David Letterman to retire in 2015. Stephen Colbert to take over.

Both of those shows were better than anything during Leno's Tonight Show run (a low limbo bar i realize)

 

I actually liked Pryor's Place and could appreciate what Richard was trying to do.

 

Dave was actually standing in front of his desk watching them. After the credits were done, he came out to say his last goodbye.

 

What were his final words to the audience?

 

A modest "I just would like to say for one last time, thank you for being here and goodnight". He does not wear his heart on his sleeve. I did notice in his pre-show warm up, that his voice sounded nasal, so it's possible he was crying beforehand.

 

Sad to see the best talk show host of all-time (that's right, Carson!) finish up a compelling career. Been a fan since the mid 80s.

Thinking about it now, it's sort of perfect that he never could be #1 in ratings. The guy wasn't a front-runner, his humor was too obtuse and his moods too frequently cantankerous to be #1.

 

This seems so bizarre that I almost wonder if it's one final "bit" cooked up by Dave for the world to see, and the real set is already secure in a warehouse somewhere.

 

Hahaha tie me kangaroo down














Sport

 

FWIW, Leno got 2 glimpses in the Foo Fighters montage. One from an 80's appearance and the other form the super Bowl ad with Oprah.

 

I'll always be totally thankful to Letterman for personally making sure that Tom Snyder got the first Late Late Show gig from 1995-1999. I think T.S. may have had him on as a guest once, but I don't remember for sure.

 

A lot of comics have held this against him. Jimmy Kimmel for one isn't shy about his disdain for Jay for willfully hitting the "off" switch and calling him a sell out. It's bizarre because Jay used to be a great, frequent guest on Letterman, but if you read his material on paper, you wouldn't know it was him.

And Jay's Tonight Show is definitely exhibit A for why ratings don't mean ****. Leno defined #1 as cloying pandering to prop up his numbers. Letterman couldn't care less, and he was better for it.

 

Yes he did. Outside of Charlie Rose, the type of late night show Snyder excelled it may now be virtually extinct (or at least marginalized to complete obscurity) but it was definitely nice while it lasted.

 

dvr stopped about 12 minutes
before the show ended , caught the
rest on YouTube

wish they'd shown Zappa & Van Vliet
(Beefheart) in the montage

 

I felt just the opposite towards Jay & Dave. Perhaps it was because of my climbing age, or Dave's, but where I used to find Dave very funny and cutting edge, I found him terribly difficult to watch in later years. He had a mean streak that appeared, unlike the NBC years where he was just a midwesterner with some biting humor.

To each his own, and I do realize our tastes change as we grow older. As I watched the last episode, I did not laugh one time during the monologue. However, when they played the bit with the kids from his younger days, that was the Dave that I enjoyed.

 

Letterman has said many, many times that Leno was (and is) one of the best stand-up comics who ever lived. I've seen Jay do stand up at the Comedy Store back in the day and also in Vegas at his height, and I even worked on a 90-minute Showtime comedy special he did in the 1980s. He's a very talented man. But I think on the Tonight Show, he came across as insincere and superficial. I don't think he had the depth that either Carson or Letterman did, and I think the latter two hosts were genuinely interested in their guests. I believe Leno only went through the motions.

You'll notice that there wasn't 1/10th this much fuss when Leno did his final Tonight Show. I think even Letterman's detractors recognize this is the end of an era in many ways. I don't think any current talk show host is even 1/10th as good as Carson was in his prime. Letterman was as close as we could get to that gold standard in the last 20 years.

"Goodnight, everybody!"

 

Definitely big props to Dave for giving Snyder a show after his on CBS. They both went on each others shows, i should pull out the VHS's i made back then. Very good choice, another renegade just like Dave, miss Tom and his Colortini's (does anyone remember that from the old CNBC days?!?!)(Whatever;^). Think when Tom was gone that's when i stopped being a regular Dave viewer too. Was a different sort of TV watch back then before the internet, like checking in with a bunch of running buddies to have a final round of talk before you crashed for the night. I miss those times, i miss the world shutting off for a bit is all i guess.

 

Carson said the exact same thing, but was never able to find anything he was interested in and that felt worthwhile. I suspect it may wind up being the same with Dave, because he's never really been successful at much of anything except being a talk show host. Look at the projects he did prior to getting his own show: awkward and uncomfortable guest on The Gong Show, awkward and uncomfortable cast member on various comedy and variety shows, failed actor (he reportedly auditioned for the role of Stryker in Airplane). The only thing he was really successful at early in his career was standup, but he hasn't done that in decades, and from what I've read he didn't really enjoy it when he was doing it. There's no way he's going to go back to doing that like Leno does. He's also never even been successful at outside projects like Carson (hosting the Oscars for example). So if being a talk show host is the only thing he really enjoys and is good at, what kind of talk show could he do that wouldn't seem like a comedown from his old job, and would actually challenge and appeal to him?

 

youtube and podcasts do some great long form interviews with most celebs.

 

Will Worldwide Pants productions still exists when it comes to creating new programming? Dave did well here, but it may have been other people playing with his money doing shows with guys Dave liked.

I could see something like Seinfeld does with his cars show.

 

Leno allowed the Tonight Show to ruin him as a standup- he used to be brilliant.

 

Dave likes Seinfeld's "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee", and while I don't think that's a model for what Dave may do next, I think it's closer than "Jay's Garage".

 

He still has some involvement if not a lot. But yeah, Dave already has enough going on to fill his downtime when he's not focusing on his family: his racing team, his charities, his other projects under his production company. Occasional appearances on things like Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee will be gravy, but otherwise I'm sure he's done with being in the spotlight.

 

There's this, and there's also the way he handled the Conan-Tonight Show situation. It is telling that he didn't get the emotional tributes that Letterman received pretty much across the board from Conan, Kimmel, Stewart, Fallon, Meyers...

I don't think I ever heard anyone say that Leno changed their life, but I've heard it many times over in recent weeks in regards to Dave.

 

It's been on TV here for over 20 years, I went to a taping of the show in NY. I know you're an emotional wreck right now, Vidiot. No need to get snarky.

 

I was in the area tonight and can confirm that the set is sitting in 2 dumpsters outside the stage doors on 53rd Street. Several people were dumpster diving but most of the set pieces were too large to take. Some people made off with disassembled theater seats and someone was loading a small desk into a car (not the desk). The marquee was still up and lit 45 minutes ago as I was heading home.