As something of a Lettermanologist, it has been fascinating to me to see the amount of media appearances that David Letterman has made of late.
In recent years, it would be unusual for Letterman to do even one interview or media appearance aside from his own television program.
Yet in 2012, he appeared as a guest on Alec Baldwin's podcast, Jimmy Kimmel's television show, and did interviews for both the Washington Post and the Early Show, although both of those appearances were in conjunction with his Kennedy Center honors.
Letterman's next sit-down interview will air on "Oprah's Next Chapter" on the OWN Network on January 6.
In recent years, it would be unusual for Letterman to do even one interview or media appearance aside from his own television program.
Yet in 2012, he appeared as a guest on Alec Baldwin's podcast, Jimmy Kimmel's television show, and did interviews for both the Washington Post and the Early Show, although both of those appearances were in conjunction with his Kennedy Center honors.
Letterman's next sit-down interview will air on "Oprah's Next Chapter" on the OWN Network on January 6.
In these various appearances, Letterman has seemed introspective, wistful, even, which leads me to believe that he is seriously considering stepping away from his show when his contract expires in 2014.
To people younger than I am, Letterman may only be thought of as a guy who hosts a TV show that they don't watch. And in a lot of ways, that's understandable, as most late night talk show audiences have shrunk drastically in recent years. Gone are the days when Johnny Carson would pull in 10 million viewers each night. Letterman averages somewhere around 3 million nightly viewers.
I think that for that reason, it's easy to understate the pop culture impact that Letterman has had. Kimmel nicely summarized the way that a lot of people of a certain age thought of, or still think of Letterman, in the clip below.
To people younger than I am, Letterman may only be thought of as a guy who hosts a TV show that they don't watch. And in a lot of ways, that's understandable, as most late night talk show audiences have shrunk drastically in recent years. Gone are the days when Johnny Carson would pull in 10 million viewers each night. Letterman averages somewhere around 3 million nightly viewers.
I think that for that reason, it's easy to understate the pop culture impact that Letterman has had. Kimmel nicely summarized the way that a lot of people of a certain age thought of, or still think of Letterman, in the clip below.
Should 2014 be the end of his run, I'll be sad. I find something comforting about the fact that there is still a vestige of a bygone era of show business that's still around, still sharp and still funny.
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