Say what you will for David Letterman's tough-as-nails policy towards Senator McCain this election. The buck-toothed avenger would be sorry to see old Acorn cheeks not make it into the White House. Why?
Because like we mentioned yesterday about the Matt Drudge getting a boost from an Obamanation (ooh, that could even be his new website title!), late night talk shows make Republicans their bread and butter. During a recent survey, there were seven times more Republican jokes than Democratic ones on late night television.
Sorry, joking about our future hope for pulling the country out of the spiraling economic depression it's in is not funny. But making fun of Sarah Palin and her ridiculous lifestyle is!
But what if it's not about the specifics of who the candidates are, but rather, who the current administration is? If you're going to be an "edgy" late night host, you have to go against the popular opinion sometimes, and that means picking on the current administration. Which is bad news for some of our favorite late night programs.
David Letterman's disdain for the guests his job requires him to interview is becoming less and less subtle, and it's an absolutely glorious thing to behold.
After the jump, watch as Letterman uses Hills star Lauren Conrad's promotional rambling to sell his book and presents her with the theory that maybe she's the reason people hate her. The host also takes some time to go off on LC's mortal enemy, Spencer Pratt. Enjoy.
Back in the 90's, when America had a Democrat in the White House, the brunt of every Letterman and Leno joke involved cigars, Monica Lewinsky, and saxophones. The emphasis was on the personal rather than the policy, which made sense because at the time, the economy was fine! Terrorists were the guys in Die Hard! The scariest thing happening on Wall Street was Patrick Bateman!
But in the past eight years, we've seen not only an increase of monkey-faced quips, but on sharpened attacks against Republicans on a whole in the late night vector. David Letterman's recent beef with John McCain is only the most recent example, in what research from the Center for Media and Public Affairs is calling a 7-1 ratio of Republican compared to Democrat jokes. "The total: Republicans, 286. Democrats, 42."
So is this an obvious bias of the liberal late night talk show media, or just a no-brainer on the part of writers/producers on the program, who need to their jokes to be not only funny but topical. And besides Joe Biden's last gaffe, when was the last time you saw a Democrat do anything as inherently funny as John McCain's wagging tongue?
John McCain finally deemed it fit to sit down across from Dave Letterman on The Late Show, three weeks and countless monologues milking the senator's absence later.
So how did it go? Did McCain, fresh off the final debate last night, take Letterman's gloating jabs and "roll with dem punches," as the kids might say? Or did he grit his teeth and blink a lot in that "I'm rolling with the punches but secretly I'm about to hulk out on you, gap-toothed man" sort of way?
Let's find out:
CONTINUED »
Riff is going to the dance to make nice with Bernardo, so this Thursday America will be able to witness the ultimate mambo as John McCain makes his long-awaited appearance (probably) on The Late Show with David Letterman. Unless he backs out again, of course.
The question is: Will Letterman take the Bill O'Reilly route and go all soft and sweet once he has his opponent in the chair? Or will he continue to berate McCain and hope the audience he's already lost during the debacle is less than the numbers he's bringing in for his on-air beat-down? Let's take a look at the McCain/Letterman time-line and place our bets accordingly:
CONTINUED »
David Letterman is back to doing what he does best: bashing John McCain. Even after the senator offered to make up the bad blood between himself and the gap-toothed Late Night host by rescheduling his appearance on the show (after he canceled to do Couric and then lied about it), David Letterman is not so willing to forgive and forget. Especially if it keeps him relevant and in the news to have a feud going on with a presidential candidate.
Watch the video of Dave's monologue and the written transcript for those of you at work with no sound (all of you are at work with no sound), after the jump:
CONTINUED »
Despite all of Letterman's ragging on John McCain after the senator failed to appear on The Late Show, the two are in talks for a do-over for the sake of their ratings friendship.
The re-appearance is tentatively being called for around Oct. 15th, when the senator will be in New York for the final debate. Expect a lot of awkward grinning and lots of toothy smiles while the two men try to repair their reputations with the other's constituents.
After getting dissed and dumped, David Letterman has been on a John McCain tear of late. From bashing the candidate in his opening monologue to inviting actress Julia Louis-Dreyfuss on the show for another dose of vitriol, the Late Show host has been snuffing up the YouTube views. On Friday night, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams sat down for another opportunity for Letterman to attack Palin after watching her dodge-y VP debate performance.
Kudos to Williams for not only remaining neutral — "I can't correct you because I have no opinions" — but steering Letterman to seeing all sides … and then letting him crap on Palin.
Interesting, however: CONTINUED »
You're forgiven for not noticing David Letterman's repeat bashing of John McCain last night, since the most important thing on his show was the excellent Paul Newman tribute. But Letterman did get a swipe in during the monologue at interview bailer McCain, and so did guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who, in a show of support, stopped by Letterman at the same time she was expected at another interview, bailing on that one. Con quien?
Despite her reluctance to open up to any publication regarding her ex Raffaello Follieri, Anne Hathaway broke it down on The Late Show last night after some intense badgering by David Letterman. Which means that Letterman officially accomplished what Graydon Carter and all of Vanity Fair's pull could not: putting Hathaway on the spot.
Clip after the jump (fun stuff starts in around 2:40):
CONTINUED »
Michael Cera is a funny guy, but I'm not sure if I believe his "oh shucks, I'm totes just this normal teenager uncomfortable in my own skin" routine. Sure, it probably gets him tons of poon, and it worked for him when portraying chubby-cheeked, cousin-loving George Michael Bluth, but don't you get the sense that he hams up his awkwardness during interviews? Especially since he's already demonstrated that he is pretty self-aware about his whole shtick and seems like a smart cookie and generally acts like he knows what he's doing with his cute little hoodies and vaguely Canadian accent.
Here is Cera on Letterman last night, discussing his role in the upcoming film Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist:
CONTINUED »
Well, it's one way to get viewers to watch Katie Couric's show: 'CBS News executives were red- faced yesterday trying to explain how David Letterman used unaired news footage of Sen. John McCain with Katie Couric to embarrass the Republican presidential candidate. [...] Later in the show, Letterman showed an internal, live video of McCain being tended to by a make-up artist before the Couric interview. [...] But several CBS News executives - who asked not to be identified - said that the stunt did not go down well within the news division. "If we had done something like that to him, someone around here would end up getting fired," one said.' [NYP]
Jossip Point-Counterpoint: Drew says David Letterman's McCain rants are a good thing for the comedian. David says there are more risks than rewards.
Either David Letterman was still so upset that John McCain canceled his appearance on The Late Show Wednesday, or the talk show host realized that his anti-McCain rant got more play than anything the gap-toothed Letterman's done in years.
Well, either way, David set his sights once again on John McCain last night, calling out the senator for "suspending" his campaign due to the crisis at Wall Street, but then continuing to make public appearances and stay in NY, instead of going back to DC to meet with lawmakers like he promised:
John McCain canceled his stint on David Letterman tonight so he could go save Wall Street, but still managed to show up down the street at CBS for governor Palin's interview with Katie Couric and say a couple words.
Couric is now the only anchor who managed to get an interview with McCain after the senator declared a suspension on his campaign for the sake of the economy; a total reasonable and normal thing to do and in not in any way related to the fact that the first debates are scheduled for this Friday.
N-E-way, David Letterman is understandably pissed, because McCain is all "no, no more interviews until this crisis is solved" and then goes down the block to the softball leagues to join Couric and Palin:
CONTINUED »
David Letterman, the CBS Late Show host who's being bested in the ratings by Nightline, doesn't "know why, after the job Jay [Leno] has done for them, why they would relinquish that."
"They," of course, being NBC, which wanted to badly to hold on to Conan O'Brien they promised him the premiere Late Show spot, effectively ousting Leno — according to everybody — prematurely.
Letterman is speaking to Rolling Stone, supposedly his first real print interview since 1996, and it'd be easy to assume that he's taking a sarcastic cheap shot at his former friend-cum-nemesis, who beat him out for the Johnny Carson slot in 1993, forcing him to the less stellar CBS. The two don't exactly speak anymore, and they sometimes trade barbs. But such is the nature of the tiny world of comedy. And Letterman's comments about Leno don't come across as carpet bombs, but as a genuine olive branch to the only man who arguably makes him try harder at his own job. CONTINUED »
George Bush doesn't know how to speak. John McCain is old. Al Gore is stiff. Hillary Clinton is cold.
These are all character traits that allow the writers behind Leno, O'Brien, Letterman, Stewart, and Colbert to come up with bump-set-spike deliveries and amusing punchlines about the country's most high-profile politicos.
But Barack Obama? They've got nothing! He's neither too tall, nor too short. Not fat, nor anorexic. Not a baby, but not a geezer. He's got that elitist reputation, and that part about his biography where his father herds goats, but not enough to translate into regular late night fare.
We're in DEFCON 1 territory, people! CONTINUED »
Firing back at Mary-Kate Olsen — who, on Letterman last night, labeled Spencer Pratt a rageaholic with a sweat problem — the reality TV opportunist says, "I know I've made it in Hollywood when a famous troll is talking about me on Letterman." Adds Spencer: "I don't really get why she'd use my name to get press for her little indie film that no one's going to see. She should probably focus more on not getting dressed in the dark than on me." Aww, sad! Because back in high school, the duo were at least friendly enough to snap this photo together … which Pratt later sold for $50k.
Mary-Kate Olsen's appearance on David Letterman last night wasn't notable for her "I'm so tired" excuse for being barely able to hold herself up, but that she threw old classmate Spencer Pratt under the bus. Mary-Kate says the duo went to high school together, and that Mr. Pratt's temper problem often meant he'd scream his way off the soccer field when he didn't get his way. Also, he's "oily." Insider stuff here folks!
More uncomfortable than watching Ali Lohan repeat the talking points about her E! reality show Living Lohan – that the show is an effort to "set the record straight," as her mother insisted on GMA, and that they're just another normal American family, and that "you'll have to watch" to see if Lindsay is on the show – that were drilled into her head?
More awkward than David Letterman calling Ali by her sister Lindsay's name?
More bizarre than seeing her Micro Mini Maltese dog on a table in the green room?
Watching Letterman allude to Lindsay's alleged coat stealing and Ali stumble over it.
We heard this rumor a couple weeks ago that Kevin Spacey once stalked around Yale's campus, in New Haven, after meeting a young male undergrad, perhaps at some industry event or a night out in the Big Apple, becoming smitten with him, and then obsessively trying to reconnect on the university's grounds, even though the fella had his fill of Spacey. There were so many spottings of Spacey around Yale that rumors began bubbling up that he was going to be filming his next project in the waspy town.
None of which has anything to do with this clip of Kevin Spacey dumping a Jamba Juice all over the set of David Letterman's show. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
