David Letterman
David Letterman grew up in a small town in eastern Indiana. He was born
to Joseph and Dorothy Letterman. After reading the novel, "David
Letterman: On Stage and Off" by Rosemarie Lennon, I have learned about
all his struggles and joys. Because of this book, I feel sorry towards
one of the funniest people on Earth, David Letterman. I also admire him
for his good acts and abilities.
To realize why I feel what I feel toward Letterman, you have to look at
some of the main points in his life. First of all, Dave was exactly an A
student. He struggled all of his life through grade school to college.
He also wasn't very popular. He stated, " I remember standing around. .
. with the other losers, watching all the athletes play sports. All we
could do is make fun and ridicule them." He was never good at anything
until high school. "All I ever knew how to do was to make people laugh.
In high school I was the class clown, making fun of everything and
everyone." This personality trait was what gave him his thousands of
faithful fans, watching his show every night to see Dave rip to shreds
anyone who dare challenge him.
Another thing that was important to him
was his mother and father. His father, Joseph Letterman, and Dave went
fishing quite often when he was young. Dave looked up to his father
tremendously. When Joseph had his first heart attack when he was
thirty-six, Dave and his father started to drift away. Later, Dave's Dad
died when he was fifty-three. One of David's top regrets was never
spending a lot of time with his dad. As for his mother, she is the
classical conservative mother of the fifties. She was always very hard
on Dave when he got into mischief in school-- which was quite often. She
is still a part of Dave's life, and can be seen quite often on his show,
doing a comedy sketch, or telling audience members what the temperature
was in Lillehammer during the Winter Olympics.
The Reason I feel sorry for Letterman is because of his tragedies of his
past. His Dad's passing was hard enough, but he had other trials to deal
with. Like his mother. She was never really proud of David, constantly
reminding him he was going to fail, and not encouraging him to take his
natural ability to make people laugh to their limits. She hated the idea
of him going to California to work in a comedy club there, but Dave was
stubborn. In 1975 he quit his job at a local T.V. station doing the
weather, and moved to the big city of Los Angeles. He worked at a place
called The Comedy Store along side his current nemesis, Jay Leno. There
he learned how hard it was to be a comedian. He started to become a
perfectionist. When something wasn't right, he got very mad and was very
unhappy. This unhappiness is what caused Dave and his wife since 1969,
Michelle Cook, to get a divorce. "I misbehaved. There's no way of
getting around that. The responsibility for the end of our marriage is
squarely on my shoulders. I have a measure of ongoing guilt about that.
. . I was very immature and acted badly, and I am sorry for that."
Things started to turn around on November 24, 1978, when Johnny Carson,
Dave's boyhood idol, had selected Dave to fill-in for him every once in
a while. This was it. The big times. But this also set Dave up for one
of his biggest rejections yet. Dave made fifty guest-host jobs and
twenty-two guest appearances from 1978 to 1980. He was a regular on
Johnny's show and became to be one of Johnny's closest friends. In 1980,
NBC gave Letterman his own show after Carson's. For eleven and a half
years, Dave's show was a success, and Letterman was considered as
Carson's heir to the late night throne. The job was given to Jay Leno
instead, when Carson retired. Dave took this as a major insult. He left
NBC-- breaking his contract-- and moved to CBS where Jay and Dave would
compete for the same time slot. "This new show was terribly exciting for
me." Dave did his show just like his one on NBC and on August 30, 1993,
The Late Show with David Letterman beat Jay Leno's Tonight Show for two
years after that.
I also admire David Letterman. After all his ordeals, he still hasn't
lost the ability to do what he started out to do: to make people to
laugh. I have been a fan of Letterman since he was guest hosting
Carson's show, and I know a lot about him. He still puts on a show every
night, even though it has taken a major decline in ratings since the
Oscars. He is a kind man as well, giving thousands of dollars to various
charities. He has a talent for making people laugh, making even the
stupidest jokes funny. I view my self like him. I am not the smartest in
my family, nor will I ever be, but I know I am the funniest. Maybe
that's trough years of religiously watching Letterman at night. I am
also a perfectionist. I get very angry with myself if I do something
that goes terribly wrong. David Letterman has inspired me in life,
teaching me to do things most people wouldn't.
David William Letterman is a tremendously funny and kind man. He has
gone through some of life's tragic and some of it's magic, but always
seems to come out on top. Who knew that a skinny kid from Indiana who
grew up with a few friends and no gumption, would be one of the most
successful people of his time. And, to quote Letterman, "Would you like
to buy a monkey?"
BACK TO DIRECTORY |
BACK TO SUB DIRECTORY:
BIOGRAPHIES
Term
papers at GPA are 99.99% custom written
We
handle our orders very seriously because a minor problem in your term
papers could turn your academic career upside down, which cannot be repaid
with either a refund or a free term paper. Therefore, we never accept
term papers which we cannot write or deliver on time.
Our
term papers can help you
obtain excellent grades. We hire only professional writers from
respective fields of expertise.
BACK
TO MAIN