The Late Show Is Back!
May 20, 2015. A night of infamy. It was the night David Letterman retired.
My late night television viewing habit would never be the same. It would never be as good. Would it?
I was with Dave from the beginning. 1982. Opening night. Bill Murray. 33 years. THIRTY-THREE YEARS!!!!!
Okay...so Dave is done after three decades...good for him...but what about me?
I figured I'm good watching Dave reruns for the summer. I hit CBS on May 21st at 10:30 and what do I get....The Mentalist!! Are you fucking kidding me?
Hmmm...so what are my other choices. People told me to check out the Jimmy's. It took awhile because I was still in mourning for Dave. I sat Shiva for about a month. But it became time to move on with my life. Dave would have wanted that.
Besides, I like the Jimmy's. I loved Kimmel in Win Ben Stein's Money and I'm good with Fallon, too. I liked him on SNL and even liked that dumb Red Sox baseball movie he did with Drew Barrymore.
I tried....I really tried and each show had it's good moments. I just couldn't make a commitment. I guess I wasn't done grieving for Dave. I wasn't done healing.
But I gave it one more try. A couple of weeks ago, I turned on The Tonight Show. What do I witness? Jimmy F. is sucking up to Justin Bieber. He's fawning all over Justin Bieber! No offense to any 10-16 year old girls reading this but Justin Fucking Bieber!! C'mon!!
That was the final straw. Back to late night reruns of Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. We're good with Ray Romano, right? Plus it's the hot Patty Heaton, not Patty of The Middle. It's temporarily all good.
But here comes Labor Day. Summer is over. It's time for Stephen Colbert.
We like Steve, right? He's funny. He's smart. We liked his Comedy Central show. He has a Chicago background. Northwestern. IO. Second City. It's all good, right? Everything is going to be okay, right? I can come in off the ledge, right?
That brings us to Tuesday night. September 8, 2015. 10:35 pm Central time. Ed Sullivan theater! New York City! The Late Show is back.
New studio. New band. New host. Change! But I hear change is good.
I liked the opening with The National Anthem. I liked the tribute to Biff Henderson...and Dave. I liked the high energy although the audience chanting his name over and over and over and over again was a little...errrr a lot too much.
It's time to bring out the guests. George Clooney. I'm okay with George but nothing groundbreaking there. The segment with Jeb Bush was pretty good. Pretty funny meeting Steve's brother and how he compared bro's with Jeb. I told you Colbert is pretty smart.
We're winding down opening night and it's time for some music. I hear Jon Batiste and his new band will have some special guests for opening night. This could be good.
The band is doing "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone. Good old tune. Here come the special guests walking in from the back of the set. OMG it's my guy Paul Janeway from St. Paul and The Broken Bones. Colbert is cool enough to know this guy? I thought I was the only one to know him.
Hey...who is that next to Paul...OMFG it's my girl Susan Tedeschi from the Tedeschi-Trucks Band. It can't get any better, can it?
Look at this...it's Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes!!! And here's Buddy Guy trading guitar licks with Derek Trucks!
It's a musical orgasm!! Is every night going to be like this? Dave?! Dave who?!
I know it's an opening night special event thing but man...musically it just doesn't get any better than that....and oh yeah I forgot to mention Mavis Staples. Phew.
Okay....we're done with two days. You can't make any real judgments or decisions after only two shows but so far, so good. It's funny. It's smart. It's political. It's musical. Tonight it's Steve with Joe Biden and Toby Keith. Maybe not Must See TV but I'll be watching.
I still miss Dave. It's like an ex whatever. Takes some time to get over him/her but eventually you do. Life goes on and you try to move forward with a new him/her. It's a little early but maybe Colbert is the new him/her.
Now if I can only get into the new Late Late Show. I still miss Craig Ferguson...oh Fergy!
Letterman was groundbreaking in having musicians on his shows. Here's a look at Dave and his music.
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