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| Aug-13-13 | | Abdel Irada: Perhaps I should have added another maxim: <To every rule, there is an exception.> (Actually, George Carlin also occurred to me, although I have still not satisfied myself that he really did remain as funny to the end. But even with Carson, there may be *some* who doubt.) ∞ |
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| Aug-13-13 | | Abdel Irada: All this suggests a new rule: You can remain funny throughout your career only if your last name contains the letter string <C-A-R-<x>-<x>-N>. (Unfortunately, poor Sidney Carton seems to have missed his calling.) ∞ |
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| Aug-13-13 | | JustAFish: A person who is funny for a long time is not the person who has a "Schtick", but is one who has a humorous, observant, quirky outlook on life. One doesn't have to tell "jokes" in order to be amusing, one simply has to be the kind of person who sees humor in life. |
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| Aug-13-13 | | John Abraham: I love Craig Ferguson although I will admit he was a lot funnier and wittier in his old studio, now he seems kind of plain and tired |
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| Aug-13-13 | | JimNorCal: Is Letterman still alive?
I don't watch those shows currently, but I did read this comment recently:
“The Nielsen ratings for the second week in July have Leno beating CBS’s David Letterman by a 43 percent margin.” OK, fine, say that Leno is in his twilight...but at least he has an audience. |
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Aug-13-13
 | | The Diamond: <Abdel Irada>: I think Sidney would have been the worst of comedians, even in the best of times. He'd be laughing his head off while the rest of the audience was dabbing their eyes with regret. |
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| Aug-13-13 | | Abdel Irada: <The Diamond: <Abdel Irada>: I think Sidney would have been the worst of comedians, even in the best of times. He'd be laughing his head off while the rest of the audience was dabbing their eyes with regret.> All of which would qualify him as the best of comedians at the worst of times. "It is," he would inform his listeners, "a far, far better joke that I tell, than I have ever told." ∞ |
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| Nov-04-13 | | Dredge Rivers: Sorry, I have to disagree. Both Johnny Carson and George Carlin faded badly toward the end. (And in Carlin's case, were never that funny in the first place!) |
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| Nov-04-13 | | Dredge Rivers: <Gumbo Gambit> I know this is a little late, but the scenario you suggested back in August was simply not possible. Either Conan was going to get the Tonight Show, or he was moving to another network. And rightfully so. I just hope that once Fallon is hosting Tonight they will have Conan on as a guest and this whole sad situation can be put to bed once and for all. |
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| Nov-04-13 | | Billy Vaughan: Carlin at least had some new ideas in old age. I don't think he can be said to have faded in the usual sense, where his familiar work just becomes bland and without energy. I think he purposefully made his last routines more ranting and rambling. The real problem was an artistic choice, not just aging. |
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Nov-04-13
 | | HeMateMe: Dave was hip for about ten years. They jumped the shark when Paul Schaffer turned in his funky four man band ("We were sharp enough to turn on a dime"--P.S.) for this B.S. orchestra Tonight Show-type band, when he moved to the 11:30 pm time slot. When he left late-late TV, that's when he lost his core audience of weird people who like weird people. I'd rather have a small audience and really own that audience, then be almost as good as Leno and have a clunky, mainstream boring show. |
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| Nov-04-13 | | JimNorCal: <HeMatesMe>: "be almost as good as Leno" Perceptive comment! Though I think you are being too kind to Letterman in the quote above :) |
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Dec-17-13
 | | OhioChessFan: I still can't believe people would choose watching Leno over Letterman. To watch Leno's monologue where he milks jokes unendingly......yeah, Jay, we GET the joke, you don't have to spend longer explaining it than telling it.....is torture. |
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| Apr-03-14 | | GumboGambit: So he finally announced his retirement. |
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| Apr-03-14 | | Granny O Doul: I just want to say that the correct phrase is "long walk ON a short pier". If you say "off", you destroy the joke. This is not a minor point. |
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| Apr-10-14 | | PinnedPiece: There just isn't enough televised chess. - David Letterman |
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| Apr-10-14 | | Bob Loblaw: <Ohio Chess Fan> is spot on. Leno's habit of explaining every punchline is downright patronizing and drains what little humour there is out of his insipid jokes. Carson made his viewers feel welcome, had a quick wit, and genuinely enjoyed the humour of others. He wanted Letterman, who shares those qualities to replace him, apparently. |
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| Apr-10-14 | | Shams: Carson also had a cold, vindictive side that most of America never saw. Still the king though. So Colbert will be filling Letterman's shoes, and dropping his current persona when he does. Should be interesting. Those of you who don't like his current show, will you give him a chance? |
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| Apr-11-14 | | PinnedPiece: How do people like this "Nina Tassler" land big important jobs at a network like CBS? In this interview she comes off as unbelievably toady, uninformed, and immaturishly girlish. No wonder Colbert was "head and shoulders above the rest" with brains like hers in charge. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/04/10/c... . |
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| Apr-11-14 | | Jim Bartle: Carson will always be untouchable.
But Colbert is incredibly smart and quick-witted. My question is how he will change from his fake-conservative personality to his real self. |
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| Apr-11-14 | | Jim Bartle: Tassler's comments seem fine. She was being circumspect, not letting out too much, but otherwise was fine. |
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Apr-12-14
 | | thegoodanarchist: <OhioChessFan: I still can't believe people would choose watching Leno over Letterman.> When Leno did the headlines bit it was the funniest 3-4 minutes on TV. I always switched from Dave over to Jay on Monday nights. |
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Apr-12-14
| | HeMateMe: I never saw Dave as an establishment, sit down with and pretend Kim Kardashian, Snookie and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are intelligent people. That's Leno, that's Oprah, that Ellen D. Dave was best in his first ten years at NBC when he did stupid pet tricks, threw stuff out of windows and put his staff in skits. His guests were a pou pouri of B movie vets, marginally employed entertainment jack of all trades, and some legitimate stars. It was a great mix, with Paul Schaeffer and his four piece band ("the world's most dangerous band!"), which later morphed into that large, boring orchestra he has now. Some people shouldn't be pigeon holed into a job just because "it's their turn." Letterman was never going to be Johnny Carson, because he didn't have the same temperament to go lite and grease every big Hollywood ego onto the couch. This is probably why Jimmy Fallon got the job at NBC. Exceedingly polite, and yet very creative and witty, he is never threatening to a guest. Dave wasn't always polite, and couldn't always get the A-listers. Incidentally, back in the 1960s and early 70s Carson had a serious drinking problem and really mouthed off at Hollywood people at clubs and parties, really mean stuff. Made an a$$ of himself. I don't know if Carson is an official alcoholic, but he did cut back on his drinking. Completely different persona than what he portrayed on his television show. Back then there was ONLY the Carson show, so he could be as mean as he wanted to be, and still everyone had to make nice and try to be on his show. |
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Apr-13-14
| | thegoodanarchist: <HeMateMe: I never saw Dave as an establishment.... His guests were a pou pouri> It's potpourri, for future reference. Anyway, nice summary of the NBC years. Dave was on top of his game and I loved his show at the time. Thanks for sparking memories of those great shows. |
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| May-10-15 | | TheFocus: < There just isn't enough televised chess> - David Letterman. |
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