It used to be a religion…
That’s right, late night started with Steve Allen, matured with Johnny Carson and ended with David Letterman. There are people on at 10:35 now, even 10 and 11:35, but they’re poseurs, inheritors of a throne no one pays fealty to anymore, despite a fawning press gushing in adulation, trying to divert attention from its own death.
Johnny was damn good. But what’s stunning is how he’s been forgotten.
And it’s like Jay Leno never existed.
Leno’s still around, but the show was wiped from our memory banks instantly. It’s almost as if Jay was a warm-up act for sleep, and once your eyes shut you couldn’t remember a damn thing.
But there was this period in the 1980s, when Dave ruled.
It was a club. There was an occasional story in “alternative” magazines like “Rolling Stone,” but mostly Letterman was ignored.
Except by his audience.
First and foremost Letterman was on at 11:35 in an era where there were VCRs but almost no one knew how to program them.
Merrill Markoe & Letterman
You had to stay up late to watch him. And what you got was the Little Rascals on steroids, a clubhouse full of hijinks that no one had performed before. Dave wasn’t stupid enough to take chances with his mortality, but the situations Merrill Markoe put him in were not only memorable, you couldn’t stop telling people about them.
Merrill Markoe. She doesn’t get enough credit.
Dave’s the star, but Merrill created the show.
And that’s how I found out about it, from friends. That’s how you find out about all the best stuff in this universe, via the passion expressed. You just have to check out what people are on about, to give them crap if nothing else.
And what intrigued me about Dave was his irreverence.
That’s what the Jimmys are lacking. That’s why Jon Stewart is a star.
You see the Baby Boomers were brought up to question authority, to never feel comfortable in a ruling position, and that’s another thing that endeared us to Dave, his uncomfortableness.
And of course we had the SNL refugee Paul Shaffer on keys. But even more we had all the acts we could never see on television anywhere else. I’ll never forget Sinead O’Connor doing “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart.” I played it over and over again. As I did Melissa Etheridge‘s “I’m The Only One”…
That’s right, I recorded Dave’s show, but watched it even later each night. I have no time for commercials. And I had a thousand dollar VCR that was easy to program.
And I know all about the famous moments, Sonny & Cher, ultimately Drew Barrymore and Madonna, but that’s not what the appeal was. The appeal was you felt like a club member, and we all want to belong.
And we’re all not cool, we don’t have famous friends. And Dave famously never dated nor hung with the stars. You seemingly couldn’t take him out of Indiana.
And then there was his mother. Most celebs leave their parents behind, unless they’re dieted down to nothing and have limitless panache.
But Dave’s mom was just like ours. And we loved her for it.
And I know all about the “Tonight Show” nonsense, the late night wars, but the truth is Dave got his 10:35 slot and changed his show and it was never the same.
He wore fancy suits, the band was no longer “Dangerous,” but an “Orchestra.” The first couple of years were a victory lap and then Dave bombed on the Oscars and the stink was upon him, the audience fled, he fired Morty and Jay took over.
Dave recovered, but it was never the same.
Because it wasn’t new, and it was for everybody, not just us.
If you want to know why Dave is retiring listen to his podcast with Alec Baldwin. He just didn’t want to put in the extra effort anymore. Because he didn’t care.
But I’ll argue Dave left the building long before.
As we all did… When the internet was upon us and we had options, not only at 10:35 but alternatives to broadcast television itself, and then cable too! The format was old and stale, Conan lacked charisma and Fallon is so sugarcoated as to be icky. It’d be like having the media obsessed with British Invasion clone bands.
The world moved on, late night TV did not.
But it was good to know Dave was still there. Even if I didn’t watch him. It was a link to the past. One where someone completely ordinary-looking could rally his brethren for success.
But now he’s gonna be gone.
Everybody’s doing his show, but he won’t be. That’s right, during Johnny’s days every guest didn’t do a bit, they actually had real conversations, it’s Dave who turned late night into pure comedy.
But the format’s stale, as I said above.
We’re always looking for someone to push the limits. Someone not like them but us, who we can trumpet and make successful and then bask in the stardom of.
It ain’t late night stars anymore.
Maybe YouTubers, or Viners.
But no, they’re stars without talent. Dave had something. He was sharp. You could see his brain working. He was there to entertain us. But he maintained his dignity, except when he intentionally sacrificed it.
So, so long Dave.
Maybe you can come back once a week wearing your boxing shoes and sport jackets and make fun of what once was and continues to be.
But I’m thinking you’re gonna fade into the woodwork and after the hoopla of the expiration of your show the media will move on.
But there are some of us who will never forget you.
The same way you never forget that guy in class who didn’t date either but had no problem pulling pranks and risking retribution.
Dave criticized his bosses.
He was TV’s Bob Dylan.
But unless you were there when it happened, primarily back in the eighties, you’ll never understand.
And for those of us who were, THAT’S POSITIVELY FINE!
Sinead O’Connor “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart”
Melissa Etheridge “I’m The Only One”
“Here’s The Thing With Alec Baldwin”
Your opinions are completely off.
Maybe you should have looked up the ratings for leno and letterman then wrote this article.
stupid things you said would make you look like the idiot you are.
Truthfully…you’re a phony…a big phony…
Like we don’t have enough b.s. er’s on here
The facts and figures prove you wrong….period.
The actual times to measure were only 10:30/10:35 to 11pm…after that
lights out…and the shows knew it.
running til 12:30am in the eastern time zone didn’t help any of these
guys ratings.
Leno had his tme. Taking over for the great carson was never an easy task…
Letterman had his years and in many markets beat leno badly in the key
demos (not hearne’s 6 year old viewers).
If you’ve watched letterman you see his show did change…more to
attract a more “intellectual” crowd….while leno wanted to keep with the
comedy schtick.
Truly mr. lefsetz….these guys generated billions of dollars for their networks…
over the years…because what did they have to compete with? NIGHTLINE?
ARSENIO HALL? two sure losers those were.
So before you write something that is not only factually but proves you to
be an idiot with a huge ego who can tell us why things happen…stfu.
If you needthe numbers or the stats I can present them….but you’re a
wanna be…a never was…
Now go back to your play world and let the little writers
on kcc give the truth.
How would I classify this article: G for Garbage…..and BS for full of b.s.
Prove your points. Because I can prove mine!
Harley’s weekly Trepanning Procedure must not have gone well.
actually had a great weekend chuckles the sad clown!
I knew who my mother was…too bad you didn’t know
yours!
Carson indeed was the best…but sometimes they move
on. He was also the most introverted of them all…really
hated the limelight.
But he owned the late night and no one could catch him
…not mr. bishop …not mr. hall….he was the best.
Letterman, Hall, Fallon, Leno, etc. etc. The whole group’s rhetorical leitmotif was anodyne pastiche after Carson. My dad would be 100 years old in 4 years if he were still alive. He and all his friends, loved Carson. The reason Sinead O’Connor couldn’t find a “Real Enemy” to fight, was because the fathers of the dead beat, solipsistic, self absorbed, “Baby Boomers, killed all the fu*kers.
Letterman vs Leno? Unlike Monroe vs Bardot and Loren vs Welch their primes, cared not. Certainly not as much the competition good old tv days Johnny Carson vs a group of tomato cans included Les Crane and Joey Bishop, among others. However, ‘I kid you not’ – Jack was on Paar with Carson, ditto Dick Cavett my ‘taste’buds. As a pair, Crane and Bishop were in the same league then aforementioned surname L’s are current era.
The choice one or the other Letterman or Leno, the former was my preference by the width of the gap between his front teeth (unless a re-run of ‘Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea’ was on late at night.) I would rather look inside Leno’s garage at some his cars than watch/listen to him try and be funny (maybe if he had had a jaw-off with the late Robert Z’Dar to see who had the bigger bite…)
Kerouac’s opine: over-saturation is the biggest reason circa century 21 television is no longer ‘must see’. How many idiot box channels are available viewing universe today, a million? As the jabberers proliferate morning, afternoon, evening & late night, so too mediocrity. Modern venue – talk as sports, politics as cars & otherwise hip endeavors leaves me out of fashion but thankful I was born of a vintage old enough to have seen the trailblazers said. Today’s ‘brand’ just doesn’t exude quality compared yesteryear’s.
Yesterday had it’s share of lesser’s too, subjectively to be sure, but, day or night Joe Pyne, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglass and even that late night Bishop, Joey (who made me yearn for 1950’s ‘Bishop Fulton Sheen Show’ instead, the lesser two evils) better still than the fare today. If anyone ‘now’ stimulated my intellect or funny bone a high enough degree, would embrace such. As it stands, is no one.
agree with this assessment 100%. not familiar with some of the names named (though I do recall Joe Pyne). Bishop, Griffin, Douglass, Cavett – all played to their strengths, knew their limits, comfortable in their roles… didn’t try to out Carson, Johnny. Parr was in a class by himself – more Murrow than Allen.
Leno does have an awesome collection, for sure, and a reputation so big in that arena that brand managers factor him in to their marketing plans when new models (well, the cool ones anyway) are launched.
My admission: living a duration dating the forefather’s venue of today’s funny, the ability to contrast isn’t arbitrary out of hand dismissal their progeny, nascent current lineup. Nonetheless, a by-product of aging a ‘good old days’ view the world, late-night television included: nothing new under the sun compares.
Preference however being a castle we all call home, the passage time ordained it, as it has, does & ever will each new generation. Unplanned, isn’t a simple matter trying deny amorphous entity some call progress – present has the same opportunity impress.
Fact is, it doesn’t, Kerouac’s navigation the present his bivouac; somewhere, my beaten path converged that road less traveled, satisfied to be back there am I, a bit wistful wishing that a man as his world would not have to grow old. Enlist JG Wentworth, with a twist: “it’s ‘my’ yesterdays, and I need it ‘now’!”
To wit, who can argue today’s ‘Chiefs’ as their predecessors the past 45 some years are not proof that yesterday was in fact the better, brighter stage. Desperately, the present interlopers try recapture what was, ever looking for an next Dawson or Taylor or Buchanan… next Carson, Paar & Cavett, et al.
🙂
So much to say, limited internet paper… the late Morton Downey Jr. and Wally George ‘may’ have a step down from their forefathers, but, the late night shark didn’t jump on their watch, my opine. Nod Pete Townshend, “it’s just a late night wasteland,” today.
Fini
The late nite shows are extremely important in that they ushered in the smaller families. The time slot previously reserved for ahem was now the perview of someone making us laugh, and America went from the 5 child family to the 2.3 child family, all because the time slot found another form of entertainment. It is a historical moment in time, when every family had to have a television, and multiple television found their way into the bedroom. We know this based on the talk at the water cooler about the Great Karnac, as our fellow employee recited the Mrs. Arnold Palmer line of wishing her husband luck, as seen on Johny Carson. It used to be apolitical. Now, with the time slot dilluted, with the advent of cable, we can watch boxing, a movie, or any other form of entertainment…or we can jyst go to sleep.
channel 4 (when they were NBC) delayed Letterman a half hour to midnight when he was on NBC