David Letterman, former host of The Late Show, recently participated in a phone interview with Brian Schott of the Whitefish Review, a literary magazine in Montana, where Letterman will be moving very soon. The interview covers a lot of ground on a wide variety of topics, but a couple of the ex-late night host's statements prove he is definitely showing his age.
On TV, Letterman has always been just kind of one of the guys. Interviewer Brian Schott of the Whitefish Review explains, "As I expected, Dave was introspective, funny and, more than anything, kind. Listening to him through the speakerphone-that unmistakable voice and laughter that I had grown up with-was as surreal and as special as it comes." He may be just one of the guys, but he is also starting to age like one too.
In evidence of this, Letterman now sports a full, bushy, white beard with hairs that go in every direction, and he is proud of the fact. In the Whitefish interview Letterman says, "And I know, it's not a good-looking beard. But I don't even care. I just don't care. And it's kind of fun-well, I won't say that it's fun to walk around irritating people, I think I've proved that on TV-but it's sort of amusing to see the reactions."
Mr. Letterman has also done a bit of soul-searching and proves that he has grown wise with his age. He has found that he doesn't really miss the show as much as he thought he would. Most of that attitude stems from the realization that his role as The Late Show host did not play as big a part in world events as he once thought they did. Whitefish Review quotes Letterman's explanation, "You get response to the day's endeavor immediately. Either from the audience or the ratings, but you know as early as the next day how you did. And because of this introspection, you believe that what you are doing is of great importance and that it is affecting mankind wall-to-wall. And then when you get out of it you realize, 'Oh, well, that wasn't true at all.' It was just silliness."
This is not the only interview in which Letterman is caught showing his age. In the first interview he had after he retired, he also admitted to The Indianaplis Monthly, a magazine based out of the former comedian's hometown, that he has trouble using the phone. In that interview, Letterman confesses, "As it turns out, after all these years of having someone make my calls for me, I can no longer operate a telephone." Apparently, he also has trouble brushing his hair on his own for similar reasons.
Despite the evidence piling up against him that he is indeed starting to age, the 68-year-old Letterman maintains that he still has not grown up, "Because of my son I'm not growing up. Because of my son I do things I would have done when I was 12." After seeing many episodes of The Late Show with David Letterman, I do not have much trouble at all believing it.
If you miss David Letterman, please enjoy the below video of his interview with Drew Barrymore during which the young actress flashes the older host.
