Thanks for sharing this! I remember her early influence on the show and all the funny bits she created such as My Dog Bob and Stupid Pet Tricks and much more. Was sad when she left. Amazing how little she's changed after all those years!
I heard Merrill in an interview early 90's talking about how surreal and unhealthy it was to see your ex-boyfriend being so successful and looking so great and his face being everywhere as if it was some sort of weird karmic punishment. Well, he's not everywhere now and not looking so great anymore and she does look pretty good. I think she's learned her karmic lesson, whatever it was. No disrespect to Letterman.
I really need to pick up the Zinoman book, to see if his analysis of the evolution of Letterman's shows matches my own opinion that things generally peaked from a comedy and creative standpoint in about 1986, give or take.
OK, I finally picked up a copy. You said what I more or less knew all along: that after about 1988, Letterman no longer had a fully functioning staff. All through the CBS years, the environment was fully dysfunctional and on a sort of autopilot where innovation was no longer possible. I was an undergrad through the first 4 years of Late Night. I knew of Letterman from the 1970's and the Morning Show, but Late Night initially baffled me. As you noted, 1982-83 had a public-access look, the comedy was often experimental to the point that you didn't know if they were trying to be funny or not. But the 1984-86 years were right in my sweet spot. It was appointment TV after long nights of homework or drinking or both. From night to night, you never knew what you'd see, but you knew it would be great. The recurring bits were creative, and many of the staff played bit parts. I watched Late Show all the way to the end, but for the last 20 years with resentment and a desperate hope that Dave would remember what had made him great back in 1984. But instead we got night after night and month after month of lazy garbage like "Let's Read Oprah Transcripts" and "Great Moments in Presidential History" which required no engagement from Dave at all. There was a Late Show 5th Anniversary Special but it was a sad reminder of how great the Late Night anniversary shows had been. There was never another one. We now know that what made him great was Markoe and Elliott and the rest of the mid-80's staff, combined with Dave's desire to actually cooperate with them, to actually "try". When that all ended, I should have simply stopped watching.
It's a great book. If anyone wants to understand just HOW important Merrill Markoe and the early writing staff was to David Letterman, go straight to 41:01. If Dave had overseen a bunch of folks that were Johnny Carson worshippers (such as he was), they wouldn't have tapped into the eccentricities that made his show stand out as "the anti talk show" (plus NBC probably doesn't let him have the show in the first place). Honestly, Merrill Markoe from 1986 could have told David Letterman from 1992 "Don't bother trying to get 'The Tonight Show,' it doesn't speak to your strengths or your signature contributions." To this day, Dave would probably bristle at it, but it was kind of essential for his most important writer to be anti-Johnny for any of it to have worked.
For that matter, LN post-Markoe and the entire LS run didn't speak to Dave's strengths or signature contributions. But as the book notes, after the 1988 writer's strike, and the departure of writers from the mid-80's era, Dave completely lost touch with what his signature contributions had been. He relied on Markoe and the others to shape his on-air personality, and after they left, he was never really sure what he was. Evidence: the "pummeling the mannequin" incident circa 1996.
Looking back, what made Dave's Late Night show so great was Merrill's weirdness and eventually Chris Elliott's bizarre madness. I always felt Dave was never as funny after the writer's strike of 1988 which is, coincidentally, around the same time Merrill left the show. I stuck around as a fan until about the second year of the CBS Late Show and then lost interest in the pure formulaic doldrums the show became.
@@dongiller - Oh, well I'm just going by memory. I remember they never really recovered after the "Late Night Network Time Killers". Dave seemed to be completely jaded sarcasm after all that. I can't recall any truly classic bits from that point onward.
I think the problem with the CBS show is that it was on at 11:30 instead of 12:30. You’re allowed to be really weird and experimental at 12:30, but at 11:30 you’ve got the old Carson audience, or similar type people, tuning in and that audience wasn’t used to innovation.
I think Merrill left mid-1985 for Los Angeles. She did remotes for a local TV station many of which are posted on UA-cam. Seeing her in front of the camera made it immediately apparent where Dave got it. Dave was still funny for the rest of the NBC years because of Elliott but also because of the tension from being under the corporate thumb and not knowing if he would get the Carson gig. On a side note, Howard Stern was at his peak when he was on over the air radio because he played up the tension between his creative urges and the FCC. Like Dave at CBS, when Stern got Sirius and escaped FCC purview, he lost his edge.
Thanks (again) Don. In general, it truly is amazing and cool that these little events can be documented and shared.
I'm reading that book now. Great stuff. Thanks for recording this.
You're awesome Don Giller. Had a feeling you'd get a recording of this on the web.
0:11 Markoe looks absolutely thrilled to be there.
Maybe she’s just shy.
Thanks for sharing this! I remember her early influence on the show and all the funny bits she created such as My Dog Bob and Stupid Pet Tricks and much more. Was sad when she left. Amazing how little she's changed after all those years!
You never disappoint. Thanks!
That was an epic upload.. and the links to the clips just wow. Thanks!
I heard Merrill in an interview early 90's talking about how surreal and unhealthy it was to see your ex-boyfriend being so successful and looking so great and his face being everywhere as if it was some sort of weird karmic punishment. Well, he's not everywhere now and not looking so great anymore and she does look pretty good. I think she's learned her karmic lesson, whatever it was. No disrespect to Letterman.
All praises due to the honorable Don Giller for this and everything.
Forgive my superficiality but I can't help noticing that she's a few months shy of her 70th birthday here and appears about 50, at least to me.
She looks good for her age.
I really need to pick up the Zinoman book, to see if his analysis of the evolution of Letterman's shows matches my own opinion that things generally peaked from a comedy and creative standpoint in about 1986, give or take.
I suspect you will be pleased.
OK, I finally picked up a copy. You said what I more or less knew all along: that after about 1988, Letterman no longer had a fully functioning staff. All through the CBS years, the environment was fully dysfunctional and on a sort of autopilot where innovation was no longer possible.
I was an undergrad through the first 4 years of Late Night. I knew of Letterman from the 1970's and the Morning Show, but Late Night initially baffled me. As you noted, 1982-83 had a public-access look, the comedy was often experimental to the point that you didn't know if they were trying to be funny or not. But the 1984-86 years were right in my sweet spot. It was appointment TV after long nights of homework or drinking or both. From night to night, you never knew what you'd see, but you knew it would be great. The recurring bits were creative, and many of the staff played bit parts.
I watched Late Show all the way to the end, but for the last 20 years with resentment and a desperate hope that Dave would remember what had made him great back in 1984. But instead we got night after night and month after month of lazy garbage like "Let's Read Oprah Transcripts" and "Great Moments in Presidential History" which required no engagement from Dave at all.
There was a Late Show 5th Anniversary Special but it was a sad reminder of how great the Late Night anniversary shows had been. There was never another one.
We now know that what made him great was Markoe and Elliott and the rest of the mid-80's staff, combined with Dave's desire to actually cooperate with them, to actually "try". When that all ended, I should have simply stopped watching.
It's a great book.
If anyone wants to understand just HOW important Merrill Markoe and the early writing staff was to David Letterman, go straight to 41:01. If Dave had overseen a bunch of folks that were Johnny Carson worshippers (such as he was), they wouldn't have tapped into the eccentricities that made his show stand out as "the anti talk show" (plus NBC probably doesn't let him have the show in the first place). Honestly, Merrill Markoe from 1986 could have told David Letterman from 1992 "Don't bother trying to get 'The Tonight Show,' it doesn't speak to your strengths or your signature contributions." To this day, Dave would probably bristle at it, but it was kind of essential for his most important writer to be anti-Johnny for any of it to have worked.
For that matter, LN post-Markoe and the entire LS run didn't speak to Dave's strengths or signature contributions. But as the book notes, after the 1988 writer's strike, and the departure of writers from the mid-80's era, Dave completely lost touch with what his signature contributions had been. He relied on Markoe and the others to shape his on-air personality, and after they left, he was never really sure what he was. Evidence: the "pummeling the mannequin" incident circa 1996.
I loved it, read it in two days , didn't want it to end. Don Giller and Jason have reminded me why I loved Dave during the NBC years.
hey don did you shoot this
I did.
Not allowed to play "stump the band"? Nooooo! Thanks, Don - a nice codicil to Jason's book.
Later on the CBS Late Show Dave played Stump the Band. After Johnny retired, he gave Dave permission to do it.
Looking back, what made Dave's Late Night show so great was Merrill's weirdness and eventually Chris Elliott's bizarre madness. I always felt Dave was never as funny after the writer's strike of 1988 which is, coincidentally, around the same time Merrill left the show. I stuck around as a fan until about the second year of the CBS Late Show and then lost interest in the pure formulaic doldrums the show became.
She effectively left the show in 1986.
@@dongiller - Oh, well I'm just going by memory. I remember they never really recovered after the "Late Night Network Time Killers". Dave seemed to be completely jaded sarcasm after all that. I can't recall any truly classic bits from that point onward.
I think the problem with the CBS show is that it was on at 11:30 instead of 12:30. You’re allowed to be really weird and experimental at 12:30, but at 11:30 you’ve got the old Carson audience, or similar type people, tuning in and that audience wasn’t used to innovation.
I think Merrill left mid-1985 for Los Angeles. She did remotes for a local TV station many of which are posted on UA-cam. Seeing her in front of the camera made it immediately apparent where Dave got it. Dave was still funny for the rest of the NBC years because of Elliott but also because of the tension from being under the corporate thumb and not knowing if he would get the Carson gig. On a side note, Howard Stern was at his peak when he was on over the air radio because he played up the tension between his creative urges and the FCC. Like Dave at CBS, when Stern got Sirius and escaped FCC purview, he lost his edge.
Don's a hero