David Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 12th, 1947. His father was a florist; his mother Dorothy was a Presbyterian church secretary. His earliest comedic influence was that of Cincinnati talk show host Paul Dixon, but the person who influenced his career most was Johnny Carson.
Letterman attended Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis and later graduated from Ball State University, where he began his broadcasting career at the student radio station. Afterwards, he secured work on Indianapolis television station as an anchor and weatherman while receiving recognition for his unpredictable behavior. For instance, in one airing he upset his producers by congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane.
In 1975, Letterman moved to California hoping to become a comedy writer. At the same time, he began performing stand-up comedy. Soon afterwards, he scored guest appearances on the Mary Tyler Moore's and Mork & Mindy. His dry, sarcastic humor quickly caught the attention of talent scouts for The Tonight Show. It wasn't long before Letterman became a regular guest. And it wasn't long after he became a regular guest that he became Carson's regular guest host. In 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC. The show was a success with critics but its ratings disappointment the network and it was canceled that summer.
Soon afterwards, NBC tried Letterman in a different time slot. Letterman's new show ran weeknights immediately following The Tonight Show. There, he earned a reputation as being edgy and unpredictable. This caused a cult following. During a monologue the show often included odd segments like Stupid Pet Tricks, fictitious letter answering segments and Letterman's infamous the Top 10 List.
The Late Show with Letterman ran on NBC for eleven years. Upon Johnny Carson's announcement that he would retire, a battle erupted over who would replace Carson. Carson wanted his replacement to be Letterman however Executives at NBC chose Jay Leno. Letterman was disappointed and angry for not getting the job. In 1993, Letterman departed NBC, on the advice of Carson himself. He left to host his own show opposite Leno on CBS. For the first 18 months, The Late Show with David Letterman, gained higher ratings than the Tonight Show. But in 1995, the show's ratings declined. Since then, the Tonight Show has consistently beat Letterman in the.
In early 1995, Letterman hosted the Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted Letterman for his poor hosting. Although Letterman earned the highest ratings for the Awards ceremony since 1983, critics felt the bad publicity caused the decline in The Late Show's ratings. For years afterward, Letterman would mock how horrible a host he was, although some have said it was the show itself, not Letterman, that was so poor.
On January 14, 2000, a checkup revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was constricted. Letterman was rushed to emergency surgery and received a quintuple bypass. During his recovery, friends of Letterman introduced re-runs of the Late Show. Later, while still recovering from surgery, Letterman began bringing in the shows first guest hosts including Bill Cosby, Dana Carvey, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Janeane Garofalo. Cosby, refused to sit at Letterman's desk out of respect, using the couch instead.
On February 21, 2000, a weakened Letterman brought onstage all of the doctors and nurses who had participated in the surgery and recovery. Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked his recovery team with the words: "These are the people who saved my life!" That episode earned Letterman an Emmy nomination.
On September 17, 2001, David Letterman was the first performer to return to TV after the September 11th attacks. In his opening monologue, absent music and credits he said "They were going to work, they were traveling, they were doing what they normally do-- another smaller group of people stole some airplanes and crashed them into buildings. And we're told that they were zealots fueled by religious fervor, religious fervor. And if you live to be a thousand years old, will that make any sense to you? "
As Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC implied they might offer Letterman the time slot for long-running Nightline with Ted Koppel. Irregardless, Letterman resigned with CBS, stating that he was content at CBS and had great respect for Ted Koppel. On December 4, 2006 Letterman has signed a new contract to host the Late Show on CBS through the fall 2010.
Letterman, who marked his 13th anniversary as host of the Late Show on August 30, 2006, celebrated 25 years in late-night comedy on February 1, 2007. Since its debut on CBS, the Late Show has been honored with nine Emmy Awards and 54 Emmy nominations. Letterman also has his own production company, Worldwide Pants, which produces his show as well as numerous others including: Everybody Loves Raymond, and several critically acclaimed series for Bonnie Hunt.
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