David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. In 2013, Letterman surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in TV history, at 31 years.
David Letterman was born in Indiana. His father, Harry Joe Letterman, was a florist who died in 1973; his mother Dorothy Letterman, now Dorothy Mengering, a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show. He has an older sister, Janice, and a younger sister, Gretchen.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: David Michael Letterman
Description: Television Host, Actor, Film producer, USA
Known For: Known for the host of “The Tonight Show with David Letterman”
Location: United States of America
Date Born: 12th April 1947
Location Born: Broad Ripple, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Photo Comments: Photo by Allan Light – used with permission.
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
David Letterman
An Emmy Award-winning American television host and comedian. His first major success occurred on the long-running NBC television program, Late Night with David Letterman, before moving to CBS in 1993 to his current place on the Late Show.
On April 3, 2014, Letterman announced he will retire in 2015 around the conclusion of his current contract which ends in August 2015. CBS announced that Stephen Colbert, comedian, writer and host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report since 2005, will take his place.
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network followup The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 15, 1915 – February 13, 1973), was a florist. His mother, Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a church secretary, has been an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays. His mother is of German descent, and his father had English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry.
He lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, Indiana, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers. In 2000, he told an interviewer for Esquire that, while growing up, he admired his father’s ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up. The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack at age 57.
Letterman attended his hometown’s Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker (future wife of Dan Quayle) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas Supermarket. According to the Ball State Daily News, he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades were not good enough, so he instead attended Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and he graduated in 1969 from what was then the Department of Radio and Television. A self-described average student, Letterman later endowed a scholarship for what he called “C students” at Ball State.
Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam because of receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 366).
Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college’s student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio. He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence. He then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).
He credits Paul Dixon, host of the Paul Dixon Show, a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while he was growing up, for inspiring his choice of career.
Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as an anchor, and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones “the size of canned hams.” He would also occasionally report the weather and the day’s very high and low temps for fictitious cities (“Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas”) while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased. (“From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I’m not in favor of this.”) He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called “Freeze-Dried Movies” (he once acted out a scene from “Godzilla” using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called “Clover Power,” in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.
In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports’ tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500. Letterman was initially introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. Letterman interviewed Mario Andretti, who had just crashed out of the race.
In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer. He and Michelle packed their belongings in his pickup truck and headed west. He still owns that truck today. In Los Angeles, he began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store. Jimmie Walker saw him on stage; with an endorsement from George Miller, Letterman joined a group of comedians whom Walker hired to write jokes for his stand-up act, a group that at various times would also include Jay Leno, Paul Mooney, Robert Schimmel, Richard Jeni, Louie Anderson, Elayne Boosler, Byron Allen, Jack Handey, and Steve Oedekerk.
By the summer of 1977, Letterman was a writer and regular on the six-week summer series The Starland Vocal Band Show, broadcast on CBS. He hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled The Riddlers (that was never picked up), and co-starred in the Barry Levinson-produced comedy special Peeping Times that aired in January 1978. Later that year, Letterman was a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore’s variety show, Mary. Letterman made a guest appearance on Mork & Mindy (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard) and appearances on game shows such as The $20,000 Pyramid, The Gong Show, Password Plus and Liar’s Club, as well as talk shows such as The Mike Douglas Show. He was also screen tested for the lead role in the 1980 film Airplane!, a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.
His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson’s and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.
Late Night with David Letterman
NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. Late Night with David Letterman debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray. Murray also guested on January 31, 2012–30 years later, and again on June 29, 2012. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987). It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman’s reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine, Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and 1960s programs of Steve Allen. Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show, Letterman has denied this.
The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including “Stupid Pet Tricks” (which had its origins on Letterman’s morning show), Stupid Human Tricks, dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building, demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer, Velcro and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam (and the Audience Cam), a facetious letter-answering segment, several “Films by My Dog Bob” in which a camera was mounted on Letterman’s own dog (often with comic results) and Small Town News, all of which would eventually move with Letterman to CBS.
Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on The Today Show, announcing that he was the NBC News president while not wearing any pants; and staging “elevator races”, complete with commentary by NBC Sports’ Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV’s broadcast of Live at Five by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman’s studio) to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman’s friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.) In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman “May I insert something here?” and Dave responded “OK, as long as it’s not a cucumber.”
Late Show with David Letterman
In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of The Tonight Show. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite The Tonight Show at 11:30 p.m., called the Late Show with David Letterman. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan broadcast his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman’s arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations. In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract,[60] doubling his Late Night salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.
But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, Late Show was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes, tailored suits and light-colored socks. The monologue was lengthened. Paul Shaffer and the “World’s Most Dangerous Band” followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the “CBS Orchestra” as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his Late Night segments verbatim, but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the “Top Ten List” became the “Late Show Top Ten”, “Viewer Mail” became the “CBS Mailbag”, etc.)
Popularity
The main competitor of The Late Show is NBC’s The Tonight Show, which was hosted by Jay Leno for 21 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O’Brien. In 1993 and 1994, The Late Show consistently gained higher ratings than The Tonight Show. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno’s show consistently beat Letterman’s in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno’s show after Grant’s arrest for soliciting a prostitute; Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The Late Show lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno’s departure in 2009. In the final months of his first stint as host of The Tonight Show, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and Nightline and The Late Show were virtually tied. Once O’Brien took over Tonight, however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings. O’Brien initially drove the median age of Tonight Show viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch The Late Show instead.
Following Leno’s return to The Tonight Show, however, Leno regained his lead.
Letterman’s shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993 to 2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation’s Favorite TV Personality 12 times. For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth. Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.
The main competitor of The Late Show is NBC’s The Tonight Show, which was hosted by Jay Leno for 21 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O’Brien. In 1993 and 1994, The Late Show consistently gained higher ratings than The Tonight Show. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno’s show consistently beat Letterman’s in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno’s show after Grant’s arrest for soliciting a prostitute; Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The Late Show lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno’s departure in 2009. In the final months of his first stint as host of The Tonight Show, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and Nightline and The Late Show were virtually tied. Once O’Brien took over Tonight, however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings. O’Brien initially drove the median age of Tonight Show viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch The Late Show instead.
Following Leno’s return to The Tonight Show, however, Leno regained his lead.
Letterman’s shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993 to 2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation’s Favorite TV Personality 12 times. For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth. Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.
Re-signing with CBS
In March 2002, as Letterman’s contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program Nightline with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno’s ratings at CBS due to Letterman’s complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network’s late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel. Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.
On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host The Late Show with David Letterman through the fall of 2010. “I’m thrilled to be continuing on at CBS,” said Letterman. “At my age you really don’t want to have to learn a new commute.” Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.
“Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network,” said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. “His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the Late Show puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS ‘home.'”
According to a 2007 article in Forbes magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year.[86] A 2009 article in The New York Times, however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year. In June 2009, Letterman’s Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the Late Show until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past.[87] Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a “solid moneymaker for CBS” under the previous contract.
On the February 3, 2011, edition of the Late Show, during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for “maybe two years, I think.”
In April 2012, CBS announced it had extended its contract with Letterman through 2014. His contract was subsequently extended to 2015.
Retirement
During the taping of his April 3, 2014 show, David Letterman announced that he had informed CBS president Leslie Moonves that he will be retiring from hosting The Late Show in 2015.
Johnny Carson
In spite of Johnny Carson’s clear intention to pass his title to Letterman, NBC selected Jay Leno to host The Tonight Show after Carson’s departure. Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called The Late Shift, based on a book by New York Times reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted Tonight Show hosting spot.
Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman’s show. Carson’s final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a Late Show episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a ‘Top 10 list’ segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued. (It was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance.)
In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a one-time producer for both men), Carson got “a big kick out of it.” Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson’s jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson’s death were written by Carson.
Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his “rightful successor.” During the early years of The Late Show’s run, Letterman occasionally used some of Carson’s trademark bits, including “Carnac the Magnificent” (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), “Stump the Band”, and the “Week in Review.”
Oprah Winfrey appeared on Letterman’s show when he was hosting NBC’s Late Night on May 2, 1989. Following that appearance, the two had a 16-year feud which according to Letterman started when he and his girlfriend decided to skip out on a bill, tricking the waiter into thinking Oprah agreed to pay it.
The feud apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as “the Super Bowl of Love”.
Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS’s coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey. On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and future wife, Regina Lasko.
Three years later, during CBS’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again in a Late Show promo, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman’s idea: Leno flew to New York City on an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the Late Show’s February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater’s balcony where they taped their promo.
Winfrey interviewed Letterman in January 2013 on Oprah’s Next Chapter. Winfrey and Letterman discussed their feud during the interview and Winfrey revealed that she had had a “terrible experience” while appearing on Letterman’s show years earlier. Letterman could not recall the incident but apologized.
Worldwide Pants
Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Late Show, and two television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program Ed, which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman’s first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During Ed’s run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on The Late Show several times.
In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, Strangers with Candy, which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, Knights of Prosperity.
Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman’s company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.
Record company
In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner. Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Main article: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and full-time in the IZOD IndyCar Series. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, businessman Mike Lanigan, and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice.
Marriages, relationships, and family
In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977. He also had a relationship with former head writer and producer on Late Night, Merrill Markoe. Markoe was the mind behind several Late Night staples, such as “Stupid Pet/Human Tricks”.
Letterman and Regina Lasko started dating in 1986, while he was still living with Markoe. He has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with her. Harry is named after Letterman’s father. In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.
Letterman and Lasko wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999. Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house. The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a 108-acre estate.
Letterman suffers from tinnitus (ringing in the ears), which is a symptom of hearing loss. He talked about his tinnitus in an interview he did with actor William Shatner on the Late Show in 1996 where he said he hears constant noises and ringing in his ears 24 hours a day.
David Letterman Communication and Media Building
On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university. The $21 million, 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 fall semester. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana. Letterman’s emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the “top ten good things about having your name on a building”, finishing with, “if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible.” Over many years Letterman “has provided substantial assistance to Ball State’s Department of Telecommunications, including an annual scholarship that bears his name.”
At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.