ENGLISH LIT 344 / COMEDY & SATIRE Who's Who in American Comedy
Letterman began as a local anchor and weatherman and then as a talk show host on radio and then on television in Indianapolis. When zany remarks attracted attention, he moved to L.A. and got a job writing for the sitcom Good Times. He also performed stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store. He eventually got his own NBC morning show (The David Letterman Show) where he developed comic ideas like "Stupid Pet Tricks" dropping objects off the roof of a building, and the Top 10 list. His talk show style is heavily influenced by Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and Jack Paar. Notice hios sardonic, tongue-in-cheek intro to the Jamba Juice skit in the following clip.
[For more details on these people, check their listing in Wikipedia, but note--this is one of the rare times I can accept the use of Wikipedia as a source. I have found that most of the information there about these people is reliable.]
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