Late Show UK

David Letterman’s been the subject of some controversy this week regarding some jokes he made about Governor Sarah Palin and her 18 year old daughter. He’s since apologised for the jokes on-air on the Late Show. Has this thing been blown completely out of proportion? Yes, in my opinion. What do you think? Leave us a comment.

Yahoo! News - “Sarah Palin: Letterman owes women an apology”
Digital Spy - “David Letterman ‘regrets’ Sarah Palin joke”

Click here to watch Letterman talking about the Sarah Palin controversy on the Late Show, and to watch a video of Sarah Palin on The Today Show talking about Letterman

David Letterman had a terrible sore throat on last night’s edition of the Late Show but managed to carry on throughout the whole show, whereas some people may have cancelled it altogether and gone home sick.

Letterman had such a sore throat, he was losing his voice. He got part-way through the monologue and Tony Mendez finished it. Also, Paul Shaffer helped out with the reading of the Top Ten list when Dave’s voice got particularly bad.

Click here to watch last night’s monologue and Dave helping Jennifer Garner with her hurt knee

As it’s a week of reruns on the Late Show With David Letterman, it’s a good time to look back at some classic Letterman clips.

The David Letterman Show was a short-lived morning programme hosted by David Letterman, which aired on NBC before he started Late Night With David Letterman. It ran from from the 23rd June 1980 to the 24th October 1980 and had 90 episodes in total.

The programme wasn’t a great success (as Dave sometimes points out on the Late Show), but probably gave Dave the opportunity to get used to a talk show envrionment before taking on Late Night in 1982.

Paul Shaffer was also present on the show.

Many of the 90 episodes still survive in the Late Show archives in New York City.

Video clips follow.

Click here for video clips from The David Letterman Show

Congratulations Dave!

David Letterman married his long-term partner Regina Lasko last week. On the 19th March, they married at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Montana.

Letterman made the news public on yesterday’s edition of the Late Show With David Letterman, joking “Regina and I began dating in February of 1986… things are going pretty good, let’s just see what happens in about 10 years”. David has kept his relationship with Regina out of the press and out of the media spotlight.

Dave has famously rejected the idea of marriage whenever the subject is brought up - usually referring to Regina as “the mother of my child”. He said (on Monday’s Late Show) “I avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years… I secretly felt that men who were married admired me… like I was the last of the real gunslingers”.

There was a hitch before he made it to the aisle last week though - his truck got stuck in the mud and they had to wait to be pulled out to make it to the Courthouse for their marriage ceremony. He says “so now we think well somebody’ll come - no, nobody comes along. Nobody comes along - it’s Thursday afternoon - who’s coming along - Zorro? No - nobody. So I get out of the truck and I walk two miles back to the house into a 50 mph wind”. He then jokes “’see smart ass… you try to get married, this is what happens”.

When Harry started asking whether it was all still going ahead, Dave said “he gets very upset because mom had told him if I wasn’t back in an hour, the deal was off”.

NBC Los Angeles reports “the couple, together since 1986, were flanked by two friends and their 5-year-old son Harry as they stood together in the second floor of the 103-year-old building while the Justice of the Peace officiated the wedding”.

CBS News - “Letterman Marries Longtime Girlfriend”
The Associated Press - “David Letterman marries longtime girlfriend”
The Huffington Post - “David Letterman Marries Regina Lasko”
The Huffington Post - “Regina Lasko Photos: Letterman Talks About Marrying Her”
Yahoo! News - “David Letterman marries longtime girlfriend”
People - “David Letterman Marries Longtime Girlfriend Regina Lasko”
NBC Los Angeles - “David Letterman Wedding Details Revealed”
Digital Spy - “Letterman marries long-term girlfriend”
Official Late Show Website - Wahoo Gazette for 23/03/2009

Click here to watch the announcement on Monday’s Late Show

David Letterman is nominated in the 2009 People’s Choice Awards in the TV category for Favourite Talk Show Host. Letterman is up against Ellen DeGeneres and Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (from “the Regis Lee and Kelly Lee programme” as Dave would say). Vote for David Letterman by clicking the Vote Now button at www.pcavote.com and you can skip just to the “TV” category on the Vote Now page if you wish.

Rolling Stone magazine - featuring the big interview with David Letterman - is now available to buy in UK shops. It’s the 18th September 2008 issue (issue 1061) from the US and is now on sale in the UK. You may have trouble getting hold of a copy if you don’t live in a larger city as the magazine is a direct import from America and only the larger stores are likely to get it. There are usually a few auctions on eBay if you can’t get hold of a copy in a shop (people on eBay do tend to charge a lot for postage/shipping though). You can also now read the whole interview on the Rolling Stone website. It’s a great interview.

As mentioned in my previous post about Rolling Stone magazine, Letterman provides an in-depth interview. Dave discusses Conan O’Brien taking over from Jay Leno on The Tonight Show next year, his heart surgery, his contract with CBS, life at home with Harry & Regina, the workings behind the Late Show broadcasts, his admiration of Johnny Carson, the first show back after the September 11th attacks and much more.

In addition to the Letterman interview, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman also has some quotes throughout the magazine.

Late Show UK - “David Letterman interview in Rolling Stone magazine”
Rolling Stone - “Dave at Peace: The Rolling Stone Interview”
Rolling Stone - Issue 1061 information
NYTimes.com - Front cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring David Letterman

David Letterman has told Rolling Stone magazine that he will be honouring the rest of his CBS contract for the Late Show and may consider staying on even after 2010. Letterman tells Rolling Stone, “the way I feel now, I would like to go beyond 2010, not much beyond, but you know, enough to go beyond. You always like to be able to excuse yourself on your own terms”. Dave also says “if they wanna make a change in 2010, you know, I’m fine with that, too”.

In a very rare instance, Letterman also speaks about Jay Leno and his Tonight Show retirement next year, saying “I have to believe he was not happy about it”. Dave also gives a nod of approval to Conan O’Brien - taking over The Tonight Show from Leno next summer. He says he thinks Conan’s “a very funny guy” but says it would be “weird to see Conan at 11:30″.

David Letterman appears on the front cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine with with Chris Rock and Tina Fey.

The Associated Press - “Letterman wants to call sunset for late-night gig”
NYTimes.com - Front cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring David Letterman
NYTimes.com - “Letterman Baffled by NBC’s Replacing of Leno”
Rolling Stone - “Dave at Peace: The Rolling Stone Interview”

It’s great to see British press reviewing the Late Show With David Letterman, and this review was a real treat. Letterman has been called a “legend” and “subversive genius” in a new glowing review at The Guardian. The blog entry also mentions Diva TV - who air the Late Show in the UK - which is quite a touchy subject at the moment with us Dave fans since Diva TV have reduced their Letterman output to a mere two episodes a week.

The Guardian hit the nail on the head with their thoughts about Diva TV. They say - “oddly - and solely, one presumes - because of its celebrity content, you will also find The Late Show with David Letterman”. Speaking of Letterman, they say he’s “on marvellous form”. They also say he’s “a master of the smart-guy-playing-it-dumb stratagem, and once again looks like a subversive genius”. To read the review in full, click on the link below to The Guardian’s website.

The Guardian - “Discover the legend that is Letterman … On Diva TV”

Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) has ranked Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report team as number two in The 25 Funniest People In America. They say “week-in and week-out, Colbert takes aim at the political-industrial complex — and I don’t care if there’s no such term — and spins the facts into truth. Or truthiness. Whichever’s easier”. The Judd Apatow Posse were number one in the list and Tina Fey came in at third place. Jon Stewart and The Daily Show team came fourth, Conan O’Brien ranked 11th, David Letterman came in at 17th place and Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson was 19th.

Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) - “The 25 Funniest People in America”

The host of the Late Late Show - Craig Ferguson - is rumoured to be top of the list to replace David Letterman on the Late Show when he retires from the CBS talk show in a few years. The Late Late Show - which airs directly after the Late Show With David Letterman on CBS in America and is produced by Letterman’s own production company Worldwide Pants Inc - has been a favourite with late night TV viewers and he recently - briefly - overtook Conan O’Brien in the ratings, beating Late Night With Conan O’Brien’s viewing figures.

Craig Ferguson recently ‘gigged’ at a George W. Bush press event & dinner, which he impressed 3000 people at what The Times say is “the toughest dinner-club comedy gig in the world”. The Times also say “it has put Ferguson… into the front row of contenders to take over the chat show hosted by his CBS stablemate Letterman when the veteran compere bows out gracefully over the next few years”. Scotsman Craig started out as a standup comedian under his alter ego of ‘Bing Hitler’ before he got the Late Late Show gig.

Times Online - “Craig Ferguson ‘may be next Letterman’”

Happy Birthday Dave! It was David Letterman’s birthday on the 12th April (last Saturday) and Lyle The Intern remembers, of course. Check out the clip embedded below for what Lyle gave Dave, and there’s another clip - “Bros for life”. Jimmi Simpson (probably best known for his appearances in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) is great as Lyle The Intern - his act is hilarious - I think he’s on a par with the quality of the great Johnny Dark’s polished act. Check out some of Lyle’s past appearances here.

In a new AOL poll, Jay Leno got 41% of the vote as the favourite late night chat show host. David Letterman got 34% of the vote. The AOL poll also saw Ellen DeGeneres voted the best chat show host on TV for her daytime show - the NY Daily News website reports “DeGeneres garnered 46% of the vote to Winfrey’s 19%”.

NY Daily News - “Ellen DeGeneres is the toast of hosts in AOL poll”

David Letterman has given a very rare interview to Montana’s News Station (CBS) and they talk about Dave’s ranch in the area. An excerpt from the interview on the Montana News Station website reads “So we’ve learned almost everything we know from people like Tom (Brokaw) and from the neighbors. And I can’t stress enough how… And what a surprise it was that we would find all these terrific people and it has been such a positive experience for the family”. The full interview doesn’t air on Montana’s News Station until Sunday morning (US time).

Montana’s News Station - “David Letterman interviewed by Montana’s News Station”

20th February and 21st February 2008;

CBS have really been on the ball since these shows returned - they have regularly been uploading the Late Show and Late Late Show monologues to their YouTube channel, which is nice for us UK viewers - especially Craig Ferguson clips, as we don’t get to see the Late Late Show on UK TV. CBS’s videos of the monologues from Friday’s US shows are embedded below for your enjoyment.