David Letterman’s Time Has Finally Come
David Letterman, who has been quietly doing his second-place late night joker show over on CBS like forever, is all of a sudden beating the Tonight Show in the ratings. Calling Sarah Palin a slut really pays off!
It’s only been a week since Conan took over Jay Leno’s old gig, and he’s already losing. Letterman was up 13% in the ratings this past week vs. the week before—and last night he passed the Tonight Show, which has been steadily losing viewers every night since Conan started:
The ratings gap between the hosts has been narrowing nearly every night since O’Brien took control of the “Tonight” franchise. The last time “Late Show” topped Jay Leno’s “Tonight” was eight months ago.
Jay Leno, who was determined to never be funnier than the average American idiot, beat Letterman consistently. Now that Leno’s moving to 10 pm, it may be that Letterman’s time to be king has finally arrived. Conan O’Brien will be fine. But for years, Letterman’s been losing out to a guy who was clearly less funny and consciously dumber than he is.
Now, America’s in a strange situation: two funny late night hosts at once. Letterman’s the old established guy and Conan’s the young upstart. Leno will be on earlier, and he’ll bring an audience with him. But the people who used to stay up late watching Jay will now watch Letterman, because he’s familiar and not quite as weird as Harvard boy Conan.
Which is just a long way of saying that David Letterman’s time is, indeed, here at last. Sarah Palin calling him “pathetic” because he called her “slutty” is just gravy. Because the Palins are exactly the type of people who are going to be watching Dave all the time.
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: Well, here it is. The outrage over Dave's comments on the feminist blog "broadsheet" on Salon:
[www.salon.com]
So there.
Dave is actually funny in the humorous way. Conan is only funny in the awkward way. Leno, on the other hand, was just funny looking.
@crooked_teeth: Jay Leno? That hurts, actually.
@hrtshpdbox: Right, because obvs he was talking about the underage daughter, not, you know, the age-of-majority daughter who's already gotten knocked up at least once.
Hey, you know what's just as awesome as a rape joke? A random, partisan accusation about rape jokes. They both do so much to ensure the crime is taken seriously.
Conan's not funny anymore. The last time he made me laugh was right after the writer's strike. The Finland stuff was hilarious too. The new show's hammy and all hyped up. Where's the humor? The only time I laughed at the new tonight show was when Joel McHale was on. Sad. I'd be very surprised if Conan ever became funny to me again. And I loved him from the very first way back when.
I love Jay. :(
@UncleRice: The joke was obviously about her 18 year old daughter, WHO ACTUALLY GOT KNOCKED UP, not the 14 year old, contrary to what the Palins (who would use anything for political gain) would have you believe.
Heywoodjablome
@bytememehard: I think there's a limit to how much of these shows -- which, regardless of host, all follow pretty much the same format -- people want to watch. In the end, I think all three shows will divide an audience not much larger than watched the two 11:30 shows before.
@FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon: But this is not something Palin has done. This is something Letterman has done. Calling him out when he says something anti-feminist (or Leno when he talks about gay people) is entirely about making everyone aware that "jokes" like these are not on.
Look, you and I agree that she is, at best, manipulative and power-hungry. We should talk about THAT on national television. Charges that are clearly NOT true (like her supposed sluttiness) just make it that much easier for her and her camp to say that the mean ol liberals are being cruel to her cuz she's a woman. If we actually want to protect the left and/or feminists from Palin's tactics, then we should make sure that baseless, sexist claims like these are not what we use against her.
@dado: Do you mean statutory rape or statuary rape, because I think I may condone statuary rape too.
SuzyPaulaPasena
@SuzyPaulaPasena: a new verb not related to drugs?
SuzyPaulaPasena
@UncleRice: Is drug a new verb?
SuzyPaulaPasena
The thing I like about Dave is that he is so scholarly, and always footnotes his remarks.
SultanaEleusis
@wealhtheow:
Here's Palin's game plan:
1. Anti-Choice agenda/ draw ire of feminists
2. Play up the simpering, infantilizing ("mommy mayor" "girl governor") and the sexy look (cue, wardrobe, flowing locks and all)/draw ire of liberal commentators ("slutty stewardess")
3. Force hand of feminists, in the name of "sisterhood", to protect her from the lib commentators
4. Palin wins all on fronts: sympathy, cuteness, libs and conservatives defending her, issue switches from Palin wanting to force women to have rape babies to Sarah Palin, victim of sexism.
5. Palin in 2012!
Please know that this really is the game Palin and her people are playing. I am in agreement with you on the issue of "slut" and "slut shaming". I'm a feminist, for godsakes. But when it comes to Palin, we are all being forced to watch the bait and switch, delineated above, played out again and again. Please don't fall for this garbage. One feminist to another? This woman's got a shiv on her. Watch your back.
FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon
@FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon: Sarah Palin uses her looks to get ahead, and that's no good. But Lettermen discrediting and shaming her by calling her a slut is no better. Let's take his joke to its logical conclusion--no one on the Right listens to her any longer, because she's just so slutty. But they're not turning away from her because she's a numbskull, but because some dude used the tired old trope of powerful/outspoken woman=whore. That's not helpful. Keeping "slut" in the national discourse as a method of discrediting women is not helpful.
The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.
Letterman made a joke about Sarah's 14 year old getting knocked up in the middle of a stadium. How desperate is this guy for a joke? Dragging kids into adult fights is wrong. It was wrong when Rush drug the Clinton's daughter into the fray a decade and a half ago, and it's still wrong. Apparently he's not man enough to pick on someone his own size.
UncleRice
@wealhtheow: Palin would take your right to choose with nothing more than roma locuta est. You fight for her, you back her aims. She's playing this game to net people, fooled by their own compassion, into a protective stance. By your comments, you care about women, about fighting for a better world. Be smarter than her. Come on.
FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon
@[shakespearessister.blogspot.com]
lucystoner
@crooked_teeth: Your level of insight is ideal for brainless regurgitation. Just keep practicing, "Drill, baby, drill!" Palin and her ilk thank you.
FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon
The Late Show ratings increase due to incorporation of Steve Nash's coverage of the NBA finals. Good call, Dave!
I've been calling Mrs. Palin a slut for months and I have YET to beat the Tonight Show! Damn you Letterman and your thunder stealing!
TabithaIapetus
@FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon: Feel free to bad mouth people who are fighting for a better world. It just reveals the silliness of your loledgy stance.
@FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon: With your level of insight we can only assume you're a Jay Leno person. Don't feel bad. Middle America is happy to have you in their camp.
crooked_teeth
The reason people aren't watching Conan isn't because of Dave, it's because the demographic is split between him and Colbert.
Switch The Daily Show to 10:30 and Colbert to 11. Problem solved.
RhubarbPlatypus
@koniki: The only savvy thing he did was eavesdrop on a meeting where he wasn't invited. Other than that, he stayed loyal to an insane agent who almost lost him the Tonight Show after securing it for him.
Also, "not dumb" isn't exactly a blue ribbon when he's supposed to be "funny".
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: Don't worry, we didn't forget that the plan was to nominate an attractive but dumb woman precisely so that any kind of criticism can be blamed on unfair treatment of a woman. It didn't work.
Dave shouldn't have said what he said. While she is dumb, Palin is not a slut, she is just desperately trying to look like one to draw those comments that the foot soldiers can then jump on. Dave did it for the same reason, to draw attention. As a progressive, I don't like it, but am not outraged. Just as I let Leno's promoting of the idea that there is something funny about being gay slide night after night. Late night comedy is just not worth getting riled up over.
@wealhtheow: Guess that makes you a "sucker" then? Don't feel bad. Palin is happy to have you in her camp.
FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon
@FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon: An alternate way of thinking about this situation is that sexist language harms everyone. It's not ok to shame women for being "sluts". Period.
@TedSez: "And when the new Leno show starts, that will steal even more viewers away." I don't follow this logic. People who are up at 11:30 have to watch something.
@BxgrlJeri: That sounds like typical Howard to me.
Cunning_Linguist
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: Oh no! The sexist standards Palin advocates are being applied to her? The poor thing. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Btw, any woman who rushes to her aid is called a "sucker", not a "feminist". Crucial difference.
FarleyDrexel is crossing the Rubicon
@apocalypse-nowish: 'zactly. We have enough real stuff on her--it's an embarrassment of riches, really--not to have to go for insults that don't apply.
ginger rant
I just don't find Letterman funny at all. The last time I thought he was hilarious was when I was 12. Conan actually makes me laugh, so I hope he can one day be the king of ratings like his predecessor.
@Cannot Find Server: I thought it was stupid too, which is why I fast forwarded through it. I like Conan himself, but a lot of his little bits are soooo annoying.
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: Well it's not like it's even accurate, is it? She's never acted 'slutty'. Now crazy psycho moron works much better.
@MrInBetween: David Letterman is from Indiana. He went to Ball State, which is in Indiana. He's a Midwesterner through and through, even though he lives in a mansion in Connecticut.
Conan is from Massachusetts. People in corn country don't like Yankees all that much.
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: I, feminazi, missed that comment. In what context? I hate Palin to the marrow, but even I don't think she's a slut. Please elucidate ...
ginger rant
@Cannot Find Server: I guess I'm the only guy who found it hilarious when the typography decapitated the mascot. It was so unexpected that I found myself still chuckling about it the next day
Letterman gets more bitter and nasty all the time. Believe it or not, most people aren't thrilled by that style, and it could be one of the reasons that the less-funny Leno always won the ratings war. A few more rape jokes about 14-year olds will get more people checking out Conan.
hrtshpdbox
I haven't found Dave's jokes funny in years. He's still a better interviewer (mostly because he can be such a dick) but his show just isn't funny anymore.
Letterman has always been the king.
@Cannot Find Server: Oh. Maybe it was you I heard!
@MrInBetween: This New Yorker stopped watching Conan at precisely that moment, too. I like Conan as host of Tonight, but that looong unfunny bit convinced me to switch my Hulu over to Jon Stewart and Colbert for good.
Cuts both ways.
Julia Roberts really brought it last night! Dave's mojo is back.
Although, I do love Conan and switch back and forth at times depending on the guest.
@MrInBetween:Literally? You heard all this? Good God man, you are Superman!
I read a charming piece earlier today accusing Letterman of condoning statuatory rape, with regards to Willow Palin and Alex Rodriguez. Maybe Dave's a Muslim, too.
Between Dave and Conan I'd take Conan every time but at 11:30 I'm watching Colbert. Maybe the time slot is splitting the demographic that watches Conan.
Read the Late Shift and research Leno's survival tactics. He's not nearly as dumb as you think he is or as he portrays himself to be.
@Ohcaptainmycaptain: Over on Jezebel...
online persona
I thought Conan was great last week. But mid-way through the Twitter Tracker bit (which I loved), I could literally HEAR hundreds of thousands of viewers in places like Iowa and Arkansas and South Carolina going "Huhhhh?" as they switched over to Dave for good.
It used to be the old people preferred The Tonight Show.
Now Letterman and his fans are the old people.
Where is the feminist outrage over his "slut" comment?
Yeah,that's what I thought.
Will victory change David Letterman? Will that vague air of melancholy that ensorcells him evaporate?
Dave and Conan have both been especially good, but I'm guessing the ratings for both will go down in a month or so when the novelty of all the changes wears off. And when the new Leno show starts, that will steal even more viewers away. In the end, I predict Letterman will have about the same viewership he's always had, while Conan's "Tonight Show" will be a little down from Jay's.
And millions of people will realize how much better they feel when they go to bed at 10.
I will always love Dave, but I love Conan too. I've been Tivo'ing Conan...so what happens if you're watching both? Is Nielsen counting the DVR +7 thing any more?
Dave has been especially funny this week. The humor was a bit deflated by Howard Stern who did everything he could do to be unfunny.
But Dave has been in old form. The guy in the apartment next door is a throwback to his old show where people were living under the stairs (Chris Elliott?) and those annoying kids were being pelted by rocks and garbage. Definitely had an old-school Dave flavor this week.
And he was ripping on Broadway and the debacle that's going on there and that's good enough for me by itself.
I suspect Dave would rather be widely regarded as having the funnier of the two shows than being tops in the ratings game. Jay clearly cared about being #1--I think Dave would rather do his show his way. It'll be interesting to see what he does once his show becomes #1, but is also regarded as the less funny of the two.