David Letterman's final shows...

You'll be happy to know, perhaps, that Bob Dylan will be on Tuesday's show, so he'll be the final musical guest.

 

Eh. I'm not a Dylan fan either. He and Willie Nelson were a double bill in a series of shows in minor league ballparks several years ago. Luckily for me, Willie played his set first. Then Dylan. He sat behind a keyboard off to the side of the stage for the few songs I heard. Couldn't see him, couldn't understand him, so we left.

 

I'd be pretty willing to bet on an all-star onstage jam wrapping up with Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart," which will segue into "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," which Bob will be diplomatically asked to sing "straight."

 

Dave's last NBC show had a surprise musical performance from Bruce Springsteen. So maybe that happens again.

Hoping for no Jay Leno. Let the last night be about Dave.

 

Norm MacDonald did some stand-up on the show last night. Gave it about 2 minutes and had to click out. Sounded half-cocked and was too slurry.

The LSD bit had potential but fell flat by and large.

 

I teared up two weeks ago when Jack Hanna did. I got to go up for a taping in February and I'm so glad I did. Yeah, he's Willie Mays with the Mets at this point, but he was still a guy who showed a bunch of us awkward shits that awkward can be cool.

 

I wonder about the logic behind waiting three months between Letterman's departure and Colbert starting. I know the summer probably dictates that, because they don't want to risk Colbert getting low, initial ratings even when anyone would be getting low ratings during the summer months. It would have been smarter to have Dave go longer into the summer or have him end in February or March. I realize CBS may not have had much say, but I could see a lot of viewers flocking to Kimmel or Fallon during the summer months.

 

Songbird, it definitely turned around! Norm was funny -- a bit on Germany was outstanding, but then it ended with him breaking down while telling a joke he heard Letterman say at a standup routine when Norm was 13. Really good.

Norm Macdonald Performs Stand-Up on David Letterman - YouTube

 

I thin Dave decided pretty much on his own what his end date would be.

I suppose Colbert might have had some kind of limited non-compete clause in his Comedy Central deal (90 days???).

In any case this isn't just a matter of Colbert walking out on stage and doing a monologue -- they're building a whole new show from the ground up.

Last I read, it hadn't been decided yet whether SC was going to have a sidekick or a live band (the consensus seems to be he probably will but it's not chiseled in stone yet).

Before all that stuff gets sorted out, Letterman's organization has to clear out of the Ed Sullivan Theatre. So it doesn't surprise me its gonna take a few months to get it done.

Although I suspect if CBS had some big ratings-related reason they wanted it done faster, they would have greased the gears to make it happen.

 

Springsteen will be the final musical guest sending Dave off by playing a cover of Steam's "Hey hey goodbye"

 

Vedder was fantastic last night. Playing with Paul and the band reminded me of the NBC show when musical acts were forced to incorporate the band into their performance.

I'll be curious to see how Wednesday goes. I would have thought Bill Murray would have come out that night to actually bring it full circle, rather than one day short.

Have we seen Chris Elliott yet?