Late-night legend David Letterman's ugly personality no laughing matter, former colleagues say

New York Daily News ^ | 3/11/17 | Larry McShane

[Yossarian]

Late-night funnyman David Letterman was hardly a barrel of laughs off the air.

A new biography of the now-retired talk show host portrays Letterman as more self-loathing than self-critical

[BestPresidentEver]

I can’t believe people are saying he’s not funny. Just look at his interviews with Mr. T on youtube.

[Pollster1]

If he’s self-aware enough to loath himself, he’s smarter than I thought.

[Yaelle]

I used to say back when late night was Leno or Letterman, I’d much rather be in a stuck elevator with Leno than letterman. Leno always seemed like he was an actual human being.

[Yaelle]

I only remember Carson from my childhood; my dad had him on. He seemed to me to be proudly uncomfortable. All those tics and what not.

[oblomov]

>>The comedy compensates or balances out their dark side maybe.

No, sarcasm is just a more socially acceptable way of displaying anger.

‘Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”’ - Proverbs 26: 18-19

[MissEdie]

I used to stay up late to watch his show too. Back in the early 90’s, during the time I was taking care of my mom while she battled cancer, his show was a tiny respite of the sadness and pain. In October of 1995 I got tickets to see him live. I was absolutely heartbroken at how much of an asshole he was to the people around him. That night was the last time I ever watched him.

[Liberty Valance]

Gee, hope he gets to feelin' better.

[raccoonradio]

From The People's Cube:

NY Times, 2009:
In early June, David Letterman joked: “Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment during the seventh-inning stretch: her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” Palin was outraged, claiming her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, had been slurred. Letterman explained that he was referring to Bristol Palin: 18, unwed, and a mother. He declined to apologize but said ruefully, “There are thousands of jokes I regret telling.” Sarah Palin, unappeased, called the joke “disgusting.” On June 16, he apologized on the show, mollifying Palin but not the demonstrators outside his studio. They demanded that he be fired. Should he be?

[FreedomPoster]

Watching a few episodes of Jay Leno’s Garage should make that obvious to just about anyone.

[hal ogen]

So the LIB fool letterman is “unhappy”? Who cares? He could buy lots of therapy time with his $400 million.

[VaeVictis]

No surprise there... sounds like your typical libtard.

[ontap]

I used to tune in for the list of ten but got so put off by him that I eventually quit that....miserable liberal!!!

[GOYAKLA]

My Hoosier Mom said “they don’t put marble tops on cheap furniture”, she was wrong the only one time in her life, as it pertains to Letterman!

[Sans-Culotte]

When Letterman first started Late Night I thought he was a rude jerk. He would interview audience members or people on the street in an attempt to make them look foolish. I thought he only succeeded in making himself look mean and petty, so I gave up on him. Then he hit his stride and the show became zany and funny in a Steve Allen sort of way and I started watching again. I watched him for years even after he moved to CBS.

I remember him interviewing Dan Rather at the height of Monica-gate. Rather was whining about how he "hated covering this story". Letterman replied with deadpan seriousness "one thing we know about the president - he's a love machine". Once he turned bitter and partisan, he would never have joked about a lib like that. I started tuning him out during the Bush 43 years, and during the Obama years, he was stupefyingly unfunny.

After reading the article, it seems he barely kept his bitterness and rage in check, and at some point, like Howard Hughes, he could not longer keep his bitter soul suppressed, and he just lost it. He even grew a long beard like Hughes.

[CodeToad]

Laz, now stop that kidding around! We know you don’t do doods on purpose!

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Letterman always struck me as an angry, bitter, hate-filled person. Probably from the cognitive dissonance of trying to square his decent Midwest upbringing with compliance to his new liberal masters.