Television Corner: "Goodnight to The Late Show with David Letterman"

May 22nd, 1992: The "king of late night," Johnny Carson (1925-2005) hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show on NBC.

August 6th, 1993: Joe Franklin (1926-2015) retired from hosting his local New York (and later, Secaucus) talk show, The Joe Franklin Show.  Throughout Franklin's 40 years in television from his WABC and WOR/WWOR shows, the pioneering talk show host hosted more than 21,425 programs (more on "the king of nostalgia" here).

December 18th, 2014: Stephen Colbert hosted his last episode of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central (along with ending his fake "pundit" character).  That same evening, Craig Ferguson hosted his final episode The Late Late Show on CBS (read the previous blog post here).

May 20th, 2015: After 33 years in late night television (on NBC and CBS), David Letterman bid farewell to The Late Show on CBS.

Regis Philbin with David Letterman on the second-to-last
Late Show with David Letterman on CBS (May 19th, 2015).

"It's beginning to look like I'm not going to get the 'Tonight Show'."  -David Letterman, on his final telecast of the Late Show with David Letterman, May 20th, 2015

Bandleader Paul Shaffer and David Letterman
from their NBC years (from New York Magazine, circa 1986).

Throughout his career in television, there were a lot of interesting parts of Letterman's NBC and CBS shows, including Paul Shaffer's musical accompaniments, the famous Top Ten lists, Stupid Pet Tricks, Stupid Human Tricks, Small Town News, Is This Anything?, the Summer and Winter Toy test, Dave's Record Collection, Biff Henderson's America, The Late Show Christmas Meatball Challenge, Kid Scientists, Pat & Kenny Read Oprah Transcripts, Know Your Current Events, Will It Float?, Great Moments in Presidential Speeches, Viewer Mail (later known as the CBS Mailbag), throwing ordinary objects off the roof of a building, contestant games at Rupert Jee's Hello Deli and other sketches throughout the show.  His unique and off-beat humor set the pace for modern late night talk show programs.

Letterman's final show began with stock footage of President Gerald Ford, and his famous statement from his inauguration speech after Richard Nixon resigned from the office of the presidency in 1974: "Our long national nightmare is over."  There were pre-recorded messages from Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama uttering Ford's phrase.

The last Late Show included his opening monologue, the final Top Ten list (with surprise cameo appearances), classic moments from his short-lived NBC morning show, his NBC "Late Night" program, along with classic comedic moments from the Late Show, including Letterman working at Taco Bell.

Letterman concluded his extended "farewell" show with "A Day in the life of David Letterman," a short retrospective on his career, praise for Stephen Colbert, a fond farewell to his audience and viewers at home, and a special musical performance by the Foo Fighters, set to images and clips from Letterman's programs on NBC and CBS.

The one part that I do regret is that I never went to New York to attend a taping of Letterman's show.

Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Letterman.  At The Matinee wishes Letterman, Paul Shaffer, Biff Henderson, Chris Elliott, Rupert Jee, Alan Kalter, Pat Farmer and the entire Late Show staff and crew (past and present) on their successes throughout the years.

In a field dominated by Conan O'Brien (who paid tribute to Letterman) and "Jimmys" (Jimmy Kimmel, who also paid tribute to Letterman, and to a lesser extent- Jimmy Fallon) on the late night circuit, television will never be the same without David Letterman.

I think it would beneficial if there was another Carson, Letterman, Franklin, or Jon Stewart (who is leaving Comedy Central's The Daily Show in August).

More on Letterman here and here.

#ThanksDave

"LATE SHOW" FURNITURE, DESK AND PROPS TAKEN OUT OF THE ED SULLIVAN THEATER (ALONG WITH THEATER SEATS) FOR REMODELING: According to Deadline.com (a sister entertainment news platform to Variety), CBS is remodeling their Ed Sullivan Theater stage for the Stephen Colbert version of The Late Show, after David Letterman's final Late Show telecast wrapped up on Wednesday evening.

Letterman's desk, along with Paul Shaffer's band podiums have been moved into storage, while other props and set pieces are unfortunately being thrown into the dumpster (according to Deadline, several fans of Letterman's show have "rescued" several pieces of the set from the dumpster).

It has been reported that CBS is remodeling the theater seats in the Ed Sullivan Theater, by discarding existing theater seats from the auditorium (and into the dumpster).

The head writer and founder of At The Matinee is a fellow Letterman fan and cinema enthusiast.  He would like to have some old Letterman-era theater seats from the Ed Sullivan Theater (not only would it make a great piece of Letterman memorabilia, several seats would be great for cinema-style seating at the headquarters of At The Matinee).  

If anyone from the New York area (including representatives from CBS and/or Worldwide Pants) are interested, feel free to drop me a line on the comments section of At The Matinee, or drop a line at the following e-mail addresses on your screen: 

chrishambyfilms@hotmail.com 

cdh9@hood.edu

Thanks for your interest!

-Chris Hamby
Hood College student and head writer/proprietor, Chris Hamby's At The Matinee

Television Corner: Farewell to several Late Night favorites: "The Colbert Report", the "Late Show" Christmas Tradition, and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"

At The Matinee bids farewell to several Late Night favorites (and one Holiday tradition): The Colbert Report, the iconic "Christmas Tradition" on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman. and the last episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Here I am standing next to Stephen Colbert's portrait at the
National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., during a
Frederick Community College Political Club field trip in 2008.

FAREWELL TO THE "COLBERT NATION": Nation- on the evening of December 18th, Comedy Central aired the last episode of The Colbert Report.  After nine years of his popular satirical show (a "spin-off" of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), Stephen Colbert bid farewell along with a cavalcade of iconic guests (including Jon Stewart) that have appeared on the show over the years, joining the legendary "fake pundit" in a rousing rendition of We'll Meet Again.

To those that haven't heard, Colbert will be the successor host of CBS' Late Show, when David Letterman retires from his show on May 20th, 2015.  Daily Show correspondent and comedy writer Larry Wilmore will take over Colbert's old Comedy Central time slot on January 19th, with a new spin-off series- The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

I'll be watching his 2009 Christmas special for the Holiday season, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (in addition to reading his best-selling books, I Am America and So Can You! and America Again: Re-Becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't)!

SPEAKING OF LETTERMAN- THE LAST "LATE SHOW" CHRISTMAS TRADITION: One of the most interesting aspects of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman is the show's annual Christmas tradition with Jay Thomas and iconic singer Darlene Love.

The "Late Show Christmas Tree Meatball Challenge" has been an annual favorite since 1998, where Thomas and Letterman throw footballs to hit the "meatball" (in place of the traditional star) on top of the Late Show Christmas tree.  In addition to the "meatball challenge", Thomas recounts his famous story (when he was a disc jockey in Charlotte, North Carolina) about his encounter with "The Lone Ranger"- Clayton Moore.

Years before the "meatball challenge"- another iconic guest on Letterman's Christmas show is Darlene Love, who sang her legendary 1963 Christmas song (from the Phil Spector Christmas album)  Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)- with musical accompaniment by bandleader Paul Shaffer.  She has sung her popular Christmas song on the program since 1986, dating back to Letterman's previous show on NBC- Late Night. 

This will mark the final Late Show Christmas tradition, due to Letterman retiring from late night television (in May 2015).

THE FINAL "LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON":  After the final Late Show Christmas Tradition, CBS aired the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (which is also produced by Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants).  To commemorate Craig Ferguson's  special opening montage, past guests of The Late Late Show decided to honor the host in a special rendition of the song "Bang Your Drum" (including Regis Philbin).  The final program also included an interesting "farewell" to the series (NOTE: I'm not giving away the ending- including Secretariat's real identity, you'll have to see the conclusion for yourself).

For nearly ten years, the Scottish comedian/actor has entertained many with his edgy, off-the-wall jokes during the opening monologue and his "tweets and e-mails" segment.  Earlier this year, Ferguson announced that he was stepping down from The Late Late Show, to concentrate on his new game show, Celebrity Name Game and other projects.  British comedian James Corden has been named as the successor host to The Late Late Show in March 2015.   Farewell to Craig, his wise-cracking skeletal robot sidekick- Geoff Peterson (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson), and "Secretariat."

A "tip of the hat" to Steven Colbert, Darlene Love, Jay Thomas, Craig Ferguson, and to one of the greats of late night television- David Letterman.