Posted by pseudoname on October 13, 2006, at 10:57:08
In reply to Re: Letterman bothered me, posted by Jost on October 12, 2006, at 21:59:07
Hi, Jost.
> I'd be surprised if anything on these shows isn't pretty scripted, or prepared for in some form.
Yeah, as JLynne says, they even do use actors in the audience at times. That ‘Tonight Show’ memoir I just posted about in Books talked about how prepared & pre-screened even the seemingly spontaneous bits of these shows are. When Johnny Carson played "Stump the Band" with audience members, for instance, staffers had interviewed the people waiting in line to get into the show to find ones who had obscure songs in their memories, gave them aisle seats, and then Johnny was given cards describing who to pick & what to ask them about. (Although in those days, the author insists, the band really was kept in the dark beforehand.)
That might be why Dave was upset at the guy for backing out of doing the bit. He had probably been screened by staffers before the show and more-or-less agreed to do it. But Letterman couldn't say, "But you agreed beforehand…!" because that would give away the illusion of spontaneity, so Dave ended up just appearing inexplicably nasty.
And you're right, it was very scripted. Even if (as I insist) they were real audience members, they read their answers to Dave's current events questions off the 5x8 cards Dave had in his hands. That might be another reason Dave resented being thrown off by the guy: there was no risk of a wrong answer; all he had more to do was 2 seconds of reading.
> Aren't they pretaped, too? So they must have liked it, I'd think.
I was disappointed at how much the studio audience seemed to like Dave's nasty reaction, too. They laughed a lot. :(
> I don't watch Letterman, but he's always had that cynical side. It bothers me. Just not necessary.
Ever see Colin Ferguson? He's warm & human and seems to like everybody. Even when he's cracking jokes about celebrities, he's often self-deprecating. ("That guy is giving us alcoholics a bad name!") I said in books I'd like to have Ferguson for a therapist. :-)
poster:pseudoname
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061005/msgs/694460.html