One of the few women to write for Late Night with David Letterman recalls a hostile, sexually charged workplace when she worked for the show in the late '80s.
In a first-person piece for Vanity Fair
read more
I've been thinking a lot about Tom Snyder since his death from leukemia was made public, in part because my mind already had been preoccupied with the '70s, when this unforgettable talk-show icon was in his late-night NBC heyday.My own late-'70s time warp was prompted by a 30-year high-school reunion over the weekend in which I referenced That '70s Show more than once. (Did we really look like that? Dress like that? Have hair like that? Only our senior class pictures know the truth, and I'm not sharing.) During my high school and college years, Snyder was a blazing, sometimes hair-raisingly pioneering presence in what had been a late-night wasteland following Johnny Carson's legendary Tonight Show.Snyder's show, which aired from 1973 to 1982, was called Tomorrow, and to me, the title always underscored the fact that everything about it was a bit ahead of its time. The show's level of discourse, its idiosyncratic host with his brash intensity and eclectic range (historic interviews w...
read more
I just knew that Victor Lang (John Slattery) was going to turn out to be a bad guy. He seemed too perfect. But didn't you think his mean streak came out of nowhere? He acted as though Gabrielle had never done a stupid thing before with the way he yelled at her. Yes, Gaby jumped in his arms like a child when it looked as though he was going to win the mayoral race. Yes, Gaby can be a "high maintenance nightmare," as brilliantly described by Vern (Alec Mapa). And yes, Gaby got arrested for her shenanigans with the cop (Brendan Patrick Connor), ripping up the parking tickets since she thought it was acceptable behavior for the new "First Lady of Fairview." But did Victor have to yell at her like an abusive father to a daughter? You knew as soon as he saw the bruise on her wrist caused by the cop that Victor was going to have something done to the guy. Enter the two thugs, beating up the cop. But Gaby's going ahead with the wedding. Let's see if she indeed says "I do" in two weeks.Kudos...
read more
It's been less than a week since Sanjaya Malakar was booted off American Idol, but the 17-year-old high-school dropout has further solidified his iconic status by presenting the Late Show with David Letterman’s top-10 list Monday night. Some of the things he said he "learned" from his time on Idol were No. 10 "The camera adds 10 pounds to your mohawk" and No. 5 "Voting for yourself 100 times an hour causes some wicked carpal tunnel."Paul Shaffer effusively declared Malakar’s appearance a triumph. “We got him! He’s ours!” Shaffer said. He was, at least for the night, theirs. But Malakar continues to move on.Malakar has quickly gone from a Seattle-based unknown to a certified celebrity, despite being roundly reviled as untalented by critics.The night after he was voted off (leaving six remaining — and far less familiar — contestants to vie for Idol’s top prize) he was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performed in a skit opposite a t...
read more
Entertainer Calvert DeForest, perhaps best known for the "Larry 'Bud' Melman" character he played on David Letterman's late-night NBC and CBS talk shows off and on for some 20 years, died on Monday, at age 85. Says Letterman in a statement, "Everyone always asked if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself — a genuine, modest and nice man. He was a beloved part of our show, and we will miss him."
read more
