Unless you've been living under a rock for these past few days, you've heard the news about the David Letterman extortion story. I happened to be watching the show last Thursday and saw the speech as it happened, and I want to ask your opinion on what he said. What did you think about Dave talking about the situation on the show? What did you think about his use of humour throughout the monologue/story?That's right, it's time for more intelligent conversation! Sound off in the comments section below and I'll join in there. And for those of you that have heard the news but not seen the footage, here is the entire 10 minute clip in its entirety.
Also, to note, at the time of this posting, tonight's taping of Late Night with David Letterman just ended within the past hour, and audience reports out of New York are that Letterman spoke "at length" about the situation on tonight's show, including a number of apologies.
6 comments:
First of all Sean, thanks for posting. Couldn't find the entire episode anywhere on the internet. I have to say that Letterman is very clever. He didn't panick when faced with a monumentally embarassing situation. Not only did he take the prudent legal actions, but he also turned the situation into a PR win by going public on his show. His fans would stay by him no matter what, but I think he won the more important battle, which was the battle of public opinion outside of that group. By beating the gossip columns to the punch, he ended up creating sympathy for his situation instead of scorn. He turned Robert Halderman into the real villain, and turned himself into a victim. Where Letterman will have a much tougher sell is with his wife and partner of 23 years, Regina Lasko. Fans and the public are much quicker to forgive personal indiscretions (e.g. Bill Clinton, Bob Barker), particularly when voluntarily disclosed, as opposed to being exposed to your wife by a stranger as simply being a philanderer. He's won round one, but his hardest battle may still be ahead of him.
Good for Dave. There have gotta be some perks for being in the public eye constantly.
I'm a big Letterman fan. I'm glad you posted this, Sean, as I needed a forum in which to sound off.
I respect him for admitting his indiscretions to his fans in his forum, especially since it's really nobody's business except his own, his wife's and the others involved. He took a gamble,but at this point, he doesn't have much to lose. Having said that, I must admit that he's lost a little of that charm that has beguiled me over the years. That charm (that had I worked for him) would have tempted me to go out on a date with him had he asked...*sigh**
Emilia :)
odd question for you, sean, (and thanks for posting) since you got to watch it live: how long did it take you to realize he was not kidding?
i can't imagine being someone who was in the audience....
i respect him a little less than i used to....but really a rather brilliant strategy
i have to agree with galileocan and don't think anyone will be able to say it better:
"Fans and the public are much quicker to forgive personal indiscretions (e.g. Bill Clinton, Bob Barker), particularly when voluntarily disclosed, as opposed to being exposed to your wife by a stranger as simply being a philanderer. He's won round one, but his hardest battle may still be ahead of him."
as is usual in these cases, i feel for his wife and child....
Laura, thanks for the message identifying yourself as Anonymous #2...if you don't have a way to input your name, feel free to just sign your anonymous post at the end in the future.
To answer your question, I knew pretty early that it was serious, so that's when it stopped being background, and I made sure to listen carefully to what he was saying.
I'm still not sure how I feel, but I recognize and commend him for addressing it head-on. Naysayers will say that he's just getting out ahead of the story, and maybe he is...but the fact remains that he put out for public consumption a very ugly part of his personal life, and that's definitely not easy. (Trust me, I know.)
I was lukewarm on his use of humour at first. Some people (including me) say that humour is his way, that we've spent close to 25 years listening to Dave make jokes about anything and everything. But Dave can be serious as well. Does anyone remember his heartfelt message after 9/11, when he was one of the first people that returned to the air after it happened. Look it up on YouTube if you want to see him speak eloquently without making jokes.
Tonight's show was interesting. I commend him for making the jokes that everyone else will be making anyways, and he did them in a tasteful way so as not to be disrespectful and ignorant of the people other than him that are involved.
I'm sure there will be lots more in the days to come, but I love when we can have a good discussion on here...let's keep it up.
I thought Dave's words last night spoke volumes:
"My wife Regina, she has been horribly hurt by my behavior. And when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it. At that point there is only two things that can happen, either you are going to make some progress and get it fixed or you're gonna fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. So let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me."
Seems like the appropriate way to handle it. Accept your own faults and try to move forward honestly.
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