Dave is leaving
David Letterman announced his pending 2015 retirement today on his program The Late Show. Dave's Late Night show on NBC ran from 1982 to 1993. It was the first network talk show for the generation that was raised on television, and I was a little tyke mesmerized by it. In '93, I went off to college, and the very same week that fall, Dave made his celebrated debut on CBS after the corporate pinheads at the Peacock made their bed with Jay Leno. They made plenty of money off their decision, but CBS made plenty of money too, and Jay Leno and the pinheads will be forgotten in relatively short order. Letterman will go, not just into the Pantheon of late night TV with Johnny Carson, but to the top tier of all-time television personalities, period. Top 5, at least. Every comedy program you see on your television today mimics Dave's absurdist post-ironic bent, or has gone purposefully sweet and saccharine to counteract the prevailing sarcastic tone of the medium that was established by Dave (God, I can't stand Jimmy Fallon).
This is going to be a wonderful last year (and change) as Dave takes a victory lap. I'm a guy who still has Johnny's last week and a half of shows on VHS (but now no VCR player on which to play them), and has celebrated ever since in television's greatest exit. That's what I want for Dave. And here's how I would like to specifically see it.
I want last lap appearances by Norm MacDonald, Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Simmons, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore, Jerry Seinfeld, Sandra Bernhard, Teri Garr (if she's up to it), Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Betty White, Don Rickles, Regis Philbin, Chris Rock, Nathan Lane, Jack Hanna, Amy Sedaris, and Ray Romano.
I want Conan and I want Jimmy Kimmel.
I'd like to see Lyle the Intern.
I don't want big-name movie stars that are only that. If you are humorless and uninteresting, and you know who you are, don't even call your agent. You're not going to crash this party just to heighten your status.
I want one solid week of nothing but Dave's oldest friends and collaborators, ratings be damned. That would be Jimmy (J.J.) Walker, Jeff Altman, John Witherspoon, George Wallace, Tom Dreesen, Mary Tyler Moore, Merrill Markoe, and Gerard Mulligan.
Then, the last week, we drop the hammer: Robin Williams and Bette Midler, who were Johnny's last two guests; Tina Fey, to represent the children of "Dave,"; Steve Martin, so good; Michael Keaton, who worked with Dave on MTM's Mary, and would provide one more opportunity to see the clip of Dave singing; Chris Elliott, Dave's clown prince; Cher, who is the Cher of Dave's long career; and then on the last one, Bill Murray, the cosmic brother; and Martin Short, who "brought it" better than anybody else as a guest.
Who am I leaving out? Can we fit it all in as it is? I say yes. The exact end date is still undetermined, right? We'll run long if we have to.
Take a bow, David. Enjoy the the last hurrah. And then I'm going to miss the shit out of you.
posted by CM @ 10:37 PM
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