David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show,[1] surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history.[2] In 1996, Letterman was ranked 45th on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[3][4] In 2002, The Late Show with David Letterman was ranked seventh on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[5]
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Soon after graduating from Ball State in 1969, Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM) and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (which changed its call sign to WTHR in 1976) as an anchor and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hailstones "the size of canned hams."[21] He also occasionally reported the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas"), on another occasion saying that the state border between Indiana and Ohio had been erased when a satellite map accidentally omitted it, attributing it to dirty political dealings. ("The higher-ups have removed the border between Indiana and Ohio, making it one giant state. Personally, I'm against it. I don't know what to do about it.")[22] He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late-night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from Godzilla using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called Clover Power,[23] in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.[24]
By the summer of 1977, Letterman was a writer and regular on the six-week summer series The Starland Vocal Band Show, broadcast on CBS.[31] He hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show called The Riddlers[32][33] (which was never picked up), and co-starred in the Barry Levinson-produced comedy special Peeping Times, which aired in January 1978. Later that year, Letterman was a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, Mary.[34] He made a guest appearance on Mork & Mindy (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard)[35] and appearances on game shows such as The $20,000 Pyramid,[36] The Gong Show, Hollywood Squares, Password Plus,[37] and Liar's Club, as well as the Canadian cooking show Celebrity Cooks (November 1977), talk shows such as 90 Minutes Live (February 24[38] and April 14, 1978),[39] and The Mike Douglas Show (April 3, 1979 and February 7, 1980). He was also screen tested for the lead role in the 1980 film Airplane!, a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.[40]
NBC kept Letterman on its payroll to try him in a different time slot. Late Night with David Letterman debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest was Bill Murray.[44] Murray went on to become one of Letterman's most recurrent guests, guesting on his later CBS show's celebration of his 30th anniversary in late-night television, which aired January 31, 2012, and on the final CBS show, which aired May 20, 2015. The show ran Monday through Thursday nights at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987). It was seen as edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher[45] (who even called him an "asshole" on the show[46]), Shirley MacLaine,[47] Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and 1960s programs of Steve Allen.[48]
But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, Late Show was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. The monologue was lengthened. Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the CBS Orchestra (at Shaffer's request); a small band had been mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his Late Night segments verbatim,[62] but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.). Time magazine wrote, "Letterman's innovation ... gained power from its rigorous formalism"; as his biographer Jason Zinoman puts it, he was "a fascinatingly disgruntled eccentric trapped inside a more traditional talk show."[63]
On the February 3, 2011 edition of the Late Show, during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."[92] In April 2012, CBS announced it had extended its contract with Letterman through 2014.[93] His contract was subsequently extended to 2015.[94]
During the taping of his show on April 3, 2014, Letterman announced that he had informed CBS president Leslie Moonves that he would retire from hosting Late Show by May 20, 2015.[95] Later in his retirement Letterman occasionally stated, in jest,[96] that he had been fired.[97] It was announced soon after that comedian and political satirist Stephen Colbert would succeed Letterman.[98] Letterman's last episode aired on May 20, 2015, and opened with a presidential sendoff featuring four of the five living American presidents, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, each mimicking the late president Gerald Ford's statement "Our long national nightmare is over." It also featured cameos from The Simpsons and Wheel of Fortune (the latter with a puzzle saying "Good riddance to David Letterman"), a Top Ten List of "things I wish I could have said to David Letterman" performed by regular guests including Alec Baldwin, Barbara Walters, Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Peyton Manning, Tina Fey, and Bill Murray, and closed with a montage of scenes from both his CBS and NBC series set to a live performance of "Everlong" by Foo Fighters.
In 2018, Letterman began hosting a six-episode monthly series of hour-long programs on Netflix consisting of long-form interviews and field segments.[109] The show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, premiered January 12, 2018 with Barack Obama as its first guest.[110] The second season premiered on May 31, 2019.[111] Season 3 premiered on October 21, 2020, and includes Kim Kardashian West, Robert Downey Jr., Dave Chappelle and Lizzo as guests.[112] Season 4 premiered on May 20, 2022, with Billie Eilish as the first guest.[113] In October 2022, Letterman traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, to film a special standalone episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, interviewing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[114]
Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman with schizophrenia. She stole his Porsche, camped out on his tennis court, and repeatedly broke into his house. Her exploits drew national attention, with Letterman occasionally joking about her on his show, though he never named her. After she died by suicide at age 46 in October 1998, Letterman told The New York Times that he had great compassion for her.[178] A spokesperson for Letterman said: "This is a sad ending to a confused life."[179]
The Rush Limbaugh Show is an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, The Rush Limbaugh Show became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States.[1] At its peak, the show aired on over 650 radio stations nationwide.
After Limbaugh's death, clip shows with guest hosts (referred to as "guide hosts") were heard in the Limbaugh time slot for four months, until June 18. The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show premiered on Premiere Networks on June 21, 2021, from 12 to 3 p.m. ET.[2]
The Rush Limbaugh Show had a format that it retained until Limbaugh's death. The program aired live and consisted primarily of Limbaugh's monologues, based on the news of the day, interspersed with parody ads, phone calls from listeners, and a variety of recurring comedy bits (some live, some taped). Limbaugh also would announce live commercials during the show for sponsors. He would also sometimes promote his own products, such as his political newsletter, The Limbaugh Letter, or his Rush Revere children's history books. Occasionally, Limbaugh featured guests such as politicians or fellow commentators.
An edited instrumental version of the Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" was Limbaugh's theme song at the start of his show's run. Briefly in 1999, Limbaugh stopped playing the song after a "cease and desist" order was issued by EMI. However, after the song's writer, Chrissie Hynde, said in a radio interview she did not mind the use of the song (she and Limbaugh had a mutual opposition to an Environmental Protection Agency plan for animal testing), an agreement was reached with EMI.[3] The show aired live on weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern time, with a number of stations (such as WHO in Des Moines) airing it on tape delay. From 2006 until his death,[4] the program was normally taped from Limbaugh's studios near his home in Palm Beach County, Florida.[5] 2ff7e9595c
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