WHY IS IT THAT OLD LATE NIGHT TV HOSTS NEVER GO AWAY???

I’ve never been able to quite figure out why, when it comes to politics, anyone would want to be taking their cues from those morons, past or present, whose only claim to fame is that they host, or have hosted, a late night television show.  Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I did on occasion like to tune into watch Letterman.  But as time went on it was somewhere along the way that his need to lecture us regarding our politics seemed to take over and he became much less enjoyable to watch.  To the point that when he finally retired I never really watched him at all.  He had become more than a little boring.  Politics wasn’t then, just as it still isn’t, why I would watch any of these late night losers.  They are all left leaning losers with whom I have absolutely no interest in watching.  

And so it was that recently Letterman chose to resurface, coming out of hibernation to in order to slam President Trump and various members of his administration in a lengthy ‘interview’ with New York magazine, explaining that he’d still love to interview the real estate mogul-turned-president one final time.  And according to Letterman, today’s late-night shows have an “obligation” to challenge the president, and described how he would interview Trump if he could get one final shot at him.  He said, “I would just start with a list. ‘You did this. You did that. Don’t you feel stupid for having done that, Don? And who’s this goon Steve Bannon, and why do you want a white supremacist as one of your advisers? Come on, Don, we both know you’re lying. Now, stop it.'” 

Now I may be wrong, but I don’t recall ever hearing about how Dave interviewed Barry in such a disrespectful manner.  I don’t recall Dave saying, “Hey Barry, what’s it like having as your vice President a pervert who enjoys skinny dipping in front of female Secret Service personnel?”  Or asking, “Barry, did you really think that whole ‘Fast and Furious’ gun running scheme was a good idea?”   Or how he could have said to Barry, “Man, I thought it was a work of genius to use the IRS to go after those scumbag conservative groups!”  Nor did he ask, “Do you ever have any second thoughts about giving all that taxpayer money to Solyndra?”  I mean the number of questions he could have asked Barry “Almighty” goes on and on but, strangely enough, Dave never bothered asking any of them. 

So anyway, what follows are but a few excerpts from New York‘s interview with Dave:

On his previous interviews with Trump, before he announced for the presidency, Letterman said, “He was a joke of a wealthy guy. We didn’t take him seriously. He’d sit down, and I would just start making fun of him. He never had any retort. He was big and doughy, and you could beat him up. He seemed to have a good time, and the audience loved it, and that was Donald Trump. Beyond that, I remember a friend in the PR business told me that he knew for a fact — this was three or four presidential campaigns ago — that Donald Trump would never run for president; he was just monkeying around for the publicity. So I assumed that was the story and now it turns out he’s the president.”  Funny, he was never that disrespectful when it came to Barry “Almighty”.

And on Trump’s Cabinet and advisers, he said, “It’s delightful. Kellyanne Conway was my favorite for a long time. This thing about her telling everyone, ‘Go buy Ivanka’s shoes; I’m going to go buy Ivanka’s shoes. Hell, I’ll buy you a pair of Ivanka’s shoes.’ Then they had to counsel her. Boy, if this administration decides you need counseling — whoa. And poor Sean Spicer is a boob who just got out of a cab and now here he is. Then the other kid, is it Miller?”  He said, “[Stephen Miller.] Wow, that guy is creepy. He fell out of a truck. And the guy from Exxon, Rex Tillerson. Don would say, “Rex, if you’re talking to your friends, ask them” — I’m sure the Russians groomed Trump. They gave him tips: “You want to be an authoritarian dictator? Sure, that’s not a problem. We’ll tell you how to do it, for God’s sake.”

It was on Trump’s dust-up with Rep. John Lewis that Letterman also ad an opinion.  He said, “Holy God. First of all, because I’m always thinking about myself, I think, I was about John Lewis’s age when he marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Would I have had the guts to do that? The all-talk John Lewis goes down there and gets a goddamned skull fracture. I mean, Trumpy will never have to worry about a skull fracture because of the hair. Thank you! How do you know if Donald Trump is lying? His lips are moving. Thank you! But in addition to every other thing that’s wrong with the Trump, he’s ignorant in a way that’s insulting to the office, insulting to America, insulting to human rights, insulting to civil rights, insulting to John Lewis. Trump saying that broke my heart.”

Look, I just remember the tantrum that Letterman pitched when Leno got the ‘Tonight Show’ job and he didn’t.  What a crybaby!  Maybe that’s what made old Dave snap, I’m not sure.  But the proof was in the pudding because it was only a handful of times, over the years, that he never topped Leno in the ratings.  But to tell you the truth I never thought Leno was all that funny either, he was a bit less obvious about his politics, however, which did make it a bit easier to watch him.  But none of these late night ‘comedians’ are someone who should be sought out for their political insight or because of their deep and awe-inspiring intellect.  I mean let’s face it, none of them are particularly bright, so what would make anyone think that their opinion on any issue might really matter?

Letterman destroyed late night television, at least for me, with his massive ego and ignorant political commentaries.  He was known for his stunts like adjusting his tie, or driving thru a McDonalds drive thru several times.  It grew old very fast and he just couldn’t face the fact that it was time to go.  He was another of those who had become so addicted to the spotlight he couldn’t see the end was at hand.  Now he throws in his two cents worth on our President.  And he has joined the ranks of Al Gore with the ridiculous beard, always a cry for attention.  Frankly, it’s kinda sad.  His "satire" was always too safe to be called "satire".  If you want to be a true satyr you must also go after the politically incorrect topics.  It’s fine to be a coward and to stay safe making only main stream accepted jokes.  But it’s not satire.

And like I said earlier, there was a time when I thought Letterman was pretty good and worth tuning in to watch.  He was almost enjoyable to watch back then.  He had what was a truly innovative approach to late night talk show comedy.  I loved that he had absolutely no patience with celebrity pretentiousness!  When those show businesses twits came on, he insisted that they raise their game and not just sit there looking pretty.  And then, as we got to know him through the Nineties and beyond, his warped political views and even worse personal behavior just turned me off.  He probably stayed on television ten years too long because it was obvious that he was bored with what he was doing.  Too bad.  For a while there he was really fun to watch.