Dave, Where Art Thou Comedy?

To be honest, I don’t remember why I stopped watching the 'Late Show with David Letterman.'  When I was younger, I was a huge fan.  I thought I was the woman who was destined to walk down the aisle with Mr. Letterman (his second time around).  He had me at the Velcro suit.

I don’t know what happened, how I fell out of love and laughter with Dave.  All I know was that it happened.  Sure, I could blame Jon Stewart and his wit, his show being a marriage of comedy and politics, but my separation with Dave happened before Jon.  Sometimes relationships just die.

Monday night one of my best friends in the world, plus her husband, who is also a close friend, were able to finagle tickets to the Letterman show.  They were placed front row center, probably because the two of them are as cute as buttons.  I was convinced my friend _____ would be involved in some sort of audience participation, but alas, that wasn’t part of the program.  She would have killed at ‘cuts of meat’ trivia.

I watched the show in my humble abode waiting to see if the camera would pan their way and I could shout, “There they are!”  I think I did see them at the beginning, but am not sure.  I continued to watch the show in hopes of catching a glimpse at them, but no such luck.  Instead, I watched the program and fought the impulse to change the channel to ‘The Colbert Report.'

____ called me after the show, which tapes around 4:00 eastern, and gave me the news that ‘American Idol’ reject Sangina read the top ten list.  She said outside the theater the paparazzi went wild for him and I literally gasped.  Something about the paparazzi following Sangina around seemed too surreal to be surreal.

____ was proud of her VIP seating, her husband and she being the right combination of cute and Midwestern.  She said ‘he’ came out and talked to them which lead to one of those ‘who’s on first’ conversations.

Me, “You talked to Sangina?”

She, “No, why would we talk to Sangina?”

Me, “I don’t know.”  To myself I think because you followed Peter Marshall (original host of ‘Hollywood Squares’) around at a wedding shouting “Peter, I’ll take an center square to block.”  Incidentally, the whole episode led to the groom, now Peter's brother-in-law, asking ____ not to bother Peter anymore.

She, “No, Dave came out to talk to us.  He is very thin and has blondish hair.  He looks better on camera.”  All I can say, to remain kind, is huh.

In the earlier days, back when Dave was doing ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ you could always tell when Dave didn’t think the show was going well primarily because he would grumble comments about how the show wasn’t going well.  In a way, his complaining actually made the show go better because his complaints were always astute observations.  Plus, he wouldn’t pull any punches.  If a country-western star came on the program with odd hair, dear Dave would ask him, “Why is your hair cut like an end table?”  When Mr. T. looked like he was going to tear Dave a new one, Dave countered back, “I like fishing.”  This led to Mr. T. grimacing to which Dave then said, “You like fishing?”  Classic stuff.

I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my life when he was doing a story on a store called ‘Just Bulbs’ that sold nothing but light bulbs.  When Dave kept asking the salesman for something other than bulbs the man repeatedly said, “No, we just sell bulbs.  When Dave asked for a lampshade, the man finally gave in and said, “You will probably have to go to a store that sells just shades.”  Viola, the next scene was front of a store called, ‘Just Shades.’

While looking up the anecdote above (I couldn’t remember the name of the first store) I came upon this blog entry http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/04/12/david-letterman-turns-60-today-yet-another-sign-that-im-gettin/ and I had to pause for a moment when I read Dave just turned 60.  The opinion of the blogster were close to mine, Dave is no longer the innovative entertainer he once was, but also the things that made ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ seem so great weren’t just in my imagination (if you check out the blog, check out the comments as well).  Funny, I began this article with a pop culture observation and now I end it on a bittersweet note - how fleeting life is, but also how the laughs of a by gone era can still make me smile.  I guess if I look deed down, I realize that part of me will always love Dave.

© 2007 Westerfield Enterprises ™