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Posts tagged as late night with david letterman

From the Archives

The Episode Where David Letterman Had 13 Cameras

by | March 29th, 2013

The Paley Center for Media, which has locations in both New York and LA, dedicates itself to the preservation of television and radio history. Inside their vast archives of more than 120,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs, there are thousands of important and funny programs waiting to be rediscovered by comedy nerds like you and me. Each week, this column will highlight a new gem waiting for you at the Paley Library to quietly laugh at. (Seriously, it’s a library, so keep it down.)

As all of my surface dwelling readers are already aware, the winds of change are once again blowing around the gates of late night [...]

Late Night

Letterman's 10 Most Genuine Moments with His Guests

by | January 26th, 2012

In the New Yorker's 1978 profile of TV icon Johnny Carson, author Kenneth Tynan pinpoints the essential quality of Carson's genius: contempt. It's what the paterfamilias talk show host imparted to fellow midwestern David Letterman, rightful heir to the Tonight Show estate. In the early days however, Letterman ran aground. As the 1980s saw the Late Show struggling to find its way, there was no telling what Carson saw in the weatherman-turned-bumbling court jester. Dave's routine lacked both the deceptive modesty and turnaround wit he's now able to muster five nights a week, even, and especially when, his guests falter.

Letterman was never a great comedian. Jay Leno was. [...]

From the Archives

Late Night Becomes the Late Show as Letterman Says Goodbye to NBC

by | November 30th, 2012

The Paley Center for Media, which has locations in both New York and LA, dedicates itself to the preservation of television and radio history. Inside their vast archives of more than 120,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs, there are thousands of important and funny programs waiting to be rediscovered by comedy nerds like you and me. Each week, this column will highlight a new gem waiting for you at the Paley Library to quietly laugh at. (Seriously, it’s a library, so keep it down.)

In this, the final "From the Archives" of November, we present the final installment of our arbitrary theme looking at some of the more [...]

It's All in Books

Inside the Almost 100% Successful 1985 Late Night with David Letterman Book

by | January 6th, 2012

Everyone knows that Merrill Markoe just wrote a book called Cool, Calm & Contentious. But did you know she also did a first book? It’s true, because that is how ordinal numbers work, and for the purposes of this, it is Late Night with David Letterman: The Book.

Perhaps you can tell by the cover that this book was published in 1985 (also: there are some Tip O’Neill jokes). But: it captures a lot of what we might now refer to as “Late Night High Ironic” and at the time was referred to as “confusing to anyone not accustomed to constantly adjusting their point of reference”. That [...]

From the Archives

The Episode When David Letterman Was Too Tired to Do a Show

by | June 15th, 2012

The Paley Center for Media, which has locations in both New York and LA, dedicates itself to the preservation of television and radio history. Inside their vast archives of more than 120,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs, there are thousands of important and funny programs waiting to be rediscovered by comedy nerds like you and me. Each week, this column will highlight a new gem waiting for you at the Paley Library to quietly laugh at. (Seriously, it’s a library, so keep it down.)

One of the best things about Late Night with David Letterman was that in its prime, you never knew what was going to happen. [...]

History

Christmas with the Lettermans

by | December 23rd, 2011

On December 19, 1984, after devoting entire episodes to a bar mitzvah and an intermediate school's election night, and before their episodes from an airplane and a hotel room, Late Night with David Letterman presented Christmas with the Lettermans, a one hour send-up of every single cheesy Christmas special that had ever run on television. The special, which ran unsuspectingly on a Wednesday during Letterman's usual 12:35am time slot, won Late Night the Emmy for outstanding writing in a variety or music program for the second year in a row.

The special began with NBC's classic "brought to you in living color" identification that welcomed viewers to countless peacock [...]

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