Support NeoGAF

[Dalek]

David Letterman's Unlikely Archivist

This article is a few months old but I found it pretty interesting. I was searching to see if there was an online archive of the shows of David Letterman. Letterman's humor appeals to my sensibilities like no other comedy-and I miss it. I would pay for an online service that would let me access any episode of his show from a particular date. But sadly, not a service does not exist. But this guy has been recording the show from the begining and has a youtube channel.

David Letterman is one of the greatest entertainers in the history of television, but his legacy is more fragile than you may think.

That's because the late night talk show is an ephemeral form, its hosts forgotten faster than teen idols. Onetime superstars like Steve Allen and Jack Paar have faded into obscurity, primarily because it's difficult to see their shows, and much of Johnny Carson's oeuvre was erased. Mr. Letterman's work is not so hard to find, thanks in large part to Don Giller, a superfan who stumbled into becoming a critical custodian of Mr. Letterman's comedy.

Of the 6,028 late night shows that Mr. Letterman hosted, on NBC and CBS, Mr. Giller, 66, has videos of all but two. His YouTube page has been viewed more than 4.5 million times, and he has become an invaluable resource for journalists on the late night beat. (I couldn't have written my new biography, ”Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night," without Mr. Giller's help.) Even staff members from ”The Late Show" have asked him for assistance.

Mr. Giller, who works as a music typesetter for academic journals, has embraced his role as unofficial archivist, but only recently. For decades, he just really liked the show and found that it rewarded his natural obsessiveness.

But his main focus became ”Late Night With David Letterman," the 12:30 a.m. show that ran on NBC from 1982 to 1993. Mr. Giller recorded it on audio right from its first episode after having enjoyed Mr. Letterman's short-lived morning show. He later bought a VCR and filled in the holes in his collection through trades with other fans. From the beginning, Mr. Giller took scrupulous notes that formed a Letterman database, with accounts of segments, Top 10 lists, even jokes.

Why record everything? ”That's what I do," he said. ”I always liked making lists and trying to get a handle on something that interests me."

His compulsion became useful to a larger audience in the 1990s, when Mr. Giller joined early internet message boards dedicated to Mr. Letterman. His exhaustive knowledge marked him as an authority, even among superfans.

”It started when someone asked who played Flunky the Clown," Mr. Giller said, referring to a cigarette-smoking clown who made cameos on ”Late Night." ”I said: Jeff Martin. People were like: ‘Who's this guy?'"

He became known as the Donz and found friendship in an AOL community made up of what he jokingly described as ”like-minded psychotics who are as interested in this guy as I am." When trolls infiltrated, fans migrated to a private Facebook page, which remains active.

People working at ”The Late Show," which debuted on CBS in 1993, noticed Mr. Giller on message boards and contacted him in 1995. They wanted his help tracking down old Academy Awards broadcasts, to aid Mr. Letterman as he prepared to host the show.

Mr. Giller said he is not at a loss now that Mr. Letterman is off the air. He is still fielding requests from fans, and hopes to be done digitizing all of ”Late Night" by 2018. Pointing at his wall of tapes, he said, ”This thing has now become 24/7."

Now to peruse his channel and find classic gems from Letterman's career.

 

[Shiv47]

Awesome that he's preserving all those shows. I had stumbled across his channel a while back after reading the recent Letterman biography, but hadn't heard of this guy. I spent way too many late nights during high school in the mid-late 80s watching Late Night.

 

[The Real Abed]

Yeah, there really should be a streaming service (Or better, dedicated official YouTube channel) specifically for late night talk shows. Even if it has like a year old or more limit before the episodes are available. Or is just stuff made before all of them got their own YouTube channels or sites for streaming. There's just so much classic stuff out there.

I'd spend a whole day watching stuff with Rupert Jee's hidden camera pranks.

 

[Dalek]

Awesome that he's preserving all those shows. I had stumbled across his channel a while back after reading the recent Letterman biography, but hadn't heard of this guy. I spent way too many late nights during high school in the mid-late 80s watching Late Night.

in the early 90's I was in school and my parents wouldn't let me stay up late to watch him. So I would set my VCR to record it and I'd wake up an hour early to watch it before school.

How was his biography?

Yeah, there really should be a streaming service (Or better, dedicated official YouTube channel) specifically for late night talk shows. Even if it has like a year old or more limit before the episodes are available. Or is just stuff made before all of them got their own YouTube channels or sites for streaming. There's just so much classic stuff out there.

I'd spend a whole day watching stuff with Rupert Jee's hidden camera pranks.

The exact thing I was searching for that led me to this article. The stuff of comedy legend.

 

[mreddie]

Carson's got reruns of his work but most of it is gone because no one knew how to record that work, that's why Doctor Who's first season or two is MIA.

So it's amazing how much one fan can help bridge the gap and bring the past to the present.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Now I'm imagining a group of weary survivors finding sanctuary within his archive during a nuclear holocaust, and slowly going insane when they have nothing else to entertain them but twenty million hours of David Letterman.

 

[djlr181]

I visit his YouTube channel a lot. I'm also a big Letterman fan and it's fun watching old Late Night clips. Strongly recommend anyone who enjoy Letterman to check out the channel. If Worldwide Pants ever starts monetizing old Letterman stuff they should probably just let him run the YouTube channel.

 

[Dalek]

Now I'm imagining a group of weary survivors finding sanctuary within his archive during a nuclear holocaust, and slowly going insane when they have nothing else to entertain them but twenty million hours of David Letterman.

 

[mreddie]

Now I'm imagining a group of weary survivors finding sanctuary within his archive during a nuclear holocaust, and slowly going insane when they have nothing else to entertain them but twenty million hours of David Letterman.

The future is Top 10 Lists and Stupid Human Tricks.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Literally what I was thinking of, haha.

 

[djlr181]

Carson's got reruns of his work but most of it is gone because no one knew how to record that work, that's why Doctor Who's first season or two is MIA.

So it's amazing how much one fan can help bridge the gap and bring the past to the present.

It's only the first 10 years of Carson that's gone (which is still a lot of lost television). I believe most episodes from his time in LA (starting in 72) are archived.

 

[crimzonflame]

These should be in a museum.

This guy should write David Letterman's autobiography.

 

[Plinko]

I read an article a while back that Letterman is still deciding how to deal with Worldwide Pants' collection of shows.

I'd love a service online or even what they do with Carson now--just rerun the show in syndication. I miss Letterman so, so much.

 

[The Real Abed]

The exact thing I was searching for that led me to this article. The stuff of comedy legend.

Dave and Rupert's relationship has always fascinated me. Like he just owns a deli around the corner. Did Dave do a remote once when he started and just walk down to see who his new neighbors were and just decided to make him his best friend? Dressing him up and giving him a earpiece so he could feed him lines is classic stuff.

Also, I loved his intern Stephanie Birkitt. And yes I know it eventually came out that they were having an affair. But that didn't even phase him. And she's still my favorite. She was wonderful whenever he had her in his sketches.

And don't forget dropping things off the top of the building JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT.


Also Conan had a LOT of good shit on his shows. Like when he went to that airport to see if anyone had ever heard of his stupid little late night show. Or the week on the cruise ship which predates all of his other trips. Or the episode where they filled the audience with children and had the most BORING guest on to entertain them. Conan could get away with anything in his time slot at the time. Shame he lost the rights to a lot of his unique sketch ideas when he was ousted from NBC. Though his TBS show did have the "Fuck" award for a while where if a celebrity said fuck unbleeped unexpectedly they had an awards show for it since he was on Cable now and could do anything.

 

[Geist-]

*Drops the VCR*

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was—was all the time I needed…! It's not fair! It's not fair!"

 

[Dalek]

Dave and Rupert's relationship has always fascinated me. Like he just owns a deli around the corner. Did Dave do a remote once when he started and just walk down to see who his new neighbors were and just decided to make him his best friend? Dressing him up and giving him a earpiece so he could feed him lines is classic stuff.

Also, I loved his intern Stephanie Birkitt. And yes I know it eventually came out that they were having an affair. But that didn't even phase him. And she's still my favorite. She was wonderful whenever he had her in his sketches.

And don't forget dropping things off the top of the building JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT.


Also Conan had a LOT of good shit on his shows. Like when he went to that airport to see if anyone had ever heard of his stupid little late night show. Or the week on the cruise ship which predates all of his other trips. Or the episode where they filled the audience with children and had the most BORING guest on to entertain them. Conan could get away with anything in his time slot at the time. Shame he lost the rights to a lot of his unique sketch ideas when he was ousted from NBC. Though his TBS show did have the "Fuck" award for a while where if a celebrity said fuck unbleeped unexpectedly they had an awards show for it since he was on Cable now and could do anything.

As much as I enjoy the interviews-my favorite parts of the show were these-just goofing off and being silly. The camera hanging for a few seconds longer on an empty stage-just to drive home a joke. The meatball on top of the Christmas tree. All that stuff is gold.

Conan is the only real successor to that brand of humor in my opinion.

 

[Plinko]

Dave and Rupert's relationship has always fascinated me. Like he just owns a deli around the corner. Did Dave do a remote once when he started and just walk down to see who his new neighbors were and just decided to make him his best friend? Dressing him up and giving him a earpiece so he could feed him lines is classic stuff.

Also, I loved his intern Stephanie Birkitt. And yes I know it eventually came out that they were having an affair. But that didn't even phase him. And she's still my favorite. She was wonderful whenever he had her in his sketches.

And don't forget dropping things off the top of the building JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT.

I love all things Letterman, but the whole Stephanie thing was awful. For multiple shows each week he'd just call her and talk to her for like 10 minutes before the guest came out. It was ridiculous, and even my brother and I (who were middle school age at the time) knew something was happening between them.

 

[Aikidoka]

This is pretty cool. I really liked his bits with Jack Hanna, and I haven't really seen ones from over a decade ago.

 

[Shiv47]

in the early 90's I was in school and my parents wouldn't let me stay up late to watch him. So I would set my VCR to record it and I'd wake up an hour early to watch it before school.

How was his biography?

It's enjoyable, it was done with Letterman's cooperation, but it certainly doesn't hesitate to point out his flaws and mistakes. It's amazing, the level of self-doubt and loathing he had for his own work, despite the success. The reason I discovered that guy's YouTube channel was to find a clip described in the book.

Late Night was big enough with my high school class that somebody actually organized a "Hal Gurnee Day" (Letterman's longtime director, for the uninitiated) where a bunch of us dressed like Gurnee (the blue shirt, tan chinos, loafers). We took a picture, sent it to Late Night, and got on the air.

 

[ComputerBlue]

I've always wished there was a channel that played reruns of old late night episodes, mostly for old Letterman episodes, but not only, Carson, Conan etc as well.

Apparently Mark Hamill has a huge collection of taped Letterman episodes as well.

 

[jett]

What a funny coincidence, I was just watching some old David Letterman clips on youtube.

Def my favorite late night host.

 

[Dalek]

It's enjoyable, it was done with Letterman's cooperation, but it certainly doesn't hesitate to point out his flaws and mistakes. It's amazing, the level of self-doubt and loathing he had for his own work, despite the success. The reason I discovered that guy's YouTube channel was to find a clip described in the book.

Late Night was big enough with my high school class that somebody actually organized a "Hal Gurnee Day" (Letterman's longtime director, for the uninitiated) where a bunch of us dressed like Gurnee (the blue shirt, tan chinos, loafers). We took a picture, sent it to Late Night, and got on the air.

I'm listening to Howard Stern interview Dave right now.. It's fascinating for me to hear Dave on the other side of the interview, but yeah he definitely has that self-loathing aspect which a lot of comedians do. He says that he needed to do his show in front of an audience because if he went home at night he wouldn't feel good unless he made the audience laugh.

And that clip of your school is AWESOME.

 

[AlteredBeast]

Huge Letterman fan my whole life and for my buddy's bachelor party, we flew out to the Late Show.

We were on an episode i think in July of 2008 that had John C Reilly, some author, and Grizzly Bear.

Incredible show! Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear made me an instant fan.

Every time you hear an applause and hooping and hollering, my friends and I hold the applause a little longer than the rest of the audience so we could be heard, lol.

 

[Socreges]

*Drops the VCR*

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was—was all the time I needed…! It's not fair! It's not fair!"

A ha, the Simpsons referenced this! I never knew the source. Gotta watch that episode.

 

[tanooki27]

the dude has everything, and it's amazing he's putting it all up on the tube. it's how I discovered the NBC show and it totally rearranged my perception of letterman

 

[SpaceWolf]

A ha, the Simpsons referenced this! I never knew the source. Gotta watch that episode.

Futurama too!

 

[Machine]

the dude has everything, and it's amazing he's putting it all up on the tube. it's how I discovered the NBC show and it totally rearranged my perception of letterman

NBC-era Letterman was the best. It always felt like they sanitized the show when he moved to CBS (maybe because of the earlier time slot).

 

[Socreges]

NBC-era Letterman was the best. It always felt like they sanitized the show when he moved to CBS (maybe because of the earlier time slot).

Absolutely. More producers involved, more money, greater consequences of failure, the need to reach a broader audience, etc.

 

[Dalek]

Huge Letterman fan my whole life and for my buddy's bachelor party, we flew out to the Late Show.

We were on an episode i think in July of 2008 that had John C Reilly, some author, and Grizzly Bear.

Incredible show! Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear made me an instant fan.

Every time you hear an applause and hooping and hollering, my friends and I hold the applause a little longer than the rest of the audience so we could be heard, lol.

I got to attend one taping in the 90's that had Jack Hanna and Dave Matthew Band.

 

[Keasar]

Kinda wish more studios and channels would themselves handle this stuff and put them on some sort of easy-to-access website. There is a ton of material I wish I had access to that is just impossible to get (all episodes of The Daily Show) that I'd be happy to even pay for.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I love that the name of his YT channel is just "Don Giller". Like, c'mon dude, you're sitting on a treasure trove of Letterman history, and the name of the channel is "Don Giller"?