There is No Off Position on the Genius Switch.

My admiration for David Letterman is no secret. In my mind's eye he is the consummate broadcaster and the most prolific entertainer of my generation. Tonight marks Mr. Letterman's final broadcast and it is only fitting I pay tribute to the man who has entertained me and millions of others for so many years.

Many people will talk about his humble beginnings in Indiana, his time as a weatherman, coming up together with Jay Leno at the comedy clubs, or his ill-fated run as a morning talk show host. Why? It's not important. David Letterman is the king of late night and his time in late night is what's important.

I guess some context is important so we will get it over with real quick. In 1980 David Letterman was hosting a morning talk show on NBC - it lasted 18 weeks before it's cancellation. NBC still however held David in high regard and did not want to lose him to the competition, so they signed him to a $20,000 a week holding deal. Letterman could night sign anywhere else and would do the occasional guest hosting gig on Carson's tonight show.

Carson meanwhile was in the midst of a bitter contract dispute. Among the concessions NBC ended up making to Johnny was granting Carson Productions the rights to the 12:30 time slot immediately following the Tonight Show. Late Night with David Letterman was born and premiered February 1, 1982.

Letterman's first guest was comedian Bill Murray.

While at first the reviews were mixed the show was an immediate hit with young audiences. Letterman and Late Night immediately began to push the boundaries of network television. This was partially by design and partially by edict. The edict came not from the network but from the production company and Johnny Carson. Carson wanted Late Night to differ greatly from Tonight. Among Johhny's instructions were that David could not have a sidekick like Ed McMahon, his band could not have a horn section and David could not interview the Hollywood elite of Carson's era. This included guests like James Stewart, George Burn's and Buddy Hackett who were all staples on Johnny's show. Carson also insisted that Letterman not replicate any of his regular set pieces. This meant Letterman couldn't duplicate bits like Carnac and Stump the Band. Letterman instead would capture a young audience with bits like his nightly Top Ten Lists, Stupid Pet Tricks, Stupid Human Tricks, and breaking the imaginary window by throwing his pencils at it. The Late Night Show was a TV show that was thumbing it's nose at the TV establishment. It felt like a group of people who knew the rules of television and broke all of them. You would never see Johnny Carson throwing watermelons off the roof, putting on a suit of velcro and jumping up against a wall, or hosting an entire show from his office because it was too hot in the studio.

Letterman further entrenched himself with younger audiences during this time by becoming "Mr.Rock & Roll". Late Night became the place for new rock bands to perform, much like Carson was the place for up and coming comedians.

Letterman would continue to host Late Night with little incident until Johnny Carson announced his retirement. Many had viewed Letterman as Carson's obvious successor - including Johnny himself. NBC had other plans though and signed Jay Leno who was serving as permanent guest host of the Tonight Show. This the subject of a brilliant book called The Late Shift  which I highly recommend. After a year of Jay Leno serving as Dave's lead in he would leave NBC for CBS as the new host of The Late Show airing nightly at 11:35 and competing directly with Jay and Tonight.

Dave found immediate success on CBS and regularly beat Jay in the ratings. His success continued until 1995 when Jay Leno interviewed actor Hugh Grant regarding his soliciting a prostitute. From that time until his retirement Leno was #1 in  Late Night.

Now in honor of Mr Letterman, I am going to present my own Top Ten. So now from the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska I present my Top Ten David Letterman Moments:

#10 Dave Admits to Having an Affair.


While it may seem odd to include in this list but I just love the way it was handled. He came out and admitted something to an audience of millions of people in a sincere and even funny way. He admitted he had done something wrong but he would not tolerate to be extorted. He admitted to committing a classless act and handled it with absolute class.

#9 David's Response to the NBC/Conan/Jay Tonight Show Debacle.


A few years ago NBC got itself into trouble (again) involving it's Tonight Show property. Letterman along with many found the whole thing to be hilarious and poked as much fun of it as possible. Nobody was blaming Conan.

#8 Dave Brings GE a Fruitbasket.


NBC seems to change hand a lot. Prior to being owned by Comcast and GE the peacock network was owned by RCA, the Radio Corporation of America. Dave went and visited his new owners at GE and did not get the warm welcome he expected.

#7 Letterman VS. Carson


Letterman made dozens of appearances on the Carson show (of which I think I've seen all of them) this is my favorite.

#6 Joaquin Phoenix Loses his Mind.


Joaquin Phoenix appeared and just appeared completely out of it. He was unresponsive and glib. Dave's reaction was priceless. Months later we found out this was all an act being put on by Phoenix for a film...I still don't buy it.

#5 Johnny Carson Tribute.


The show which aired following the news of Johnny Carson's death seemed a bit odd at first. David came out to do his monologue and retold jokes that he had done over the previous several months. Later in the show it was revealed during a small tribute to his mentor that those jokes had been written for David by the late Johnny Carson.

#4 Johnny Carson Almost Delivers the Top Ten.


This was Johnny Carson's last appearance on national television. Johnny was called out deliver the Top Ten list, sat behind the desk, received a massive standing ovation - and wouldn't continue - he walked off stage and out of America's homes forever.

#3 Every Darlene Love Christmas Performance.


I wrote about this in a previous blog post a few months back. Dating back to Dave's time on NBC Darlene Love has appeared each year on the last show before Christmas to perform her classic Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Each year's performance seems to be bigger and better than the previous years and it truly was a highlight of the holiday season. This year at the conclusion of the performance it really started to hit me that it would soon all be coming to an end.

#2 Dave Works at a Taco Bell.


Early on in the CBS run of the Late Show Dave would take the summer off and work at a Taco Bell drive-thru. This is probably one of the funniest "remote" bits Dave ever did and I love it.

#1 Dave Addresses the 9/11 Attacks.


I wrestled with this. I was really wanting to make my top moment something funny but I couldn't. David Letterman was the first New York based television host to go back on the air after the attacks on 9/11. To me, this is one of the most touching moments in American television and my personal favourite David Letterman moment.

Well, that's it! My Top Ten David Letterman moments. Sure there are a lot of great moments that didn't make the cut. Including Dave's greatly underrated stint as Oscar host, interrupting the Today show with a bullhorn, frying an egg on the sidewalk, the quarterback challenge, Andy Kaufman, Bruce Springsteen signing Glory Days and many, many more.

I never got to see Letterman live...the closest I got was seeing the Ed Sullivan theatre on a trip to New York back in high school. I wish I would have.

I still can't believe that tomorrow I'm going to turn on my TV at 11:35 and David Letterman won't be on. David Letterman is a broadcasting icon and for my money the funniest guy to ever live. I wish him well in his retirement, but I hope to see him again.

 I hope you enjoyed your time on this site and found it to be time (and bandwidth) well wasted.