David Letterman-is he funny now?

Same here! The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson is the only late night show I find to be consistently funny and entertaining.

 

I stuck with him a bit longer than that but have really lost interest in past few years. Like a few others have mentioned, I think Craig Ferguson is currently the best of the group.

 

I've started a new thread about Bill Carter's new book -- The War For Late Night -- and I thought it might be of interest to followers of this thread. I figured I posted the link in a Conan thread and a Leno thread, so I might as well dig up this one too...

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=231967

 

He is rarely funny anymore in my opinion.

 

Was never much of a fan, but now I can't even stomach his "top 10". I'll take a peek if he has a musical act that strikes my fancy - which means I'll tune in 10 minutes before the show is over. Damn, I miss Carson!

 

Arrogant... well, okay. But idiot? I'm certain he is much smarter than any of the posters here who have branded him an idiot.

 

OK....self-absorbed idiot. He actually believes that he is funny. His crass attitude makes it worse.

 

I don't think Dave has ever really been that funny. Now, more than anything he just a late night bore, IMHO.

 

Guess I need to go against the grain here and say I think Letterman is witty, quick, and funny.

Granted, the only time I can catch the show is when I'm home on vacation, but it still seems entertaining.

Arrogant? Did you ever see Dave thank Johnny Carson? He did it almost every time Johnny appeared on the show. What about the many times Dave has thanked the team of surgeons that saved his life? He is also being very humble there too.

Dave is flippant. But it's that quick-with-the-tart-comeback Dave that I find hilarious (probably because it's a skill I don't posess myself).

 

I've always felt that Dave had a chip on his shoulder about not getting Carson's spot but was able to maintain.
But these days he seems to have evolved into the full-fledged curmudgeon.

 

Still very funny.

 

I think the best part of Dave's show now is the desk segment after the monologue, when he's just being himself and talking about whatever's under his skin that day. After nearly 30 years on the air, his signature bits (Top Ten, Stupid Pet Tricks) have grown as tired as Jay's "Headlines" but when he's unscripted and speaking from the heart he can still be funny and insightful. When he connects with guests he seems to take a sincere interest in what they're saying, in contrast to ALL the other hosts. When he thinks a guest is a phony, he doesn't hide that either -- and that's his greatest contribution to the genre.

 

And I have to disagree with you because I dont think Letterman is witty, quick or funny. In fact, I find him to be the opposite of all those things.

OK, he was nice to Johnny Carson.... so what? Go watch the interview that was the impetus for this thread. Yes, sarcasm can be funny but only if the person has the charm to pull it off. Dave does not. He seems like a bitter person, not only when he's trying to be sarcastic/funny, but all the time.

 

So you don't like Dave. Good for you.

I do like him, and I stand by what I wrote. After going through two pages of people slagging him off, I wanted to express how I felt.

First of all, Dave's apology to Rachel Ray aired before the actual rant. So, he was contrite enough to do that. That doesn't seem to be the action of an arrogant man to me.

And you know what, Dave was right on with his rant about the food culture in the USA. I'm shocked when I go back to the USA every summer and see how obese many Americans are. It amazes me every year!

The sad thing about the whole "fat culture" in the USA is that people are so oblivious of it. Women who should be wearing mumus have got on skimpy-tees with their tummies hanging out for all to see. People needing carts to get around in because they're too heavy to support themselves on their own two legs. This is becomming the norm, so I thought Dave was on target.

I've enjoyed David Letterman since his daytime show in 1980 (sponsored the "Winky's Cow Paste"), and I think he's still got the chops to be on TV.

BTW, if you find him to be the opposite of what I wrote, why do you watch?

 

He was nice to Johnny ONLY because Carson influenced him. Letterman will NEVER admit it, but he's still PO'ed that Leno got the job over him. I'll have Dave's show on ONLY if he has a musical guest that gets my attention meaning I'll be watching the last 5 - 10 minutes of the show. Since Carson retired, I haven't had any interest for consistently watching late night shows. The ones doing it overall are NOT funny.

 

Never admit it? It's pretty much all he talked about in January. He never said the exact words "I'm still PO'ed that Leno got the job over me" but you didn't have to be a genius to figure it out.

 

Disagree strongly; he truly admired Carson, in a way he has admired few others, plus Johnny gave him his first real break in show business.

Evan

 

I think he's still funny. Hasn't he always been sarcastic?Nothing new there.

 

I never thought I'd say this, but of the 3 talk shows beginning at 11 pm EST, I prefer Conan now. To me, Dave and Jay are the Larry King's of Late Night talk.

 

If you know anything about Robert DeNiro, he is not a helpful guest. He is the most famous actor who is the most introverted guest ever to grace the airwaves (unless there is someone else I don't know about).

DeNiro has been making the rounds of a few talk shows to promote "Little Fockers" (I'm pretty sure his contract with that film production obligated him to do some promotion - promotions he admits he doesn't like to do because he finds himself lacking in the ability to engage in such repartee).

The best joke of the night was when Dustin said "I am the DeNiro whisperer".

I believe Dave and his staff knew what they were getting into and figured one show could handle the awkwardness.

I also believe a lot of the audience knew what they were getting when they found out what show they were going to see. It's not like DeNiro is an unknown in this area.

So, all in all, it was the most tedious show, but was it funny? Considering the fact that most talk shows repeat the same stuff over and over (monologue, sit at the desk, guests, music), it was a welcome relief for me.

I believe Dave resorted to the list of films to see if he could get anything out of these guys, maybe a few jokes or stories, but they don't help Dave at all. Dustin tries with a story about an after-party for "Midnight Cowboy", but Robert shoots that story down by telling Dustin he's got the time and place wrong - to Robert, it was actually a party for Eugene McCarthy and it occurred on the night RFK was assassinated. Paraphrasing, as Dustin said "...that ruined a good story...".

I watch Dave a lot and find him funny, so that's that. I also enjoy Craig Ferguson for his anti-talk show approach (Go Secretariat!).

 

i agree.. dave is the most overrated man on tv.