Letterman

You may know I have been a big Letterman fan since the mid-80's. Back in the day his humor was cutting edge and ground-breaking while somehow remaining simple and even quaint. Who else would drop TVs, pumpkins or superballs from a NYC building roof, or dress up in a velcro suit and launch himself onto a felt wall via trampoline, or invite animals to the show to fetch a beer from a mini-fridge? Over the years he's lost a good measure of his edge, especially when he moved from 12:30 to 11:30, but I still think he's the funniest and most intelligent comedy guy in late night TV.

But last week there was a fairly sordid admission from Dave about his sexual relationships with an unknown number of women on his staff. He related a story of how he was getting blackmailed by a guy who threatened to write a book and screenplay about "all the bad things" Dave had done unless he ponied up $2 million. Dave talked about how he got his lawyer involved who eventually got the police involved, and after a few meetings with the extortionist and writing him a phony check, the police arrested the guy last week. A few thoughts about this affair (no pun intended):

First, Dave was pretty smart to address this publicly before any news leaked out via the internet, Twitter, etc. A "controlled" leak is one that largely sets the agenda. Of course since the admission there has been some follow-up journalism, but that was inevitable. The fact that he told the story and admitted to the relationships at the outset essentially took the wind out of the story's gossip sails.

Second, it remains to be seen how the story will play out: Was this a simple illicit office romance or was it a power play where the women felt they needed to maintain a relationship in order to keep their jobs or become eligible for advancement? My instinct says it was the former and therefore a private matter. Dave is known to be somewhat curmudgeonly and acerbic, but he also seems to be a decent Midwestern guy who wouldn't take advantage of someone just because of his position. However one never knows what kind of things will come to light over the next days and weeks.

Finally, I must say I was a little surprised that I wasn't even that surprised by the admission. How many times are we going to hear stories of guys (or women) with power who just feel like they can do no wrong? I'd start listing them for you, but frankly, why waste the space? You know who they are, and I think I've become desensitized to it. It's getting to be the exception now when people maintain lasting, faithful relationships. That's why we all admire couples like Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward, John Travolta & Kelly Preston, and Lisa Niemi & Patrick Swayze. It's a bit like the evening news - they report almost exclusively on tragedy, drama and shock, and almost completely ignore the success, recognition or positive developments that occur in our communities every day.

I'm sure the Letterman story will continue developing in the coming weeks, and I'll follow it with interest, but the shock factor has disintegrated for me. And I just think that's a sad reflection on today's world.