The first time David Letterman crossed my path was in 1983. I was nine. We were on a "family vacation" which really meant my dad was going on a long business trip and we were tagging along. This lead us to, of all places, Akron, Ohio. My dad had a horrific time trying to find the hotel we were booked in, and once we did, it was implied that this was not in the best part of Akron. Being so late, we turned on the TV and happened to catch this guy. The guy behind the desk was talking to a janitor. The janitor mentioned he had a couple days left before he was going to retire. And the guy behind the desk told him he was fired. His shoulders slumped, he turns and walks out the blue doors behind him. And my nine-year-old mind could not believe someone could be so cruel. This guy was a monster! And then the audience starts applauding! What the hell were my parents into watching this?
(I would love to actually know what the set up to the gag was to fill this story in more.) Fast forward 10 years. I landed an internship with the National Basketball Association. This meant living by myself (first time) in the middle of a very large city (first time). At some point, I put two-and-two together and realized that I'd be there for Dave's first four months (I would miss the first week). A the time, I lived in a transient hotel over on 57th west of 8th. The NBA offices were (and still are) at 52nd and 5th. So I would do my very best to bail out of there whenever I could to try to catch if something was happening outside the Ed. I think I was lucky and saw a couple of things, but nothing memorable. But there was this odd serendipity in my 19-year-old brain that we were both doing something "new" (though my new was significantly bigger than his was). A while ago, I wrote that the biggest thing that I'd miss is Letterman on days when we all kinda needed someone there (Robin Williams's death, for instance). I didn't watch Dave as much as I probably could have because, as Dave has readily admittedly lately, he took on more of the role of presenter than host, and it wasn't Dave. But I still have transcribed Dave's spectacular take down of Jay after his "It's not Conan's fault" speech (which was only behind Conan's "People Of Earth" letter and Kimmel on Leno in terms of public key points in that saga). I still regularly watch his Robin speech, and his Johnny speech. His interview with LiLo, which could've been Paris Hilton Part 2 and instead because one of the most powerful conversations I'd ever seen. I cannot get enough of J-Law's five appearances (if there is one person I am most disappointed in not getting to see one more time, it's her). And Dave's Eagles song discussion, where he decided to stir shit just because. In either his NY Times or Rolling Stone exit interview he mentioned he could do a show three days a week, a couple weeks a month. I'd take that in a heart beat. Selfishly, I hope there's someone there who can put a bug in his ear and help him do something we can all enjoy. On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 5:40 AM JW <[email protected]> wrote: > > For as long as I have thought of myself as an > > adult I regularly heard Dave's voice at the end of the day (more recently > > it was just as often at the start of the next day, or even over the > > weekend), providing me with a certain kind of continuity and reality > check. > > This is the part that's hard to process. While I appreciated what Carson > or Cronkhite meant to the culture at large, I didn't have the same sort of > relationship with them that I do with Dave. For the last few weeks, it's > felt a little strange turning the TV off at 12:40; it's going to feel > stranger not having anything I need to watch at 11:35. Even if Colbert is > as good as we hope he'll be, I can't imagine making the same commitment to > his show that I've had to Letterman. > > Thanks, Dave. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
