Sketches on Letterman
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The Late Show with David Letterman, along with its predecessor, Late Night with David Letterman on NBC regularly features different sketches that follow the monologue and precede interviews with guests. Many of the skits have been featured on both shows (with slight modifications to avoid legal problems).
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[edit] Regular sketches
When Letterman moved to CBS and began the Late Show, several of Late Night's long-running comedy bits made the move with him, including his best known bit, the Top Ten List. Letterman renamed a few of his regular bits to avoid legal problems over trademark infringement (NBC cited that what he did on Late Night was "intellectual property" of the network). For example, "Viewer Mail" on NBC became the "CBS Mailbag", and Larry "Bud" Melman began to use his real name, Calvert DeForest.
One recurring sketch on both the NBC and CBS shows has been the destruction of household items by various methods including explosives, steamrollers, and - most frequently - throwing them off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater.
The Late Show is well known for its repeated absurdist segments, often taking the form of competitions or audience participation. The charm of these segments is often that they are completely pointless, yet are taken seriously by Letterman and all involved.
[edit] Late Night/Late Show Top Ten
Top 10 lists are very common on The Late Show. He would often make humorous lists, such as the top 10 reasons why you should do something or not do something, or the top 10 announcements someone would like to make.
[edit] Is This Anything?
In the Is This Anything? segment the curtain is raised to reveal a costumed performer performing an unusual stunt. Next to this performer, who varies, are two other performers who became regulars for the segment:
- The "Hula Hoop Girl" (played by Anna Jack), who spins numerous hula hoops around different parts of her body, and
- The "Grinder Girl" (played by Kiva Kahl), who operates a hand-held grinder against metal parts of her costume, producing sparks.
After about thirty seconds the curtain is lowered and Letterman discusses with Shaffer whether the act was "something" or "nothing."
Is This Anything lay dormant for almost a year before it was resurrected on the show of March 22, 2006. A man balanced himself on a ladder and juggled: Paul voted a clear "nothing", and Dave was going to vote "something" before he noticed a safety mat. Dave then concurred with Paul.
[edit] Know your Current Events
In this segment ("America's Fastest Growing Quiz Sensation" according to Letterman), Letterman picks an audience member to play a quiz game. He or she first gets to choose the category. Besides the title category, one of the "six big ways to win big" is always "Know Your Cuts of Meat"; other categories are topical and often esoteric, and rarely reappear. Some of these have included "Know Your Home Depot Locations in Delaware", "Know Your Late Show Production Accountant Joe DeGeorge", "Know Your Cuts of Meat" and "Know Your Shocking Facts about Peter Jennings."
Throughout the course of the segment's history on the show, Dave has varied back and forth between feeding the "contestants" the answers and making them guess.
[edit] Audience Show and Tell
Sometimes, Letterman would ask some audience members about what they do and what they like. He often makes fun of them, and then commends them for it.
[edit] Will It Float?
In this segment, an item is dropped into a tank of water by two attractive models. Before this happens, announcer Alan Kalter reads off the name of the item that will be tested and what prize Letterman and Shaffer are competing for. A picture of that prize is flashed on screen for a split second. The prize is never actually awarded to anyone. The two then discuss whether the item will float or sink.
Two models drop the item into the tank while the Late Show "Hula Hoop Girl" and "Grinder Girl" perform on either side of the tank. Depending upon the outcome, large words appear reading, "It Floats!" or "It Sinks!"
According to Letterman, the skit was adapted from a similar BBC programme entitled "Is It Buoyant?" He also advertises the (fictional) "Will It Float" home game, which has everything you need in a box to play the game for only $19.99. The box consists of only the box, a bottle of water and a sheet of paper which lists some suggested floating items. Recently, Dave has also been advertising the Playstation 3 version of the "Will It Float?" home game, and in the past would highlight the Xbox 360 version. After the game is over, Letterman often makes reference to the big "Will It Float?" party to take place after the show.
 The Will It Float? |
 The Will It Float? Home Game - Travel Edition |
 The Will It Float? |
[edit] Stupid Pet Tricks
[edit] Explod-O-Pop
Explod-O-Pop is a brand of popping corn, that is repeatedly seen on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, usually as a prize to audience members who participate in Letterman's Know Your Current Events, Stump the Band, and Audience Show and Tell bits on the Late Show.
It can also be purchased online from CBS' online store at [1], with the proceeds benefitting the American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming, a charity of Letterman's.
Letterman usually describes it as "...carbolicious" on the program.
[edit] Non-regular sketches
The show sometimes uses Shaffer and Kalter in comedy routines. Crew members also make occasional appearances, such as stage manager Biff Henderson, stagehands Pat Farmer and Kenny Sheehan, handyman George Clarke, cue card boy Tony Mendez, producer Barbara Gaines, and assistant Stephanie Birkitt.
Some comedy bits also include Rupert Jee, owner of the nearby Hello Deli. Letterman's mother, Dorothy, also makes appearances (via satellite from Indianapolis) from time to time, including each Thanksgiving. She also reported nightly from the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Former recurring players from the show include Sirajul Islam and Mujibur Rahman (employees of a nearby gift store), Calvert DeForest, now-retired writer Gerard Mulligan, and the late scenic designer Kathleen Ankers (reprising her Late Night role of "Peggy, the Foulmouthed Chambermaid"; on CBS, she was the equally censored "Helen, the Ill-tempered Ticket Lady").
Dozens of cameo appearances have been made by the late Tony Randall and by Regis Philbin.
Letterman involves his audience in routines such as "Stump The Band" (a bit originated by Johnny Carson), "Know Your Current Events", and "Audience Show and Tell"; he brings Rupert Jee and outside bystanders into bits such as "May We See Your Digital Photos, Please?" The prizes of these games range from Hello Deli meat platters to Explod-O-Pop, "America's only all-natural atomic popping corn."
For a while, Letterman took great delight in making fun of his employer, continuing a tradition established at NBC. Senior executive Les Moonves was often the target of his abuse. For example, on hearing that Moonves had met with Fidel Castro in 2001, Letterman asked his audience to:
- "Imagine the lunch...on one side of the table you've got an egomaniacal dictator surrounded by sniveling yes-men, and, of course, on the other side of the table you've got Fidel Castro."
Letterman's relationship with Moonves has improved; a segment titled "More with Les" features jocular phone calls between Letterman and Moonves.
He also has a knack for consuming food products and drinks that appear on his show. Among the items that he has consumed are: wine from a bottle used for a cooking demonstration; various kinds of liquor (while quipping "We're gonna lose our liquor license"); Popeye's "Full Flavor Green Beans;" "motor oil" (actually chocolate syrup) from a bottle that bore a "Quaker State" label; Red Bull; liquid from a bottle that supposedly contained Wite-Out; pills from boxes labeled "Lipitor" and "Cialis" (obviously not really the drugs); and even cosmetic products. On one occasion, Dave took a healthy swig of "low-carb suntan lotion" and immediately spit it out, having discovered that it actually was suntan lotion.
Alan Kalter's introduction, while technically not a skit, assigns a bizarre modification to Letterman's name and appears at the beginning of every show. ("And now: Microscopic Sea Creature, David Letterman!") Letterman's title changes every night and often makes reference to a current event. ("And now: Disenfranchised French Youth, David Letterman!") Prior to September 11, 2001, the first line of Kalter's introductions contained humorous non sequiturs ("From New York! Where the rats hate the subways, too!"). Once The Late Show returned to air on September 17, 2001, the introduction changed simply to, "From New York! The greatest city in the world!" It has not changed since.
The following is a partial list of other recurring or notable comedy bits:
- Week In Review
- Stupid Pet Tricks/Stupid Human Tricks (both holdovers from the NBC show)
- Telemundo Highlight of the Night
- Surprise! It's a Tuba!
- Dumb Ads
- Small Town News
- How Many Men in a Bear Suit (etc.) Will Fit in a Donut Shop (etc.)?
- Pat & Kenny Read Oprah Transcripts
- Pat Farmer's Movie Gaffes
- Celebrity X-Ray Challenge
- Late Show Pay Phone Trifecta
- Dave's Record Collection
- Throwing items off the roof (usually done by Pat Farmer)
- Fun with Rupert, a Candid Camera-style bit
- George W. Bush Joke That's Not Really a Joke
- George W. Bush - What?
- George W. Bush - Inspiring the Elderly
- A Moment With George W. Bush
- Dr. Phil's Words of Wisdom
- Trump or Monkey? (Briefly "Trump or Wookie" during release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith)
- Paul Shaffer does James Brown's cape routine (with various celebrities, including James Brown himself on one occasion, caping Shaffer)
- Dick Assman, who made several appearances in 1995
- "Psychic Sandwich", in which intuitive Deborah Lynn tries to intuitively guess what sandwich Rupert is making in the Hello Deli (she was never right)
- Dwight the Troubled Teen
- "Late Show Unfair Edit", later "Late Show Fun with Editing", later "Late Show Editing Fun"
- Guess the Puddle
- Recent Osama bin Laden Tapes
- Rejected FDA Items
- Biff Henderson's Fun with a Bullhorn
- Biff Henderson's Fun with a Stopwatch
- Biff Henderson's "Wanna Hang Out?"
- Alan Kalter's "Are You F*cking Kidding Me?" segment, which questions the sanity behind major news stories (for example, after the Michael Jackson verdict, Kalter's response: "Are You F*cking Kidding Me?!!")
- George Bush's Spanish is better than his English
- Ape Or Artist (Letterman and Shaffer are shown a painting and they discuss whether an ape or an artist painted it—always an ape)
- Ape or Artist or Elephant (nearly identical to Ape or Artist, except with the likely possibility that an elephant painted it)
- Putting away the Late Show Bear
- Alan Kalter's "Oh No You Didn't!" in which Alan mentions a recent news story (such as the 5-week working vacation George W. Bush announced) and then says "Oh No You Di-int!", which is immediately followed by a mention of a celebrity who has recently done something which Alan finds sexy, and a "Oh, yes you did".
- "Sorry Tom", where we see actor Tom Hanks sitting in the Green Room, and Dave saying "Sorry Tom. We don't have time for you to appear" and Tom will look rejected. (Tom Hanks also does many other comedy bits for the show whenever he's a guest, from making a glass-breaking noise, to a memorable "Audience Q & A" where he posed as a seat-filler for a member of the audience and was told "Wanna get outta my seat now, Fathead" by the angry woman.)
- An overweight man pretending to be a prominent athlete of the day, usually Lance Armstrong, but also a winning NASCAR driver or professional golfer, the jockey who won the previous weekend's Kentucky Derby, etc.), but always dressed in Armstrong's yellow Discovery Team jersey. He is introduced with, "Ladies and gentleman, name of athlete" while riding a bicycle through the aisles of the theatre. This segment is always accompanied by the CBS Orchestra playing the Ike and Tina Turner version of Rollin' On The River On the August 21, 2006 show, the segment was mixed up even further, with an introduction of Tiger Woods, and a caption of Floyd Landis.
- The man on fire, a man who runs across the stage back and forth acting like his clothes are on fire. The man is never actually on fire.
- Great Moments in Presidential Speeches - Showing 3 speeches in succession. The first one is typically Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration speech followed by John F. Kennedy's inauguration speech. The third one is always a speech by George W. Bush where he normally stumbles on words.
- What the Hell is it? - In the style of "Is this Anything" and "Will it Float," this game had Letterman guess the name of a mystery object. The game was played only a handful of times. A running gag was that when Alan Kalter would announce the object's name to the audience, Letterman would unintentionally hear it clearly, thus leading to greater and greater amounts of soundproofing each time the game was played.
- Immigration Success Stories - a segement running since immigration reform was brought to congress in 2006. The segment profiles various well-known immigrants, before switching to archival footage of Arnold Schwarzenneger shown doing suggestive things with females.
- Letterman will interrupt the show for "live" footage of Patrick Kennedy driving and crashing (always old crash footage). On June 15, 2006, he aired footage of "Ben Roethlisberger" wrecking a motorcycle.
[edit] See also
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
