Word: letterman
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...late-night landscape has changed a lot since 1988 - when the writers last went on strike, and both Johnny Carson and Letterman eventually went back on the air, without writers, before the five-month strike was finally settled. Then there were just two late-night comedy-talk shows. Today there are more than half a dozen, competing fiercely with each other - not to mention with a host of other cable and Internet viewing options. The longer these shows stick with reruns, the more they risk losing their audience for good. At the same time, the shows are more heavily dependent...
...hosts who have held out for longer might get a pass from the strikers. Letterman's gesture of support for his staff this week, for example, appears to have won him a lot of goodwill. Bill Scheft, a striking Late Show writer, says that "we would have no problem" if Letterman were to go back on the air without writers. "We are thrilled that he is standing with us," says Scheft. "David Letterman on the air without writers, pissed off and talking about the strike, would be the greatest ally the writers could have...
...strike - and would seem the least likely to reverse course and go back on the air. Yet Leno also seems more closely tied to his scripted material and might be less able to smoothly transition into an unscripted show than hosts who are more natural ad-libbers, like Letterman and O'Brien...
...maybe a Letterman monologue. With reporting by Elisabeth Salemme and Lina Lofaro
...when people finally did get it, around 1976, they couldn't get enough of it. He had platinum comedy albums and a million-selling single (King Tut). He played to arenas of 20,000 people. As David Letterman once noted, "I think that's a record for a stand-up comedian in peacetime." Saturday Night Live's audience jumped by a million viewers when he was on. His phrases "Well, excuuuuse me!" and "wild and crazy guys" became schoolyard mantras. Steve Martin was the comic as rock star. And then he wasn't. He stopped cold in 1981 to concentrate...