Apparently, David Letterman has an inside joke where he asks every musician that performs on his show whether their drum set is rented or owned, and here's a compilation of several dozen times he's done that (video by Dave Shumka, comedian and host of Stop Podcasting Yourself).
"Some comedians just say funny things and some comedians say things funny, but you say things." – Steve Martin to David Letterman.
David Letterman has always been intensely shy – or at least, shy for a public figure – avoiding any and all interviews, publicity, and discussion of his personal life. He's started to open up a little bit as he's nearing retirement, beginning with an appearance on Alec Baldwin's podcast last year and now, in a long interview on Oprah Winfrey's TV show Oprah's Next Chapter, which aired yesterday. Here's a clip of Letterman discussing his retirement, explaining that he has a deal worked out with CBS President Les Moonves where Moonves decides when he retires, no questions asked. Hit the jump for the rest of Letterman and Oprah's [...]
In another example of young fanhood, Adam Sandler admitted to revering Letterman. As did his SNL cohorts, so they would time their days to make sure they could just look at Letterman. Not joke with Letterman or even talk with him, just look at him. It's hard to say if these daily sneaked peaks helped any of their careers but Sandler is definitely doing a lot better than his Vicks Vapor Rub joke days.
So Joaquin Phoenix, clean-shaven and presumably not acting, returned to the scene of his infamous non-interview on The Late Show, and it was OK, I suppose. Letterman claimed to not have been in on the joke, despite evidence to the contrary. There were half-apologies and more jokes about how weird he was acting and, you know, that sort of thing. But I can't help feeling unsatisfied with the whole thing. It's like the VMAs this year and their obsession with Kanye vs. Taylor: it was all insular and manufactured and self-referential and in the end signified nothing, so who cares?
Here's comic's comic and Letterman regular Andy Kindler's latest set on the show last night. It's a super funny set, even if it contains more throat clearing than segues.
Here's Martin Short being as funny as ever on Letterman last night, singing a song about Carnival Cruise Lines to kick off his stint as the company's new singing and dancing spokesperson. This new John Mulaney/Martin Short sitcom can't come soon enough.
The annual Kennedy Center Honors were held a few weeks ago, with late night pioneer David Letterman being amongst those recognized at the prestigious White House ceremony. The event aired last week on CBS, and it's now been uploaded online. Big-time comedy people Tina Fey, Jimmy Kimmel, Alec Baldwin, and Ray Romano all trekked out to Washington to pay tribute to Letterman, who seemed to not hate the whole ceremony as much as you'd expect Letterman to hate something like this. Hit the jump for the rest of the Letterman portion of the ceremony and to see Jimmy Kimmel offend an important ballerina.
Conan was on Letterman last night for the first time in 13 years and they didn't waste anytime getting into Leno talk, as they assumed he was watching and would want them to cut to the chase. Conan has talked about the time he lost the Tonight Show before but Letterman is able to bring out a new angle on it, as he went through nearly the exact same situation. Since he's further removed from the situation, however, Letterman is able to take a sick pleasure in it all. Their relationship is fun, not exactly father and son – more like nephew and son-of-a-bitch uncle. Leno is the uncle [...]
Summer Daily Show fill-in host John Oliver made his first appearance on Letterman last night, and the result was a fun interview that resulted in Letterman giving Oliver tips on how to sleepwalk his way through an interview with an actor he has no interest in talking to – which is totally not what he's doing when interviewing Oliver.
Enjoy this 13-minute clip of Bill Cosby on Letterman, which includes a tight five minutes of sit-down stand-up and the legendary comedian proving he's still got his Cosby Show opening credits moves by dancing for half his allotted time to the Harlem Globetrotters theme.
The annual Kennedy Center Honors were held last night at the White House, with President Barack Obama and a bunch of celebrities paying tribute to the year's honorees, a group that included David Letterman and some other people (Led Zeppelin, blues musician Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova, and Dustin Hoffman). The show will be broadcast December 26 on CBS. On the red carpet, Letterman told the press he was excited to win the award and for the trip to the White House, saying, "It supersedes everything, honestly. I haven't won that many awards."
Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Kimmel, and Ray Romano were on hand to honor Letterman. Fey [...]
Remember when you started college and you didn't really have friends yet so you just walked around looking for parties, hoping some cool dude (with an attitude) would see you and invite you into some idyllic rager, featuring a keg of beer, if not multiple kegs of beers? (Yes? Ok, great. Than keep on reading) Well, Adam Scott and Nick Offerman are just like you and I in that regard. The two of them had a very similar experience – no, not while they were in college – recently, as TV stars. I literally cannot fathom someone not wanting to drink beer with Nick Offerman. It's unthinkable. Try to [...]
