Adios, Dave

David Letterman quitting Late Night and NBC in 1993 and moving his show to CBS was a risky thing. Starting at 10:30 (central time) he would be going up against the Tonight Show, the show that had ruled that time slot for almost 40 years. The Tonight Show was a comfy habit for people winding down before bed. Set in California, it also had easier access to celebrities than Letterman's Late Night show set in New York. Realizing the show's energy was more productive in New York, Letterman chose to operate the CBS show from that city.

To their credit, CBS took a chance also by giving him a lot of leeway. They even remodeled the theater for the show.

There'd be no more Late Night frat boy antics (well, at least not as many). Letterman was a decade older and he knew some of that wasn't going to fly in the earlier time slot.

The Late Show was going to be produced from the old Ed Sullivan Theater. Ed Sullivan had been a staple of TV variety shows from 1948-1971. Letterman was one of the 73 million people glued to the set the night the Beatles made their historic first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Many years later, Letterman would be able to watch one of the Beatles perform lie on the marquis of the Ed Sullivan Theater as Paul McCartney and his band gave a free mini concert to the people crowding the streets around the theater.

Letterman always featured some of the best most interesting music out there, but his proximity to Broadway enabled him to feature numbers from Broadway musicals, something frequently done on the Ed Sullivan show.

Letterman took less and less field trips as his time at CBS progressed and admittedly, I missed that a little. He was playing with a bigger toy now though, and the reality was he was much better known. The antics he pulled off during the Late Night years probably would be more difficult considering his notoriety. He didn't lose that love of stunts however, and the ability to cordon off Broadway to pull off an outside production helped immensely. In some respects, the frat boy matured just as did the party he was throwing. Broadway was great for Dave, and for the next 22 years, that street outside would be host to a number of fun and fabulous spectacles.

The Late Show was glitzier than its predecessor. The theater larger, the set more impressive. The World's Most Dangerous Band became the Late Show Orchestra with horns. And Letterman emerged triumphantly from the nastiness of the Tonight Show scandal hosting not a retread of a show that had been on since the mid-50s, but rather, hosting his very own show. A template created by him and his staff on a larger scale than the previous one. 



Those who thought he would fail without the strong lead-in that the Tonight Show provided were proven wrong. As were those who thought the show would tank competing against the Tonight Show. In fact, for the first two years, The Late Show dominated the Tonight Show in the ratings. While this didn't last, the ratings were never low enough to threaten the show's continuation on CBS.

In fact, Letterman would be on air long after both of his rival's Leno's retirements from the Tonight Show. Indeed, Jay Leno had signed a contract in 2004 that he would step down from the Tonight Show in 2009 handing the reins over to Conan O'Brien. A chronic workaholic, Jay couldn't stay away long and arranged with NBC to start The Jay Leno Show, which seemed like a truncated version of the Tonight Show. Shown before the nightly news, it served as a poor lead-in to the Tonight Show and O'Brien's ratings began to dip. Skiddish, NBC called Jay Leno back to take over the show again, and he was only too happy to oblige. Thus started the second Tonight Show scandal. 

Confident in his own standing now, Letterman watched from the sidelines, commenting on the whole affair as only someone who'd experience similar could. He knew the players and understood the dynamics.

 




When the smoke cleared, Leno lasted another four years at the Tonight Show before finally handing it over, for real this time, to Jimmy Fallon. 

So Letterman lasted longer than his idol, Johnny Carson, and longer than his one-time friend/one-time rival Jay Leno. But now it's time to say goodbye. Letterman is 68 years old. A year older than his idol Carson was when he retired. Perhaps, like Carson, he wants to go before the welcome wears out.

In some respects, like his idol, people began to question whether or not he had lost his edge. He was the irreverent wise-ass we knew starting out. 

I don't completely agree with this. I don't think he lost his edge as much as the perspective shifted. He could still goof around with his own exuberance, still slam some points home when he wanted to but he had decades of life experience to reshape his attitude. He grew up.

But then, I grew up too, so maybe my perspective has changed also. Maybe that's one more reason I'm going to miss him. 

They're Not Booing. They're Chanting, "Dave! Dave! Dave!"

David Letterman has but a few shows left before he ends an illustrious career as a TV talk show host. I'm finding these last shows particularly bitter-sweet especially when he has on guests that have appeared on the show for decades.

Decades. It's hard to believe but since 1982, he's been sitting behind a desk interviewing people. And he is to many of those guests what Johnny Carson, host of the Tonight Show decades, was to him: An idol. No matter how many shows were out there and there were and are a ton, his was the show to be on. 

I was born in 1964. I grew up with the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and enjoyed it enough. But the Carson I grew up with had by the 70s and 80s become a bit played out. I began looking forward to the guest hosts.

One of those guest hosts was David Letterman. Letterman made his debut on the Tonight Show in 1978. Carson and Letterman would begin a close friendship that would last until Carson's death in 2005. 




The two had a lot in common. A Midwestern upbringing, a particular shyness off camera as well as a need to guard their personal lives. A quick, acerbic wit that belied their nice-guy looks. Letterman grew up idolizing Carson so you can just imagine his joy that first night on the Tonight Show when Carson called him over to the couch after Letterman was done with his stand up routine. If Carson called them over after a set, most comics knew their career was on the rise. 

Eventually, with NBC looking to fill the time slot after the Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman was born. The David Letterman Show was a morning show that he had in 1980 but it failed to garner an audience. Letterman's edgy, quirky brand of humor didn't work in the mornings.

At night though...nighttime was the perfect time for the odd, free-style sort of humor that he and his staff excelled at. It was the perfect time. When Mom and Dad went to bed after the Tonight Show, the kids stayed up to watch Late Night.

Late Night was technically a talk show but it was really less about the guest and more about the latest stunts Letterman and his staff would dream up for the show. Monkey-cam, dropping things from tall buildings, Stupid Pet Tricks, Stupid Human Tricks, Chris Elliot's many incarnations on the show, the Top Ten List. People were tuning in more for these things than for the celebrities. The set was minimal, there was no "orchestra" but rather a four man ensemble known as The World's Most Dangerous Band led by Paul Shaffer. 



Shaffer had been a member of the house band for Saturday Night Live from 1975-80 and along with a clever talent for music, he was a perfect comedic compliment for Letterman.

The show debuted in 1982, the year I graduated high school. I was already a bit smitten with this tall, gangly, gap-toothed guy but my crush only deepened with a nightly fix. I wrote many letters to the show hoping they'd be read during the "Viewer Mail" segment. They never were, possibly because they were usually about two pages long and written in an attempt to impress the staff with my own comedy skills. I used to dream of becoming a writer on Late Night.

That never came to pass either.



I have VHS tapes filled with what I considered some of the show's best bits. Usually it involved some sort of field trip away from the studio for Dave or Dave and Paul. I think this is where Letterman truly shined. He was at his best in situations where he dealt with the average person on the street making off the cuff, wise-ass, often absurdist comments that could be funnier than the written material (and sometimes the bit was funnier when the written material fell completely flat and he was left floundering).



There was an accessibility you got with Late Night that you didn't get with its more glitzier relative The Tonight Show. You got the feeling, unlikely as it was, that you might bump into Dave on the street. Carson seemed like he palled around with the big celebrities he interviewed (I don't think he did), while Letterman seemed intimidated by them. He was one of the guys. Carson might feature interviews with average folk like the "potato chip lady" (she collected potato chips that looked like people) from behind his desk, Letterman went out into the world to track down the characters. 



Initially, as an interviewer, he seemed a bit awkward interviewing big name guests. He'd hone his skills over time but the audience found a particular pleasure in watching Dave squirm during an awkward interview. Especially when they knew that at some point during the interview, Dave would drop the pretense and take back his territory with a well-timed and often well-deserved slam. Still, those awkward moments, where he seemed to be floundering, could be golden. 



Most times, Letterman was prepared for the unusual in a guest and gladly had them on. Avant garde comedians, surly artists, obscure actors; these were people you didn't see a lot on other shows but he was willing to take a chance on them and their careers benefited from this support.




This simply wasn't being done on other shows.

The Late Show also featured new and often times unknown musicians. A variety of genres as well. One musician that didn't get a lot of play here was Elvis Costello who would end up appearing on Letterman's shows 27 times over the years including a stint as a guest host when Letterman was recuperating from open heart surgery.



Letterman started out as a stand up so it's not unusual that he would be willing to feature stand up comedians, just like his idol, Johnny Carson did on the Tonight Show. And like his idol, often Letterman could often help spur a comedian's career to greater heights. A lot of these comedians were people he played the clubs with when he was starting out. One such comedian was Jay Leno. The battle for the Tonight Show is legendary but it's interesting to note that Jay may not have been given the chance to host the Tonight Show had he not been featured so often on The Late Show and become such a household name. The Leno on the Late Show was edgy, cocky, with an act that he would eventually be watered down when he hosted the Tonight Show. Dave had been in the clubs with Jay and the two seemed to have a great rapport when he came on as a guest on the show.



When Carson retired and the Tonight Show scandal blew, Dave's upset might not have been only due to NBC's passing him over for the host but also to Leno's accepting the job knowing how dear it was to Dave's heart.

I think it worked out for the best. When Dave moved to CBS in 1993, the earlier time slot led him to lose a little of that more bizarre edge that Late Night had, but he retained a level of unpredictability so beloved by the audience that followed him to CBS. It was just on a grander scale.

Ultimately he got the last laugh.

To Touch the Sun Book Trailer

Well, just popping in for today. It took me a bit, but I finally got around to having a book trailer made for To Touch the Sun. 



I think it turned out pretty cool! It's perched nicely on my YouTube channel which I hope to start populating soon with fun and interesting videos. I'll have to get to work on the trailer for the sequel, Ujaali, which is hopefully still due to be released in May or June. 

Happy Anniversary!

Balloons to celebrate

I've been having a bit of a party on my Facebook page today. It was a bit of a special occasion. One year ago today, To Touch the Sun my vampire novel set in Chicago was published by Dagda Publishing (available on Amazon). In honor of that, Dagda is holding an ebook sale that started midnight Feb. 25 and will run through midnight Feb. 27. For .99 (cents or pence) you can order your very own ebook copy of To Touch The Sun. 

I have to admit there were times when I wasn't sure this was going to happen. As I've stated before, my writing a vampire novel was a calculated thing. I was hoping to interest an agent I was in pleasant communication with whose agency featured a vampire series. I enjoyed reading vampire novels, watching vampire movies, but I  myself never had the urge to write one. I never had a character or story I wanted to present. Since I like to try new things though this gave me the perfect chance to try my hand at a vampire novel.

Unlike past novels I've written where I had the story and characters in my head before putting pen to paper, I went into this project cold. The only thing I had to build on was "vampire chef." Slowly, as time went on, the story grew, evolving as did the characters until at last I knew where I wanted to take the story. 

Love how it looks on a library shelf.

And thus you have To Touch the Sun. You can find more posts on the process and other information regarding the novels in the series blog The Sentient/Feral Vampire Series. I'd never written like that before and it was probably the most enjoyable writing I've ever done. Not only that, by the end of what I thought would be a one off novel, I realized that I had another story to tell. That's why the epilogue isn't so much an ending as it is a jumping off point for the next novel in the series (Ujaali, due out in a few months). 

That's right: I started with two words and I now have four novels (written while hunting for a publisher for the first one) and a spin off novel featuring two paranormal investigators that appear in the third novel. (The agent, however, did not stick around. But that's a whole other story).

The cover makes a good poster too.

I think that's why this novel is so special to me (even though I've written others). It came out of nowhere and really captured my heart. That's why it was so important for me to get it published too. And why I was so thrilled when I finally found a publisher. And why February 25 will always be a special day to me.

So come celebrate with me. I'll probably be enjoying the glow for a few more days. Visit Amazon and get your own copy of To Touch the Sun. I hope people get as much enjoyment from reading it as I had from writing it.

A Giggling Idiot

I truly am a giggling idiot. I make that claim in my bio ("giggling idiot for the ages and I encourage everyone to follow suit"). I put it in there for fun but I truly am a giggling idiot.

It happens a lot when I'm nervous. In fact, sometimes the funnier I am the more uncomfortable I find a situation. It's that way with my singing as well. Curiously, I've been known to break into full arias depending on my mood, but the mood that brings it on can range from sunny to dark. Boredom too eggs me on. I was already midway through an Elvis Costello song as I loaded my clothes into the laundromat dryer before I realized that what I was singing was fully audible to anyone nearby. Often, when someone hears me singing they comment, "Ooh, someone's in a good mood" and I counsel them not to necessarily bank on my singing to gauge my mood.

So to this I add giggle fits or laughter. Or the five minute set of inappropriate jokes I can reel off at any given time. At my brother's wake I was like a stand up comedian. 

I'd like to say it's a genetic Irish thing. There's a fantastic saying: "Irish charm is the ability to tell someone to go to hell and have them look forward to the trip." Still, I can't help but wonder if in my core, it's more nurture than nature. I was raised by two incredibly funny and quick parents. Unfortunately many of their cleverest lines were used to lacerate each other or those in the line of fire (i.e.: their kids). Consequently, the kids learned at the dinner table a way to diffuse the situation by using a witty comment at the expense of the other siblings and feeling, at least for a few moments, somehow more than zero.

And of course sometimes it was all for fun. But if I've been accused of quick witticism, I can blame that on those years when the family tried their best to sit together at a table and...well eat like a family (as opposed to apes throwing verbal crap at each other which is usually the direction those failed-Norman Rockwell dinners took).

Because of this I can see humor in the darkest of moments. It's a coping mechanism that, if I were writing comedies, would come in extremely handy  but can none the less throw people off at times.

Still, I suppose it could be worse. What's the fallout, really? I avoid discomfort, a situation can be diffused and maybe it puts a smile on the face of someone who desperately needs a smile. 

So yes, I may be a giggling idiot, but it is my superpower and I wear it proudly! (even if not always conveniently)

Remakes and Misogyny

I'll admit, I never warmed to the idea of a remake, reboot, whatever of the film "Ghostbusters." I think they kind of nailed it 30 years ago. And I understand that everyone has a movie here and there for which a remake sounds sacrilegious. Some people eschew remakes altogether believing that the original movies can never be topped. 

I understand that, though I believe that sometimes the originals can be topped. And if not topped, the remakes can at least provide a quality all on their own. Ever since I was a child and saw the 1949 version of "Mighty Joe Young" on the 3:30 movie after school I've been a fan of that film. When I heard Disney planned to remake it, I doubted it would work. When I saw the 1998 remake, I loved it. 



There are many movies remakes that I've enjoyed. And some that I've absolutely hated.

To me it all depends.

But "Ghostbusters"...I don't know maybe it's because it's one of my favorite films of all times. But I think there are other forces at work here. As I explain in my post on the film's 30th anniversary, the film was a perfect storm of creativity yet, at the time, it seem to come out of nowhere. Along with the comedy it had elements of science fiction, paranormal, horror and even romance that could have been an absolute mess if it hadn't been so perfectly blended. I don't think, in terms of "Ghostbusters", that blend can be successfully reproduced. Even the original creators had a difficulty recapturing that energy. I enjoyed "Ghostbusters II" enough, but it was obviously lacking in something. 

The boys take Lady Liberty out for a spin in "Ghostbusters II"

Who knows, maybe the first movie's success lay in the audacity of the attempt to mix these elements together to begin with when no one was quite sure how it would be received. 

Whatever it was, "Ghostbusters" was a movie simple in its premise (three guys bite off more than they bargained for); technical in its detail (thanks in large part to Dan Akroyd's sincere interest in the paranormal upon which he unabashedly relied), with an epic, world-saving battle at the end that they still managed to throw some memorable humor into. All this glued together with perfect timing. 

In short, when making this movie: They came, they saw, they kicked ass!

I do not think that can happen again. For example, this, from the Daily Beast, is the plot idea being tossed around for the "Ghostbusters" remake: 

"Feig said that this reboot would unequivocally not be a sequel, and that the humans wouldn’t be afraid of ghosts at the start of the film because they haven’t encountered them yet. He also said the villain would be a convicted murderer—hopefully played by Peter Dinklage—who turns into a ghost during a botched execution. (Morbid! Love it!) This apparently will give Dinklage’s character the power to raise an army of ghost villains, which could be famous people throughout history. 

"Feig’s idea is also that the Ghostbusters work for the government, but in a tortured relationship kind of way: their organization keeps being disavowed because it would be ludicrous for the government to endorse ghostbusters. He wants Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong to play their bureaucratic nemesis, who, according to Vulture, is 'always saying terrible things about them in press conferences and then apologizing to them behind the scenes.'"

Oh please, let the hilarity begin. 

No, seriously, let the hilarity begin cause I can't really see it in that convoluted mess. Of course, I know, the plot will change as production goes on. Details added and subtracted. But if this is the bedrock upon which this movie is to be built, it does not bode well.

Let's consider the casting. A big to-do was made about casting an all-female cast for a "Ghostbusters" remake (which, in itself, becomes a bit of a schtick and if you aren't happy with the casting you run the risk of being accused of misogyny). So it's been decided that the four Ghostbusters will be Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Whig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. People are creaming themselves over the cast. Lindy West (in her blog piece on the misogyny of not liking an all-female cast) refers to the choices as:
"...a stunning ensemble cast of some of 2015's most hilarious and sought-after comedians."

And:

"That is the most indomitable fucking comic dream team of all time."

Which isn't at all how I'd define that cast. In fact, since we're only one month into 2015, perhaps we can give it a few more months and track down some other names for this project. Melissa McCarthy can be funny when she's not Tammy-fying up everything. Kristen Whig generally leaves me cold. And the other two SNL alumni, McKinnon and Jones, while eliciting a chuckle from me every so often, do little else on a show that grows increasingly unfunny every year. I would hardly call this a fucking comic dream team. Comic nightmare maybe.

Despite its outrageous subject, the original "Ghostbusters" relied upon a great deal of subtly to make its humor work.



I'm seeing anything but subtle with this remake.

West seems elated though, and has apparently decided that guys not entirely on board with the idea are driven by misogyny. Of course there are guys who are upset by this because it's an all-female cast. But there might actually be some guys out there who just aren't overly happy with who was cast, (though I'm sure that's hard for West to grasp since this is apparently her fucking comic dream team).

As for myself, well I'm a woman who has long called for roles in which females kick some ass, physically, mentally and comically. There's a reason that "Xena: Warrior Princess" remains one of my favorite shows. (And by the way, when they decided to make a strong female character, the producers didn't just recast Hercules as a woman. They created a whole new strong female character) 

But don't pretend that the casting of an all-female Ghostbusters brigade was anything less than calculated on the part of the producers. They've been pumping up interest in the project by tossing around the possibility for well over a year. They're not doing it to address gender imbalances in the movies. They're doing it cause they sense a trendy tidbit they can milk. It's as much a gimmick as deciding to redo "Ghostbusters" is to begin with. To me, hailing an all-female cast is not that different than bemoaning an all-female cast (both are making a big deal of something that shouldn't at this point, be such a big deal). 

In her piece, West states: "I can't even tell you what it would have meant to me, as a child, to watch a movie about four hilarious female scientists. I'm thrilled that my kids will get to grow up in a world where people actively work to rectify gender imbalances..."

I agree. So here's a challenge to her and all creative minds out there: Rather than piggy-back onto the concept (and success) of an old movie, create an original idea about four hilarious female scientists. Rather than trying to rewrite the past, why not take charge of the future? Rather than chiding people for not wanting a movie they enjoyed to be redone, why not slam the studio redoing it for not taking that supposed "fucking comic dream team" and creating a whole new movie for them?

Then maybe you'd really have my attention.

In the meantime, I guess we'll see what we'll see with this project. I can say this: Thirty years later, people still quote lines from the original "Ghostbusters." I can't imagine that happening with this remake.

Because thirty years ago...

Blogradio Appearance

I'm pretty excited because later on today (Friday, Dec. 19, 2:38 a.m. is when I type this) I'll be doing an hour long interview on the Speculative Fiction Cantina. We'll be discussing To Touch the Sun, among other things. They also asked me to do a 5-8 minute reading from the book and choosing a passage that fits in that time has been difficult but it's been fun practicing with the possible choices. 

There are a number of accents in my book: Heavy Chicago, light Chicago, Indian, British, I've always enjoyed playing with accents so playing with these (not to mention trying to pin down the male voices without it being too obvious that that I'm "husking" my voice) has been interesting.

I'll say this, I've often wondered why most authors don't read versions of their own audio books. You would think it would be perfect since they know the rhythm of the words they put down on paper. 

It can be quite a challenge, however, as I discovered when I read the prologue of TTTS so that the publisher can put something on Facebook the day it was released. It was me, in my living room with a headset and a computer, trying to accomplish the task in a hurry and luckily it was mostly prose so that I didn't have to go in and out of too many accents. Even still, I found myself having to pause frequently to attend to sinal issues, or because I had a tickle in my throat, or Oliver T. Kitty decided I was spending far too much time with that and not nearly enough praising him so he tried to steal my focus with a whiny meow. Or, and this is a huge problem, you tend to assume what the next words will be only discover you're off by a word or a tense. 





Now I know that most audio book readers are locked up in a quality studio with technicians to help them. Still, it has to be a daunting task.

If you want to hear a reader successfully attack a variety of accents in a book, listen to John Lee's exceptional reading of Ken Follett's "Century Trilogy." I have gotten through the first and half of the second book (hoping to finish it soon) and was blown away. I was made fully aware of his talent after listening to the audio versions of Follett's Pillar's of the Earth and subsequent books in that series. It was like listening to a radio play. But in the Century Trilogy, Lee is taking on a variety of British accents, a variety of American accents, German, Russian, male and female...and he does it all seemingly effortlessly. It's astounding. 

Of course the audio versions of the Harry Potter books are classics unto themselves thanks to the voice talents of Jim Dale. He doesn't have the vast amount of different ethnic accents, but he does have the male/female, adult/child accents to perform. I had a friend who made a ritual of reading the Harry Potter book and then made a ritual of listening to it on CD.

I really enjoyed Ron Perlman's reading of The Strain, the first novel in a vampire trilogy by Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan. His was a measured reading, but it was perfect for the subject and added to the tension.

Recently (well, several months ago--unfortunately, with my schedule, that's recent for fiction) I finished the audio book of The Martian by Andy Weir. It was a surprisingly engrossing book (I say surprisingly because it's very subject should have left my eyes glazed over from minutia). The performance by R.C. Bray only helped to pull me into the story. 

Frequently I find myself listening to books on audio because my schedule leaves me little time to read. Popping a CD into the player driving from one thing to another is a lot easier. And if you have a great reader, it can be a fantastic experience.

If you would like to hear me take a stab at a live reading, tune into the Cantina tomorrow. And feel free to call in with any questions. I'll be on at 5 p.m. Central time. Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writestream/2014/12/19/the-speculative-fiction-cantina-with-anthony-metivier-and-laura-enright