Because my parents let me have a TV in my room when I was 10, and never really established a hard & fast "bed time," I was watching Late Night with David Letterman religiously from the start.
That show set a ridiculously high bar for televised comedy and subversion. Few things in my life have impacted me the way Late Night did.
And while Dave's CBS show has had a different feel and never moved me in the same way, I'd still tune in frequently. Because it's still Dave. Like Tom Petty, Charlie Watts, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Garry Shandling, Dave's earned a lifetime pass from me.
My favorite recurring part of the CBS show has been when Dave asks the drummer from that night's musical guest if the drum kit was a rental. I'd always hoped he'd be asking me that one day. Despite playing in 87 bands, I never got there. Oh well... I'll always have Bill Henley's 10! show.
I'd be remiss if I didn't put a word out there for Chris Elliot, Larry Bud Melman, Peggy the Foul-Mouthed Chamber Maid, Gruff but Loveable Gus, Hal Gurnee, Steve Jordan's snare drum, Art Donovan, Crispin Glover, Harvey Pekar, Richard Lewis (seemingly) on Blow, Merrill Markoe, the NBC Bookmobile, Joe Frazier, Andy Kaufman, and all the other people and things that had a hand in making Late Night the weirdest and funniest damn thing I've ever seen.
So, thanks, mom and dad. And thanks, Dave. You were far and away the best at what you did.