From Steve Allen to David Letterman/ a story of American culture
For those too young to remember, it was Steve Allen who launched the Tonight Show and made it into a late night talk/comedy/variety show. I'm using David Letterman as my bookend for what I think is an important reason. To measure the decline of a civilization using what I consider the two singular talk show hosts who were of any significance in the long history of late night tv entertainment. These two men had one thing in common - they were quick witted and naturals when it came to hosting a live tv show. All the others who came and went simply presented guests IMHO.
Let's start with Steve Allen who began it all in 1953. Allen was a creative artist, who began in radio in the 1940's and had a lot to do with the early days of television. Among other things, he was a musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer.
Steve Allen (man of many talents)
He was incredibly funny. Those old shows, which you can still find on You Tube were timeless. Allen helped a lot of people get their careers going. He was a pioneer, but most of all you knew that he was a good man. That was obvious to anyone paying attention. He was a product of a time long gone.
FAST FORWARD
In the early 80's NBC decided to try an experiment by changing it's early morning format to a talk/comedy show and the David Letterman show premiered on June 23, 1980. It lasted about 6 months before being cancelled.
David Letterman (comedian, writer & producer)
Here on one of the very last of those shows, Letterman is joined by the man who began the Tonight Show twenty seven years earlier:
As we all know, two years later NBC would bring Letterman back, but this time he was on at night with Late Night with David Letterman. That show, a tremendous success btw, really was what I thought to be the most important of all the late night talk shows. As I said, Letterman was also quick witted and perfect for this format. The interviews were usually informative and entertaining. He did have the tendency to help certain performers. I think he saw the talent of a young comedian by the name of Norm Macdonald early on and Norm was a frequent guest on Late Night throughout his turbulent career.
On the other hand, Letterman could also be mean spirited. One can look back at how he treated certain guests such as Paris Hilton and Joaquin Phoenix. He also had numerous affairs and wasn't shy about mentioning them on the show when it was learned that somebody was threatening to reveal his sexual relationships with several of his female employees.
Times had changed and the two most significant late night talk shows reflected it perfectly.
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Just one man's opinion.
Thanks for this article. It was a joy to go down memory lane.
Good topic, Vic! Steve Allen was part of TV's Golden Age.
A Steve Allen composition
THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG - Steve Allen, songwriter
I was so young. I was supposed to be sleeping and I'd stay up to watch it.
I was born too late for Steve Allen's show but loved what reruns I saw later in life.
I was 16 and having a TV set was a fairly new thing at the time, but Steve Allen's show was certainly one we watched. There were no Canadian TV stations and no such thing as cable TV at the time but we had one of those antennas high up above our roof to catch the broadcasts from Buffalo's WBEN-TV, the only station we could get.
Good one! Steve Allen, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Ann Sothern, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra! Live TV, one camera, two studios.
There is a documentary style series on HBOMax called The Story of Late Night. It's worth a watch.
I grew up watching Johnny so he is my favorite...
Good topic. Johnny Carson was a very influential volume between those bookends. Steve Allen and Jack Paar influenced Johnny and Johnny influenced David Letterman. A new comedian that performed well on Carson's Tonight Show could really launch their career. What made Carson so amazing is that it didn't come natural to him at all. He was completely different and ill at ease socially of of the camera.
I understand that a biopic series on Johnny is in production.
The Johnny Carson Gallery reopened June 18, 2021. It contains items that Johnny himself chose to exhibit in his hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska. The gallery is a showcase of Johnny’s formative years, his 30 years on the Tonight Show, and the six Emmys he received during that time. The new exhibit features modern interactive displays.
Johnny might have lasted another 5 years in front of the camera and lived another ten if he hadn't been such a heavy smoker.
I'll bet you may not know that Carson was one of the Mitch Miller gang. He was basically a good guy like Steve Allen.
I didn’t know that, thanks.
Here is some of the evidence. If you can't stand it, cut to 3:28 of the tape:
Good memories of my grandparents whenever I see Mitch - they loved his show, and I watched it with them.
Mitch gathered up all those little jingles that a generation grew up with and brought them to every home with a tv.
So the "decline" was starting at the peak with Steve Allen and then hitting rock bottom with David Letterman?
Or is this whole seed supposed to be a dig at current late night talk show hosts who aren't fucking any of their staff but regularly poke fun at conservatives? If that's the case then it seems rather hilarious that the "decline" since Letterman is going from serial philanderers and bosses who proposition their employees to married men who respect their staff and are faithful to their wives but joke about the regular expected inanity presented by religious conservatives. This weird fetish conservatives seem to have with getting back to "manlier" times has Tucker Carlson promoting testicle tanning, how can late show hosts not poke fun at their bizarre obsessions?
Hmmmmmm, food for thought there DP. I think you might be right!
I wonder who you're talking about though?
Just kidding - I know exactly who the late night host in question is.
I LOVE HIM!
Three decades is a long time and many of us lived through it.
Or is this whole seed supposed to be a dig at current late night talk show hosts who aren't fucking any of their staff but regularly poke fun at conservatives?
It is non-political, which btw is forbidden in this group. It is simply a cultural observation.
Congrats for being one of the few that got it.