David Letterman

I never knew if the stupider things we did or the more traditional things we did would work….And then, when I look back on it now, of course the answer is, you want to do the weird thing.

When I was really a young person I liked Jonathan Winters. He could just make me laugh under any circumstance. And Johnny Carson I thought was very funny. He used to do an afternoon show where he'd make fun of all odd manner of folks. Steve Allen, I thought was wonderful. I still think both of these guys are wonderful. Richard Pryor at the time, I liked him and still like. The best person in a nightclub situation now is Bill Cosby. It's just unbelievable what this man is capable of doing. And he doesn't really tell jokes, per se, but he comes out on a stage and sits down in a chair and this is interesting because the purpose of your appearance here, you have to dominate this group. And to d...[Read more]

I’m sure it was sincere. But it was artificially generated. The same thing happened to me. I can remember sitting next to Johnny Carson for the first time, and I’m thinking, Holy God, this is like looking at Abraham Lincoln. You’ve seen him forever on the $5 bill. And now all of a sudden he’s here. And that was too much for me. I’m not saying it happened in like measurement, but I understand the dynamic.

In the beginning, you think, I can’t wait to get on television. I’m going to straighten it out. Then people will be saying, “God bless you, Dave Letterman, we have been waiting for somebody to take care of television.” That’s how you feel. And now, I don’t feel that way.