David Letterman Early life and career:
David Letterman is an American late-night talk show presenter, producer, and comedian who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 12, 1947. He is well known for hosting Late Show with David Letterman for a long period. Letterman started his career as a hilarious weatherman on television in Indianapolis after earning a degree in telecommunications from Ball State University in 1969.
He relocated to Los Angeles in 1975 and started performing regularly at The Comedy Store, a well-liked venue for aspiring stand-up comedians. Discover how David Letterman influenced the evolution of political humor in the US.
His first of 22 performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson took place in 1978. Letterman, who had grown up admiring Johnny Carson, made his first appearance as the show’s guest host the following year. In 1979, he was given his own NBC midmorning show, The David Letterman Show, thanks to his work as a guest presenter.
His peculiar sense of comedy, such as sending a fan to get him coffee, didn’t quite connect with daytime viewers, though. The show was discontinued just three months after it won two Emmy Awards.
It wasn’t until he returned to late-night television with the highly regarded Late Night with David Letterman, which debuted on NBC in 1982, that Letterman developed a sizable fan base. It immediately gained popularity due to its witty, unconventional comedy after airing immediately after Carson’s Tonight Show.
The renowned Top-10 lists, clever back-and-forth between Letterman and bandleader Paul Shaffer, goofy routines, particularly “Stupid Pet Tricks,” and roving cameras that brought common people into the spotlight were all established by Late Night.
Additionally, Letterman was notorious for occasionally annoying famous visitors. For example, Cher once insulted him in front of the camera. However, his strategy was seen by critics as a lighthearted spoof of the talk-show format. Letterman maintained that his primary objective was to produce a humorous talk program, not a spoof. In the end, Late Night with David Letterman received 35 nominations and five Emmy Awards.
A highly publicized hunt for Johnny Carson’s successor started in 1992 when he announced his retirement. NBC officials finally decided on Jay Leno, despite the general perception that Carson preferred Letterman—Carson allegedly even sent him jokes after retiring. Letterman maintained his excellent ratings by staying in the later time slot.
However, he declared the next year that he was switching from NBC to rival CBS. The Tonight Show and his new show, The Late Show with David Letterman, faced off. Many critics questioned whether Letterman’s cheeky, lively, and sardonic humor would resonate with an earlier-hour, mainstream audience.
When Late Show with David Letterman debuted in August 1993 and attracted significantly more viewers than Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, which had ruled American late-night television for almost 30 years under Carson, those misgivings were dispelled.
Letterman was selected to host the 1995 Academy Awards ceremony, but his performance—which included a running joke about Oprah Winfrey and Uma Thurman’s first names—got mixed reviews. The Tonight Show started drawing more viewers the same year, and The Late Show likewise lost its lead in the ratings.
Letterman had emergency quintuple heart-bypass surgery in January 2000. Bill Cosby was one of the entertainers that provided guest hosting during his recuperation. The next month, he made an emotional comeback, which went on to become one of the show’s most popular episodes.
Letterman celebrated the longest tenure in American television history on February 1, 2012, marking 30 years as a late-night talk show presenter. The Late Show has won numerous Emmy Awards by that point. He was also designated a Kennedy Center Honoree later that year.
Letterman declared in 2014 that he would be leaving The Late Show the following year, and Stephen Colbert was selected to take his place. On May 20, 2015, Letterman hosted his last show. He initially avoided the spotlight after retiring, but in 2016 he made a comeback as a celebrity correspondent for the climate change documentary series Years of Living Dangerously.
The Kennedy Center awarded him the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor the following year. He made a comeback to television in 2018 as the host of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, a monthly chat show on Netflix that lasts an hour.
In the background, Letterman managed Worldwide Pants, his own production firm for movies and TV shows. The popular comedy Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005) was one of its products. In addition, he co-owned a racing team.