David Letterman thanks Seth Meyers for reminding him it was Late Night‘s 40th anniversary
For the occasion, Dave recalled an animal segment gone very, very wrong
TV News David Letterman
In his long and storied television career, David Letterman has never been reticent about needling show business types, even if (or especially if) he worked for them. So one might be forgiven for imagining that the 74-year-old Letterman would take a few potshots at this latest whippersnapper (48-year-old Seth Meyers) for having the temerity to still be sitting in Letterman’s old Late Night chair, metaphorically speaking. (Late Night With David Letterman shot in 30 Rockefeller Center’s studio 6A, while Meyers moved things up to 8G.)
So it was genuinely sort of sweet to see the snowy-bearded Letterman be so effusive about what Meyers has done with the old place, singling out both Meyers’ in-house 8G Band and his recurring “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” segment with Late Night writers Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel. Telling Meyers, “If I had that Amber and Jenny thing, I’d still be on the air,” Letterman expressed nothing but admiration for Meyers’ work in keeping the Late Night comedy train running, before deadpanning, “Well, somewhere.”
Of course, Letterman is still on TV—or at least on that newfangled “streaming” all the kids are talking about. Plus, as Meyers reminded everyone, he’s recently moved onto the YouTube, with the launch of a blessedly comprehensive archive of clips from both Late Night With David Letterman and The Late Show With David Letterman readily available for viewers nostalgic for the years when Dave was goofing around with NBC and CBS’ money for his own, and our, amusement.
Meyers noted how he’d spent the day reliving the time Letterman spent a week of Late Night featuring The World’s Largest Vase, complete with the record-holding receptacle’s stirring on-air plea for world peace. Letterman, while mocking the idea that the requisite late-night movie or TV clip ever lured one more viewer to any guest’s latest project, did seem to enjoy the “not funny, but representative” Late Night clip Meyers’ played of him putting three eager audience members through their paces in the 30 Rockefeller Plaza elevator races.
As for the momentous occasion for his visit back to his old, TV-redefining stomping grounds, Letterman explained how it was only Meyers’ call that reminded him that Tuesday’s show represented Late Night’s actual, to-the-night 40th anniversary. “Honest to goodness, if it weren’t for your kind invitation, I would not have known that this is the 40th anniversary of the beginning of what you now do,” noted Letterman, who also praised Meyers for weathering some nine months of at-home shows during the pandemic.
As Meyers noted, it was Letterman’s example of making do with what’s at hand (and of trusting an audience to appreciate a loopy recurring bit) that inspired him to get inventive with Late Night. As Letterman advised about overcoming obstacles (be they low budgets, tiny initial late-night viewership, network “pinheads,” or a global pandemic), “You don’t look at them as constraints as much as opportunities.” Like, for another example, realizing that sending your “taciturn” mother to Norway as Late Night’s official Olympics correspondent would be absolute and inimitable comic gold, with Dave explaining how the “ventriloquist act” of feeding his mom questions over the years actually brought them closer together, in a strange, and enduringly hilarious way.
Calling his general state during his time at Late Night one of “paralytic fear,” Letterman reminded everyone that his initial, morning show iteration of what would become Late Night was a resounding bomb. Noting how he’d “blown up” NBC’s morning schedule by replacing the usual game shows with, for example, segments where Monty Python’s Michael Palin teaches everyone how to crank their own sausages, Letterman told Meyers, “ you know it could be a while before they call your number again.” But call NBC did, with Letterman taking time to regale Meyers’ audience with the time that his recurring animal bit with zookeeper and perpetual foil Jack Hanna went very wrong thanks to an understandably pissed off beaver.
In the 1988 clip of the incident, the nip that the unwilling guest beaver doesn’t seem that bad, but, as Letterman told Meyers with raconteur’s glee, getting a beaver bite on the fleshy part of the hand between your thumb and index finger means a whole lot of blood. With the ever intrepid and unfortunate Hanna walking himself into a local ER after the show, Letterman noted that the sheer amount of red led everyone to imagine that the Columbus Zoo honcho had been shot. Plus, as Letterman explained, Hanna got a talking to from the cops, who reminded him that it was (and presumably still is) illegal to own a beaver in New York. Letterman feigned shock when Meyers revealed that Late Night no longer has a designated exotic animal guy, but maybe that’s for the best.
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One of my favorite Late Night moments.
I was so happy I could find my favorite clip with Chris Elliott as Skylark standing “cheek to cheek” with Letterman and when Letterman asks him what’s next Skylark says breathily “I don’t know but I’m in Dreamland”. OMFG that was awesome, anything that annoyed Letterman or made him uncomfortable was GOLD.
That show was so good.
Even Letterman usually seemed bewildered by whatever the hell Chris Elliott was doing at the time. Him impersonating Brando’s Godfather while cooking (and spilling) a massive pot of baked beans remains one of the most confounding things I’ve ever seen on network television.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Elliott was very anxious doing these bits because he knew Letterman generally did not care for them because they were unpredictable and weird, and/or they’d make him the butt of the joke? Whatever, it made for some unforgettable TV.
I don’t remember Letterman becoming the butt of the joke, but Elliot made it very clear he didn’t care how offputting some of his gags were to the audience or Letterman himself. So “disrespectful” is probably a better description.
My favorite Chris Elliot bit was him playing “The Guy Under The Stairs” where he’d just pop up in the middle of a random segment and say something weird. One time he opened up his trap door and, as smoke billowed out, said “Dave, shaft 12 just collapsed. I’m worried. I’ve got good men down there.” Then he closed it up and it was over. I really miss that kind of chaotic weirdness.
Seats. Under the Seats.Followed by, I think, The Fugitive Guy and/or The Terminator Guy.
Morton Downey Jr.
Elliot was so great on the show. My favorite is probably the giant pool of coffee, but there’s really too many great bits to choose from.
The one that still kills me is his Marlon Brando going on about “The Island.” Jesus Christ, Chris can be so goddamn brilliant.
I still say that. I’m exactly the right age for classic Dave- Late Night premiered during my freshman year at college. I simply did not miss the show back then. I watched no matter how tired I was or what else I was supposed to be doing.
I was either a senior in HS or a college freshman. I still lived at home and watched every night. Letterman formed my sense of humor more than any other person. I absolutely revere him.
I was younger, but am old enough to have seen bits like the Alka-Selzer suit (and its velcro cousin) that in retrospect were born almost certainly out of trying to do something, anything, on a near-zero budget.
Don’t forget the Suit of Suet and the walk with the animals, which seems largely forgotten by the internet but not by me. He hyped it all night as a potentially dangerous walk through the animals collected onstage while wear a literal suit of suet. He ‘believed’ they would be ravenous for the suet. Instead he was largely ignored and was safe the entire time.
For me, it was Steve Martin during his prime and Letterman. They’re my sense of humor’s Beatles and Rolling Stones.
I was a little younger. Late Night premiered when I was a Freshman in high school. I would pretend to go to bed around the time Carson came on and then sneak back out an hour later to watch it quietly. My mom would wake up screaming at me and make me go back to bed all the time.
Definitely better than, “Make mine wicker.”
I still say this with shocking regularity.
Oh my god, thank you.I just cracked up for 10 minutes straight, and sent it to my brother, who I watched Dave with in high school, who is now doing the same.
I still remember the odd glances my parents would give the TV as I watched Letterman’s morning show back in the day. I also vaguely recall a bit where comedian Rich Hall demonstrated Olympic speed skating by having a bunch of tiny skaters on an LP covered with aluminum foil, who would fly off as he gradually increased the speed from 16 to 33 to 45 to 78 RPM. It was a simpler time.
Rich Hall was definitely another guy who, like Letterman, cared first and foremost about entertaining himself.
Sniglet.
I was 10 when his morning show was on the air, and I’d watch it at my grandmother’s house while my parents were at work. I don’t remember much about it, or anything about my grandmother’s reaction to it, but I DO remember Dave getting a ladder to fix one of the lights above the studio floor near the end of one episode, only to have that ladder taken away by a stage hand with him still up there. The next day, the show started with him still up in the lights and a stage hand had to bring a ladder to get him back down, like he had spent the entire day and night up there. My 10-year-old self thought that was pretty damn funny.
The thing I remember most about Letterman was his genuine amazement at his success. He seemed embarrassed about it all, and always appreciated and thanked his co-workers and staff. Heck, his last show was pretty much a big “Thank you” to everyone who worked with him over the years.
To the extent that he was willing to routinely test the boundary of what he could get away with saying or doing, almost daring NBC especially to fire him.
This is my all-time favorite “Late Night” segment. An absolutely brilliant car wreck.
“If you need a breakfast that’s fast and quick, try Larry “Bud” Melman’s Toast on a Stick.”
I was an absolute dee-vo-tée through the 80s. I think I’ll go and watch him toss stuff off a five-story tower now, and then check out the suit of Alka-Seltzer.
In middle school (loved Dave from his morning show and onward), I wrote an essay for English class, “Goofball Lust” about how funny IS sexy; got in trouble for using the word lust, but still, the argument stands.
I know that it’s been the only reason women have ever been willing to take their clothes off in my presence.
Ha—Better to make them laugh than cry at any rate.
Great, great interview.I remember all of Letterman’s goofy bits, which I loved so much at a specific time in my life, but I had forgotten what a great conversationalist he is.Seth is great at it too; I could listen to those two chat for hours.And that Dave appreciated the Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel bit so much — he’s still got great taste in humor.