A bearded David Letterman opened his first show in two months by walking out amid dancing girls holding picket signs for striking TV writers.Of his new beard, Dave said: “I know what you’re thinking — you think Dave looks like a cattle-drive cook.”
Letterman was joined by comic Robin Williams who teased him endlessly about the new facial hair, alternately comparing him to Gen. Robert E. Lee, a rabbi and a mullah in Iraq.
Said the 56-year-old funnyman: “My God, man, you’ve aged!”
Dave wasn’t the only late night funnyguy who made a hairy transformation as a result of the writer’s strike. Conan O’Brien debuted his fireface, revealing it was merely an act of solidarity to his writers: “That’s right, I know this looks fake. It looks like it ties on in the back, but believe it or not I actually grew a beard. Two birds, one stone. I never grew a beard in my entire life. I grew it out of solidarity for my writers, and to prove that I have some testosterone.”
13 Comments
I’d rather watch Leno and Conan fly blind without a net. I find it far more interesting to see them stretch their comedic and improv chops (which they probably haven’t done in a long time).
I’ll definitely be watching Conan.
I can’t believe my Consy grew a beard! But I’m so happy he’s coming back, he is the love of my life.
^^Back off bitch. Conan likes his women long, lean and mean (and I WILL cut your ass for him).
Just watched the first 40 minutes of Letterman… so glad he’s back! I watch his monologue every night before going to bed. He’s so witty and sarcastic, I love it! I’ve never seen Conan’s show though… I hope this strike ends soon… I need Dirty Sexy Money to come back!
(ok, it’s late and I’m rambling… g’nite)
Aaaagh! I just watched the first 40 minutes of Leno! I’m no huge fan (to the point where I watch him every night) but like I said in my first post, I wanted to see how he’d do without writers. He was actually funny! No awkwardness. The audience question/answer period was funny too. I flipped over to Letterman a few times and was HIGHLY annoyed that every word out of his mouth was about the goddamned strike. We get it already! Leno talked about the strike, gave the writers props and respect and then moved on to the show!!! Thank you. If Letterman thinks beating the strike dead horse will keep viewers, he’d better have a backup plan.
Conan was hysterical! He has true wit, which I love. He didn’t seem at all awkward either, he was casual and his off-the-cuff remarks were awesome. His face looks too young to be able to grow a beard lol
^^I agree, Shell. Conan kicked ASS last night. Damn. He’s just comedic brilliance.
supernova– since you seem to be up-to-date with the late night’ers ;o), I have a question… Letterman had the benefit of writers, right? The others had to improv, but his company was able to strike a deal with the WGA… or is that completely wrong? I haven’t been following the news on that end… In any case, I’m wondering if maybe part of the deal was his having to whore his show out to the striker’s cause? I better youtube some clips…
It’s hard to look at that picture of Dave and remember that he has a four-year-old son!
Dave’s show was awesome and usually I love Conan, but watching his show was rough last night. He did the best that he can, but spinning a ring on his desk on tv for entertainment? Seriously??
jay leno still rules !!!!!!!!!!!!
letterman hasn’t been funny since the 80s.
Aysla, you pretty much nailed it. That’s why the entire hour of Letterman’s show was spent whoring out the writer’s cause in the strike (which I personally think will backfire if he does this shit every night — who wants to hear that crap every night). It’s just amazing (and, actually, I predicted) that it was going to backfire for the writers because Leno (love him or hate him) put on just as good (and many critics have said an even BETTER) show than Dave did who had 19 freakin’ writers. So, I ask you (or anyone who wants to answer) why exactly does a talk show like Leno need 19 writers when they were able to pull of a seamless funny show without even ONE writer? Yeah, the WGA really helped their cause by settling with Dave (sarcasm).
leno will always have the ratings vs the respect that letterman gets from so called “critics”.
One Trackback
[...] source conan obrien, david letterman, late night tv, writers strikeShare This [...]