Althouse: "If you came here tonight for sex with a talk show host, you've got the wrong studio."

October 3, 2009

"If you came here tonight for sex with a talk show host, you've got the wrong studio."

Leno. Funny at last, taking a jab at Letterman.

18 comments:

Big Mike said...: What do you mean by "funny at last"? The measurable fact that he was more popular than alleged funnyman David Letterman for nearly as long as they ran head-to-head suggests that most people found him to be the funnier of the two.; 10/3/09, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Isn't it a little out-of-place to be making fun of Letterman's habit of sexually harassing his employees?

Letterman owns Worldwide Pants. The employees that work for his show work directly for him; and he's been serially sexually harassing them.

Does CBS condone his activities? CBS owns the studio in which Letterman is mounting his conquests. Does CBS allow him to have sex in the workplace that it owns?

Is CBS complicit in his crimes? Are they allowing him to sexually harass his employees on their property?

Ann, as an attorney, what is CBS's exposure to a class-action lawsuit by all the women who work there who haven't been promoted and who, coincidentally, refused David Letterman's sexual advances?

Could they sue CBS, in addition to Letterman?

Does Letterman's contract have clause in it that would allow CBS to cancel his show for moral terpitude?

CBS News has been at the forefront of the sexual harassment issue in America. Isn't it ironic that its own news division employees are trying to cash in on Letterman's sexual harassment of his employees?; 10/3/09, 1:46 PM
Paul said...: Are there any leftists who are not smug, arrogant, morally bankrupt hypocrites?

No doubt....

Somewhere....

But they are truly candidates for the endangered species category.; 10/3/09, 1:56 PM
Wince said...: Will David Letterman's very public revelation of a new, very human flaw bring him closer to viewers, or will it cloud him in cliche showbiz debauchery?

Okay, so now we're back to where screwing the staff is the essence of humanity frailty rather than the exploitation of a power relationship?

what is CBS's exposure to a class-action lawsuit by all the women who work there who haven't been promoted and who, coincidentally, refused David Letterman's sexual advances?

Res ipsa loquitur, the talent itself speaks.

"That's how we play Show & Tell."; 10/3/09, 2:03 PM
Unknown said...: After Dan Blather was torpedoed by the "fake but real" Dubya memos in '04, this should surprise no one. CBS has been a corrupt institution going at least as far back as "The Uncounted Enemy", and, depending on your viewpoint, likelier to Uncle Wally's "the war is lost" bloviation after Tet. The payoff, of course, is that a CBS producer was doing the blackmailing.

Florida, moreover, has a point. It will be interesting to see not only who gets sued, but does anyone on the Left go after Letterman the way they did Robert Packwood (RINO that he was) who always took, "No", for an answer or do they give Tunnel Teeth a pass the way they did Willie, who could, and probably should, be charged with several counts of rape and sexual harassment?; 10/3/09, 2:22 PM
Jeff Vaca said...: Watching last night's show, it seemed to me that Leno's comments as a whole were supportive of Letterman, and that the highlighted comment was more a self-deprecating jab at himself than it was at Letterman. I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted it on first listen.; 10/3/09, 2:26 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: Conan made no mention in his monolog and leapt backwards when guest Drew Carey alluded to the situation, refusing to go near the subject. At least for now, the club seems to be closing ranks to protect their own. Pathetic, considering the cheap shots Conan has dished out to figures far less culpable.; 10/3/09, 3:42 PM
Chase said...: The "Who's Funny" Leno vs Letterman debate is always about class. There is an "intellectual" current that claims Letterman is funny and Leno is not. The New York Times plays along in their reporting of this by leaving out Conan's name when discussing how Letterman has been beating the Tonight Show this season - it is trying to imply that Letterman is "again on top" of the late night wars beating Jay handily (without acknowledging that it's been 16 years of Dave having his ass handed to him by Jay.

Here's the one thing that is always missing in the discussions and 1000 word articles by the pro-Letterman/anti-Leno forces: something Letterman said that was actually funny.

Leno may not score on every joke, but at least he scores sometimes.
Who can honestly say that about David Letterman? He should stick to the out of studio brilliance and stupid pet tricks, Otherwise, even his defenders can't come up with something funny he's said.

This one was over a long time ago.

And as to CBS doing anything about it re: sexual harrasnment or person in authority abusing his power? Please. Letterman is a cash cow and that is the only morality that matters to Les Moonves, CBS, and Letterman fans.

Who, fascinatingly, also seem to be the same ones who believe that Roman Polanski's rape was a "so-called crime>"; 10/3/09, 4:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Doesn't CBS's lack of any corrective action against it's employee constitute the creation and support of a hostile workplace?

After all, one of CBS's employees has admitted, on the air no less, that he has used CBS employees and the Ed Sullivan Theatre as a sexual hunting ground full of very young, impressionable pages.

What does CBS intend to do about this? Do women who work at CBS have to put up with high-level network stars sexual advances in order to continue to work for the network? To get ahead in the workplace?

How many other women at Worldwide Pants have been abused? Were any paid off to keep quiet?

Why is CBS not acting to protect its employees from Letterman? The police have protected Letterman ... but what about his victims? What about the victims of his sexual harassment?

Is sexual harassment illegal? Or is it not?

Do the rich and famous get away with sex crimes?

Or not?; 10/3/09, 4:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Pathetic, considering the cheap shots Conan has dished out to figures far less culpable."

Maybe he paid off a blackmailer... or has just fucked the staff.; 10/3/09, 4:55 PM
daubiere said...: "Maybe he paid off a blackmailer... or has just fucked the staff."

or was one of the people letterman once fucked...

how do you think someone so non-funny got and stayed on the air so long?; 10/3/09, 5:27 PM
Kirby Olson said...: In legal terms, one of the f'd staffers has to come forward and allege SH for it to be made into a case. Until that point, we have to assume that the women enjoyed their night on the late show.; 10/3/09, 6:08 PM
ricpic said...: Anyone here think Letterman was a tender lover?; 10/3/09, 6:24 PM
William said...: The public whipping post of modern America is to be the butt of late night monologues. It seems that Letterman will be spared this unpleasant fate. I don't think he has done anything off the scoreboard awful, but then neither did Quayle when he misspelled potato. Those who enjoy contemplating the double standards of the media will find much to savor in how Letterman is treated by his peers.; 10/3/09, 6:27 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: At a previous employer, there were rumors that a manager was dating one of his employees. This employee quit, and then a couple of months later, the two were married.

A week later, he was fired. Apparently, HR had asked him if anything was going on, he denied it, and then when the marriage occurred, he was called on it and fired.

Sure, he lied. I'm sure that if he came forward and said that they were romantically involved, they would of transfered her to another department (or something).

But I liked to see our media companies held to this level of responsibility.; 10/3/09, 7:01 PM
Largo said...: @ricpic

eewwww!; 10/3/09, 11:21 PM
Steven said...: Chase —

Dave vs. Jay was never about class, or humor, or whatnot. It was purely about New York vs. LA. The NYT celebrates Dave beating Conan because the Tonight Show is done in LA, so the New York show is beating the LA show. Everything else is merely camouflage for New York localism.; 10/3/09, 11:59 PM
Jim Treacher said...: A few years ago, Merrill Markoe (who in the '80s was both Letterman's head writer and head... ahem) co-wrote a novel called "The Psycho Ex Game," featuring a thinly veiled Letterman analogue. Apparently the depiction was not at all flattering. I picked it up after the Willow Palin flap, but it was kind of boring and I didn't finish it. Now I think I need to...; 10/4/09, 6:26 AM