There’s by no means been a extra pugnacious late-night comedy man than Dave Letterman, a person who lived for uncomfortable moments. From Paris Hilton to Justin Bieber to Farrah Fawcett, Letterman leaned into uneasiness. That principally made for hilariously awkward conversations, however sometimes, the conflicts threatened to erupt into full-on fights.
Listed below are 5 occasions it appeared like violence may escape on late-night tv…
Crispin Glover
Glover regarded like he was about to combine it up with a stagehand when Letterman launched him, setting the stage for the antics to come back. From there, it was exhausting to inform if Glover was making an attempt Andy Kaufman-esque efficiency artwork or if the younger actor was really disturbed. (Many years later, he refused to disclose whether or not it was all a put-on.) As Glover melted down on stage, Letterman requested Paul Shaffer if it was the primary time he’d watched a person drown. The actor grew extra agitated, first flexing his biceps and difficult Letterman to an arm-wrestling contest, then launching a judo kick close to the host’s face. That was sufficient violence for Dave, who walked off the set.
Cher
Cher wasn’t kicking Letterman within the nostril, however their confrontation was no much less brutal. Dave claimed he’d tried guide Cher “a minimum of 81 occasions,” and as soon as she arrived on the present, he wasted no time attending to the nasty questions (“Why do you may have tattoos? You’ve completely scarred your physique. And do you may have any second ideas? Have been you drunk while you had them?”).
Cher had no drawback firing again. “You’re an asshole.”
Madonna
“Our first visitor tonight is likely one of the largest stars on the earth, and up to now 10 years she has bought over 80 million albums, starred in numerous movies and slept with a number of the largest names within the leisure business,” Letterman stated by means of introduction.
“She’s your visitor!” protested Shaffer. “Come on, she’s your visitor!”
Irrespective of. Madonna was there to duke it out with Letterman, providing him a pair of used panties to smell, asking if he was sporting a rug and telling him, “By the way, you’re a sick fuck.” It bought worse from there, with the pop icon dropping 14 F-bombs and refusing to depart the set as soon as the interview concluded.
Harvey Pekar
The underground comedian artist was a well-liked visitor, a minimum of for some time. However Pekar’s appearances grew to become more and more unstable, culminating with a 1988 spot when the indignant artist grabbed a pen out of Letterman’s hand and accused him of being a cop-out shill for Basic Electrical. The usually cool Letterman instructed Pekar he was out of line and was not welcome at Late Evening.
“You are not coming again in any respect, Harvey, as a result of we’ve given you a lot, many possibilities to come back on the present to advertise your little Mickey Mouse journal,” he stated. “You’ve blown each single probability.”
Years later, nonetheless, Pekar would return.
Chuck Norris
On the one hand, Norris and Letterman bought alongside significantly better than, say, Letterman and Glover. However Norris’ karate kick got here a lot nearer to doing injury than Glover’s. In an illustration of how Norris levels fights for movie, the martial arts star threw a foot “a few quarter of an inch” from Letterman’s rib cage, inflicting Letterman to interrupt into a visual sweat. Though Letterman appeared rattled by the demonstration, Norris wasn’t executed but, throwing a punch that stopped simply in need of the discuss present host’s chin and sending one other kick straight to his coronary heart.
Letterman couldn’t wait to chop to business.
