Not the fellow that you see at 11;30 on CBS, I haven't watched that show (or any other talk show since Tom Snyder's ) for years.
I'm talking about the NBC 12;30 version than influenced so many of my age and as a result- the shows of today are evolutionary (or inferior, depending on your view) of what the Letterman show was doing 30 years ago.
Instead of doing a list of stuff that the Late Show did like jumping into a vat of water while wearing an Alka Seltzer suit, I'd rather write about the teenager that went to lengths to watch the show and how.
I got on the Letterman bandwagon almost from the beginning as I remembered his short-lived morning show that had some of the same types of stuff, but not the audience.
The morning show had the right content but the wrong people watching it.
I remember watching it at home with my late aunt and recall me laughing like crazy and Edna was befuddled-as just what the hell was so funny.
Since I knew the name and show, I was ready to be a watcher at 14, but there was one problem- that was a LONG night for a 9th grader and the resulting laughter wasn't going to fly with my parents at that hour on a school night, so that led to our getting a VCR and setting the timer every night for the show.
The problem with that was these were the initial crop of VCRs, which weren't digital, so they had buttons for channels 2-13 and the button for the channel had to be pushed in.
If my parents watched any TV after I went to bed and changed the channel, I was likely to get a whole lot of nothing.,so that led to a lot of 11;30 "bathroom trips" to check on the VCR to make sure it was set on NBC.
One of these trips would lead to one of the most memorable discussions that I ever had with my father as a kid and no-I won't rehash it here!
Even though Dave was about the same age as my parents, they didn't get his humor which was more along the lines of the high school, college, and young adult age group that became his core demographic.
My dad once looked at me and Shane and said "What the hell is so funny about this S@#t?"
Meanwhile, we were dying as Dave went into a store called "Just Shades" and asked if he could buy a lamp or a light bulb.
It was exactly what we were looking for and the humor that flew over the heads of many had found its home.
That spelled out what Shane and I had been doing forever-screwing with people that never had a clue that they were being messed with!
Some might even say I'm still known to do that on occasion(wink wink)
I remember so fondly those episodes that were right from the 'kids destruction" handbook when he would take household items and show them being crushed in a hydraulic press or tossed off a roof.
It was just stuff that younger people loved it; "Man, wonder what it would look like if I tossed a watermelon to the street from the roof?"
Basic humor took to the hilt by the bemused response of Letterman, who often looked like he was barely able to contain himself from busting out laughing.
Letterman's brilliance faded a bit on CBS as he had to change a bit to adapt to the older audience and the more mainstream guests as the NBC show would often have comics that few knew and musical acts that were cult attractions, the CBS version had to be more like his rival Jay Leno, who despite being more popular could never hold a candle to Dave.
Over the last few years, Letterman has slipped from a solid second in the late-night ratings to third behind Jimmy Kimmel of ABC, who was a long time Letterman fan and whos show reminds me most of the old Late Night show and had become the status quo as those of us that loved Letterman because he broke off from the Johnny Carson format now were the stale demographic.
Now young people are watching Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon as their innovators.
For me?
I think I'll just stick with the Letterman of his prime, think of the memories, and maybe even chuckle aloud...
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