Whose March 31, 1994 appearance on Late Show with David Letterman resulted in the episode becoming the most censored in American network television talk-show history for obvious reasons?
"Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman in 1994 Madonna made an appearance on ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on March 31, 1994. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by Madonna, which included many expletives. In particular, Madonna said the word ""fuck"" fourteen times during the course of the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering Letterman some of the best ratings he ever received. Madonna's language and behavior—which was provocative, seemingly spontaneous at times, full of double entendres, and"
"the time of his final Late Show appearance, unbeknownst to Letterman and most others outside of Hicks' immediate family, and died less than four months later. Letterman finally aired the censored routine in its entirety on January 30, 2009. Hicks's mother, Mary, was present in the studio and appeared on-camera as a guest. Letterman took responsibility for the original decision to remove Hicks's set from the 1993 show. ""It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill,"" he said, after the set aired, ""because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."" For many years, Hicks was"
"in late 1994 relating to Fox's acquisition of CBS's National Football League rights, stunting the ""Late Show"" just as it was beginning to gain traction. Announcer Bill Wendell retired in 1995, with Alan Kalter taking his place. At times ""Late Show"" even came in third in its time slot (behind ""Nightline"", most recently in November 2008), once prompting Letterman to arrange for a Manhattan billboard proudly declaring himself and his show to be No. 3 in Late Night, aping an older, nearby billboard which promoted Leno and ""The Tonight Show"" as No. 1. Letterman attempted to respond by making his"
"The Late Show (franchise) The Late Show is an American late-night talk show franchise on CBS. It first aired in August 1993 with host David Letterman, who previously hosted ""Late Night with David Letterman"" on NBC from 1982 to 1993. Letterman's iteration of the program ran until his retirement on May 20, 2015. Comedian Stephen Colbert, best known for his roles on Comedy Central programs ""The Daily Show"" and ""The Colbert Report"", assumed hosting duties in September. The show originates from the Ed Sullivan Theater in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York, and airs live to tape in most"
"David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ""Late Night with David Letterman"" on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of ""Late Night"" and ""Late Show"", surpassing friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American television history. In 1996 Letterman was ranked 45th on ""TV Guide""s 50 Greatest"
"the Performing Arts. He was scheduled to receive the prize in a ceremony slated for October 22. David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ""Late Night with David Letterman"" on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of ""Late Night"" and ""Late Show"", surpassing friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk"
"name, Calvert DeForest. Shaffer's ""World's Most Dangerous Band"" became ""The CBS Orchestra"", a jab at NBC regarding the show's new home, and a play on the NBC Orchestra of the long running ""The Tonight Show"". Letterman's signature bit, the Top Ten List, was perfunctorily renamed the ""Late Show Top Ten List"" (over time it was simply referred to again by its original name). In ratings, Letterman's ""Late Show"" topped Leno's ""Tonight Show"" for its first two years. Leno pulled ahead on July 10, 1995, starting with a Hugh Grant interview, after Grant's much-publicized arrest for picking up an LA prostitute."
"audience, was finally canceled in 1988. This included WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, a station that Paramount acquired in 1991. In the summer of 1993, David Letterman, who had spent over 13 years at NBC and the previous 11 as the host of the popular post-""Tonight Show"" program ""Late Night"", left the network due to his dissatisfaction with being passed over as host of ""The Tonight Show"" after the retirement of Johnny Carson in favor of Jay Leno the previous year. Letterman signed with CBS to do a late-night program which would compete head-to-head with ""The Tonight Show"", and which would also"
"""Late Show"" was NBC's ""The Tonight Show"", which was hosted by Jay Leno for 22 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, the ""Late Show"" consistently gained higher ratings than ""The Tonight Show"". But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno's show after Grant's arrest for soliciting a prostitute; Leno typically attracted about five million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The ""Late Show"" lost nearly half its audience during its competition with"
"Late Night with David Letterman Late Night with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman. It premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982, and concluded on June 25, 1993. Letterman began hosting ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on CBS in August 1993. The series has since been reformatted as ""Late Night with Conan O'Brien"", ""Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"" and ""Late Night with Seth Meyers"". In 2013, this series and ""Late Show with David Letterman"" were ranked #41 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time. After his morning show on NBC was canceled"
"by ""The Late Show with Stephen Colbert"", hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. CBS had previously attempted late-night talk shows with ""The Merv Griffin Show"" (1969–1972) and ""The Pat Sajak Show"" (1989–1990), but these were unable to compete with NBC's ""The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"" and were canceled due to poor ratings. For most of the 20 years preceding ""Late Show"", CBS's late night fare consisted of movies, reruns and specialty programming packaged under the title ""CBS Late Night"" and broadcast to middling ratings. When David Letterman became available following a conflict with NBC, CBS"
"The Late Shift (book) The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night is a 1994 non-fiction book written by ""The New York Times"" media reporter Bill Carter. It chronicles the early 1990s conflict surrounding the American late-night talk show ""The Tonight Show"". The book was later made into a film of the same name by HBO. The book chronicles the behind-the-scenes corporate battle surrounding American late-night talk shows, leading up to, and after, Johnny Carson's 1992 retirement as host of NBC's ""The Tonight Show"". The book primarily details the power struggle between David Letterman and Jay"
"based on a book by ""The New York Times"" reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted ""Tonight Show"" hosting spot. Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a ""Late Show"" episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a one-time producer for"
"on ""Late Night"" — he now simply used his own name to do so. DeForest often ""drew laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a ""Late Show"" correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway and the Woodstock anniversary concert that year."" One of DeForest's more memorable skits came on Letterman's May 13, 1994 show in Los Angeles. The host stated Johnny Carson would announce the evening's Top 10 list, at which point DeForest appeared as ""Johnny Carson."" Shortly after DeForest's exit, the real Johnny Carson appeared in what would prove to be Carson's last television appearance. DeForest"
"limited presence at that time; a joke even floated around that CBS was ""the network for the living dead"" during this period. In 1993, the network made a breakthrough in establishing a successful late-night talk show franchise to compete with NBC's ""The Tonight Show"" when it signed David Letterman away from NBC after the ""Late Night"" host was passed over as Johnny Carson's successor on ""Tonight"" in favor of Jay Leno. Despite having success with ""Late Show with David Letterman"", 1993 saw the network suffer to a time where television changed forever. The network lost the rights to two major"
"I could have said to David Letterman"" performed by regular guests including Alec Baldwin, Barbara Walters, Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Peyton Manning, Tina Fey, and Bill Murray, and closed with a montage of scenes from both his CBS and NBC series set to a live performance of ""Everlong"" by Foo Fighters. The final episode of ""Late Show with David Letterman"" was watched by 13.76 million viewers in the United States with an audience share of 9.3/24, earning the show its highest ratings since following the 1994 Olympics on February 25, 1994, and the show's"
"highest demo numbers (4.1 in adults 25–54 and 3.1 in adults 18–49) since Oprah Winfrey's first ""Late Show"" appearance following the ending of her feud with Letterman on December 1, 2005. Bill Murray, who had been his first guest on ""Late Night"", was his final guest on ""Late Show"". In a rarity for a late-night show, it was also the highest-rated program on network television that night, beating out all prime-time shows. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of ""Late Night"" and ""Late Show"", surpassing friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American"
"because ""Late Night with David Letterman"" was moving to CBS, and Goldthwait took his anger out on Paramount. He stood on the set's couch, spray-painted ""Paramount Sucks"" on a glass wall, and threw video equipment around the studio. Hall was forced to try to restrain Goldthwait and security was called to the set. On May 9, 1994, Goldthwait appeared on ""The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"", where he briefly lit the guest chair on fire. As a result, he was fined $2,700 plus the cost of the chair ($698); he was also required to tape several public service announcements about"
"against Carson with a late night talk show, instead counterprogramming with a successful news magazine entitled ""Nightline"" beginning in 1980. Carson retired as host of ""The Tonight Show"" in 1992 following his 30th anniversary as host. This garnered major media attention and speculation on who would replace Carson. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of ""Late Night"" since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). Leno was eventually chosen, leading to Letterman leaving the network to launch a directly competitive late-night talk show, the ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on CBS in 1993. ""The Tonight Show"
"2004, and instantly garnered national media attention in the United States. In 2004, AOL Television proclaimed Odie's ""Late Show"" appearance as one of ""TV's Top 5"", and then ultimately awarded it the honor of ""moment of the year"". Odie suffered from an enlarged heart. He died on January 31, 2008. Odie appeared on such television shows as ""The Late Show with David Letterman"", ""The Oprah Winfrey Show"", ""The Montel Williams Show"", ""The CBS Early Show"", and many others. Since Odie's talents were vocal, he was also a guest on radio shows. He appeared multiple times on Pittsburgh's KDKA Talk Radio."
"next to him in bed was the head of a peacock (while the orchestra played the theme from ""The Godfather""). In ratings, Letterman's ""Late Show"" dominated Jay Leno's ""Tonight Show"" for its first two years. Leno pulled ahead on July 10, 1995, starting with a Hugh Grant interview, after Grant's much-publicized arrest for picking up a Los Angeles prostitute. Leno also benefited from the lead-in provided by NBC's popular ""Must See TV"" prime time programs of the mid-to-late 1990s. Likewise, the CBS network was hindered by a weak prime time lineup, along with several large- and major-market network affiliation switches"
"Late Show with David Letterman Late Show with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ""Late Show"" franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, and CBS Television Studios. The show's music director and leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, was Paul Shaffer. The head writer was Matt Roberts and the announcer was originally Bill Wendell, then Alan Kalter. Of the major U.S. late-night programs, ""Late Show"" ranked second in cumulative average viewers over time and third"
"crew moved to CBS (in the newly renovated Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City) and the ""Late Show with David Letterman"" was born, beginning on August 30, 1993 (although NBC would air repeats of ""Late Night"" from June 28, 1993 until September 10, 1993). Up until this point, the three competing television broadcast networks had tried to create talk shows to compete with the success of ""The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"", but all had failed. A total of 1,819 shows were broadcast during its -year run (an episode on January 16, 1991 went un-aired due to preemption for"
"back repeatedly and made five more appearances in quick succession. These appearances were notable for verbal altercations between Pekar and Letterman, particularly on the subject of General Electric's ownership of NBC. The most heated of these was in the August 31, 1988, episode of ""Late Night"", in which Pekar accused Letterman of appearing to be a shill for General Electric and Letterman promised never to invite Pekar back on the show. However, Pekar did appear on ""Late Night"" again on April 20, 1993, and appeared on the ""Late Show With David Letterman"" in 1994. Pekar was a prolific record collector"
"Productions, Worldwide Pants, and NBC Productions — were awarded a Peabody Award, which cited the following: Late Night with David Letterman Late Night with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman. It premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982, and concluded on June 25, 1993. Letterman began hosting ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on CBS in August 1993. The series has since been reformatted as ""Late Night with Conan O'Brien"", ""Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"" and ""Late Night with Seth Meyers"". In 2013, this series and ""Late Show with David Letterman"" were ranked #41 on"
"first time that late-night television—and the profits that came with it—could exist beyond ""The Tonight Show""."" Leno's ""Tonight Show"" started rocky; prior to Letterman's move, NBC considered matching CBS's offer to allow Letterman to take over from Leno. Letterman beat Leno for nearly two years until August 1995, when Leno welcomed Hugh Grant, who had recently been arrested for soliciting a prostitute (""What the hell were you thinking?"", Leno asked, to applause), to a previously-booked appearance on ""Tonight"". From that point on, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings, and ""The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"" remained number one for the"
"date. A year later, average viewership was down to 2.8 million. ""Late Show"" also had the oldest audience among the various late-night talk shows, which may have led to CBS' decision to pick a younger replacement for Letterman to compete with ""The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"" and ABC's ""Jimmy Kimmel Live!"". In addition, Colbert's previous program did well among college students and young men 18–34, which are prime target audiences for late-night comedy programming. On April 3, 2014, Letterman announced his retirement, with his final episode as host of ""Late Show"" scheduled for May 20, 2015. On April 10,"
"earning the show its highest ratings since following the 1994 Olympics on February 25, 1994 and the show's highest demo numbers (4.1 in adults 25-54 and 3.1 in adults 18-49) since Oprah Winfrey's first ""Late Show"" appearance following the ending of her feud with Letterman on December 1, 2005. In a rarity for a late-night show, it was also the highest-rated program on network television that night, beating out all prime time shows. In Canada, the final episode was watched by 784,000 viewers, 516,000 more viewers than the show's closest competitor. Late Show with David Letterman Late Show with David"
"the Late Night Writing Staff"", a character Lena Dunham portrays on the HBO TV series ""Girls"". Late Night (TV series) Late Night is an American late-night talk and variety show airing on NBC since 1982. Four men have hosted ""Late Night"": David Letterman (1982–93), Conan O'Brien (1993–2009), Jimmy Fallon (2009–14), and Seth Meyers (2014–present). Each iteration of the show was built around its host, and maintained distinct identities aside from the title. The longest-serving host to date was O'Brien, who hosted ""Late Night with Conan O'Brien"" for 16 years, from September 1993 to February 2009. The show replaced ""The Tomorrow"
"Calvert DeForest Calvert Grant DeForest (July 23, 1921 – March 19, 2007), also known by his character Larry ""Bud"" Melman, was an American actor and comedian, best known for his appearances on ""Late Night with David Letterman"" and the ""Late Show with David Letterman"". Little has been published about his early life. He was born to Calvert Martin DeForest, M.D., a physician who died in 1949, and Mabelle (Taylor) DeForest. Calvert's father was a cousin of radio pioneer Lee de Forest. DeForest attended Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, New York. He was employed for many years as a"
"permission to air the ""Late Show with David Letterman"" on a half-hour delay, in order to air syndicated reruns of ""Designing Women"" after its 10:00 p.m. newscast; it would give in to airing ""Letterman"" in its recommended timeslot in January 1994. The station also delayed ""The Late Late Show"" – during the entire Tom Snyder and Craig Kilborn runs, and the first six years of Craig Ferguson's tenure – until 12:07 a.m. from the program's September 1995 debut until March 28, 2011 in favor of syndicated sitcom reruns and, later, same-day encores of ""Inside Edition"". As a result of the"
"was his production company, Worldwide Pants, which selected previous hosts. With Letterman's departure, CBS became the sole producer of the show. The Late Late Show (U.S. talk show) The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, followed by Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson. It is currently hosted by James Corden. The show originates from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The show differed from most of the other extant late-night talk shows during its first two decades on air in that it did"
"and 10:35 Central. Prior to Colbert's assumption of hosting duties, David Letterman had been host of ""Late Show"" for 22 years, dating to his arrival at CBS in 1993. CBS had not had a regular late-night talk show for most of its existence prior to that point, with only one attempt (the short-lived ""Pat Sajak Show"" in 1990) between 1972 and Letterman's arrival. Letterman, who joined CBS from NBC after ending his eleven-year run as host of ""Late Night"" and losing out on being Johnny Carson's successor on ""The Tonight Show"" to Jay Leno, was initially competitive with his show's"