David Letterman was blackmailed for having had sex with employees.
A reader wrote to me regarding how it went when David went public with this problem:
Poor dude: he's trying to be completely vulnerable and candid w/his STUPID audience about a very serious matter that happened to him, a few days ago, and they just will NOT STOP laughing! :-(
Good point. You'd think people should be able to tell when he is joking and when he is not.
On the other hand he is making a very good living at making people laugh at other people all the time. Also, they hand-pick these audiences specifically to get the people who laugh at everything, to make the host seem very witty. So he's hung by his own noose, I guess.
I also think it's a problem comedians have often: they have people geared up to expect jokes from them all the time. So when they are serious, often people either think they are still joking, or are bored with them because they want the comedy.
One of the greatest Danish comedians of all time, Dirch Passer, had to give up playing in serious plays, because he could not walk on stage without people start to laugh before he even opened his mouth! True story.
Dave presented and handled the issue brilliantly. Given the proclivities of his typically idiot audience, he delivered his straight message with great effect and -dare I say- power.
ReplyDeleteThe fools in the studio giggled and guffawed through most of it, but he did shut them up completely (stunned!) on some of his points.
He scores 100% in my eyes for the way he handled this. I doubt anyone will mess with him in future, and he has won an enormous measure of respect.
I sheepishly confess I was waiting for the brass section of the band to raise their hands to indicate that they'd had sex with Dave. (It was an obvious gag, but he wisely didn't use it.)
BTW, if you think Dave's audience is clueless, try watching Bill Maher's. Complete and utter cretins.
Jeff R.
I also think it's a problem comedians have often: they have people geared up to expect jokes from them all the time. So when they are serious, often people either think they are still joking, or are bored with them because they want the comedy.
ReplyDeleteGroucho Marx had this problem. He found he could no longer insult people, because they always thought he was doing a bit. He could say something to a guy's wife that, had anyone else said it would have resulted in getting punched in the face, and they just thought it was Groucho being Groucho. He's no Dirch Passer, of course, but still a pretty famous comedian.
Dirch was very funny, and huge in DK. When he died, a bit prematurely, Victor Borge said that it would be proper for the whole country to be in mourning.
ReplyDeleteI was negatively impressed that so many talking heads on television made comments about the issue without knowing the facts. If the affairs took place twenty years ago before he was married, and they were consensual affairs, then what's the issue?
ReplyDeleteI've lost my respect for Letterman after his comments about Sarah Palin and others, but on this issue I am on his side based on what is known at the present time.
(I wonder what Whoopi Goldberg would have to say about this revelation, now that we know she is not against rape, unless it's rape rape.)
I loved Letterman's comments about that colossal moron Palin. She's a Creationist for fuck's sake. How stupid can a person get? And she claimed to have foreign policy experience because she could see Russia from her house. How anyone could possibly defend her... Well, they'd have to be on about the same intellectual leve.
ReplyDelete"I was negatively impressed that so many talking heads on television made comments about the issue without knowing the facts. If the affairs took place twenty years ago before he was married, and they were consensual affairs, then what's the issue?"
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing the behaviour of the media and what passes for journalism lately, I dont think they were unaware of that fact but rather they were more concerned about how to spin the story for ratings.
My opinion on the whole thing can be summed up with, "Who cares? Why is this anyone's buisness except those involved?"
I said the same about Monica Lewinski. But it seems as soon as sex is involved, it's *everybody's* business.
ReplyDeleteI loved Letterman's comments about that colossal moron Palin.
ReplyDeletePalin is an uneducated Moron who helped that old McSame guy lose. She isn't fit to clean up the blood from the animals she kills.
About Letterman, well, I like him, but adultery is wrong and theres nothing funny about it.
Hi Eolake and Pascal! Hope all is well with you my friends!
I said the same about Monica Lewinski. But it seems as soon as sex is involved, it's *everybody's* business.
ReplyDeleteWhen it's Letterman, an alleged entertainer, it shouldn't matter. People shouldn't care. When it's the President, it says something about his character.