Letterman

Carol and I gorged on Letterman last week.

Watched five shows on Wednesday, three on Thursday, two on Friday. All leading up to the final three.

Taped the final three for posterity. Watched the last two shows "live". Stayed up until 1:00.

We have two shows stored on DVR that we haven't watched yet, one of which was the Monday night show of his final week. Tom Hanks and Eddie Vedder.

So we still got Letterman in the tank. This is important.

You might ask "Why the hell put yourself through the lack of sleep torture of watching those last two shows as they were broadcast?"

Because it would not have been the same to watch them at 3 o' clock on a Saturday afternoon.

Especially the final show.

The last show technically featured no guests, except for the final Top Ten List. This was presented by Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Jim Cary, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Barbara Walters, Peyton Manning, Bill Murray, Chris Rock and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. That's a pretty decent line-up to have standing on one stage. 

The topic was: "Things I Have Always Wanted To Say To Dave".

The rest of the show was clips and reminiscences. And The Foo Fighters.

Dave spoke towards the end and he spent almost every word thanking everybody associated with the show, and being enormously self-deprecating.

One of the things I admire about the man is that, although he is fiercely intelligent and wickedly funny, he always poked fun at himself and the show.;

I read a lot of stuff about him leading up to the final show, most of it familiar. One point that was consistently articulated was his rebelliousness.

I never thought about it but as I read I realized that was another thing I loved about the man.

He had no fear. He busted his bosses balls all the time, including the giant corporations that own the network. He had an irreverence about him that was inspiring. And he could cut these people down with intelligence, a knowing attitude and razor blade wit.

Dave Letterman had a reputation for being cold and intimidating, which I found difficult to believe considering his personality on air. My gut told me the guy is probably pretty cool.

The love and respect felt for this guy was blatantly obvious in the words and gestures and expressions from his final guests on his final shows.

True emotions and love and respect were expressed over and over again by the biggest names in show business.

And Jack Hanna.

I was happy to hear and to read the testimony of so many comedians and others who thanked Dave for his help and encouragement and who looked up to him as an icon and an original.

He is credited with changing the face of comedy, especially as it relates to late night talk shows. His show was considered ground breaking in many ways.

Towards the end of the show Dave introduced his wife Regina and his 11 year old son Harry.

You want to see just how cold and intimidating Letterman is? If you can find it and freeze it, look at the smile on his face as the camera pans back to him after introducing his family.

That smile will stick with me forever. So proud, so loving and so genuine.

A tradition for Carol and me comes to an end. Carol would scan the TV listings to see who Dave's guests were that night and who the musical group was.

We DVR'ed the ones that interested us.

And watched them at our leisure.

It was always a treat. Letterman made us laugh. No matter what bullshit we endured that day, we sat back as if we were in the living room of an old friend, which is how Dave made us feel, and laughed.

And dug the music. The caliber of musicians he featured was superb, starting with Paul Shaffer and the NBC orchestra.

We will have to find another outlet now, another escape, some other show we can rely on for warmth and humor and intelligence.

I don't even know where to begin.

That illustrates the size of the hole David Letterman and Paul Shaffer leave behind.

I am thankful for all the fun and laughter and entertainment over the years.

Time, reluctantly, to turn the page.