Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
| 01 February 1982 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Bessie Smyth

    Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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    Nicole

    I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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    Sarita Rafferty

    There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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    Brooklynn

    There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

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    TheyCallMeMrGibbs

    Setting: An overpriced studio set overlooking New York City.Time: Present Day, though if anyone had common sense it wouldn't be.Tone: Deaf DRAMATIS PERSONAE David Letterman: The gap-toothed Host of Late Night. A cynical man who is jealous of Jay Leno because Jay's funny and he's not.Paul Shaffer: A rare breed of shaved parrot. Serves to repeat everything that Dave says and act as what I'm guessing is a bandleader.Alan Kalter: Announcer for the show. Not his fault.Dave: Alright Ladies and Gentlemen, here's tonight's top 10 list.(Music enters) Dave: Tonight's top 10 list: Top 10 Reasons I'm Not Funny.(Applause sign lights up, people forced to clap, dually regretting an evening wasted) Dave: Number 10:I'm a cynic Paul: Oh, a cynic, huh?Dave: Number 9: I'm whiny-Carson retired twenty years ago and I treat Jay Leno like he's Moby Dick.Paul: Moby Dick.Dave: Number 8: I think it's funny if I repeat words I say like "political pundit." Paul: Political Pundit.Dave: Number 7: I'm crotchety.Paul: Crotchety.Dave: Number 6: I actually have to use laugh signs.Paul: Oh, laugh signs huh? Dave: Number 5: I don't ask guests real questions that stimulate their minds-instead I'll interview Hugh Laurie and ask him if his name is Hugh Laurie.Paul: Ah, Hugh Laurie.Dave: Number 4: If a guest says something awkward, I'll just look at the audience and furrow my brow.Paul: Furrow your brow, huh? Dave: Number 3: I won't appear even mildly interested in what my guests are saying.Paul: What your guests are saying Dave.Dave: Number 2: I meanly pounce on celebrity scandals like a Tiger-Speaking of Tiger, did you know that his wife is threatening to wedge his nine-iron? (Laughter sign blinks, fake laughter) Paul:Nine-iron, wedge, golf.Dave: And the number 1 reason I'm not funny: I actually have to make out a list.(Applause sign blinks, fake applause ,or it could be real, the show end in seconds) Paul: You have to make a list! Alan: This is Alan Kalter speaking: Good night everybody, better than mine anyway.

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    mm-39

    Late Night with David Letterman at one time was after Carson. Letterman was on a worse time slot, had a lower budget, and b team guests, In order to survive, Letterman had creative, and innovative skits. Letterman survived on some cutting edge humor. The show was better back than. Like Carson, Letterman in his later years has become crazy-glued to his chair. Dave rests on his past successes. The humor has always been a bit on the extreme; sometimes funny, other times too much. I give the show a 6 out of 10. Not bad, but not good either. I loved the new skit by Martin Short. I hope Dave keeps this up. Conan is getting more like Letterman every year by becoming more glued to his chair. Don't forget what got you there guys!

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    george.schmidt

    Letterman has always been aces with me ever since I started watching his iconoclastic show back in '84 (I know he started in '82 and prior to that in '80 w/an am talk show - I caught glimpses of that once) and still continues to provide an evening's worth of laughter just before I go to bed after what is usually a daily ritual of a thankless job and the mundane idiocy of humanity. His insouciant gap-toothed sardonic grin, clever razor-sharped wit and 'go screw' attitude fit like his trademark Adidas wrestling shoes and proved to be a refreshing take at the ol' chestnut - the talk show - proving a verbal jester with the gift of gab and a knowing wink to the viewer at home who was really in control when the next 'lovely and talented' guest was to partake of the chum-letting to the shark-feeding frenzy that is Dave.So many funny moments I'll never forget in the following stream of consciousness: Chris Elliot in any manic form; frequent guests Teri Garr, Pee-Wee Herman, Andy Kaufman, Tony Randall, Brother Theodore, David Sanborn, George Miller, Marilu Henner; Larry 'Bud' Melman (how truly ironic in a word also best to summarize the show in itself, making irony into a true art form that he would be considered 'intellectual property' owned by NBC/GE when Dave left NBC for CBS in '93) clueless to any events at hands in the show's proceedings particularly in his ventures outside 30 Rock (his notorious visit to the Port Authority greeting arriving bus passengers with hot towels had Dave in hysterics and his lengthy ill-conceived tour of good will to Tierra del Fuego, South America in which a clearly exhausted Bud demanded to comeback home to NYC!); Gerard Mulligan's stooge-personification when Dave would berate him to the point of suicide; 'Stupid Pet Tricks' (again a new art form of the ridiculously sublime; kudos to Dave's ex-Merrill Markoe, for her vision there); 'Viewer Mail' and Flunky The Viewer Mail Clown (portrayed by writer Jeff Martin who would go on to write for 'The Simpsons' and using a thinly-veiled attribute to Dave with Krusty The Clown considered Dave's alter ego); 'Brush With Greatness'; the avuncular announcer Bill Wendell (and his legendary parties); Dave visiting GE with a fruit basket much to the anger of the security head (a real film vault moment in dealing with 'corporate weasels and pinheads'); Elevator Races with Bob Costas; specialty shows (i.e. Viewer's Choice detailing how everything would be shown on the show; broadcasts from planes, the back of a pick-up truck; a mid-town hotel; etc.) such as the one where the screen did a full turn during the progress of the show; Crispin Glover's infamous appearance where he nearly knocked Dave out with a swift kick of his platform shoes; cantankerous comic book artist Harvey Pekar; one of the funniest moments ever was when he had some woman on with her monkeys and they were being taught manners and the female one was very antic and got a kick out of Dave and threatened to strike him at any minute prompting him to declare, 'She's gonna leap up and grab a vein outta my neck and kill me!'; Dave using puppets to show his disdain for the GE weasels during his infamous contract disputes; the suits made of Alka-Seltzer, bags of nacho chips, magnets and Velcro; trips to Chicago, LA & Vegas and on and on. I always said to truly get/enjoy Dave is the stand-by of watching Dave for Dave and not for who he had on the show (that would be attributed to Jay Leno who arguably was way funnier pre-'Tonight' show ascension; he's completely homogenized and mainstream and unfunny). Perhaps my fondest memories were when I actually went to see the tapings of the shows live (including the 10th Anniversary Special from Radio City Music Hall!). My first time I went with my college roommate and we brought Dave a gift, a t-shirt from our college, and oddly enough we were allowed to present him with it just prior to the taping. However it turned out we weren't the only ones with clothing as gifts ('Jesus, it's T-shirt City, tonite Paul,' he cracked after the umpteenth t-shirt handed over to him) and when I finally gave him ours he shook my hand, asked my name and where I was from and then the coup de grace he simply said to me, 'Well have a seat on me, but not a seat on me!' Dave will always be aces with me!

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    Liz-59

    While Conan does have one of the best shows on TV now, David Letterman's original Late Night talk show is what created it all. This is where such classic things like "Stupid Pet Tricks" and "The Top Ten List" were born. Dave knows what people want to laugh at, and from that show he did it all, like once leaving an audience member as host for nearly the entire show while he "looked for his fake teeth" and other great things. David Letterman's current show may get more viewers, but this one should never be forgotten.

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