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This is Alec Baldwin and you’re listening to Here’s The Thing from WNYC Radio.
When David Letterman started "Late Night" in 1982, The New York Times said he was “more of an acquired taste than most comedians.”
[LETTERMAN ARCHIVAL TAPE]
We were used to Johnny, a true gentleman who could deliver a clean setup and punch line, occasionally helped by a wink. But suddenly with "Late Night," the ultimate punch line was the fact that some gap-toothed, unknown smart ass even had a show. His pet tricks were stupid on purpose. And so was he. Tune in, and you might catch him lowering himself into a water tank wearing a suit made from 3,400 Alka-Seltzer tablets.
[LETTERMAN ARCHIVAL TAPE]
Dave seized every opportunity to remind us that his big network show was a ridiculous waste of time. But if you were in on the joke, and a lot of people were, it was also a stroke of genius.
[LETTERMAN ARCHIVAL TAPE]
Today David Letterman is an institution, and has forever changed American comedy. Before Letterman, the extended drumroll was sincere. After Letterman, it would never be without at least a hint of irony.
His show changed America, and after 30 years, Dave’s changed as well.
David Letterman: I do a lot less work than I used to do. I just got to a point where I have no patience for meetings so I don’t go to any meetings. I can’t make decisions anymore; I don’t like making decisions. We have a dozen producers. They can have the meetings and they can make the decisions, and I’ll just come down and somebody tell me what to do and we go.
Alec Baldwin: But if was different before.
David Letterman: Yeah, I used to be involved in everything big and large. I don’t think that was necessarily good, but at the time I thought it was what was required. When you had your own show, you had to have everything in your view and certainly influence each little choice.
Alec Baldwin: The guests that are on the show, do you still help select the guests, or someone else takes –
David Letterman: Yeah, we have people who select them. Occasionally I will think of, 'Oh, I heard about somebody that did so-and-so. Could we look into that,' and this and that. Very little. Very little.
Alec Baldwin: Other people do that.
David Letterman: We’ve had the good luck of these people having been together for a long, long, long, long time. They all know what the expectation is. Of course, when you’re in that situation, the bad version of it is, 'Oh, God, it’s the same thing. It’s the assembly line. We’re just building the same car over and over and over again.'
Alec Baldwin: Do you feel that way sometimes?
David Letterman: Sometimes. I’m the biggest offender of that. I’m 65; I don’t have the energy I had when I was 35. There are certain things I like about the show now that I like more than before.
Alec Baldwin: Such as...
David Letterman: I like talking to people and the opportunity to learn something; or if I have a natural curiosity about somebody, I really look forward to that. Or if I have something that I know is gonna be silly and stupid and I want my authorship out there on this something silly and stupid, then I get eager about that. But in the old days, we just were going 20 hours a day. We’d be out on the streets, we’d be going to New Jersey, we’d be up all night shooting, and there would be contests. I can’t do that show anymore.
Alec Baldwin: The more successful the show has become and the more successful you have become, do you find that in terms of programming the show, you have to rely more on stars? Is there a kind of person—
David Letterman: Yeah, it’s completely different. In the beginning when we started the "Late Night" show at NBC, we had a liaison between Johnny Carson and ourselves named Dave Tebott. He had worked at NBC and then had become close with Johnny, and so Johnny hired him. He was a guy who honest-to-God talked like this. Dave came in to make sure there were no conflicts between our show and "The Tonight Show." Dave came in and

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