War Games

Just finished tearing through Bill Carter's book "The War for Late Night", which I picked up Wednesday afternoon. I just found it riveting. I am fascinated by these behind-the-scenes dramas. When it was unfolding in real time, I watched all the shows, read all the articles and interviews and public statements—yet reading about all the stories behind the stories, from first-hand accounts, gives you a greater understanding of how fucked up it all got. It's also amazing to see how many different ways the situation could have been averted entirely, or played out differently. I imagine in some fringe parallel universe, Conan O'Brien would be appearing as a guest during the final week of THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING DAVID LETTERMAN, with Letterman graciously passing the torch.

Carter's earlier book, "The Late Shift", chronicled the war between Leno and Letterman in the early 90s, when the media landscape was so much simpler. Back then, there were far fewer channels, far fewer late night comedy shows, no internet and no DVRs. Information travels so much faster now, big companies need to deal with the management of news leaks. If something amazing happened on a show you didn't watch last night, you can (usually) easily catch a clip of it online the next day. Today, there is an interaction between the audience and The Show that just wasn't possible back in the day.

Though Carter interviewed Letterman for "Late Shift", he's the one host who declined to be interviewed for "War". Although he does feature prominently in the narrative. Everyone knows that Leno has dominated Letterman in sheer ratings for the majority of their years... but what becomes clear in the book is that Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and even Leno seem to revere Letterman. When Letterman hatches the plan to shoot that Superbowl commercial with Oprah and Jay, Leno doesn't hesitate to leap at the offer, going out of his way to fly to New York to shoot the gag. Leno's been besting him in ratings for years and yet it's Leno who seems more eager to receive some level of approval from Letterman.

No matter what the numbers say, Letterman's always been more respected than Leno. By critics and by other comics.



I was a huge fan of Letterman growing up. And there's something about Letterman that I relate to when I read about his behind-the-scenes struggles.

pgs 221-222:

... Some of Dave's associates who had interacted with him over long periods of time began to look for ways to try to help him cope better with his demons, and dug through psychological tracts looking to match the symptoms of Dave's apparent neurosis. They settled on a variant of narcissism, because the straight clinical condition—the one defined by grandiosity and egotism—didn't seem a match. Dave seemed at times the direct opposite of that. His condition was more defined by a swing between huge confidence and feelings of worthlessness.

(I seem to swing back and forth on a daily basis.)

In any case, it's a terrific read. I recommend it if you're interested in this shit. CHECK IT OUT!