What Dave Letterman Means To Me

Yes, I have been a little Letterman obsessed lately. Yes. I did change my profile picture to Letterman. Let me explain why.

When Johnny Carson passed away, I wrote Dave a letter.  I searched the hard drive of my ancient desk top and could not find it. It was a great letter.  I don’t think I can convey my feelings as eloquently now as I did then, but I will try. (I am trying to rush this post prior to the last show tonight.)

I loved Johnny Carson.  I was a fan at a young age.  He was a master.  His greatness was based on two things:  his quick wit and his ability to listen.  Those are the two most important attributes for a great talk show host.  (Prior to the viral video generation anyway.)  My dream was to attend a taping of The Tonight Show to see Johnny live. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to California until the year after he retired. I did make it to the show, but it was not the same, for me.  It was fun, but Jay Leno was not Johnny Carson. Jay may have a quick wit, but he is not a good listener.  During Jay's interviews, he always found a way to bring it back to him.  I am not going to go on about Jay here, my point is, his skills as an interviewer were lacking.

I also loved Dave Letterman.  I am one of the few that watched, and enjoyed, his morning show.   That was soon cancelled.  Probably the best thing to happen to Dave.  After that, he was given Late Night with David Letterman.  A show created for him.  He was to follow the great Carson. What a great double line up.

Dave had a quick wit and he was a good listener.  Sometimes it didn’t seem like he was listening, but he was.  When he showed disdain, he was listening and observing.  Dave brought something to Late Night that Johnny didn’t (he didn’t need to), he involved the audience and reached out.  He did bits with store owners, people on the street and people in their homes. He also added “antics.”  He donned a suit with Alka Seltzer and jumped in a giant glass, he threw items off the rooftop, and more.  He was doing the “repeat after me” bit way before Ellen. He also broke the fourth wall and engaged his staff during the show. (Johnny did that a little bit with Fred, but not stagehands and cue card guys, etc.)

I connected with Dave. I know he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes, I believe some of those people didn't "get" him or understand him. That may be true, but to some, he just was not funny. That is okay.   I think a big reason I connect to Dave is that he reminds me of my Dad. He always has.  Most people did not know how funny my Dad was because he always had a serious, professional look about him.  My dad was funny.  He could’ve been on SNL or a host of his own talk show.  He was not overtly funny, just like Dave is not overtly funny.  His humor was subtle and smart. It is not just their humor they have in common, it is their practical, non-judgmental way of looking at life they share.  It is hard to explain unless you "witness" it yourself.

Dave was also at his best when he was not trying to be funny.  When he interviewed Tom Brokaw, or a former President or a medal of honor recipient, he had questions about real life issues and took them seriously.  It has been well documented that his first show after his heart surgery and the first show after 911 were very touching and heartfelt. I whole heartedly agree. I think people forget about that side of Dave sometimes.  I see that side of  Dave almost every night.  If you listen to the guest and listen to the questions Dave asks, that introspective side is there every night.

Dave also had low tolerance for tom foolery. When Joaquin Phoenix decided to pull his stunt on the show, Dave was not having it. I truly think the best off the cuff, one liner in HISTORY was when Dave said, “Joaquin, I am sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”  GENIUS!

I think it speaks volumes that Johnny wrote monologue jokes for Dave and chose Dave’s show as the only post Tonight Show appearance he did.   I think it also speaks volumes that so many celebrities have paid tribute to Dave in the last couple of months.  Many were brought to tears or struggled to hold back the tears. (Worth checking out: Ray Romano, Norm MacDonald, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and more)  He touched many lives.   I will miss him.  This is sappy but it is like saying goodbye to my dad again.  (I know, that sounds over the top but I think of my Dad every time I watch Dave.)

I often think of another person when I watch Dave, my friend Mary.  Mary and I met in college. We bounded over a TV guide.  We both loved Johnny and Letterman.  (And I might add Mike Douglas, but will just stick to the late night guys right now.)  Mary watched the morning show too.  The first time I saw the Letterman show in person was with Mary. It was great.  (Fun fact: I saw The Tonight Show with Mary too.)  I have a feeling if we were born 10 years later, we would not be working at Aetna together, instead, we would be writing or hosting a talk show.  (I say that because I don’t’ even think we imagined we could try to have such a job when we left college.  I wish we did.)

My kids never had the pleasure of watching Johnny in his prime (they can watch clips) but I am glad they were able to watch Dave.  I am also grateful I had the chance to see Dave’s show live, especially the week before he retired.  It was a treat.

So, back to my letter to Dave.  The Letterman show after Johnny’s passing was another great episode.  If you haven’t seen it, try to find it.  It was an hour about how great Johnny was and what he meant to people.  The gist of my letter to Dave was to share what Dave meant to me and that he himself was just as legendary as Johnny. 

I am looking forward to Dave’s last show tonight. I wish it wasn't his last show, but after 33 years, he deserves to retire.  I know I will shed a tear, or two.

My Oscar Blahhhhg

The 2015 Oscars are a month away. It has been a great year for performances, better than most years.  As soon as nominations are announced, the talk of “snubs” begins.  Although, there are always people/movies that I think deserve nods yet they don’t receive, I don’t think “snub” is the correct word.  To me, a snub implies malicious intent.  In NO WAY do I think there is malicious intent involved in Jennifer Aniston , Ava DuVernay, Angelina Jolie or David Oyelowo not receiving nominations. In the history of the Oscars, I bet you can count on one hand when the term “snub” could be used, and even then I don’t malicious intent was involved. I do think the politics of Hollywood may be involved.  I also do not think race is involved (this year).  You will see why below. I believe we should have more diverse movies to choose from for the nominations. However, I do not think we should have diverse nominations for the sake of it.  I especially do not believe Al Sharpton needed to call an emergency meeting over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations. Seriously.  Below I will focus on the “snubs” commonly mentioned post nominations along with my personal thoughts on who should win and others I feel were left out.

Let’s take a look at the Best Actor Category.  Who would you take out to put in Mr. Oyelowo in?  I can’t think of one person I would remove. They were all fantastic performances.  In fact, even if we added an extra spot to nominate 6, I am not sure Mr. Oyelowo would make it. I think my vote would be for Jake Gyllenhaal to be in that category. His performance in Nightcrawler was superb.  If we had 7 spots, I would include Mr. Oyelowo.  So, with 7, I think if you could create a mathematic point system for acting---all 7 actors would be separated by .01-1.5 points between them. This is a tight year for Best Actor. Out of the 7, in my opinion the statue belongs to Eddie Redmayne or Michael Keaton.  However, I think they ALL deserve it.   It is not that I didn’t think Oyelow, Carrell, Cooper, Cumberbatch and Gyllenhaal didn’t give fantastic performances, they did. However, I think the complexity of Redmayne and Keaton’s characters stand out more.  I will also state, that during portions of Selma, I felt as if Oyelowo was trying too hard to imitate Martin Luther King Jr. if that makes sense.

Let’s move on to Best Actress. Who would you take out to offer Ms. Aniston a spot?  This is a more difficult category for me to discuss because I have yet to see Julianne Moore’s performance in Still Alice or Marion Coutillard’s in Two Days, One Night. They also seem to be the front runners for the win.  I also have not seen Ms. Aniston’s performance.  I have seen all of the others.  They were all very good. Just based on what I have seen, I would present it to Reese Witherspoon or Felicity Jones.  I hope I love Ms. Aniston’s performance once I view Cake.  However, even though I would so root for her to win an Oscar for all of the reasons not related to her performance, whom would I kick out of the category? I don’t know.

As for Best Supporting Actress, I do have two people I could replace for others (and no one is talking about this category).  Look, Meryl Streep was flawless as the witch in Into the Woods, but I think she was nominated based on the fact that she is Meryl Streep. If Tracy Ullman portrayed the witch and gave the same caliber performance, I don’t think she would have been nominated.  Who would I replace her with?  Carmen Ejogo from Selma.  Her performance as Corretta Scott King, was real, honest and moving.  Surprisingly, no one is discussing her omission from award season.  I think she gave the best performance in the movie.  Now, the second person I would take out of this category, (and believe me, I know, she is the front runner) is Patricia Arquette.  I am sorry, yes she has moving moments in Boyhood. However, her overall performance is not better than the others in this category. In fact, during the first few scenes of Boyhood, I would say her acting was less than award worthy.  She definitely improved as the 12 years went on.  I might replace her with Sienna Miller. She gave a gritty, honest performance in American Sniper.  My clear choice for the winner here is Emma Stone for Birdman.  I believe she is a standout amongst the nominees.  (My second choice for winner would be Ejogo).

Now, director. Al Roker keeps stating how he is surprised Ana DeVernay did not get nominated since the film was nominated. Well, there are 8 films nominated for Best Picture, so three directors will not get the nod.  In my opinion, this award belongs to Alejandro Inarrito, hands down. Not a contest.  In this category, I do think there is room for movement for other directors. I would remove Bennet Miller from the race.  Foxcatcher is a move filled with 3 great performances, but the movie itself, in my mind could have been better.   Who would I replace him with?  I am not sure.  Selma was well directed and from I have read Ms. DeVernay was a driving force behind this movie (once she took the realms).  I also think Gone Girl was well directed by David Fincher. So, likely, I would insert one of them.  It looks like this will be a race between Anarrito and Linklater.  Linklater’s movie was ground breaking in terms of concept.  I just think Mr. Innarito had a more complex movie to direct. (I cannot comment on Unbroken directed by Ms. Jolie because I have not seen it yet.)

Before we move onto Best Picture, I do want to mention that Channing Tatum has been overlooked this award season.  He was brilliant in Foxcatcher. It gets tough when you have two great lead roles in one movie.  By the way, I am purposely skipping over Best Supporting Actor. I will be shocked if JK Simmons does not receive it. (And frankly, although there are numerous choices for Best Actor, I feel there are less for Supporting Actor.)

Okay, my choice for Best Movie is Birdman. It has a power to it unlike many of the other nominees. I think my other choices would be Selma, Theory of Everything and American Sniper. (I have yet to see Whiplash). I would take Grand Budapest Hotel out of this category and replace it with Wild. I loved Wild, I think it is definitely deserving of the nomination.  I enjoyed Budapest, but this how I describe it: I enjoyed it, but if I never saw it, I would be okay with that too. Lastly, I truly enjoyed Boyhood but I do not think it deserves Best Picture.  I love Linklater movies because his dialogue is usually very compelling. I found the dialogue in this movie gave off more of an unplanned, “improvisational” vibe.  The concept is unique and compelling, but I don’t think that should be the driving force behind a win for the Oscar. I will be very disappointed if it beats out Birdman or most of the movies in this category.  

The last “snub” people talk about is the omission of The Lego Movie from Best Animated Feature. I will go one further, I think it deserves a nomination for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The dialogue was crisp and spot on.  

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?