he is the American television host
comedian and producer with the trademark
gap-toothed grin welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look at the career of David Letterman
and I thought about this all day and in
his honor in honor of Alexander Graham
Bell tonight I’ll be phoning it in born
on April 12 1947 in Indianapolis Indiana
Letterman emerged to prominence from a
fairly ordinary childhood independent
and often the class clown in his youth
he went on to graduate from Ball State
University he then became a weatherman
TV announcer and radio host for the
first half of the 1970s when a tropical
storm became a hurricane I would wish
her well and they they didn’t like that
sort of thing because later would go on
to destroy millions and millions of
dollars of property following this he
worked as a struggling stand-up comic at
The Comedy Store and started writing for
television shows such as good times he
became a minor celebrity in the latter
part of the decade after appearing on
various television programs and game
shows this exposure prompted his many
appearances on The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson and even led to his role
as substitute host during this time NBC
saw great potential in the young
comedian and in 1980 he was given his
own daytime talk show called the David
Letterman Show unfortunately it was a
ratings disaster due to its timeslot and
it lasted only a few months yet as luck
would have it the host of the tomorrow
show Tom Schneider was simultaneously
forced off the air as a result Letterman
quickly became the star of Late Night
with David Letterman on NBC Letterman
brought to television an extremely
unconventional take on the late-night
talk show format
he used his program to focus on politics
random calls to strangers and making his
guests feel uncomfortable due to this
shake-up he became a household name and
an instant draw for audiences
my first guest tonight is one of the
greatest actors living today and this is
probably the first time he’s ever
followed a giant fan in 1992 many
thought Letterman would be a shoo-in to
replace Johnny Carson after his
retirement
despite this NBC leaned towards Jay Leno
as a substitute for Carson following a
very public and vicious spat Leno
claimed the highly sought-after position
within a year
Letterman left NBC to work for CBS as
the star of The Late Show with David
Letterman in a timeslot
that directly competed with Leno Show it
was actually a mr. Leno who first spoke
the heresy out loud you know what this
shocking move prompted another round of
battles this time NBC claimed
Letterman’s staples show elements belong
to them as intellectual property this
included his top 10 list and even his
habit of throwing a pencil at the camera
Letterman eventually won this battle and
dominated The Tonight Show in the
ratings for two years however after Hugh
Grant made a guest appearance on Leno
Show to discuss his arrest and
involvement with a prostitute the NBC
show consistently beat Letterman in the
ratings in the mid-1990s Letterman
hinted at his retirement but an
impressive 14 million dollar per year
deal kept him with CBS his high profile
was maintained during this time by Drew
Barrymore’s infamous table dance his
cameos in the film’s cabin boy and man
on the moon and his hosting of the 67th
annual Academy Awards one of the
pictures nominated night for a Best
Foreign Film
as you know eat drink man woman
coincidentally as I understand it this
is also how Arnold Schwarzenegger asked
Maria Shriver out on their first date
not just a talk show host
Letterman became an active head for his
production company worldwide pants and
has served as the executive producer on
shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond
however in January 2000 tragedy struck
when the host was diagnosed with a
coronary arteriogram was forced to
undergo quintuple bypass surgery his
recovery and return to the show only
further increased his popularity the top
ten pieces of advice for people having
heart surgery yes this is because ten
years ago today I had quintuple bypass
surgery in recent years Letterman has
toned down his show and has opted to act
and dress more conservatively yet other
late night show hosts such as Conan
O’Brien have adopted Letterman’s earlier
off-the-wall hosting style despite his
newfound low-key presence on television
his name was once again in the headlines
in 2009 due to an extortion attempt made
against him this led to the revelation
that he had been engaging in sexual
activities with several of his show’s
female employees as a result he made a
public apology for his actions and his
show continued along unaffected you
can’t be victimized by criminals so you
have to go ahead and push back if you’re
being pushed by by something illegal
like this David Letterman is one of the
most nominated people in Emmy Award
history and he continues to be an
oftentimes controversial and offbeat
television presence it’s good to have
you thank you very much I really
appreciate it means a lot to thank you
you have no idea who I am do you know
comedian and producer with the trademark
gap-toothed grin welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look at the career of David Letterman
and I thought about this all day and in
his honor in honor of Alexander Graham
Bell tonight I’ll be phoning it in born
on April 12 1947 in Indianapolis Indiana
Letterman emerged to prominence from a
fairly ordinary childhood independent
and often the class clown in his youth
he went on to graduate from Ball State
University he then became a weatherman
TV announcer and radio host for the
first half of the 1970s when a tropical
storm became a hurricane I would wish
her well and they they didn’t like that
sort of thing because later would go on
to destroy millions and millions of
dollars of property following this he
worked as a struggling stand-up comic at
The Comedy Store and started writing for
television shows such as good times he
became a minor celebrity in the latter
part of the decade after appearing on
various television programs and game
shows this exposure prompted his many
appearances on The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson and even led to his role
as substitute host during this time NBC
saw great potential in the young
comedian and in 1980 he was given his
own daytime talk show called the David
Letterman Show unfortunately it was a
ratings disaster due to its timeslot and
it lasted only a few months yet as luck
would have it the host of the tomorrow
show Tom Schneider was simultaneously
forced off the air as a result Letterman
quickly became the star of Late Night
with David Letterman on NBC Letterman
brought to television an extremely
unconventional take on the late-night
talk show format
he used his program to focus on politics
random calls to strangers and making his
guests feel uncomfortable due to this
shake-up he became a household name and
an instant draw for audiences
my first guest tonight is one of the
greatest actors living today and this is
probably the first time he’s ever
followed a giant fan in 1992 many
thought Letterman would be a shoo-in to
replace Johnny Carson after his
retirement
despite this NBC leaned towards Jay Leno
as a substitute for Carson following a
very public and vicious spat Leno
claimed the highly sought-after position
within a year
Letterman left NBC to work for CBS as
the star of The Late Show with David
Letterman in a timeslot
that directly competed with Leno Show it
was actually a mr. Leno who first spoke
the heresy out loud you know what this
shocking move prompted another round of
battles this time NBC claimed
Letterman’s staples show elements belong
to them as intellectual property this
included his top 10 list and even his
habit of throwing a pencil at the camera
Letterman eventually won this battle and
dominated The Tonight Show in the
ratings for two years however after Hugh
Grant made a guest appearance on Leno
Show to discuss his arrest and
involvement with a prostitute the NBC
show consistently beat Letterman in the
ratings in the mid-1990s Letterman
hinted at his retirement but an
impressive 14 million dollar per year
deal kept him with CBS his high profile
was maintained during this time by Drew
Barrymore’s infamous table dance his
cameos in the film’s cabin boy and man
on the moon and his hosting of the 67th
annual Academy Awards one of the
pictures nominated night for a Best
Foreign Film
as you know eat drink man woman
coincidentally as I understand it this
is also how Arnold Schwarzenegger asked
Maria Shriver out on their first date
not just a talk show host
Letterman became an active head for his
production company worldwide pants and
has served as the executive producer on
shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond
however in January 2000 tragedy struck
when the host was diagnosed with a
coronary arteriogram was forced to
undergo quintuple bypass surgery his
recovery and return to the show only
further increased his popularity the top
ten pieces of advice for people having
heart surgery yes this is because ten
years ago today I had quintuple bypass
surgery in recent years Letterman has
toned down his show and has opted to act
and dress more conservatively yet other
late night show hosts such as Conan
O’Brien have adopted Letterman’s earlier
off-the-wall hosting style despite his
newfound low-key presence on television
his name was once again in the headlines
in 2009 due to an extortion attempt made
against him this led to the revelation
that he had been engaging in sexual
activities with several of his show’s
female employees as a result he made a
public apology for his actions and his
show continued along unaffected you
can’t be victimized by criminals so you
have to go ahead and push back if you’re
being pushed by by something illegal
like this David Letterman is one of the
most nominated people in Emmy Award
history and he continues to be an
oftentimes controversial and offbeat
television presence it’s good to have
you thank you very much I really
appreciate it means a lot to thank you
you have no idea who I am do you know
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