"TV Turn-Off" Controversy on Letterman, October 3, 9, 1984
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- By request: Dave calls the librarian of Farmington, Connecticut, to try to persuade her to call off her television boycott. He makes two calls, one on October 3 and a followup on the 9th. Featuring Darcy Hettrich as the model.
Sorry about the October 9 video quality. Hope to someday get a better version.
I would like THANK whoever published this. The wonderful woman Dave called -- Nancy DeSalvo (my mother) -- died, at the age of 90, on August 13th, 2017. This was her '15 minutes of fame' and provides a very small example of the wit and grace I grew up with. She would later go on to be on the selection committees of the two most prestigious book awards for children, the Newberry and Caldecott awards. Her kids and grandkids miss her terribly; she was a perfect foil for Dave's deadpan humor and she exhibited this honesty, dedication and 'spunk' until the very end. We'll treasure these Letterman calls for years...
Andrew, I'm the one who put these up, and I can't thank you enough for your thoughts. Makes this all worthwhile. And I'm so sorry your mom passed away so recently. I hope she was able to see this..
Thanks again!
Don
Your mom sounds like an amazing lady. I wish I'd known her. :( My condolences.
Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful comment. Your mom sounded like a very sweet and smart lady. My condolences.
Awesome!!!
Thirty seven years later I still remembered her saying, "It's bigger than the both of us." Her ad-libbing was as good as the writing.
I think I participated in this boycott when I was 5 years old in 1984. I never got over missing the first episode of Bleeps and Bloopers that season.
TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, maybe? That was a great show. 🤟
I should have watched further in before asking. 😂😂 He mentions both.🤙
Dick Clark and Ed McMahon. Ed was such a BUSY BUSY man in that era, between Bloopers, The Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, Star Search, and playing second banana to the best talk show host ever... not sure how the man had time to sleep. HEYOOOOOO!
@@1SqueakyWheel he was one of those overshadowed awesome people from back in the day. For sure.
@@gravypatron There were two different shows, on two different networks. Bleeps and Bloopers came first.
In truth, Dave let's himself be the heel in this scenario. His jokes and the whole stunt is couched so well in irony, as though he was really trying to prove her point. He didn't poke fun at her, but poked fun at the television culture that she no doubt was fighting against. He ironically, and deliberately gave her message as bigger megaphone, and advertised a TV boycott on TV itself. Dave occasionally knew how to make other folks look good by making himself look bain and shallow, and he does that to great effect in this bit.
Exactly!
I love that when Dave says, "They're sitting around their darkened TV sets, and do you know what they're doing?" It seemed like he was going to say masturbating or crying or hitting each other. Then, when she says, "Maybe their mothers are reading to them." Dave abandons the joke and makes a face like, "Yeah... that actually sounds nice."
Good stuff.
You're so right. Dave's jokes is couched in irony, and he's at his bainest deliberately, and ironically to provide as bigger megaphone, and advertise.
Dave has a big heart. I didn't understand his style of comedy or his shticks back then but I grew to love the guy! Good guy!
Dave notoriously wasn't a big fan of TV and the networks in general. He thought most of the TV was mindless and his willingness to treat the medium without any sign of seriousness displays that.
"No, I don't think so...it's bigger than both of us." One thing that made the EARLY Dave a genius is that he did this stuff with tongue firmly planted in cheek with no true malice and some people like this lady were intelligent enough to pick up on it and played along...giving us all some truly, sincerely, enjoyably funny and memorable moments. Dave just seemed to lose most of this when he went to CBS the early - late 80's Late Night shows were just classic.
That's a great observation. I think it became more difficult for Dave to maintain that tongue-in-cheek stance as he became more and more popular into the late '80s, as his growing fan base took the show more and more seriously.
To me, one tell-tale sign of the shift occurred when Late Night took its show to L.A. for a week in May 1985. It was outside its 6A home for the first time, and I think the staff and crew were caught off-guard by the audience enthusiasm. It was at that moment the show began to lose its innocence as it unexpectedly saw its impact.
Thank you and WOW...that's a great observation, too. Y'know, it always bothered me when they did that...I remember watching those shows from LA like it was yesterday and I couldn't figure out why it bothered me. I think you hit the nail on the head here...it was the show's loss of innocence.
I remember the week they did in Las Vegas. Dave did all the interviews standing up on a stage (no desk) like he was a typical Vegas act and it didn't work at all.
That week was the final straw for Sand.
Well, she knew she was going to be interviewed by a comedian (obviously she knew he was going to call), so it makes sense that she took it in good humor.
Remember when satire existed because there was a distinction between utterly bizarre and daily life?
I was 16 at the time. I used to sneak to watch Letterman on a 13" TV I had in my room, with the volume as quiet as I could get it. These shows bring back a lot of memories.
@@sundaynightdrunk I had the 13" black & white TV as the monitor for my computer. We weren't allowed to have a TV in our HS doorm rooms, but since it was my computer monitor, I got by with it. And the TV had a headphone jack so I didn't have to worry about the sound.
I also remember when the monologue wasn't an endless liberal tirade.
@@K9River i ReMEmbEr wHEn THe MOnoLogUE wASn't a LibERal derrp derrrp durrrrr
The only difference between now and then is you got older.
The other thing worth noting here is the civility.
Dave is gently making jokes at Nancy's expense, but is never rude or condescending, or insulting. The humor is also very tongue in cheek. There is an undercurrent throughout both segments questioning the quality in television programming in 1984, and the absurdity of a network desperate enough to bribe a woman to watch her TV. You also get a sense that in some ways Letterman admires Nancy even as they both fully realize the futility of her cause.
It is charming, and funny, and no attempt is made to paint her as any sort of fool or villain.
It's difficult to say whether this is an example of Letterman the man, or merely an artifact of the time period.
I can't help but feel that in the hands of modern hosts, these segments would have turned out much nastier.
You’re one of the few who got it. A few years ago, one of Nancy’s children posted a comment here. Nancy had since passed away, and this person was beyond ecstatic to have found this video.
And that’s all that matters here.
I LOVE how she is not intimidated by Dave or her mocking her. She is amazing!! ❤️💕❤️
Paul got me with the “nine months” crack. 😂
Watched the show for 25 years, didn't know he had it in him.
@@shaolinagent He didn't. He said he heard "the darndest things" in his ear. So he was repeating the joke.
I ruined the 69
I don't understand the joke here
@@michael4576 The joke was like if Donahue had knocked up one of his assistants as soon as production of the show started, and then featured the birth on the show 9 months later.
When she answers the phone she says "this is she". She really is a librarian.
What’s the big deal about that? That’s the correct way to respond.
@@shiratake1974 That´s the joke.
@@mayshack It actually is remarkable though! Because the average person just doesn´t know how to speak properly anymode these days. Proper grammar has become a mark of higher education it seems.
@@mayshack Well, that video was taped in 1984. I was born the very same year. So how smart or well spoken where the people back then? I can´t possibly know. But our comments today are in the light of todays context. So wouldn´t you say, if you hear perfect grammar today, it´s at least a bit remarkable?
@@shiratake1974 maybe if you're 100 years old
I loved every time he called strangers on the phone
The obvious irony is Letterman is effectively promoting the anti-tv stance. The less obvious irony is that the Librarian is effectively promoting television by being so entertaining.
If only television stayed this entertaining maybe id be watching it instead of finishing this boycott video
Good observation. A kind and respectful reach across the aisle, so to speak.
@@SeaCryptWeave it did.
@@sillygoose635 Too many darn commercials. That's why everyone prefers streaming services now.
@@hypnotoad28 are there really more commercials now than then? Because I remember being annoyed by them plenty in the mid 80's.
This is such a fun and classic example of how great Dave was back in the day. He was hilarious in so many ways but when he would interact with regular people it was pure gold.
That was fantastic. Letterman was the best. No other host could pull that off the way he did.
I love how much fun she seemed to be having on the call.
"It's bigger than both of us". She was a good sport, and handled him very graciously while sticking to her guns. I'm also glad that Dave wasn't a dick to her as he so often came across with his sarcasm.
I'm disappointed that he didn't give a third call to follow up and offer her a car that she could summarily turn down. It still would have been fun for all though!
DeSalvo was indeed delightful (in Dave's words) and this was a fun video to watch.
Thanks for the post!
Letterman up until 1990, the NBC years basically, were the zenith of Late Night. Letterman could never top what he did at NBC, even tho' the CBS show had some great moments. Maybe it was just the vibe of the 1980's vs. the 90's or the culture of CBS being different than NBC, but it just was never the same.
I honestly think it's the timeslot more than anything, and being the "face" of the network. There's the pressure to be more mainstream and to cater to the biggest audience. I think Conan continued the spirit and the genius of Letterman's show brilliantly in the 90s and even into the 2000s.
Seth Thomas yep
He and 30 Rock fit like hand and glove.
Craig Ferguson certainly played a different tune at CBS than others.
@Seth Thomas
- I couldn't agree more, Seth. I've always felt the same way.
This was great! Dave used humor criticizing her to promote her cause.
This is why he was the King.
Instead of a simple monologue joke, quickly forgotten. He turned it into a multi episode piece of genius.
I love how Dave would just call random people or bring them on the show. It's always so funny and entertaining in the most honest way.
In his earlier years when he seemed to enjoy the show, yes... he was fresh and enthusiastic, and kinda unpredictable in a fun way.
In almost the list decade of the show, he got so sarcastic and flippant about the whole situation that he almost seemed to be hating life.
To see him in interviews after retirement, he seemed like a changed man, enjoying life more than ever before. I'm guessing he just stayed in it too long.
Happened to Carson too.... he held it together better till the end, but he was so burned out that he avoided the world thereafter, and that always bothered me.
Letterman was effectively promoting her tv ban... fantastic...
"It's bigger than both of us" - SAVAGE
This is absolutely the best I’ve seen on Dave Letterman. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing. Wonderful.
The wit and intelgence behind this is so deep. Surface value is different from understanding. She didnt give flak, and took it light-hearted. Good on her for that at the very least.
I would like to thank whoever published this. The wonderful woman Dave called - Nancy DeSalvo - was my childhood librarian. And this wasn't just for show; she really did believe that people should turn off their TVs. She preferred computer games, and we would often watch her playing Commodore 64 or Apple II or IBM compatible DOS games. One of my fondest childhood memories is hearing her yell "I died of dysentery?" just before angrily setting fire to a large stack of books. We all loved her, she was a treasure.
Thanks!
These were the days when people could respectfully disagree.
Dude, this is a comedy bit about a librarian not liking TV-tone down the nostalgia gas a bit before you choke on yourself
Well, this is a topic that isn't all that important. Most of the time when people get upset about somebody disagreeing with them, it's something that is personal, even if it might not seem that way to you. Most of the time, when people say stuff like that, they're talking about politics, and politics IS personal. For example, let's just say that you don't believe that we here in the US (if you're American, I'm not sure where you're from,) shouldn't have Universal Healthcare. Now, that might not seem personal to you, but thousands of people die every year because they can't afford to go to a doctor. It literally results in deaths, and what's more personal than that? You might just want to save money on taxes, but you'd have to agree that there's a reason to be upset about that.
Don't believe we SHOULD, not believe we SHOULDN'T. Sorry.
@@LiberalSquared yes and that's the problem. Too many people are duped into taking painted rhetoric to heart and submitting to the fear it's intended to cast, up to and beyond the point that they actually do take it personally.
So therein lies the divide... the half that sees it as "life or death" vs the side that sees it as "politics".
And that's how politics becomes so rabid, vitriolic and socially divisive.
@@aarons8711 Thank you, someone with sense. You'd think the 80s was murder free and everyone was BFFs living on the rainbow the way these people carry on 🙄
Ah...back when TVs were furniture.
🤣🤣🤣👍👍😆
i remember the days when moving a tv would put your back out, it was mostly a two man job moving a 32" tv, today one guy can move a 65"tv with ease alone
Now they're wall art.
Damn. The speakers are bigger than the screen. Lol
That's not just any TV, that's a Sony Trinitron. The first flat screen (sort of).
OMG late night shows these days just don't have this kind of humor. They only do skits with celebrities who are promoting a movie.
Or political
Conan is good too.
I wish it was still that at least. It has become joyless political commentary.
You should have seen "Stupid Pet Tricks", "The Guy Under the Stairs (Chris Elliot)", "Viewer Mail" or the audience cam. Oh yea, Riptide! Tuesdays, NBC - The A-Team, Riptide, Remington Steele.
Yeah people just couldn't get this sense of humor now.
You can't beat the sarcastic smarmy discourse of the early NBC show. The program still mocked television in a very satisfying way. I have a feeling Nancy blew any further segments by getting cute. Everyone wants to get in on the act!
She did great.
yes exactly. i agree with you about the early NBC show
Now this is late night. Great writers. Early yrs of David was the best. Johnny of course the best in his time but Letterman spoke to the younger generation. Been watching alot of these classics. Need a few chuckles during all this craziness . Stay safe everyone 😷
A tremendous find and posting of classic 80's TV. Thank you so very much for posting this fine find. @Andrew - thanks for sharing your mother's great story and quick thinking on the phone with Dave Letterman!
OMG! We had that very same television set! The Sony Trinitron 27 inch screen. It was the largest tube you could get at that time. We bought ours in 1979 I think. Wow!
$1000 TV.
I'd actually LOVE to have that old TV console in my living room! Great Dave Archive Video.....Thank You Don Giller for thinking of US ALL.....Cheers from Ohio
"I don't watch your show because I'm not up that late". Kids these days will not understand what this means.
Sex
@@itallcollapses4857 nice try...
@@niklass1641 is it because now u can stream things whenever u want and back then u couldn't rewatch live tv
@@itallcollapses4857 by god Sherlock! You’ve cracked the case!
@@KitchenerLeslie2 I'm so proud
The cheesy Hammond organ was perfect!
@unarmed blackman there it is
years ago, I thought Paul was kidding
I won't call it cheesy for that periods of time
What are you saying it's a standard organ it is not cheesy the B3 is a classic organ everybody uses a B3 in addition it's also a standard British bird if it were not you would not be able to emulate it on everything from keyboards to computers
Dave's the best! My Mom always liked him and he's probably one of the reasons I never got braces to fix the gap in my teeth. Instead of telling me I HAD to get it fixed, I can remember my Mom saying, "You can get it fixed if you want to but it's up to you. David Letterman has a gap and he looks handsome." Just a funny little fact about my life. Lol.
Love that! Madonna pulls it off too! And hey it adds character!
Naw. She just didn’t want to pay for it.
I really appreciate these David Letterman videos. I worked a 2nd shift way back then and always watched him at the end of the day. Some people say they don't like him or they don't get his humor. There is no use trying to convince them otherwise, you can only feel pity for them.
I just delete the posts. “Letterman sucks” and variations of the same theme doesn’t add much to the discussion. :)
I used to watch this show when I was in college. Back when I could stay up until 1:30AM every day. i used to love it.
Letterman is hilarous. I love his Netflix show now.
it wasn't just a tv, it had ten key express command tuning.
He always had so much trouble dialing the phone.
Because it’s the new fangled touch tone and not a dial.
I haven’t owned a TV in 2 years, it’s not something to miss.
Nowadays, its true. Nothing is good on tv anymore besides nascar and tmc playing old tv shows and movies.
Well... ya know... that thing you are typing the comments on is, a tv, with unlimited channels... I’m just saying...
@@SuperVstech real television is not RUclips on a phone.
@@Camska427 absolutely true...
But, really, what is real television anymore? Cable? “Live” tv? The dvr and internet have change tv so much since I was a kid with 4 channels... heck, in the early 70’s I lived in Iceland, and there were only TWO stations... of course, we could walk to the movie theater every morning and watch the cartoon reels... I miss THAT!
Hulu, and Netflix, and all the copycat streaming services... ugh. RUclips is what I want tv to be... creators posting their vision of a station commercials you can skip if they don’t interest you, and watch if they do...
... I don't even know what to say.
I’m glad this is on here.... I was only 3 when this was live, so it’s great to get the chance to see this and completely appropriate how great it was.....
Nancy DiSalvo passed away on 2017 at the age of 90.
She sharp as a tack. Lol. "I think you can do better" 😂
I've observed this in many, many reading women from reading families. It's wondrous. :)
Me and my girlfriend at the time used to laugh until our sides ached watching Letterman. Skybowling was our favorite.
Back when humor was allowed.
And politics 🙄 all garbage on tv anymore!
did u make sweet love to here
@@rockinrobin I can't remember 😂 it was a long time ago and we were stoned a lot in those days...probably
Sky bowling.... Is that when he'd drop melons off the roof and such?
Nancy was awesome. Thanks for the humor and good nature.
LOL, she was excellent. I'm amazed she could handle all of Dave's kooky talk so well, especially since she didn't know who he was nor witnessed his rather complex brand of humor.
Those Sony Trinitrons were damn good TVs. I had a little 13-inch in my room when I was a kid. It lasted forever and had vibrant color, better than my current LCD. And "Riptide" was underrated. lol
They are still highly expensive and sought after by some gamers due to great color and low response time.
Yeah. When it comes to tube TV's I agree. Sony Trinitron and Panasonic had the best picture quality (particularly in the early 90's). Today, with LCD, I have to go with Samsung and LG.
I had one too. As a kid, I was promised a new LCD flat-screen when the tube dies. Well, it kept going and going and it just wouldn't die! Well passed 2010!
26" tv in 24 cubic feet of wood. No wonder you could stack the new one on the broken one!
Haha, at a friends house they had two of them stacked up. The top one only had a picture but no sound and the bottom only had sound and no picture, so they had to turn on both of them and change the channel on both to enjoy "the miracle of television".
Those trinitron TVs were heavier than a battleship anchor
Growing up when this was on air, was such a magical time.
Letterman's 1980s "Late Night" was some of the best TV ever 🔥
I miss the characters from the 80’s Letterman.
I was too young to appreciate 1980’s Letterman; it feels uncannily similar to 2000’s Conan.
I miss those phone call bits and when he threw random stuff off the roof, and also how he would always throw a pencil or one of the cards back behind him and they did the breaking glass sound effect.
Ya conan clearly based his personality off letterman
The other talk shows do it too but conan does it best
@@stevedoe1630 Watermelons!
Shaffer with that quick wit. Nine months... lmao
And ironically ever since then, the crap on TV has gotten even worse.
Indeed
Ok, boomer.
Hats off to Nancy - she was RIGHT!
The television has been used to brainwash us all. The fear-mongering networks have almost destroyed us all.
Back when Dave wasn’t even sure he would be renewed next season, he took lots of risks and pushed the limit of what was acceptable...back then.
Funny how tame it is now but still classic.
Ah, back when you needed a forklift to get your new tv in the house.
I thought the controversy was gonna be that people figured out the number based on the button tones and doxxed that lady. It was a simpler time. Things are insane now.
It was the libraries number, so it could’ve been figured out relatively easily.
@@teyoung304 oh 😂 that makes sense. I guess youd have people blowing up the library's phone that's not too bad
she couldn't be more right... it's very rare that you learn something constructive that you can build on over time from television.... watching tv is an incredibly passive activity
Ah, if only social conflicts were still so simple and amicable...
Hammond organs and Leslie speakers are great!
Indeed
On the count of 3 everyone hate Dave ! If you were around when this show aired then you should know how good the show was , nbc years
Back when you could buy a tv so big you could be buried in it.
"it of course being the miracle of television" lool!! . brilliant stuff .
Man, there is nothing like 80s Letterman.
"I am not up that late"
"Yeah, I know"
Goddamn, that was amazing
I was laid off of work at this time and watched letterman religously-I want to see the Tom Savini interview(Dawn of the Dead 1978).
In the queue: all of Savini's Late Night appearances.
God what a great sport. Clearly an absolute treasure for her local community
I liked Riptide. Glad I caught the first episode back then.
I wish the networks would rerun them, but I can't even remember the last time they did.
It was a fun show as a kid.
Calvin and hobbes is great
Awww... Nancy sounds like such a sweet, lovely woman.
I miss when he used to call Regis and hang up 🤣🤣🤣
I've been looking for the Donahue calender episodes for years. Thank you!
Here in February 2021. Hmm, that's actually not a bad-looking Trinitron TV. It could have passed as a brand new model only 2 decades ago. I still have plenty of CRT TV's myself, in addition to some flatscreens TV's & computer monitors.
Also, RIP to Nancy. In August of 2017, the month Nancy died as said in the comments here by her son, my family including my Dad watched the eclipse here in the States, on the 21st. By end of 2017, my Dad died somewhat unexpectedly by December 30. He didn't get to see the new year. I say "somewhat" because there was feeling something bad was going to happen, we just didn't know "when". So two important lives lost in 2017. I will always miss my Dad (until perhaps I see him again in the afterlife). And I'm sure Andrew & the rest of Nancy's family will miss her the same. Letterman still has his health & that's also important.
God bless
Read a book...sounds like a novel idea. ;)
this is the dave i used to go out of my way to watch in the 80s....never knew what he was going to do or say....very creative and approaching bizzare,,,,,great entertainment for late night stoned minds...
80’s era Letterman is A-MA-ZING!!!
xoxo The Clarences
That was my high school. In my graduation year book is a photo of me in the library. But that was '71, things were different all over...
"If I had [children], they' be eatin' really well." (at marker 19:44 )
Eaten not eating. I think it’s safe to say that wasn’t a Freudian slip....
"A smooth transition from surf to turf". lol
Letterman was brilliant.
Dave has a penchant for trying to give away riding mowers... this librarian to call off the boycott and Elizabeth Taylor in his attempt to get her on the show....
Unsuccessful on both counts. Any others Don?
As a person that tries to straddle both these worlds, I rooted for Nancy!
I'm watching this from the UK - fantastic woman - I hope Letterman sent all the prizes as gifts for taking part
Brilliant post. Thanks, Don. We never got Dave till the mid 90s in the UK.
Look at the size of that console TV. Imagine how much that thing weighs...
I remember when a phone was a phone. Also when you could actually dial on a phone, not just press buttons. But that's not important right now. Thank you for the upload!!
I still have one. old black baklight..I'm trying to rig it in my studio to work still... you could kill a robber with that thing
@@chuckthebull I just gave a dial phone to my sister which hasn't been used for thirty years, she still has a land line and the thing still works. I called her house and her cats went bezerk.
@@CockySoupNazi ha..neet..I don't have a land line but a line from my cable box from the internet..I'm going to try and test that..it might be backward compatible... I have a few cats and a dog,,it's going to be mayhem..cheers
When Johnny and Dave retired, late night "comedy" died!
💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
Conan's still here.
@@chukwudiilozue9171 He's the only funny guy on late night.
Conan
Ferguson had the classic sense of humor too, I think it died completely when he left.
@@williamsherman1089 I loved the "careening out of control" atmosphere of Ferguson's show.
Today's kids, "Wtf is he holding??"
That woman was an absolute marvel-- completely right, and ahead of her time. Some people can't be bought.
Put down your 'smart' phone for a month.
Let’s be cool... we are all on the same side trying to find our feet in this fucked up reality we call “life”. Remember to not shame the elder or younger as we, ourselves haaaaaatttee that! We need not distract ourselves from this genius Woman. Step down, listen in.
@@maggiefisher8549 I'd like to agree, but I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about.
Dave sure taught me a lot. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure full of it!
I wonder if Nancy had agreed would she have gotten those things.
It's wild how long the dedicated to essentially a radio phone stunt. They just let it breathe.
It's 2021 im under 25 and im dying of laughter!!!
When I was a kid I always referred to that console tv as
“A Poltergeist TV”
Protection factor #2!
We had a small one on top with the speakers hooked up to the big one. Lol
Good old days!!
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I never really understood why so many people are against TV. If you don't like the content of the programming that's on, then you can always change the channel and watch something else (in fact, I strongly encourage you do it--by watching something you don't like, you justify the reason why it was made in the first place). And there's no reason you can't read a book AND watch TV in the same day--after all, a lot of people like to do both. Some people even exercise while watching TV, which undermines the "couch potato" argument. Watching a little TV probably isn't going to do much harm to anyone, and while I wouldn't want to spend my whole life watching it, I also realize that I can't control what other people choose to do, and if they want to do that, then more power to them.
That tv model looked a lot like little Suzy.
"Nine months, I guess."
The library was open that late?
The show taped at 5:30 PM.
All she had to do was "play along". Ha! Brilliant bit.
Back when everyone could take a joke.
She spitting all facts though, God bless this woman