Dave Van Dam
| Dave Van Dam | |
|---|---|
| Born | United States |
| Other names | Evil Dave, Evil Dave Letterman |
| Occupation | Voice actor, impressionist |
| Known for | The Howard Stern Show |
Dave Van Dam (well known as "Evil Dave Letterman" or simply "Evil Dave") is an American voice impressionist who has appeared on The Howard Stern Show since 1999. Van Dam impersonates the voice of American late night talk show host David Letterman, which is used to comedic effect on The Howard Stern Show.
When visiting the Stern show, Van Dam is given material by the show's staff. The nature of the material is often crude and dark, and includes themes of homophobia, murder, pedophilia, racism, and anti-Semitism.
The Howard Stern Show
Van Dam's first appearance on the The Howard Stern Show was on December 8, 1999, where using his "Letterman voice", called in making jokes about Jay Leno, Letterman's rival late night talk show host. The next day, Stern read an article from the New York Post explaining that an advisor of the real Letterman had to announce that the caller was actually not the real Letterman. Van Dam was later called back to be congratulated, and Stern expressed his interest in the impression and the reaction it got. Stern then told Van Dam that he would contact him to make more appearances as well as writing "filthy" lines that the real Letterman would not say.[1]
Van Dam would continue calling in the show throughout 2000 until he made his first live studio appearance on July 27, 2001 where he took part in The Gossip Game with Mike Walker, a weekly show segment, under the identity of "David E. Letterman". The visit was a success, and Van Dam would make three to five studio visits a year from 2001-2005 until Stern left terrestrial radio.
Following the show's move to Sirius XM Radio in January, 2006, Van Dam's first appearance on Howard 100 was during an episode of Tissue Time with Heidi Cortez, before the show's inaugural broadcast. Van Dam's first call was on January 13, 2006, that was planned as a series of pranks to new show announcer George Takei. Van Dam called in as Letterman to dupe Takei into reading a Top 10 list about William Shatner on the day's Late Show with David Letterman.
Show segments
Van Dam also records prank calls and other clips which are recorded and put together by show staffers Sal Governale, Richard Christy and Benjy Bronk. He is usually given various lines or words to pronounce, which is put into a game for the show, where you bet whether Van Dam could pronounce words such as "rhapsody" "psychology" or celebrity names such as Renée Zellweger.
Other work
Van Dam has also starred in the Family Guy episode "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008, as the real Letterman.[1]
He has also appeared on the Internet and cable television program Psycho Babble.[2]
Dave Van Dam also worked on American Dad! where he voiced Barack Obama in "An Incident at Owl Creek."