David Letterman was my late night show of choice.
I missed out on the NBC show, meaning I came on board with his CBS Late Show. I didn’t know about all the drama surrounding him and late night rival Jay Leno until much later in life. I actually saw the Late Shift movie that fictionalized that whole thing (needless to say – the less said about that movie, the better… though it’s on Youtube if you want to find it) and coincidentally, this was shortly after the Tonight Show drama with Leno, NBC, and Conan O’Brien, who was probably the only other late night guy that I’d tolerate. (Though to be fair, Craig Ferguson wasn’t too bad, either, but then again, Craig Ferguson could host a show about watching paint dry and he could make it entertaining.)
The point is that whenever I felt like watching a late night show, my go-to would be Letterman. There was something about the man’s self-deprecating style and approach to comedy that seldom few people fully understood or appreciated until he was off the air. His wit, sarcasm, and bite were things that attracted me to his show. His ability to engage his guests to the point of making them uncomfortable – especially in regards to some of the tougher subject matter – showed an edge and willingness to tackle things in a way that others would be more than willing to ignore or sidestep for the sake of having more access.
So when someone writes a book about David Letterman and dubs him The Last Giant In Late Night, that’s not hyperbole. That’s a tagline to sell books. That’s the honest truth. Because there will never be another David Letterman. There will never be a David Letterman tribute act that could hope to try and lace his shoes. They could try. They will fail. It’s never going to happen.
Jason Zinoman writes a fascinating account of Letterman’s life; his upbringing, his early career, his relationship with former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, his short-lived early morning talk show that gave way to what would arguably his most popular run in late nights on NBC, the transition to CBS, and all the controversies and surgeries that have popped up along the way. Everything is touched upon, none of it is glossed over. And beneath all the hoopla is the story of a man who is never satisfied with his own body of work, a man who could never be happy with himself no matter how successful he would be, and a man with more than a few soured relationships… something that spoke to me personally as someone who never seems overly thrilled with their own accomplishments or lack thereof. There is a humanity to Letterman that rarely gets touched upon in great detail and that’s probably the biggest takeaway from this book for me. And in a sense, it is the most rewarding part of the book as a whole.
Letterman: The Last Giant Of Late Night is a brilliant tribute to David Letterman, a superb look at this strange man’s career and life, and perhaps most of all, an excellent read from start to finish. Highly recommended.
dtm666 