star Trek:
** How do you top [[Drum Solo]] Weeks I & II? With [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w440qVTsNUo Drum Sulu Week!]
* [[Stealth Pun]]: A staple of Letterman comedy, especially in Top Ten Lists.
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* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Dave has had this relationship with several guests, most notably Regis Philbin and Charles Grodin.
* [[Worked Shoot]]: Letterman's infamous interview with actor/comedian [[Andy Kaufman]] and pro wrestler [[Jerry Lawler]] has been confirmed as a staged event in the intervening years. Dave's disastrous chat with Crispin Glover, on the other hand, appears to be all too real.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: The Super Bowl commercial with Oprah and Leno was planned to feature [[Conan O
** Possibly the biggest 'What Could Have Been' ever.... ''The Tonight Show starring David Letterman''.
* [[Writing Around Trademarks]]: Due to NBC owning the names (but not the formats) to several of Letterman's skits.
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{{reflist}}
{{Mark Twain Prize for American Humor}}
{{TV Guide's 50 Greatest}}
[[Category:Talk Show]]
[[Category:Nonfiction Series]]
[[Category:David Letterman]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Comedian]]
[[Category:Presenters]]
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