Dec. 15, 2024

Conan O'Brien's Personal Loss, David Letterman Reflects on Career

Conan O'Brien's Personal Loss, David Letterman Reflects on Career

In this episode of daily comedy news, Johnny Mac delves into a rare interview where David Letterman talks to GQ about his career, his struggles with identity, and his continued work on Netflix. The episode also covers Jay Leno addressing rumors about...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

In this episode of daily comedy news, Johnny Mac delves into a rare interview where David Letterman talks to GQ about his career, his struggles with identity, and his continued work on Netflix. The episode also covers Jay Leno addressing rumors about his recent injuries and his modest hotel stays. Further, it touches upon Conan O'Brien's tragic week with the passing of both his parents. The show wraps up with anecdotes from John Mulaney's bedbug scare on set and Nikki Glaser's experience after the Tom Brady roast.


00:12 David Letterman's Rare Interview
00:45 Letterman's Reflections on His Career
01:28 Letterman's Thoughts on Other Hosts
02:28 Letterman's Personal Growth and Advice
04:42 Jay Leno's Rumors and Clarifications
07:02 Conan O'Brien's Family Loss
07:25 John Mulaney's Bed Bug Incident
08:27 Nikki Glaser's Roast Experience

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get all our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed! You also get 20+ other shows on the network ad-free!

This podcast supports Podcasting 2.0 if you’d like to support the show via value for value and stream some sats!

https://linktr.ee/dailycomedynews

Contact John at john@thesharkdeck dot com

John’s free substack about the media: Media Thoughts is mcdpod.substack.com

DCN on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dailycomedynews

You can also support the show at www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynews



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news--4522158/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:10.880
Kalaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with your

2
00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:15.199
daily comedy news. David Letterman did press, which is pretty rare.

3
00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:17.839
He did an interview with GQ magazine. I'm trying to

4
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:21.440
figure out why. I think because he's promoting the Letterman

5
00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.480
Fast Channel on Samsung TV plus. A Fast Channel is

6
00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:27.519
one of those channels that shows up on like your

7
00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:29.879
Roku app or on your Samsung TV, and it's like

8
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.520
an old style live TV channel. You can fast forward,

9
00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:34.359
you have to sit through the commercials. It's one of those.

10
00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:37.560
So there's one that's just Letterman. I put it on

11
00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:40.719
last night and they were showing stupid pet tricks and

12
00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.479
stupid human tricks, which was never my bags. I bailed,

13
00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:45.759
but I like the idea of the channel. Let him

14
00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:47.840
be told GQ in show business, I find that I've

15
00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:51.039
pretended to be someone I'm truly not. The interview took

16
00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.240
place in Indiana, and Dave said, in my life here

17
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.960
in Indiana and at my home with my family, I'm

18
00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.359
probably the person I actually am, and I regret that

19
00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.880
they don't kind of cross at any point. Letterman is

20
00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:03.759
still working doing the show for Netflix called My Next

21
00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.359
Guest needs no introduction and says I'm surprised that I'm

22
00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:07.920
still doing it at my age. On the other hand,

23
00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:09.439
I still get a kick out of what we're doing.

24
00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:11.879
So what does that mean? I don't know. GQ said

25
00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:13.519
to Dave, you know, if you read press about you

26
00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.439
from the eighties and nineties, you were portrayed as miserable.

27
00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:20.319
Letterman said, yeah, that's great. I love that is the characterization. Fair. Yeah,

28
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.439
I think so. There's a couple of things going on there.

29
00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:24.760
I was drinking heavily in those days. That may have

30
00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.439
provided some fuel for misery, and I guess not achieving

31
00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:30.040
what I imagined to be. Like you'd say, Johnny Carson, there's

32
00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:31.799
never going to be anybody as good at that kind

33
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:34.159
of show as Johnny. Nobody better. Maybe there are people

34
00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.920
now who are excellent broadcasters and as good as Johnny,

35
00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.879
but nobody better. Trying to think if there's anybody right

36
00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.439
now who says good as Johnny, I don't think so.

37
00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:47.680
Colbear is definitely not. Falin's definitely not. Because Kimmel as

38
00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.799
good as Johnny, I don't think so, Letterman says, So here,

39
00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:52.480
I'm thinking, oh crap, am I not going to be

40
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.280
as good as Johnny. What am I doing here? I

41
00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:57.840
like the idea that I was characterized as miserable. That's delightful, Dave.

42
00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.599
Early in your career you were criticized fairly for not

43
00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.280
being a great interviewer. Dave said, probably, yeah, I think

44
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.959
that's true. Any criticism that has befallen me, I'm sure

45
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.439
I had a coming. Here's the issue with me when

46
00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.280
I got to California. I don't know if this contradicts

47
00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.879
everything I've said before. When I got to California was like, Okay,

48
00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:13.680
I'm here, let's get ready to go. I thought I'm

49
00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:15.680
the guy we've all been waiting for. And I operated

50
00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:17.280
like that for a little bit. And the first time

51
00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:18.919
I realized it was a mistake, I had a morning

52
00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:20.639
show on NBC. It was on for a day and

53
00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:22.879
a half. Then it blew up the network. And that's

54
00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.000
when I realized, you know, the thing about me being

55
00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.680
the guy, maybe that needs to be like, let's take

56
00:02:27.719 --> 00:02:30.360
another look at that, Dave. Did you get better over time?

57
00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:33.240
I don't know. I mean one hopes. God, thirty years

58
00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.120
plus one hope you get a little better. I do

59
00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:36.719
say that for the last handful of years and my

60
00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:38.479
favorite part of the show is just talking to people.

61
00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.039
Because doing comedy each and every night, each and every night,

62
00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.080
each and every night, that's meaningful and not just laughable.

63
00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:47.240
That's tough. It's really tough. And I was always lucky

64
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.840
to have men and women who were really smart and

65
00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:50.919
really good writers. I'd just be in the next room.

66
00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.520
But the thing I enjoyed mostly was actually just talking

67
00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:56.560
to people. Dave had a reputation for being confrontational in

68
00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.639
the early days, and Dave said, yeah, I guess so,

69
00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:00.759
I will say that also in those days it was

70
00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.680
probably under some real or imagined mandate that would provide

71
00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:07.479
energy that would help the show succeed. But no, that's right, GQ. Dave,

72
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:09.960
your reputation in your show years, accurate or not, was

73
00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.479
not social. Dave said, I felt like wherever i'd go out,

74
00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:14.639
there'd be an expectation in which I couldn't live up to,

75
00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:17.120
which was, here, he comes, he's gonna do a show,

76
00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:19.120
He's gonna be funny, We're gonna be entertained. I kind

77
00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.319
of felt like that expectation takes quite a lot of energy,

78
00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:23.280
because I didn't want to bleed it off before or

79
00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:26.159
after the actual show, which was always in desperate need

80
00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:28.800
of entertainment. He talked about his energy and said, you'd

81
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:31.400
either spend time preparing, time ruminating about what it might

82
00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.360
gone wrong, or try and enjoy what it went right,

83
00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:35.680
and anything else didn't matter. And that's the mistake of

84
00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:37.560
having a career where it's the same thing each and

85
00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.120
every night. Now I still advise people not to retire,

86
00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:41.960
but it was so single focused. If we can make

87
00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.960
these three four hundred people laugh every night, that's our responsibility.

88
00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:47.759
So the idea that it actually transported beyond that would

89
00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:50.479
always come as kind of a glaring surprise. All I

90
00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.919
cared about was television. One hour of television that I

91
00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.719
was responsible for for thirty years. That's all I cared about.

92
00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.120
Everything fell apart went away. I didn't even know if

93
00:03:58.120 --> 00:03:59.759
it was falling apart or not. And now I have

94
00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:02.439
the energy and the broader focus to recognize humanity as

95
00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.240
other fulfilling pursuits. A lot more here, and we've got

96
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:08.639
some holidays coming up, so I'll save more of that

97
00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:12.199
for some time, maybe Christmas week. Looking ahead, I will

98
00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:15.199
have episodes for you every single day, like always. I

99
00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:17.279
am going to pre tape a couple just so I

100
00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:19.160
could take a couple of days off around Christmas, and

101
00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:21.160
you know, there are things like best Comedy Specials of

102
00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:22.920
the Year that I want to do anyway, so I'll

103
00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:24.560
record a bunch of those, but I'll be here every

104
00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.480
day for you. I'm also bothered this session you're hearing

105
00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:29.879
right now. I've only been recording for seven minutes and

106
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:32.319
I can already hear that rasp in my voice that

107
00:04:32.439 --> 00:04:35.879
whatever bug I caught It's almost a full three weeks ago.

108
00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.959
Now I still feel it. I still feel that my

109
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.800
voice going really quickly. I don't feel sick at all,

110
00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:43.360
but boy, I just feel the rasp anyway. Jay Leno,

111
00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.160
let's stay on late night type hosts. Jay was on

112
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:50.439
Spike first In's Spike's Car Radio, and Jay pushed back

113
00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.079
on all the rumors about what's going on. There was

114
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:55.439
one rumor that said Jay owed money to the mob

115
00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:57.519
and had been subject to a beat down. Leno said,

116
00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.639
it's so stupid. Spike said the photos Jay looked like

117
00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:02.680
an AI of a Jay Leno that had been thrown

118
00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:05.040
off a building. All right, Jay, you've got money. Why

119
00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.759
he's staying at Hampton In. Jay said he got into

120
00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:09.240
the area at one am and was only going to

121
00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:10.600
be there for a short stay. He asked for the

122
00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:13.519
nearest hotel and happened to be Hampton In. Leno defended

123
00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.279
the brand, saying it's a Hilton. Why wouldn't he stay

124
00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:18.439
somewhere like the Four Seasons? Leno said? Why would it

125
00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:20.879
pay eleven hundred dollars a night? Leno explains if his

126
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.319
wife was with him, then he would have stayed in

127
00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:24.279
a nice hotel, but it's just him. He doesn't feel

128
00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:26.600
the need. Spike said he's been on the road with

129
00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:30.360
Jerry Seinfeld, and Seinfeld also stays at modest hotels. Spike

130
00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.959
shows Jay some social media posts, including one where the

131
00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.759
author wrote, Jay Leno was beat up in some kind

132
00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.879
of ritual. I suspect or to be silenced. Jay, is

133
00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:40.360
it a gambling debt? Jay said, Nope, never gambled in

134
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.240
my life. I liked that the mob would drive to Greensburg,

135
00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:45.399
Pennsylvania to meet me on top of a hill and

136
00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:47.639
then throw me down the hill. All right, Jay, why

137
00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.079
were you walking? Why didn't he have a car? Jay

138
00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:52.279
said again he was only in town for a short time.

139
00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:54.040
He didn't think it need one, And as I'm falling,

140
00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:56.199
I see these two elderly ladies. One of them goes

141
00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.920
that looks like Jay Leno falling down the hill. The

142
00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:02.120
two women came over after he fell down. Leno said

143
00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:04.000
they realized it was actually him. They gave him a

144
00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:06.680
ride to a nearby restaurant. He says, of his injuries,

145
00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.120
I didn't think it was that bad. When a server

146
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:11.680
brought his sandwich over, the server told Leno, hey, you

147
00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.079
know you don't look too good. But rather thansee medical attention,

148
00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.920
Jay asked for directions to the nearest CVS and bought

149
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.199
an eye patch. All right, what about all the weird

150
00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.959
stuff with the cars on the motorcycles, Leno said, there's

151
00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.439
a lot of accidents in between you don't even hear about.

152
00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:27.399
Jay says he got a good laugh when he told

153
00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:29.600
the crowd, ladies and gentlemen, I'm just completing my fall

154
00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:33.519
tour and added audiences love seeing rich people catch on fire.

155
00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:36.800
Maybe this is just how I sound now. I've worked

156
00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:39.720
in radio media, audio whatever this is now for thirty

157
00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.959
plus years, and I have run into older men who

158
00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.879
start to get that rasp in their voice. It sounds

159
00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:46.639
great if you're a DJ. Maybe this is just how

160
00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.319
I sound. Now for real. During the break there, I

161
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.079
hit pause on their cording and went upstairs and I

162
00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:54.319
went and got my iced coffee. Here the voice was

163
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.399
driving me nuts. Today. Doesn't hurt, but the fuzz all right,

164
00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:57.800
shut up about your voice, John, if you want to

165
00:06:57.800 --> 00:06:59.879
sport the show, buy me a coffee. Dot com slash

166
00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:04.160
d comedy news. Serious topic here. Conan O'Brien, Oh wow,

167
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:08.720
what a week. Conan's father, doctor Thomas O'Brien, passed away Monday,

168
00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:12.360
December ninth. Thomas was ninety five. Three days later, on

169
00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:16.240
Thursday the twelfth, Ruth O'Brien passed away at age ninety two.

170
00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:20.040
In an interview published on Thursday, Conan told The Globe,

171
00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:22.839
my father was in constant motion and he was interested

172
00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.759
in everything, absolutely everything. John mulaney was on Jimmy Fallon

173
00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.959
during the week. Mulaney was filming a scene for poker

174
00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.399
Face and said he's been going back and forth between

175
00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.160
Staten Island and Queen's. We're at a Rundown real life

176
00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:38.560
location like a motel for this one scene, and afterwards

177
00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:40.959
it was this summer. I'm standing there with Miguel and

178
00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:42.319
he goes, oh, no, I think I have some bug

179
00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:44.079
bites and I look down and he's got these three

180
00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:45.639
red bites and he goes, oh, no, I might have

181
00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.240
bedbugs from the shoot. Malanie gets back to his room.

182
00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:50.240
He notices he has bites and I go, oh my god,

183
00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:52.839
I got bed bugs from doing a peacock show. You

184
00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.639
never think that's how you get them, but it is.

185
00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:57.040
I texted Natasha Leone. I go, hey, do you have

186
00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.199
Miguel's number. Miguel's the director. I need to get in

187
00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.439
touch with him right now about something. She sends to

188
00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.079
me Migul's number and I text him. He texts Miguel,

189
00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.199
it's John m'laney. I've read bites on my legs too,

190
00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.199
What did you do for these? And he's really bed bugs.

191
00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.240
He doesn't hear back. I call Natasha and I go, hey,

192
00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.000
mcguil hasn't gotten back to me, and she goes, oh, yeah,

193
00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.319
I say you the wrong Miguel. Apparently m'laney texted the

194
00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:20.160
guy Miguel who has the hit song remind me to forgets.

195
00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.199
Malaney spoken to the TV and said, Miguel, if you're watching,

196
00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.399
they weren't bed bugs and on set medic let me

197
00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.920
know it was fine. It's a good lesson. Nikki Glazer

198
00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.000
posted on Instagram, I'm sorry if I'm everywhere right now,

199
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.200
It'll be over soon. She talked about the roast of

200
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.799
Tom Brady in May and said it was a life

201
00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.120
changing performance, one of those things that you sort of like,

202
00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:40.240
you just never know what's gonna happen, but everything changes

203
00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:42.200
after the next day, I was in line places and

204
00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:45.039
seeing my face on people's phones. She told Jimmy Kimmel.

205
00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:47.159
I felt like Taylor Swift for a couple of days.

206
00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.320
I felt that level of fame. No, you didn't, and

207
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:53.159
that is your comedy news or today. You didn't. You

208
00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:55.360
were not Taylor Swift. Relax. You told a couple of

209
00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.440
funny jokes on a roast A bunch of us watched.

210
00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:01.320
H You're such a hater, John, I'm not. I speak

211
00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:03.639
truth to the media. See to morrow.