David Letterman

David Letterman at the 2016 Peabody Awards

David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) is a former presenter of the American television program Late Show with David Letterman . He is also a comedian , producer and co-owner of the Rahal Letterman Racing motorsport team . Letterman's ironic, often absurd humor is heavily influenced by comedian Ernie Kovacs and late-night host Johnny Carson .

Career

Getting started with radio and television

Letterman began his career in 1966 as a presenter on the student radio station WBST , whose studio was on the campus of Ball State University , which he attended . He was initially part of a nine-person news team that announced election results. He also worked for other broadcasters, such as WERK or WTRE. However, WBST had no sympathy for his humorous remarks and so he was finally suspended because of his disrespectful treatment of classical music. He is said to have announced the piece Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy with the words: “You remember the de Lune sisters. There was Clair and there was Mabel. ”Another source, however, quotes him with the pun:“ You know Mrs. Lune and all the little Loonies [dt. Crazy] ". After being kicked out, Letterman joined the team at WAGO, another Ball State campus broadcaster.

This was followed by work as an announcer and weather presenter for the local television broadcaster WLW-I (now WTHR ). He had already worked here as an announcer during the summer holidays when he was a student. He attracted attention with his erratic behavior during the broadcasts, for example, jokingly pointed out that there was no border between two states on the weather map:

“Let's now take a look at the cloud cover over the United States based on the satellite image we took today and I think you will see that we are once again the victim of the dirty machinations of politics. And now you see what I mean. The big animals in the government have removed the Indiana-Ohio border and made a single, vast state out of the two. Personally, I am against it. "

He predicted the weather for fictional cities: "eight inches of snow in Bingree and the surrounding areas" and announced hailstones "the size of canned ham" (on his Late Show he would later occasionally distribute canned hams to people in the audience). Another time he clashed with his superiors because he enthusiastically congratulated a tropical storm when it was upgraded to a hurricane . In addition, he hosted Saturday morning a children's program called Clover Power in which he members of the youth 4-H questioned about their projects, and he presented late-night movies in a mission he Freeze Dried Movies (dt. Freeze-dried films) called - at the In the end, for example, he blew up a cardboard model of the transmitter building.

In 1971 he was seen as a pit lane reporter at the Indianapolis 500 car race , which was broadcast on ABC's Broad World of Sports program . This engagement probably marks Letterman's debut with one of the major network broadcasters .

After his time in television, Letterman switched back to radio in 1974. At WNTS in Indianapolis, he hosted a show for about a year that was an early experiment in combining news and talk show where callers could express their opinions. The show allowed him to work on his interview technique and make a name for himself locally. But the project quickly began to bore him, as he had no interest in political topics and so he began to spread self-made reports. He once told his listeners that their beloved soldier memorial had been sold to the island of Guam and that the government was now planning to paint it green in honor of their national vegetable , asparagus .

Moved to Los Angeles

In May 1975, Letterman and his wife Michelle left Indianapolis the weekend before Memorial Day and moved to Los Angeles . Impressed by the comedians' appearances on The Tonight Show , he had a career as a stand-up comedian in mind for this move ; In order not to appear too aloof, however, he told his family that he wanted to work as a gag writer.

A few days after arriving in LA, he took part as a stand-up comedian at a beginners' event called an Open Mic Night at The Comedy Store , a famous comedy club on Sunset Boulevard that was, so to speak, a testing ground for young comedians. The material for his performance had been written by him on the same day and the audience expressed his judgment on it with an oppressive dead silence. Nevertheless, the Comedy Store booked him for further performances and so from then on he was on stage four or five times a week. The actor and stand-up comedian Jimmy Walker became aware of him, who was in front of the camera for the television series Good Times at the time. Walker hired him to write material for his stand-up performances and paid him $ 150 a week for 15 gags. "The money," says Letterman, "gave me the opportunity to keep going and increased my confidence tremendously."

But not only Walker recognized his talent, the respected management company Rollins-Joffe-Morra & Brezner was also convinced of his potential and signed him at the beginning of 1977. They saw the fast and responsive style of his comedy and thought of television. "The format was difficult to determine, but the medium wasn't," said Jack Rollins. “Dave has the ability to let things gush out of him. This is a great strength in television, where everything is quick and short. "

In addition, Letterman caught the eye of The Tonight Show's talent scouts , who kept looking in the Comedy Store for comedians who were good enough to appear on the show. The show was moderated at the time by Letterman's great idol Johnny Carson and an appearance there was something like a seal of approval for comedians, which could be extremely beneficial for their own careers. The first contact there was also in 1977. They approached him, but told him that he was not ready for a performance. Letterman had no problem with that because the last thing he wanted to do was appear on the Tonight Show without being ready for it. He was thrilled that he had been watched at all. So he kept working on his program and brought it to the club's stage.

In addition to his activities in the comedy store , which was only intended to be a stepping stone for him, Letterman made it to various other television programs with the help of his newly won management. For example, from July 4 to 8, 1977, he was a guest judge on five episodes of The Gong Show , was one of the prominent guests on the game show Liar's Club , had an appearance in Don Kirshner's Rock Concert , and received a role in The that summer Starland Vocal Band Show and also acted as a writer here. Then on November 4th, the pilot of a game show called The Riddlers was recorded with Letterman as the host. Initially, the production of two episodes was planned, but already after the first broadcast the producer said to him: “Thanks, what we've got so far is enough for us.” The broadcast was not broadcast until 1998 and then ran for the first time on November 26th Game Show Network . He has also written for various television programs and wrote gags for Joey Bishop's guest host on the Tonight Show , for Paul Lynde in The Paul Lynde Comedy Hour and for Bob Hope in Bob Hope's All-Star Comedy Special from Australia . He also appeared in the Celebrity Cooks cooking show on the Canadian broadcaster CBC - fettuccine verde was cooked .

1978 began for Letterman with the role of co-host Dan Cochran in the comedy special Peeping Times , which was conceived as a parody of the investigative news magazine 60 Minutes and aired on January 25th by NBC . On May 25, he was a guest on the talk show Tomorrow hosted by Tom Snyder , along with girlfriend Merrill Markoe and Billy Crystal as an up-and-coming comedy talent .

After Letterman's smaller television appearances, his management was finally able to accommodate him as a permanent actor on a new program, in which everyone had high hopes. It was Mary , a variety show by actress Mary Tyler Moore and was the first project she had agreed to do after the end of her successful Mary Tyler Moore show . The disadvantage of this engagement for Letterman, however, was that he also had to sing, dance and wear costumes. These requirements exceeded both the limits of what he was talented at and what he wanted to do. The dance numbers were like an ordeal for him: “It was just horrific. I was ashamed; I was like a spring that built up more and more tension. "

On September 24, 1978, the first episode of Mary was broadcast on CBS . But the show did not find enough public interest and was canceled after the third episode on October 8, 1978.

Despite Mary's unsuccessfulness , Letterman's career continued to improve. Those in charge of the Tonight Show , whom he had already noticed during his appearances in the Comedy Store, found that he had now developed sufficiently and so he was allowed to appear on the show of his great role model Johnny Carson for the first time on Friday, November 24, 1978 Comedian perform. After his stand-up, Carson asked him for a short chat, a gesture that is considered a great honor, because most of the artists returned immediately after their performance behind the stage curtain. Letterman has made several comments on this significant performance, including here:

• In a Jan. 29, 1992 interview for The Barbara Walters Show :

“ Walters : Do you remember your first appearance on the Tonight Show ?
Letterman : Yeah. It was, at the time, and probably will be, no matter what, one of the, if not the most satisfying moments for me in the big television business.
Walters : Because you did well with Johnny.
Letterman : Yeah, yeah. It was, I don't know, it took me weeks to calm down. It was very exciting and not much has been even close since then. "

• In a February 16, 1996 interview for The Charlie Rose Show :

“I'm sitting next to Johnny Carson. […] And I can remember […], forgive me if that is awkwardly put, but my reaction to that was like seeing the 5 dollar bill all your life, seeing the 5 dollar bill all your life Dollar bill and then suddenly you meet Lincoln. It's like, 'Oh my god, it's Honest Abe, the guy on the $ 5 bill.' And that was the reaction, and after that I was completely excited for days, and yet, I think this was the most important, but also the most exciting experience of my life. "

Shows on NBC

On December 9, 1978, Letterman recorded for NBC the pilot of a talk show called Leave It to Dave , which was to be broadcast on the afternoon program. Robin Williams and Martin Mull were there as guests. The show was not included in the station's program and this first episode was never broadcast. For Letterman, however, this shouldn't have been too big a disappointment, as the visual concept of the show didn't appeal to him at all. His then girlfriend and show writer Merrill Markoe reported about it in an interview:

“Because he was still at the very beginning of his talk show career here, he was kind of afraid to assert his views. There were people he'd hired and given responsibilities who supposedly knew everything about getting a talk show off the ground. Unfortunately, one of their silly ideas was to have a pyramid shape in the set that had built-in flokatis-covered benches for Dave and his guests to sit on. Not a boring old school combination of table and armchair for us! It should rather look as if the interviews are taking place at a carpet fair in the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. "

Letterman himself commented on this failure in a very similar way:

“It was a disaster. I wanted to do some silly form of a bohemian, innovative show, the show I've always wanted to do, the show I'm doing now [ Late Night with David Letterman ]. But the affiliates wanted an 'afternoon show'. The whole project was a disaster from the first moment. "

“I was supposed to sit on a throne and the set consisted of all pyramids. The walls were all covered with flokati. It was like a whimsical Egyptian-style carpet shop sell-out. I was in New York once and got a call from the west coast. They said, 'We have a great idea. Your guests will all be seated on pillows. ' And I hung up and turned to [my manager] Jack Rollins and said, 'That idiot wants us to sit on pillows. What's the problem with armchairs? ' You could see the individual elements - I hate to say that it was like dominoes falling over, but it was like dominoes falling over. "

At the end of 1978, Letterman could be seen again on a game show. He and actress Anita Gillette starred in The $ 20,000 Pyramid for the week from December 11th to 15th .

The year 1979 began for Letterman with a small appearance in an episode of the sitcom Mork and Mindy (English title: Mork vom Ork ). It was the 17th episode of the first season broadcast on February 8th with the title Mork Goes Erk (English title: Transfer to another star ). His character named Ellsworth, a dubious motivational guru, was reminiscent of Werner Erhard and the courses he offered on life support, called ERK (Ellsworth's Revitalization Conditioning), can be understood as an allusion to the est courses (Erhard Seminars Training).

After making his debut in November of last year, Letterman appeared for the third time as a stand-up comedian on the Tonight Show on February 22, 1979 . While the show was still on, producer Fred de Cordova asked his management to contact him to discuss engagement as a guest presenter. After just over a month, on March 26th, Letterman represented Johnny Carson for the first time as the presenter of the Tonight Show . Around 50 other guest presentations followed by the end of 1981.

In 1980 Letterman got his own comedy show on NBC's morning program . The show was a hit with critics, won two Emmys and was nominated five times, but was a disappointment in terms of ratings and was eventually discontinued in the summer of 1980. Nonetheless, NBC kept Letterman under contract, and his show Late Night with David Letterman first aired on February 1, 1982 .

Letterman's show, which ran late on weekdays right after The Tonight Show , was quickly seen as edgy and unpredictable, and it soon became a real cult. The show was quite different from the softened talk shows, and interviewer Letterman could be sarcastic and antagonistic, to the point where some celebrities even admitted to being afraid to appear on the show. Letterman's reputation as a tough interviewer resulted from great moments such as the veritable verbal sparring matches with singers Cher , Madonna and actress Shirley MacLaine .

David Letterman received an Emmy at the awards in 1987

The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking posts like Stupid Pet Tricks and a joking letter replies. Letterman later used a megaphone to interrupt the Today Show , which at that moment was airing live with an interview. He announced he wasn't wearing his underpants and cut the local news by walking into the studio. An appearance by comedian Andy Kaufman also caused a sensation : Kaufman was beaten up and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler . Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the action was only staged. Letterman also took advantage of the area around the NBC studio in Manhattan by staging small comedy bits on the street and in the shops.

Switch to CBS

Letterman stayed with NBC for eleven years. When Johnny Carson announced he was leaving in May 1992, a protracted discussion broke out over who would replace the longtime Tonight presenter . Eventually, NBC executives suggested Carson's permanent guest host Jay Leno as a replacement. Letterman, one of Carson's protégés who had always supported him, was very disappointed and upset that he did not get the Tonight Show moderation he was claiming to be promised years earlier. In 1993 he moved to CBS on the advice of Carson . His show remained practically unchanged, except for the name. The name Late Night with ... was franchised by NBC and therefore owned by the broadcaster. Letterman had to rename the show on his new channel CBS in Late Show with David Letterman (airing: August 30, 1993). In 1996, HBO produced a television feature film called The Late Shift , which recreates the battle between Letterman and Leno to host the tonight show .

The Late Show competed against Leno's concurrent The Tonight Show . Letterman has garnered praise from both critics and the entertainment industry; his show received 67 Emmy nominations , winning twelve times in the first twenty years. Leno beat Letterman on the odds, a lead that has commanded two million viewers over the years (5.8 million versus 3.8 million in 2003). Nevertheless, Letterman was placed ahead of Leno in the annual Harris Poll (a viewer survey) in the Nation's Favorite TV Personality category , as was the case in 2003 when Lettermann came third, behind Oprah Winfrey and Ray Romano - Leno came ninth.

Letterman started its own production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated , which has since produced its own shows and several other shows, including Everybody Loves Raymond , The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, respectively .

In March 2002, when Letterman's contract with CBS expired, the ABC announced that it would give Letterman the slot for the long-running news program Nightline with Ted Koppel, which should bring better viewership. This caused a minor commotion that ended when Letterman re-signed with CBS and publicly apologized to Koppel.

On the April 3, 2014 show, Letterman announced that he would retire in 2015, then after the May 20, 2015 broadcast, Letterman retired. Letterman's annual salary at CBS was $ 31 million, according to industry estimates. His Late Show was the model for the development of the Harald Schmidt Show and already served Herbert Feuerstein as a source of inspiration for the show Schmidt One another .

Comeback on Netflix

After a two-year absence, Letterman returned in January 2018 with a new talk show: My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman started on January 12 with Barack Obama as the first guest. Netflix initially announced six 60-minute shows, each released every month. Guests included George Clooney , Malala Yousafzai , Jay-Z , Tina Fey , and Howard Stern . In May 2019, Netflix released a second season in which Letterman spoke to guests Kanye West , Ellen DeGeneres , Tiffany Haddish , Lewis Hamilton and Melinda Gates .

Private

Letterman was born in Indianapolis , Indiana . The father, Harry Joseph Letterman, was a florist in his own flower shop and died of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of 57. The German-born mother, Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), initially helped out the father in the business and later worked as a secretary in a Presbyterian church ; she is occasionally switched on on the Late Show , usually on Thanksgiving and Mother's Day . Letterman has an older sister, Janice, and a younger sister, Gretchen.

After attending elementary school Public School 55, Letterman first went to Broad Ripple High School in the fall of 1961 and from September 1965 to Ball State University in Muncie , Indiana, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and in 1969 in the “Radio and Television "graduated. During his high school days, he also worked at the Atlas Supermarket , where he packed shopping bags, filled shelves and was later also allowed to cash in.

At Ball State University, Letterman met Michelle Cook, a music student. The two married on July 2, 1968, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1977.

In 1985, Letterman established the Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship at Ball State University to promote telecommunications engineering students solely on the basis of their talent.

He dated a late night writer, Merrill Markoe, for a while, but the relationship went awry. Markoe moved to California shortly thereafter to kickstart her screenwriting career.

In 1988, stalker Margaret Mary Ray was arrested while driving Letterman's Porsche near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City . Ray claimed she was Letterman's wife. In the years that followed, she was arrested again and again for trespassing and other offenses. In one case, police found her sleeping on Letterman's private tennis court on his New Canaan, Connecticut estate. Ray spent ten months in prison and fourteen in a state mental hospital for her numerous convictions. On October 7, 1998, Ray was run over by a train and killed in a suspected suicide in Colorado .

In January 2000, Letterman underwent heart surgery and was given five-fold bypass . During his recovery, friends of Letterman hosted reruns of the Late Show , such as B. Drew Barrymore , Ray Romano , Robin Williams , Bill Murray , Kathie Lee Gifford , Regis Philbin , Charles Grodin , Julia Roberts , Bill Cosby , Bruce Willis , Jerry Seinfeld , Martin Short , Danny DeVito , Steve Martin and Sarah Jessica Parker . On his return on February 21, 2001, he brought all of the doctors involved in the operation on stage, including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and his doctor Louis J. Aronne, who was often on the show. On one unusually emotional show, Letterman was close to tears as he thanked the doctors. The episode was later nominated for an Emmy .

In February 2003, Letterman was diagnosed with severe shingles and, just as after his heart surgery, Letterman handed the reins to various guest presenters, including actor Bruce Willis , ex-tennis pro John McEnroe , morning talk show host Regis Philbin and various other Hollywood greats.

On September 12, 2003, Letterman announced that his long-time friend and ex-colleague Regina Lasko was six months pregnant with his child. His son Harry Joseph Letterman, named after David's late father, was born on November 5, 2003.

David Letterman (2015)

Together with Bobby Rahal, Letterman owns the Rahal Letterman Racing team in the American Indy Racing League .

In March 2009, Letterman announced that he had married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko.

Letterman admitted on October 1, 2009, during his broadcast, that he had affairs with several employees after he said he was blackmailed into having this information made public. The blackmailer demanded $ 2 million from Letterman, otherwise he would publish a novel or film about his missteps. It was only after the alleged blackmailer Joe Halderman was arrested that Letterman went public with the story. As always, he acted jokingly, was self-deprecating with the sentence “For God's sake, Dave has sex” and earned applause and laughter from the audience.

Awards and honors

Letterman has been nominated 45 times for the Primetime Emmy Award and has received an Emmy ten times. This makes David Letterman the most award-winning talk show host in history. Lettermann has also received countless awards, including two Daytime Emmys, and was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012 .

• Daytime Emmy Award
  • 1981: Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Variety Series category for The David Letterman Show
  • 1981: in the category “Outstanding Individual Achievement - Writers” for The David Letterman Show

• Emmy Award
  • 1984: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Night with David Letterman
  • 1985: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Night with David Letterman
  • 1986: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Night with David Letterman
  • 1987: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Night with David Letterman
  • 1994: in the category "Variety, Music or Comedy Show " for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 1998: in the category "Screenplay for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 1999: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 2000: in the category “Script for a variety, music or comedy show” for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 2001: in the category “Screenplay for a Variety, Music or Comedy Show ” for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 2002: in the category "Script for a variety, music or comedy show" for Late Show with David Letterman

• American Comedy Award
  • 1989: in the category “Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special” for Late Night with David Letterman
  • 1994: in the category "Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series" for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 1995: in the category "Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special" for Late Show with David Letterman
  • 2001: in the category “Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series” for Late Show with David Letterman

• Kennedy Center Honors
  • 2012 as David Letterman

• The Comedy Awards
  • 2011: "Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence" for Late Show with David Letterman

• Mark Twain Prize
  • 2017: Award for his humorous work

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Indiana Public Radio - About Us - Station History ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from the Ball State University website, accessed June 5, 2009 
2. ↑ Excerpt from a radio broadcast with David Letterman from April 1, 1969 on reelradio.com, accessed on June 5, 2009
3. ↑ Video on youtube.com , July 3, 2007, accessed June 2, 2009
4. ↑ ^{a b} Playboy interview with David Letterman , [US] Playboy , October 1984, Volume 31, Issue 10, accessed on June 18, 2009
5. ↑ Article in Newsweek, February 3, 1986
6. ^ Entry on imdb.com , accessed on June 22, 2009
7. ↑ Rolling Stone Interview with David Letterman , Rolling Stone, June 1982, Issue 371, accessed September 16, 2009
8. ^ Transcription of the interview in The Barbara Walters Show ( memento of July 2, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), January 29, 1992, accessed September 17, 2009;
9. ↑ Video of the interview in the Charlie Rose Show ( memento of the original from February 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , dated February 16, 1996, accessed September 17, 2009  
10. ↑ Excerpt from the interview with Marrill Markoe from the book And Here's the Kicker… ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 20, 2009 
11. ↑ Playboy interview with David Letterman , [US] Playboy, October 1984, Volume 31, Issue 10, accessed on October 21, 2009
12. ↑ Newsweek article ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , [US] Newsweek, February 3, 1983, accessed October 21, 2009 
13. ↑ CBS News , April 3, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014
14. ↑ Christiane Heil: Last Letterman Show: Thanks and good night! . In: faz.net . May 21, 2015. Accessed May 21, 2015.
15. ↑ Adventist Review: Service in a World gone Mad ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 16, 2010  
16. ↑ Dirk Peitz: David Letterman: The program for good America . In: The time . January 13, 2018, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 23, 2018]).
17. ↑ Willi Winkler: Vaterglück, Kinderkitsch and Vollsuff in the Bahamas . In: sueddeutsche.de . 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on January 23, 2018]).
18. ^ Scott Stump: David Letterman announces Obama, Clooney as guests on new Netflix show . In: TODAY.com . (English, today.com [accessed January 23, 2018]).
19. ↑ dts news agency: US talker David Letterman married , March 24, 2009, accessed March 24, 2009
20. ^ David Letterman Honors , accessed February 1, 2015, youtube.com
21. ^ David Letterman | Explore the Arts  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 1, 2015, kennedy-center.org  

Web links

Commons : David Letterman  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The official Late Show with David Letterman website on CBS
• David Letterman in the Internet Movie Database (English)