"Deadline Hollywood is reporting that David Letterman will pay the entire staff of the Late Show with his own money while the show is shut down during the writers strike. CBS stopped paying the staff when the show halted production last week. NBC is trying the same tactic to put pressure on the writers, and has threatened to lay off the entire staff of "the Tonight Show" unless the writers come back to work. Deadline says Letterman has committed to pay them at least through the end of the year."
I’m really not surprised that this story has flown under the radar – David Letterman is a devastatingly private man. But for a network television star and iconic comedian, he provides a stark, refreshing contrast to the charitable lives of George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, et al., which are incessantly covered by both the mainstream and Hollywood media to the point where the line is blurred between compassion and self-interest/promotion. I’m also not surprised that Jay Leno is doing something similar, but only after he received a tremendous amount of bad press for staying silent for over a week after NBC laid his non-writing staffers off.
Few people know that Letterman and various Late Show personalities have devoted their Christmases to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, that Mr. Letterman supports at least three major scholarships at his alma matter in Indiana that reward creativity over grade point average, or even that his money and critical eye nurtured Everybody Loves Raymond and NBC's Ed.
But when you take a closer look at the man, can all of this really come as a surprise? From his charitable streak to the genuine respect and gratitude he continues to show to his late mentor and predecessor Johnny Carson, to the personal demons he has overcome – be it alcoholism, struggles as a confused college student at Ball State, divorce, or the whole unfortunate 'Uma/Oprah' debacle - he really does seem to be a legitimate role model.
I think his exceptional character is easiest to see in the great lengths he goes to return a favor. Take American TV icon and Eye Street hero Regis Philbin as an example… As loyal Late Show viewers probably know, Regis is a true friend to the program. Not only is he a classic fill-in guest and a man comfortable enough in his celebrity to appear in seemingly random and unimportant comedy bits, but he can always be found across from Dave on important nights such as his return to the airwaves after open-heart surgery and his famous first broadcast after 9/11. But Letterman never takes their relationship for granted; between the laughs he’s always thanking Philbin for what he’s contributed to the medium over the decades and sure enough, when Philbin went under the knife for a similar procedure earlier this year, Letterman made an extremely rare guest appearance to welcome him back to Live with Regis and Kelly. A similar example can be found in his appearance on Oprah after the two buried the hatchet during a highly publicized 2005 Late Show (The 'Super Bowl of Love'). Ditto for when Dan Rather was a guest on the 9/17/01 show and the stoic journalist, paid to maintain his composure and objectivity during any and all situations, was overcome with grief and emotion at numerous points during the interview. Letterman knew he was asking a lot out of someone who obviously had not had the time or means to digest the gravity of the attacks, and was absolutely sure to give Rather all the consolation and commercial breaks he needed. And of course, there was the humorous and moving tribute to the doctors, nurses, and even medical technicians who "saved his life" in 2000.
I think that too often, gratitude and respect are misconstrued with a mindless and hollow repetition of the words 'thank you.' It holds so much more weight, meaning, and personal enrichment for both sides when there are actions to supplement those words. Just look at how appreciative Letterman’s guests are… From Ryan Adams dedicating an album to him and the Foo Fighters flying back from Africa mid-tour to play his favorite song upon his recovery from the aforementioned surgery to the simple but powerful guest hosts’ refusal to sit at the man’s desk … Letterman is adored by those who 'get it;' celebrities who don’t change their personalities because of their bank account, zip code, and number of US Weekly covers. Fittingly, I think his biggest fan might have been the man who he idolized – It was revealed that right up until his death, Johnny Carson forwarded Dave jokes which were used in Late Show monologues with a special characteristic Carson golf swing after each one in tribute. Wow. Be it Brett Favre and the young Green Bay diaper babies trying to prove to each other that they can cut it in today’s NFL to President Bush when he speaks in front of our men and women in uniform, mutual respect like that is always a pleasure to watch.
And then there’s just the admirable way he handles his perennial 2nd place ratings. It’s common knowledge that Letterman was Carson’s hand-picked successor for the Tonight Show when he retired in 1992 and that Letterman was bitterly disappointed when NBC executives chose Jay Leno for the gig. And while there were definitely years when the whole controversy and subsequent rivalry was taboo, Letterman eventually turned the whole thing into a consistent, valuable punch-line. Obviously perpetual residency in second place is much easier to take when despite what the corn-fed masses punch into their Nielsen boxes every night, you consistently garner praise from critics and industry insiders alike. The self-deprecation this allows for is one of the show’s bright spots, and whereas similar attempts by Conan O’Brien simply come off as shtick on par with his string dance and famous unkempt hair, it’s more much appealing coming from Letterman because you can tell it stems from his down-to-earth attitude; his refusal to take himself too seriously.
But there seems to be a certain pride there as well… Letterman seems perfectly content with where the Late Show has taken him and the audience it’s built over the last 13 years. And our loyalty is rewarded with a playful but stubborn refusal to compromise his values and pander to potential viewers. Many of the comedy bits can be brutally abstract unless seen on a nightly basis. While it is sometimes said that Letterman is a rough, abrasive, or even rude interviewer, it’s usually simply a case of an outsider being surprised at how equally he treats each and every one of his guests. He steadfastly refuses to allow anyone to use the show as a vehicle for unadulterated BS, and examples in the past year alone range from Bill O’Rielly to Paris Hilton.
So yeah, despite the extra hour two of sleep I’m getting Monday through Thursday now with the WGA strike, I definitely miss the guy. And when I think about what a great role model he could be for a generation of kids that too often equate being a man to acting like an ungrateful, disinterested dick to everyone else, including friends, I miss what he brings to the table even more.
PS - "Pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing."
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