David Letterman is an American legend because of his remarkable contradictions.
He didn’t get what he wanted — hosting “The Tonight Show” and succeeding Johnny Carson — but he gained a record 33-year run in late night.
He didn’t earn the best ratings, but younger hosts often cite him as the most influential performer.
Letterman was the wiseacre who displayed unexpected depths at serious moments, and a public figure who overcame scandal by owning his problems.
How this edgy performer says goodbye at 11:35 p.m. Wednesday on CBS should generate suspense on his final night as “Late Show” host.
It may not be a national event to rival Johnny Carson’s poignant departure from “The Tonight Show” in 1992. But Letterman’s cutting style has helped shape American humor and wears very well in YouTube clips.
At 68, he has been in our lives a long time. Fans will remember his role on a short-lived Mary Tyler Moore variety series in 1978. A daytime show on NBC in 1980 revealed his wacky style, but that show didn’t last, either.
Yet in late night — first at NBC, then CBS — he flourished, inspired, stumbled, endured and aged. For a long time, he got to be very human on TV, a medium where superficiality and sound bites can reign. The reaction to his departure reflects fondness and respect for a true innovator.
In the final weeks, Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton dropped by, Tina Fey tore off her dress and Howard Stern got all huggy. Cher declared her love and also repeated a Letterman put-down that she uttered 29 years ago. Cranky Dave seems more comfortable being cussed than cuddled. But in another contradiction, he made his mother, Dorothy, a TV star through her appearances on his show.
At the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, ABC host Jimmy Kimmel celebrated recipient Letterman by calling him “the funniest, the smartest, the weirdest, the coolest and the best one ever.” Letterman seemed uneasy about the attention, but Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert have been just as effusive.
At NBC, Letterman aired after Carson’s “Tonight Show” for a decade, but Jay Leno won the coveted role of next “Tonight Show” host. In a 1991 interview with Carson, Letterman said he wasn’t angry at NBC or Leno but would have liked to do the show.
Letterman jumped to CBS and started strongly in the ratings, then Leno overtook him. Still, it’s not always about the ratings. Letterman remained the offbeat original, a font of American sass. He had won many admirers for his groundbreaking style on “Late Night” at NBC from 1982 to 1993.
Though Letterman declared Carson his hero, the two men were quite different. Just look at their Oscar hosting. Carson was a debonair figure who succeeded as Oscar host. Letterman represented the sarcastic next generation, a gap-toothed prankster who rubbed Hollywood wrong on its biggest night and earned critical brickbats for his shtick with names (“Oprah. Uma. Uma. Oprah.”)
His ironic style frequently suggests he could care less, and yet he has been a good man to have in a crisis. His career peaks include his personal way of discussing his quintuple-bypass heart surgery in 2000 and his first show after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
In 2009, Letterman defused a scandal over his relationships with female staffers by apologizing for mistakes and acknowledging he had hurt his wife. He had been the target of a blackmail attempt about the affairs, but he met the problem head-on and discussed it on his show.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Letterman acknowledged that CBS would have had good reason to fire him over “my sex scandal.” Yet Letterman had made CBS a player in late night when he started there in 1993, and he leaves a sturdy forum for successor Colbert, who starts in September.
Letterman also leaves a huge library of clips that enrich pop culture, from Top Ten Lists to Stupid Pet Tricks. His interviewing range is impressive. He can flirt with Julia Roberts, kid a bizarre Joaquin Phoenix and make peace with Oprah Winfrey.
Letterman can joke with Will Ferrell, salute Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter and talk seriously with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly about the Iraq war. “How do you make a right decision out of a wrong decision?” Letterman asked.
When Letterman didn’t get “The Tonight Show,” he had to blaze his own trail at CBS. He told the Times that he lost his way in doing “Late Show” and wasn’t sure he ever got back on track. His admirers would disagree.
In 1991, Carson asked whether Letterman could envision being a late-night host in 20 years. Letterman guffawed. Cut to 24 years later.
Letterman’s contradictions have kept him fascinating in TV, a medium that often sands off the rough edges of complicated figures. His edgy style carried him for 33 years. To his detractors, he may be the expletive that Cher called him all those years ago. But to his fans, he’s our expletive.
