David Letterman: Difference between revisions

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=== This show provides examples of: ===

* [[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]].

* [[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''.

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* [[Chew Toy]]: Poor Alan Kalter (aka [[The Announcer]]).

* [[City of Weirdos]]: A recurring Letterman gag is to see "How many guys in X costumes can fit in a Y?", trying to get a rise out of passers-by. People seldom react.

* [[Cluster F Bomb]]: In 1994, [[Madonna]] dropped the F-word at least 13 times, which were all censored, during her interview, and tried to get Letterman to smell her panties.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: In 1994, [[Madonna]] dropped the F-word at least 13 times, which were all censored, during her interview, and tried to get Letterman to smell her panties.

[[File:DaveAvengers.jpg|frame]]

* [[Coattail Riding Relative]]: Dave makes the occasional joke about his uncle Larry trying to capitalize on his success.

* [[Coattail-Riding Relative]]: Dave makes the occasional joke about his uncle Larry trying to capitalize on his success.

* [[Comic Books]]: Bizarrely, Letterman was in an issue of ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' in 1984. A parody version of Letterman ("David Endochrine") was murdered (along with his audience) by [[The Joker]] in [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''.

* [[Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For]]: Dave sometimes jokingly tries to preempt complaints from the studio audience saying things like "You didn't pay anything to get in here, you know."

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* [[Fake Band]]: In 1999, Letterman used the faux [[Boy Band]] "Fresh Step" to mock groups like the [[Backstreet Boys]] and N'Sync.

* [[Foil]]: During the rare times that [[Madonna]] was allowed to come on, she would happily ruin Letterman's planned schedule of events via grandstanding and showboating.

* [[Frivolous Lawsuit]] / [[Disney Owns This Trope]]: When Letterman left for CBS, NBC threatened one over the "intellectual property" of Stupid Pet Tricks and the Top Ten list, until both Letterman and Leno's mockery embarrassed them out of it. Among the problems with the lawsuit: Top ten lists had been [[Older Than They Think|done for years by people before Letterman]], and [[What an Idiot|Letterman actually owned the Stupid Pet Tricks property from an earlier show of his]].

* [[Frivolous Lawsuit]] / [[Disney Owns This Trope]]: When Letterman left for CBS, NBC threatened one over the "intellectual property" of Stupid Pet Tricks and the Top Ten list, until both Letterman and Leno's mockery embarrassed them out of it. Among the problems with the lawsuit: Top ten lists had been [[Older Than They Think|done for years by people before Letterman]], and [[What an Idiot!|Letterman actually owned the Stupid Pet Tricks property from an earlier show of his]].

** Then-current NBC anchor Tom Brokaw made a surprise appearance during Letterman's first CBS monologue and took one of the cue cards, claiming the jokes were NBC intellectual property.

** [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!"

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** 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]], [[Will Ferrell]], [[Jimmy Fallon]], [[Elvis Costello]], [[Adam Sandler]], [[Tom Green]], [[Megan Mullaly]], [[Vince Vaughn]], and [[Bonnie Hunt]].

* [[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 (Creator)]], [[Will Ferrell]], [[Jimmy Fallon]], [[Elvis Costello]], [[Adam Sandler]], [[Tom Green]], [[Megan Mullaly]], [[Vince Vaughn]], and [[Bonnie Hunt]].

* [[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".

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: With ''Late Night'' co-owned by NBC Productions and Letterman's World Wide Pants, don't expect a "Best Of" DVD anytime soon.

* [[Left It In]]: Letterman frequently says "We'll edit that out later." They never do.

* [[Little Known Facts]]: "Fun Facts".

* [[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| '''Dave''' (''in another promo in front of the eye''): Don't you think that eye thing is.....kinda creepy?}}

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* [[Running Gag]]: Often used to the point of being [[Overly Long Gag|intentionally unfunny]] and arguably bordering on [[Lampshade Hanging]].

** One of Dave's more notable phrases, used when a joke falls flat, is "Not a match, the board goes back" — a phrase that should be familiar to anyone who has ever been thanked for playing ''[[Concentration]]''.

* [[Self Deprecation]]

* [[Self-Deprecation]]

* [[Satire]]

* [[Side Boob]]: On this [[Very Special Episode]], the audience (and later all of Manhattan via the Jumbotron) gets a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UUqwrpw3uA quick shot of Drew Barrymore's side boob], while Birthday Boy Letterman gets to enjoy the full effect.