My favorite thing to watch when it comes to late night television is the Late Show with David Letterman. If you haven't seen it the Late Show is structured very much like The Tonight Show based on it featuring stand-up, a live band and celebrity guests. However, even though Dave's show is the same as the other nightly talk shows I tend to like him better than his competitors. I can't really pin it down to one thing but I prefer watching Dave because Conan comes across as arrogant to me and Jay feels unapproachable almost as if NBC is whispering conservative jokes into his ear.


Conan and Jay, the Late Show's competition


Then when I turn on Dave I feel like it's a completely different ball game because he gives me a sense of comfort by being brutally honest with me as a viewer. Through doing this watching Dave feels like I'm hanging out with an uncle who tells crazy jokes. Now don't get me wrong there has been times that Dave has gone a little bit overboard and I occasionally agree when the media calls him out on some controversial jokes. I can also see why some of you as TV viewers can't stand watching him because of the mistakes he has made in his own personal life but I don't let that bother me. I'm not saying that I agree with what he did I'm saying that I enjoy watching Dave because his TV persona is highly entertaining and all about having fun which is shown by Dave laughing at his own jokes including ones at his own expense.


The fact that Dave laughs at his own jokes like any other average person makes him stand out compared to his rivals at least in my mind because it shows he is focused on one thing making the average Joe laugh. Dave caters his jokes to the average American by having people just like them perform comedy in segments like Stupid Pet Tricks or having a bunch of students come in to do bird calls or science experiments. Dave also interacts with average folks during the course of his show such as the man who lives in the apartment in the studio, his mom in Indiana, and the guy in the Deli down the street. At times Dave even has to act as a translator between regular people and celebrities like when Joaquin Phoenix spaced out on the show.




Honestly when I think about it Dave interacts with everyone during the course of his show from the audience to the orchestra led by the talented Paul Shaffer to the crew working behind the scenes. He even at times has had Regis Philbin run through the audience like a crazy man high- fiving people. Although Dave's fun with the audience doesn't stop there because he is always asking them silly questions that may earn one of them an entire pizza or cause the Horns section to proudly raise their hands. I guess out of all these examples the main thing I want you to get out of this post about the Late Show is to give Dave a chance because watching him is like going to a party where something fun is always happening.

Check out the Late Show with David Letterman weeknights on CBS at 11:35/10:35c or online.