David Letterman's final shows...

Olbermann is such an insufferably pompous blowhard.
He cannot even do an homage to someone he alleges to admire without lacing the piece with blatant self-promotion.

 

To be fair, countless people spent time in the last weeks remembering their time as a guest or a viewer of Letterman.
And it wasn't like the staffers didn't know the end was coming, they had months to clear out their offices.

 

I saw Letterman a couple of times at NBC in 1984-5 and it was no different. His audience interaction was limited to the warm-up and a quick goodbye after the show ended. I don't know if there's a need for anything else while the show is going on. The band is blasting in the breaks anyway.

 

It was both funny and awful to watch Letterman walk over to a band or singer at the end of a performance.
Even if he knew them fairly well, all he could do was shake hands and say "That was great" and "Thanks for coming."

Always wished Letterman could really loosen up on the show. He never really seemed to get close to anyone.

 

False modesty about being called the Letterman of sports. He clearly revelled in it.
And the unsubtle drop about the wrap party.
Olbermann is just a braying, self-important ass.

 

Then you must love Fallon. He man hugs total strangers.

 

In the Rolling Stone article, Tina Fey said something to the effect of, "With Letterman gone, there's nobody left to keep you on your toes. Everybody else is just filled with friendliness."

 

While he may have been fond of certain people, Letterman was the only TV host in my memory who actively disliked his guests.

That changed after 9/11 and his heart surgery and his sex scandal and the birth of his kid and his marriage as he mellowed a bit but the Letterman I remember, the one I watched in the 80s and 90s, it was unlike anything on TV and it was glorious.

 

"Disliking his guests" is overstated greatly. When you have more than 19,000 guests, it stands to reason there will be some you dislike. But it wasn't as if he had contempt for a large number of them. Remember, 12:30 a.m. on NBC wasn't exactly a must-visit on the promotional tour, so anyone who felt disliked could have skipped "Late Night" pretty easily.

Sometimes non-fawning gets mistaken for dislike.

 

I agree with what Smasher said in response to this, and I'd add that he was still ornery and sniped at people after his heart surgery and 9/11. While I don't think he was as openly sardonic, his stuff with Paris Hilton, Bieber and Selena Gomez showed him still willing to stick and jab.

 

He's back!

David Letterman Is Officially Returning to Television

 

This should be fantastic.