Past Deadline

Three Talk Shows, Three Different Attitudes

By Barry Garron

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN
(CBS) 11:35 p.m. weekdays
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO
(NBC) 11:35 p.m. weekdays
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE
(ABC) 12:05 a.m. weekdays

The late-night studio lights were on again Wednesday night after two months of reruns. Their bright glare not only lit up the stage but revealed sharp differences among late-night hosts.

CBS' David Letterman, whose production company agreed to all WGA demands, exulted in the return of his writing staff. NBC's Jay Leno, whose show is owned by his network, offered a semi-apology to the WGA to explain why his show must go on. A short time later, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, whose writers also are on strike, scolded both the writers and the Screen Actors Guild for illogical and ungracious behavior.

A bearded Letterman came on strong, starting with a taped announcement of his return by Sen. Hillary Clinton ("All good things must come to an end.") and cutting to chorus girls sporting top hats and WGA pickets. "The Late Show," declared Letterman, is "the only show on the air that has jokes written by union writers."

At times, the show looked more like it was aimed at the union writers, rather than a national audience. The Top Ten list, read by striking writers from other shows, listed the writers' demands, including that "producers must immediately remove their heads from their asses." Another segment, "Hal Gurnee's Network Time Killers," showed a painfully dull variety act that might have been used if the writers had not returned.

That notwithstanding, portions of the "Late Show" required little writer input. Letterman's monologue was short and largely anecdotal. His main guest, Robin Williams, once introduced, took control of the show for the duration of the segment. Another bit, "Know Your Staff," an interview with an associate producer, might have benefited from writer assistance.

Leno started his show with a joke about a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew who walked into a bar. "I have no idea what they said because there's a writer's strike," he said. As in the past, he wished the WGA well but said he had to return to the air. "We have essentially 19 people putting 160 people out of work."

Leno said he is allowed to write for himself, a point previously disputed by guild officials. In any event, his monologue was as strong as ever, for which he gave credit to his wife, Mavis, whom he said vetted the material. The next segment had Leno answering questions from the audience, hardly a risk considering his vast experience as a standup.

Where the strike took its biggest bite, for both Leno and Kimmel, was in booking guests. Leno's featured guest was Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, who took one softball question after another. Granted, this isn't "Meet the Press" but you'd think that, at some point, someone who seeks the highest office in the land might be asked to defend his stance against the theory of evolution.

Kimmel took a more cautious approach, refraining even from writing jokes for a monologue. ("I don't know what the rules are to be honest with you.") His main guest was longtime comedy pal Andy Dick, who would not normally have been first choice for a show coming back from a two-month hiatus.

Saying in advance that he was going to "depart from the party line," Kimmel chafed at writers who continued to picket Leno and, in New York, Conan O'Brian. "Jay Leno, he paid his staff while they were out of work. Conan did the same thing. I don't know. I just think at a certain point you back off a little bit."

Kimmel also chafed at SAG president Alan Rosenberg "telling actors not to do this show, not to do the 'Tonight' show." Kimmel said actors are continuing to work on films in production, and he ticked off several. "Those are OK but don't come on the talk show. That is the rule that makes a lot of sense here. I'm pissed off. I'll be very honest with you."

Letterman's Top Ten Favorite George W. Bush Moments

There was no Stephen Colbert at this year's White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night, so David Letterman had to do -- in absentia. He sent a pretty cool video in his stead, however, running down the Top Ten President Bush Moments (all of them embarrassing in one way or another). And Bush himself was there in person to watch it. It doesn't really get too much better than that during the years when they don't invite Colbert. Like this one.

A Remorseful and Seemingly Shellshocked Michael Richards Apologizes On 'Letterman' Tonight Via Satellite

It just so happens that Jerry Seinfeld was slated to appear on "Late Show with David Letterman" tonight to hawk the release of the Season 7 DVD of "Seinfeld." And considering the Michael Richards racial-epithet-spewing brouhaha that exploded today, the timing could not have been more fortuitous for Seinfeld's series co-star and longtime friend, who makes an appearance from Los Angeles via satellite during Seinfeld's already-scheduled guest stint. Reported to be near tears, Richards utters a heartfelt and achingly sincere apology for his behavior that was captured on tape. It airs tonight at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

Interviewed by Letterman, Richards is said to look haggard and forlorn and seems genuinely devastated by the fallout from his Friday night stand-up gig at The Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. He apparently makes the point that he is not a racist and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol  at the time (hallelujah to that) but that he obviously has some significant anger issues to work out. Uh, yeah.

UPDATE: In case you can't, or couldn't, watch Richards' interview on Letterman, here's a partial transcript. It speaks to the deep level of bitterness and befuddlement that gripped, and perhaps continues to grip, this once wildly popular performer. Simply reading these words leaves me feeling more sorry for him than any need to further castigate a man who clearly has lost his way.

Letterman: “Why don’t you explain exactly what happened for the folks who may not know.”

Richards: “I lost my temper on stage. I was at a comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage and said some pretty nasty things to some Afro-Americans, a lot of trash talk, and uh…”

Letterman: “And you were actually being heckled or were they just talking and disturbing the act?”

Richards: “That was going on too.”

(Later)

Richards: “…You know, I’m really busted up over this and I’m very, very sorry to those people in the audience, the Blacks, the Hispanics, Whites – everyone that was there that took the brunt of that anger and hate and rage and how it came through, and I’m concerned about more hate and more rage and more anger coming through, not just towards me but towards a black/white conflict. There’s a great deal of disturbance in this country and how Blacks feel about what happened (with) Katrina, and, you know, many of the comics, many of the performers are in Las Vegas and New Orleans trying to raise money for what happened there, and for this to happen, for me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, you know, I’m deeply, deeply sorry. And I’ll get to the force field of this hostility, why it’s there, why the rage is in any of us, why the trash takes place, whether or not it’s between me and a couple of hecklers in the audience or between this country and another nation, the rage..."

Letterman: “But Michael, let me interrupt here for a second and ask a question about had the people doing the heckling or the people who were not paying attention, had they been white or Caucasian or any other race, what would have been the nature of your response then?”

Richards: “It may have happened. It may have happened. You know, I’m a performer. I push the envelope, I work in a very uncontrolled manner onstage. I do a lot of free association, it’s spontaneous, I go into character.  I don’t know, in view of the situation and the act going where it was going, I don’t know the rage did go all over the place. It went to everybody in the room. But you can’t – you know it’s, I don’t – I know people could, blacks could feel – I’m not a racist, that’s what so insane about this, and yet it’s said, it comes through, it fires out of me and even now, in the passion that’s here as I confront myself.”

Letterman Hands O'Reilly His Head On a Platter

In case you missed Bill O'Reilly's latest appearance with David Letterman Thursday night, here it is from YouTube (thankfully, "Late Show With David Letterman" doesn't air on Comedy Central or it now wouldn't be available). As usual, O'Reilly came in with his too-cool rap and loosey-goosey bluster and, for the second time this year, Dave demonstrated for the "O'Reilly Factor" host what it's like to encounter one's intellectual superior on decidedly hostile turf.

Letterman: "Let me ask you a question. Was there more heinous, more dangerous violence taking place before in Iraq, or is there more heinous, dangerous violence taking place now in Iraq?"

O'Reilly: "Oh, stop it. Saddam Hussein slaughtered 300,000 to 400,000 people, all right, so knock it off...It isn't so black and white, Dave -- it isn't. 'We're a bad country. Bush is an evil liar.' That's not true."

Letterman: "I didn't say he was an evil liar. You're putting words in my mouth, just the way you put artificial facts in your head."

All hail King Dave!

It's a bit amazing to see these two together, as Letterman's contempt for O'Reilly is as transparent as it is powerful (and clearly no act). And when O'Reilly tries to shrug it off ("We're really friends, we're in the same bowling league..."), he's made to look even more like a buffoon. Yes, Dave will let Bill peddle his new book on national TV, but he surely makes him pay for the privilege -- and then some.