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David Letterman

avatar for motorhead
motorhead
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
Dave Letterman is retiring this week after more than 30 years on the air. And I'm going to finally let you in on a dirty little secret. HE'S NOT FUNNY!

I know, for people of my generation to say that is blasphemous. It was the "cool thing" to say Letterman was better than Carson or Leno.

Maybe I'm not an Ivy Leaguer or I don't read "New Yorker" magazine. Maybe I'm just an unsophisticated Midwestern hillbilly and don't get his brand of "humor". But the bottom line is he is just a surly, hateful, angry guy and and an awful interviewer. Simply awful.

Won't miss him.

26 comments

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avatar for rogertex
rogertex
•
10 years ago
His opening monologues were a drag - but he was quite witty with the guests. His interviews had some unpredictability that I don't find with any other talk show host. And because of it - he had hard time booking the top stars to come on his show.
avatar for mark94
mark94
•
10 years ago
He used to be funny, a long time ago. Then, his ego got huge and he went on auto-pilot, figuring people would laugh at the same schtick over and over. Plus, he stopping hiding the fact that he is a mean, arrogant asshole.
avatar for elvis2
elvis2
•
10 years ago
All that may be true, but I still enjoy his show.
avatar for mikeya02
mikeya02
•
10 years ago
I watched Carson all the way. One time Rickles was telling a story and Carson made a funny comment.
Rickles said "Nice try, Johnny, but leave the funny stuff to me"
Johnny replied..."When?"
Everyone cracked up
avatar for rh48hr
rh48hr
•
10 years ago
I haven't watched him in years, but I don't watch any late night talk shows anymore. I found him entertaining back in the day and still use some old Letterman lines I found funny to this day. I may watch some of it this week just for nostalgia.
avatar for shailynn
shailynn
•
10 years ago
I used to watch him all the time when I was in college.

I liked him better than Leno, but I agree with others, he was a bit boring. It seemed like after the top 10 list and his interview with his first guest (almost always the most important one) everything else fell apart after that.
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
•
10 years ago
Who?
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
•
10 years ago
Couldn't be any worse than Jon Steward.
avatar for warhawks
warhawks
•
10 years ago

Conan can be pretty good.
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
•
10 years ago
I never found Letterman very funny. I can't wait for Colbert to start.
avatar for minnow
minnow
•
10 years ago
motorhead- Did you know that Letterman was born and raised in Indianapolis, and was a classmate of Marilyn Quayle (ex VP Dan Quayle's wife). I actually liked Carson and Leno better (guess I'm not cool), and have read several articles corraborating what many posters have written here.

Still, I enjoy surfing several YT vids of his past shows. While watching one of them, I saw that he is every bit the horndog as one of us. Watch his interview with Gwen Stefani, and where his eyes focus.... right where we all focused ours- on Gwen's amply exposed legs.
avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe
•
10 years ago
I think Leno and Carson are better.

Lettermans top 10 lists are usually disappointing
avatar for sharkhunter
sharkhunter
•
10 years ago
I rarely watch the show, it's usually by accident that I'm awake and watching it. I found him entertaining even if a lot of the above might be true. I thought it was entertaining to see David Clooney handcuff David then put the other handcuff on his arm and then throw the key into the crowd, David squirmed. He said he would wish Clooney a good by but he knew he was going to be sticking around for the rest of the show. handcuffed, lol
avatar for ATACdawg
ATACdawg
•
10 years ago
Thank God!!!! All this time I was afraid that I was the only man in America who didn't think DL was funny.
avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong
•
10 years ago
I've seen some of his stuff that made me laugh out loud, but they were rare. I won't miss him either.
avatar for LeeH
LeeH
•
10 years ago
Carson was, and always will be king. His philosophy was to let the guest be funny (if capable), because the next morning, the conversation would be "Did you see Carson last night?" regardless of who provided the laughs.
avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong
•
10 years ago
Some of Carson's funniest moments happened when he said nothing at all.

Pure, unadulterated genius.
avatar for Josh43
Josh43
•
10 years ago
My top three:

(3) Letterman
(2) Jon Stewart (it's Stewart, not Steward, you dumbass, Dougster).

and my favorite,
(1) John Oliver
avatar for mikeya02
mikeya02
•
10 years ago
lol, I just thought of The Magic Hour. Remember that?
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
•
10 years ago
Sorry about that, Josh.

Guess I need to put in more hours listening to The Daily Show and memorizing The Democratic Party Line in place of calling people "fags" on TUSCL.
avatar for dallas702
dallas702
•
10 years ago
Unlike Josh43 I cannot stand Letterman - Motorhead was right when he said David Liberalman is not funny, but worse - his writers tried to produce left leaning humor without a clue about what is actually funny. Letterman was unwatchable before he deficed his political agenda was more important than entertainment, then he just got sickening..

Jon Stewart is not much better, but at least he had a few good writers and attempted to put gags ahead of political leanings - sometimes.

And who is John Oliver?
avatar for DoctorPhil
DoctorPhil
•
10 years ago
letterman is a certifiable misogynist. not the hyperbole that is slung about here but a no shit woman hater. just another fucking liberal idiot
avatar for seaboardrr
seaboardrr
•
10 years ago
Carson was genius. He wouldn't even have to say anything, he could just give the camera a look. Letterman is much the same way. Haven't watched the show in years but I always enjoyed it. Love the top 10 lists and loved the banter between him and Paul. Always seemed like it could go haywire at any minute and maybe that was part of what I liked. Leno always seemed rehearsed down to the last detail and i never really like that. Stewart and Colbert crack me up non-stop. Love them both. I hope Colbert will still be as irreverent with a major network looming over his head.
avatar for pensionking
pensionking
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10 years ago
Letterman hasn't been funny since 2000.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
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10 years ago
If I'm up that late at night, I'm doing something more fun than watching TV.
avatar for sflguy123
sflguy123
•
10 years ago
When I was in high school and Letterman followed Johnny Carson I loved his show. The Chris Elliott, Larry Bud Melman, viewer mail days.

I never found Carson that funny, he just had zero competition.

But Letterman hasn't been funny to me for a while now.
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