This occurred a couple of days ago, but I neglected to mention it. I posted about the controversy last week (here and here), and it is only fair that I give Letterman a proverbial pat on the back: Good for David.
If truth be known, I have always been a huge fan of Letterman, and very much enjoy his humor. I have always had a weakness for liberal comedians, the music (though not the politics) of leftist folk singers, German ice skaters, and Alaska governors . Go figure.
Comments (8)
Posted by Albert | June 18, 2009 2:35 PM
Gee whiz, Frank - Letterman (zzz...), Pete Seeger (*sniff*...), and that pure embodiment of all that is evil, KATARINA WITT??? (aghhhh!!!)
Say it ain't so!
;^(
Posted by steve burton | June 18, 2009 2:59 PM
Sarah puts that one behind her. Now on to the next smear or nuisance law suit.
Posted by johnt | June 18, 2009 3:21 PM
Francis Beckwith, you say it occurred a couple of days ago, but I recall him spending about 15 solid minutes going into the matter on his show about 3 weeks ago, where he "apologized" for one thing (his boorishly childish behavior which he with passive-aggressively disarming charm claimed to manifest nearly all the time), but refused to apologize for another thing (namely, for specifically implying that it's ok for 14-year-old girls to get knocked up). His latter refusal, however, was disingenuous: his two jokes about Palin's daughter specifically exploited his Leftist disdain for Palin for her supposed "hypocrisy" in being rightishly puritanical on the one hand while having a daughter who got pregnant at so young an age: the clear implication of that exploitation is that Palin's daughter's experience -- at the time she got pregnant at so young an age -- was fair game and fodder for him to poke fun at. For Letterman to implicitly deny that this directly pokes fun at Palin's daughter at the time of her underage impregnation is a disingenuous squirming out of the injury he committed; for him to try to weasel out of it with sophistry (however, disarmingly self-deprecating and charmingly home-spun he may couch that sophistry in) is to add insult to that injury.
I detest Letterman's politics; but I think he is second to Johnny Carson in comedic greatness on the talk show circuit. As with many Leftist comedians (e.g., Garofalo, Jon Stewart), he's funny as long as he steers away from politics. Indeed, Letterman sometimes gets downright preachy when he gets on his high horse, wasting valuable air time pontificating seriously about issues when he could be doing the one and only thing he does best, and excellently: comedy.
Posted by Hesperado | June 18, 2009 7:57 PM
Hesperado:
You are correct that Letterman is no Johnny Carson. That's because Johnny had class, and Letterman, even with all his enormous talent, does not.
I have not watched Letterman for years, and I only watched Leno for the "headlines" segment on Monday nights. So, my impression of Letterman was prior to his over-enthusiasm for leftist politics.
Here's a memorable Johnny Carson skit. Funny, but not mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ-cIrAqWcQ
Posted by Francis Beckwith | June 18, 2009 10:04 PM
I said he's second to Carson, which implies far more admiration than "he's no Johnny Carson". Carson himself said he liked Letterman best of the lot, and in his final couple of years, he sent jokes to Letterman to use in his monologue. On the other hand, by according Letterman with the praise of being the Silver Medalist, as it were, to Carson's Gold Standard, this does not necessarily imply that Carson was not light years better.
Thanks for the video, but unfortunately, my computer is unable to watch them.
Posted by Hesperado | June 18, 2009 10:43 PM
I think Letterman and Carson appear to be so different because of their respective audiences. I was born in '62 and remember Carson as a show by grownups for grownups.
Letterman seems more a show by people scrapping over some weird audience of tired, cynical, and Godless. His program has always been a parody of the talk show, yet he has always demanded respect and money for something as slippery as ratings.
These guys are deeply colored by their respective public persona's. Carson appeared to have more respect for his audience while Letterman doesn't even seem to respect himself. You could imagine Carson doing something honorable but Letterman's continuous self-abasement makes him come off as just gutless and Godless.
Posted by Matt | June 19, 2009 11:35 AM
Letterman is funny because of his mannerisms. He's a funny guy, and can make the mundane entertaining. I haven't watched him in a long while, since I go to bed too early, but if he has recently turned to political preaching, then it's not hard to see why that's not funny. Political preaching is never funny, and rarely endearing.
Posted by Matt Weber | June 19, 2009 12:24 PM