The Important Thing Is That David Letterman Is Having Fun

Heroes live forever but rascals never die

The Important Thing Is That David Letterman Is Having Fun
CBS

There are a bunch of ways you can come at the news that CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show last week. You can connect some dots and note how Colbert is a very vocal critic of an administration that is currently looking into a merger between the parent company of CBS and another massive media organization. You can point out that late-night talk shows are no longer a profit center for networks trying to wrangle a fleeing audience and that a show with a big staff and a well-compensated host might not be worth the investment like it used to be. You can throw up your hands and type “Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” like I did on Friday, which was probably not the most eloquent examination of it all but still something I stand by.

Or, if you’re someone with a deal that gives you ownership rights to decades of episodes of your own late-night television show on the same network and a lifelong commitment to being a mischievous rascal, you could do what David Letterman did and post a 20-minute highlight reel full of jokes you made at the expense of CBS on your old CBS show.

This is good stuff. As is the thing where the description on the YouTube page reads as follows: “You can’t spell CBS without BS.” You can almost hear the little twinkle eye in his go “DING” as you read that sentence. There is probably nothing in the world that David Letterman loves more than talking a little shit about his enemies. This must be heaven for him, just sitting on a mountain of footage he can splice together whenever a person or entity he was wronged by is in the news. I am so happy for him.

I should stop here to note something. In the previous paragraph, I implied Letterman edited this compilation himself, or at least oversaw the process. I know that’s not how this worked. I know he has a whole team at his production company that does this and that they are very good at their jobs and that Dave’s contribution is at most a rubber stamp once the work is done. Which is fine. It’s great, actually. He’s done enough. Good for him. But also, with that said, I still choose to believe Dave put this video together himself. I choose to believe he saw the news and got angry and channeled that rage into personally editing together every potshot he ever took at CBS and uploaded the whole thing to YouTube himself. I choose to believe this for two reasons:

  • I like the idea of a 78-year-old David Letterman learning how to navigate YouTube out of spite
  • It’s the funnier of the two options

This last one is important. The whole situation with Colbert stinks for whichever reason or combination of reasons led to the decision. It’s okay, in the midst of being bummed or angry or annoyed, to watch a 20-minute video of David Letterman ripping his then-current employer for bonehead things they did at the time and pretend he sat at a computer for a whole weekend to make it himself.

To paraphrase a wise man from another discussion of a different fiasco involving late-night television that was a bummer on a million levels: Leave me alone. I’m having fun.

If you click through to watch that video, the one that features a slew of clips of Dave busting on NBC for their handling of the Leno-Conan thing, most of which were pulled from episodes of his show that aired way back in 2010 and 2011, you’ll see that his social media team uploaded it to the official page…

… a little over a year ago.

A little slice of paradise for a petty king.


This is the thing where I pitch you on subscribing and especially upgrading. I really enjoy doing this newsletter. I hope you enjoy reading it. If you do, please consider smashing the button below and supporting me so I can keep doing it.

A paid subscription does get you some extras, too, not just the joy of giving me money. You’ll get access to the Friday newsletter and you’ll get to contribute to our periodic mailbags and reverse mailbags. Maybe there will be other benefits coming soon. All that for $5/month or $50/year. Basically a buck a week. A buck a week! Wow! What a deal!


STUFF I CLICKED ON

this profile of Joel Embiid was one of the best pieces of sportswriting I’ve ever seen

— Keith Phipps went way deep into a very weird moment in television history 

“Nobody wants to hang out on TV anymore”

— LaToya Ferguson continues to crush the TV smooching beat

— my position on the Emmys remains “I don’t care and you can’t make me” but I will say that Jeff Hiller’s reaction to getting a nomination was very good

— Kayleigh Donaldson on the Coldplay couple and the current state of the Main Character Syndrome 

— I can't stop laughing at this

@jmxeft7011

If Beyoncé was your Doctor 👩‍⚕️ #beyonce #beyhive #omarnova #beyoncechallenge #renaissanceworldtour #beyoncerenaissance #breakmysoul #partition #beyonceknowles #popmusic #music #foryou #fyp @Beyoncé

♬ original sound - jmxeft7011

— I will read any book described as "A Spicy Heist Story for the Student Loan Era"

— Devin Gordon wrote his ass off about a shady gambling dude (stick around until the end for the payoff)

— the headline here is that Katie Holmes is writing and directing a new project that will co-star her Dawson's Creek castmate Joshua Jackson but the bigger story is that the picture they selected for the story is SMOLDERING 

"The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work"

— Superman’s super dog is convincing people to go adopt less-super (but still very good!) dogs

— speaking of dogs, I’ve got to believe one of them was the chief suspect here

meat heist

Murderbot back (probably gonna cry again)

no one wants to direct Road House 2

— yes, I will see the action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Will Ferrell

— my favorite thing about following Vin Diesel on Instagram for many years (it's good to have hobbies) is that Ludacris likes almost every single one of his posts and often shows up in the comments with supportive emojis, as he did on this incredible piece of internet art

Okay, that's it for this week. Please share and subscribe and have a little fun at a media conglomerate's expense.